Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 March 26

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March 26

bbc life

I am from Sri lanka. A video, titled ‘life’ of about 1 minute duration is shown on our local TV. I am interested in watching the full series. I tried to contact the BBC. I will be thankful to you if anyone help me to watch the full series. 124.43.25.100 (talk) 03:18, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

According to our article (Life_(BBC_TV_series)#DVD.2C_Blu-ray_and_book), it's been released in regions 1, 2, and 4. Unfortunately, you are in region 5 (see DVD_region_code), so those other versions won't run on your DVD player. If you could get somebody to send you a DVD player from one of those other places, then you could play them. They also have a book version, if that would interest you. StuRat (talk) 07:03, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

thank you sir.124.43.25.100 (talk) 11:16, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. StuRat (talk) 22:56, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Resolved

There are computer programs you can download that allow you to watch DVDs from other regions on your computer. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:47, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Dog Eat Dogma

Who is "Dog Eat Dogma"? There is no Wikipedia information on this Canadian recording artist. 70.71.118.46 (talk) 07:14, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

According to this site, Dog Eat Dogma are a band. Their music "defies description", apparently (either that or they've got a lazy PR person), so there seems to be very little useful information we can give you. Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:03, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

The website is www.dogeatdogma.com. Some of the band members have their own Wikipedia page Carl Newman, Ken Fleming. DOG EAT DOGMA members play in bands like NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, SNFU (3 out of 4 members),DOA, ECONOLINE CRUSH, REAL McKENZIES, ANI KYD. Two of their albums were produced by JOE Sh!thead KEITHLEY from DOA who also does vocals on a few songs. Vocals were also done by Ra McGuire of TROOPER, Chris Valagao of ZIMMERS HOLE, Manmohan Waris, and Steve Jack of Rockhead. One album was co-produced by Brian Else. One album was co-produced by Chris Houston of the FORGOTTEN REBELS. One album was produced by Michelle Garuik of PLASMA RECORDS. Featured on that album were guests like Sangtar Heer and Sukhshinder Shinda. DOG EAT DOGMA has been on a few record labels... most notably SUDDEN DEATH RECORDS, and CARGO. I got most of this information from various Wikipedia pages and from dogeatdogma.com website. I am just curious why there is no Wikipedia page for this band. They have over 50 songs on 4 albums, they have been on TV many times, their music is in all kinds of movie soundtracks, their songs have been covered and recorded by many other bands... I wonder who makes the pages for Wikipedia? Who decides what gets posted? How does a band like this get overlooked? Is the band responsible for building their own Wikipedia page, or is the Label to blame?

P.S. I also found out the band started out as DOGZILLA in the 1980s and changed their name to DOG EAT DOG before becoming DOG EAT DOGMA in the 1990s. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.71.118.46 (talk) 21:43, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

There was an article about them, but it got deleted 3½ years ago, see here, with the reason that they were non-notable. They probably do not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines, which are given here. --Viennese Waltz 08:25, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Finding out the radio release date?

I am having trouble finding out the radio release date for a song. It is Jessica Simpson's "Irresistible". I'm sure it was a radio-only single, but could not find any sources which would give me the exact date. I tried the archives of Columbia records, allaccess.com, fmqb.com and radioandrecords.com. Any help is much appreciated. I also know it is in April 2001. Thanks. Novice7 (talk) 11:23, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

CGI/SFX

I know that computer-generated imagery and special effects in Hollywood movies have come a long way in just a few years. They are so good now, that with willing suspension of disbelief movies like Avatar are indistinguishable from reality. I fact I was quite satisified with the special effects as they were in the early 1990s, but lately those older effects have started to look quite poor on my 2010s high-def TV. For example, recently I was watching Back to the Future Part III and the explosion as the train fell into Eastwood Ravine was surrounded by an obvious artifact which revealed the explosion and smoke to have been an added effect. I don't remember seeing any such artifacts when I first saw the movie at the cinema back in 1990. I've notice the same kind of thing in some other movies from that era as well. So, are my eyes deceiving me, were such artifacts really in the original movie and I just didn't notice them at the time? Or maybe some films have had newer special effects added long after they were first made, but done cheaply? Or just maybe, studios/TV execs have degraded such movies to make modern HD TV look so much better? Astronaut (talk) 11:48, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

