Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 108

5 Fans Who Joined the Band

Uncle John’s new book, Lists That Make You Go Hmmm… is available now. Here’s another list to tide you over until your order arrives.

Journey

After its third lead singer, Jeff Scott Soto left the arena rock band in 2007, guitarist Neal Schon was messing around on YouTube one night when he found videos by Arnel Pineda, the front man of the Zoo, a Filipino band that specialized in covers of Journey. Schon was so impressed, he asked Pineda to audition. He got the job.

The Who

Drummer Keith Moon had a serious drinking problem, but rarely did it get in the way of his ability to perform. But before a November 1973 show in San Francisco, he was too drunk to play. With little option, the band asked if anyone in the crowd could fill in. A 19-year-old sitting near the stage named Scott Halpin offered. He knew all of Moon’s parts, and filled in admirably as the drummer for one of the biggest rock bands in the world…for one night only.

Black Flag

When the groundbreaking California punk band played in Washington, D.C. in 1981, a super-fan named Henry Rollins in attendance asked them to play their song “Clocked In.” They agreed…provided he sing it. Singer Dez Cadena was considering a switch to guitar, which he did, when the band hired new lead singer Henry Rollins.

Judas Priest

Rob Halford left the group in 1996 after nearly two decades fronting the British heavy metal band. Who did the band get to replace him? Tim “Ripper” Owens, the lead singer of a Judas Priest cover band called British Steel. He kept the job for a decade, only losing it when Halford returned. (The 2001 Mark Wahlberg movie Rock Star is a loosely fictionalized account of Owens’ story.)

Smashing Pumpkins

In 2006, 16-year-old drummer Mike Byrne started a YouTube channel to show off his skills. He named it “MarquisinSpadez,” a reference to an obscure B-side by the alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins. Three years later, he successfully auditioned to become the new drummer for…Smashing Pumpkins.

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8 Pairs of Famous People Who Have the Same Name

No relation…other than having the same name and getting famous.

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway (b. 1555) was married to William Shakespeare for 34 years and when he died was willed his “second-best bed.” Anne Hathaway (b. 1982) is an actress who won an Academy Award for Les Miserables.

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen (b. 1930) was a tough-guy actor who starred in classic action movies like Bullitt and The Great Escape. Steve McQueen (b. 1969) is an artist turned filmmaker who directed the Best Picture-winning 12 Years a Slave.

Randy Jackson

Randy Jackson (b. 1956) served as a judge on American Idol for a decade and was once the keyboardist for journey. Randy Jackson (b. 1961) is the youngest of the Jackson brothers, and when the family band changed its name from the Jackson 5 to the Jacksons in 1975, he joined up.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson (b. 1958) was the self-appointed “King of Pop” and recorded Thriller, the bestselling album of all time. Michael Jackson (b. 1942) wrote some of the first books that took beer seriously, such as The World Guide to Beer and Michael Jackson’s Beer Hunter.

Paul Simon

Paul Simon (b. 1941) has had success as a solo singer/songwriter, and with his duo, Simon & Garfunkel. Paul Simon (b. 1928) represented Illinois in Congress from 1975 to 1997, and ran for president in 1988.

Sam Shepard

Sam Shepard is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Buried Child) and actor (as Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff). Sam Sheppard was an Ohio doctor possibly wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife, and the inspiration for the TV series The Fugitive.

Michael Collins

Michael Collins (b. 1890) was a major figure in the Irish independence movement. Michael Collins (b. 1930) piloted Apollo 11 to the moon and back.

Roger Taylor

Roger Taylor (b. 1949) is the drummer for the British rock band Queen. Roger Taylor (b. 1960) is the drummer for the British rock band Duran Duran.

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3 of the Craziest Duels in History

Why duel with a sword when you can use a hot air balloon?

The Balloon Duel

The year: 1808. The rivals: Monsieur de Grandpre and Monsieur de Pique, two French gentlemen vying for the affections of Mademoiselle Tirevit, who had been dating both men at the same time. When the two found out they weren’t Tirevit’s one and only, they agreed to a duel…in a pair of gas-filled balloons over Paris. Why? Because they considered themselves extremely sophisticated and wanted to engage in battle in a refined fashion. They each hopped into their balloon baskets (with their copilots) and when they reached 2,700 feet, they took turns shooting at each other with a blunderbuss. De Grandpre managed to hit his opponent’s balloon, sending him and his copilot to their deaths. Whether or not Tirevit stuck around to continue her relationship with the victor remains a mystery. A newspaper article from 1808 about the duel can be found here.

