Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 March 5

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March 5

parent younger than child

In Charley's Aunt (1941), Laird Cregar (28) played father to James Ellison (31). In I, Claudius, Siân Phillips (42) played Livia and George Baker (45) played her son Tiberius. Other notable examples of such mismatch? I know I've seen at least one (194_?), in which the daughter is the star, but can't remember what. —Tamfang (talk) 01:10, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

The only way you could have a parent younger than their child is through adoption or a brother or sister taking care of a younger sibling and becoming their "parent" in that respect. R12IIIeloip (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:44, 5 March 2010 (UTC).

In an episode of Northern Exposure, Shelly Tambo's mother is shown to be immature enough to pass as Shelly's younger sister. But that's another topic. —Tamfang (talk) 20:40, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

A show called The Second Hundred Years, but that was on purpose. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:04, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Similarly, on Futurama Fry is decades younger than Professor Farnsworth, even though Fry is Farnsworth's great-great-great...(30 more greats) uncle. Again, a humorous plot element introduced by cryogenic freezing and thawing of Fry... --Jayron32 05:01, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Alexander came close, with Colin Farrell being only a year younger than Angelina Jolie. AlexiusHoratius 05:20, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

We had the same question a couple of months ago. Adam Bishop (talk) 05:51, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Except that it doesn't even touch on actual reversals of relative age. —Tamfang (talk) 20:33, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

There was also a Saturday Night Live sketch from about 10-15 years ago or so where a young woman gave birth to a fully-grown Will Farrell. It was distinctly hilarious. --Jayron32 05:55, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

(Humor being subjective, of course.) Kingsfold (talk) 13:16, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Another close one, in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Angela Lansbury played Lawrence Harvey's mother while being only three years older than Mr. Harvey.Chief41074 (talk) 13:51, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Oo! This doesn't count, but: in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Darla (Julie Benz, b. 1972) sired Angel (David Boreanaz, b. 1969), who sired Drusilla (Juliet Landau, b. 1965), who sired Spike (James Marsters, b. 1962), who sired his own mother (Caroline Lagerfelt, b. 1947). Wow! —Tamfang (talk) 20:33, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

In Hamlet, Eileen Herlie, born in 1918, played Gertrude, mother of Hamlet, played by Laurence Olivier, born in 1907. Woogee (talk) 00:27, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

We are talking about acting, make up and costume right? It's not that shocking really. If it's that obvious, it's poor casting or done for comic relief. --Kvasir (talk) 05:20, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

On Mork & Mindy, Robin Williams' "son" was played by Jonathan Winters. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:34, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

In Paa, real-life father and son swapped their roles. 33 year old played father to 66 year old! Jay (talk) 08:41, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Cost of Olympics tickets

Does anyone know what these cost? Or is it hard to say given location? Also, do they increase from Olympics to Olympics? (this would suck) I checked the London 2010 website and they won't be available until 2011. I'm curious about the following:

• prelims, qualifiers, and final events (using the 100 m as an example)
• opening and closing ceremonies

Info from the 2008 games is welcome to give an idea.

--BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 04:35, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

They do change per games as it's the Olympic Commitee of the games in question that sets the price. Here's the ticket prices for the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver, you can see there that tickets ranged from $25-$1100 depending on event - with the Men's Ice Hockey final tickets (probably the event most people wanted to see) going for $350-$775. Nanonic (talk) 05:10, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

You could google "Cost of Olympics tickets" and guess what, the answer is the first result. R12IIIeloip (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:42, 5 March 2010 (UTC).

How accurate is it though to compare the ticket prices for winter games against the prices for summer games, held in a different country, at a different time, with different sports? 2008 Beijing likely would be a problematic comparison as well. Googlemeister (talk) 16:43, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

It depends entirely on what you want that comparison to mean. If you want to say "a ticket to X games could be had for less than a ticket to Y games", then it's absolutely accurate if you compare just the X and Y games. If you want to say that the average ticket price to popular events is increasing at an ever-increasing rate, you'd better find more data points and break out your regression analysis (as well as defending your assumptions about what constitute popular events). — Lomn 16:52, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Generic fin de siecle high school romcom

I am trying to remember an American coming-of-age film from around the end of the last century. It follows a rather conventional plot of end of high school/season/college celebrations. The star is a nerdy kid. The climactic scene possibly features him running after the girl in a train station before she leaves. This is after the kid has had a Meangingful Conversation with a (possibly older, possibly female) Wise Supporting Character in a desolate/asphalt setting, possibly involving a telephone booth. Similar films in topic and in era include She's All That and 10 Things I Hate About You. Help very welcome! 86.41.49.138 (talk) 07:21, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

the hottie and the nottie? R12IIIeloip (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 10:02, 5 March 2010 (UTC).

