Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 April 23

= April 23 =

1970s disco hit
I need help identifying a disco hit from the late 1970s, but only have vague information to go on so hope someone can identify it. It was based, I believe, on a piece of classical music, starts off slowly with an organ before speeding up into a regular disco beat. It was a hit in about 1978 or 1979. Sorry I can't be more specific. Thanks 86.149.158.90 (talk) 16:26, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Is it A Fifth of Beethoven? -- Jayron  32  18:45, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I've just looked it up on YouTube and sadly it's not that one, but Walter Murphy looks promising as the possible artist as I see he recorded a lot of classical disco hits. Had forgotten that one though so thanks for reminding me. The organ from the intro of the song I'm thinking of sounded almost like it was being played in a Cathedral or large concert hall. 86.149.158.90 (talk) 19:07, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
 * A piece of amazingly good luck. It's Toccata And Funk In D Minor but the version here sounds slightly different to the one I remember. Did anyone else record a disco version apart from Walter Murphy? 86.149.158.90 (talk) 19:23, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Well now, more luck. It's a version by Sky I was thinking of, although I had it in mind the intro was an organ piece when it actually sounds more stringy. Haven't heard it for years though. Thanks for helping me to find the answer, albeit indirectly. 86.149.158.90 (talk) 19:35, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Movies question
Is it officially allowed to speak a taboo words like 'fuck' or 'asshole' to speak in any kind of Hollywood movie? Max Viwe  &#124;  Wanna chat with me?  19:44, 23 April 2012 (UTC)


 * "Officially allowed" by whom? I've heard many Hollywood movies using such language.  --  ♬  Jack of Oz  ♬  [your turn]  20:02, 23 April 2012 (UTC)


 * "Officially allowed" by government or censor board Max Viwe &#124;  Wanna chat with me?  20:12, 23 April 2012 (UTC)


 * It is allowed in the U.S. There is no government censorship of movies.   Most movies are given a rating by the MPAA rating system, and the rating is based on content.  A few movies are released without a rating.  RudolfRed (talk) 20:36, 23 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes, that's a valuable rating system, as it prevents me from accidentally viewing any movie which isn't rated NC-17. :-) StuRat (talk) 21:09, 23 April 2012 (UTC)


 * As that article says, "fuck" isn't usually allowed in films for children under 13, but this is a commercial restriction based on what cinemas will show (and what parents will allow), not a legal prohibition. The USA also has obscenity laws though these don't prevent swearing or bad language - the article is quite detailed about cases where material has been prosecuted, and it tends to be either pornographic images or textual descriptions of child abuse. Even films like The Aristocrats, with the filthiest language imaginable, are legal. Until recently, the worst swearing was absolutely prohibited on network television with fines for breaking the ban (see Seven dirty words) but recently standards have relaxed a little. --Colapeninsula (talk) 21:22, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
 * As far as "censorship" of entertainment in the U.S., the only federally-mandated language and nudity censorship is for over-the-air broadcast media under the santion of the Federal Communication Commission, which only covers over-the-air TV and radio, and only over the hours of 6AM - 10PM. Overnight, the FCC established a Safe harbor where over-the-air broadcasters may show nudity and/or swear words; famously the TV show NYPD Blue did so with some regularity.  Other forms of media, including cable broadcasting, satellite radio, movies and DVD/recorded media, there are very few restrictions.  Which is not to say that anything goes; there are industry-imposed standards, such as the aforementioned MPAA for movies, or the ESRB for video games.  Also, for cable and broadcast TV channels, each network has its own office of Standards and Practices which regulates their own content under a regime of "self-censorship", similar to the MPAA and ESRB.  -- Jayron  32  03:48, 24 April 2012 (UTC)


 * See Bully_(2011_film). 69.62.243.48 (talk) 20:11, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

