Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 January 8

= January 8 =

Help me identify an obscure music video from the 1980s
Can anybody suggest a music video where two people fall from the sky, and land in a convertible automobile? I think this music video aired in the mid to late 1980s, but I am just guessing. I don't know what band performed, nor do I know the name of the song. I am fairly certain the song is not a famous one, but I would still like to know who did it? They landed in the car toward the end of the movie, and the car is driving along on the highway. There's countryside around them. I don't think they are in the city, but out in the country. It's dry weather, possibly sunny, and very likely near sunset. Dexter Nextnumber (talk) 06:27, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Did the part where they fall into the car appear to be a modern film, or was it an older one? I'm asking because in the 1960s, Hertz Rent-a-Car ran ads showing someone dropping out of the sky and into a moving car ("Let Hertz put you in the driver's seat!") and that video could have been either one of those old ads, or a takeoff on one. That doesn't directly help identify the video, but it might jog a memory somewhere. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:49, 8 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks for reminding me of all of those Hertz rent-a-car ads.  So legendary and iconic, they even made their presence known in the caricatures of Hertz by the MAD magazine lampoons of the day.   But I really doubt it was a vintage 1960s commercial somehow redubbed with 1980s music.


 * Rather, the video was in the 1980s, and the music was standard rock and roll.  Electric guitar, drum, that sort of thing.   I was born in 1958, and know the difference between 1960s music and 1980s music.   This was a music video that aired on MTV prior to the creation of VH1, if that helps any.


 * I think it was a guy and a girl that landed in the convertible.  No doubt an inside reference to a rather common theme of times long gone.   Dexter Nextnumber (talk) 07:16, 8 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Obviously 1980s music, but possibly laid over one of those 1960s ads, is what I was thinking. But from your description, the car scene also dated to the 1980s, and either purposely or coincidentally might have imitated the part of that ad clip that starts at about the 48 second mark. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 07:28, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like a ZZ Top video I dimly remember. Possibly Sleeping bag? --Dweller (talk) 10:46, 8 January 2010 (UTC)


 * It may have been soft music, with a standard guitar riff of some kind.  Not blues, more Barry Manilowish.   Okay, maybe not that mellowish, but softer music.   I wish there were a playlist of some kind for MTV music videos, down to the year, day, and a minute.   Do you know if a playlist of that kind exists?   Dexter Nextnumber (talk) 01:56, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Numbers 1 to 10 in Proto-Afroasiatic language?
Can anybody conjecture what, in Proto-Afroasiatic, the numbers for 1 to 10 were? Or suggest a link to a website out of Wiki, that deals with this question? Dexter Nextnumber (talk) 07:07, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Would this be better on the Language Desk? Alansplodge (talk) 18:52, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Copied to Language Desk - look for answers there. Exxolon (talk) 21:00, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Movie titles
Why are some movies given different titles in different countries? Thanks NirocFX 41.193.16.234 (talk) 11:12, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * See the Market Based Title entry on TvTropes.org for a host of reasons from past movie releases. Generally it boils down to either a movie or tv show with that name already existing in that country (and there are either trademarks to buy or you just don't want a clash) or someone believing the target market won't understand an element of the title (such as not knowing what the Philosopher's stone is in a Harry Potter book/movie title or that Live Free or Die is a state motto in the USA which can be handily used for a Bruce Willis film). Generally it's just marketing fiddling but sometimes there are very good reasons. Nanonic (talk) 11:45, 8 January 2010 (UTC)


 * A while (that's a decade or two, probably) ago the Open University ran a program (presumably as part of a business or marketing course) about the branding of the James Bond films. It said that this was the first film series that was internationally marketed and that allowed local marketing people to decide how the property as a whole was sold in their area (rather than just imposing a uniform campaign from Hollywood, with just translation).   For one particular film (I think we're talking late-Moore/early-Dalton) was marketed in the UK and US with a fairly violent trailer, in France and Italy with a trailer emphasising the sex, and in Germany with a trailer emphasising gadgets. In some countries the film's English language name was used, in some it was translated, in some it was utterly different, and in Japan it was very strange - something like "the snow falls from the autumn sky", which seemed to carry no resemblance to the actual (let's face it, wholly unpoetic) film.  It also said that Bond was marketed in China as "The Iron Man", and the film posters for the Chinese market looked a lot like those of martial arts films.  It seems the Bond series was a harbinger of the phenomenon that you report. It seems entirely a wise business idea to let the marketing people expert in a given market decide how to sell a film (at least of this kind) - maybe great art transcends borders, but tits-and-explosions films need to be tailored to the market, and the name is just a small part of that. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:37, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

So it's basically just a way of marketing and sometimes not wanting to clash with other folks and depending on the type of audience/market that you're facing obviously it's all business at the end.

