Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 121

Daily Fun Facts: 4 Real Statues of Fictional Characters

Because why erect statues to honor only those who actually existed? Today’s Daily Fun Facts provides four examples of statues that honor TV and film characters.

Rocky

A statue of Rock Balboa (or Sylvester Stallone) was made by sculptor Thomas Schomberg for Rocky III in 1982. After the movie completed filming, producers donated it to the city of Philadelphia, where the Rocky movies were set. In a nod to the first Rocky movie’s iconic training montage scene in which Rocky runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, that’s where the statue was ultimately left.

The Bronze Fonz

Happy Days took place in Milwaukee, making it the home of the coolest person in TV history, Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler). Crafted by sculptor Gerald P. Sawyer, Fonzie is depicted in his familiar leather jacket and jeans, and giving a thumbs up, the statue was unveiled in 2008 by the tourism group Visit Milwaukee at a cost of $85,000. Most of the surviving cast was present at the dedication, including Winkler, Anson Williams (Potsie), and Don Most (Ralph Malph).

Marge Gunderson

Police chief Marge Gunderson solved one of the most grizzly murders in Minnesota history, finding the hitman hired by a local man to kill his wife killing an accomplice by feeding him into a wood chipper. And she was eight months pregnant at the time. Gunderson was honored with a statue in Fargo, North Dakota. Why Fargo? Because all of this happened in the 1996 film Fargo.

Mary Richards

In the final, freeze-framed shot of the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Moore, in character as TV news producer Mary Richards, throws her hat up in the air because “she’s gonna make it after all.” As a promotional stunt in 2002, the TV Land network paid for the creation of a bronze statue of Richards/Moore in that exact pose…in the exact spot where the scene was filmed. Find it outside of Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.

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Weird Rules in North Korean Basketball

Basketball is played…differently in North Korea.

In 2013, former NBA star and oddball Dennis Rodman visited North Korea at the behest of its leader, Kim Jong Un. The pair took in a game of basketball, which is extremely popular in North Korea. The game was very strange, however, and revealed to the rest of the world the North Korean basketball scoring system.


Everybody knows that slam dunks are awesome. In North Korea, they’re even more awesome, worth three points rather than two.


Distance shots—taken from past the arc around the basket—are still worth three points. However, if the shooter makes the goal without the ball touching the rim, a “swish” or “nothing but net,” the three-pointer becomes a four-pointer.


When Shaquille O’Neal played in the NBA, opposing teams developed a strategy called “hack-a-Shaq”: intentionally fouling O’Neal late in a close game so he’d have to take free throws, of which he had a less than 50 percent success rate. This would have been a bigger problem for O’Neal if he’d played in North Korea—points are deducted for missed free throws.


Talk about a buzzer-beating, come-from-behind victory: A successful shot taken from anywhere on the court during the final three seconds of a game is worth eight points.


Games can end in ties. The one Rodman saw ended with a score of 110 to 110.


It’s worth noting that Kim John Un’s father, previous North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, was possibly the world’s greatest golfer. In 1994, the North Korean state-run media reported that he shot a round at 38 under par…including 11 holes-in-one. The brutal, isolationist dictator of a country reportedly dotted with prison camps and “reeducation facilities” had his feat verified by 17 witnesses, which also happened to be the first time he ever played golf.

For more sports trivia, check out Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Sports Spectacular.

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5 Interesting Facts About Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is a seven-day celebration of African-American culture and heritage. How much do you know about it? Here are some interesting facts about Kwanzaa to get you started.

“Kwanzaa” is derived from Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, which means “fresh fruits” or “first fruits,” and is used in relation to the first harvest of the year.

Kwanzaa lasts seven days, beginning on Dec. 26 and lasting through Jan. 1. While it is often lumped in with Christmas and Hanukah as a winter holiday, Kwanzaa is different in that it’s not a religious holiday—it’s a cultural celebration.

The holiday was created by Dr. Maulana Krenga in 1966. The co-founder of a black nationalist organization, his intent was to educate African-Americans, and the world at large, about African culture, and to unify African-Americans. However, Krenga hopes that the holiday catches on in the culture at large, similar to Cinco de Mayo, Chinese New Year, or St. Patrick’s Day.

It’s not widely celebrated in Africa. The holiday was created in, and is celebrated almost entirely in, the United States, where an estimated 18 million observe it in some way. Although in recent years, it’s been publicly acknowledged with celebrations in Jamaica, London, Toronto, and Paris.

Seven principles or values called Nguzo Saba are observed over the course of the seven days: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

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Fake-or-Fact Friday: Killing Bono Edition

Bono has had a rough 2014. Fortunately for him, one of these three things didn’t happen. We made it up. See if you can guess which fate the U2 singer was spared. (Answer at the end of the post.)

A.

Bono became very injured after a bike accident earlier this year. The U2 lead singer and humanitarian had to cancel a planned one-week residency on The Tonight Show because he took a “spill” while biking in Central Park. It was a bit more severe than that. Trying to avoid another rider, he crashed, and was rushed to a hospital, where he endured five hours of surgery to treat a facial fracture around his eye, three fractures on his shoulder blade, and a fracture of his funny bone.

