Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Fashion publication weighing five pounds
One September issue of Vogue weighed nearly five pounds—heavy enough to make reading it feel like a workout.
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A TV makeover could leave a family with bigger bills
Some Extreme Makeover: Home Edition families received much larger homes, then faced higher utility costs, taxes, or other financial pressures. Construction…
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Halo 2 can turn a jeep into a flying missile
The game's collision engine can send a jeep hurtling across the map when an explosion barely clips it, turning a military vehicle into an unpredictable,…
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Catfish's producers know things its hosts are still discovering
Producers contact participants and arrange cooperation before a meeting can be filmed. The hosts can still investigate without receiving all that background…
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Tolkien gave his Elvish languages real-world sound families
Finnish influenced Quenya, while Welsh helped shape Sindarin. These were not just lists of exotic names: Tolkien developed sounds, vocabulary, and grammar…
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The Final Fantasy VII character fans could never unlock
A toy figure visible in the background was long rumored to be a secret party member. Fans tried countless button combinations before realizing it was only a…
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Vanna White has clapped millions of times on TV
Guinness estimated more than 3.4 million claps by January 2013 when recognizing her as the most frequent clapper. Decades of supporting Wheel of Fortune…
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Superman's S isn't really an S
The S was later reimagined as an alien family crest meaning hope, though it still looks like an English letter.
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Hijacking a television signal carries federal penalties
A localized transmitter can overpower a station's frequency and replace its signal with a rogue broadcast, an offense that can bring federal penalties.
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Jurassic Park dinosaur sneeze being pure CGI
The Brachiosaurus’s gooey sneeze had to be created digitally because water looked too thin on camera; the effects team spent weeks crafting the dinosaur snot.
Discover moreThe first Foo Fighters record was almost a one-man band
Dave Grohl recorded the debut's vocals and nearly all its instruments himself, with Greg Dulli adding a guitar part. The tracks existed before the familiar…
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Why the same people keep winning radio contests
Frequent winners may belong to groups of dedicated contest callers who treat calling in like a full-time job, while most people can't stay on hold for an hour.
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When symphonies played over dinner and cards
Eighteenth-century aristocrats treated symphonies more like background music, talking, eating, and playing cards while the orchestra performed.
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Second-in-command of a film crew is always called best boy
The title is used for the lead assistant in the electrical or grip department. It comes from the old practice of asking to borrow a department's “best boy” to…
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Why movies show grief as one perfect tear
A single tear lets a film show overwhelming grief while keeping the actor’s face composed and camera-ready.
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Those kitchen gadget demos may start with pre-cut food
Assistants may pre-score vegetables with sharp knives, so the host’s gadget appears to slice through them with little effort.
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Why Contra’s spread gun was so powerful
Its red projectiles spread across a broad area, making it far more useful than weapons that fire in a narrower line. Losing the power-up could leave a player…
Discover moreA fan sold Marvel a black Spider-Man costume idea for $220
Randy Schueller submitted a proposal in 1982, and editor Jim Shooter bought it. Marvel's later black-suit storyline developed far beyond that pitch and…
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The balloon chase that fooled live TV
News networks spent hours tracking a huge silver balloon by helicopter, believing a child might be inside. He was actually hiding in the family’s attic.
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When sitcoms suddenly became moral lessons
Broadcasters used “very special episodes” to tackle serious social issues inside familiar sitcoms, turning a comedy into a lesson for a week.
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Sloth's eye in The Goonies was controlled remotely
A technician remotely operated the mechanical eye rig, so John Matuszak had to time Sloth’s performance around its blinks.
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VHS's Hollywood send-off was A History of Violence
The film reached VHS in 2006 and is widely identified as the last major studio movie given a broad US release on the format. DVD had already won the market. A…
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A TV rose ceremony can take far longer than its edited version
Contestants have described long filming sessions with pauses, production resets, and repeated camera coverage. The broadcast compresses that time into a…
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Video rental sold access to movies people could not afford to own
George Atkinson opened Video Station in Los Angeles in 1977 after buying copies of the early films available on VHS and Betamax. Renting a tape let several…
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