Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2008 June 18

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June 18

Instablity

In the newer triadic harmonic system, however, the tritone became permissible, as it could form part of a consonant, yet unstable, dominant seventh chord.

— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony#Historical_rules

What excatly makes somthing unstable?68.148.164.166 (talk) 06:09, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

This will of course depend on the "something", although in general terms anything which is unpredictable or has a strong tendency to change will become unstable. D0762 (talk) 10:29, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

I believe what's meant here is that, the major seventh being only a semi-tone below the octave, the whole chord feels as though it's about to come apart. See also Minor major seventh chord: "...this same effect makes the tonic seventh highly unstable. The raised seventh in conjunction with the tonic creates the dissonant interval of a minor second. The raised seventh creates a pull towards tonic, however since it is present in the tonic minor chord this pull creates dissonance." Sounds painful, doesn't it? And yet that same chord is used in Pink Floyd's hauntingly beautiful Us and Them! Makes you think.Scolaire (talk) 18:43, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Wedge insertion

Stein put the wood used in his instruments through a very severe weathering process, and this included the generation of cracks in the wood, into which he would then insert wedges.

— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortepiano#Stein

Why did he do this?68.148.164.166 (talk) 07:17, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

From the article: "This gave his instruments a considerable longevity". D0762 (talk) 10:25, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Tv Series "Becker" What is the theme music called.

I have spent hours trying to find out what the theme music to the tv series Becker is called. It is the series about a grumpy doctor called John Becker. My son's and I love watching the reruns. I would like to get the music as a ringtone. So I would also need to know if I can and where to get it from. Many thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Koolcarolle (talk • contribs) 15:50, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Aparently there is no offical theme song, however the music in the show was primarily composed by Bruce Miller and Chips Swanson. [1] You can listen to the music here and here. You might be able to convert those to a ringtone at media-convert.com D0762 (talk) 16:46, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Sitcom gags and live audiences

Hi. When in a sitcom taped in front of a live studio audience, there's a sudden cutaway to a new scene, to reveal a punchline or simply a visual gag, how do they do that? How do they actually reveal to the live audience the cutaway scene so they get suddenly surprised and laugh? Do they actually pull the stage curtain to suddenly reveal the new scene, or do they simply show an audience a previously filmed tape that shows the scene and then the cutaway like you would see it on TV so they can react to it, then record their reaction laugh, and edit it into the show later? I'm pretty sure it's not laugh tracks when this happens... Thanks in advance, Kreachure (talk) 19:37, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

As far as I know, if the cut away scene involves an exterior location or something like that, then they film those scenes previous to the live audience taping. And then they'll do just as you had guessed with showing the audience the cut away scene on television monitors. Dismas|^(talk) 19:46, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Live audiences are coached before taping starts. Then, during taping, there are coaches in front of the audience that indicate what sort of noise they should be making - big laugh, little laugh, surprise, oh no she di'n't... -- kainaw™ 00:25, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

City Life (video game)

Has anyone commented on the apparent racist undertones of this game? I just bought it (it is quite good) and my friend and I found it somewhat amusing. The most upper class are called the elites, and are signified by a white indicator. They enjoy opera and so on. The lowest class, called the Have Nots, enjoy basketball and strip clubs, and are indicated by a black indicator! In the manual it actually says "Elites (white)" and "Have Nots (black)".

I'm suprised this didn't cause a stir in todays politically correct world! SGGH ^speak! 21:29, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure many people have comment on the racist undertones of the game. But I bet there are still obssesed with wizards and anything that crushes religion at the moment. ;) Here is what I found on gamespot I'm not sure if its what you want, but it might help: [2] Cardinal Raven (talk) 23:44, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Given that there are six classes of people, who presumably have indicators that are neither black nor white in colour, it may be a little excessive to cry 'racism'. DJ Clayworth (talk) 16:23, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Kristen Johnston Information

I don't really have a question I just wanted to let you know that in her filmography you left out "Jerry McGuire". She played Renee Zellweger's older sister. You need to edit her info and add that. She deserves to have that credited to her biography if you're going to have her on this site......Thank You..........67.142.130.37 (talk) 23:50, 18 June 2008 (UTC)Robin Brumley

Thank you for your suggestion. When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). Dismas|^(talk) 23:53, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Please note that if you make this edit, it will be reverted. You are apparently confusing Kristen Johnston with Bonnie Hunt, who played Renne Zellweger's outspoken older sister in Jerry Maguire. -- kainaw™ 00:22, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

My bad. I assumed too much good faith. Dismas|^(talk) 00:37, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Not at all, Dismas. There's no such thing as too much good faith. Your advice was fine. The edit that would have been made had your advice been followed just happened to be an example of the honest mistakes you were talking about. But the principle was sound. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:29, 20 June 2008 (UTC)