An equally  interesting  matter  is  what  is  allowed  on  TV. See You  go  to  a  movie,  it  has  an  R  rating  and  You  pay  your  money  as  a  grown  adult,  they  can  put  what  ever  they  want  in  it,  since  supposedly  children  are  not  watching. Of course  when  the  same  movie  is  put  on  cable  type  TV  (HBO, Sky,  etc.,)  then  it  may  be  uncut,  but  if  so,  shown  only  at  certain times  so  the  kids  might  not  see - assuming  parents  are  monitoring  things. Here in  NZ  we  had  local  and  foreign ( US, UK, etc )  films  in  cinema  and  not  too  many  bans - I  recall  the  Exterminator  was  banned  here  for  some  years  before  being  finally  allowed  in,  but  up  until 1996 the  f  word  was  rarely  heard  on  normal  TV,  then  for  some  reason  everything  changed. Now before  then  You  could  get  it  on  Sky  Movies,  but  now  it  is  every  release  made  with  such  language  is  shown  uncensored  on  network  television,  and  not  just  those,  but  made  for  cable  TV  programmes  like  the  Sopranos. Once in  a  while  the  f  words  are  kept  out  of  some  films  up  until  a  certain  time,  but  most  of  the  time,  if  on  network  TV,  movies  like  that  are  shown  uncut,  but  at  least  with  those  stations  they  are  shown  at later  times. But nowadays  the  idea  of  trying  to  protect  one's  kids  from  such  language  if  they  want  is  harder  for  parents  with  online  stuff  and  DVDS  completely  uncensored. Certainly, the  more  f  words  and  such  a  film  has,  the  higher  its  rating,  so  ones  meant  for  kids  and  designated  as  such  would  not  contain  such  profanity,  as  no  one  would  expect  Yogi Bear  or  Papa  Smurf  to  say  f  u  to  anyone. This relates  to  the  debate  on  labelling  of  music  as  shown  in  the  movie Warning: Parental Advisory,  and  therefore  to  movies. My thoughts  on  that  is  that  Tipper  Gore  and  her  friends  were  not  necessarily  trying  to  censor  music,  but  just  at  least  get the  artists and  recording  companies  to  acknowledge  content  that  might  be  deemed  offensive,  since  sure,  even  if  one  did  not  approve  of  such  music,  as  long  as  it  is  not  forced  on  people  or  if  at  least  parents  who  are  responsible  for  their  own  kids  can  look  out  for  what  they  think  might  be  damaging,  then  such  music  might  have  to  be allowed  to  be  published. The issue  was  about  parents  being  able  to  protect  their  kids  and  be  warned  about  music  they  might  deem  not  right  for  them,  since  if  parents  don't  even  have  the  right  to  look  after  their  own  kids,  what  are  they  for ? But anyway,  now  we  see  no  holds  are  barred  in  making  films,  and  even  here  in  NZ  f  words  are  allowed  on  network  tv  at  certain  times  in  certain  films, as  that  is  what  the  film  maker  wanted. Main thing  is,  if  anyone  does  not like  it  they  do  not  have  to  watch  or  hear,  and  when  TV  ends  up  being  full  of  nothing  but  profanity,  then  anyone  opposed  to  it  may  just  need  to  dump  TV  as  a  lost  cause  and  read  a  classic  novel  with  no  bad  words  in  it  or  play  Monopoly  with  the  kids  but  be  careful  not  to  curse  when  they  land  on  sonemeone  else's  Mayfair  with a hotel. Chris the Russian Christopher Lilly  07:13, 25 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The stuff that's allowed on over-the-air TV in America is rather appalling compared with the way things were in the old days. I think we have Richard Nixon to thank for a lot of this. Vulgarities were forbidden in most of the public media until the Watergate tapes (with no "expletives deleted") got published in newspapers. Suddenly there was vulgarity everywhere - quotes from the President, no less. Nixon certainly wasn't the only factor, but he helped push things along. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:16, 25 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, I'm certainly no Nixon-lover, but I think that's drawing rather a long bow, Bugsy, old bean. Lots of people use profanities in private who would never do so in public, and Nixon was no way the first president to habitually swear.  Sure, he made all those tapes, but never in his worst nightmares imagined they'd ever enter the public domain.  --  ♬  Jack of Oz  ♬  [your turn]  20:27, 25 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Oh, for sure he didn't want them made public. Which is odd considering he was supposedly doing it for the historical record. His original transcripts all had the soon-to-be-famous term "expletive deleted" every time he said one of those words you can't say on TV (or couldn't then, anyway). Worse than that, though, his transcripts were sometimes altered to cast things in a different light. Once the unedited and uncensored transcripts were published, he was cooked. But it was the printing and reading of this stuff by news media that helped break the taboo. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:10, 25 April 2012 (UTC)
 * And that's the point. The media chose to reveal the contents of the tapes to a breathless public, and if they hadn't, the breathless public would have demanded them anyway.  Those are the parties we can point the finger at - and Nixon's pretty much out of the picture.  Blaming Nixon for contributing to the prevalence of taboo words in the media would be like blaming Einstein for the loss of life in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  --  ♬  Jack of Oz  ♬  [your turn]  08:58, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The media broke some of the taboos, thanks to Nixon. Had he and his crowd behaved themselves, it could have been a much different story. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:07, 27 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I always fear for the morals of the poor censors who are forced to watch all those dirty movies to decide on classifications. Surely they must now have the most corrupted minds... HiLo48 (talk) 20:38, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Nissan Juke advert
Which motorcycle model was used in this video? --84.61.181.19 (talk) 21:55, 23 April 2012 (UTC)