Question: The character of Pie Mei: what does his name mean?
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Question: I doubt whether if this is a movie mistake or not so I better ask this question first: Where does the "lightning effect" come from in the Mount Doom sequence? Is this just a filmmaking technique to make the scene scary and climactic? As you can notice from other movies like Titanic where Jack and Rose where running along the flooded corridors of the ship and saving a child, there are broken electric wires that create this effect (lights flashing on and off continuously). In horror movies, there are always thunderstorm to justify that the "lightning effect" come from a real lightning. And now in ROTK, especially when Frodo is having his last look on the Ring before he says 'The Ring is mine.', there are "lightning effects." I don't think it's from the lava nor a thunderstorm and not certainly from a broken electric wire.
Answer: It's a big volcano jam-packed full of Sauron's wild magical power flashing around, also the volcano must have some sort of magic power in and of itself if it can be used to forge/unforge magical rings.
Question: I heard from a friend that the astronaut guy (MJ's boyfriend in the movie) is the man who will later become Venom, one of Spider-Man's worst enemies. Is that true?
Answer: According to Marvel, Venom is a former Daily Bugle reporter named Eddie Brock. You can read about him at marvel.com. John Jameson becomes the Wolfman after coming into contact with a red gemstone on the moon (in the comics at least), an affliction he is eventually cured of.
Question: I've heard that in the U.K., a part of the film had to be cut to give it a PG rating, does anybody know what this part was?
Answer: It was a headbutt - when Spider-Man and Doc Oc are free falling, Aunt May is struggling to hold on to the umbrella, and Spider-Man throws a head butt at Doc. It's included in a Blu-Ray version.
Question: What exactly is the lysine thing Muldoon mentions? I didn't really understand it. And if it is the only way to save the others then why does Hammond say it's completely out of the question?
Answer: The so-called scientists genetically engineered the dinosaurs to not be able to produce the amino acid lysine so that they would need lysine supplements in their diet or they would die. Muldoon wants to stop giving them the supplement. Hammond doesn't want to stop giving it because the dinosaurs will die - all his money down the drain. Unfortunately, they goofed up because there were edible plants on the island that contain lysine (probably planted by the same idiot who planted the poisonous ferns), so the herbivores eat those, the carnivores eat the herbivores, and VOILA! all the dinosaurs have plenty of lysine without the supplement.
Question: Does the special features DVD have any deleted scenes? If so, how do I get to them?
Answer: The deleted scenes are on Disc 2. In the classroom-looking room with the parchment scrolls in the shelves and the picture of Filch on the desk, etc., move the cursor up towards the top of the screen, and look for (I believe) "Extended Scenes," and select it.
Question: The early versions of the M16 had severe problems with jamming. There may have been several causes; instructions issued that the rifle was "self-cleaning", improper ammunition design, improper magazine design (therefore in a later stage 18 rounds instead of 20 were used in the mag). It is not necessarily a mistake, certainly not by the filmmaker, but there are several writers mentioning serious casualties amongst fighting troops specifically because of jamming M16 rifles. Why does this book/film not even include a hint of that problem which surely must have existed at that time and place?
Chosen answer: There is no definitive information on this topic, and although factually accurate, a technical problem with a weapon was probably not enough to build an entire sub-plot, and would not hold the interest of the moviegoer. There were enough casualties without having to take into consideration weapon malfunction.
Answer: The M16's used in this battle were second generation M16A1's easily distinguished by the forward bolt assist on the right hand side of the rifle. The original M16 had no bolt assist and the jamming was caused by a different propellant that made the weapon very dirty.
Question: When Norman says the guy "that wrote that book he loves" (Shumway?) congratulated him on Spencer's Theorem, then Claire says "He didn't know your father was dead?" and Norman says "He knew". What does one thing have to do with the other? I've seen this movie at least 20 times and I can't figure out this conversation.
Chosen answer: Spencer's theorem was Norman's father's theorem. Norman wants to be greater than his father was, so to be accidentally complemented on something that his father did would be bad enough. To say that the guy knows that his father is dead is to imply that the guy probably insulted him intentionally.
Question: Does anyone know why there are armadillos running around inside Dracula's castle?
Answer: Pretty sure this qualifies as a mistake, just like the llamas in Troy. Armadillos only live in the Americas. Later on, they have opossums too! So the story about not wanting to show rats could very well be true. Nevetheless, if this isn't a mistake, I don't know what is.