Nah, the one I am thinking of is from at least five years earlier I think. Thanks for suggesting, but that's not it :< 15:01, 5 March 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.41.49.138 (talk)

Incidentally while fin de siècle technically does mean "end of the century" it is usually used to mean the cultural movements at the end of the nineteenth century. Which didn't include a lot of high school romcoms. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:57, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Say Anything (1989), although in my opinion far from generic, has a serious conversation in a phone booth (in the rain) between the main character and his sister, played by John and Joan Cusack. At the end, the two main characters take off in a plane together. I realize this is off from your details, but maybe for the purposes of elimination ... ? Catrionak (talk) 16:23, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

I think the film you're thinking of is Can't Hardly Wait which features a scene with Jenna Elfman playing, if not an actual angel, a woman in an angel costume. If I remember correctly, the scene that she's in takes place on a bench of some sort near a parking lot. The plot summary here mentions a train scene near the end. And it came out in 1998. Dismas|^(talk) 16:37, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

It was just on Comedy Central like a week ago; plus having seen the film a a few times "back in the day", I can confirm that the OP is describing Can't Hardly Wait. Ethan Embry, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Seth Green. Cameos by Breckin Meyer, Jamie Presley, Sean Patrick Thomas, Donald Faison, Jerry O'Connell and Melissa Joan Hart. It was sort of a 1990's equivalent of a "Brat Pack" movie, in the sense that anyone who was anyone in the 1990s was in it. --Jayron32 00:22, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Gold

How many cd sales does it need to be "gold"? Who decided on the number? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Berelera (talk • contribs) 09:48, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Our Featured List List of music recording sales certifications contains everything you need. Also read Music recording sales certification for the background information. Feel free to ask a follow-up if you still have questions. Zunaid 09:58, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

What is the typeface used on Fox News Channel and CNN?

What is the typeface used on CNN and Fox News for their programs? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Curvebill (talk • contribs) 16:36, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Since no one here has been able to help you, maybe you could try asking at Wikipedia:WikiProject Typography —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bartender, bloodwine! (talk • contribs) 22:06, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

CNN appears to use Univers _noisy jinx ^huh? 22:08, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

music

what is the music playing in the background of the second half of this interview?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8542120.stm —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.117.216 (talk) 16:37, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

The music that the OP is referring to actually starts near the very end of the interview at about the 1:30 mark. Dismas|^(talk) 17:04, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Concert tour

In article about concert round we argue with the colleague. He says that music venues do not concern music venues concert tour, and I consider that it not so. Where it can be discussed (about wikilinks and notes)?--Andrey! 17:54, 5 March 2010 (UTC)--Andrey! 18:10, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Sorry but your question is not clear, could you explain what you mean by "music venues do not concern music venues"? --Richardrj ^{talk email} 17:58, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

I'm still having trouble reading your English. As near as I can tell, you want us to recommend a wiki site where you and a (presumably remote) colleague can discuss the relationship between music venues and music tours. Is this correct ? If so, and if the discussion isn't all that long, I'd think you could do it right on your Wikipedia talk page. StuRat (talk) 21:44, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

See Music venue and Concert tour —Preceding unsigned comment added by Xcargo321 (talk • contribs) 21:52, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

You may be asking whether music venues promote concerts themselves. The answer is "sometimes". Some venues promote their own shows and have in-house promoters to do this. Other venues hire themselves out to external promoters. It varies a lot. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 08:53, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Automated radio stations

Hi, is it possible for someone to set up an automated radio station, i.e they have a huge playlist which they change every now and then but keep the station running even when they're not there? Is this how some stations that just play music (No speaking at all) work? Chevymontecarlo. 19:59, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it's possible as of about 15 years ago, at least. I had a friend who was given a station by his employer and told to play something/anything so they could keep it active. Some licensing issue. But he set up a computer to play an MP3 playlist that lasted something like 7 hours. Once a day, he'd go in and change the playlist up. If the station ran into trouble, it would page him. Dismas|^(talk) 20:08, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Yeah sure I could do that with my computer just put a load of mp3 files and play them in a loop. Easy as apple pie my friend. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dataport676 (talk • contribs) 21:45, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

I sometimes wonder if TV stations are also doing that, since they seem to have serious problems, like no audio, for maybe an hour before they seem to notice. It used to be that a "We're experiencing technical difficulties, Please Stand By" sign would go up right away. StuRat (talk) 21:49, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

