Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 May 18

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May 18

Devon Walker New Orleans Saints deal

What kind of "deal" did they really sign quadriplegic Devon Walker to? Are any details like money amount, duration, and what he'd actually do for his job on the team released?75.75.42.89 (talk) 00:21, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Being nice to a guy whose had some bad breaks doesn't seem like it needs deeper analysis. --Jayron32 02:25, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

In fact, the write-ups indicate he's a positive guy who should make everyone on the team feel good. Hard to put a price on that. But am I reading correctly that the Saints now have two different guys named Devon Walker? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:35, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

It appears that they only have the one. Unless the other one also went to Tulane and also plays at safety. Dismas|^(talk) 03:01, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Not to confuse the issue, but there is a DeVon Walker who plays football that ISN'T this guy, but he never played for the saints. But the story is here for anyone who wants to read about it. Also relevant is the story about Eric LeGrand. --Jayron32 03:53, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Uh-oh, it looks like someone added the Saints (2014-) to this one by mistake. I think "Devon Walker" (not DeVon) redirects to DeVon at present. To be untangled sometime soon. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:31, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

I suspect it's just a one-day deal. The most recent example I can think of is the Toronto Blue Jays signing Roy Halladay for 24 hours so he could retire a Jay. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:32, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Indications are that it was in fact a one-day contract. I think his story was covered on ESPN's Outside the Lines or some similar show, sometime last year, as he's been working with the Saints and with Tulane for a while now. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:49, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

The Structure of Shakespearean Tragedy

Hi! I'm looking for a good book on the structure of Shakespeare's dramas, the artistry that makes them so compelling and powerful. I've read "Shakespeare After All," but I would like to find some analyses that are more narrowly focused on Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and the rest. Can you recommend any?

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.81.131.210 (talk) 03:44, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, can't help. But let me suggest that if you don't get any good answers in a few days, post again at the Humanities desk. SemanticMantis (talk) 20:09, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare's Tragedies would be an excellent place to begin. It provides background on Aristotelian tragedy, tragedy in English theatre before Shakespeare, and then analysis of Shakespeare's tragedies. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Tragedy is a collection of scholarly essays on different topics connected to his tragedies, which you may or may not find useful, depending upon how much you would prefer to focus on specific plays. I'd recommend the Cambridge Introduction, then look up books analysing specific plays. There's a mini industry centred on Hamlet alone... lots of reading material out there. OttawaAC (talk) 02:29, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

In which Movie was this ?

Last night I was reminded of a Movie I recently saw ( something probably made in the past ten or at most twenty years ) in which a perhaps Jewish American is telling someone else a story about how in about 1959 after emigrating to a city in the States, he and his father went to see ' North by Northwest ' at the Pictures, and his father did not speak English well, but liked the look of Eva Marie Saint and turned to his son and said " She's a real Buick ", when the son explains later he meant to say " She's a real beauty ", which she certainly is. Does anyone remember this ?

Also, unrelated, in about the early seventies I watched a movie about a boy who went to see an old man and I think he showed him his microscope, and the old man moved it around as if he thought it was a telescope, as if he got the meanings confused, and in either this same movie, or another around the same time, there was a scene in which a young man got into an argument with someone - I think to do with bird's eggs - and he was running after him but got his foot caught in the train tracks and was run over. Also, was there a movie about British POWs who escaped using a vaulting horse ? A lot to think of, I know, and thanks to anyone who has any ideas. Chris the Russian Christopher Lilly 06:29, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

A search for the words "She's a real Buick" says that the first movie is Lucky Number Slevin but the plot synopsis on IMDB doesn't sound anything like what you described. And another search for "pow escape vaulting horse" gave me The Wooden Horse. Dismas|^(talk) 06:48, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

No ! That is it ! Yes, thank You - here it is called 'The Wrong Man', with Josh Hartnett, and now I remember, it is Sir Ben Kingsley's Character, whether he is talking to Bruce Willis, Hartnett or Morgan Freeman, I cannot now remember, but it is in this high rise office he never leaves, and he is reminiscing about first coming to America in the fifties, as I suspect his character is non American, but is in fact a Rabbi, and yet is at war with Freeeman's character. You have it ! Thanks ! And as for the Vaulting Horse, that makes sense, as it would already have been at least twenty years old before we saw it in Kaiapoi on our black and white AWA TV we had until 1980, all those years ago. As for the train track one, this is still a mystery. Interesting how one little thing can stick in one's mind like that. Thanks again Indeed. Chris the Russian Christopher Lilly 08:21, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm confused, Chris. What did you mean by "No ! That is it ! Yes, thank You"? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:04, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