Chosen answer: If memory serves, that version was filmed in Mexico and they used the same sets to film the Spanish version AT THE SAME TIME. English crew on days, Mexican crew at night. Being the desert there would be armadillos and I'm sure the crew thought they'd make good rats or something. Wouldn't you find some sort of exotic wildlife living in Castle Dracula?
Answer: Actually, in that time period, rats were deemed too "gross" to show so armadillos were substituted. I got this answer straight from David Skal, the noted horror film historian.
Question: Where could one obtain recordings of USA's 1980 Olympic hockey games in their entirety?
Chosen answer: You probably wont ever be able to get all the games in their entirety. The biggest obstacle with recorded events and games from the Olympics is the high price of licensing them so its near impossible to obtain entire matches on DVD or VHS and in many cases catching replays of the full game in the future. Many sports channels on cable tv will be your best bet including the US channel ESPN Classic. If you were looking for something to buy the closest you will probably get is a DVD or VHS called "Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team (2001)".
Question: After seeing this film, I have questions that need answering: 1) What are the differences between Fundamentalists, Conservatives, and Evangelicals? 2) What is a "mainline" church, as this is something I often hear from Evangelicals?
Chosen answer: No way to answer this without over simplifying or offending someone, but here goes... To characterize the three types by their one particular focus (and ignoring all other differences and similarities), Conservatives' main focus is for values/practices/whatever to stay the way that they have traditionally been. Fundamentalists want change from tradition to a stricter, more literal interpretation of the Bible. Evangelicals main focus is to be close to God to convert others to Christianity. Of course there are all sorts of combinations of all three as well. "Mainline" churches are the large, well-established, well-accepted mainstream denominations, e.g. Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Episcopalian, etc. etc.
Question: Given that in the book she's lusting after Colin Firth, but the films star Colin Firth as someone else, does anyone know for sure what's being done? Is it someone acting the part of Colin Firth, or will it be another celebrity playing themselves? Given filming's probably finished by now, there must be a definitive answer...
Chosen answer: While there were rumours that a different celebrity was to be used - George Clooney was mooted - according to Renee Zellweger, that sequence is not in the film.
Question: In the movie and in early episodes when they travelled through the stargate they arrived on The Other Side nearly frozen. This no longer happens. I was just wondering if any explanation was ever given as to why this no longer happens, or did they just drop that plot point?
Answer: It's a side effect from stellar drift. Once they compensated for it, it goes away.
Question: Samara just wanted to be heard and killed everyone who didn't make a copy to show to someone else. But say that someone showed another person the same copy they had seen. Would she still kill that person?
Answer: Yes, there are two rules in order to be spared: make a copy and have someone else watch the copy you made. The day after watching the tape, Rachel shows it to Noah. He asks her to make him a copy so he can do research about its origins which she does almost immediately. When she visits Becca at the psych ward and touches her hand, she tells her she has 4 days left (Becca had seen Samara the night Katie died thus was affected by her presence and could tell how much time Rachel had left as a result). At this point, Rachel had already made a copy, but was still very much in danger because no-one else had watched it. It is not until Aidan watches the copy she made that her life is finally spared. Samara wants everyone to know about her story, so it makes sense that she would want as many tapes out there as possible for people to watch.
Answer: Yes because Rachel watched the same copy as Katie, (her niece) and she received a phone call just like the others. She wasn't killed because she copied the tape before her 7 days were up. I don't think it makes any difference, as long as you see the tape.
Answer: No, as long as you show someone else the tape and they watch the entire thing, your life is spared. Whenever Rachel realises she made a copy, she is really just realizing she was spared because she showed the tape to someone else. Making a copy isn't a bad idea though, because if the original would somehow get destroyed, the viewer would be out of luck.
Question: Why did Sarah Michelle Gellar leave the show?
Answer: She wanted to devote more time to her movie career and her new husband Freddie Prinze Jr.
Question: I know that some shows/films changed their cityscape shots between scenes after September the 11th but did Friends? I noticed in an old episode from series 6 the Trade Center Towers are still standing. I thought they might have changed it for the later episodes, but are there any plans to go back and edit episodes featuring shots of the Twin Towers?
Answer: No I don't think so. Earlier episodes show the Trade Center Towers in some of their shots but after 9/11 Friends started using new cityscape shots, which makes sense.
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Answer: Pai Mei means "White Lotus", though some sites seem to think it means "White Eyebrow." He's a character that appears in a lot of '70's Kung Fu movies and is played by Gordon Liu (who also plays the first of the large group of Crazy 88's (the one who runs in and yells) in Vol. 1).
Myridon