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November 13

Hiring independent musicians

I know all about Bandcamp and similar sites that let you listen to independent artists' music online and support them via something like PayPal. But what if I actually want to hire an independent musician for a gig? What would I use then - a website; something else? Theskinnytypist (talk) 02:39, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

It might depend on the gig. If it's for a wedding reception, there are usually wedding related magazines in your local big chain bookstore that have bands advertising. Other avenues might be Craigslist or calling around to independent music shops. Dismas|^(talk) 03:07, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Depending on where you are (and what your budget is), there may be relevant local or national/international Music magazines (printed or online) that include classified advertisements by musicians seeking engagements. Some of these may specialise in particular musical genres (Jazz, Folk, etc.) should you have one in mind.

(Who can forget those 1970s ads in the back of Melody Maker that were always headed by one for "A Able Accordianist"?) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 13:39, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a local branch of Craigslist? Most medium-to-large cities in the USA have site for their region, and you can solicit for musicians under the "Gigs" section. SemanticMantis (talk) 17:34, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I thought I said that. :) Dismas|^(talk) 01:06, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Is Colors about Matt Healy?

Why they say that Colors (song) by Halsey (singer) is about Matt Healy?Chandelia16 (talk) 10:05, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

To make things a bit easier for research, I am giving the correct links: Colors (Halsey song), Halsey (singer), and there is no article on the Matt Healy (or Matty Healy or Matthew Healy) you mean, but we do have one on his band The 1975. ---Sluzzelin talk 11:06, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

November 14

which discworld book describes the structure and operation of a clacks tower

I don't know about described, but this says they were introduced in The Fifth Elephant. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:58, November 14, 2015 (UTC)

Also, this isn't my question. It just looks that way. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:58, November 14, 2015 (UTC)

Going Postal seems to be where Pratchett got into the nuts and bolts. InedibleHulk (talk) 08:01, November 14, 2015 (UTC)

I just read Going Postal, and I can confirm that that's where Pratchett covers the inner workings of the clacks towers: the technology, the Grand Trunk company culture, and how some people manage to intercept messages and feed their own messages into the clacks system. A good chunk of the plot revolves around that. Monstrous Regiment touches more briefly on the subject in a subplot involving another group of people who intercept communications between the towers. AtticusX (talk) 08:47, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

ancient widescreen

I recently watched some old TV shows ( Dead or Alive, 1959; Rocky and Bullwinkle, 1963) on a new screen, and am puzzled that 1/4 of the screen's width is not empty, as it ought to be when displaying a picture created for a 4:3 screen. Nor is anything obviously cut off at top or bottom. What wizardry is this? —Tamfang (talk) 08:49, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The remaining method to fit 4:3 content onto a widescreen display is to stretch it. This results in fat, short people (when standing up). Do they seem fat and short ? (Probably easier to tell with actual people, as the cartoon characters might have been drawn excessively thin to begin with, such as Natasha Fatale, or short and fat, such as Boris Badenov.) StuRat (talk) 08:52, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'd thought that crap only flew on the Internet, but it seems not even The Simpsons are safe. InedibleHulk (talk) 10:10, November 14, 2015 (UTC)

No, nothing is distorted. —Tamfang (talk) 08:30, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

How are you watching them? (e.g. DVD, Blu-ray, broadcast, other?) Anamorphic_widescreen seems to only discuss viewing widescreen media on narrower screens, but I think it goes the other way too. Many newer TVs have settings you can mess with, and they can stretch/zoom/crop the signal in many different ways. Also consider that the lack of obvious cutoff may conceivably be the result of Shoot_and_protect. Contrary to Stu's assertion, there are many techniques these days that are not simple linear transforms that distort the way people look. Here's an example of one way that GoPro cameras do dynamic stretching [1], here's one for a TV [2], perhaps you can look up what your own model is capable of. For broadcast, Active_Format_Description has some info too.

So without knowing more details, it could be any combination of how the material was remastered for distribution, your playback device, your TV, or all the above interacting. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:04, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Another relevant article is Anamorphic_stretch_transform, sadly lacking sample images. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:11, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solely stretching the edges would make it look rather distorted, especially as people and other objects passed into and out of the edges. Changing aspect ratios could be rather nauseating. This would be a better approach to a single frame image, where you could specify what to stretch and what not to stretch. StuRat (talk) 18:49, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly tilt and scan, where they move the margins over time to avoid cropping important parts of the frame. -- BenRG (talk) 20:49, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

But I watched DVDs from both series on the old 4:3 TV, and they looked normal there too. —Tamfang (talk) 08:25, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

You might want to watch on both TVs at the same time (if you haven't). Could clear things up. InedibleHulk (talk) 09:11, November 15, 2015 (UTC)

Ah, well. I got a new TV because the old DVD player went flaky and the new one can't connect to an old TV, so that's not an option even if the old gear had not gone to the junkyard. —Tamfang (talk) 07:57, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The Magnificent Seven Ride: Questionable scene

