Michael Albert

Answer: I think your answer can be found in the type of song being sung, and the function of each song in the story. "Summer Nights" and "Sandy" are narrative songs. They tell a story, and are written with a melodic structure reminiscent of the 1950's crooners. "Greased Lightnin', " is a rock 'n' roll song, in the style of someone like Elvis Presley. It is a song all about posturing machismo, and the fetishization of a car as a symbol of phallic virility. So, the style of the vocals require a different kind of quality. It is also in a lower key with deeper notes. The song he sang while dancing with Sandy in the gym is called "Those Magic Changes." When Sandy suggests he might be talented enough to sing professionally, Danny starts to show off, and unintentionally ends up sounding absurd and out of tune. That is just a bit of silliness for the sake of humor. Keep in mind, Danny isn't the only character whose vocal style changes according to song: Rizzo sings "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" in a nasal, sarcastic tone, while "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" is sung as a yearning torch song. Sandy's songs, like "Hopelessly Devoted" and the reprise of "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" are sweet and wistful, whereas "You're the One That I Want" is harsher, to fit her new, provocative persona.

Michael Albert

Answer: A combination of factors is at play here. Carrie's mother, Margaret, is mentally unstable. She is a staunch fundamentalist Christian. Her daughter, Carrie, is a product of forced intercourse by her drunken husband which her mother admits to having enjoyed, regardless of its sinful nature. Carrie exhibits telekinetic powers, which Margaret labels witchcraft. Carrie goes to the prom against her mother's wishes, which Margaret considers sinful. Margaret ultimately sees her daughter as an evil spawn, imbued with Satanic powers, who is also beginning to assert her independence and defy Margaret's Christian principles. It was probably part of Margaret's delusion that killing her daughter in the midst of prayer (they are reciting "The Lord's Prayer" when Margaret stabs Carrie in the back and continues to attack her) might facilitate her possibility for redemption.

Michael Albert

Answer: "Mr. Slugworth, " the evil rival owner of a competing candy company, turns out to be Mr. Wilkinson, an employee of Wonka's. He appears to the five finalists shortly after their ticket finds to tempt them into betraying Wonka by turning over an everlasting gobstopper so the presumed Slugworth can determine the secret recipe. This is a test devised by Wonka to find a child who is pure of heart to succeed him. Charlie passes the test by returning the gobstopper rather than stealing to gain reward. Logic would lead us to presume that the faux "Mr. Slugworth" made the same offer to all five children...money. But only Charlie and the Bucket family were in dire financial straits. The others seemed to be middle class, at least. And Veruca Salt, in particular, has a family that is fabulously wealthy. It is possible that the offer to the other four children was more tailored to their specific vices: Something to satisfy the gluttony of Augustus Gloop, an opportunity for competitive adventure for gum-obsessed Violet, television fame and the resulting financial gains for Mike TeeVee (whose family also seems like they could use a couple of nickels to rub together), and God only knows what one offers to Veruca Salt, who already has everything. But the enticements were whispered, so it is simply left a matter of speculation.

Michael Albert

Answer: During "Point of No Return, " the Phantom shares a stage with the very vulnerable Christine. He is still masked, though it is a mask other than his trademark white face covering. The Phantom is well known as a murderer and an escape artist. This is the the equivalent of a hostage situation. To rush the stage might risk lives, and everyone in the know is proceeding with caution. During the song, we do get glimpses of police moving about, and Raoul and others looking concerned, subtly signaling one another and considering their next move. The stage crew seems confused. The dancers go on with the show. And law enforcement officers await the right moment to advance. It also gives us the opportunity to enjoy a dramatic musical number that rushing the stage would interrupt.

Michael Albert

Answer: The abandoned mask is a symbol of the Phantom's continuing presence, despite his apparent physical absence. He has already been publicly unmasked, both physically and, to an extent, psychologically. He has conceded that he has lost Christine to Raoul whom he has freed. He has abandoned his lair. All that was his facade, he has either given up or has been taken from him. The mask is the final symbolic gesture of that facade being relinquished, leaving behind further mystery regarding his whereabouts. Does he now live without it? I guess that's left unclear. However, I don't think it's beyond reason to assume he has, or has created more than one copy of the mask - if for no other reason than anything in pure white must be difficult to keep clean, what with the dust all over the opera house, the dirt of the streets, the humidity of his cavern, and the occasional splatter of blood to contend with.

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: This is the very reason my brother and I used to jokingly call the show, "Murder, She Caused." It's amazing she was ever on anyone's guest list for a party, given the likelihood someone would end up deceased. As to your question, most of the time, Jessica Fletcher would have had an air-tight alibi, as she was in a room full of people, or her whereabouts were accounted for when a murder occurred elsewhere. It also seems to me that there were episodes where she, purely with respect to opportunity, could have been a suspect. I believe she even acknowledged that as a logical possibility from time to time, even though she knew, of course, she was not the killer. However, the investigation would obviously rule out the possibility of her involvement, eventually.

