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

= January 31 =

Expensive London our search continues...
This is in continuation with a question I had asked on Jan 24th. We are planning to visit London for 2012 Olympics. Having visited London once earlier last year we fell in love with the place. The city has history and charm, loads of it. While hosting the Olympics is always good for a city from the infrastructure point of view, do Londoners have to milk the world and fleece them to host the Olympics. We are in the process of hunting out a decent place to stay. The following write up shows how some hotels are demanding a ransom...

Just to update you all about our attempts to secure a booking with a london hotel....I have heard from more London hotels and every day gives me more shocking and preposterous quotes. We wanted to check with the best hotels ( 5 Star), the not so expensive hotels( 4 and 3 star), the budget hotels and last but not the least the travelodges as well. While Im personally disturbed by what I read on trip advisor about travelodges, I think given the exorbitant rates these hotels are quoting, we would have no other options but to go in for travelodges. To start with I enquired with one of the best hotels - Taj London - aka 51, Buckingham Gate. On their website, it says 350 pounds per night for a junior suite it sounded ok to us and we decided to ( half heartedly) raise our budget for London Olympics ( from 10,000 pounds to 15,000) and I sent them an email for a quote. We requested to stay for 18 nights from 27th July till 13th August 2012. They came back with a quote of 17,100 pounds !!!!! for 18 nights without VAT and without breakfast... WTF??? Are London hotels killing the proverbial golden goose? Who would in their right mind stay in a hotel and pay 17,100 pounds and pay extra for taxes and breakfast and lunch and dinner??? Coming to the 3 star range, I tried the Strand Palace at the Strand, they have come out with a quote of 6300 pounds sounds steep again but manageble - this includes all taxes and breakfast. We might finally go in for this. The travelodges I havent contacted them yet. Pretty distrubed after reading the reviews on tripadvisor. At times we feel tempted to ditch the whole plan and spend the money else where and stay in a 7 star luxury hotel and watch the Olympics on TV... we might actually end up staying in much more luxurious place and spend less, but yet again the lure of London and the Olympics are tempting us, feeling very angry and let down. Does anyone know any good place to stay? More expensive than Travelodges less expensive than the Strand. Around 250 pounds per night for a couple. A clean and hygienic safe place would do. Dont they have the culture of home stays, where people can pay say 3500 pounds and stay with a family for the 18 days?? Why is London soooo expensive?Is there no rational solution to this? --213.130.123.12 (talk) 04:24, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * London is so expensive because there is a heavy demand for accommodation there at any time, and it will be hugely greater for the period of the Olympics - hotel prices are market driven, and I have no doubt that professional hoteliers (who do not represent 'Londoners' as a whole) know pretty well how to pitch their prices. While I am not a transatlantic authority, I believe that in general both hotel prices and food are markedly more expensive in the UK than in the USA at the best of times.
 * The demand factor will apply equally to non-professional arrangements like private lets and home stays (which are not unknown but which are unusual in the UK): it was much the same when I lived in St Andrews, Scotland and the Open Golf Championship visited - residents used to make a tidy profit by letting their house for a week and moving to cheaper hotel accommodation elsewhere. I myself have never been able to afford hotel accommodation in London; when attending events such as conventions and forced to stay in the vicinity (rather than return 50-70 miles home nightly) I have always crashed in a sleeping bag on friends' floors, but that is obviously not the sort of experience you are looking for!
 * You might instead consider staying somewhere well outside London, which would be somewhat cheaper, and commute in by British Rail and/or London Underground (balancing the lesser hotel bills against the cost of train tickets) - it only takes about an hour to get to Central London from about 50 miles out (I used to travel daily from Winchester to work in Piccadilly). Remember also that some events will be taking place well outside London (for example, the sailing) so your particular interests might influence the convenience of location.
 * You might also consider amending the flavour of your visit, and instead of luxurious hotel facilities, opt for much cheaper 'Bed and Breakfast' accommodation which is traditional and widespread in the UK. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a good time. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 07:07, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I've heard that lots of hotels have long since had large numbers of block bookings by corporates and international federations for 2012, meaning they can charge a king's ransom for the few rooms they have left. I second 87's suggestion of Bed and Breakfast (commonly known as "B&B"). Do a bit of research and you'll have a far more memorable stay than if you stayed in a top class hotel. One last thing - we may have a different hotel star rating system from wherever it is you live. I've never heard of a hotel having more than five stars (but I could be wrong - I'm more of a B&B-er than a 5 star man!) --Dweller (talk) 09:05, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * See Star (classification) for that. There should really be some kind of standard for those ratings though. I've been twice in NYC in 1 1/2 star hotels which were pretty okay but here in Europe I wouldn't recommend anything below 3 stars. So it's hard to compare such ratings anyway. Regards  So Why  10:29, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * To aid your hotel search I would recommend you look at a few guidebooks pitched at the independent traveller. The Rough Guide is the best  but you could also look at the Time Out guide ; on no account use Lonely Planet.  