Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 October 23

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October 23

what's with the excessive effect on arthur episode

Hey, my sis forsed me to watch Arthur with her, and i was watching the 'arthur's mystery envalope' episode, what;s with the excessive echoing in the episode that happens a few times, can someone describe what is going on there as i am blind and to me, it's confusing? thanks. 204.112.104.172 (talk) 03:20, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Why didn't you ask your sister? Wasn't she right there?

But to answer your question, I just watched a little of it on youtube. The first bit with "excessive echoing" was a day-dream sequence reminiscent of the tornado sequence in The Wizard of Oz. I imagine the rest of them were something similar. APL (talk) 03:50, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

My sister is 5, she woulden't understand. thanks. But i have another question: I tend to remember that the day dream sequences in arthur are always exagerated, I grew up with that show often, and i don't believe those dream sequences. But why would they use so much echoing, i counted in the first one at least 28 echoes, of the word s "summer school." It's okay to do an effect, but why so excessively? 204.112.104.172 (talk) 03:54, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Who are "Snake of Eden"

I saw a video a friend was watching on Youtube called "You and Me Forever." It was by the band "Snake of Eden' from their Youtube channel. I found their myspace but they are now called "The Wildflowers." The band has a guitarist and I assume three brothers (names were Calle, Pelle and Nisse Landeberg). Looking at photos they originally looked like glam/heavymetal/headbangers. Now their appearance is different. I noticed all 3 had identical tattoos on the arms and chest. Any information on them? All I can ascertain is that they live in LA and are recording songs.

Thanks,

E Barton —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.155.33.194 (talk) 03:55, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

They seem to be triplets. They're mentioned in our List of triplets. They also competed in the reality dating show Daisy of Love, though they "were eliminated before the elimination ceremony after they revealed that they were basically there just for the free food and liquor, and that they were only interested in dating Daisy together as a set." And they appear making out with Lady Gaga in her video "Paparazzi". That's all I found on Wikipedia. ---Sluzzelin talk 16:35, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Transfer list in football (i.e. soccer)

You know when they managers and the media talk of football players being placed on the 'transfer list'? Does anyone know if the 'transfer list' is an actual list of currently-available players that's compiled by the national governing body and circulated to every football club via fax or email once per day? I've been watching football a long time and that's what I've always assumed... --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 13:09, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

In the UK, the PFA have a list of all those currently available on it's website here. Nanonic (talk) 15:29, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

voice effect on arthur

Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuuHByouBHg&feature=related the boy who cried comet part 2 Look for the alien at the end who is like a directer. What would you call the voice effect they do on bruce dinsmore's voice, where it sounds like three or four people talking at the same time? (the alien's voice has this effect on him) I've always wondered what they called it and how they did it. Please help me figure out this mystery. thank you 204.112.104.172 (talk) 16:34, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

To me it mainly sounds like multiple pitch-shifted layers of the same speech recording, perhaps with some reverb and other effects thrown in for good measure. These days, editing software such as Sony Vegas or Audacity allow you to experiment and play around with these effects with great ease. Some of the programs even have libraries of robotic voice effect transformations. ---Sluzzelin talk 06:47, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Would they be using a form of harmonizing there? Because we have the origional bruce dinsmore track with the whole "CUT! CUT!" thing, and the 3 or four pitch shiftsplaying exactly at the same time. Would you consider this harmonizing? because the article that you directed me to mentions pitch shifting as well as a harmonizer. Is that what they're doing for this alien? 204.112.104.172 (talk) 11:54, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, you got it. When the shifted pitch is played with the original, it's harmonizing. They've also used an equalization effect to simulate the bull horn, of course. —Kevin Myers 04:53, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Spamalot

I took my wife to see this hilarious musical today in Edinburgh in Scotland where we live. I can't describe how side splitting it was - for us, and how much the humour was based on ridiculous characters and gags parodied from King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. For example, and I apologise if this is a spoiler, after the Black Knight has his arms cut off in a swordfight, an Arthurian monk comes on stage shouting, "Alms for the poor, alms for the poor", whilst proceeding to pick up the Black Knight's severed arms. On the way home, I said to my wife how unlikely it was that Spamalot would have translated into other languages than English because of the play on words that could be interchanged such as alms and arms. But I was amazed to discover just how many languages Spamalot has actually been successfully translated into when I looked it up on Wikepedia. How can that be done? I am no linguist but I can't get my head around arms and alms in Spanish, or "We eat ham and jam and spamalot" in French for instance. Thanks 92.30.87.187 (talk) 23:17, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, a translation which kept exactly the same characteristics would be fiendishly difficult, and most likely impossible. Translators generally will have to drop puns, or replace them with something that works in their own language. After all, what is more important in translating Spamalot? To use the precise Spanish equivalents for "arms" and "alms"? Or to be funny? For a fascinating (if somewhat lengthy) read on this subject, I can recommend Le Ton beau de Marot by Douglas Hofstadter. the wub "?!" 21:07, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Translating literally rarely works well. You need to translate content, not words. As an example: Square Enix has to translate a lot of Japanese dialog to English when it releases each Final Fantasy game. They have a team of bilingual people who translate the text. They don't translate the words, they translate the ideas and concepts. If done correctly, it appears that the dialog was native English, not Japanese. Of course, some jokes are too Japanese and get lost. However, some opportunities for English jokes appear that wouldn't be there in Japanese. -- kainaw™ 23:28, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

The Asterix books have been translated successfully into English (and 100 other languages) despite their humour being based almost entirely on French puns. See Asterix#Humour. Alansplodge (talk) 22:19, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Comedy turned sad

I'm looking for a movie although I'd be interested in television as well:

It starts off strictly as comedy, not black comedy or dark gallows comedy, straight up chuckles and funnies. Then on a dime it turns sad without any warning. I have nothing specific in mind, I'm simply looking for something that fits this bill. Any ideas?209.6.54.248 (talk) 23:35, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Muriel's Wedding does this, quite abruptly. I'm convinced that One foot in the grave does it too, but I can't find which episode. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 23:46, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Ricky Gervais' Extras. Pepso2 (talk) 00:37, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Good Morning Vietnam. Adam Bishop (talk) 02:14, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

The very end of Blackadder Goes Forth is surely the prime example of this, TV-wise. --81.153.109.200 (talk) 21:13, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Let's not forget Mike Leigh's memorable Abigail's Party. Pepso2 (talk) 21:48, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Life is Beautiful might qualify. 142.179.81.2 (talk) 06:00, 25 October 2010 (UTC)