The Billiard Duel

Disagreements in drinking establishments are nothing new but two French guys named Melfant and Lenfant took an argument to an unusually extreme level one night in the autumn of 1843. After getting into a tiff over a game of pool in a Paris bar, they decided to duel with billiard balls. The stood 12 paces apart and drew straws to determine who got to throw first. Melfant won and proclaimed, “I am going to kill you on the first throw.” Indeed—his first throw hit Lenfant on the head and he died instantly. Melfant was later tried for murder and convicted for manslaughter.

The Flower Duel

When Princess Pauline Metternich and the Countess Kielmannsegg of Liechtenstein couldn’t agree on how to set up a floral arrangement at the 1892 Vienna Exhibition, each went in search of a sword. In the duel that ensued, both of them were injured and the princess reportedly received a cut on her nose. Perhaps realizing how completely ridiculous it is to kill someone over a few flowers, they threw their swords down and went looking for a doctor. After getting themselves patched up, they were friends once more.

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4 Movies “Remade” For Families

Well, sort of. Here are some hit movies that later cut out their most salacious bits to appeal to a wider audience.

Mortdecai

Over the past 10 years, many major comedies have received an “unrated” release on home video—an extra-long cut of the movie with raunchier scenes restored that were initially removed to get a PG-13 or R rating. Oddly enough, the home video release of Johnny Depp’s R-rated movie Mortdecai is going the other way. It will be available in both its original R-rated version, as well as a PG-13 cut. (There isn’t a lot of sex or violence in the movie, but the softer version promises less “innuendo.”) The cut is an attempt by Lionsgate to get someone, nay anyone, to see the movie—the strange caper comedy was a flop with both audiences and critics.

Saturday Night Fever

This is not the first time a movie studio has softened a movie to bring it to a wider audience, although in the past it was done because certain movies had appeal to teenagers and children who couldn’t get in to see it because a few scenes gave them restrictive ratings. In 1978, after the R-rated Saturday Night Fever was a blockbuster hit with a soundtrack album to match, Paramount made a PG-version for under-18 fans of John Travolta and the Bee Gees (with the violence, brief nudity, and sexual themes removed).

Excalibur

The 1981 King Arthur fantasy Excalibur was a family-friendly standby on cable TV in the 1980s, but it was the PG-rated version that aired. The tamer version was released into theaters a few months after the R-rated version, but with sex scenes and the more graphic violent moments taken out.

The King’s Speech

The King’s Speech won the Best Picture Oscar in 2011. Its distributor, The Weinstein Company, had been miffed that the MPAA had given it an automatic R-rating because it uses the F-word more than once. Other than that, it’s a quiet, inoffensive historical movie about a British king trying to overcome a stuttering problem—it’s in a speech therapy scene that King George VI breaks through his anxiety by swearing repeatedly. After the Oscar win, TWC re-released the film with a PG-13 rating. The only major difference was a removal of the F-word scene.

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3 Early Video Game Lawsuits

Video games hit big in the early 1980s, and then so did the gavel.

King Kong v. Donkey Kong

Nintendo’s Donkey Kong was a big hit in arcades, and in 1982 Universal Studios sued Nintendo for copyright infringement. The film company felt that Donkey Kong infringed on the movie King Kong. Rather than deny it, Nintendo fought the suit by claiming that Universal didn’t even own the rights to King Kong. The courts sided with Nintendo…because the video game company was correct. King Kong was in the public domain, a distinction it argued when facing lawsuits by RKO Pictures in 1976 when it released a remake of King Kong.

Pac-Man v. K.C. Munchkin

Atari’s 2600 dominated the early home video game console market, but they weren’t the only game in town. Magnanox and Philips had a system called (variously around the world) the Videopac or the Odyssey 2. Atari announced that it would have a home version of the arcade smash Pac-Man on the 2600 by the end of 1982, but Magnavox/Philips beat them to the punch with a game for their system called K.C. Munchkin. It involved a circle-shaped character traveling around a maze, eating white pellets while avoiding monsters. Sound familiar? It did to Atari, because it was almost the exact same game as Pac-Man. (Pac-Man’s villains were ghosts, not monsters.) Atari sued Philips for copyright infringement, and they won. It was a legal precedent, in determining how existing copyright law would affect the emerging world of software and video games.

