Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 July 16

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 16

A riddle!

For newcomers: Who wrote soundtrack for the Plants vs. Zombies tower defense video game? ColderPalace1925 (talk) 12:41, 16 July 2011 (UTC) And it's time to show out the official answer for this riddle...
The answer is...
Laura Shigihara!!! ColderPalace1925 (talk) 16:27, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

If you're wondering why nobody guessed, that's because this site is not the place for riddles. --TammyMoet (talk) 18:43, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

That's also not a riddle. Adam Bishop (talk) 06:18, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Why does cable tv cost so much in Australia?

Hi, cable tv in Australia costs over $40/ month for the most basic package. I'm not buying the usual argument about population, because we don't make the shows, and I can't see how importing them costs any money (for the actual transportation). There seems to be not much infrastructure involved except the basic network, which doesn't seem like it should cost more per person in Australia than anywhere else. Basically, the unavoidable fixed costs seem like they ought to be not that tragic, so it is only the per person cost required for licencing the shows, and installing the satellite dish/ optic fibre cable, that needs to be considered, and one would expect that to be similar around the world. What am I missing? Thanks, It's been emotional (talk) 16:02, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

When I had cable in the UK 15 years ago I was paying £30 a month then, so I don't think your cost is so expensive. --TammyMoet (talk) 16:08, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, but I thought it was quite low now in the UK. I heard something like that figure for cable and internet combined, or maybe a few pounds more. What's it like these days in the UK, if anyone can tell me? It's been emotional (talk) 16:12, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Basic cable in Toronto costs $33.00 per month. (The Canadian dollar is a few cents above par with the U. S. dollar at the moment.) That's just TV, no internet. The usual excuse in Canada is that the companies are dealing with vast distances (as in Australia, I would think) where cable must be run. However, my experience is that they only run their cable in big centres and those of us in the boonies are stuck with satellite. Imported shows do cost money, sometimes a lot of money, for the rights to broadcast. Bielle (talk) 16:29, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Virgin Media have a half-price offer on at the moment, which is phone + broadband + cable TV for £10, which means this bundle is usually £20 per month. Apparently that's 30.33 Aussie dollars. However I can't check this properly cos we don't have cable where I live and the wizard doesn't work in that case! --TammyMoet (talk) 18:42, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

In Nothern California, we're paying $63 a month, and that doesn't cover HBO, Showtime, or any of the featured movie channels. The Mark of the Beast (talk) 19:39, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Here in North-east USA we pay about the same for basic cable (And no internet/phone). Maybe a couple of dollars more or less depending on where you live. APL (talk) 02:48, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Cable TV is a luxury item, a non-essential. Highly unlikely to ever attract external regulation. Prices will be influenced by competition (not much of that in Australia), and what the market will bear. HiLo48 (talk) 03:22, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the info so far. Kind of extraordinary, I think, how prices can vary, but at any rate, it's nothing like what I expected. Everything sounds comparable, except the Virgin UK offer, which I checked out quickly, and for the sake of parity, with cable on its own, it's £12.50 a month, or about $20US. This is a remarkable saving over $63/month in Northern California. Any other comparisons welcome, because when I worked in sales for a telco, people from the US, UK, and developing countries kept complaining about our prices, for both cable and internet (though mainly internet). I used to think there was just something hopeless about my beloved Australia, but now I can see it's nothing like that. More info very welcome, It's been emotional (talk) 04:25, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Treasure of Swamp Castle?

The Treasure of Swamp Castle is a real thing, ( http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Swamp-Castle-1989-VHS/dp/B000P1CD7W ) but there doesn't seem to be any record of it or articles about it that are easily found. There is no Wikipedia article, it doesn't even appear in red text on its ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animated_feature-length_films ) IMDB doesn't know about it, and Youtube doesn't have any videos for it. What is this movie? Who made it? Why does no one acknowledge its existence? Is it a foreign film dubbed into English? Why is there a 1997 film of the same name and description, but also little to no record? Are they the same movie? Is there a DVD? ( http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/article_info.php?articles_id=1631# )

Thank you for any research you may consider into this topic. I had the VHS for this movie at one time, and I was surprised to find there was no record of it on Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.118.173.242 (talk) 16:52, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Not every movie ever made is worthy of inclusion here. It has to have some WP:Notability. Not even being listed in IMDb is a fatal black mark against it. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:07, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Your description pretty much says there are no sources, reliable or otherwise, for this movie, so there's not a lot we can do. Even if you remember details of the movie yourself, you couldn't write up an article about it here, as that would violate our policy of No Original Research. Wabbott9 Tell me about it.... 17:36, 17 July 2011 (UTC)