# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 207
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4124 "2021-05-11T23:09:18Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > The Leprechaun accidentally gives Shadow his Lucky Coin, and spends the rest of the first season trying to track Shadow down to get it back. He repeatedly says something along the lines that the coin isn’t something you give to just anyone, it’s something you give to the King of America. Which I took as an indication that Shadow was the True King of America. But maybe that was just a set-up for Shadow giving the Coin to someone else. Or maybe I’m misremembering the whole thing… I briefly checked, and in the book the Leprechaun makes a point of telling Shadow that the coin did not belong to him (so, definitely not his Lucky Coin, though OTOH he looks and acts like he was in withdrawal from something), that it was for royalty and not the likes of him, that he should not have been able to take it in the first place, and that he was in big trouble. Then he turns up quite dead because (according to him) Shadow lost the “golden sun”. And of being forgotten. So it seems the coin represents something, but nothing as straightforward as “luck”. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4125 "2021-05-11T23:39:27Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > …it seems the coin represents something, but nothing as straightforward as “luck”. Right, it’s the coin of a King. I thought it was the Leprechaun’s Lucky Coin, but I may be misremembering that bit. > [@DPRK](#): > > …in the book the Leprechaun makes a point of telling Shadow that the coin did not belong to him (so, definitely not his Lucky Coin, though OTOH he looks and acts like he was in withdrawal from something), that it was for royalty and not the likes of him, that he should not have been able to take it in the first place, and that he was in big trouble. Right, and I took the fact that Shadow _could_ take it as evidence that Shadow was the rightful holder of the coin, and thus that he was the True King of America. But, from what I’m being told in this thread, that’s wrong, and he was actually Baldr. Anyway, the **AM** ER **I** C **A** N **GOD** S bit still fits. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4126 "2021-05-12T06:38:15Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > it becomes apparent that the main character is the American instance of Odin’s son, Baldur. That too makes him royal. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4127 "2021-05-12T08:15:10Z")
That’s not blackface. Not even a little. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4128 "2021-05-19T22:52:47Z")
Watching Glory for the umpteenth time this afternoon. I just noticed for the first time that during the 54ths first taste of combat on James Island they are initially exchanging volleys with the Confederates without bayonets attached to their rifles. But when Col Shaw gives the order to charge, suddenly the entire regiment has fixed bayonets. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4129 "2021-05-19T22:55:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@JohnT](#): > > > > I was today years old when I learned that _Aliens_ ’s Vazquez: > > I hadn’t realized that she was Ed Furlong’s foster mom in **Terminator 2**. I’ve often wondered why the part of Vazquez wasn’t played by either Rachel Ticotin or Maria Conchita Alonso. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4130 "2021-05-19T23:22:31Z")
As I understand it, the character wasn’t even originally planned to be Hispanic (presumably the name was different). Goldstein saw the name of the movie, and assumed that it would be about immigrants, not the other sort of aliens, and came to the audition in makeup. And so impressed the casting director that she got the part. Though now that I type that all out, I admit that that looks an awful lot like an urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4131 "2021-05-20T00:04:10Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > But when Col Shaw gives the order to charge, suddenly the entire regiment has fixed bayonets. Oh, good, just in time, eh? Well, glad they got them fixed! . eta: As descendants of Col. Shaw, our family is obligated to make fun of that movie… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4132 "2021-05-20T00:27:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Though now that I type that all out, I admit that that looks an awful lot like an urban legend. [Apparently, it’s true.](https://www.cbr.com/aliens-actress-accidental-audition/) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4133 "2021-05-20T00:27:18Z")
Not quite: > **[Movie Legends Revealed: The Aliens Actress Accidental Audition](https://www.cbr.com/aliens-actress-accidental-audition/)** > > In the latest Movie Legends Revealed, did the actress who played Vasquez in Aliens show up to audition for a different movie? > "So she showed up at the audition wearing “high heels and lots of makeup, and I had waist-length hair.” What got her the job was her physique, I don’t think the makeup she wore to the audition was an attempt to make her look Hispanic. The ad for the audition just was looking for Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4134 "2021-05-20T00:27:57Z")
Ha! In your face, **Telemark**! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4135 "2021-05-20T00:59:08Z")
The article also points out that while Goldstein is part Jewish, she is also part Hispanic (and part Moroccan). So it was when she was playing an Irish character in _Titanic_, that she was faking her ethnicity. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4136 "2021-05-20T11:49:40Z")
Lethal Weapon was just on HBO or something last night. Riggs and Murtaugh presumably had similar salaries as LAPD police sergeants. Why did Riggs live in a dilapidated trailer on the beach? He was depressed about his wife’s death, not financially destitute. Murtaugh was able to afford to raise a family in a decent house in LA, plus he had a boat. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4137 "2021-05-20T14:46:53Z")
Maybe Murtagh’s wife worked? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4138 "2021-05-20T14:56:34Z")
Wasn’t Murtagh’s wife a successful novelist? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4139 "2021-05-20T15:18:53Z")
Jennette Bras has a shop in my town that sponsors the local NPR station, so I hear ads for it all the time. Had no idea it was, presumably, owned by Goldstein. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4140 "2021-05-20T19:06:15Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Murtaugh was able to afford to raise a family in a decent house in LA, plus he had a boat. This was addressed in one of the sequels. Murtaugh was being investigated by the IG office because he was apparently living well above what he could afford on his salary. So the IG suspected he was taking bribes. It was revealed that the extra money was coming from his wife, who was writing best-selling romance novels under a pseudonym. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4141 "2021-05-20T22:57:19Z")
I think I vaguely remember that. Still. Riggs did seem like the only LADP officer living like bobo. Jenette Goldstein even had an in-ground swimming pool to get blow’d up by South Africans while diving into. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4142 "2021-05-22T15:01:02Z")
Rick Harrison of TV’s Pawn Stars sports a hearing aid in his right ear in some episodes. I think I’d seen most of them before I first noticed it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4143 "2021-05-22T15:50:03Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > Rick Harrison of TV’s Pawn Stars sports a hearing aid in his right ear in some episodes. I think I’d seen most of them before I first noticed it Is he losing hearing or is it a bug for him to hear from producers, like the ones a live sportscaster might wear? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=206) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=208)