Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
The vampires' home in What We Do in the Shadows was designed like a deadpan horror set
Production designer Ra Vincent developed the original film's vampire flat through drawings, a computer model, and a built set. The target was a classic…
Discover more
How Cloverfield made CGI look like shaky camcorder footage
Artists made the illusion convincing by adding digital dust to the virtual lens, programming micro-stutters into the autofocus, and triggering blown-out…
Discover more
How Coraline got 207,336 facial expressions
Animators 3D-printed interchangeable upper and lower face pieces, then mixed and matched them on the puppet between frames. The combinations produced 207,336…
Discover more
Jujutsu Kaisen let individual animators put their mark on the action
Director Sunghoo Park said the production drew on a varied group of animators and encouraged their particular abilities. He even told viewers to check the…
Discover more
The Fight Club vinyl sleeve you have to tear open
Mondo packaged the Fight Club soundtrack in thick brown shipping paper with a pull-tab, so opening it meant tearing the sleeve in half. The destructive design…
Discover more
Days of Our Lives gave Marlena a demonic explanation
In 1995, the soap's possession storyline turned Marlena Evans's alarming behavior into a supernatural plot, complete with levitation and glowing eyes. A…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
The Office lets the silence deliver another joke
A scene can hold on a face after the spoken punch line has ended. An uncomfortable glance or a person waiting too long to respond keeps the embarrassment…
Discover more
The girl who spent 70,000 hours on British TV
Carole Hersee's father, a BBC engineer, needed a subject for Test Card F, a still image used to calibrate color TVs from 1967 onward. Her image aired during…
Discover more
Iron Man's helmet needed graphics for a machine that didn't exist
Artists built displays for navigation, weapons, and the suit's condition, making invented technology look usable in motion. Designer John Likens described…
Discover more
Vampira made the host scarier than the movie
In 1954, Maila Nurmi introduced late-night horror films on Los Angeles television as Vampira. Her ghoulish makeup and darkly comic introductions made the…
Discover more
Skinamarink's leak helped turn a tiny horror film into a hit
Kyle Edward Ball's roughly $15,000 film spread online before its planned release and found an audience discussing it on social media. It later earned more…
Discover moreA tiny New Jersey TV show found a fan in David Bowie
The Uncle Floyd Show mixed low-budget comedy, music, and puppets into an eccentric local broadcast. Bowie later nodded to its world in 'Slip Away,' which…
Discover more
The tiny card-game quote fans never forgot
The flavor text on the Magic: The Gathering card Lhurgoyf reads, “Ach! Hans, run! It’s the Lhurgoyf!”—a tiny line that became a fan favorite.
Discover more
How The White Stripes made three colors iconic
By limiting the “Seven Nation Army” video to red, white, and black, The White Stripes gave it a stark, instantly recognizable visual identity.
Discover more
RoboCop hid its darkest satire in fake news breaks
Paul Verhoeven used the film's upbeat fictional anchors to satirize society. Their cheerful delivery of horrifying reports—from nuclear satellite lasers to…
Discover more
Final Fantasy X hid a sports-management game underwater
Blitzball combines swimming through an arena with numerical tests for passes, tackles, and shots. You can recruit players and manage contracts as their…
Discover more
Memento had a secret chronological version
The DVD’s psychiatric-test-style menu hid a linear cut, unlocked by choosing the right combination of answers.
Discover more
You can bring Matt Mercer's voice to your own game
Syrinscape offers a sound set of Mercer performing Victor, Critical Role's black-powder salesman. A game master can trigger the character's recorded lines at…
Discover more
GTA V gives local radio a coverage limit
Blaine County Radio and WCTR are tied to different parts of the map. Drive beyond a station's area and reception gives way instead of following you…
Discover more
How a popsicle stick became a Nickelodeon star
Stick Stickly hosted Nickelodeon programming with little more than a wooden craft stick, eyes, and a face. Puppetry and Paul Christie's voice supplied the…
Discover more
The Office could leave a little real office noise in
Production mixer Ben Patrick said the mock-documentary style allowed some extraneous sound, such as air conditioning, provided dialogue stayed clear. A…
Discover more
His Girl Friday made dialogue feel like a verbal traffic jam
Howard Hawks let actors overlap their lines instead of politely waiting for each sentence to end. The technique makes the newsroom's arguments feel fast and…
Discover more
Fight Club’s Blu-ray pretends you picked the wrong movie
The 2009 release briefly opens with a menu for the romantic comedy Never Been Kissed before revealing the real interface. David Fincher obtained Drew…
Discover more
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre built horror into the furniture
Sound recordist Wayne Bell recalled art director Robert Burns making bone sculptures from chicken and pig parts for the family's house. The objects gave the…
Discover more