Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 January 5

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January 5

Once upon a time I was electrified.

At least so I thought. Many many years ago I once watched a five minute thing on how a boy wanted to be able to get onto the paragliding ride at Acapulco - one where a speedboat pulled a parachute on which was a chair to sit.

The boy had no money, but the beauty of this story was that it was designed to teach children that if they wanted something, all they had to do was work for it, since the boy approached a soft drink vendor on this oppressively hot Mexican day, and he either lent him a crate of bottles to sell, as if on consignment, to split the take up later, or sold it him, allowing him to charge enough so that his profit would cover the cost of the ride.

He got a younger boy to help him, and hours later they sold all but one, which the older one let the younger keep as his payment, and so the main boy, having worked for it, had enough cash to ride on the paraglider.

Now all I need to know, is where this came from, since in the seventies and through to the mid to late eighties we had a number of educational shows to watch like this : Animals, Animals, Animals with Hal Linden, which I know it is not, The Big Blue Marble, 3-2-1 : Contact, The Electric Company, and it may not even be one of these, but if anyone has any ideas.

One of these types of shows - or it may have been a one off - also had a story of how a young black African American boy decided to make his own toothpaste and sell it, and it worked, but the Health Department took it off him due to his not being licensed and the fact he was reusing his toothpaste containers which could be considered a bit dodgy, even back then.

When I watched that one I felt sorry for him as if he were the victim of mindless beaurocracy, but then one could understand the other side of the argument and I think the point of this one was to show that ideas and initiative are good, but to be sure the proper laws are obeyed, as established companies had to do.

In addition, there is an unrelated thing bothering me about a more recent American programme I think is a US comedy, live action, and there is an episode about a character who loves these kind of fried pastries - they may be sausage rolls, but I cannot recall what show they were in - whether Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Third Rock, or one less known, but I am almost certain it was an American sit com. They are at a party, and this kind of food is one of the hors d'oeuvres served there, they may even have been called weenie tots, which name has just sprung up, and which I shall also look up now , and having done so, I see it is from a 1991 episode of Married: With Children, which I may see if I can get a look at it to see if that is what I am thinking of - I recall this episode as the one where Bud misses out on meeting The President, but currently, Comedy Central here is already showing 1996 episodes. Any other help would be appreciated. Thanks. Chris the Russian Christopher Lilly 05:58, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

"Beanie Weenies", or baked beans with hot dogs, were a family favorite in Married With Children. That food is mentioned in the Van Camp's article. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:20, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Likely the U.S. version of Pigs in a blanket. 75.41.110.200 (talk) 17:34, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Brand New Key

Hi. I was just wondering if Joni Mitchell had ever recorded a version of Brand New Key. I heard the song on the radio a couple of days ago and mistakenly thought it was Joni Mitchell as the presenter didn't specify who it actually was (or maybe I missed her). She went on to recommend Wild Horses by the same artist, and with a little research, it turned out she was referring to Melanie Safka. Googling both song titles with Joni Mitchell does produce some results, but nothing specific. Can anyone help? Cheers 86.169.171.197 (talk) 13:21, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I can't find any evidence on allmusic.com that Joni Mitchell has ever recorded Brand New Key. Also no entry on Second Hand Songs --LarryMac | Talk 13:34, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Melanie Safka did the original version (or the one that everyone knows, anyway). She does sound a bit like Joni Mitchell, and they were both active in the 70s, so maybe that is where the confusion comes from. Adam Bishop (talk) 15:46, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I just want to say that it's a shame that Melanie (we only ever used the one name for her, back in my day) is mostly known for that song, when so many of her other songs were quite nice. /OR /reminisce --LarryMac | Talk 19:32, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for looking into this for me. Interestingly both Google and Youtube have predictive searches for Joni Mitchell Brand New Key so I guess I'm not the first person to made this mistake. But I've now been introduced to a new singer whose work I was unfamiliar with until earlier this week, and I agree it is a shame many of her other songs seem to have been forgotten. 31.52.78.146 (talk) 11:58, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

what song is in this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaNBuqSuNqk&feature=player_embedded

