Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 November 26

= November 26 =

Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder
Why don't Hawkins & Ryder have seperate pages yet, they split ages ago —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeffhardyred (talk • contribs) 09:21, 26 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not familiar with the material, but they're not likely to be split into two articles unless they separately do something notable. As it is they're only notable for being a team. If they have split and they're still active, and they become notable enough, they're likely to get their own pages - although this page may still remain, as the title is the name of the team, which existed for two years. All the info about the team from that time would likely be on that page. Vimescarrot (talk) 11:42, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Castlevania tune
This video http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/59132 has a tune at the beginning (when it says Game Trailers/Screw Attack). Which Castlevania game is it from? Vitriol (talk) 20:09, 26 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Never mind, it's Simon's Theme from Super Castlevania 4. Vitriol (talk) 20:33, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Background music in videos
Hello! Does anybody know the name of music in this and this video? Many thanks! Lukipuk (talk) 22:07, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

TV series on engineers
Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, House (and many more) tell the (fictionalised) lives of surgeons and doctors. CSI does the same for crime scene investigators, The West Wing for US national politicians and their staff, and more series than I can count deal with lawyers and criminal justice. I was wondering: does anyone know of a television series dealing with engineers? Some aspects of Mythbusters might count (although it's frequently glossed over in favour of yet another explosion), but I was looking for something where engineering plays a bigger role. Does anyone have any recommendations? &mdash; QuantumEleven 22:51, 26 November 2009 (UTC)
 * MacGyver is an engineering god. There are also Barney Collier on the old Mission: Impossible series and of course Scotty from Star Trek: The Original Series. On the nonfiction front, how about Extreme Engineering? Clarityfiend (talk) 23:44, 26 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I recommend you read the following pages on TV Tropes: WrenchWench, MrFixit, and GadgeteerGenius. --M @ r ē ino 00:03, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't know if there ever has been but I would doubt that anyone would make such a show. The lives of engineers are rather boring in comparison.  With doctors and cops, you have lives on the line.  With lawyers, there's the intrigue of finding out if the guilty guy gets to be found innocent or vice versa.  With engineers, even aeronautical engineers, there are so many tests and calculations made (which are pretty boring to watch) that the chance for something dramatic is rather small.  Dismas |(talk) 00:07, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh, I don't know - it's a good question. There are individual characters, as mentioned, but a series about engineering? It does seem to have been overlooked. if you include UK series there's even ones about builders (Auf Wiedersehn Pet), road labourers (Boys from the Black Stuff) and veterinarians (All Creatures Great and Small), so I doubt one about Engineering is out of the question. As pointed out, there are several non-fiction series, but nothing I can think of on the drama front. Grutness...wha?  00:19, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Modern Marvels discusses technology, including engineering. That's more of a documentary-style show, and I'm thinking the OP is looking for a drama series. It may be true that engineers are too boring to make a show about. The most obvious current fictional engineer I can think of is Dilbert. He leads a rather dull life, which might be why his TV show didn't last too long. To give you an idea, Dilbert once said that the goal of every engineer is to retire without having caused a major catastrophe. Everyone has to aspire to something, ja? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:11, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, which is not to say that engineering could not be made more interesting. My wife is a forensic scientist, and I can tell you her job isn't much more interesting than the average engineer, lots of sitting in a small room, looking though a microscope, and making lots of notes.  Nothing as exciting as CSI... -- Jayron  32  02:01, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm assuming she's also reasonably normal. Can you imagine being married to someone like Robert Goren? That could get old real fast. But that's the point - the TV shows are imaginary, larger-than-life characters, much more exciting, probably, than the real thing. So a larger-than-life engineer is needed, like MacGyver or other characters mentioned above. And they need zestier plots than, for example, building a bridge and hoping it doesn't collapse. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:16, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Scrubs, as mentioned by the OP, has barely any medicine in it. Maybe you'll see a doctor starting to intubate, do a little CPR, or hover over a patient with a scalpel - but it's all about the characters, almost nothing about the medicine. So a series about engineers could similarly be all about the characters instead of whatever engineering catastrophe they have to avert this week. Vimescarrot (talk) 06:50, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * The IT Crowd, perhaps./88.131.68.194 (talk) 12:36, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * You know, i guess that its not because the job itself is not interesting, but because most of people use the service of doctors, lawyers and policemen, also politician and various movie stars are part of their lives through media. All this occupations directly affect people's lives on regular basis. But engineer's works are different - although they affect your lives too, it is indirectly - by building structures and systems you use, so you dont meet engineer 'at work' and he doesnt directly provide any 'service' to you. Lukipuk (talk) 11:26, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * For the record, as an engineer myself, I wouldn't consider MacGyver an engineer at all. He was a scientist in background, and was an expert problem-solver, but he never really entered the realm of actual engineering, optimizing technical problems and all that.  As for a show about engineers, if a plot centered around the characters' work, it would either be beyond boring or stretch the limits of the characters actually being engineers.  Like Scrubs, it would have to focus on things other than their work.  The Office is an example of a similar show about paper salespeople, an even more boring profession. But at least the general public knows what a salesperson does for the most part. I would be hard pressed to say the same about engineering. &mdash;Akrabbimtalk 13:01, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
 * At least in the UK, TV producers probably think of the old Yellow Pages entry - "Boring: see civil engineers". In the exciting world of town planning, where I worked, we thought it was hilarious.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:10, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