Thanks guys, (Nanonic, Finlay McWalter)

NirocFX (talk) 09:56, 9 January 2010 (UTC)


 * And of course different languages in different countries. A movie can't be marketed if the audience can't understand the title. Sometimes it is translated, sometimes an all new title is set in another coutry. The Great Cucumber (talk) 19:24, 10 January 2010 (UTC)


 * And somtimes, because of cultural differences, a word-by-word translation might not be appropriate, might sound too artificial, or have a different meaning. A very extreme example I can think of, is the movie Alien. For an American audience, it is quite clear that the word "alien" most commonly refers to an extraterrestrial, but for example in Hungarian, it just means "foreigner". So they came out with such an extreme change in the title as: "The 8th passenger is the Death". --131.188.3.21 (talk) 23:41, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * In Yugoslav markets, Alien was just "The 8th Passanger". Which made for an awkward situation when sequels were made - we got "The 8th Passanger 2" even though there was more then 7 people and no travel involved in the sequels :) TomorrowTime (talk) 08:39, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * At least it was avoided in Hungary, the second movie titled "The name of the planet: Death". This can, however, create another problem: the title alone does not make it clear that it's a sequel of the first one. --131.188.3.20 (talk) 15:48, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * This article unfortunately debunks the myth (which would have been great if true) that the film of the play The Madness of George III was changed to The Madness of King George because American audiences would have thought it was the sequel to The Madness of George I and II. --Richardrj talkemail 09:31, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

Before this thread goes away, I must add a note about my favorite example of such a title change.

During World War II, the British carried out a military deception where they used an actor, M.E. Clifton James, to impersonate their most famous general, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who he resembled. Clifton James subsequently wrote a book about the deception and in 1958 this was adapted into a film, aptly titled I Was Monty's Double; Clifton James, naturally, played both title characters.

However, this title was not considered suitable when the film was released in the US: presumably it was felt that American audiences, if they ever knew who Monty was, would have forgotten by now. So the title was changed for the US... to Hell, Heaven or Hoboken! I do not believe the movie contains any reference to any specific places in the US, but I read somewhere on the Internet (I can't find the page now) that the title phrase was an American catchphrase about not knowing where you'd end up when you got into a war, or something of that kind. --Anonymous, 20:45 UTC, January 13, 2010.

Scottish tunes
Is there a musical relationship between any of the following tunes?
 * 1)  Bill Haley's Rockin' Through The Rye
 * 2)  Comin' Through the Rye
 * 3)  Common' Frae The Town
 * 4)  Auld Lang Syne
 * 5)  Durham Rangers
 * 6)  Durham Reel / Durham's Reel?
 * 7)  Bonnie Dundee
 * 8)  A Hundred Pipers ? Kittybrewster   &#9742;  12:02, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * In what way do you mean? Poss same age? Same Writer? Same chord structure? Do you suspect a link (and therefore what do you thnk it is?) or is this just all the Scottish Tunes you can think of? The more detailed the request, the better the response will be... Gazhiley (talk) 13:49, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I went to Harry Robertson (composer) where it said Hoots Mon (1958) was obviously based on and a response to Bill Haley's Rockin' Through The Rye (1956) which in turn is based on Comin' Through the Rye. That seemed to me dotty as it sounds the same as A Hundred Pipers so I changed it. But maybe I am wrong or tune deaf or chord structure unaware. In any event I breached WP:OR. Comin' Through the Rye says it is based on Auld Lang Syne but doesn't sound like it to me. A Hundred Pipers referred to Durham Reel and Durham Rangers and Bonnie Dundee as if they are the same tune. My ears don't agree with that. So I thought to ask here. Kittybrewster  &#9742;  14:07, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * If it lacks a citation, it's probably an editor's personal opinion. And I certainly wouldn't say Comin' Through the Rye sounds very much like Auld Lang Syne. The last line of the chorus maybe sounds a little similar, but that's about it. Also, if you replace your hard-coded numbers with pound-signs, I think they will line up the way you typed them. :) [I took the liberty of changing them]. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:29, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Allan Sherman:
 * Do not make a stingy standwich / Pile the cold-cuts high
 * Customers should see salami / Coming through the rye
 * I know a man whose name is Lang / And he has a neon sign
 * And Mr. Lang is very old / So they call it Old Lang's Sign
 * I don't think those songs even have the same meter, let along the same tune. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:12, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't think those songs even have the same meter, let along the same tune. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:12, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't think those songs even have the same meter, let along the same tune. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:12, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Baltimore Ravens
Do you think the Ravens (NFL) can beat the New England Patriots and advance?  MMS  2013  21:04, 8 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Do we think they can? It is possible, yes.  But, to quote the top of this page, The reference desk does not answer requests for opinions or predictions about future events. Do not start a debate; please seek an internet forum instead.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:16, 8 January 2010 (UTC)


 * "On any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team." Does that pretty well cover it? :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:53, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The majority of the lines are around 3 for the Pats, which means that the public thinks the teams are roughly equal (no clue if the lines started out at -3; plus the lines aren't meant to judge the actual outcomes but to get equal wagering on both teams).--droptone (talk) 13:29, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

SF play/book/story about anti-terrorist dogs
A few months ago (which may mean a year or more) BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play (or perhaps simply a reading of book) of a science-fictionish nature. Can any refdesker identify it (which my googling has failed to do)? It took place in a near-future in which terrorism was endemic, and the terrorists had reacted to security measures by hiding explosives under their clothing. I think the authorities had in turn insisted that travellers wear translucent clothing, and in turn the terrorists had taken to sewing explosives into their bodies. This arms race was broken by dogs (trained, I think, by some ex-military bloke) which had unparalleled ability to detect these bombs (I think by some body-language method, rather than smell or some cyborg/magic type thing). The play was written with this all in the past, as a reminiscence about those black days before the dogs fixed terrorism. Given recent events this story seems yet more apt. Does this ring any bells with anyone? -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:12, 8 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Well, I can tell you that you didn't imagine it, but I can't for the life of me find evidence of it online. Maybe I'm missing some key words. I seem to recall a rather dark ending with barking dogs approaching. 86.178.73.74 (talk) 00:00, 10 January 2010 (UTC)