Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 July 23

= July 23 =

Halo Wars 2
Will they make a Halo Wars 2? --Amerq (talk) 01:05, 23 July 2011 (UTC)


 * In this article from March, the creative director at 343 Industries (part of Microsoft) said they are not working on it right now. Maybe someday.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 14:16, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

complete listing of the studio musicians featured in the recording of the 1990 hit "Impulsive" from Wilson Phillips self-titled debut album~`~`
I have searched in practically every other venue I know of (YouTube, for example) and have yet o come across a fact-checked, bona-fide list of ALL the studio players who played on Wilson Phillips hit "Impulsive" from their self-titled debut album. My reason for having such an intense interest in that particular song is this: both the lead (slide) and rhythm guitar tracks are extraordinary and I know several other professional guitarists whom share that opinion and who are equally interested in finding-out, once-and-for-all, who the players are who rendered those phenomenal performances, because they form the main basis for the song's appeal, other than the fact that the lead vocal was sung by Wendy Wilson in her first such turn as the featured lead-vocalist for Wilson Phillips.

My PERSONAL opinion is that that inimitable lead, slide-guitar track could ONLY have been played by Joe Walsh, of James Gang and Eagles, among others, fame. The problem with my hypothesis is that the guitarist shown in the video for the song does not LOOK, to me anyway, like Mr. Walsh. In addition, it's quite obvious that the lead and rhythm guitar tracks were recorded separately and then dubbed-in, but that previously-mentioned video for the song only shows that one "mystery" guitarist playing a gorgeous white Gibson Les Paul Custom with black binding and trim. I'm also very curious as to who that lone guitarist featured in the video for "Impulsive" is. I'm guessing, ad this is PURE speculation, that it might actually have been HE who played the almost-equally brilliant rhythm-guitar track. Any help in providing me, and the world of audiophiles in general, a comprehensive listing of the ACTUAL names of ALL the featured studio musicians on "Impulsive", as well as the name of the guitarist shown playing that white Les Paul in the video, would be greatly appreciated. SOMEONE out there knows, surely, the truth, and I'm imploring y'all to come forth with this information, finally.Steeldan33 (talk) 11:44, 23 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Your instinct is probably correct, since according to Allmusic.com: Joe Walsh did play on that album. That is not to say that he played on that song, but he's the only slide guitarist noted in the credits, so it is almost certainly him.  As far as the other musicians, it would be hard to say since the credit list does not break down the musicians by song, but the album itself featured, besides Joe Walsh, some other well-known session musicians whose names I recognize, including Abraham Laboriel Sr. on bass and Michael Landau and Steve Lukather on guitar, though there is no telling from Allmusic which tracts they played on (Abraham Laboriel is one of three bassists listed there, for example).  If you can get a copy of the album itself, it may have liner notes which break down which musicians played on which songs, some albums do that.  -- Jayron  32  15:40, 23 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Ahem! The Wikipedia article Wilson Phillips (album) actually contains the answer the OP wanted. (Saved me from having to go downstairs and check my copy of the album, which would have been my next step.) (And now I have, the sleeve notes do indeed give very comprehensive details of the musicians involved.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.33 (talk) 23:55, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

Movies about technical topics which actually get technical
Most movies about technical topics gloss over that topic completely to make it accessible to a broader audience. Thus, A Beautiful Mind barely mentions the math, Searching for Bobby Fischer doesn't even show the chess board so you can see it, and Contact spends almost no time on ham radio details. So, are there any films which do cover the supposed topic in detail ? StuRat (talk) 21:25, 23 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Apollo 13? Clarityfiend (talk) 22:47, 23 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Documentary films. Non-fiction is much more popular in print, for good reasons. It is difficult to quickly review or easily index a film. However, for complex topics that would bore casual readers, film can be a superior medium. The best documentaries are often entertaining, too. 99.2.148.119 (talk) 23:20, 23 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I've also seen documentaries in the form of biographies, which focused on the personal life of the individual and gave short shrift to the technical topic to which that person had dedicated their life. StuRat (talk) 12:39, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Andrei Rublev is very detailed about bell casting. Scorsese's Casino tells you most of what you need to know to run a casino.  La Belle Noiseuse and Edvard Munch do not disappoint as films about painting.  Steve McQueen's Le Mans is generally reckoned to offer an accurate and detailed representation of motor sport, despite being really boring (actually, many people find motor sport is really boring, so there you go). --Colapeninsula (talk) 00:31, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Tucker: The Man and His Dream Pepso2 (talk) 05:00, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I recall lots of discussion of the financial aspects of car production, but little on the technical aspects, like draft angles on sheet metal dies and such. StuRat (talk) 12:41, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Okay, then how about Breast Men and Day for Night? Pepso2 (talk) 13:07, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I will second La Belle Noiseuse and add A Man Escaped, which is very technical about his escaping from prison. Recury (talk) 18:02, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for all the answers, so far. StuRat (talk) 23:31, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Half remembered science fiction book or short story....
I was wondering if anyone could help me ID a book or short story I half remember reading. The basic premise was that the action took place on a slowly rotating planet. The indigenous people there were therefore nomadic, always staying on the sunny side. The story followed a tribe of people whose calling in life was to live along the eastern edge of daylight and build the homes and infrastructure that made up their civilization. Once they built a town, they'd move east to newly exposed land and start over. I think (And this is the part that I can't quite remember) that the story's drama revolved around a woman who grew up in this tribe, but was marrying into a family that lived on the far western edge of civilization where everything was being broken down and salvaged before it was crushed by glaciers.

Is this ringing any bells for anyone? I don't even remember if this was a book or a short story. If it was a short story than it probably appeared in either Analog or Asimov's magazines, because that's what I read, but I can't find it.

Thanks. APL (talk) 23:33, 23 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The Paradise Syndrome Shell (Nut Case) (talk) 02:02, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * No, that's not it. It was definitely written fiction that I'm thinking of.  Thanks, though.  APL (talk) 02:09, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, it is SF, about a tribe, and with Shatner, you know it has drama. That fits most of the criteria above. I'll keep looking. Shell (Nut Case) (talk) 02:22, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Ok, but there are roughly a zillion SF stories about tribal cultures. The 'hook' to this one was that they lived on a slowly rotating planet, and that their role in society was to build up society's infrastructure on land that had just been freed from glaciers by sunrise. APL (talk) 05:22, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps it made the list. Shell (Nut Case) (talk) 13:01, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * By chance is it Nightward by John Park - which was a short story published recently in Tesseracts? In an interview, he said that he got the idea from a story he read about a slowly rotating planet, which I can't find him giving the title in any interview. Perhaps the book he was reading is the one you are looking for if his story isn't it. -- k a i n a w &trade; 19:30, 25 July 2011 (UTC)