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: The song is called "Underground" by David Bowie. It is preceded by music listed on the soundtrack album simply as "Opening Titles."

Michael Albert

Answer: The record is the song, "Merry Go-Round Broke Down, " known to most of us as the "Looney Toons" theme. That was Judge Doom's first clue that Roger could be around. We don't see who started the record playing, but it was probably the eponymous rabbit, himself. If so, he would have left his scent on the record, which the supremely evil Judge Doom could have picked up by sniffing the vinyl.

Michael Albert

Answer: About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water. The website How Stuff Works suggests that the oceans hold approximately 326 million trillion gallons of water, or about 96.5% of the liquid. By extrapolation, one could estimate that 100% of the earth would require about 459 million trillion gallons of water. However, there simply isn't sufficient water in the ice caps and other water bodies to float Noah's Ark. The water over the land masses would not be as deep as the waters of the oceans, which would suggest a lower number is possible. However, if there is truly NO land on which to set anchor for the denizens of Waterworld, then there would have to be sufficient water to cover the mountains of the world. That amount would be astronomical.

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: Because she is considered, in a minor sense, a "villain" in this film for forcing her daughter into a loveless arranged marriage to satisfy her personal wants, most fans probably speculate that she became a poor and penniless seamstress and lived out her life working in a factory. Of course, this is possible, without the financial security of the arranged marriage between Cal and Rose. However, it is difficult to believe that a woman of such status, and who has so many wealthy and powerful friends, would be allowed to languish in abject poverty doing menial labors. I would tend to believe that she probably sold a number of her possessions for money (she did mention that as part of the humiliation she would face if Rose were to refuse Cal's affections), and probably lived off the kindness of others. Given that her daughter was betrothed to a Hockley, his family might have felt an obligation to assist her in finding a suitable living arrangement and a situation for employment. It is also possible that she re-married into wealth. However, this is more unlikely, mainly because back in 1912, it was considered scandalous to re-marry, especially at Ruth's age. However, since Ruth does not make an appearance after surviving the sinking of the Titanic in a lifeboat number 6 (next to Molly Brown), nor is she mentioned again, her fate is left unknown and subject only to speculation.

Michael Albert

Answer: I've wondered that too. I think it was easier to find out what happened to Cal because she said "it was in all the papers." As for her mother, it likely would have only been in the papers local to where she lived when she passed away. This was in an era before television and of course way before the internet. So I think the only way Rose would have been able to keep track of her mom would have been to live in the area or do some investigation. It seems unlikely she wanted to do either one, especially since it would have 'given it away" that Rose had survived in the first place. I agree with the other statements that Cal would have felt obligated to take care of her, and that the people she owed money to would have tried to collect on it as it would have been in "bad form" under the circumstances.

Answer: Her mother's big problem was a heap of debts. It would have looked badly on the debt collectors to go hovering around her after what was assumed to have happened, and in a society where one's reputation was valued highly. They probably simply gave her a degree of debt forgiveness in her bereavement, then Cal, insurance, and even her Mother herself taking a second (rich) husband could've taken care of what was left.

dizzyd

Chosen answer: The character Frasier Crane, Diane's esoteric psychiatrist/lover, first appeared on "Cheers" during the first episode of season 3 ("Rebound: Part 1"). Naive and lovable Woody Boyd joined the cast one season later as the replacement bartender for the deceased Coach ("Birth, Death, Love and Rice," season 4, episode 1). Rebecca Howe, the beautiful but tough manager after Sam sells the bar to a large corporation, began her tenure at "Cheers" during the first episode of season 6: "Home is the Sailor".

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: Child psychologist - or so he thinks. Remember that Bruce Willis' character doesn't comprehend that he is actually dead, and certainly doesn't grasp the fact that Cole is the only person who can see him. Dr. Crowe's perception is that life goes on as does his professional role as a therapist for children. When he is around his wife, he misinterprets her melancholia and somber expressions as evidence that she resents his priority on his work, and that she is behaving coldly towards him as a result. In fact, she is in mourning for Malcolm, her dead husband - something he doesn't realize until the film's end.

Michael Albert

Answer: Daryl's actions of swallowing the transmitter AND returning to the Wolverine camp branded him as both a coward and a traitor. He was killed, not as a safety precaution, but as a sentence for his "crime."

Michael Albert

Answer: Though not a requirement of maritime law, it was a matter of historical codes of chivalry that, in life threatening situations where limited numbers of life-saving resources were available, the lives of women and children were to be saved first. That was captain Smith's order the night the RMS Titanic sank. Some of the crew interpreted this to mean "women and children only." Thus, several of the lifeboats were launched only partially full, as men were prevented from occupying empty seats even when all nearby women and children had been boarded. The rescue efforts on the Titanic were further hampered by the fact that, initially, many of the passengers thought that the launching of lifeboats was unnecessary precaution, as the Titanic was thought unsinkable. The night air was cold. The lifeboats seemed uncomfortable. Thus, many preferred to stay on board the ship until reality of the magnitude of the situation became more evident and panic began to set in. Many of the men who survived in lifeboats, like White Star Line chairman Bruce Ismay, were branded cowards upon return to shore, even though many of them occupied seats that would have otherwise gone unused.

