Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Universal Jurassic Park relies on massive industrial pumps
Dropping a huge boat down an 85-foot slope displaces a ridiculous amount of liquid. To ensure the river doesn't instantly run dry after every splashdown, the…
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Bar patrons confidently order the most generic drinks
Walking into a tavern and shouting 'give me a beer' is a fantastic way to annoy a bartender, but it is the standard operating procedure on television.…
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Fall Guys slime features highly exaggerated bounce physics
The colorful goop ruining your run isn't just a visual hazard; it fundamentally alters the physics engine's restitution values. Stepping on it ramps up your…
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Ariel's hair was inspired by an astronaut
Drawing realistic hair underwater is a nightmare of buoyancy and physics. Stumped on how to make Ariel's fiery locks elegantly float without looking like a…
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Animators who drew by scratching film
Because setting up a camera to film drawings is far too traditional. Mavericks at the national film board realized you could just scrape the emulsion right…
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Why cartoon characters have four fingers
Five digits are a nightmare in motion. Animators realized early on that drawing a anatomically correct hand moving quickly on screen creates a blur that looks…
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Love Island severely restricts internal contestant phones
Those phones the attractive contestants are always staring at are effectively highly monitored toys. They are stripped of internet access, completely locked…
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In Splatoon, shallow water is deadly
Despite literally being evolved sea creatures whose entire existence revolves around shooting liquid, stepping into a puddle slightly deeper than normal…
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Forum signatures append large graphical banners to posts
Because a two-word reply clearly demands an accompanying neon billboard. Old-school web boards forced users to stare at massive customized graphics featuring…
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Pearl Jam was once named after a basketball player
Before settling on a much safer moniker, the grunge legends known as Pearl Jam originally named themselves 'Mookie Blaylock' after the professional basketball…
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Advice columns once made up both letters and answers
Seeking genuine wisdom from a daily periodical was always a terrible idea. Early newspaper columnists frequently invented both the desperate letters and the…
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Will call ticket booths legally mandate government ID
Trying to pick up the paper envelope left under your name requires strict adherence to federal identity verification. Because admission passes carry…
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George R.R. Martin still writes on a 1980s computer
The reason we are never getting 'The Winds of Winter' might just be hard drive failure. Martin exclusively types his epic multi-thousand-page manuscripts on a…
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Paternity tests becoming a television genre
Family trauma is an incredibly popular broadcasting format. The concept of revealing paternity test results in front of a live, screaming audience evolved…
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The hit jazz song you can’t easily dance to
Pop music safely relies on an entirely predictable four-beat rhythm so you can easily tap your foot. Yet, somehow, the most universally recognized jazz single…
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The original rage bait was mispronouncing words
Engagement bait existed long before the internet. Early broadcasters would deliberately mispronounce common words on air just to generate stacks of angry…
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Reality shows restrict hot water on purpose
A cold shower is the perfect recipe for a bad mood, and producers know it. Hot water is frequently severely restricted in reality houses to ensure cast…
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The towel ad's miracle is mostly camera tricks
A thin piece of synthetic fabric cannot instantly vanish a gallon of spilled soda. Demonstrators often conceal industrial drying materials or rely on clever…
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Why anime characters stare away during monologues
Dramatic turning is just a budget trick. Having a character stare intensely out a window while giving a long monologue means the studio only has to draw their…
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When churches held services at drive-in theaters
Because why get out of your pajamas to pray? In the mid-20th century, enterprising ministers realized that empty drive-in movie theaters sat completely vacant…
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Primary colors aggressively hypnotize totally innocent kids
Subtlety is utterly banished from toddler programming. Broadcasts meant for the youngest demographics assault the visual senses with the brightest, most…
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Boy band vocal harmonies are often heavily synthetic overlays
Those pristine five-part harmonies in nineties pop tracks weren't purely natural talent. Engineers aggressively layered and stacked the lead singer's voice…
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Why walnuts sound like movie skull crushes
When a giant monster steps on an unfortunate bystander, the sickening pop you hear is just holiday nutcrackers at work. Walnuts have the exact acoustic…
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Mind reading illusions officially fall under mentalism
If a magician tells you what number you are thinking of, they are strictly performing mentalism. This distinct subgenre of illusion relies entirely on intense…
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