Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 February 21

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February 21

what length of surfboard for a newbie

What length of surfboard should i buy. i'm a pretty athletic 21 year old guy. i have never surfed. i'm pretty sure i don't need anything in the range of 12 feet or 10 feet, but i don't wanna go too short and then be really challenged to learning. it took me just 10 minutes to learn to ski and to snowboard too. so about what would you recommend? any surfers here? any surf sites to recommend where i could ask this also?Troyster87 (talk) 06:15, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, if it was me, I'd ask the people in the store I was buying the surfboard from. They're likely to know what they're talking about. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 08:44, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't overlook the humble bodyboard. It commands some impressive locations and famous riders. If you took 10 to ski, you might take 2 to surf with this one. ; ) Julia Rossi (talk) 11:38, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Sporadic The Office episodes

Does anyone know why episodes of The Office are so sporatic? They air episodes for a few consecutive weeks and then there will be nothing for a month. I can speculate intervening special shows and NBC plots to introduce viewers to new shows when they think they're going to watch The Office, but I was wondering if anyone has come across anything authoritative from NBC on the matter? —Eustress ^talk 06:36, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

I can't think of any recent month-plus break in The Office except for the usual midseason pause. As for that and the occasional weekly break, it's standard behavior for virtually all such network shows -- networks want to debut new episodes whenever everybody else does (lest they lose viewers), run their best episodes around sweeps week (lest they lose viewers), and run out of episodes when everybody else does (lest they lose viewers). Similarly, they don't want to waste episodes when the audience is otherwise preoccupied, as this effectively loses them viewers. The body of evidence overwhelmingly attests that networks have decided the occasional weekly break is the option that costs them the fewest number of viewers.

To take this season's Office episode, I see a break for Thanksgiving (the no one is watching anyway case), the midseason break that virtually all such shows took, a three-day delay to run an episode after the Super Bowl, and the current two-week break to (presumably) stretch the season. — Lomn 15:01, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for breaking it down! —Eustress ^talk 17:05, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

They used to show reruns to fill the gaps, but lately networks seem to have decided that no one watches reruns, so now they show something else instead. Adam Bishop (talk) 14:19, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Taken Trailer Song

What is the song that plays during the trailer of taken? The song was composed mainly of a piano. 216.164.152.182 (talk) 07:41, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Composed by Nathaniel Mechaly, simply called "Opening." Wolfgangus (talk) 08:01, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

You can hear it here.Wolfgangus (talk) 08:05, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Can you identify this piano tune?

Here it is (MP3). Thanks! — Kieff | Talk 21:05, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Chopin Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9, No. 1 [1] meltBanana 21:46, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I had a feeling it was Chopin. — Kieff | Talk 22:11, 21 February 2009 (UTC)