Question: You'll have to forgive my ignorance regarding a comment made by Matt Farrell. He said that it took FEMA five days to get water to the Superdome. What exactly was he talking about?
OneHappyHusky
10th Jul 2009
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
2nd Jan 2009
Conviction (2006)
Question: In the episode "Indebted", who played the IAB detective who questions Nick? He looks incredibly familiar, but without a name, I can't figure out where I know him.
Chosen answer: "Nick Potter" is played by Jordan Bridges who has done extensive work on television, the details of which can be found at imdb.com, the internet movie database which includes work on television shows as well.
31st Dec 2008
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000)
Question: Is there an episode in which someone gets impaled by an icicle? I seem to recall the team not being able to find the murder weapon, and then someone realized that it had melted. This could also be CSI: New York.
Answer: The episode on CSI:NY was called "Love Runs Cold" and first aired on October 4, 2006 (Season 3, Episode 3) and involves the investigation of a model found stabbed to death by an ice dagger.
6th Nov 2008
Dracula 2000 (2000)
22nd Apr 2008
Scary Movie (2000)
Question: I heard it was a "Friday the 13th" parody here. What happened then?
Answer: A detailed summary of the original "Friday the 13th" movie can be found on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_%28film%29.
9th Jan 2008
Urban Legend (1998)
Question: I do not completely get the whole "Gang headlight" thing at all,I've seen the film more than 10 times but it still is confusing.
Answer: This urban legend involves wannabe gang-bangers being required to make a kill to join the gang. In this scenario they drive with their headlights off and kill the driver of the first car that flashes their headlights at them. This was proved to be a false urban legend by snopes.com where more information can be found at http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/lightsout.asp.
Answer: For another, film centric, explanation, the Kevin Bacon film - Death Sentence features the gang high beam initiation. It's really what starts off the whole film plot and vigilante revenge storyline.
1st Jan 2008
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Question: I heard the reason this movie is so popular and gets shown on TV a lot is that due to a copyright error it is free for TV stations to show. Is this true?
Answer: Essentially, the answer is no. While there was indeed a clerical error in 1974 that caused a lapse in the copyright television stations were still required to pay royalties. While a box-office flop the film was lauded critically from the start and was nominated for multiple Academy and Golden Globe Awards. Its popularity grew over the years as the movie gained the status of a Classic Holiday Favorite and won the favor of new generations through annual airing of the movie and the success of DVD sales.
13th Dec 2007
White Christmas (1954)
Question: Why does Wallace change his tune suddenly when offering the Haynes sisters a drink on the train, considering that a few seconds before he was not too pleased because Davis had given their tickets to the sisters?
Answer: While initially not pleased their tickets had been given away, Wallace used his war injured arm to gain passage (a running gag in the movie) and once on the train it no longer mattered that they did not have tickets. Besides, they were very pretty girls that they already knew and liked.
12th Dec 2007
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Question: In the middle of Kermit and Fozzy's song "Movin' Right Along", they meet up with Big Bird who says, "I'm on my way to New York City". Is this meeting on another movie starring Big Bird or am I sadly mistaken?
Answer: This is Big Bird's only movie where he says this line. It is a reference to his going to New York hoping to get a role on Public Television (the station that created "Sesame Street") This is verified in TV interviews with the late Jim Henson and on Wikipedia.
25th Nov 2007
American Gangster (2007)
Question: The pharmacist from Desperate Housewives called Russell Crowe a kike. What's that?
Answer: "Kike" is an ethnic slur that refers to Jews. To elaborate, when illiterate Jewish immigrants would be asked to sign their names on Ellis Island, they would simply put a circle on the signature line. The Yiddish word for "circle" is "kikel."
17th Nov 2007
Torchwood (2006)
Question: In "Greek Bearing Gifts" apparently the doctors sonic screwdriver is on Tosh's desk. Could someone tell me at what time you can see it please?
Answer: Several times during the episode, most notably at the beginning when the old grave is discovered, Tosh holds a devise that looks a great deal like the Sonic Screwdriver that she uses to determine the age of the skeleton. However, a search of Google images shows that it is not the same thing.
