Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 December 31

= December 31 =

Alien invasion movie
Watching The Darkest Hour brought to mind another alien invasion movie I watched a few years back, but can't remember the name of. I watched it on the Internet, however, so it could be much older than a few years.

This movie broke with every alien-invasion cliche I can think of. Most alien movies focus on several average-Joe people in a city, a few of which get killed by aliens by the end, and sometimes involves a guy protecting his girlfriend. This movie focuses on one very tough, female-warrior-type girl who protects her friends and family, with other characters going in and out. Also unlike in the cliche, this girl is not likeable, but rather an antihero who's despicable in nearly every way. She has very few admirable qualities, her toughness is more machismo than actual courage, and the audience sometimes wishes that the alien overlords would torment her more cruelly. The aliens are not the soulless machine-like entities we see in the cliche, and despite having a murderous mission, some of them have very charming and likeable personalities. If I remember correctly, the ending was also not the cliched "there's still hope for humanity, though it's a long road ahead"; it was highly unusual and ambiguous.

Does anyone know what movie this is? I really liked it, if only because it was highly unconventional, and I'd like to re-watch it if I could. --99.237.252.228 (talk) 02:47, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * District 9? -- Jayron  32  02:50, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * No, District 9 is mostly about humans killing and oppressing other sentient beings. That's not really a film cliche; it's just a real-life cliche.  --99.237.252.228 (talk) 03:56, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Can you give us more details? What did the aliens look like? What did they do? What was the setting of the film, country, city, etc? What weapons did the alien have? How did they torture her? Did they arrive in space ships that were shown? What powers did they have Can you remember any specific incident? Broad strokes are good but a specific incident will act as much more of a signature for our memories.--108.46.103.88 (talk) 07:43, 1 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Skimming through the top half of IMDb's "alien invasion" films, I think Psychon Invaders (2006 video) is the only one that even remotely fits the bill. Clarityfiend (talk) 21:29, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

The English Patient (film)
What is the song that Hana (the nurse attending to Count Laszlo de Almásy (played by Ralph Fiennes) after he is burned) plays on the piano?Curb Chain (talk) 03:17, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Maybe you mean the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  03:19, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Which variation?Curb Chain (talk) 05:57, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Is the song at the beginning of the credits the same?Curb Chain (talk) 07:23, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You credit my memory with impossible things. Flattering, but we need a link.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  07:26, 1 January 2012 (UTC)


 * OK. When she first finds the keyboard, she plays with one hand the tune of the Aria (main theme) from the Goldberg Variations.  Then she launches into a slightly abridged second half of Variation No. 1, with all 10 fingers.
 * The credits open with one of Bach's keyboard concertos (don't know which one), then music by Gabriel Yared, then back to Bach - probably the same concerto as before, but I couldn't swear to it. None of these snippets of Bach were listed in the music credits, but I guess you knew that.  Best I can do for now.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  01:10, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Why do tennis players bounce up and down?
I'm not talking about bouncing the ball. I'm talking about bouncing up and down themselves, particularly while awaiting serve. HiLo48 (talk) 03:49, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Helps to keep them limber, like stretching before a jog ? StuRat (talk) 03:54, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * But stretching before a jog is done when the body has been idle for a while. The bouncing I speak of happens on almost every point, in the middle of long matches, when the body is obviously all warmed up and very stretched, and only seconds after playing the previous point. It would like the batter in a baseball game bouncing up and down after every pitch while the ball is being returned to the pitcher. I can't think of a parallel in other sports. HiLo48 (talk) 03:58, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Quarterbacks in American football do this, or something similar, while sitting in the pocket waiting to throw a pass. This is because at any moment, the pass protection may break down and the quarterback may have to scramble to avoid getting tackled.  This video and the related ones show that this is a trained technique.  This video shows similar training for tennis players.  It is also a trained technique there as well.  Standing flatfooted in anticipation of having to make a quick move is a bad idea.  At least, that's the idea behind bouncing slightly or shuffling the feet.  It keeps you mentally and physically ready to move quickly in any direction if you need to.  -- Jayron  32  04:17, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Boxers tend to bounce around a bit, perhaps due to the giant trampoline they are standing on. StuRat (talk) 04:19, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Also, regarding baseball, batters don't bounce up and down, but many often do wiggle the bat back and forth a bit in anticipation of hitting the ball; same idea. -- Jayron  32  04:20, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * It's all part of their physical and mental preparation - keeping oneself "alert" and poised. Many batters wiggle the bat as Jay says, and most also take swings while waiting for the pitcher to go into his set or windup position. Just watch Jim Thome sometime. And for us old-timers, there was Joe Morgan with his constant "wing-flap" mannerism of his trailing arm. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 10:42, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Taco Bell US TV ad
This ad seems really jerky, like it has a very low frame rate. It's the one where someone brings their taco 12-pack to a party. Has anyone else noticed this ? If not, perhaps my local stations just got a bad copy. StuRat (talk) 06:24, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I've seen the ad several times, and haven't noted that problem. Not that I was looking, but it didn't stand out in that way for me.  -- Jayron  32  06:26, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Tune from Monty Python sketch
At around the six-minute mark in this video, a tune starts playing. Can anyone identify it? L ANTZY T ALK 10:04, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Can't place it, although it's obviously a bagpipe tune of some kind. Maybe while they're at it, the experts could identify the bagpipe number in this one, also: ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 10:53, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Um, you mean bagpipe as in piano accordion? I would say it's a reel--Shantavira|feed me 13:41, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Fine. The question is whether the tunes are traditional, or just something made up for these sketeches. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:45, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I occasionally play in a ceilidh band, and we have literally hundreds of tunes in this style (the Python one, I mean) to choose from. For that reason I'd suspect it's an existing tune rather than one specially written for the programme, but unless someone recognises it it could be difficult to identify it. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 18:02, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * FWIW I just blew the dust of my edition of "The Complete Unexpurgated Scripts" - often a good source for this type of question - but unfortunately the music is not named there.--Shantavira|feed me 20:18, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Obviously it's the instrumental version of "I'm a (Scottish) Lumberjack, and I'm OK". Clarityfiend (talk) 21:34, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Scottish lumberjack" Would that be a caberjock?  :)  Btw, what do they call the people who toss cabers? "Caber-tossers"?  Maybe just "tossers"? --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  22:12, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You are correct. Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:17, 3 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Excellent, thank you. --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]