Karate Champ v. World Karate Championship

In 1984, Data East released an arcade game called Karate Champ, a primitive fighting game in which two players made their characters kick and punch each other. A year later, competitor Epyx released a game called World Karate Championship, in which two players made their characters kick and punch each other. Data East sued for copyright infringement. Initially, the law sided with Data East, arguing that World Karate ripped off Karate. But Epyx appealed, and a judge reversed the ruling, arguing that while the games were similar, it wasn’t because the latter game stole from the other, but that they were both karate games, and would necessarily have similarities. Legally, this meant that games in the future could have a similar style without infringing on trademarks.

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Lost Albums That Were Never Heard

The music industry is notoriously difficult for artists to thrive in. And as these examples show, not even being a platinum-selling artist ensures that your music will be heard.

Artist: Green Day

Album: Cigarettes and Valentines

Story: By 2003 Green Day was in a creative rut. They’d won a Grammy Award (for Dookie in 1994), sold tens of millions of albums, and were one of the biggest bands of the 1990s. But they wanted to grow—to somehow mature their sound without alienating the fan base who loved their three-chord punk rock. Not knowing quite how to do it, they went into the studio and recorded 20 tracks for an album called Cigarettes and Valentines. Then fate intervened.

The master tapes were stolen from the studio, leaving the punk trio with nothing to release. After consulting with their longtime producer, Rob Cavallo, the band decided to go in a completely new direction and made American Idiot. It wasn’t a punk album at all—it was a concept album and a rock opera about bored suburbanites.

Result: American Idiot became a massive hit. It sold 12 million copies and was later turned into, of all things, a Broadway musical.

Though the Cigarettes and Valentines tapes were never recovered, rerecordings of two of the songs, “Too Much, Too Soon” and “Olivia,” later appeared as B-sides.

Artist: D’Angelo

Album: James River

Story: In 2000 R&B singer D’Angelo became an international sensation when he appeared nearly nude in the video for his hit “Untitled (How Does It Feel?).” But D’Angelo was more than just a pretty face and a set of rock-hard abs. His album Voodoo was named one of the best soul records of all time by Rolling Stone. So what did he do for a follow-up? Amazingly, nothing…yet. While struggling to adapt to his new fame, D’Angelo developed a drug and alcohol problem during the tour to support Voodoo and didn’t release any music for five years. In the decade since getting clean, D’Angelo has made guest appearances on other artists’ records, but has missed every publicized release date for the highly anticipated followup, reportedly titled James River. However, according to Voodoo producer and Roots bandleader Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson in 2013, James River is “ninety-nine percent done.”

Artist: Dr. Dre

Album: Detox

Story: Detox, in the works since 2001, has become legendary…as in it may be real, and it may not be. In a cameo on rapper The Game’s 2005 track “Higher,” Dr. Dre shouted, “Look out for Detox!” But the album didn’t materialize, nor did it in 2008 when Dre’s protégé, Snoop Dogg, told Rolling Stone that Detox was finished. A sample of Detox was played in a 2009 Dr Pepper commercial, but that was all that was released. The wait seemed to be over in late 2010 when Dre released two official singles, “Kush” and “I Need a Doctor,” and even filmed music videos for them. Still no album. After serving as executive producer for Kendrick Lamar’s acclaimed Good Kid M.A.D.D. City in 2012, Dre announced that he was taking a hiatus from making music to concentrate on his Beats By Dre headphone line and the USC Academy of Arts, Technology, and Business that he founded with Interscope Records’ Jimmy Iovine. Like Brian Wilson, Dr. Dre has a reputation for being a perfectionist in the recording studio, so don’t be surprised if his hip-hop equivalent of SMiLE takes another 40 years to see the light of day.

Artist: 50 Cent

Album: Power of the Dollar

Story: Imagine you’re a record label executive who just signed an up-and-coming gangsta rapper, when word reaches you that someone put out a hit on him…and he’s in the hospital with a gunshot wound. That’s what happened to Columbia Records in 2000 when they discovered that 50 Cent had been shot nine times while parked in a car in Queens. But instead of taking advantage of the free publicity and mega-hype that would surround the rapper after the incident, the label dropped the former drug dealer and shelved his debut album, Power of the Dollar. While the album was never officially released because it still belonged to Columbia, it was heavily bootlegged. The bootleg eventually reached the ears of Dr. Dre, who quickly got 50 Cent a record deal with Interscope. His official debut, Get Rich or Die Trying (2003), sold more than nine million copies.