Both these books will contain lists of reasonably priced hotels which have been checked and come well recommended.  Forget Tripadvisor, it is useless for recommendations because one person says one thing about a hotel and the next person says something completely different.  If you get the Rough Guide you will also find it a hugely valuable guidebook when you do come to London.  --Viennese Waltz 10:01, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * If you do decide to go B&B (which I would recommended too), this site explains the one of the most commonly used rating systems. Alansplodge (talk) 18:06, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Have you considered renting a quality apartment instead? London has many short-term holiday lets, some entirely self-catering and some serviced if you want a more hotel-style experience. We have rented such properties in both London and Edinburgh in the past, to give us more flexibility and space when travelling with children, and have stayed in some extremely luxurious and well-equipped places for considerably less than the cost of a luxury hotel.  If you found somewhere central you would have a wide choice of bars and restaurants close at hand, with the option of cooking for yourselves if you felt like it, plus more space than is offered by a hotel bedroom.  Sites like this one (there are others) allow you to deal direct with owners and check availability of properties online.  I'm sure property owners, like hoteliers, are also looking for a premium during the Olympics, but if you're staying for a couple of weeks you may get a better rate, as short breaks are priced higher per day than long ones, to cover the increased turnround costs.  Ka renjc 20:17, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks everyone for your replies, I had posted this question on 24th and we got quite a few helpful replies and worked on those lines and yesterday we were at our wits end, my husband reposted this question and at the outset let me tell, we are both very thankful for all the replies we have received so far. Karenjc you had guided us once with the Afro Celt music and now again with the London Olypics accomodation, thanks a lot. Thanks too to all other individuals who have chipped in their valuable inputs. What we dont understand is, when the Olympic Organising Committee can sell tickets as early as March 2011 online, why cant they have a tie up with several London hotels say 2star, 3 sttar 4 star and 5 star and start giving confirmed room bookings online? When a tourist is ready to make a 100% payment upfront whats stopping them. By selling event tickets alone and leaving the overseas tourists in the lurch with absolutely no idea where they would stay, the Olympic organising committe is magic a big mistake. Leaving us at the mercy of the London Hotel industry is so unfair. It might be argued, no where in the world would an Olympic Organising Committte help in arrranging hotels, but not every city is London. London being one of the most expensive places in the world, even 350 pounds per night is not sufficient for a tiny rathole in central london during the games period. The visiting tourists would feel fleeced. Can everyone affford to spend 20,000 pounds only for rooms and another 6000 pounds for tickets and another 5000 pounds for food?? what about transport, shopping and unexpected expenses? Initially we set aside 10,000 pounds for the whole Olympics trip hoping to finish travel, accomodation, food and tickets within that budget for the two of us. Later reality dawned on us and we realised it would cover virtually nothing. So, in our desperation we upped our budget from 10,000 pounds to 15,000 pounds for those 20 days but this is the max we can shell out. If still we dont find a reasonable place, we might have to forget our plans and watch the event on TV but my husband insists we should go there and is dooing this basically as a gift for me. Its really sad to see him worry about this, he is dashing off mails after emails to most hotels and almost all of them have tripled their prices for the period between july 2012 and august 2012. We however saw some pretty impressive pictures about B&B at Belgravia, Marble Arch and in some other areas within zone 1. But sadly the owners of these properties say its too early to make any commitments for the Olympics. They wanna play the waiting game and go with the highest bidder, cant blame them. Make hay while the sun shines. But they should have some realistic time limits, we just cant wait indefinitely. The event tickets are expected to go on sale by mid march 2011 and according to the official websites are expected to be sold out by april 2011, so we truely are in a catch 22 situation. we are planning to pick up tickets for almost 5000 pounds and will have no commitments on the accomodation till September or October 2011. I sincerely hope things fall into place and common sense prevails and the tourists from other countries come and have a good stay and leave safe and happy. Thanks again for your patience and your help.--Fragrantforever 06:15, 1 February 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fragrantforever (talk • contribs)
 * Every year I stay in London for the same fortnight (but don't think I will be in 2012 for some strange reason...!). I stay at the same hotel (Ibis, Earls Court, if you're interested). However, I can't book 12 months in advance, not even at this hotel which is part of a worldwide chain! The earliest I've ever been able to book in advance at this hotel is six months. I have no reason to suspect things will change for the Olympics. I can endorse what has been said about B&B or staying outside London: transport links are excellent, even if you stay outside the M25 and commute in by train, bus or tube, and I'm sure you will find an affordable hotel if you look outside London. --TammyMoet (talk) 09:51, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

