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February 26[edit]

albums 1990s[edit]

How many albums released in the dacade 1990s were

A) pop music?
B) Rap music?
C) Reggae music?
D) Rock n Roll Music?

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.14.118.230 (talk • contribs)

I really doubt this information is available, especially considering all the independent cds released outside of major record labels. 70.108.199.130 08:20, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also, what exactly defines "Pop" music? Music that is popular can be rap, soul, funk, punk, grunge, techno, etc. pp. Aetherfukz 15:24, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Pop music is often used as a style that's "soft" in comparision to the similar Rock and roll music. 惑乱分からん 16:36, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are you referring to a particular country or the entire world. I can tell you right now, that last one would be near impossible to get info on. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:57, 28 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Identify this song[edit]

Can someone please try to identify this instrumental song? It's the menu music for a Battlefield 2 mod. Password is wikipedia. Thanks. Oh, and since it's ogg, you'll need VLC or directshow Vorbis filters to hear it. --⁪froth^T 05:34, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Clubbed to Death meltBanana 19:29, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ah thanks a lot --⁪froth^T 20:57, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Shakeera - Song lyrics[edit]

I would like to have the lyrics of Shakeer's song which goes something like - "BABY YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD 'I'M SORRY'"

Thanks in advance.

Also thanks for the lyrics of Santa Baby & The Hat I Got for Christmas is Too Big. It made my day!

Dru

The song is titled "Illegal" and her name is spelled "Shakira". Just use any search engine on the Internet for "Shakira Illegal Lyrics" and you'll find many choices of websties to choose from. --Kainaw ^(talk) 09:28, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

d20 Modern[edit]

Where can I find a copy of Page 36 (any format, but searchable-text PDF would be best) of the d20 Modern Core Rulebook? The page is missing in the PDF copy I have, and it's the only PDF copy I've been able to find. Neon Merlin 13:53, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Anti-flash movie film ?[edit]

I find it extremely annoying to watch a film clip of some celebrity at an event with camera flashes going off constantly. I would think it would be simple to have a program that can adjust for flashes, by lowering the brightness, and changing the color balance and/or contrast of each frame to match a selected "no flashes" frame. Does any such method yet exist ? If not, perhaps I should create it, it sounds quite easy. StuRat 15:46, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Try this question at the Computing desk. Neon Merlin 16:00, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Color balance is an old technique. When color movies first began, they looked terrible because the color saturation, brightness, and contrast changes not just from scene to scene, but in different camera angles of the same scene. All the names we hear now (but mostly ignore) like "Technicolor" are really no more than techniques for balancing color in a film. They can do a great job of balancing color in a life performance with flashes, but producers of such work probably don't want to spend the money on it. --Kainaw ^(talk) 16:05, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well you could always just completely remove the white frames and replace them with the last good frame. I doubt there's much useful color information in a flash frame --⁪froth^T 18:18, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose a more advanced algorithm could map colors over from the adjacent frames. (If the starlet's dress was red before and after the flash, chances are pretty good it was red during the flash, too.) StuRat 19:20, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

By color information I mean image information, not like you only get a black and white image --⁪froth^T 20:55, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The only problem is that camera flashes can be so bright that they can cause blown-out highlights, which are areas that are so bright that they overload the camera, and therefore you cannot get any useful information from them to fix the colours. Laïka 07:52, 28 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In that case, it would be necessary to get the color info from the adjacent (flash-free) frames. StuRat 16:00, 28 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the relatively early color movie Gone with the Wind (film) (1939) they did very careful planning of the lighting and filming to assure the colors as ultimately projected would be excellent. The poor rendition when old films are seen now may reflect deterioriation of the print or negative, or the film being copied from a release print. Edison 22:04, 2 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

DVD movie selection panels and subtitles[edit]

From a programmer's POV, these seem to be poorly set up:

1) They don't bother telling you which options are currently selected (which subtitles, if any, which audio options, which commentary).

2) They don't show which options are mutually exclusive (either English or French subtitles, but not both) and which can be used concurrently (audio and text commentary).

3) Subtitles, when selected, don't seem to be placed in the black bars above and below (assuming you lack a widescreen TV), but rather overlap the picture area.

Is there anyone producing DVDs with a competent menu and subtitle system ?

StuRat 16:17, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nope, abolutely nobody :) Superfluous menus and things totally unacceptable to me like DRM, user operation prohibition and DVD region codes have caused me to completely give up on the legal home-video industry --⁪froth^T 18:21, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In trying to consider why I would note:

1) Many of my DVDs 'tick' the option I have selected for things like subtitles/audio. Also my dvd-player summarises what is selected with the click of a button

Really ? Which companies make DVDs with the tick marks ? StuRat 19:26, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

2) I don't really see the need for 'distinct' options, though most dvds I own give you a list to choose from in a selection-form, not in a multi-select form, so it is implied that such an option is not available. Perhaps this could be more clear though.

I have seen such a list which does allow multi-selects, for having both text and vocal commentary on (Star Trek movies tend to have this, I believe). StuRat 19:29, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

3) I suspect advanced TVs may potentially do this, but I would assume the 'black space' is added by the tv, not the dvd/dvd player. The dvd will feed it a signal in widescreen and the tv will adjust to present it. I guess it could send some information to counter this and if they could that would be excellent for the people. In an ideal world you could 'move' the subtitles about to your preferred position on screen. Some films i've watched with subtitles on (strangely I watch virtually all with them on even though i'm not deaf/hard of hearing) move the subtitles appropriate to action. So if something is happening at the bottom it 'switches' to the top, so the ability must be there somewhere.ny156uk 19:05, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think you're right on part 3, because the subtitles are frequently partially in the frame and partially on the black bar below it. To me, that means the black bar is actually being sent from the DVD player. Another really stupid thing they do is always use white for the subtitles, even when the frame is fully or partially white, making it impossible to read. Instead, if they insist on putting it in the frame, they should invert the background color for the text. StuRat 19:26, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, if you've ever had a wide-screen TV, unless it's in high-def you have to actually tell the TV to zoom in, and it crops off the useless black sections --⁪froth^T 20:54, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

When you do that, does it also crop off the subtitles which are half in the black bars ? StuRat 22:44, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, if they're half in the black bars which they very rarely are --⁪froth^T 01:26, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2007 January 19#Anamorphic widescreen. Also see this set of complaints about DVD authoring. --Mathew5000 01:49, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Using XBMC as my DVD player, I can choose where on my screen to display the subtitles.

Cool, but is there a less expensive solution ? StuRat 15:58, 28 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

One does not simply Monster Mash into Mordor[edit]

Does the Monster Mash have an actual dance associated with it, and if so, how is it performed? All I know is you have to rise from your slab first. If there isn't one, invent one. Vitriol 23:30, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

According to this [1], there is no "official" dance, but it recommends doing the Mashed Potato, only slower. So sashay your way past Shelob and good luck with that ring thing. Clarityfiend 00:20, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]