This site [1] does just this for you! --TammyMoet (talk) 23:32, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Automated radio stations have existed since at least the early 1980s. I worked at one in upstate New York, where I was on the AM side, while our co-owned FM station was in a room full of large reel-to-reel tape decks and a very rudimentary computer, rotating the music on the reels. (There were inaudible tones on the tapes that stopped them just before the next song started.) Part of my job was to keep watch and replace a tape after the final song on it played. The rotation of the tapes was determined by the program director, partially random and partially based on a popularity playlist. — Michael J 00:19, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Jack FM stations are pretty much automated, aren't they? Woogee (talk) 00:31, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

The one in Vancouver says "Coming to you live from a dingy studio almost overlooking beautiful Falls Creek." Would they lie? —Tamfang (talk) 21:05, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

We have this on hospital radio.After our human presenters go home for the night at about 10pm or if they can't make it that night,it goes onto an automatic playlist.There is a template for the hour that will go something like Pop-Country-Pop-Pop-Rock-Easy Listening-Pop-Classical,and it simply goes through its entire database and chooses a song at random from that category and plays it. Lemon martini (talk) 00:52, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers. I din't know they'd been around since the 80's. Chevymontecarlo. 11:27, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Famous

Who controls when new stars "rise to fame" and the old ones are forgotten? How is it decided? I know it's kinda spontaneous as well but there is obvious some control being asserted over which stars succeed and which fail —Preceding unsigned comment added by Birdofprayncc1701-d (talk • contribs) 23:09, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Well, the record companies choose who to sign up and how much to devote to publicising them, so that tends to determine which musical stars that rise to fame. There is no central control, though. --Tango (talk) 23:13, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

So the next question is: Why do the record companies make those choices, and not other choices? -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 23:33, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

By how many sales the singers or other performers have. 89.240.63.162 (talk) 01:40, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Simon Cowell has taken it upon himself to make all of these decisions. Dismas|^(talk) 23:41, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

I would say the audience decide. See William Hung and Susan Boyle. --Kvasir (talk) 00:18, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Because they think, based on their wealth of experience of the industry, that those particular acts are likely to make them the most money. --Tango (talk) 05:26, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

The thing that I wonder is how do new inexperienced young singers set up their complicated shows and tours and media promotional appearances, which would require a lot of planning and management? I suppose they are in reality the willing puppets of their personal agent who really runs things, Svengali-like. Perhaps they are like actors in a movie - they perform, but its a hidden producer or director who runs the show. 89.240.63.162 (talk) 01:24, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Even for experienced performers, singers, actors, whatever they rely on an entourage of management staff and agents to get their shows on the road. It's not just new comers. As soon as someone is deemed marketable and profitable, agents will throw themselves head over heels to offer their services. --Kvasir (talk) 01:44, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Everyone seems to think the Q is about singing stars, but let me comment on movie stars. At one time, there was the studio system, under which each movie studio selected a small number of "stars" to heavily promote, and kept the rest of the actors in supporting roles only. However, this eventually led to stars with enough money, fame, and power that the studios could no longer control them, and thus the studio system collapsed. Now, the studios primarily focus on promoting movies directly. StuRat (talk) 19:40, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

As for singing stars, there are multiple paths to fame. There's the "garage band" path, where they start off slowly, and their fame slowly spreads by word of mouth, until they are eventually accepted by the music industry. Then there's something like the studio system, whereby music producers pick people who "fit the mold" they are looking for, and often change them to fit the mold, too. Motown Records was a good example of this, producing many artists which all had certain similarities in sound (although this sound changed over the years). A newer path to fame may be winning (or even losing) certain high profile music contests, such as American Idol, which gives the singers great exposure and thus builds up a demand for their songs. StuRat (talk) 19:50, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

I think Simon Cowell decides. Aaadddaaammm (talk) 18:59, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Oh someone said that already. Well I agree with them. Aaadddaaammm (talk) 19:00, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

I'm reminded of a dialogue ..

BEAVIS: Hey Butt-head, why is Tom Petty famous?

BUTT-HEAD: Because he's on TV.

BEAVIS: Oh. And, ah, why is he on TV?

BUTT-HEAD: Because he's famous.

(a couple of cycles, as Beavis gets increasingly frustrated)

BUTT-HEAD: ...now shut up before I smack the bejesus out of you.

BEAVIS: Oh, I see, okay.

Sadly this exchange happens as they're watching a video so it's not on the DVDs. —Tamfang (talk) 19:28, 9 March 2010 (UTC)