Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Stradivarius violins were soaked in chemicals
The secret to unparalleled acoustics apparently involves extremely hazardous wood treatments. Modern analysis of Stradivarius violins reveals the wood was…
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Federal law requires aviation lights on transmitters
Because a helicopter crashing into a transmission tower is bad for ratings. Federal regulations strictly mandate that all tall broadcast antennas be covered…
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Metroid hides upgrades behind fake walls
A masterclass in making players feel remarkably stupid. The game actively places the exact item required to bypass an impossible obstacle essentially three…
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Nintendo once owned a baseball team
When you have massive stacks of Super Mario money, you can pretty much buy whatever you want. In 1992, Nintendo's president bought a majority stake in the…
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Blank cassettes use breakable tabs to prevent overwriting
The ultimate analog security system is just a tiny piece of brittle plastic. Once you broke the little square tabs off the top of a cassette tape, the deck’s…
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True life television stories are heavily embellished
Reality is incredibly mundane, which makes it terrible for episodic storytelling. Writers frequently inject fake arguments, invent timelines, and exaggerate…
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Heath Ledger improvised the Joker's slow clap
When you are entirely deep in the zone of playing an anarchic clown, you just invent iconic moments on the fly. During the scene where Commissioner Gordon…
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The Oscars banned write-in votes after one upset
The highest pillar of cinematic merit hates a rogue victory. In the 1930s, an un-nominated cinematographer managed to win a golden statuette entirely through…
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Why Steve Buscemi kept his crooked teeth
Why pay a dentist to destroy your unique selling point? Buscemi knows perfectly well that his somewhat chaotic dental structure is a major reason he gets cast…
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Titanic cost less to build than its movie
Because nothing honors a horrific maritime tragedy quite like blowing an unprecedented budget to recreate it. James Cameron dropped $200 million to make his…
Discover moreDaft Punk built an album from old samples
The French electronic duo didn't write traditional melodies for their breakout album 'Discovery'; they just aggressively recycled the past. The entire record…
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Talk show titles utilize aggressive exclamation marks
Subtlety has absolutely no place in daytime programming. The graphics department routinely slaps massive bold fonts and excessive punctuation onto the bottom…
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Reaction streams feature creators staring blankly at screens
Peak interactivity is watching someone else be slightly entertained. Hours of digital broadcasts feature absolutely no action other than a tiny human…
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Derivative works mandate original creator consent
Taking a widely beloved piece of media and writing an unofficial sequel legally requires kissing the ring of the original owner. If your creation relies…
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This monkey has more than 20 acting credits
Most struggling actors spend decades waiting tables, while a Capuchin monkey gets flown first class to movie sets. Crystal the Monkey has starred in massive…
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Photo dump carousels group unrelated images into one post
Curating a single perfect image is too stressful, so we opted for chaotic bulk uploading. Users now bundle blurry selfies, a picture of a blurry dog, and a…
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Why Frankenstein's monster wore 13-pound boots
Boris Karloff didn't need to act like a shambling, miserable corpse; the wardrobe department forced him into it. To make the monster look appropriately…
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Jack Nicholson's Batman contract included Lakers games
When you're Jack Nicholson, you don't adjust your life for Hollywood; Hollywood adjusts its life for basketball. When signing on to play the Joker in Tim…
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How Sailor Moon borrowed from superhero teams
The definitive magical girl squad was heavily lifted from dudes in colorful spandex fighting rubber monsters. Creator Naoko Takeuchi was a massive fan of…
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How open-mic comedy began in London pubs
Before there were organized lists where desperate comics wait three hours to tell five minutes of bad jokes, there were just chaotic taverns. The concept of…
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Fans can name stars after pop singers
When sending fan mail isn't unhinged enough, dedicated groups pool their allowances to legally name distant celestial bodies after a nineteen-year-old pop…
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Why fashion shows sometimes make the runway slippery
Walking in heels is difficult enough without environmental hazards. Avant-garde fashion broadcasts frequently cover their catwalks in highly slippery…
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Why film crews hide wet tampons behind coffee mugs
Creating steam that lasts longer than five seconds is incredibly difficult. Instead of boiling endless pots of water, stylists hide damp, freshly heated…
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How Jack Nicholson turned the Joker into a fortune
The ultimate corporate heist pulled off while wearing clown makeup. Nicholson accepted a massive pay cut for the 1989 film in exchange for a piece of the…
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