I think he's just funning with us. There have been several movies called The Wrong Man, but none of them had any of those people in it, as is easily checked via the IMDB. --50.100.193.30 (talk) 03:04, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Look at the first sentence of Lucky Number Slevin. —Tamfang (talk) 09:44, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Which can also be arrived at via the redirect The Wrong Man (2006 film). -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:16, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Whoops! Because an IMDB title search for "The Wrong Man" produced a lot irrelevant hits on TV episode titles, I did the IMDB search the other way, searching for the actors by name. When you do that, it only shows one title for each movie. If I'd gone far enough down the title-search results, it would've shown Lucky Number Slevin. Apologies. --50.100.193.30 (talk) 07:21, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

I apologise if that sounded contradictory. I meant no to the suggestion that Lucky Number Seven or The Wrong Man was not the movie, since it was. I remember now that is was Ben Kingsley's character who said this, when relating the story to another character in the film, and yes Kingsley's character does say he is a Rabbi, and he is reluctant to answer the phone in a scene as it is ringing during the Sabbath. The way I said it is more like an expression we use in New Zealand for up to the last twenty years and is still current, where we say, " Yeah, no ", where perhaps one is answering two questions at once - yes to one and no to the other - an example is seen in an ad here about two friends who go out on the town and one says this - yes he will have a good time, but no he will not have any more beer - the expression is also featured on our local Programme The Crowd Goes Wild - a nightly sports roundup done in an informative and humourous way, where famous athletes are interviewed, and the shows features clips of those who begin the interview by answering the first question " Yeah, nah ", but I do not know if they do it in any other country. Sorry once more for any confusion, but indeed, No - as if sometimes someone has asked a question and waited for an answer, they then get it, and think about it - no, that is right – and, no, it is not the case that the movie in question was not The Wrong Man, but rather, and in addition, Yes, it was The Wrong Man, and once the title was mentioned, I realized that this was right, based on the way I recall Sir Ben Kingsley’s Character speaking in the film, but cannot recall to whom he was talking when describing the trip to the Pictures with his father to see North By Northwest. I tried to look up quotes in IMDB, but for my computer and its access, I could not find the quote in question. So indeed, the first movie is The Wrong Man ( Lucky Number Slevin ), and the war movie about the vaulting horse sounds right, now all I need is the one about the man run over by the train, because it is an image I have not forgotten all those years since they showed it – obviously well edited. Thanks All. 202.36.179.81 (talk) 03:22, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

I have seen one movie where a young man's foot gets caught in a railway track while he is having an argument, with a train approaching. At the last moment the man he was arguing with saves him, but is hit himself and seriously injured. (At least, I think I have that right.) However, the story has nothing to do with the other things you mentioned; the two men are arging about a woman (played by Jean Arthur) that they are both in love with. This movie is Danger Lights (1930). --50.100.193.30 (talk) 07:21, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

I recently transcribed a conversation in which one party began every utterance with "Yeah, no, ...." —Tamfang (talk) 06:57, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

Movies like "Dark Seed"

Dear all.

I'm a big fan of the pc game "Dark Seed" (1 and 2). I'm very curious about it, are there movies with a similar plot? I would love to see a movie with a akin storyline.

Thank you very much for your responses.

All the best.--178.195.94.230 (talk) 12:52, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

I am unfamiliar with the game, but reading the story in the Dark Seed article, it reminded me very much of the plot for the 1998 film Dark City, directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, aliens manipulate the lives of humans trapped in a separate universe by injecting something into their brains (in this case, false memories). While well received by critics, it was a financial flop - maybe because it was released the same week as Titanic. Astronaut (talk) 08:34, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

Stage fencers

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Dear all.

A good friend of mine told me, that a good stage fencer could deafeat a ememy in a actual fight. I have a hard time believing this, given that stage fencings (one example can be found under http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbu8fyTLQ0) seems to share a rather small resemblance to the original fencing styles (a great representation of original medieval fencing can be found under http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln94E9AGYTc).

My question is, is he correct? Could a stage fencer win in real combat or would his chances be rather small? I am asking because modern stage fencing barely seems to work like the styles that were developed for self defense and warfare.

