Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2018 June 28

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June 28

Use of lotteries to get concert tickets: common outside Japan?

In Japan, it's a common practice to have lotteries just to be able to get tickets to a concert or other live event. How this works is that, from my recollection, you initially only a chance to get a ticket: just because you pay doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to actually get a ticket. Think of buying a ticket in Japan as a lottery where the prize is the actual concert ticket, and the initial purchase does not assure the buyer of a seat. A Google search though probably can probably give a better description that I can. This by the way is not to be confused with concert ticket raffles, which are a common promotion worldwide but are basically ticket giveaways; these ones are more similar to sweepstakes.

Anyway, over in my country, such a practice in live events is pretty much non-existent, and I haven't exactly heard of similar practices in concerts in the West. So my question is: are concert ticket lotteries common outside of Japan? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 11:46, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

Not common in the US (with occasional exceptions), where the usual practice is that the tickets are sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Often, scalpers swoop in to claim the lion's share of tickets that they resell for whatever the market will bear. I don't know if there is a law, but usually there is a limit to the number of tickets that can be sold to any individual buyer. Also, it is common for a venue to hold back some tickets for last-minute sales and/or VIP exclusivity ("I know somebody who knows somebody who can get tickets"). —2606:A000:1126:20CE:0:98F2:CFF6:1782 (talk) 17:49, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

While not an explicit answer to your question, note that in many jurisdictions, anything which resembles gambling too closely tends to have more stringent regulations. Precisely how stringent varies but in some countries it may be quite difficult to run a lottery like that. See e.g. these for NZ [1] [2]. Loot box are something which have recent come under great scrutiny at least in part for those reasons, in that case not helped by the double whammy of being seen to being something often of interest to minors. Nil Einne (talk) 15:44, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

Journalists doing live texts of sports games

I find it hard to even read live updates without being significantly distracted from the game itself. Do journalists use any special techniques so they can both keep a close eye on the game without missing anything and type/edit live texts, and probably also respond to readers' reactions, follow updates in parallel games, and monitor social media for related content? --Theurgist (talk) 21:22, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

Maybe they're extremely extroverted (stimulation addicts) and/or work in teams with multiple phones and assign each journalist part of the workload. There used to be a call center that had to answer questions like what's the address of Montefiore Hospital? They used computers to remove the gaps between words and speed up the words to near the highest understandable pace and queue questions and by the time they heard "whatsdeadresofMonte" or "whatsdeadresofMontef" they speed-typed "Mo" or "Mon" till the hospital was on the first page of "most important things that start with "mo" in New York City", clicked address and pressed the button that hung up and played the next caller (the machine would tell them the hospital's address at normal speed and maybe ask if they had other questions). They hired extroverted stimulation addicts who wouldn't get exhausted doing this 1/3rd of their waking life. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 12:59, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Some games would be easier to cover than others. Those with individual, one-on-one actions such as cricket or baseball would be OK because there are frequent pauses between periods of play. American football has plenty of breaks. The other football codes would be tougher. And I don't know if you've ever seen netball. They never stop. HiLo48 (talk) 07:36, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

Also soccer doesn't have the frequent commercial breaks that baseball and American football do (basketball too). There's 17 commercial breaks for TV ads between the 18 half-innings alone. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:48, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

Soccer seems to have more breaks for acting than other sports. HiLo48 (talk) 23:00, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

[3]. American sports have flopping too. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:14, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

That stuff is a relief from the boredom of the actual game. In any case, there's plenty of time to write while the ball is soaring through the air. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:45, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

[4]. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:08, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

An animated series

I'm searching for the name of an animated children's series where two magic animals would travel medieval Europe and take part into a different Brothers Grimm fairy tale in each episode. Does anybody remember it?The Traditionalist (talk) 21:57, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

Grimm Masterpiece Theatre? (on IMDb) —107.15.157.44 (talk) 22:12, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

I was immediately thinking of Simsala Grimm (and starting to feel quite old, thank you very much), but I have no idea whether that show was actually broadcast outside of Germany. Cheers ✦ _hugarheimur 22:35, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

Yes! It is Simsala Grimm!--The Traditionalist (talk) 23:20, 28 June 2018 (UTC)