Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 151

5 More Headscratching Golden Globe Nominations

The 2014 Golden Globes have finally been awarded. Usually, they are a precursor to what films and performers will receive Oscar nominations. Other times, they’re completely out of left field. (Bonus: Take a look back at our list of headscratching Golden Globe TV nominations.) 

• While the Oscars may nominate up to 10 movies for Best Picture, the Golden Globes nominate five films for Best Picture, Drama, and Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. That categorization is sometimes confusing, because musicals aren’t always comedies. For example, in 2012, the tragic, incredibly serious Les Miserables won the Globe for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. Also, Hollywood releases so few musicals these days that they’re almost assured a nomination in that category. In 2010, the critical and commercial bomb Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aguilera as singing strippers, earned a nomination. (It lost to the comedy-drama The Kids are All Right.)

• Woody Allen (this year’s Cecil B. DeMille Award winner) was at his commercial and critical peak in the 1970s, directing classic comedies such as Annie Hall, Sleeper, Bananas, and Manhattan. In 1979, Manhattan received a Golden Globe nomination for, curiously, Best Drama.

• At least Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was actually a comedy. However, very few people in the United States saw the movie—which is about fishing—and it was not on the “awards season” radar when it earned a Best Picture, Comedy or Musical nomination last year. It earned $9 million, appeared in about one-sixth as many theaters as a typical mainstream movie, and earned no other awards.

• In 1996, Disney released a live-action remake of the classic 1961 animated movie, 101 Dalmatians. Glenn Close had a supporting role and gave a campy, incredibly over-the-top performance as dog-hunting villain Cruella de Vil. And she received a Best Actress in a Comedy nomination for her trouble.

• Hollywood insiders predicted in both 1998 and 1999 that comic star Jim Carrey would receive Oscar nominations for acclaimed performances in the dramatic movies The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, respectively. Carrey failed to receive a nomination. In fact, he’s one of the few major movie stars never to have been nominated for an Academy Award. But the Golden Globes love him. Carrey has been nominated for a Globe six times, and he’s won twice…for The Truman Show and Man on the Moon. Some of his other nominations are a little more puzzling, because they were for movies that weren’t particularly critically loved: The Mask, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Liar, Liar.

Once Again, It’s Fact-or-Fake Friday!

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for your weekly faux-news news roundup. As usual, two of these bizarre news items are legitimately true. The other one we legitimately made up off the top of our heads. Answers are below; good luck!

A.

A Wal-Mart employee in Highwood, Illinois, is out of a job and facing criminal charges after he was caught stealing hundreds of hand-warmer packets from his employer. 25-year-old Martin Rodriguez was working the night shift, and on his 15-minute break, he went into the men’s restroom, where he pulled a hooded sweatshirt low over his face before walking back out into the aisles, stacking four boxes filled with the pocket hand warmers in his arms, then walking through an emergency exit that had been propped open with a wad of packing tape. He ran off the property with the boxes, but returned to his shift before his break was up. It seemed like a great plan, but Rodriguez’s had one major miscalculation: He forgot to remove his employee name badge from his sweater, which was visible on security camera footage.

B.

42-year-old Robert Vick, of Hartford, Kentucky, was on the lam. He’d escaped from a minimum-security prison in nearby Frankfort, and police had no leads on where to find him. But when temperatures dropped earlier this week into the single digits with a wind-chill of –20, the man, who was dressed in prison khakis, shirt, and jacket, decided it was simply too cold to run. So he walked into a motel and asked the clerk to call the police. After paramedics checked him out, he was returned to the warm arms of Blackburn Correctional Complex.

C.

28-year-old Candace Wood was just trying to enjoy her 28th birthday. The problem was, she was also supposed to be babysitting a two-year-old. She was arrested after she took the boy from his home two blocks to a stranger’s house, then passed out on the back porch with the child. The homeowner, Tom Fordham, called the police, who found the child shoeless and shivering on the porch in 30-degree weather with the unconscious woman. When police began questioning Wood, she was unable to give the name of the child she was babysitting, but was very clear on the fact that she was drunk because it “was her birthday.” Deputies were able to track down the family, who told them the child’s father had asked her to babysit while he ran errands. At the time of this writing, Wood was being held on $2,000 bond.

Want more fakes? Check out Uncle John’s Fake Facts. (Really!)

Guess the Answers to These Impossible Questions (Answers)

Got your answers all figured out? Let’s see how you did.

1. What distinction is shared by Suzette Charles, Alberto Contador, and President Gerald Ford?

All attained a noteworthy title when the previous titleholder resigned or had the honor taken away due to scandal. Suzette Charles was named Miss America 1984, when the crowned winner, Vanessa Williams, resigned due to a nude photo scandal. (Charles reigned for only seven weeks.) Alberto Contador was declared the winner of the 2006 Tour De France…in 2007, after “winner” Floyd Landis was found to have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Ford was appointed Vice President when previous office holder Spiro Agnew resigned, and when President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal, Ford stepped into that position.

2. What do these classic rock songs have in common: “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple, “Dazed and Confused” by Led Zeppelin,” and “Money” by Pink Floyd?

Of all the classic, well known songs by each of those bands, “Smoke on the Water,” “Dazed and Confused” and “Money” are the songs Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd each played live the most frequently. “Smoke on the Water” was performed 1,607 times, “Dazed and Confused” was heard live 438 times, and “Money” on a mere 536 occassions.

