Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2008 May 20

= May 20 =

One Note, Themes and Variations
Peter Cornelius wrote a song called Ein Ton (One Note) in which the singer sings the same note (B) throughout, but the piano accompaniment varies in order to make the piece musically interesting. Has anyone ever written a set of variations on one note? Sounds impossible, but if it occurs to me, it must have occurred to others. If not, what is the shortest theme on which anyone's ever composed variations? And the longest? (My yardstick would be lowest/highest number of notes in the melody.) --  JackofOz (talk) 00:42, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Don't know about a variation on "Ein Ton" but the Taínos used a flute with just one note "Fotuto". --71.236.23.111 (talk) 02:21, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * (tangent thought), you may want take a look into the article on Minimalist music, though this is can be a very different take on "variation". -- Gwguffey (talk) 04:11, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * A "very take"? Please explain.  --  JackofOz (talk) 15:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * (see copyedit above for better wording) As your original question pertained to variance on a note/pitch, then the minimalistic composing genre could be thought of in that vein, though not limited to varying the melodic theme. You could have constant pitch or harmony, but vary rhythm and instrumentation. Or not vary any aspect of the tonality or orchestration, but instead just the volume. Check out the section of the article Minimalist music for more examples. -- Gwguffey (talk) 15:52, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * I will do that. Tks.  --  JackofOz (talk) 23:23, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Giacinto Scelsi "is best known for writing music based around only one pitch, altered in all manners through microtonal oscillations, harmonic allusions, and changes in timbre and dynamics, as paradigmatically exemplified in his revolutionary Quattro Pezzi su una nota sola ["Four pieces each on a single note"] (1959)". 194.171.56.13 (talk) 11:36, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Never heard of Scelsi till now, so thanks for that lead. --  JackofOz (talk) 23:23, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Ha! I've just come across a piece written by Elizabeth Maconchy, Impromptu for piano, which is described as "a fantasy on one note".  Good on yer, Lizzie.  --  JackofOz (talk) 01:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Frying Pan of Doom
What is the origin of the fictional fantasy weapon "Frying Pan of Doom" (alt. "Frying Pan of Death")? TVTropes.com has a list of its uses, but states the origin of neither the trope nor the actual phrase (instead of, say, "Death Skillet"). SubStandardDeviation (talk) 01:54, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Three web references speak of historic use of frying pans as a weapon, one British source  reportedly from the 16th or 17th centuries, one German (disputed) in the times of the Napolic wars


 * and one from the American revolutionary war : These are probably not the only known uses.  A frying pan is a decidedly short range weapon and meat cleavers are also available in most kitchens. However, if someone like a maid or cook happened to get get caught in a kitchen by advancing enemies, it would nevertheless provide an effective weapon.  People strong enough to lift and move cast iron skillets and pans on a daily basis, would probably be able to do significant damage.  (See this lady for reference )  71.236.23.111 (talk) 03:32, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * She doesn't need a skillet, she could just use her glass beer mug fists of doom.  bibliomaniac 1  5  03:38, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Is that an injury strap on her arm?  Julia Rossi (talk) 10:06, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
 * No clue, I just grabbed a suitable example off google. It may be something to stabilize her tendons.  I assume she's not been secretly swinging cast iron skillets.  --71.236.23.111 (talk) 21:31, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Who is the man talking in the Karminsky Experience Inc song "Exploration"?
The text of sampled speech is as follow (minus "um"s and "er"s and the correct syntax)

"Well I look at it myself as the beginning of really an exploration. That's the reason we're exploring! You don't know what you'll run into on an exploration. What the sky looks like. What the stars look like. Will they still twinkle or are they a steady light when you get outside the atmosphere?"

He is obviously an astronaut or a project manager from very early on in the Space Program.

Any ideas who this person could be? RogueTrooper42 (talk) 12:07, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

It was Frank Borman, commander of the Apollo 8 mission.


 * It wasn't me!! Astronaut (talk) 02:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I couldn't resist that :-)) Astronaut (talk) 02:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Oh, and a Google search turned up no clues as to who is on the sample. Astronaut (talk) 02:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I was watching the NASA channel with my kids this morning, and a documentary was on. One of the astronauts was talking on a VO, and I immediately recognized the voice as that of the sample on Exploration. His name is Frank Borman, and he was the Apollo 8 Commander. I'm as sure as you can be without a confirmation from someone who really knows. I played the track, then played the documentary, dead-on match, FWIW. I also found a clip on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=441GuDVA188, although it's not quite as definitive, as it is 12 years later than the clip I heard on TV, but you can pick out the cadence and really hear it in his commencement speech segment. --Philinator (talk) 15:00, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Not sure where/how to comment on this - but the sample used in "Exploration" is from a TED talk by Robert Ballard on Exploring the Oceans. You can find it here: http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_ballard_on_exploring_the_oceans.html

A Bachelor who Got Punched in the Mouth
Which former male reality star from The Bachelor got punched in the mouth and by whom a couple of years back? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 15:39, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Talk about over-linking. You are talking to humans, not space aliens. --70.167.58.6 (talk) 16:25, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * The way you put it, this sounds like a trivia question -- as if you know the answer, and are trying to get us to say it. Taken with the recent Avril thing and your own edit history (and rather enlightening talk page, for that matter), that makes for a pretty obvious combination. In any case, you can find the answer with ridiculous ease just by using Google. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 17:22, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Jail (TV series) and the Neilson Ratings
How did Jail (TV series) do in the Neilson Ratings system? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 18:55, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

The Simpsons
What's the name of the song that's playing as Homer swings Marge in "Gump Roast". 99.226.26.154 (talk) 21:15, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * It's clearly based on Jailhouse Rock, but with alternate lyrics probably written for the episode, like the song at the end of the episode is based on We Didn't Start the Fire. After further searching, I've found that the clip is from "Take My Wife, Sleaze" and the Jailhouse Rock parody is called "Mental House Rock". --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 00:19, 21 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I remembered wrong, I meant the song that plays as he first meets marge, before the swinging part. Bad memory. 99.226.39.245 (talk) 20:01, 21 May 2008 (UTC)


 * (They Long to Be) Close to You from the episode The Way We Was. Also found in some other Simpsons episodes, as noted in the song article --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 20:14, 21 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks!! 99.226.26.154 (talk) 23:57, 23 May 2008 (UTC)