Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 December 2

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December 2

Looking for the name of a drummer

He's a session drummer with a very distinctive look. He's either pacific islander (Hawaiian or Samoan, etc.) or hispanic, with a shaved head, and usually a medium length, shaggy, "soul patch" style beard. He's a BIG dude, like 300 pounds or so. I've seen him at least twice on TV, both times on VH1 Classic: Once was backing Eric Clapton during Hard Rock Calling 2008, and once backing Paul McCartney on some recent tour. Besides drumming, he also sings harmony vocals. I keep seeing him all over the place, he's sort of like a 21st century Leland Sklar in that way; a guy with a very distinctive look who shows up as a backing musician all over the place. Any one know any famous Samoan drummers who work with British musicians from the 60's? --Jayron32 00:03, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Abe Laboriel, Jr.? Nanonic (talk) 00:16, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Dammit - beat me to it. Grutness...wha? 00:19, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

ANd that's him. Thanks a bunch! --Jayron32 00:19, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Ah ha! I knew he had something to do with Paul McCartney! And I didn't even read the entire question! Moptopstyle1 08:42, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

update on Maura Tierney

How is Maura Tierney doing with her breast cancer treatments? Has there been any updates so far?24.90.204.234 (talk) 00:34, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

It says here that on "Monday", which would mean November 23, her representative "said... there was no update on the actress' brave battle with the disease." --Anonymous, corrected 15:49 UTC, December 5, 2009.

silly song -- what is it?

I have part of a song stuck in my head and cannot figure out where it came from. It sounds a bit like the theme to Josie and the Pussycats but it's about "(someone) and the warblers". It may have accompanying animation. I think they also sing it in German. Help! -- KathrynLybarger (talk) 03:26, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

schnappi? Bus stop (talk) 03:33, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

No but that's very cute. :) Thanks! -- KathrynLybarger (talk) 04:09, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I figured it out! It was a short on Cartoon Network called "Heidi and the Yodelers". Halfway through they start singing in Swiss. I didn't have any of the details right! -- Kathryn —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.140.138.201 (talk) 07:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Not all details wrong if the Swiss you mention was Swiss German. Rmhermen (talk) 16:00, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Statistics on how many people have been exposed to particular works

I'm looking for surveys and studies on what proportion of a given population have been exposed to certain famous works of fiction (of any medium). For example, I'd be very interested to know if there was a survey done which asked people whether they'd ever watched, say, The Godfather, Gone With the Wind, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Titanic and so forth — something that would tell me that, for example, 50% have seen X, but only 20% have seen Y. Or, I'd like to know what proportion of people have ever read To Kill a Mockingbird, Finnegans Wake, Brave New World, The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, The Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter. Or, what proportion of people have watched a play by Shakespeare. Or, what percentage of people have watched more than one episode of The Simpsons, Star Trek, or Survivor.

I don't have any specific medium or survey population in mind — really, I'm just looking for broad overviews of the whole topic, but I don't know whether and where statistics have actually been collected. I'm mainly trying to get a general sense of how far different well-known works have actually penetrated into the public consciousness. Some works may be famous, but that doesn't mean that the average person will actually have been exposed to them — I'm looking for anything that would give me a general, big-picture sense of what works of fiction people are likely to have seen, and what they are likely not to have seen. -- 203.97.105.173 (talk) 04:10, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Be very careful of statistics about things like this. For example: It has been claimed that more people have seen Jesus (1979 film) than any other film in history, and that it has been viewed almost 5.6 billion times (including repeat viewings) - but the basis of this claim has been strongly criticised. Not to mention that neither I nor anyone I know has ever heard of it till now, which, for a supposedly massively-watched film, must mean something even if it is OR. -- JackofOz (talk) 07:09, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes it means something. It means that most of the film's viewings took place outside the affluent Western world. Hardly anyone in North America and Western Europe has seen it, but you can find millions of people in Africa and South America where it's the only movie they have ever seen. There are probably hundreds of movies that you and your friends have never heard of that are more popular than your favourite movies - most of them Bollywood movies. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I think it is still claimed that, when adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind is the all-time biggest money-maker. Whether that means the most viewings, might be debatable. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:51, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

According to the American Literacy Council, [1] 90% of the U.S. population from 1700 to 1930 could read and write, but now that figure has dropped to 30%. Thus, millions have never read the books you mention. Pepso2 (talk) 08:34, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Those figures sound highly dubious. The CIA World Factbook says the literacy rate was 99% [2] in 2003. Note that the American Literacy Council count non-English-speaking modern immigrants as illiterate (reading Spanish doesn't count as reading, who knew?), and yet they claim 90% (English?) literacy in an era when many people spoke French, or Cajun, or German, or Dutch, or Finnish or various other Languages of the United States. See also Roosevelt's comments in 1907. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 09:31, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Agree, unless they changed the definition of literacy somewhere along the line. Googlemeister (talk) 17:36, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers. 203.97.105.173 (talk) 03:07, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Identify a piece of classical music

Could someone help me identify this piece of classical music (played by a string orchestra). I have no sound file, only my own attempt to write down the notes from memory. Hopefully they are accurate enough to identify the piece, which I think is relatively well-known.

e'₂ g#'₂ b'₁ g#'₈ a'₈ b'₄ g#'₈ a'₈ b'₄ e″₄ b'₄ b'₈ a'₈ g#'₄ f#'₈ e'₈ a'₈ b'₈ c#″₈ a'₈ g#'₈ a'₈ b'₈ g#'₈ f#'₄

Thanks in advance! decltype (talk) 13:47, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Found it! The keyword is BWV 1042, apparently. decltype (talk) 15:42, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

James Bond music on BBC UK tv Top Gear programme

What is the name of the 'James Bond' music played at the beginning of the flight of the orange balloon in Top Gear series 14 episode 3, and currently visible online through iPlayer? 89.242.106.49 (talk) 16:17, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

You need this detailed forum that lists all the music of top gear and says it is Capsual in Space by John Barry from You Only Live Twice meltBanana 17:10, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. Fifteen different bits of music for one short clip - that's a lot. Those forumists must have got a lot of time on their hands to catalogue it all. 89.242.106.49 (talk) 20:10, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Any other UK tv channels available online apart from the BBC?

I am in the UK. Thanks. 89.242.106.49 (talk) 16:18, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

ITV: [3], Channel 4: [4], Channel 5: [5]. Fribbler (talk) 16:30, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

All of the freeview channels are available online live at tvcatchup.com (if you hold a current tv licence), sky users can use skyplayer. Nanonic (talk) 17:18, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Don't know if you count British Eurosport: [6] --TammyMoet (talk) 11:44, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

This site may also help[7] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pleasantman (talk • contribs) 12:28, 3 December 2009 (UTC)