Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Leonardo DiCaprio famously despised the massively iconic, deeply cringeworthy line about being the king of the world while filming the historical romance epic Titanic, begging…
Leonardo DiCaprio famously despised the massively iconic, deeply cringeworthy line about being the king of the world while filming the historical romance epic…
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Pixar became an independent company after Steve Jobs bought it from Lucasfilm in 1986.
Pixar became an independent company after Steve Jobs bought it from Lucasfilm in 1986. The group already combined computer-graphics research with animation…
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Robin Williams explicitly agreed to voice the Genie in Disney's Aladdin for the absolute minimum union scale of seventy-five thousand dollars, on the strict condition that his…
Robin Williams explicitly agreed to voice the Genie in Disney's Aladdin for the absolute minimum union scale of seventy-five thousand dollars, on the strict…
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Comedy Central pulled a controversial episode of South Park mocking Scientology from their broadcast schedule because Tom Cruise allegedly threatened to boycott the promotional…
Comedy Central pulled a controversial episode of South Park mocking Scientology from their broadcast schedule because Tom Cruise allegedly threatened to…
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The snow falling on Dorothy contained asbestos.
The snow falling on Dorothy contained asbestos. The Wizard of Oz used asbestos-containing fake snow in its poppy-field scene. A material valued for resisting…
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Martin Luther King helped persuade Uhura to stay on Star Trek.
Martin Luther King helped persuade Uhura to stay on Star Trek. Nichelle Nichols recalled wanting to pursue a stage opportunity when King urged her to consider…
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Rupert Grint rapped his way into a Harry Potter audition.
Rupert Grint rapped his way into a Harry Potter audition. His homemade audition tape included a rap explaining why he should play Ron Weasley. The…
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Die Hard turned unfinished office floors into Nakatomi Plaza.
Die Hard turned unfinished office floors into Nakatomi Plaza. Los Angeles's Fox Plaza supplied the recognizable tower and interior locations for the 1988…
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Sales of Caller ID devices tripled in the United States immediately following the release of the horror movie Scream in 1996, as teenagers suddenly grew terrified of answering…
Sales of Caller ID devices tripled in the United States immediately following the release of the horror movie Scream in 1996, as teenagers suddenly grew…
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Babe’s farm used real animals and mechanical doubles.
Babe’s farm used real animals and mechanical doubles. The 1995 production combined trained animals, animatronics, and digitally enhanced footage. When a dog…
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Many of Mister Rogers' famous sweaters were knitted by his mother.
Many of Mister Rogers' famous sweaters were knitted by his mother. The cardigan he put on at the start of each show was not just a costume chosen to look…
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Lady and the Tramp's spaghetti scene survived by being animated.
Lady and the Tramp's spaghetti scene survived by being animated. Walt Disney had cut the sequence after seeing its storyboards. Animator Frank Thomas…
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Sony Pictures actively declined an offer to purchase the cinematic rights to almost every single major Marvel comic book character, including Iron Man, Thor, and Black Panther,…
Sony Pictures actively declined an offer to purchase the cinematic rights to almost every single major Marvel comic book character, including Iron Man, Thor,…
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Michael Scott harbors a deep hatred for Toby Flenderson
Toby’s mild attempts to enforce workplace rules make Michael’s hostility seem wildly out of proportion.
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Bachelorette suitors insist they want marriage instead of a sponsored post deal
On camera, the suitors say they want marriage, not a sponsored-post deal—but the format has one person dating 30 rivals at once.
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Undercover Boss CEOs wear terrible wigs to fool employees
The disguises are meant to keep employees from recognizing the CEO, but the wigs and camera crews can make the premise hard to believe.
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Late night hosts frequently employ a laughing sidekick
Some late-night shows employ a sidekick to laugh into a microphone, adding a reliable reaction beyond the studio audience. The person may sit behind a keyboard.
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Eugene Krabs has a biological whale daughter named Pearl
Pearl is a sperm whale, while Mr. Krabs is a crab; the show treats their unusual parent-child pairing as a running gag rather than explaining it.
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Stand-up specials typically run for exactly one full hour
That fixed slot can mean cutting material short or stretching weaker anecdotes to fill the hour.
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Kitchen Nightmares owners violently argue with Gordon Ramsay
On *Kitchen Nightmares*, owners sometimes argue with Gordon Ramsay even as he criticizes frozen food, dirty kitchens, or undercooked poultry.
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Open mic nights feature dozens of unpaid amateur comedians
A set can last just five minutes, giving performers a short window to win over a small crowd—or find out a joke isn't working.
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Characters in soap operas frequently return from the dead
A character written off after an explosion or apparent death may return years later with a story about having been in hiding. That habit can make even a…
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Deal or No Deal bankers mathematically lowball contestants
The banker’s offer plays on contestants’ risk aversion: they must decide whether to take guaranteed cash or risk what’s inside their unopened cases.
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Plankton is married to a computer
Karen is Plankton’s sentient computer wife—and she regularly outsmarts him.
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