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Amusing Wikipedia Stuff [split topic]

Started by dr_christian_troy, July 25, 2010, 11:46:13 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Icehaven

Quote from: Inspector Norse on October 21, 2021, 08:56:27 AM
Was talking to some colleagues yesterday about how many cities and large settlements there are in the UK and pulled up a Wikipedia list to demonstrate. Derby and Preston are really selling themselves with the images chosen.

Swansea and Wolverhampton aren't exactly at their best either. I mean I know it's not New York but I'm sure there's still better views of Swansea than a hideous tower block complex.

ElTwopo

Quote from: dissolute ocelot on October 21, 2021, 11:47:26 AM
Preston Bus Station is an iconic modernist building, regularly threatened with demolition by philistine councillors. It's a shame that the sun never comes out in the northwest of England though.

Also iconic because you can go there to get the fuck out of Preston.

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: icehaven on October 21, 2021, 12:59:18 PM
Swansea and Wolverhampton aren't exactly at their best either. I mean I know it's not New York but I'm sure there's still better views of Swansea than a hideous tower block complex.

No that's it

Ferris


buttgammon

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on October 30, 2021, 01:53:44 AM
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_nicknames_in_popular_music

Quoteil Molleggiato (the flexible one)

I don't speak Italian and am deliberately not looking any further into this to find out how literally we can take 'flexible' here.

kalowski

Quote from: buttgammon on October 30, 2021, 09:21:46 AM
I don't speak Italian and am deliberately not looking any further into this to find out how literally we can take 'flexible' here.
Ha. Molleggiare means to be springy. This is the past participle ho molleggiato "I have sprung" but my dictionary also shows its use as an adjective:
un'auto ben molleggiata a car with a good suspension system
passo molleggiato springy step

buttgammon

Quote from: kalowski on October 30, 2021, 10:08:14 AM
Ha. Molleggiare means to be springy. This is the past participle ho molleggiato "I have sprung" but my dictionary also shows its use as an adjective:
un'auto ben molleggiata a car with a good suspension system
passo molleggiato springy step


Thanks, that actually enhances it!


Inspector Norse

Not sure whether this passage from the page on Jean-Marc Bosman detailing his financial struggles should go here or in Desolation:

QuoteSome of his money was also lost due to a bad investment in a special T-shirt line. Bosman hoped that the players who benefited from the Bosman ruling would support him by buying one of his "Who's the Boz" T-shirts. He sold only one, to the son of his lawyer.

An tSaoi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolittle_(film)

QuoteCritical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 14% based on 237 reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Dolittle may be enough to entertain very young viewers, but they deserve better than this rote adaptation's jumbled story and stale humor."[27] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 26 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported an average of 3 out of 5 stars from viewers they surveyed.[19]

Courtney Howard of Variety called the film a "frenetic, crass kids' flick" and wrote, "What should have been an awe-filled adventure quickly curdles into an awful one, thanks to a pedestrian formula and the filmmakers' fixation on fart jokes."[29] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy said, "From the very first scene, it's clear something is terribly off with this lavishly misbegotten attempt to repopularize an animal-loaded literary franchise that was born exactly a century ago. The oddly diffident star and executive producer Robert Downey Jr. never finds the power-supplying third rail needed to energize a tale that fails to make a real case for being reinterpreted."[30]

British critic Mark Kermode gave the film a negative review, saying, "Terrible script. Terrible visuals. Dull plot. Dismal gags. The fact (is) that at 101 minutes it really tested one's patience. It is shockingly poor." He particularly criticized Robert Downey Jr.'s attempt at a Welsh accent, calling it "something from Mars."[31] In examining the film's ending, Douglas Laman of Screen Rant noted that the film as a whole suffered from numerous problems, including "...Dolittle's new backstory involving a deceased wife...the largely lifeless voice-over work of the animal characters [and] its painfully unfunny comedy."[32]

In particular, the part in the film in which Dolittle pulls a bagpipe out of the Dragon's behind, inducing a long fart, was criticised as "gross" and "disgusting."[33][34][35]

buzby

Quote from: buttgammon on October 30, 2021, 09:21:46 AM
I don't speak Italian and am deliberately not looking any further into this to find out how literally we can take 'flexible' here.
He is known for his dancing as well as singing, hence the 'flexible' nickname. He is best remembered for his 1972 hit Prisencolinensinainciusol, which had gibberish lyrics intended to sound like how English sounds to non-English speakers (the video also demonstrates the dancing that begat his nickname).

Ferris

Quote from: buzby on November 09, 2021, 10:34:33 AM
He is known for his dancing as well as singing, hence the 'flexible' nickname. He is best remembered for his 1972 hit Prisencolinensinainciusol, which had gibberish lyrics intended to sound like how English sounds to non-English speakers (the video also demonstrates the dancing that begat his nickname).

That vid is so nonce-powered it looks like a Brass Eye knockoff.

QDRPHNC

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on November 09, 2021, 12:33:44 PM
That vid is so nonce-powered it looks like a Brass Eye knockoff.

There was a much better version done in a studio with a bunch of dancers, but I haven't seen it in years.

buzby

Quote from: QDRPHNC on November 10, 2021, 02:17:04 PM
There was a much better version done in a studio with a bunch of dancers, but I haven't seen it in years.
The one with the mirrors? There's a poor quality copy of it on YT, but there's a decent rip of it someone's posted on Facebook. Raffaella Carrà in particular is really going for it (she sadly died in July this year). In the 'classroom' video from my previous post, the black-haired lady who stands up to do the female vocal is Claudia Mori, Celentano's wife, who sang on the track.

