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| '''Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon''' is a ] based on the "]" concept, which posits that any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart. That idea eventually morphed into this parlor game, wherein movie buffs challenge each other to find the shortest path between an arbitrary actor and venerated Hollywood ] ]. It rests on the assumption that any individual involved in the ], California, film industry can be linked through his or her ] roles to Kevin Bacon within six steps. The game requires a group of players to try to connect any such individual to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible. It can also be described as a ] ] based on the concept of the ]. In 2007, Bacon started a ] named ]. | |||
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| == History == | |||
| In a January 1994 ] interview about the film '']'', Kevin Bacon commented that he had worked with everybody in ] or someone who's worked with them. On April 7, 1994, a lengthy ] thread headed "Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe" appeared.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies/browse_frm/thread/faa36e7ba4704e7f/58cbe670d2acbcd7 |title=Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe |last=Ruthven |first=Alexander |date=1994-04-07 |work=rec.arts.movies |publisher=Google groups |accessdate=2009-07-19}}</ref> | |||
| Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon first surfaced at about the same time. The game was created in early 1994 by three ] students, Craig Fass, Brian Turtle, and Mike Ginelli. According to an interview with the three in the spring 1999 issue of the college's magazine, ''The Albright Reporter'', they were watching '']'' during a heavy snowstorm. When the film was followed by '']'', they began to speculate on how many movies Bacon had been in and the number of people he had worked with. In the interview, Brian Turtle said, "It became one of our stupid party tricks I guess. People would throw names at us and we'd connect them to Kevin Bacon." | |||
| The trio wrote a letter to ] host ], telling him that "Kevin Bacon was the center of the entertainment universe" and explaining the game.<ref name="book"/> They appeared on '']'' and '']'' with Bacon to explain the game. Bacon admitted that he initially disliked the game because he believed it was ridiculing him, but he eventually came to enjoy it. The three inventors released a book, ''Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'' (ISBN 9780452278448), with an introduction written by Bacon.<ref name="book">{{cite book |last1=Fass |first1=Craig |first2=Brian |last2=Turtle |first3=Mike |last3=Ginelli |title=Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon |year=1996 |publisher=] |location=] |isbn=978-0-452-27844-8}}</ref> A board game based on the concept was released by ]. | |||
| Bacon also appeared in a commercial for the ] ] that parodied the game. In the commercial, Bacon wants to write a check to buy a book, but the clerk asks for his ID, which he does not have. He leaves and returns with a group of people, then says to the clerk, "Okay, I was in a movie with an extra, Eunice, whose hairdresser, Wayne, attended Sunday school with Father O'Neill, who plays racquetball with Dr. Sanjay, who recently removed the appendix of Kim, who dumped you sophomore year. So you see, we're practically brothers."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bestads.tv/view/778/visa-check-card-the-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/ |title=VISA CHECK CARD The Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon |publisher=Bestads.TV |date= |accessdate=2009-07-30}}</ref> In a similar vein, ], in a column describing the unexpected complications that emerged when he attempted to find out the precise wording of the ]'s catchphrase, connected the Lone Ranger to Kevin Bacon in the following way: the Lone Ranger was the ]'s great-uncle; the Green Hornet and ] both hung out with ]; Simpson and ] co-starred in '']''; Wagner and Bacon co-starred in '']''.<ref>Dave Barry, ''Boogers Are My Beat'' (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003), 101.</ref> | |||
| The concept was also presented in an episode of the TV show '']'' dated November 19, 1996, in which a character expressed the opinion that every actor is only three degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. Bacon spoofed the concept himself in a cameo he performed for the independent film '']''.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://web.mac.com/jdshapiro/Site/WeMarriedMargo.html#1 | title = We Married Margo | work = J.D. Shapiro’s Official Website}}</ref> Playing himself in a 2003 episode of '']'', Bacon connects himself to ] through ] and jokes "Hey, that was a short one!".<ref>''Will and Grace'', Season 5 episode 2 "Bacon and Eggs"</ref> | |||
| The headline of '']'', a satirical newspaper, on October 30, 2002, was "Kevin Bacon Linked To ]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theonion.com/articles/kevin-bacon-linked-to-alqaeda,37/|title=The Onion, Volume 38, Issue 40|publisher=theonion.com |date= |accessdate=2013-05-26}}</ref> | |||
| Bacon provides the voice-over commentary for the ] attraction at the ] in ]. At several points throughout the commentary, Bacon alludes to his connections to Hollywood stars via other actors with whom he has worked. | |||
| In 2009, Bacon narrated a ] show 'The Human Family Tree'<ref>{{cite web | url = http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/the-human-family-tree-3706/Overview | title = The Human Family Tree | publisher = ]}}</ref> – a program charting the work of the ] and its work on the genetic interconnectedness of all humans. | |||
| In 2011, ] made reference to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon while hosting the ]. | |||
| In the summer of 2012, ] began to offer the ability to find an actor's Bacon number on its main page, by searching for the actor's name preceded by the phrase, "bacon number". | |||
| ] began a UK television advertising campaign on November 3, 2012, based on the Six Degrees concept, where Kevin Bacon illustrates his connections and draws attention to how the EE 4G network allows similar connectivity.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.saatchi.co.uk/news/archive/ee_debuts_multi-million_pound_marketing_launch_campaign_starring_kevin_bacon_ | title = EE debuts multi-million pound marketing launch campaign starring Kevin Bacon | publisher = The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi London | accessdate=2012-11-05}}</ref> | |||