Artist: Britney Spears

Album: Original Doll

Story: Spears was the world’s biggest pop star in the early 2000s, but her downfall began around 2004 when she married rapper and backup dancer Kevin Federline. The damage that their marriage and subsequent divorce did to the superstar’s reputation and mental state was well publicized between 2004 and 2007, but it also killed one of her albums. On New Year’s Eve 2004, Spears made a surprise appearance on the Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM to premiere the single “Mona Lisa” from her new album, Original Doll. The only problem was the singer didn’t have permission from her label, Jive Records, to unveil the single or reveal the title. Jive responded by shelving Original Doll. Additional tracks from the Original Doll sessions have emerged on YouTube, but the album remains unreleased.

Artist: Bruce Springsteen

Album: Nebraska, the electric version

Story: Released in 1982, between Springsteen’s massive hits Born in the U.S.A. and The River, Nebraska showed the New Jersey legend’s more haunting side. While his lyrics about small-town life have always been dark and brooding, Nebraska was the first time Springsteen abandoned the sound of his E Street Band for the simple, powerful resonance of folk music. That, however, wasn’t the initial plan. Springsteen’s acoustic demo tapes (recorded on a four-track cassette player in his home) were just supposed to be a blueprint for a full electric version of Nebraska. But when Springsteen listened to the E Street Band’s lush recordings of his songs about down-on-their-luck blue-collar workers, he and his producers decided that the acoustic guitar-driven demos should be the album instead. Though Springsteen has downplayed rumors of the unreleased electric version for years, in 2010 his longtime drummer, Max Weinberg, confirmed that the E Street Band’s version of Nebraska does, in fact, exist.

Read more in Uncle John’s Canoramic Bathroom Reader.

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8 Facts About Garfield

Garfield made its debut in newspapers on June 19, 1978. To celebrate his birthday, here is a look at the dark and fuzzy underbelly of America’s favorite comic strip cat.

Garfield creator Jim Davis didn’t stumble into success – he very carefully made his own success. He’d wanted to be a cartoonist, but after majoring in art and business in college, he worked in advertising and noticed that the real money was in licensing the character for use in merchandise. The most marketable and licensed comic strip character at the time was Snoopy, a dog. Davis reasoned that there should be a loveable cat character, too.


Garfield debuted in 41 newspapers in 1978. Today, it appears in 2,600 newspapers with a readership of 260 million. That means about 4 percent of the world’s population reads Garfield on a regular basis.


But more in line with Davis’s aims, Garfield merchandise brings in $750 million to $1 billion a year.


In 1981, Davis created a company called Paws specifically to handle the licensing of Garfield stuff. Three years into the comic’s run, Davis says he was spending about 15 percent of his time making the strip, and the other 85 percent handling the licensing. It’s a pattern still in place today—Davis offers up rough ideas or sketches and a team of cartoonists make them into the actual strips.


One of the most famous pieces of Garfield merchandise is a stuffed version of the orange cat with suction cups on its legs, stuck in a car window. This was a massive fad in the mid-1980s. They were so popular that major cities reported thousands of car break-ins, with the suction-cup Garfield the only thing stolen.


While Garfield may love lasagna most of all, there’s a Garfield Pizza Café in Malaysia.


Why did Bill Murray voice Garfield in the 2004 Garfield movie? Confusion. He told Reddit in 2014 that he “looked at the screenplay and it said ‘Joel Cohen’ on it.” Murray thought that meant Joel Coen, one of the Coehn brothers responsible for Fargo and No Country For Old Men. Joel Cohen wrote Garfield, along with Daddy Day Camp and Monster Mash: The Movie.


Garfield’s birthday is June 19, 1978. If he were a real cat, he’d be almost 37 years old…and about 18 years past his maximum lifespan.

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The Kitten That Climbed the Matterhorn

Today’s edition of Cool History Facts is the tale of a fearless feline that may have possibly climbed an infamous mountain in 1950.

Centered in the Swiss Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy, the Matterhorn is gorgeous, foreboding, and served as inspiration to artists, novelists, and Walt Disney (it’s the basis for the Matterhorn roller coaster). It’s a tough mountain to climb, too—some have tried, some have failed, and some have died while attempting this brave feat. Since 1865, more than 500 climbers have reportedly died on the slopes of the Matterhorn.