You just didn't notice at the time; if you were a kid like me in 1990, you probably just thought an exploding train was awesome and didn't think about how it was made to explode. And in 20 years, Avatar will look obviously fake too! Adam Bishop (talk) 07:01, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Oh Shenandoah song

Is there an Irish origin for the American folk song Oh Shenandoah? It's always reminded me of Danny Boy.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 13:20, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Much of early American folk music has its roots in Appalachian culture. Much of Appalachia was settled by the Scots-Irish, so there is likely a strong cultural memory back to their gaelic roots. You can hear a lot of Celtic influences in Appalachian music for this reason. See Appalachia#Music and Appalachian music. --Jayron32 14:28, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Yes, you're correct about the Scots-Irish settlers in the Appalachian region. The Wikipedia article on the song doesn't mention this, but if one listens to the song there is clearly an overriding Celtic influence.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 14:44, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Several passages in the book imply that witches worry about having barns collapse on them. What's that about? Imagine Reason (talk) 13:24, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps a reference to The Wizard of Oz? Jarkeld (talk) 13:30, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

It is most definately the The Wizard of Oz (1939 film), see Wicked Witch of the East for the direct reference. Pratchett's books are soaked in western (especially anglophone, UK/US/Australian) popular culture. Any one of his books contains dozens of such references, some obvious like this one, others somewhat obscure. The Truth, for example, directly references All the President's Men and the Watergate scandal. The Fifth Elephant has a title which references The Fifth Element, a popular movie only a few years before the book, and also references the George Washington's axe paradox and the Stone of Scone. The book Thud! contains references to the U.S. Civil War and even the Gettysburg Cyclorama, a real-life gigantic painting that went missing for half a century. One of the really fun parts of Prattchet's writing is finding all of the references he packs in. --Jayron32 14:23, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

The OP (and others) may also find the Annotated Pratchett File an interesting read; among other trivia it lists the cultural references found in each of Pratchett's books. It only stretches to his pre-2003 novels, unfortunately, but is still a fascinating read for the 40-odd he had published before then. Steve ^T • C 00:23, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

There's also the L-space Wiki's Annotations pages, which supplement the APF. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 04:18, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

I apologive for my earlier comments but as an Oz fan it is kind of odd that someone wouldn't know of this pop culture refrence.Also, this info. has been know to the world for about 111 years know this being from the time when L. Frank Baum's book was originally released.Sorry- From the Writer of the Earlier Comment that was taken down.

Track cycling

In a team sprint, what is being measured? Is it simply the time of the last rider with the other rider(s) just there to provide a slipstream? Our article isn't clear on the subject and is completely unreferenced, so if anyone can improve it, please do! (Incidentally, is this BBC page just worded very similarly to our article (which has developed naturally since 2005) because there's only one way to really describe it, or is the BBC being a little cheeky? What do you guys think?) --Tango (talk) 14:42, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

In a word, the answer to your question is yes. The time of the last rider across the line is the time that counts. Can I provide a reference? Not unless you count Hugh Porter's commentary on the BBC as a reference! --TammyMoet (talk) 20:00, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

I thought that of a team of four who begin the race, the time counted was that of the third member of that team to cross the line. HiLo48 (talk) 22:19, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

There weren't four people in the ones I watched. There were three in the mens and two in the womens, which fits with what our article says. --Tango (talk) 23:12, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Ah, my apologies. I was talking about team pursuit, and you weren't. (Heads off in embarrassment to take reading lessons.) HiLo48 (talk) 00:34, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

1980's Movie title

What's the name of this movie? It takes place in 1945 when the A-bomb is tested in Nevada. The main character is a teenage girl & her relationship with her step-father, a WWI war vets -who suffer post-traumatic syndrome-. GoodDay (talk) 20:05, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Desert Bloom (1986)? ---Sluzzelin talk 21:19, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. This is a load off my mind. GoodDay (talk) 21:22, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Resolved

StuRat (talk) 22:53, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Porn actress

Is the blonde girl in this video (www.pornhub.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b9b999633cd63962aa70) a famous porn actress? I'd like to know her name.--79.50.42.9 (talk) 22:56, 26 March 2011 (UTC)