B.

Recovering from the surgery at his farm in upstate New York, Bono was eating a sandwich in his kitchen and he began to choke. Completely alone, he didn’t know what to do. Fearing he would pass out, or worse, he rammed himself into a door, trying to dislodge the blockage in his windpipe. It worked…on the third attempt, when the doorknob knocked him right in the chest.

C.

While flying on a short trip from Dublin to Berlin to attend a music awards show, a door completely ripped off and fell off the plane…mid-flight. (And the tailgate at the end of the plane started to come off, too.) The pilot safely guided the plane to the Berlin airport, with nobody getting sucked out along the way, although it did claim Bono’s luggage.

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Want more things that sound true…but aren’t? Then check out Uncle John’s Fake Facts. (Really!)  Here are more trivia quizzes for your enjoyment.

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Inside ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’

A look at one of the notorious Christmas specials—and worst Star Wars moments—of all time.

Star Wars was a surprise smash when it debuted in theaters in 1977, and went on to break all kinds of box office records. Toys flew off shelves and cast members like Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill became stars…but producers were still worried that fans would have moved on by the time the announced sequel came out in 1980. In 1978, Star Wars mastermind George Lucas decided a two-hour made-for-TV special would tide everybody over. He wrote an outline of a story about the Star Wars world’s celebration of a Christmas-like holiday called “Life Day,” as observed by Chewbacca’s family.

Lucas sold the show to ABC, but as he was too busy making the 1980 movie—The Empire Strikes Back—the network hired some young TV variety show writers to actually write The Star Wars Holiday Special script, including future awards show joke writer Bruce Villanch. Many Star Wars cast members agreed to appear, but in keeping with the variety show tack, a bunch of ‘70s TV stars inexplicably signed on as well.

The Star Wars Holiday special debuted on November 17, 1978, and it was…not what fans had in mind. The first 15 minutes showed Chewbacca’s family (without Chewbacca) arguing in Wookie language, without subtitles. That served as a framing device for the rest of the show’s bits: “shows” the Wookies watched on TV. Among them were Bea Arthur doing a song-and-dance number; an erotic dance by Diahann Carroll; a performance by Jefferson Starship; and a cooking segment hosted by Harvey Korman, with six arms…in drag. At one point, Carrie Fisher, in character as Princess Leia, sings a Life Day carol, which is to the tune of the Star Wars theme song.

By the end, more than two-thirds of the initial 20 million viewers had flipped over to Wonder Woman on the other channel. Not only the fans hated it—so did Lucas. He was so disappointed in the show that he successfully blocked it from airing again. However, 1978 was right when people were getting VCRs, so many taped the show, which led to The Holiday Special becoming one of the most bootlegged videos of all time, in the pre-YouTube age.

Watch it here…if you dare.

 

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Food Trivia: 12 Weird Candy Cane Flavors

Candy canes – they aren’t just available in peppermint anymore. Also, make sure to check out the other food trivia we’ve covered in the past.

They may be colored a holiday-friendly red, white, and green, but these Sriracha hot sauce-flavored candy canes from ThinkGeek are pretty much the opposite of peppermint.


Gadgets and Gear sells an even spicier candy cane— wasabi . They’re a festive green-and-white striped.


Stupid.com (obviously) sells a package of gravy-flavored candy canes.


The bacon-everything fad has clearly gotten out of control as a company called BaconFreak sells bacon-flavored candy canes.


Giambri’s candy company has been hand-spinning brown-and-white molasses-flavored candy canes since 1942.


Crayola candy canes are not crayon-flavored—the colors correspond to a flavor (e.g., yellow for lemon, orange for orange), but they do turn your mouth that color.


Gadgets and Gear distributes pickle candy canes . That’s too much.


The Sweet Lollipop Shop, an Etsy seller, makes candy canes out of maple syrup.


Other flavors we’ve seen (but won’t try): Hot Cinnamon, Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and the flavor-changing Everlasting Gobstopper.

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Impossible Questions: Stairway to Heaven Edition (The Answer)

Think you’ve got the answer? Keep reading to see if you nailed it.

Who had a hit single with “Stairway to Heaven”?

The answer we are looking for is not Led Zeppelin.

While arguably the most classic of classic rock songs, the eight-minute 1971 anthem from Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album, was never a hit single…because it was never released as a single. It was too long of a song to get any play on three-minute-pop-song oriented radio, and the band refused Atlantic Records requests to edit the song down to a more manageable length. Fortunately, the song got plenty of jukebox play and airtime on “album rock” and “freeform” rock stations, which put less restrictions on their playlists and would play an entire side of an album of they felt like it. Perhaps in part because of the unavailability of “Stairway to Heaven” anywhere but its source album, the record known as Led Zeppelin IV has sold more than 23 million copies in the United States, the third-biggest seller of all time.

