Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 August 24

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

August 24

Which Marvel Comics story was this?

I read a Marvel Comics issue of The Fantastic Four or The Thing or something in the original English way back in the middle 1980s. I was just learning English at the time so following the story was a bit difficult at the time. I no longer have the issue. All that I can remember is a couple of quotes:

• "...Unca Benjy?" (referring to Ben Grimm, The Thing)
• "...a slight setback!" (spoken by someone flipping a switch)
• "You're right. I 'pologize." (spoken by Ben Grimm, note the spelling "'pologize'").

Does anyone have any idea which story this was? JIP | Talk 19:11, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Those are too generic and lack any meaningful context. Do you remember something else? What was the story about? Who was the villain?

If it helps, this wiki has all the covers of Fantastic Four vol. 1 (comics from 1961 to 2015). Check the 1980s section and perhaps you may recognize the cover you are looking for. Cambalachero (talk) 19:27, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

The villain was probably the guy who flipped the switch. It was in some kind of hospital or prison or some other facility building. Flipping the switch caused someone else (I don't remember the name of that character either) to suffer a jolt of electric current or something. JIP | Talk 19:36, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

I remember that the story also seemed to have an appearance by "The Entropy Man!", whoever he is. I only remember the name. Searching for "Entropy Man" on the above site did not return any results of such a character. Googling for "Entropy Man" mostly returns results for a brand of shaving soap. JIP | Talk 20:34, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

I think I have found it out on my own. It was not The Fantastic Four at all but Marvel Two-In-One issue #42 featuring The Thing and Captain America, and it was from 1974. I still first read it in the middle 1980s - in 1974 I neither understood English or was able to read - perhaps it might have to do with my not being born at the time. All the things I remember seem to match the contents of the issue. Here is Marvel Comics's own page about the issue: https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/19512/marvel_two-in-one_1974_42 JIP | Talk 20:53, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Quick correction: that issue was from 1978, the overall title started in 1974.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 01:50, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

Talking without breathing

In this video and various others I've come across, the producer seems to have edited the speech track in such a way as to shorten or sometimes virtually eliminate the breathing pauses between phrases or sentences. It's not difficult to follow, but it's not how humans actually speak. Is this just to make the video (marginally) shorter, or is there some other explanation? Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:53, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Is it edited or is it just someone reading lines without paying attention to how they should be said? --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 08:20, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

I'm quite certain it's been edited. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 12:58, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

This removal of spaces between sentences is so common these days that I assume there are standard tools (or even a built-in YouTube upload option) to do it.

Removing the pauses from speech is like removing the white space from a page; it obfuscates the structure of what is said and makes it harder to understand. Cynically, I assume that it is either to compress as much as possible into the 30-second attention span of the younger generations, or because said generations get bored in the pauses and switch off. (It is of course possible that an oldie such as myself is just getting to slow to understand normal speed speech, but ... I think not.) I too would like to know if there are any good (or at least better) reasons to do it. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 13:00, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

It is slightly more complicated than just short attention spans. Youtube offers the ability to watch videos at higher speeds. So, you make a 10 minute video. You get 100 views. That is 1,000 minutes you get paid for (assuming you have enough followers and viewers to get paid). But, what if all 100 viewers watch at double speed. That's only 500 minutes. So, to keep people from watching at double speed, you double the speed of your audio. It means you need double the amount of audio content, but words are cheap. Now, if someone tries to watch double speed, the audio will be quadruple speed and much mroe difficult to understand. So, you get most users back to normal speed and get your full 10 minutes per viewer. And yes, there are tools to speed up audio and remove dead space. A lot of content creators prefer text-to-speech tools because you can really speed those up. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 13:08, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

It also simplifies editing. Since there are many jump cuts, removing section(s) would not be noticeable. 136.54.106.120 (talk) 19:08, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

You may be interested in circular breathing, a technique required for playing a didgeridoo. Alansplodge (talk) 12:52, 28 August 2023 (UTC)