Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
The unpaid volunteers filling empty TV seats
Because why pay people when desperation is free? Studio audiences are regularly padded with volunteers whose entire job is to look ecstatic on camera and…
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Mortal Kombat started with Jean-Claude Van Damme
Before it became the reason your parents thought video games would turn you into a satanic murderer, it was just a failed celebrity endorsement deal. Midway…
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Han Solo's most famous line was improvised
The most romantic exchange in science fiction history happened primarily because Harrison Ford is a notoriously grumpy man. After doing endless exhausting…
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Obscenity regulations only apply to over-the-air television
Cable gets a massive legal loophole. Strict federal indecency fines only apply to channels broadcast freely over the airwaves. If you pay a subscription for a…
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How fan shipping changed blockbuster storytelling
The aggressive fan desire to pair fictional characters together in romantic relationships is so intensely vocal that major franchises now actively bait the…
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Disney's Small World boats run on a hidden track
Those brightly colored boats aren't floating freely through international waters. They are permanently attached to a continuously moving underwater mechanical…
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How the Beatles made one piano chord last forever
The epic conclusion to 'A Day in the Life' is just an E-major piano chord that seemingly refuses to die. The Beatles achieved this by having multiple people…
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Disco balls dazzled ballrooms before disco
Because blinding your dancefloor guests with shattered mirrors is a timeless tradition. Long before the 1970s culturally claimed them, 'mirror balls' were…
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Hammond organs use spinning metal tonewheels for audio
It doesn't use pipes, and it doesn't use microchips; it basically uses gears. The legendary Hammond organ, a staple of gospel and early rock, creates its…
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The X-Files theme began with an elbow
The soundtrack to thousands of paranoid alien abduction theories was birthed from terrible posture. Composer Mark Snow was frustrated and out of ideas for the…
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Alcohol sales stop early to mitigate legal lawsuits
Cutting off the beer taps early is not an effort to sober you up for the drive home, but a desperate move to save the company from bankruptcy. Venues are…
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Bloodborne required analyzing totally obscure item texts
Why write a cohesive narrative when you can simply shatter the script into tiny fragments and glue them to random pairs of digital pants? Players desperate to…
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Multiplex cinema venues were first built in the 1960s
Because why show one movie when you can shove six into a building and sell exponentially more sugar water? The concept of the multiplex—a cinema with multiple…
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A sports classic was written in four days
Proving that sometimes sheer panic is the absolute best writing technique, a legendary underdog script was aggressively hammered out over a single long…
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Rulebooks often outline how to resolve real-life arguments
Because betraying your actual friends over a cardboard empire causes very real resentment, modern rulebooks have adapted. They now frequently include explicit…
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Why ancient prophecies rhyme in English
Translating dead languages written thousands of years ago yields surprising poetic benefits. Ancient seers were incredibly considerate, ensuring their…
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Loyal gardener was the true fantasy epic hero
Despite focusing heavily on entirely magical rings and massive terrifying armies, the author of this sprawling trilogy considered the humble landscaper the…
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Simple numeric sequences remain common internet passwords
Despite endless warnings about digital fortresses, humanity holds strong to its traditions. The primary defense stopping catastrophic data breaches is…
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Cedar Point remains the second oldest American theme park
People have been flocking to this specific peninsula to feel nauseous since the nineteenth century. Cedar Point initially opened completely as a modest…
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Bop It gets faster until your reflexes fail
A simple plastic stick designed to physically and mentally break you by relentlessly shouting arbitrary commands at an ever-increasing tempo. It preys on…
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The Rolling Stones put a classical choir on a rock hit
To capture the epic gospel sound for 'You Can't Always Get What You Want,' the Rolling Stones bypassed typical session singers and just hired the London Bach…
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Why radio stations block repeat contest winners
Greed is aggressively monitored by station managers. To stop the exact same retired person from hoarding every single promotional t-shirt, stations legally…
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The Phantom of the Opera drops a real chandelier
Instead of relying purely on trickery, the famous theatrical production actually suspends a massive, incredibly heavy crystal fixture over the audience. It…
Discover moreFlorence Welch turns nightmares into songs
Instead of writing about typical heartbreak, Florence Welch channels pure nocturnal terror. She suffers from frequent, vivid nightmares and sleep terrors, and…
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