Entertainment desk
< July 7	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 9 >

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 8

Tom Lehrer

Which is Tom Lehrer's most clever piece? user:Everyme 09:19, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't claim to have heard all his songs, but you have to be pretty clever to sing The Elements (song), as well as to write it. What other contenders did you have in mind?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:38, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

E.g. Alma or New Math from That Was the Year That Was. I like The Elements, too, though. user:Everyme 21:34, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alma was what got me involved in Wikipedia, believe it or not. I heard it for the first time on the radio one Saturday morning in November-ish 2003. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing at the time (no, that that, silly; I was driving my car along Bridge Rd, Richmond, in Melbourne), and being a huge Mahler aficionado, I just loved it. When I got home I did some googling to get the lyrics, and came across Lehrer's WP article and Alma's article, and the rest is history. I'd seen the word "Wikipedia" on previous google searches, but it meant nothing to me. After Alma, though, everything changed. So, you can guess where my vote goes to. -- JackofOz (talk) 01:02, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I first heard of and fell in love with Lehrer's witty style when Wernher von Braun was mentioned in a Berlin radio programme by the CCC. user:Everyme 01:51, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've always been partial to Folk Song Army: "We are the folk song army/every one of us cares/we all hate poverty, war, and injustice/Unlike the rest of you squares." On the other hand, it's hard not to enjoy the cleverness of "It's not against any religion/to want to dispose of a pigeon." --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 16:05, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

We will all go together when we go has the cleverest rhymes.

Oh when you attend a funeral
It is sad to think that sooner or l-
-ater those you love will do the same for you."

DJ Clayworth (talk) 16:52, 10 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Inner Mongolian Song

Does anyone know the name of an Inner Mongolian song where a young girl is singing to her parents, and they are singing back? The song uses excerpts of Toxic by Britney Spears. By the way, the song is in Mongolian not Mandarin. Thanks --86.45.86.62 (talk) 12:36, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for name of anime

I watched an anime movie about ten years ago concerning a great battle between a demon king and a goddess. Both apparently die, but thousands of year later in modern times, the demon king reappears either high in the sky or on the moon. He is eventually killed by a half-demon similar to Dante from Devil May Cry. I wish I could give you more info to go on, but that is all I remember. --Ghostexorcist (talk) 17:29, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest you take a look at Category:Anime of the 1990s to see if anything jogs your memory. AtaruMoroboshi (talk)

Your description is very loose, so I have several guesses, but no guarantees of either being the one you're looking for:

Beast Fighter
Demon Lord Dante (not just because of the name, trust me)
Babel II

--Kreachure (talk) 18:25, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

dragon ball z and gt

where is the dragonball z and gt list of season comeing out in Sep,16th 2008.? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.211.82.5 (talk) 19:15, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not into DBZ, but according to List of Dragon Ball GT episodes the entire series has already been aired (at least in Japan and the US). Perhaps they are re-releasing an old season, in which case the episodes should be listed on the linked article. -Shaggorama (talk) 04:00, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

And starring "X" as "Y"

Hi all. I was wondering, why do TV shows and films sometimes in the opening credits state the name of the character an actor is playing. For example, I just caught the opening credits of Charmed, where it listed the first two actresses, and then said "and Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"". Smallville does a similar thing, listing the main characters and then saying something like "and John Schneider as Jonathan Kent". And the other day I watched Field of Dreams where in the opening credits Ray Liotta was listed along with his character, Shoeless Joe Jackson. Can anyone shed any light on this? Hammer Raccoon (talk) 20:21, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Our Billing (film) article refers to this as "last billing, " with a brief explanation that this "usually designates a smaller role played by a famous name." As you might imagine, searching the rest of the internet for "last billing" results in a whole lot of information about credit cards. --LarryMac | Talk 20:30, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This same question was asked a few weeks ago: Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Entertainment/2008_June_20#movie_credits_question Kreachure (talk) 22:06, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the links. So its use is to signify to the audience a major actor in a minor role, but a role that is more important than, say, bodyguard #2? This kinda makes sense - I read on the Smallville article that the creators wanted a "recognizable face", so highlighting John Schneider's character sorta makes him stand out. Ditto for Ray Liotta. I guess the filmmmakers are trying to say "look what talented actors we have,even in the minor roles". I must admit I know nothing about Charmed, but I got the impression that "Piper" is one of the three main characters and Holly Marie Combs is about as well known/unknown as the rest of the cast, so her billing here seems a little unusual. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 23:21, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It can also be used to give someone "special" billing. Holly probably demanded top billing, but didn't get it. So, in a compromise, they gave her special billing at the end. -- kainaw ™ 00:14, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I though in Charmed the actors were listed according to their character's age, oldest first. Piper was the youngest so was billed last, at least until until Pru died. Then after season three I think you were listed according to how long they had been in the show. JessicaN10248 15:01, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

lol I just found it, see Charmed#Billing order JessicaN10248 15:03, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is often a contract thing. I think that's why Edward Herrmann was billed for seven years as "Special appearance by.." even though he had basically as big a role as any other character that wasn't Lauren Graham or Alexis Bledel. Also, sometimes it denotes a special character that stands out from the rest of them, like a villain or something. For instance, Anthony Stewart Head in Buffy was the only "grown-up" character, the rest of them were basically kids in the beginning (Angel was basically a 200-year-old kid, after all). And when he became recurring in the sixth season, Alyson Hannigan took over that position because she'd basically become as bad-ass as Buffy herself (actually ALOT more bad-ass, as we found out by the end of the season). Wouldn't make sense just to give top-billing to Buffy, would it. --Oskar 02:54, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See also the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis billing. When Michael Shanks came back to SG-1, his billing was "And Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson." Since David Hewlett went from a minor character in SG-1 to major character in Atlantis, I guess he got the good billing "And David Hewlett as Rodney McKay." - LA @ 17:03, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The two that come to mind for me are King of Queens and Seinfeld, where Jerry Stiller (Arthur) and Jason Alexander (George) are credited like this, and this is strange, because both of these characters have large roles in the sitcoms. Jared (t) 17:12, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

James Bond film

Somebody knows the name of a James Bond film in which Bond kills a man by shooting down a chandelier in a ice palace? David Pro (talk) 21:08, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like Die Another Day. -- KathrynLybarger (talk) 21:29, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, it's Die Another Day. "Bond kills Zao by luring him under a collapsing chandelier". JessicaN10248 14:54, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]