Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 March 21

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March 21

Why can a hero sell film rights about "his" story?

Hi, What exactly do you buy if you buy the film rights for a particular event, like a hero saving hundreds of people? Would that mean that nobody else could make a film about it? Would the heirs of Kennedy have a case if they sued Oliver Stone for JFK because it is "their" story? Or is it just something to assure the public that the story is accurate, because the maker paid the hero or victim quite some money for his view on what happened and doing so acquired their implicit endorsement? Thanks in advance. Joepnl (talk) 01:07, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

It's the latter. In the United States, freedom of speech and freedom of the press generally mean that people are allowed to report factual events, make up stories, or do some combination of any of them (such as the "inspired by true events" type stories) without any real restrictions. By "selling your story" you basically agree to give the exclusive contractual right to the purchaser to use your version of events in their story, i.e. they pay you, and you agree not to talk to anyone else but them. --Jayron32 04:06, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! Joepnl (talk) 16:18, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

In what futuristic movies & TV shows would a futuristic toilet be seen?

Would it look anything like a washlet?: http://www.totousa.com/Washlet/WashletS400.aspx

In what scenes of movies & shows that take place in the future show toilets? Moreover, would you please link screenshots? Thanks. --70.179.169.115 (talk) 04:25, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Demolition Man - the three seashells (pic in link). It's a running joke throughout the film that Stallone's character wipes his ass with paper (like a savage) and doesn't know how to use the three seashells. IIRC, Stallone still has people regularly coming up to him to ask him what the deal with the three seashells is... --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 04:34, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

There's of course the famous joke in 2001: A Space Odyssey of the guy reading the zero-gravity toilet instructions, which are long and complicated. The toilet is not shown, but the instructions can be found with a Google search. —Kevin Myers 05:15, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

2001 Zero-G toilet instructions screenshot and text. -- 119.31.121.84 (talk) 07:10, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

There was a scene in Star Trek: Enterprise that talked about what they did with their human waste, but it's sort of a joke on Star Trek that they've never actually shown a toilet. Adam Bishop (talk) 07:48, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

But that's not unique to Star Trek. You rarely see a toilet on any TV show or movie. StuRat (talk) 08:03, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

The joke in Star Trek was that, in the original series, there didn't seem to be any place for bathrooms on the Enterprise. In Rodenberry's vision of the future, people apparently didn't poop. But I think we glimpsed some bathrooms in subsequent Trek series. Ronald D. Moore seemed to be winking at Trek's Victorian propriety in an early episode of the Battlestar Galactica remake by setting a long scene in a big unisex bathroom, complete with toilets. —Kevin Myers 14:21, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Transporters make the toilet obsolete perhaps. Googlemeister (talk) 19:59, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

True. The original version (1977) of Fun with Dick and Jane was an exception. I vividly remember being almost startled seeing a person (Jane Fonda) wipe her ass on camera in the middle of a more-or-less romantic comedy. I refused on principle to the see the remake, so I can't say if that bit was repeated. -- Jack of Oz [your turn] 11:07, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

And then there's Catch 22, which featured a commanding officer giving orders from "the throne". M*A*S*H also featured some outhouse humor. StuRat (talk) 11:12, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Here is a clip from Futurama featuring a Japanese style toilet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_7367ka5Ew --DI (talk) 12:50, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Getting back to what Kevin Myers said above, toilets are often (at least once a season) seen in the newer Battlestar Galactica series. Dismas|^(talk) 20:48, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

In the sci-fi TV series Firefly's pilot episode "Serenity" they show a foldaway toilet on the spaceship: video clip. -- Jeandré, 2011-03-23t19:52z

Idiocracy has the lazyboy chairs equipped with toilets and cup holders so people don't have to miss their shows for a bio break129.128.216.107 (talk) 01:46, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

There is another "futuristic" toilet at File:Futurama 205 - I Second That Emotion.jpg. And when Bender finds out that he can't flush himself, as he had flushed Nibbler, he complains that toilets are very small, and wonders for what purpose did humans invent that thing... MBelgrano (talk) 02:33, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Dame Shirley Bassey

At the Glasgow Empire Theatre article it states that Shirley Bassey played an audition at the theatre, which she did, but the text also says that the audience mistook her for a striptease artist and she had to ask them to give her a chance. I can find no source for this fascinating detail and wonder if others either remember it or read of it and may also have a source for this information. Thanks. Carson101 (talk) 13:23, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

There's a story about her first appearance at the Glasgow Empire here, but not with that detail. I know you already know that, Carson, but it stops others picking up the same report! Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:29, 21 March 2011 (UTC)