23 October 2011

Interesting how that happens, isn't it?

Posted Sunday, 21 December 2008

I got roped into watching an odd film called Sahara today. Not really caring for the storyline or the dialogue, I did what I always do when I'm bored of a film or television show: I focus on the music. This Sahara, the music was vaguely reminiscent of John Barry (composer for all of the James Bond films up to The Living Daylights). I missed the credits, so I went straight away to the Internet Movie Database, where I found the composer to be named Clint Mansell.

I don't know exactly what made me think of Harry Gregson-Williams just then, but I decided to do a search for him, as well. It turns out that Gregson-Williams composed some additional music for Muppet Treasure Island -- the lead composer for that film was Hans Zimmer. The latter happened to also be the lead composer for Nine Months... I wouldn't have known about that film had Charles Martinet not been on the cast. Of course, if you've been on my website at all, you'll know that Charles Martinet is the niftiest person in the world.
That's called "six degrees of separation" -- the theory that everyone in the world knows everyone else in the world, though indirectly. Here's how I see the six degrees in the given example...
Harry-Gregson Williams knows Hans Zimmer.
Hans Zimmer knows Chris Columbus, the director of Nine Months.
Chris Columbus knows Janet Hirshenson, the casting director of Nine Months.
Janet Hirshenson knows Charles Martinet, who played "Arnie" in Nine Months.
Charles Martinet knows me, Spiny McSpleen, through e-mail.
So, the theory is that I, by knowing Charles Martinet, indirectly know Harry Gregson-Williams.
Weird, eh what? Let's put a few more links in the chain, shall we? Oh, by the way, this might make for an unusually long posting today.
Harry Gregson-Williams knows Hans Zimmer, but...
He also knows David Bowers, the director of Flushed Away. Bowers knows Nick Park, the creator/lead animator/director of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Park knows Ralph Fiennes, the voice of "Victor Quartermaine" in Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Fiennes knows Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays "Harry Potter" in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Radcliffe knows Chris Columbus, the director of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Columbus knows Alan Silvestri, composer for Night at the Museum. Silvestri knows Robert Zemeckis, director of The Polar Express. Zemeckis knows Tom Hanks, the voice of many characters in The Polar Express. Hanks knows Wallace Shawn, the voice of "Rex" in Toy Story. Shawn knows Matthew Jon Beck, casting director for The Incredibles. Beck knows Samuel L. Jackson, the voice of "Lucius Best" (a.k.a. "Frozone") in The Incredibles. Jackson knows James Woods, the voice of "Mike Toreno" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Woods knows Ruth Lambert, the casting director for Disney's Hercules. Lambert knows Paul Shaffer, the voice of "Hermes" in Disney's Hercules. Shaffer knows David Letterman, a late-night talk show host. Letterman knows, basically, everyone, which includes Johnny Depp, who played "Captain Jack Sparrow" in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Depp knows Denise Charmian, the casting director for Dead Man's Chest. Charmian knows Gore Verbinski, the director of Dead Man's Chest. Verbinski knows, guess who...
...Hans Zimmer. He knows Chris Columbus, but I've already linked him between Zimmer and Gregson-Williams. Zimmer also knows Ridley Scott, director of The Weatherman. Scott knows Bill Nye, who played "Bill Waldie" on NUMB3RS. Nye knows Robin Williams, who played "Professor Philip Brainard" in Flubber. Williams knows Wil Wheaton, who played Bennet Hoenicker in Flubber. Wheaton knows Keith Arem, director of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. Arem knows Dave Boat, a voice actor for Advanced Warfighter 2. Boat knows Stephen Kearin, the male voice in The Sims. Kearin knows Will Wright, creator and director of The Sims. Wright is good friends with Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto knows Charles Martinet, the voice of the Mario Brothers. Martinet, through e-mail, knows me, Spiny McSpleen.
See how that works out? According to the theory of the Six Degrees of Separation, I know a lot more people than I would have thought. In fact, so do you! So, the next time you're down in the mouth because you don't have any friends, remember the Six Degrees of Separation.
It won't make you feel any more wanted, but it'll give you something to think about to take your mind off the fact that you have no friends.

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