Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Fair use laws explicitly protect scathing parodies
You can absolutely steal a massive corporate asset if your sole intention is to relentlessly mock it. Legal doctrines provide a massive loophole for parody,…
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Broadcasting weather for thirty four hours
Standing in front of a green screen for over a day requires immense willpower. A famous meteorologist once broadcasted live for thirty-four consecutive hours…
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A horror hit began with just 35 pages
While most studios fiercely demand intensely polished, massive scripts before aggressively greenlighting a project, a massive found-footage hit completely…
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E.T. may belong in the Star Wars universe
To repay Steven Spielberg for including Yoda in ET, Lucas snuck a delegation of Asogians into the Galactic Senate scene in The Phantom Menace. This…
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Digital spaces frequently render avatars without any legs
The metaverse is incredibly advanced, provided you only need your upper half. Rendering accurate foot positioning is apparently too mathematically demanding,…
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Television schedule becoming top reading
The most dominant print publication in America was just a list of what time shows aired. TV Guide unexpectedly dominated the publishing industry, proving that…
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Failing to raise the dead on a live broadcast
Performing a resurrection on live television is a very risky broadcasting move. A televangelist attempted to dramatically raise a man from the dead during a…
Discover moreTwilight’s baby was almost a demonic robot
Sometimes technology creates horrors that mankind was never meant to witness. The original plan for the half-vampire baby in the Twilight franchise was a…
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Disney delayed announcing Walt Disney’s death
Because nothing gets in the way of quarterly earnings reports—not even the grim reaper. When the legendary pioneer of modern animation finally succumbed to…
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Why cartoon characters fall only after looking down
Physics on screen do not care about mass or momentum; they only care about realization. An animated character can easily sprint straight off a massive cliff…
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Why the first movie theaters were called Nickelodeons
Because nothing screams luxury like spending five pennies to stare at a flickering wall. The term 'Nickelodeon' wasn't just a nostalgic 90s network; it was…
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The hit song made in a bedroom with one sampler
The massive, abrasive stadium-shaking anthem 'Smack My Bitch Up' was not produced in a massive electronic lab. Liam Howlett constructed the entire dense,…
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Why Up needed 20,622 balloons
When an elderly man lifts his entire house into the sky, mathematical precision is naturally the top priority. Animators didn't just draw a giant blob of…
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Historic binge watching demanded marathon endurance
Before you could easily click a button to view an entire season, consuming mass amounts of television required iron willpower. Audiences had to physically…
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SimCity ignores realistic urban zoning for gameplay
A sophisticated municipal simulator that ultimately taught players the most effective way to manage a thriving metropolis is to build incredibly dense…
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Your late-night radio host may have recorded it at 3 PM
The intimate midnight voice is a lie. That silky-smooth DJ accompanying your 2 AM drive actually recorded all of their romantic song introductions at three in…
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Adele named her first albums after her age
Coming up with a profound album title is incredibly stressful, so Adele just completely bypassed the process. She named her first three massive,…
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Why a zipper can get your seat cushion confiscated
Trying to save your spine with a padded foam square is treated with extreme suspicion at the entry gates. Security protocols dictate that any cushion…
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Why Inside Out swapped broccoli for peppers in Japan
Ah, the universal childhood trauma of eating vegetables—except it’s not universal at all. In the US release of 'Inside Out', the young protagonist is…
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Why Myanmar once banned The Simpsons
Sometimes a cartoon isn't banned for its biting satire, but for completely unhinged local paranoias. Myanmar previously banned 'The Simpsons' not because of…
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Pulp Fiction says the f-word 265 times
Quentin Tarantino has never been a fan of linguistic subtlety. The legendary 1994 indie darling doesn't just push the envelope of profanity; it obliterates…
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Moulin Rouge once had a giant elephant
The iconic red windmill of Paris wasn't the only garish structure in its courtyard. The cabaret originally featured a massive, hollow elephant made of stucco…
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Why movie mirrors are tilted downward
If a mirror hangs perfectly straight in a scene, it will immediately reflect the entire crew standing right behind it. To maintain the illusion of isolation,…
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The makeup trick that keeps movie sweat shiny
Expecting an actor to maintain a perfectly consistent sheen of natural perspiration is an exercise in futility. Instead, makeup artists mist them down with a…
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