| The most highly connected nodes of the Internet have been referred to as "the 'Kevin Bacons' of the Web," inasmuch as they enable most users to navigate to most sites in 19 clicks or less.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/02/any-two-pages-on-the-web-are-connected-by-19-clicks-or-less/ |title=Any Two Pages on the Web Are Connected By 19 Clicks or Less |work=] |last=Stromberg |first=Joseph |date=February 18, 2013 |accessdate=March 22, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1987/20120375.full |title=Discussion: Network science |author=Albert-László Barabási |date=February 18, 2013 |volume=371 |doi=10.1098/rsta.2012.0375 |issue=1987 |journal=] |accessdate=March 22, 2013}}</ref> | |||
| == Bacon numbers == | |||
| ] | |||
| The '''Bacon number''' of an ] or actress is the number of degrees of separation he or she has from Bacon, as defined by the game. This is an application of the ] concept to the ] movie industry. The higher the Bacon number, the farther away from Kevin Bacon the actor is. | |||
| The computation of a Bacon number for actor X is a "]" ], applied to the ]: | |||
| * Kevin Bacon has a Bacon number of 0. | |||
| * Those actors who have worked directly with Kevin Bacon have a Bacon number of 1. | |||
| * If the lowest Bacon number of any actor with whom X has appeared in any movie is N, X's Bacon number is N+1. | |||
| Here is an example, using ]: | |||
| * Elvis Presley was in '']'' (1969) with ] | |||
| * Edward Asner was in '']'' (1991) with Kevin Bacon | |||
| Therefore, Asner has a Bacon number of 1, and Presley (who never appeared in a film with Bacon) has a Bacon number of 2. | |||
| {{As of|2013|2|6}}, the highest finite Bacon number reported by the Oracle of Bacon is 11.<ref name=center>{{cite web | url = http://oracleofbacon.org/hof.php | title = Who is the Center of the Hollywood Universe? | work = The Oracle of Bacon | first = Patrick | last = Reynolds}}</ref> | |||
| Because some people have both Bacon ''and'' Erdős numbers because of acting and publications, there are a rare few who have an ], which is defined as the sum of a person's independent Erdős and Bacon numbers. | |||
| === Undefined Bacon numbers === | |||
| A small proportion of actors have an undefined Bacon number, meaning that they cannot be linked to Bacon in any number of connections at all. According to the ''Oracle of Bacon'' website, approximately 12% of all actors cannot be linked to Bacon using its criteria, but this number is difficult to verify. | |||
| ==Center of the Hollywood Universe== | |||
| While at the ], Brett Tjaden created the Oracle of Bacon,<ref></ref> a computer program that uses information on some 800,000 people from the ] (IMDb). The algorithm calculates "how good a center"<ref>{{cite web | url = http://oracleofbacon.org/cgi-bin/center-cgi | work = The Oracle of Bacon | title = How good a center an actor is? | first = Patrick | last = Reynolds}}</ref> an individual IMDb personality is, i.e. a ] of the degree of separation of all the people that link to that particular person. The site returns an average ''personality'' number, e.g. for ], it returns an average "Clint Eastwood Number." From there the Oracle site posits "The Center of the Hollywood Universe" as being the person with the lowest average personality number. Kevin Bacon, as it turns out, is not the "Center of the Hollywood Universe" (i.e. the most linkable actor). In fact, Bacon does not even make the top 100 list of average personality numbers.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://oracleofbacon.org/center_list.php | work = The Oracle of Bacon | title = 1000 best centers | first = Patrick | last = Reynolds}}</ref> While he is not the most linkable actor, this still signifies being a better center than more than 99% of the people who have ever appeared in a film.<ref name=center /> Since each actor's average personality number can change with each new film made, the center can and does shift. "Centers" have included ], ], ] and ] (the current center as of April, 2013). ] was the current and all-time highest woman in the list before R.I.P.D was released. | |||
| ==Photography book== | |||
| Inspired by the game, the ] ] ] tried to reach Bacon through photographic links instead of film links. He wrote to 300 actors asking to take their pictures, and received permission from one, ]. Ackland then suggested that Gotts photograph ], with whom he had appeared in the film '']''. Gotts proceeded from there, asking each actor to refer him to one or more friends or colleagues. Eventually, ] referred him to Bacon. Gotts' photograph of Bacon completed the project, eight years after it began. Gotts published the photos in a book, ''Degrees'' (ISBN 0-9546843-6-2), with text by ], ], and Bacon.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.clooneystudio.com/degrees2.html | archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20071013051515/http://clooneystudio.com/degrees2.html | archivedate = 13 October 2007 | title = Andy Gotts' Degrees Exhibition | work = Clooney Studio}}</ref> | |||
| == See also == | |||
| *], connections via chess games to ]; | |||
| *], equivalent in the ] world with ]; | |||
| *], collaborations on mathematical papers with ]; | |||
| *], the sum of a Bacon number and Erdős number, defined for some who have both collaborated on academic papers and worked in the film industry. | |||
| == Notes == | |||
| {{Reflist}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * suggests that Bacon connects to many actors because he acts in many different kinds of roles and films. | |||
| * The computes the Bacon number of any actor or actress from IMDb data | |||
| * finds links between stars, but can also use directors and producers. | |||
| * | |||
| * – a web game that combines Six Degree actor connections with the grid-logic of Sudoku. | |||
| * – combines Erdos Bacon and Black Sabbath. | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon}} | |||
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| ] | |||
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Revision as of 18:30, 24 March 2014
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