Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2017 February 14

= February 14 =

The band KANSAS lead singer Lynn Meredith
Why isn't Lynn Meredith included as a member of the band, just mentioned as a starting member but not as part of the group? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ktgilk (talk • contribs)
 * Because he was part of a band called "White Clover" which it appears his (and only his) publicist has retroactively dubbed "Kansas I". There was no band called Kansas until 1973, when some former members of White Clover joined some other musicians to form Kansas; the first band to call itself Kansas consisted of Phil Ehart, Dave Hope, Kerry Livgren, Robby Steinhardt, Steve Walsh, and Rich Williams.  Being in a band with some of the guys who later went on to form Kansas doesn't make you a founder of Kansas, it makes you a member of a band that had some other people that later went on to form Kansas.  -- Jayron 32 03:25, 14 February 2017 (UTC)

"Sardovia"
This week's episode of Scorpion took place primarily in a fictitious eastern European country called Sardovia. About 11 minutes into the show (commercials included), when the characters are arriving there, we see is a brief aerial shot of the major Sardovian city where the action will take place.

I'm just curious whether anyone who saw the episode (or who recorded it and will see it soon) happens to recognize the real-life city that this shot shows. Of course, it need not actually be in eastern Europe, or indeed, in Europe at all. All I know is that I don't recognize the city or its buildings myself. The shot shows a curved canal (or more likely a canalized river) in the foreground, with a 4-lane street hugging one side and another streets along the other side. There are one or two distinctive buildings in it that I would guess date from sometime between 1900 and 1960, but I don't recognize them; other buildings are generally modern. In the background is the shore of a lake or the sea. But I'm sure that's not enough to suggest anything to anyone, so this query is really only to people who saw or will see the episode.

Yours curiously, --76.71.6.254 (talk) 08:35, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
 * You need to take a screenshot and post it here if you're to have any chance of getting this question answered, I'm afraid. --Viennese Waltz 08:41, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Oh ye of little faith! See below. --76.71.6.254 (talk)
 * I think it's this bend of the river Moskva in Moscow. The illuminated building on the right is the Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow. --Wrongfilter (talk) 09:16, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Agreed! So I was wrong about the shore in the background; rather, it's just that the air is so dirty you can't see past a certain distance!  Thanks. --76.71.6.254 (talk) 20:27, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I had recorded it and then watched it last night. It looks more like normal cloud cover or haze than dreadfully polluted air. But definitely a bit of "establishing" stock footage. The rest was most likely filmed in a less exotic location. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:43, 18 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Make Sardovia great again! —Tamfang (talk) 09:27, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
 * During their escape they were entering the neighboring country of Belarus, which is conveniently close to Sardovia's city. According to the article, Belarus is bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. So any of those could serve as Sardovia. Sardovia is not on any map, but it's a good bet that it's a neighbor of Elbonia. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:56, 18 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Couldn't resist passing this on. An Aussie reporter was recently heard to refer to Slovakia as what sounded like "Souvlakia".  :) --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  09:24, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
 * For that guy, it must have been a long time since breakfast. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 10:52, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

Curses cubed!
I seem to remember from my childhood (late 1950s/early 60s, UK), a TV cartoon character using the exclamation "Curses cubed!!" when something went wrong. But googling produces no evidence of this at all. Was this phrase ever used - and, if so, where? Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:19, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
 * You're probably mistaken, as this question right here is the only time in the history of the internet the phrase has been used. -- Jayron 32 15:12, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I know that (which is why I asked the question). Perhaps it was just the 1950s equivalent of a meme at my own school.   Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:42, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeah Jayron's link was kind of pointless, as the OP had already said that google turned up nothing. --Viennese Waltz 08:45, 15 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Follow-up q: Is "____ cubed" frequently used for emphasis in English? I'm asking because in German some people do add "hoch drei" (to the third power) to a word for emphasis. Examples: "Chaos hoch drei" or "Scheiße hoch drei". ---Sluzzelin talk  12:22, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I've never heard it. --Viennese Waltz 13:05, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * The closest I've heard in nearly 60 years is "me three" in response to "me too". That has nothing to do with "cubed." 209.149.113.5 (talk) 13:54, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * There is the expression "to the nth degree". --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:04, 15 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Dick Dastardly is apparently known to say "Drat! Double drat! Triple drat!" ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:18, 15 February 2017 (UTC)


 * With their propensity for math humor this sounds like a phrase that could have been used on Futurama. I do know this doesn't fit G's criteria - it just comes to mind in reading the replies to this thread, MarnetteD&#124;Talk 22:02, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Futurama came several years (= decades) after my childhood, I'm afraid. It may have been a British show... or it may never have happened.   Dick Dastardly puts me in mind of one or two of my school teachers, so maybe it came from one of them.   Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:11, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Did I not say that it didn't fit your criteria? MarnetteD&#124;Talk 22:15, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * You did. In that case, why bother mentioning it?  I just assumed you were being sociable - apparently I was mistaken.   Ghmyrtle (talk) 23:00, 15 February 2017 (UTC)


 * What does yield a few g-hits is "curses squared", particularly "Curses, curses squared". One place I found it attributes it to the villain "in an old DangerMouse episode". British show, but definitely later than you said, and I found nothing further. (Throwing it in anyway, if only for sociability :-) ---Sluzzelin talk  06:58, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Billie Piper's age in Doctor Who
How old was Billie Piper when she first stared in Doctor Who, how old was her character Rose Tyler and how old were they in their last episode? 81.157.233.88 (talk) 15:26, 14 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Both her birthdate and the date of when she appeared can be found in her article, you can calculate it as well as anyone here can. -- Jayron 32 15:34, 14 February 2017 (UTC)


 * As for the age of the character, it may not have been defined precisely, or may have been defined inconsistently. Fictional works are often sloppy about such things. StuRat (talk) 20:45, 14 February 2017 (UTC)


 * The Rose Tyler article says how old the character was at first. Loraof (talk) 23:15, 14 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Rose Tyler's age can be worked out quite accurately, since the episode Father's Day takes place when she's a few months old and is set on 7 November 1987. So she was born some time in early 1987, presumably, making her 18 at the start of the story. According to the Doctor Who wiki, the episode Aliens of London, which is set 12 months after the beginning of the series (i.e. in 2006), her age is given as 19, which checks out. I think our article is in error when it says she's introduced as a 19-year-old - she has no given age when introduced, and she's only said to be 19 in an episode set 1 year in the future. Smurrayinchester 09:40, 16 February 2017 (UTC)


 * It is completely inaccurate to say "she's only said to be 19 in an episode set 1 year in the future". "The Unquiet Dead" (aired before "Aliens of London") gives her age as "only 19" and "Dalek" (aired after "Aliens of London") says she's "19 years old", and that she "should be 26" because of how near in the future it is (the story has her travel to the year 2012). And "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" also mention "nineteen years" of Rose's life prior to meeting the Doctor. "Rise of the Cybermen" does fudge this somewhat as, inconsistently with the other examples, the Doctor claims that Rose's dad died (referencing "Father's Day") when she was six months old, which is inconsistent with "Aliens of London"'s missing poster stating she vanished on 6 March 2005. Also, how do we know said missing poster isn't from the time she vanished? TardisTybort (talk) 10:45, 16 February 2017 (UTC)