Thanks for any answers :/ 157.157.234.225 (talk) 19:48, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

The comments right below the video state that it is Ghostwriter [Remix] by Rjd2, but I assume that if you are unable to read the comments that are right in front of you, you won't be able to read this response as well. -- kainaw™ 19:50, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Wow, calm down there... you saying im blind?? You know that i didn't know about the NEW COMMENT with the song's name in it, i just asked now hadn't checked the comment and / or noticed that new comment... -.- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.157.234.225 (talk) 20:05, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

There are (as of now) 28 comments stating the name of the song - most of them more than a week old. -- kainaw™ 20:12, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Figuring out an old game

I vaguely remember playing a computer game in the mid to late 1980s and I'd love to figure out what it was.

I believe it had CGA graphics. It was for MS-DOS.

It was a "pirate's treasure"/maze sort of game. Basically you would type in directions like "N" or "S" or "E" or "W" and it would move you to a different screen. Each screen had a big graphical display and some text.

I believe the goal was to find some kind of treasure in a cave. Scenes I remember include getting stuck in some kind of catacombs (it was some kind of maze), some sort of river deep in the cave, and maybe some kind of note pinned down with a dagger or something. I think I remember pirates being involved?

It's been 20+ years since I've played it, so I'm sorry I can't be more specific. I know I'd recognize it instantly if I saw it. I'm pretty sure it is not Colossal Cave Adventure, but it might have been derivative of it? I remember it as being much simpler than the description given there (I'm pretty sure there were no items).

Any thoughts you had would be appreciated. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:19, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Sounds like Transylvania, although that didn't have pirates...but maybe it was from the same company? Adam Bishop (talk) 22:51, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, doesn't quite look like that. The screen shot for Colossal Adventure (1986) actually looks similar to what I'm remembering, but the description is not right at all. I mean, it's close — some of the Colossal Cave Adventure locations sound really familiar (hall of the Mountain King, etc.), but I don't remember having items at all. And I'm pretty sure there were pirates... --Mr.98 (talk) 23:38, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

This genre of game is called a dungeon crawl and there were dozens, if not hundreds, produced during the 1980s. The Wizardry games started the first-person dungeon crawl genre, and then it exploded form there. It would give you somewhere to start. --Jayron32 01:18, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

While it took place in a cave, it was more of a maze game than a dungeon crawl. There were no items or fighting or anything. It was not an RPG. I'm more and more convinced that it was some kind of CCA derivative — the three canyons, the bridge over a chasm, the hall of the mountain king all sound very familiar. But other than that I'm not turning up much specific, alas.. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Twin Kingdom Valley ? 87.115.57.93 (talk) 02:24, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Entertainment Families

Can you please create a Family Tree article on each of the following famous Entertainment families, just like the Coppola Family Tree, please - The Redgrave Family; The Huston Family; The Cusack Family. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.239.126.63 (talk) 22:59, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

You could do the research and create the articles yourself. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:36, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

And now for a proper response: A quick check reveals we already have a Redgrave family article. We have a category called Cusack family but no article. And nothing on the Hustons at this stage. You can request new articles at Wikipedia:Requested articles. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 01:12, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

And don't forget the Fondas. --Jayron32 01:15, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Barrymore family looks nice. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:55, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Sheen family aka Estevez family. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:12, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Why are we systematically calling out all the names @ Category:Show business families? The OP asked about 3 specific families that he thought need articles, 2 of which do. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 20:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

In my case, it's to show an exemplar of what they should look like. However, I'm not convinced the Hustons and Cusacks really need such articles, much less a category for the Cusacks. The latter only encompass two generations (and that barely, as the patriarch is hardly a household name), so there's not a lot of complication there to clarify. The Hustons are borderline IMO; though there are other Hustons with articles, there are only three who are Famous with a capital F, and their relationship is pretty linear: grandfather, father and daughter. Now Roger Livesey's family tree is much more necessary. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:50, 7 January 2012 (UTC)