Matt was not one them. In 1950, newspapers around the world reported that this then 10-month old kitten reached the top of the mountain. But how much of this incredible tale is grounded in reality? If sources including the The Sydney Morning Herald and The Times of London are to be believed, Matt lived in the Hotel Belvedere, which once sat on the mountain’s Hörnli Ridge. It was a launching point for many climbs and the kitten spent his days watching dozens of mountaineers set off on their perilous journeys. One morning at dawn, or so the story goes, Matt decided to launch his own one kitty expedition, setting out after an expedition group. He tried to keep up with them before setting off on his own.

Allegedly, Matt spent his first night at the Solvay Hut, a small refuge for climbers at 12,556 feet. The following night, he holed up in a gully just above the shoulder. The next morning, a group of surprised climbers spotted him and figured that there was no way that Matt would be able to scale the mountain’s notoriously dangerous final slopes.

Later that day, they found the kitten waiting for them at the peak. Shocked, they shared their food with Matt before one of the climbers placed him in his backpack and carried him back down the Italian side of the Matterhorn. He was later returned to the Hotel Belvedere where he lived out the rest of the days (and never again scaled the mountain).

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Loos in an Elevator

Putting potties in elevators may sound totally crazy but there’s a good reason why officials in Japan think that it might be a good idea.

Why would anybody stick a toilet in an elevator? It’s not like anyone is ever in there for more a couple minutes…unless they’re not. One might come in very handy if it breaks down with people trapped inside. This is why members of the Japanese government are currently looking into ways to make this weird idea a reality.

A massive 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck south of Tokyo in May. While there were remarkably no deaths or serious injuries reported, 19,000 out of Tokyo’s 620,000 high-rise elevators stopped working, trapping a total of 14 people inside for an average of an hour. While no unfortunate bathroom-related mishaps occurred, the possibility of someone having to go #2 while waiting to be rescued has officials worried. (A 2011 quake left a few people trapped inside one elevator for over nine hours…and things got messy.) Sticking potties in elevators might not be such a bad idea. But finding the right model could prove difficult.

Tokyo’s Japan Elevator Association Kanto Branch (or “JEA” for short) is in the process of doing just that. Certain elevators in the city now contain emergency supplies that include blankets, water, and boxes that double as toilets but the organization is eager to come up with something a little more technologically advanced. As you probably already know, futuristic toilets are very popular in Japan and at least a few companies have already come up with ones that might work great in elevators. Aqua Air & Technology debuted what they call “The Elevator Chair” way back in 2008 but it’s not too sophisticated.

The Elevator Chair may have to do for now but, given enough time, we’re confident that Japan’s toilet technicians will come up with one.

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Welcome to Jurassic Park?

Scientists say that they’re closer than ever to bringing back dinosaurs. What could possibly go wrong?

As you read these words, audiences all over the world are watching dinosaurs tear their way across a theme park in Jurassic World. You would think that after the first three films that Ingen’s scientists would have finally learned their lesson. With the notable exception of The Flintstones, fictional humans don’t typically get along very well with gigantic lizards. But what about real humans and real dinosaurs?

Earlier this year, scientists at Imperial College in London revealed that they discovered intact red blood cells and collagen fibers in a 75-million-year-old fossil found in Canada about a century ago. In the Jurassic Park movies, scientists use DNA found inside of dino blood from hungry mosquitos that got themselves stuck inside of amber millions of years ago. This recent discovery cuts out the middleman—similar samples might be available in fossilized dinosaur bones all over the world.

So far, the crew at Imperial College has analyzed a claw from a meat-eating theropod, a few bones from a duck-billed dinosaur, and a toe bone from a creature similar to a triceratops. All of the fossils they looked at were in pretty poor shape. This means that bones in better condition could yield even more useful samples. This isn’t the first time that a scientist has retrieved this sort of material from a fossil. In 2005, a researcher at North Carolina State University extracted transparent collagen from a T. Rex skeleton.

There are many more hurdles that scientists will need to clear before we’ll need to worry about a hungry t-rex terrorizing the streets of San Diego. The biggest problem: Convincing museum curators to let them swipe snap a femur or another bone off their dinosaur skeletons in order to extract more specimens. As significant as these recent discoveries are, scientists have yet to find any “live” dino DNA. Until they do that, theme park workers and attendees have more to fear from sunburns than an Indominus Rex.

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