Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 April 16

= April 16 =

Occupations and musical preferences
Has any study ever found a significant correlation between occupations and musical preferences? -- Wavelength (talk) 00:36, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Does this answer your question? 24.189.90.68 (talk) 08:29, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, it does. Thank you for that interesting information which shows that one has. -- Wavelength (talk) 16:24, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Fatboy Slim's Ya Mama video - how was it made?
I've wondered about this for awhile, I hope someone can help me! If you watch the video for Ya Mama, the actions of the people affected by the music often seem (at least to me) to be out of their control. For example, when the man is trying to paint his figurines in the beginning and his arm goes crazy - I have a hard time believing he could move it so erratically while keeping the rest of his body more or less still. Does anyone know how they filmed this video? The guy later on carrying eggs also seems to be a good example - it's like he's getting tossed around... 218.25.32.210 (talk) 01:59, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * My first speculation is that they have the actor in a wire-fu harness and are pulling his arm around with wires (and pulling all of him around, in the case of the egg guy); possibly in front of a greenscreen in some scenes and then possibly sped up a little and finally composited in front of the background. The greenscreen may not be necessary; I thought this would make it easier to speed up the egg guy so the extras in the background didn't have to walk around in slow motion during the shoot.  I don't know if this video was shot by the same crew that did the famous Weapon of Choice video starring Christopher Walken, but in that video he had a harness and was swung all around with wires, so they're quite familiar with the technique.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 05:04, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree, looks like the use of wires. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:04, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Have a look at this video.91.109.213.226 (talk) 08:24, 17 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Great link. It's at the 4 minute mark.  Not even wires - more like a blue-wrapped pole, letting an offscreen grip shove the actor around mercilessly.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:45, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

The Princess Bride - the quick sand special effect
Another thing I've always wondered - how did they manage the quicksand special effect in The Princess Bride? The best explanation I can come up with is there was a foot or so of sand held between two layers of rubber with a sliced opening, and the actor dives through them and emerges into an open area below. Adding lots of additional sand could conceal the details. Does anyone know for sure? 218.25.32.210 (talk) 02:02, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Or like this quicksand special effect, a staple of the Universal Studios theme park in Southern California. Comet Tuttle (talk) 03:01, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Music video I saw years ago...
Oh God...me again. Sorry, I'm trying to clear up all the mysteries of my life. Basically, years ago, when I was little, I was watching The Big Breakfast when a music video came on. It was the time period of this kind of avant-gardey music, the late 90's, so stuff like Moby was coming on. The music video I saw showed a grayscale image of a girl, possibly a child, but definitely female. As the music played, a tear rolled out of the girl's eye, but it was golden, as if it was honey. The liquid from her eye then dribbles down her face and into the corner of her mouth. Does this ring any bells for anyone who was older than me at the time? This has mystified me for a long time and it's about time I found out what it was!!-- Editor510  drop us a line, mate  10:29, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * U2? Chevymontecarlo . 11:41, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Please specify.-- Editor510  drop us a line, mate  11:44, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * It was just a guess, I thought it would be something from Boy War or October or something like that. I thought this because they were war/violence/sadness related and so a crying girl would be appropriate - that was the 80s so that might be a little old for a late 90's programme...it was just a guess too so that might not be accurate.  Chevymontecarlo . 07:57, 17 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Could it be Sinead O' Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U? A tear rolls down her face.--Frumpo (talk) 10:45, 18 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Just a point. Do you mean that the rest of the face was grayscale but the tear was golden? That's what it sounds like you're saying. Bus stop (talk) 12:57, 18 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Whatever it was, it was a reference to the scenes in Yellow Submarine after the Blue Meanies take over. Maybe Oasis? 63.17.94.91 (talk) 04:18, 19 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I'd say it's probably "Hidden Place" by Bjork. "It featured various fluids flowing in and out of Björk's facial orifices, such as her eyes, nose, and mouth." Recury (talk) 20:50, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

The Name Game -- is this a hoax?
"The record went to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 4 on the magazine's R&B charts in 1965."

You gotta be kidding me. This is a hoax right? Article doesn't contain any citations. 207.237.228.236 (talk) 16:08, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * According to billboard, it never charted. -- k a i n a w &trade; 16:20, 16 April 2010 (UTC)
 * The Billboard website isn't reliable - it states that a lot of records/artists have never charted when they have. Google Books has a hit for Hit singles: top 20 charts from 1954 to the present day when searching for this - the content isn't viewable but it must have been a top 20 hit. This book confirms that it reached #3. See also this (result 2 shows it at #14 in the Hot R&B Singles chart for that week). So no, not a hoax. And don't trust the Billboard website when it states that something has never charted.--Michig (talk) 16:55, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

According to the book The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, by Joel Whitburn, (c) 1996, p.204, "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis was on for 10 weeks starting January 9, 1965, and topped out at Number 3 - as the article says. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:51, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I have no cite for this, so maybe it's just my perception or data-picking or something, but it seems like novelty songs were much more likely to hit the charts in the fifties and sixties. I wonder if there was a huge fad for novelty songs back then, or if they've changed the way the charts are calculated so that novelty songs don't show up as often. APL (talk) 04:22, 17 April 2010 (UTC)


 * It's certainly the case that novelty songs used to be much more popular in the 50s and 60s than now - and even earlier, the article I've linked to suggesting that they peaked in the 1920s through the 1940s. Times were simpler then!  Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:48, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
 * PS:There is a good list of novelty songs, including "The Name Game" (#27), here. Ghmyrtle (talk) 10:19, 17 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Over time, it seems that rock and roll became Serious Business, and novelty songs faded, although they pop up from time to time. There was "Disco Duck", for example. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:33, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
 * The range of entertainment has greatly widened and become more segmented over the decades. Sixty years ago, if people wanted to hear something funny, they'd either wait for their favourite radio programme, or buy and play a novelty record (or tell jokes to each other).  Now, they go to YouTube, the DVD rack, one of the hundreds of TV channels, etc. etc. etc. - they're much less likely to buy (or download) a novelty 3 minute audio sample.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 23:09, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
 * True, the entertainment industry has become fractured into smaller and smaller pieces, with resultant pigeonholing. That didn't used to be the case. For example, consider Brenda Lee's song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". Is that a rock song? A jazz song? A country song? It's actually a bit of all three. Lots of 1950s music is not easily pigeonholed. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:17, 17 April 2010 (UTC)