18th Mar 2007
Aladdin (1992)
Question: Can anyone name all the people that the Genie impersonates throughout the movie in order?
Answer: While the Genie takes on the archetype characteristics of many cliché personalities, the recognizable imitation of celebrities appear as follow (quotes associated with these characters are in parenthesis) 1. Arnold Schwarzenegger ("ever impressive") 2. Ed Sullivan ("Right here direct from the lamp") 3. Groucho Marx ("no substitutions") 4. Robert DeNiro ("You lookin' at me") 5. Arsenio Hall ("Wo wo wo") 6. Rodney Dangerfield ("I can't believe I'm losing to a rug") 7. Jack Nicholson ("alright Sparky") 8. Martin Luther King, Jr ("Free at last") and for the record, the scene of the dancing elephants during the song "Never Have a Friend Like Me" are a direct lift from "Dumbo".
17th Mar 2007
General questions
Has there ever been a time that a movie remake has been nominated (or won) for the same Academy Awards as the original?
Answer: I am afraid I can only give you a partial answer. While searching for Academy Awards involving movies that are remakes I found that only two movies that were remakes have ever won the Oscar for Best Picture "Ben Hur" (1959) and "The Departed" (2006).
18th Mar 2007
General questions
Anyone remember a series of psychological thriller/horrors on Friday nights (I think) on ITV early 80's? Very scary, I think they were called American Thrillers or something like that. They were parodied in a memorable French & Saunders sketch where Celia Imrie was screaming on the telephone ("Have you got the credit card? I thought it was in the suitcase!"). It wasn't Armchair Thriller, which was on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Help.
Answer: There was a series called "Thriller" in the late 70s that aired on British Televion. Details can be found on Wikipedia "Thriller (UK TV Series)"
15th Sep 2007
General questions
I've seen a few TV shows make jokes about Jenny McCarthy not being famous, or a character (such as Hank Hill on King Of The Hill) not knowing who she is. What is the source of these jokes?
Answer: Jenny McCarthy started her career as a Playboy Bunny and 1994 Playmate of the Year, she followed this with hosting MTVs "Singled Out" and "The Jenny McCarthy Show" a sketch-comedy show that contained a great deal of adolescent crude or "toilet" humor. While she went on the write a number of books and is the 2007 Spokesperson for the "Talk About Curing Autism" campaign she has never really been able to shake the public perseption of her as a talentless bimbo made famous by an exploited sexual image.
6th Aug 2007
That's So Raven (2002)
Question: How did Raven originally get her visions?
Answer: Psychic ability run in Raven's family, while the abilities skipped a generation with her mother, her Grandmother Viv was also a psychic.
11th Oct 2007
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
Question: Is this supposed to be Albert Wesker in the film? IMDB lists him as Albert, but I'm fairly certain I saw the part listed as Sherman Wesker in the film.
Answer: You have likely confused "Sherman Wesker" with "Chairman Wesker" which he is referred to in the film.
10th Nov 2007
The Office (2005)
29th Oct 2007
Monk (2002)
Question: I've only seen up to the end of series 4- do Stottelmeyer and his wife get back together?
Answer: She divorces him.
Chosen answer: No.
16th Aug 2007
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: I recently bought the Extended DVD of this movie and sold the Theatrical version to a friend. While watching the Extended DVD I couldn't help noticing that the jug that Pippin replaces the Palantir with (while Gandalf is sleeping with his eyes open) did not seem like the same jug as the one in the Theatrical version. Are they the same jug?
Chosen answer: There is absolutely no reason to believe it is not the same, the costs to change this would be prohibitive and there is no reasonable need to have done so.
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Chosen answer: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans, with many of the residents temporarily housed in the Superdome. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) was highly criticized for their response (or lack of), including how long it took to supply the Superdome with adequate water and food. Matt's pointing out to John how the government isn't nearly as capable of responding to disaster as people think.
OneHappyHusky