Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
South Park began as a bizarre Christmas card
A Fox executive paid Trey Parker and Matt Stone $2,000 to make a Christmas video card for his Hollywood friends. The VHS tape circulated widely and helped…
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Sekiro began as a reboot of Tenchu before becoming its own ninja game
It started as a reboot of the stealth series Tenchu, but changes during development turned it into a standalone ninja game.
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The Sex Pistols played God Save the Queen from a boat beside Parliament
The band sailed down the Thames past the Palace of Westminster during Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, blasting “God Save the Queen.” Authorities shut…
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Why TV networks fought for Thursday nights
Networks packed Thursday schedules with hit shows to reach viewers before they finalized their weekend spending plans.
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Sega needed each Dreamcast owner to buy two Shenmue copies to break even
Its $70 million budget was so high that every Dreamcast owner would have had to buy two copies for Sega to break even. The gamble contributed to Sega leaving…
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Stratego borrowed its hidden-bomb mechanics from an older game
Stratego's hidden-bomb and military-deception mechanics came from an early-20th-century game; its modern version repackaged them with plastic pieces.
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A film kiss sparked calls for police intervention
Thomas Edison's studio released a brief clip of two stage actors sharing an exaggerated smooch. Newspaper editorials condemned it and called for police…
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Talking cars have ordinary handles and side doors
The cars have ordinary handles and doors built into their sides, leaving the unsettling question of who gets inside—or how.
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GTA V's map was shaped by real LAPD crime data
Rockstar's location scouts analyzed LAPD census and crime data to shape Los Santos, grounding the game's satire in real patterns of socioeconomic disparity in…
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Twitch grew out of a man broadcasting his own day
Justin Kan began Justin.tv by wearing a camera and streaming his daily life. The service expanded to other broadcasters, with gaming eventually becoming the…
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Broadcasters must keep viewer complaints in public files
Stations must keep viewer complaints in a physical or digital public inspection file, where members of the public can review them.
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Bingo rules bar callers from playing their own cards
Because callers can see the randomized ball hopper and master board, gambling rules bar them from playing their own cards.
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Face-tracking software blurs faces in real time
Face-tracking software can detect and blur faces in real time, sparing broadcasters from manually censoring every frame.
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Overtures played before films let the audience settle down
The orchestra played for several minutes while the curtains stayed closed, giving the audience time to find their seats before the film began.
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Pride and Prejudice had a very different first title
Jane Austen first titled the novel First Impressions; it was later published as Pride and Prejudice.
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Minecraft's first prototype took just six days
Markus Persson made the prototype in 2009, before it grew into the game that became a multi-billion-dollar franchise.
Discover moreHow Mirror’s Edge makes you feel faster
As you sprint, the camera shifts focal length and blurs the screen's edges, keeping your attention centered and making the motion feel faster without…
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Early Tetris built its blocks out of text characters
Alexey Pajitnov developed the game on a Soviet Electronika 60, without the colorful graphics later players knew. Versions used paired characters to represent…
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A French illusionist is widely credited with first pulling a live rabbit from a top hat
The trick dates to the 19th century; before then, top hats were just hats, not rabbit props.
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George Romero filmed tonsil surgery for Mister Rogers
Before Night of the Living Dead, Romero filmed short segments for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, including Mr. Rogers’ tonsillectomy; he later joked it was the…
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Why childbirth on television takes only minutes
To fit childbirth into a dramatic scene, TV compresses labor—which usually takes hours—into a few pushes and immediate tears of joy.
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IMAX was originally made for nature documentaries
It was developed in the late 1960s for science centers and museums to show immersive nature and educational films. Hollywood blockbusters came later, when…
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Paranormal Activity turned its director's home into the haunted house
Oren Peli filmed the low-budget thriller in his own suburban house with a very small production team. Its ordinary rooms became the setting for the fear,…
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Why movie books always open to the right page
It’s a storytelling shortcut: a book’s binding conveniently falls open to the exact passage or illustration the character needs.
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