For something for the kids, there's Design Squad. Staecker (talk) 13:16, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I can't believe nobody has mentioned Numb3rs yet. Sure. Math is not Engineering but the average mathematician's life isn't that interesting either. All we have to do is find a way for engineers to solve crimes... DJ Clayworth (talk) 13:53, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * A show about engineering students might be more interesting...maybe this just a Canadian thing, but here they are known for a) drinking, b) crazy pranks, and c) drinking. Maybe when they become actual engineers they also become boring? I don't know. Adam Bishop (talk) 22:02, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I hope that, at the very least, they sober up before they go designing bridges, levees, skyscrapers and the like. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→
 * Actually there was a recent movie featuring students in the Engineering faculty of a Canadian university. It was called Polytechnique. But it features no crazy pranks, drinking or other high jinks. Don't follow the link if you are looking for a cheery, fun film. DJ Clayworth (talk) 18:59, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

One of the main characters on the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" is an aerospace engineer. (Howard Wolowitz, played by Simon Helberg.) — Michael J  23:12, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Given that many peoples' lives depend daily on the integrity of structures, components and mechanisms designed, erected and tested by engineers, it should be no more of a stretch to create dramatic fiction derived from engineering than from many other professions such as those mentioned above. Just off the top of my head:


 * 1) Nevil Shute's novel No Highway, filmed as No Highway in the Sky, depicted an aeronautical engineer (which Shute himself was) calculating that metal fatigue might cause the plane he himself was in to fail momentarily.
 * 2) The Tay Bridge disaster resulted from incorrect engineering design and execution.
 * 3) Michael Chrichton's novel Airframe deals with an apparent cover-up by a major aeronautical manufacturer of possible defective design in a popular model of jumbo-jet.
 * 4) Lois McMaster Bujold's novel Falling Free deals extensively with the ethics of engineering, including a protagonist engineering lecturer discussing faked test results that led to multiple fatalities in an engineering failure. Engineering matters are used as plot elements throughought the rest of Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga series of novels.
 * 5) Colin Kapp wrote a series of humorous science fiction stories under the overall title of The Unorthodox Engineers about a troubleshooting team of engineering misfits.
 * 6) The history of the development of Railways is replete with contemporary cutting-edge engineering adventure, as is that of Steamships and the Motor car, all of which should be amenable to dramatic treatment.
 * 7) For a further list of potential topics, consider our article List of structural failures and collapses. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 13:52, 28 November 2009 (UTC)