Thank you very much for your answers. All the very best.--178.195.94.230 (talk) 13:00, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

I don't see how anyone can answer this. It will depend, for a start, on what training the "enemy" has, and what you mean by "good".--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:09, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

FWIW this question has been asked in various forms several times in the past. The IP - if it is a new person - can stroll through the archives and - if it is the same person - is just messing with this ref desk and this can be closed. MarnetteD | Talk 18:18, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

As we learned in Raiders of the Lost Ark, "fencing" is no match for a loaded gun. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:21, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Which is itself a fictional presentation (and apparently done that way because Harrison Ford was unable to fence on the day of, er, shooting) and nothing to do with the OP's question. AlexTiefling (talk) 22:24, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

The Swiss-based OP can check the archives for the last time a Swiss-based OP brought the question up (last June or so), as it's likely the answer will be the same. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:44, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Auctions for ITV broadcast licences

Resolved

File:Thames Television logo (1968-1989).jpg

Over the past few decades, the broadcast licenses of the local franchises of the ITV network have periodically been put up for auction-- notably the 1982 auction which ousted Associated Television and the 1992 auction which ousted Thames Television. Two questions: what were the rules for deciding when a new auction was to be held? and has whatever used to cause the auctions ceased now that the majority of the network is in the hands of ITV plc? Marnanel (talk) 13:02, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

The current licences run-out on 31 December 2014. Ofcom has agreed to renew the existing licence holders licences for a further 10 years subject to the licence holders paying a "nominal" annual fee of £10,000. These facts - and the reasoning behind them - are in this Ofcom document. I believe the basic issue re: the auctions in the past was that the licences were sold for a fixed period. It appears the government of the day - or perhaps more accurately the quango in charge of oversight of independent broadcasting - determined how long the licences would last. See variously Independent Television Authority, Independent Broadcasting Authority, Independent Television Commission and the previously linked Ofcom article - in that order - for more of the specific history. The general law which currently forms the basis of ITV oversight is the Communications Act 2003 which effectively removed the regulations which had previously prevented one company owning all the regional licences. Valiantis (talk) 00:41, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Thank you! Marnanel (talk) 12:34, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Crazy movie from my childhood

Black and white - US - guys in a lifeboat, maybe escaped cons? - they die one by one to exposure etc, until only 2 are left; one is the handsome lead, the other is JESUS. My friends in highschool didn't believe me - this was a mainstream Hollywood film from the 1950s or before - but I was able to prove it to them at the time - can't remember how...

Can anyone name the movie?

Ta

23:59, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Hmmm. Films from the time period about lifeboats include Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat and Seven Waves Away starring Tyrone Power. I can't think of one with the plot you remember, however, and I can't find anything on IMDB. --Jayron32 01:54, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

The problem is further complicated by the fact that searching for Jesus and Lifeboat give quite a few results referring to hymns and things of the sort that equate salvation with being in a lifeboat. Is there anything else you can remember about the film that was unique enough to search for? Dismas|^(talk) 02:06, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

I tried searching the IMDB for the keywords "lifeboat" and one of "jesus", "christ", or "jesus-christ". There were 96 hits on the first keyword, which seemed about right, but 0 on the second and only 24 on the third and 34 on the fourth. So I looked at keywords for a couple of movies about Jesus and then tried "reference-to-jesus-christ", which has 1,769 hits. But in all these, the only hit in common with the keyword "lifeboat" was Life of Pi (2012), obviously irrelevant.

Could this possibly have been a TV episode from an anthology series like The Twilight Zone rather than a movie? --50.100.193.30 (talk) 03:22, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

I remember it as a midday movie; Twilight Zone was unknown back in the day in Australia - this was in the mid to late 1970s; but still, I'm often conflating things in my memory, so you might be right, 50.100.193.30. Thanks for your answers, all, but I really can't think of any more identifiers than what I've given you. Adambrowne666 (talk) 05:24, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Strange Cargo (1940 film). A turkey, in my humble opinion. —Tamfang (talk) 09:26, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Hey, I remember that movie... what I remember is that it was the first thing I taped for time-shifting purposes when I got my first VCR, and then I only watched about 20 minutes of it before giving up. --So the IMDB keywords I needed to check were "boat" and "christ-figure". No wonder my search missed it. --50.100.193.30 (talk) 03:32, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Or you could do what I did: search my blog for jesus. ;) —Tamfang (talk) 04:47, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Ah, thanks heaps! - yes that's the one - turkey indeed.