Michael Albert

Answer: Furthermore, the "Code of Conduct" would put many boats in the water without anybody being able to row them.

Answer: They do have earpieces, just minuscule ones that can't be seen unless you are looking directly into a persons ear. As shown in the scene with Marlon on the beach, he is being fed his lines by such an earpiece. They are also present when Truman is in his car and he picks up the signal they are using to show where he is at the given time. Also, even though you can hear what someone is saying, you can't talk back to them which is why Meryl and Marlon had to talk to a camera when requesting help/confirming Truman wasn't there.

Chosen answer: It appears that Christof and the control team in the moon did not, in fact, have contact with the actors very often. It is more likely he had contact with people on the ground who could make things happen per his instructions. But there were inconsistencies. For example, how could he create instantaneous traffic jams at a moment's notice, and set up a hazardous spill scene on the outskirts of town to prevent Truman from leaving Seahaven, but he couldn't get anyone to interrupt or vary the cycle of movements by extras that Truman watched in his rear view mirror when he was trying to convince his wife something in their town was amiss - even when he was talking aloud, anticipating the next extra's move before it happened? Christof could arrange for a road race to happen by and to have people almost instantaneously hustle Truman's father onto a bus when he showed up in town as a homeless man, but it took quite some time to get Sylvia's father onto the beach to whisk her away to Fiji, even though Christof knew exactly where they were headed. And when Truman and Meryl were having their major argument in their kitchen, Christof could engineer Marlon to show up with a six pack of beer, but he couldn't communicate with Meryl to provide her advice on how to handle the situation, and she ended up screaming for help into a camera. I think Christof did place some sort of communication/listening device on some actors at critical times. We saw that in a couple of instances (e.g. When Marlon went into Truman's basement looking for an already disappeared Truman, Christof was feeding him direct instructions). But I don't think it was routinely done. And when it was, Christof's surely would have had the technical know-how to create a supremely inconspicuous piece of equipment.

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: Michael Moore's disdain for Ken Starr is clear, and continues. As recently as May of 2013, Mr. Moore referred to Ken Starr on Twitter in a negative light ("'Bring Back Ken Starr' And you said Bill Keller couldn't write anything stupider than his column backing the Iraq war"). As such, I suspect his acknowledgement of Mr. Starr is both sarcastic and genuine. He isn't showing respect for or gratitude to the man as much as he is acknowledging the fodder Ken Starr, his politics and his tactics provide to the concept of a film like "Canadian Bacon."

Michael Albert

Answer: You might think it has something to do with licensing rights for the characters. But that's doubtful as several of the characters, both seen and unseen, are from the same animation company, Hanna-Barbera. Actually, it's a play on the real-life reality TV show convention of blurring/obstructing the faces of people who haven't legally consented to having their image shown, because their appearance on camera would put them in a compromising position. This happens often in shows like "The Real World, " "Cheaters, " and "COPS." In "Drawn Together, " Snagglepuss and Elmer Fudd, for example, were jokingly portrayed as not giving consent to their image on TV because it would out them as gay in the context of that episode. Of course, to the viewer, it's obvious who they are, and the humor lies in our memory of them as possessing a lot of stereotypically "gay" characteristics. Charlie Brown's face was obstructed by a leather BDSM mask, part of his "costume, " in a scene where Foxxy was his dominatrix. In the same scene, Natasha Fatale has Captain Hero in a similarly submissive role wearing a spiked collar and leash. Her eyes have a black bar across them, again, so as to "conceal" her identity, the way they do in the fashion magazines, even though we the audience know exactly who she is. The other characters you mention apparently "gave their consent" to their image being shown.

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: I believe you are correct. It is a hard to make out, because it goes by so quickly. But it does look like a Wyoming plate. We see a dark design mass in the area where the letters and numbers also appear that looks the cowboy/bucking bronco which distinguishes the Wyoming plate from those of other states.

Michael Albert

Answer: Catch-as-catch-can is a style of wrestling in which the wrestlers are allowed to use methods which are illegal in most traditional wrestling matches. These include tackling, tripping, and holds below the waist. The humor lies in how the character of Mr. Humphries references it in his line: "I was known as Hugger Humphries. They had to pull me off people. I was the 'catch as catch can' champion of the Barley Road Mixed Infants."

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: I believe you are taking a very modern day perspective. In our era of technology, scientific advancement, and general skepticism about everything, we are pretty jaded and cynical about things like magic and paranormal phenomena. At that time and place, audiences were far more willing to accept the possibility of true magic and sorcery, and weren't as prone to disbelieving what their eyes tell them. A "con" (short for "confidence") man is one who attempts to gain the trust of another, subsequently using deception, fraud and/or trickery for their own personal gain. I don't think it's unfair to label Oz this way, particularly at the beginning of the film.

Michael Albert