Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2007 May 22

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May 22

Mozart style

I've noticed that the first movement of Mozart's 31st and 39th symphonies, the first movement of his 22nd piano concerto, and the "magic flute" overture share similarities. Is this a specific style?

Can you describe which similarities you've noticed? -- JackofOz 00:07, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

(I'm not the OP.) I can see that they all start with the tonic being repeated, and that all but the first (in D major) are in E♭ major, but other than that I think it gets harder to find similarities. Double sharp (talk) 13:41, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Claymation question

I was watching the Wallace & Grommit movie again last weekend- the one with the were-rabbit. It got me thinking and wondering how in Claymation the animators accomplish the effect of a mouth full of teeth, when a character is talking. That is, as a character is 'talking', for example, if Wallace says something like "Let's go, Grommit!", his mouth will open wide, be seen to be full of teeth, then narrow down to make the "oo" sound, then open wide and be full of teeth again. How do they do that? Where do the teeth go? Are they an insert that is put in place in the character's head? Are they in there all the time? Do they even use clay for making the characters any more? 71.113.118.52 01:22, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

It is my understanding that with this type of work there are several different models of the head to aid in showing a variety of expressions.--Pharos 03:07, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Agreed, this is a common technique. StuRat 08:43, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

For the original Wallace and Gromit films, and presumably Curse of the Were-Rabbit too, it's only the character's mouth that's replaced - the rest of the head stays in place. The animators have boxes of mouths for each character, divided into compartments labelled with things like "E, EE, A and I" and "K, R and N (teeth overlap)". When the mouth shape needs to change the animator carefully removes the old mouth and slides the new one into place. A tool is used to smooth down the edges; the animator has to be very careful to ensure the change isn't obvious. That said, some animators prefer to manipulate the head as a whole, changing the shape of the mouth in situ. It's extremely painstaking work, but then everything in animation is.

If you're interested in the animation process that Aardman go through, I can highly recommend their book "Cracking Animation", which is where I got this information from. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 15:19, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

searching for a particular phrase in the movie Heartbreak Ridge with Clint Eastwood

its a marine movie, during the film, its stated a marine is trained to adapt .......... the remainder is what l'm searching for... l believe it consists of three or four parts...l've tried searching ask.com...and google.com.... and have not be able to find the answer.. please assist Pennabry 02:23, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

You improvise. You adapt. You overcome. (Hoorah!) Clarityfiend 06:07, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Looking for name of song; saw video last week

I saw a video on MTV (US) last week, and didn't check to see who sang it or what the name of it was until it was too late. Unlike most of the hip hop and pop songs, this song had a Latin American sound to it. It was filmed in black and white, and featured a seated male/female duet playing acoustic guitars. The guitars were frequently played by beating on them, like a drum. Sometimes, the camera angle was if the camera was mounted on the neck of the guitar. Towards the end of the video, several guitars were smashed to smithereens. Any ideas? Travisl 04:27, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Never mind -- I found it, finally. Rodrigo Y Gabriela's "For Diablo Rojo". Wow. (Google search for "guitar like a drum": 9th hit to one of their albums on Amazon.) Travisl 06:17, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Mysterious Movie

About 10-12 years ago, I saw this movie that I forgot to ask the name of. It was a foriegn film with English subtitles, and I only remember 2 scenes of it. One scene is where a boy comes out a donkey's butt,and either says "Were's my hat" or "Give me back my hat", and then the donkey gave the boy's hat back the same way the boy came. Another scene was when a bunch of aliens (the kind from other countries) were being loaded onto a ship, and one of those aliens was E.T.. I'd like to know the name of that movie. I checked everywhere, and I couldn't find it. I know my description sounded kinda weird but thats what I saw. Wikiman232 05:11, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like Jane Austen's Mafia! - Zepheus <ゼィフィアス> 16:42, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Insurance and charity telethons

After 9/11, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina struck, there were several charity telethons to raise funds for the relief efforts. A couple of them only went for one hour, while a few others went two or more hours. When the 2007 Solomon Islands earthquake and the Greensburg tornado struck, there were no charity telethons. Does insurance have something to do with it? Or could it be something else?72.229.130.76 16:03, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Two good candidates for "something to do with it" are scale and proximity. Greensburg is nowhere near the scale of Katrina, though it's close to home. The Solomons aren't anywhere near the States (which I presume is the scope to which your question refers), and I'm pretty sure it's nowhere near the scale of Katrina, either. However, the 2004 Tsunami (comparable scale, no proximity) generated fundraising efforts in the States comparable to those for Katrina. When neither recent event you cite is comparable to the previous ones, why should the scope of the response be comparable? In short, there is no conspiracy. — Lomn 17:25, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

I also note that you've asked this question, more or less, several times before. You can find previous answers in the archives rather than posing the question again. Some previous responses can be found here and here. — Lomn 17:30, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

The Tsunami was of comparable scale to Hurricane Katrina? It did kill a hundred times more people, you know. Algebraist 11:50, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, you've just made a comparison, QED. —Tamfang 21:58, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

A very old ghost movie

About 20 years ago, I watched this movie with my dad. I was 4 or 5 at the time and remember the movie vividly. It was a black and white english movie (us/uk). Started with a bunch of people going to an island on a boat, where a big old mansion situated. I cant remember the story, only some images of the end. Ghosts started appearing. Old corpses revealed near a big staircase. A ghost of a girl appeared in this guy's room, then a secret hallway appeared in that room. The ghost ran away and the guy started to chase after her. Then the rest of the visitors tried to escape on a truck/jeep. Well, that's basically the only thing I remember. It would be great if anyone could tell me the title of that movie. Thanks in advance. RLA62.76.249.99 18:16, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Are you talking about the Uninvited from 1944?????

Thanks. But I tried searching that movie in Wikipedia but the description is not the same. Thanks again anyway :) RLA

Even if The Uninvited (film) doesn't match, cross-check with the IMDB description to be sure: [1]. StuRat 14:36, 23 May 2007 (UTC)