I'd strongly argue that staying in Zone 1 is a mistake unless you're utterly loaded. Especially if what you're interested in is the Olympics. Find somewhere with good ratings a bit further out that has convenient public transport links both for the Olympics and central London. The places further out will probably be a bit less stuck-up than the central London ones and may appreciate getting in some early bookings (with deposits) - times are hard, y'know. --Dweller (talk) 16:40, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Moi je joue
Does anyone know when Brigitte Bardot's song Moi je joue was recorded and released? Thank you.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 10:33, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * According to Allmusic.com (usually, but not always, reliable) it was released in 1964 on the album B.B.. Ghmyrtle (talk) 11:23, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Ghmyrtle. I love that song, and at the moment it's featured in a perfume ad here on Italian TV. I had assumed it was released sometime in the 60s but didn't know the exact year.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 12:19, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * (I know it's been resolved, but just for completeness' sake): The single B.B. 64, featuring "Moi je joue" on the A side and "Ne me laisse pas l'aimer" on the B side, was released in 1964 as well. See encyclopedisque. ---Sluzzelin talk  19:27, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Who is this actor?
Hello, could anyone tell me who this actor is? I created that Photoshop a while ago, I'm just not sure who I used anymore.--213.196.210.36 (talk) 15:03, 31 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Which part is photoshopped? If he was on Star Trek he shouldn't be too hard to find (although I don't recognize him). Adam Bishop (talk) 20:34, 31 January 2011 (UTC)


 * He doesn't look at all familiar to me either. Dismas |(talk) 01:58, 1 February 2011 (UTC)


 * reminds me rather of Damian Lewis. DuncanHill (talk) 02:06, 1 February 2011 (UTC)


 * The image is entitled "travisbridge.png". I assume the "bridge" part refers to the spaceship bridge. Is the "travis" part referring to yourself, or could it be a reference to the person in the photo (in which it might help narrow things down)? (By the way, Tineye doesn't seem to recognize the picture, even if you crop everything but his face.) -- 140.142.20.229 (talk) 03:16, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

I photoshopped the actor's head into the Star Trek scenery, so ignore Star Trek. Also ignore Travis, it's the name of my RPG character. I vaguely recall that the actor's name contained either the first name Alan or the surname Allen.--87.78.55.186 (talk) 08:56, 1 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Mackenzie Astin? Photo here.  Dismas |(talk) 09:19, 1 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Nope, not him. I'm pretty sure on that Alan/Allen thing.--87.78.55.186 (talk) 10:09, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Running that image through MyHeritage.com gives Stuart Townsend, Henry Cavill and Howie Day as possible matches amongst others. Exxolon (talk) 21:24, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
 * No, sadly. Gah, next time I'm picking a more famous actor or, even better, saving the name in a text file...or I'll just never buy a new computer again.--87.78.55.171 (talk) 23:00, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Tupac resurrection
whats the song playing when theyre talking about Suge Knight in Tupac Resurrection? --81.23.48.100 (talk) 16:48, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I haven't seen it, and couldn't view that part online. IMDb's soundtrack list features 16 songs. I'm assuming it's one of them, and if you happen to remember approximately where in the movie (beginning, middle, end) they talk about Suge Knight: The list follows the chronological sequence of tracks in the movie. So, if you listen to a couple of these songs, and it's still audible in your memory, you should be able to find the answer. We also have an article on Tupac: Resurrection (soundtrack) for the CD release, but that list isn't identical with what you hear in the film. ---Sluzzelin talk  21:48, 31 January 2011 (UTC)