Ferris

Quote from: QDRPHNC on November 10, 2021, 02:17:04 PM
There was a much better version done in a studio with a bunch of dancers, but I haven't seen it in years.

It couldn't get much worse. When the teacher character starts doing his strut with the hypnotic bongo playing and the enraptured kiddies I put my foot through my laptop and sent Operation Yewtree the bill[nb]no, that doesn't make sense[/nb]!

famethrowa

A total (made-up) non-sequitur on the page for Bloodbath at the House of Death


Quote from: QDRPHNC on November 10, 2021, 02:17:04 PMMichael McIntyre (the son of director Ray Cameron) reveals in his autobiography that he was the voice of E.T.[4]


PlanktonSideburns

Love that Italian gibberish tune

Version of the decent video here

https://vimeo.com/371803287


It's Like an Adam Curtis fever dream

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Highlights from the Wiki introduction to Ken Russell's Lisztomania.

QuoteLisztomania is a 1975 musical film written and directed by Ken Russell about the 19th-century composer Franz Liszt. Depicting the flamboyant Liszt as the first classical pop star, Lisztomania features contemporary rock star Roger Daltrey (of The Who) as Franz Liszt.

Rick Wakeman, from the progressive rock band Yes, composed the Lisztomania soundtrack, which included synthesiser arrangements of works by Liszt and Richard Wagner. He also appears in the film as Thor, the Nordic god of thunder.  Of the other rock celebrities appearing in the film, Ringo Starr appears as the Pope.

The dry, casual references to Wakeman playing Thor and Ringo playing the Pope really tickled me. As if that's perfectly normal and requires no further comment.

Ferris


An tSaoi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Davidson

QuoteDavidson was called on as a character witness to drug trafficker Brian Brendan Wright in 2007. Despite Davidson's testifying to Wright's character, the judge concluded that Wright was "a master criminal, manipulative, influential and powerful", and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.[28]

QuoteOn 18 June 2014, Davidson attended the assault trial of former N-Dubz frontman Dappy. "Dappy is a good friend of mine. I don't know what's happened in this case but I'm just here to show him my support," Davidson said. Dappy declined Davidson's offer to serve as a character witness for the singer.[44]

Jittlebags

QuoteDappy declined Davidson's offer to serve as a character witness for the singer, saying that the 80's funnyman 'was well minging innit'

touchingcloth

Quote(Both building and elephant have since been refurbished and reopened as an Indian restaurant.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Eater

PlanktonSideburns


Mr Banlon

From the 'Early Years' section of Ray Davies Wikipedia page :
"Ray's father, Frederick George Davies (1902–1975) was a slaughterhouse worker. He liked to hang out in pubs and was considered a ladies' man. He was born in Islington and his registered birth name was Frederick George Kelly. His father, Henry Kelly, was a greengrocer who married Amy Elizabeth Smith at St. Lukes Church in Kentish Town in 1887. However, the marriage failed. Along with her two small children, Charles Henry and Frederick George, and her mother, Amy moved in with Harry Davies. Harry Davies was born in Minsterley, Shropshire in 1878. He was an ostler who had moved with his family from Shropshire to Islington. By the time Frederick George had married Annie Florence Willmore (1905–1987) in Islington in 1924, his surname had been changed to Davies. Annie came from a "sprawling family", and she in turn gave birth to one. She had a sharp tongue and could be crude and forceful."

Not really Ray's 'early years' is it? More episode of Who Do You Think You Are.

dissolute ocelot

There was a 17th century Ukrainian martyr called Josaphat Kuntsevych.

dr beat

From Steve McClaren's page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McClaren#Personal_life

QuoteAs of 2006, McClaren lived in the town of Yarm in Stockton-on-Tees. On becoming manager of VfL Wolfsburg, McClaren moved with his wife and youngest son to Germany, taking residence on Herr Island

Ferris

From the article on Max Bygraves

QuoteOn 9 August 1974, Bygraves became stuck on a cliff near his house in Westbourne, Bournemouth, when a kite flown by his grandson Michael became trapped beneath the edge of the cliff. He suffered friction burns on his hands and was in shock when police and firefighters helped him to safety.

Not so much amusing as... baffling. How was the kite involved? Did he try to rescue a kite by climbing off a cliff and holding on like Indiana Jones at the end of Temple of Doom? "On" a cliff may imply the rest of the land fell away and he was marooned on a pillar of cliff or something.

kalowski

Quote from: Ferris on February 05, 2022, 08:46:02 PMFrom the article on Max Bygraves

Not so much amusing as... baffling. How was the kite involved? Did he try to rescue a kite by climbing off a cliff and holding on like Indiana Jones at the end of Temple of Doom? "On" a cliff may imply the rest of the land fell away and he was marooned on a pillar of cliff or something.
Surely the best bit in that article is
QuoteIn 1999, Bygraves underwent treatment for an ear disorder

dissolute ocelot

Sadly a search of newspapers fails to show up anything about Max's clifftop ordeal, suggesting it probably wasn't national news. I did find the amazing Times headline "Symbolism Handicaps Mr. Max Bygraves", but it's not about art, just a 1961 review of the musical Do Re Mi wherein Bygraves played a conman selling jukeboxes, in a role originated by Phil Silvers.

And in 1967 he was reprimanded by the BBC when remarks about motor oil on Housewives' Choice were deemed unacceptably close to advertising. "The B.B.C. said Mr. Bygraves was asked to tell the producer in the studio of the nature of any ad-libs he intended to make."

Sorry this is the Amusing Wikipedia Stuff thread not the Amusing Retro Showbiz News thread.

Sonny_Jim

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pies,_tarts_and_flans

Just the title, the content is exactly what you'd expect, but the general conceit of a list of pies, tarts and flans makes me laugh.