Led Zeppelin disbanded in the early ‘80s, after the death of drummer John Bonham. By that point, “Stairway to Heaven” was entrenched as a rock classic. Three years later, it was released as a single and hit the singles charts for the first time…but it wasn’t the one recorded by Led Zeppelin. In 1985, Frank Farian, a producer best known for assembling the popular British studio band Boney M, formed another studio project called Far Corporation. Members included three members of Toto (all seasoned session musicians) and future Survivor singer Robin McAuley. The goal was to make a quick buck, so Farian had the band record “Stairway to Heaven,” sounding as close to the original version as possible. It went to #8 on the British singles chart and #89 in the United States.

Need more impossible questions? Check out Uncle John’s Impossible Questions.

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Pilot Lost! 3 TV Show Ideas That Were Abandoned, And Then Picked Back Up Years Later

The stories of how three current TV shows were cancelled before they aired. We can explain.

Fargo

In 1996, Joel and Ethan Coen’s comic-laced, Midwestern crime drama Fargo won two Academy Awards, one for the Coens for Best Original Screenplay and one for Frances McDormand for Best Actress. In 1997 CBS commissioned a pilot for a TV version. Marge Gunderson – McDormand in the film, Edie Falco in the show, years before she won Emmys for The Sopranos and Nurse Jackie – is still quite pregnant and still solving murders. It maintained the original’s quirky flavor, but CBS did not order the pilot to series. In 2014, FX aired a miniseries called Fargo. Produced by the Coens and written by veteran TV writer Noah Hawley, it takes place in the same Minnesota locales as the movie, but is set in 2006, about 20 years after the events of the first film. Critically acclaimed, it won Best Miniseries at the Emmys last fall. A second season, set in 1979, is in production.

Mulaney

When NBC announced the comedy pilots that were in contention for fall 2013, TV reporters thought Mulaney was a shoe-in. It starred popular standup comic and SNL writer/performer John Mulaney, SNL star Nasim Pedrad, as well as Martin Short and Elliot Gould in supporting roles. It was surprisingly not picked up by NBC, however, but just a few days later, Fox announced that it would take on Mulaney, and set it for a fall 2014 debut. Fox changed very little, allowing it to buck the single-camera trend and go multi-camera with a laugh track. The show debuted to less than three million viewers; Fox cut the show’s season from 18 episodes to 13 and ended production.

About a Boy

In 2002, Hugh Grant starred in the indie film About a Boy. Based on the Nick Hornby bestseller about an immature playboy who finds meaning in his life when he becomes a mentor to an awkward teenager, Fox thought that About a Boy was a premise that could work week after week. But it didn’t – in 2003, only a pilot episode, starring a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Patrick Dempsey in the Grant role, was filmed. Ten years later, NBC revived the idea, switching the locale from London to Los Angeles, and casting David Wilton in the lead. It’s currently in its second season.

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Impossible Questions: Stairway to Heaven Edition

Think you know the answer to this question? Think you can get it? Good luck…and come back tomorrow to see if you’re right.

Who had a hit single with “Stairway to Heaven”?

 

Want more impossible questions? Check out Uncle John’s Impossible Questions.

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A Look at SantaCon

Have you spotted any roaming hordes of drunken Santas in your town this holiday season? If so, then you’ve witnessed one of the newest—and strangest—holiday traditions.

In 1974, members of Solvognen, a Danish activist theatrical troupe, wanted to protest the rampant consumerism that surrounds Christmas. Members dressed up as Santa Claus and stormed a Copenhagen shopping mall, yanking toys and other products off store shelves and handing them out as “presents” to bewildered shoppers.

Most of the participants were arrested, but the stunt was later featured in an issue of Mother Jones, where it caught the attention of a San Francisco prankster collective called the Cacophony Society.

In 1994, 34 of its members took to the streets dressed as Santa to mock the holiday season and a new tradition took hold. Their wacky performance art experiment proved to be quite popular so they staged it again the following year and the one after that and so on. The tradition, dubbed SantaCon, also spread to other cities like Portland and New York City. “Santas” who participated in the first few SantaCons say it was much more political back then. The goal was to criticize the holiday’s rampant consumerism in a fun way. In those days, the fest’s Santas typically made gifts that they would hand out to passersby while they roamed the streets singing parody versions of Christmas carols.

But as SantaCon became more and more popular in the years that followed, it became more of a pub crawl than a protest. Recent SantaCons in New York City have descended into misbehavior and chaos. Local residents and bar staffers alike have come to loathe it. SantaCon was called, “a day-long spectacle of public inebriation somewhere between a low-rent Mardi Gras and a drunken fraternity party” by the Village Voice. To help combat the problems, organizers have since introduced “helper elves” to deal with poorly behaved Santas.

Those who helped create the tradition have said that they’re embarrassed by what it’s become. Nevertheless, SantaCons are staged annually all across the world. 300 cities, including Moscow and London, hosted the event last year. Several SantaCons also help raise money for charity and contribute to local food drives. So maybe all those kooky Santas aren’t so bad after all.

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