Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 May 11

= May 11 =

look-alike by design
In Flash Gordon (film), Ming the Merciless bore a striking resemblance to Anton LaVey. Did any of the make-up artists look at pictures of LaVey to get some ideas, or what?69.203.157.50 (talk) 01:45, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Probably the other way around. As you can see here, Ming looked just as merciless back in the 1930s, round about when LaVey was born. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:38, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * (after edit conflict) Charles B. Middleton's portrayal of Ming already looked quite a bit like that in 1936, when LaVey was six years old. According to the article on Flash Gordon (serial) "Ming is characterised in the mould of Fu Manchu in this serial." This gallery shows Ming evolving from Alex Raymond's first drawings in 1934 up to Max von Sydow's version you mentioned. I think the LaVey resemblance works the other way around, if at all. The article on Satanism says that "Nerds who idolize 'The Comic Book Guy' on the Simpsons constantly point out LaVey looks like Ming The Merciless, a character from a comic strip that hasn't run in a zillion years and no one gives a shit about". ---Sluzzelin talk  03:50, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * This Church of Satan page says as he was growing up, LaVey's "fancy was captured" by Ming. You may draw your own conclusions from this.  Tempshill (talk) 04:22, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Wow, that's...pretty awesome. Avnas Ishtaroth drop me a line  13:34, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

How so?69.203.157.50 (talk) 08:14, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Can you name this piece of orchestral music?
The one in this video? I'm betting it's Russian, too. &mdash; Kieff | Talk 03:46, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * It's a Waltz by Andrey Petrov from the movie Beware of the Car. I don't know whether it has a more specific title than "Valse" from the movie Beware of the Automobile (or variations thereof). ---Sluzzelin talk  20:33, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh, and in case it sounded familiar to your ears, but not quite :-), check out "Padam...Padam" (music by Norbert Glanzberg) as sung by Édith Piaf eighteen years before the Russian film was made. (Piaf clips on youtube, for example). ---Sluzzelin talk  20:44, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * How did you identify it, Sluzzzzelin? Or do you just happen to know every piece of music ever written?  --  JackofOz (talk) 21:11, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Lol, nope. I knew I had heard it before, but that didn't really help me much, as I am not Biréli Lagrène who apparently is able to memorize and retrieve every single melody after having heard it once. The melodic ductus and harmony in the beginning sounded intentionally reminiscent of Prokofiev, but later on everything switches to a more modern "pop-songy" style. That plus the choice of some instruments not usually heard in a symphony orchestra (accordion, vibraphone, ...) led me to assume it was a film score by a Russian composer. The second hit of "russian" + "film" + "composer" + "waltz" led me to Petrov. The rest was youtube. --Sluzzelin  talk  21:26, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I bow to your research skills. Consider yourself the recipient of an honorary barnstar.  :)  --  JackofOz (talk) 22:38, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Movies with similar themes
I once read an article here about films that shared similar themes and were released close to one another but I can't find the article anywhere anymore. If I remember correctly, two of the movies it compared was Next and Deja vu. Did the article get deleted? if not, where is it? —David13579 (talk) 04:18, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Yeah, it got deleted. &mdash; Kieff | Talk 04:37, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * This is not something that happens every now and then (and is therefore notable). It is very frequent (and non-notable).  Whenever one studio sinks a lot of money into a specific theme, at least one other studio will attempt to cash in on the buzz and rush a movie with a similar theme.  Then, there is the debate over who should go first.  It is possible that the one that goes first will take most of the money, leaving very little for the follower.  It is also possible that the one that goes first will increase interest, increasing profits for the follower.  So, you cannot claim that the one released first is the original project.  It may be the second project that was pushed to release first. --  k a i n a w &trade; 14:29, 11 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Funny, I was just reading our Dr. Strangelove article with its great story of Kubrick successfully attacking the movie Fail-Safe through the legal system for the above reasons, in order to delay it. Tempshill (talk) 22:49, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Song titles
I do not think wp has articles on "list of song titles containing days of the week" or "list of song titles containing months". Do we in fact not have them or have I just failed to find them? A google search provides several such lists. Should wp have such lists? If so, should they be "list" articles or categories? -- SGBailey (talk) 16:28, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Category:Lists of songs and its sub categories have some but this deletion debate suggests most such lists do not last Articles_for_deletion/List_of_songs_about_weather  meltBanana  17:24, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * The reference desk is not the place to discuss what should be in Wikipedia. Try Village pump. DJ Clayworth (talk) 17:40, 11 May 2009 (UTC)