Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 April 14

= April 14 =

Sailor Uranus
Can anyone name some good Sailor Uranus websites? Neptunekh2 (talk) 00:16, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Type "Sailor Uranus" into the little white box in the middle of the page at the website http://www.google.com -- Jayron  32  01:47, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * This is like deja vu from 3 days ago. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:27, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Easy Rider Movie
The motorcycles in the movie Easy Rider were stolen before the last scene was shot. How were they stolen and were any ever recovered? Anyone know the inside story? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Robcasey20 (talk • contribs) 07:26, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The article Easy Rider speculates they were taken to a chop-shop. Whoever knows the inside story, assuming they're still among the living, is not likely to go public unless they want to run the risk of arrest. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 10:04, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * What's the statute of limitations for grand theft movie prop in California, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Louisiana? —Tamfang (talk) 02:16, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * NO LEGAL ADVICE. —Tamfang (talk) 02:18, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Are you answering your own question by saying we can't answer it? --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  18:51, 15 April 2011 (UTC)


 * He is certainly stating that he wants to know the the statue of limitations, not legal advice for somehow getting around the statute of limitations. -- k a i n a w &trade; 19:25, 15 April 2011 (UTC)


 * alrite Guv'nor it were me wot did it, it's a fair cop, take me down Perry-mankster (talk) 20:01, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Who is Chyna whyte?
Who is this Rapper Chyna Whyte? Why is she so mysterious? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.92.149.174 (talk) 15:33, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * From my research, she appears as a vocalist on a few records here and there. Being "not that famous" does not make her that mysterious.  She doesn't appear to have done more recording than the average session musician, and not every one of those has a whole lot of public information about them.  -- Jayron  32  17:50, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Mahisasura Maridini Stotram
Does anybody know of a decent-quality recording of this Hindu song available for purchase on CD or download? Thanks. ╟─ Treasury Tag ►  Lord Speaker  ─╢ 16:53, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I know it is a surprise to find intelligence in youtube comments but they say it is on this CD  meltBanana  19:08, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Aha, well done! Used that to track it down for free and legally too... thanks! ╟─ Treasury Tag ►  ballotbox  ─╢ 19:52, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

American Idol - Pia Toscano elimination
Why was Pia Toscano eliminated? I know they say because she did not receive enough votes, however I don’t buy that. According to the Pia Toscano article, she was considered to be a front-runner in the competition. There was Las Vegas odds of 300 to 1 against her going home and 2 to 1 she would win the competition. What went wrong?

These are the questions I have:
 * Was it because there were more female voters than male?
 * I don’t buy that logic, because females would have voted for her also - because she has such a wonderful voice. I didn’t vote, but if I had, she would have received my vote.


 * Was it because somewhere along the line of the voting system, many of her votes were received by another (intentionally or unintentionally)?
 * Was it because there is some sort of software that can speed-dial so another can receive thousands of votes, that they really don’t deserve?

We are missing out on the sweet voice of Pia as the audience and therfore cheated, because somewhere the American Idol producers are not running the voting system correctly. Where can I send an e-mail to them - which I’m sure they will not read. All I can do in protest is refuse to watch the program and watch Survivor instead. How much did the audience drop because Pia was eliminated?--Christie the puppy lover (talk) 18:47, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The answer is because not enough people voted for her. At the early round especially, the difference between being first and last is MUCH closer than in the later rounds, because the votes are divied up among more people.  Also, people don't vote off their least favorite, the only vote for their favorite, I would imagine not a lot of fans "split" their votes if they vote multiple times.  Its quite possible to be everyone's second favorite contestant and still get voted off, because there's not enough voters who like you as their favorite.  Imagine a competition with four competitors, with the following preferences among, say, 1000 voters:

People clearly like Charlie. In fact, Charlie appears to be one of the best singers, given that very few people would place charlie in either last or second to last place. In fact, literally NO ONE thinks Charlie should be eliminated. But Charlie gets eliminated because only people's first place vote counts. Alice, whom most people agree should be eliminated, stays because theres a tiny group of dedicated fans willing to vote her first, while Charlie, who has a MUCH broader appeal, and whom nobody wants to get rid of, gets eliminated. See, there is no conspiracy. There is no miscounting of votes. There is NO misvoting, or any shenanigans going on at all. This is just the way that the voting system works. Pia is Charlie. No one thinks she should have been eliminated. But not enough people voted for her first, so she has to go. That's how the game works. -- Jayron  32  19:11, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I think that was a fantastic explanation. doom gaze   (talk)  20:41, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Even I understood that. Thanks!--Christie the puppy lover (talk) 22:10, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Maybe no shenanigans as such, but apparently the audience booed the results, and if the voting system is so flawed that the viewers don't like the outcome, the show may have "jumped the shark", as they say. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:36, 16 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Buggsy - I am just a dumb blond. Can you explain in simple terms the show may have "jumped the shark".' Thanks...--Christie the puppy lover (talk) 21:29, 17 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Jumping the shark will explain all. We have an article on everything here.  Even Wikipedia has an article on everything!.  -- Jayron  32  01:10, 18 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The article explains it quite we. American Idol was my favorite program, however there must be so flaw in the voting system and I blame the producers of the show. The show has climaxed and is only going downhill from here. Having a voting system that would allow Pia (their best singer) get out voted by much lesser quality singers is one huge mistake. I suspect the show has not only lost me and Tom Hanks but thousands of others. The artilce sums it up: From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same. Thanks for answers.--Christie the puppy lover (talk) 11:23, 18 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Jayron32's nailed it. They're using a vote where people are asked to "pick their favorite" but they're interpreting the vote by simply reversing the numbers and treating it like a "pick who gets voted out".     As Jayron32 demonstrated the two polls are not equivalent. If you want to have a fair vote on who gets voted out, you have to actually ask people who should get voted out. APL (talk) 15:31, 18 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't say we know there's no misvoting. I don't follow the show but from the above and a quick search we don't really know why people voted how they did etc. I would say it's easily possible people didn't bother to vote for Pia because they thought'd she'd be fine instead voting for others who they liked perhaps less then Pia but thought were more at risk or simply not voting at all. The nature of such a system is there's good reason to vote strategically, unfortunately if too many people do it.... Nil Einne (talk) 13:41, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Oh, there ARE definately voting shenanigans in the sense that voters play funny games with the way they vote. See Vote for the Worst, a website dedicated to aggregating and organizing people to intentionally screw with the results of the show by generating the sort of apparent paradoxes I describe above.  They have had a marked effect on the results of the shows, especially during the middle weeks when the effect is most pronounced (see Sanjaya Malakar).  However, their effect is generally such that the truly abysmal contestants (those who really are the worst of the 12 finalists) don't make it out of the first few rounds, and the very best (those with the best chance of winning it all) usually still make it to the end.  However, this still doesn't mean that there's anything going on at the show's side of things; the votes can be perfectly counted, regardless of people's reasoning for voting.  -- Jayron  32  14:41, 19 April 2011 (UTC)