Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 August 23

= August 23 =

Which opening was it?
I seem to have trouble remembering the "Batman: The Animated Series" opening. While the "official" opening featured a mostly red backdrop with Batman fighting bank robbers and leaving them to police blimps, the one I remembered was a montage with the most prominent images being The Joker firing a Tommy gun and at the end where a bolt of lighting flashes revealing Batman in the spotlight holding his cape across his body in the pouring rain. Was it a real Batman opening? If so, which season was it from? Spade9 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:35, 23 August 2009 (UTC).

Extreme Ball Busters
There is a website called w1.extremeballbusters.com. It has my favourtie videos from where I saw the preview on uselessjunk.com. If there any website, good one where I can download the full videos for free? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.52.209 (talk) 19:13, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Seeing as it's a pay site any free videos (excluding promos) would almost certainly be copyright violation - and illegal - even if we knew of any - it's not allowed to link to them on wikipedia - such link would be removed. 83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:03, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
 * He's not asking whether it can be put on Wikipedia or not. He's asking if there's a link where he can download the videos for himself.  Warrior  4321  22:52, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
 * A similar issue came up elsewhere recently - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights#Linking_to_copyrighted_works eg "However, if you know that an external Web site is carrying a work in violation of the creator's copyright, do not link to that copy of the work. An example would be linking to a site hosting the lyrics of many popular songs without permission from their copyright holders. Knowingly and intentionally directing others to a site that violates copyright has been considered a form of contributory infringement in the United States "
 * Understand?83.100.250.79 (talk) 00:49, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * In short, if there was such a link we would not be allowed to mention it on this page. So the most complete answer we can give to the original question is: :"Yes, probably.". DJ Clayworth (talk) 13:38, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

The psychology of enjoying watching a performer or caring about a star
Are there any psychological or sociological theories about why people like watching and listening to for example opera singers? I can understand why people attend to comedians or clowns for example - they make them laugh. Acrobats - they do amazing things. Most singers - people like to gaze at attractive people, at least of the opposite gender. But why should anyone care about overweight and usually older opera singers for example? Or drag queens, where there is no reflected prestige? And why do people care about 'stars' who have never heard of the fan? Most people seem to dislike people more succesful than themselves, why dosnt this occur with the fan regarding 'their' star? 78.149.127.188 (talk) 20:58, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know what circles you move in, but it's not my experience that "most people seem to dislike people more succesful than themselves". That sounds like a recipe for dragging everyone else down to one's own level, and never getting ahead.   Successful people aren't born that way.  They always use other successful people as role models: "they did it, so can I".   Also, opera singers are not typically overweight, despite the very outdated and inaccurate stereotypical image of an enormously breasted soprano with horns on her head.  As for them being possibly older than the fan, I don't see the relevance of that.   --  JackofOz (talk) 21:14, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Many people would enjoy operas because they like the style of music. Why do some people like rap, it's basically some guy speaking with a beat behind him. It's because they enjoy it, they like that kind of music. It's just their personal choice. Warrior  4321  22:50, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
 * People seem to enjoy being stirred to an emotional response by art, even when the response is sadness. Many people enjoy sad songs in all kinds of different genres of music, and this is a part of the appeal of opera, particularly many of the great arias which offer grand emotional experiences.  As to why people enjoy it, this is a question that has been asked since the time of Aristotle: Tragedy has more info. --193.172.19.20 (talk) 14:47, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * People like to be emotionally stimulated, and various art forms are one way of doing that. It also provides a cultural bond. Where trouble can arise is when someone gets too carried away. Consider the babes shrieking over Valentino, Frankie, Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson, for example. That's more than just an artistic interest, that's some sort of mild pathology. And it can go from mild to extreme in the case of a stalker, or even of sports fans getting into fights with players and such stuff as that. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 15:40, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Who is the enormously breasted soprano with horns on her head, that JackofOz is referring to? 174.146.159.29 (talk) 17:06, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Brunhilde, the Valkyrie, from Wagner's Ring of the Niebelung. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 19:09, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * She actually wore a winged helmet, and other Wagnerian characters had horned helmets, but the stereotype of horns seemed to pervade not just Wagnerian singers but female opera singers generally. --  JackofOz (talk) 08:29, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * You're right, and for those unfamiliar with Brunhilde and/or the great opera star Kirsten Flagstad, here she is in a segment of what appears to be a filmed variety show from the 1930s hosted by Bob Hope: Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 20:04, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * According to this the Wagnerian horned helmet was more in evidence in Tristan und Isolde. Flagstad was in that one, too, but I didn't find a youtube of it. As far as attractiveness... well, I wouldn't kick Kirsten out for eating crackers. Would you? :) Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 20:27, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Strange that you think that people like singers becasue they "like to gaze at attractive people". I personally like singers who sing well.91.111.91.46 (talk) 18:51, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Singing well is certainly important in itself, but a great deal of popular music is implicitly or explicitly about sex and/or related emotions, so subconsciously it's an added bonus if the singer is attractive, or at least not actively unattractive, to the listener (who frequently is or has been also a viewer, i.e. they know what the singer looks like even if they're listening to an audio-only recording). This obviously does not apply all the time in all circumstances and singer-listener combinations, but it's frequent enough to be significant, I would suggest. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 08:31, 25 August 2009 (UTC)


 * The popularity of entertainers like Lyle Lovett and K.D. Lang would seem to undercut that editor's premise. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 19:12, 24 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I think at least one episode of John Cleese's "The Human Face" touched on this topic. At least I distinctly remember seeing Cleese explaining why humans have an instinctive need to worship celebrities, so I assume it was in this documentary.  APL (talk) 03:30, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Un Gancho al Corazon's Grand Finale
?Who is Valentina "La Monita" Lopez's opponent in the grand finale of Un Gancho al Corazon? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 22:04, 23 August 2009 (UTC)