Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Why keeping a straight face takes real control
Looking thoroughly bored is an incredibly taxing physical discipline. Masters of dry humor spend years learning to suppress their own involuntary facial…
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How sword swallowers train their throats
There is no illusion when sliding twenty inches of steel into your torso. Practitioners spend years repeatedly desensitizing their throat muscles and actively…
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Why fire breathers risk losing their teeth
Spitting literal fire looks incredible right up until your gums rot out of your skull. The highly toxic liquid fuels required for a proper fireball dissolve…
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When bad performances were pelted with vegetables
The ultimate symbol of a terrible act wasn't invented by critics, but by angry mobs. Nineteenth-century street audiences used rotting vegetables as cheap,…
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The Fiji mermaid was a monkey sewn to a fish
The legendary aquatic sideshow attraction was quite literally a taxidermy nightmare. Promoters stitched the mummified upper half of a juvenile primate to the…
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Why stand-up comedians pace the stage
If a person stands completely still while talking at you for an hour, your brain registers them as a serial killer. Performers continuously pace the stage…
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Crowd work means the comedian forgot their routine
When a performer suddenly asks what you do for a living, you aren't experiencing brilliant spontaneity. They have almost certainly completely blanked on their…
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Why Rome punished mimes for mocking power
Being incredibly annoying used to be a state offense. In ancient Rome, silent performers weren't just trapped in invisible boxes; they were vocal satirists…
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How one promoter accidentally started the stadium wave
The most iconic crowd participation ritual was born entirely out of sheer desperation. In the early eighties, a professional hype-man tried to revive a…
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Why hot-dog champions dunk buns in water
The secret to becoming a champion is abandoning all basic culinary decency. Breads are massive choking hazards when eaten rapidly, so competitors aggressively…
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The Batman creator who went uncredited for decades
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to steal your co-creator's intellectual property. Bob Kane slapped his name on Batman and soaked up the…
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The Exorcist’s demon screams came from terrified pigs
Nothing sets an unholy, terrifying mood quite like the sound of impending bacon. To get the perfect demonic squeals for a possessed Linda Blair, sound…
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Film sets use deafening fans that erase dialogue and force actors to dub lines later
A majestic wind-swept hair moment is an absolute nightmare for post-production. The massive, jet-engine-sized fans required to blast a hero's cape into the…
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Why movie sets turn tropical for reptiles
Reptiles do not care about your shooting schedule or your lighting cues. Because cold-blooded animals literally shut down in comfortable air conditioning,…
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Why film crews wrap rented shoes in plastic
A stylish strut on the street is a heavily protected investment. Since productions frequently rent vastly overpriced designer shoes instead of buying them,…
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Sourcing a massive catering tent solely for insects
When your script calls for a swarm of locusts, you essentially become a bug farmer. Productions requiring thousands of live insects have to set up entirely…
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Sinking a massive boat replica in a giant bathtub
Why shoot on the unpredictable ocean when you can just build the world's most expensive kiddie pool? To film maritime disasters, studios regularly construct…
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Some film crews hire pigeon wranglers
You can't just trust a wild city bird to hit its marks. Whenever a gritty urban scene needs that perfect flock of majestic garbage-eaters flying away, studios…
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Sourcing thousands of vintage uniforms for war films
Why make something new when you can just raid global surplus warehouses? For massive historical epics, it is actually vastly cheaper to buy tons of authentic,…
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Movie chainmail can be made from plastic pipes
Real medieval warfare is far too heavy for modern, pampered bodies. Instead of forging iron, costume departments buy miles of cheap PVC plumbing pipes, slice…
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Spending eight hours applying full-body silicone
The ultimate test of human bladder control is playing a heavily customized fantasy creature. Unlucky workers must sit completely motionless in a dark makeup…
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Why every movie gets its own company
The best way to avoid bankruptcy is to invent a company just to kill it. Before a single frame is shot, studios often incorporate a brand new LLC solely for…
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Why filmmakers shipped black sand to white beaches
When the perfect beach location has the wrong color dirt, you simply conquer nature with a dump truck. Historical war epics have literally imported hundreds…
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Submerging entire living room sets in swimming pools
You can't fake the terrifying panic of a flooding room with a few buckets. Productions routinely construct fully furnished, carpeted, beautifully decorated…
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