In the 1972 western film The Magnificent Seven Ride, Chris' wife Arrila is killed by bandits. When he and Noah find her dead, Chris asks Noah "Did they use her?". What does he mean by that? And why does he say "Raped, killed and left for the buzzards"? Rape is when you force someone to have sex with you against their will and sex is associated with love, not with hate. Bandits are bad people. Non-bandits are good people. If bandits hate non-bandits, why would they want to have sex with them? That is morally violet. Violence dwells on pain or injury, not on sex. And it's associated with hate, not with love. Chris should have asked Noah "Did they torture her?" and said "Beaten, killed and left for the buzzards". And the film is rated PG. Sexual violence is associated with rated 15 and 18 films.5.81.235.234 (talk) 23:53, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"Use" as in "abuse", most likely. The moral violence committed against a non-bandit woman would be precisely the point - to harm someone they inherently don't like. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:49, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Rape is when you force someone to have sex with you against their will - er, the victim is hardly "having sex with" the rapist. They're just effectively a piece of meat that the rapist is using forcibly to obtain sexual gratification from, and impose their own power over. Not unlike a lump of liver (see Portnoy's Complaint) or a plastic sex doll; the only difference being that the liver/sex doll happens to be a live human being. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 08:38, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Rape has long been a weapon of war and torture,and the penis has long been used as a weapon and instrument of power over both men and women. We have an article on Wartime sexual violence and if you want to learn more about sexual politics and consent, try this site. --TammyMoet (talk) 14:35, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Somewhat similar is the concept of prison rape. Despite what that article implies, it's not just an American thing. It's a dominance thing. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:13, November 16, 2015 (UTC)

Here's an overview of how sex and violence often blend together in American movies, just as PG-13 and R ratings do. Note that PG-13 didn't exist in 1972, which would explain the PG. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:23, November 16, 2015 (UTC)

Please note that with movie ratings, the Motion Picture Association of America's system of rating of movies is not based on objective criteria. The Motion Picture Association of America film rating system is based on sitting a group of people in a room to watch the movie, and then having them rate the movie they watch. That's it. While some general guidelines often emerge at various times, the rating a movie gets depends entirely on the whim of the committee who watches it at the time. So, there is really very little reason to suppose that the same movie would receive the same rating at different times based on any objective criteria. The reason it is rated PG is because that's what the ratings committee thought it should be rated the day they watched it. --Jayron 32 13:24, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Also note that watching the "Unrated!" version of a movie doesn't mean you'll get any sex, violence or "suggestive themes" that were "too hot for theaters". It just means you're watching the DVD version. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:21, November 17, 2015 (UTC)

November 15

Summerland: Region 2 DVD

Is the TV series Summerland released on DVD in region 2?5.81.235.234 (talk) 15:45, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

What is the music at the end of Episode 4, Sharpe, of the BBC television programme 'Together'?

What is the music at the end of Episode 4, Sharpe, of the BBC television programme 'Together'? 82.31.133.165 (talk) 19:59, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Is it on youtube? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:06, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

It's on the BBC iPlayer here, although I think that's only available in the UK. Don't recognize the music, I'm afraid. Tevildo (talk) 20:59, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, it'll take someone in the UK (or someone with a proxy) to answer this. Dismas|^(talk) 21:29, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I can't see it either, although I do know that the music for the series was written by John Tams (who also acted in it). --Viennese Waltz 10:27, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

November 16

Game like Brigador, but from early 2000s/late 90s, with a hoverbot

I am looking to identify a PC game which I played around late 90's to early 2000s, somewhat similar to the new game Brigador, which is in steam early access now. But whilst Brigador is having a mech as the playable character, the game I had used to have a hovercraft kind of robot/vehicle. It used to have a story line, like you are infiltrating a police state, and you shoot up things in the city, but you got to hide from patrol police bots. Also the action used to take place in daylight, instead of in the night as ib Brigador.

Anyone has any hints on what game it might be?

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gulielmus estavius (talk • contribs) 16:49, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Per the Wikipedia article titled Brigador, there are several similar games so noted. Do any of these match what you are looking for? If not, Wikipedia has Category:Mecha simulation computer games which may also be helpful. --Jayron 32 17:11, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia article mentions Syndicate and Mechwarrior, and those are not the game I was looking for.Gulielmus estavius (talk) 18:30, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I want to suggest Hover! but I don't think that game had a plot of any sort. Was this game also a real-time strategy/real-time tactics game? FrameDrag (talk) 20:40, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Future Cop: LAPD? uhhlive (talk) 21:08, 16 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Neither Hover nor FutureCop. Once characteristic though, the game was isometric.Gulielmus estavius (talk) 18:57, 17 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"Police", "hovercraft", "isometric" and "PC" leads me to UFO: Extraterrestrials at GameFAQS. But you didn't mention aliens, so I'm skeptical. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:06, November 17, 2015 (UTC)

It's also a bit too recent, I think. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:08, November 17, 2015 (UTC)

And UFO: Enemy Unknown is a bit too early. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:14, November 17, 2015 (UTC)

November 18

Help me find a music video .

Help me find a music video. In it illustrates the technical progress and virtual girl . The chorus sings "I thinking about you". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.212.242.134 (talk) 14:20, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Annie 1982/1999 film difference

What is the difference between the 1982 and the 1999 film versions of Annie?81.154.19.58 (talk) 20:35, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the article for the '99 film says it's more comical. Were you looking for a scene by scene comparison? Dismas|^(talk) 20:53, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. I was looking for a scene by scene comparison.81.154.19.58 (talk) 22:50, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Here's some fans discussing the differences [3], here's a review of the performances in each [4], and here's a youtube video that compares the versions [5]. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:45, 19 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Mendelssohn theme (in the Christmas song Night of Nights)

From which of his works is this? --77.10.165.242 (talk) 20:39, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

It's from the Andante introduction to the Rondo capriccioso in E, Op. 14. Here are some performances of it. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:40, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! --77.10.165.242 (talk) 22:37, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

November 19

November 20

True

Is the wedding rumors of Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris true? Chandelia16 (talk) 11:44, 20 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]