3. What do the recent The Lone Ranger movie, the 1989 Batman movie, and the 1978 Superman movie share in common?

All were big-budget, big-screen spectacles built around a popular character…but the real answer is that the actor who played the title role in each of these films was not the first actor billed on movie posters or marquees. All three actors—Armie Hammer, Michael Keaton, and Christopher Reeve, respectively, were overshadowed by bigger stars playing supporting roles. In the case of Batman, producers wanted Jack Nicholson to play the Joker, and he agreed, provided he got a cut of merchandising revenues and top billing. On The Lone Ranger, A-lister Johnny Depp, co-starring as Tonto, got top billing over Armie Hammer, not yet a proven box office draw. And on Superman, Christopher Reeve was a little-known soap opera actor at the time of the film’s release—he was third billed. Second-billed was Oscar-winner Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Top billing went to Marlon Brando, who received $16 million for just 15 minutes of screen time, at the time, a record high movie salary.

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

Life Imitates Art: ‘Breaking Bad’ Edition

Breaking Bad ended its critically-acclaimed run in September, but it keeps

making the news…in some very unlikely ways.

In September, Breaking Bad costar Aaron Paul (he portrayed Jesse Pinkman) held an online raffle to raise money for his wife’s anti-bullying charity The Kind Campaign. The prize: the chance to watch the highly anticipated series finale of Breaking Bad with Paul and cast member Bryan Cranston (Walter White) at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The lucky winner: 28-year-old Breaking Bad superfan Ryan Carroll of Fort Myers, Florida, who was informed personally by Paul. Carroll and his friend flew to Los Angeles, and were picked up at the airport by Paul in an RV just like the one used by drug kingpin Walter White on the show. End of the story? Nope. Carroll was apparently a bigger Breaking Bad enthusiast than anyone imagined. On New Year’s Eve, Fort Myers police raided three homes they believed were linked to a massive synthetic marijuana distribution ring. One of those homes belonged to Carroll—he was in possession of over $1 million worth of drugs, and is believed to be the operation’s “kingpin.”

After a week-long surveillance of his residence in Lake Nona, Florida, federal narcotics agents stopped Jose Cavillo in his truck. In the vehicle they found 32 pounds of methenphetamine. In his home they found about $1 million worth of meth, packaged into 140,000 doses. Like Breaking Bad‘s Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, Cavillo and his also-arrested associate Jose Martinez-Romero, were suburban meth kingpins. There’s one more Bad connection: police found a Walter White doll in Cavillo’s truck.

Actor Bryan Cranston is 56 years old, and he grew a goatee to play the role of Walter White, a meth kingpin in the vast western state of New Mexico. In 2013, a judge in Montana sentenced a 53-year-old goateed man to nine years in prison (and three on a gun charge) for dealing meth in that vast western state. That criminal’s name? Walter White.

Guess the Answers to These Impossible Questions

Think you know everything there is to know? See if you can answer these brain-benders on a bunch of different subjects…and come back tomorrow to see if you’re right.

1. What distinction is shared by Suzette Charles, Alberto Contador, and President Gerald Ford?

2. What do these classic rock songs have in common: “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple, “Dazed and Confused” by Led Zeppelin,” and “Money” by Pink Floyd?

3. What do the recent The Lone Ranger movie, the 1989 Batman movie, and the 1978 Superman movie share in common?

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

 

Happy Birthday, Elvis (From Some Other People Named Elvis)

Elvis Presley is probably the most iconic rock star of all time and certainly the most famous person ever named Elvis. On what would have been his 79th birthday, here are some other notable “Elvi.”

The Funny Elvis

Ylvis are a Norwegian comedy duo. Pronounced “ill-vis,” it’s an abbreviation of the duo’s last name, brothers Bard Yylvisaker and Vegard Ylvisaker. Ylvis hosts I kveld meld Ylvis, or Tonight with Ylvis, a popular sketch comedy show in Norway. Their best-known work is a silly music video called “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say)” which spread around the world via YouTube and has racked up more than 320 million views. The song, about how nobody seemingly knows what kind of animal sound a fox makes, hit #1 in Norway and #6 in the U.S.—the highest-charting novelty song in more than 20 years.

The British Elvis

Elvis Costello rose to fame in the late 1970s as part of the New Wave, movement with songs like “Alison” and “Radio, Radio.” He developed into one of the most respected and acclaimed singer-songwriters of the 1980s and 1990s, able to find success in multiple genres, from pop to country to rock to classical. Unlike the others on this list, “Elvis Costello” isn’t his real name. Declan MacManus took on the stage name as a partial tribute to Presley and also to his father, bandleader Ross MacManus, who sometimes performed under the name “D.P. Costello.”

The Skating Elvis

Elvis Stojko is one of the most successful figure skaters in Canadian history. He was a seven-time national champion, three-time world champion, and two-time Olympic silver medalist (1994 and 1998). He’s a particularly athletic skater, having been the first skater, in 1991 to land a quadruple jump. This Elvis was, in fact, named after Elvis Presley. While he preferred to set his skating programs to orchestral scores from movies like Gladiator and Dragonheart, in 1994 Stojko did the obvious and skated to an Elvis medley.

Why Do People Call Coffee “Joe”?

Pour yourself a steaming cup of facts.

The phrase comes from the U.S. Navy in the early 20th century. A well-known origin story traces it to 1913. That year, President Wilson appointed Josephus Daniels to the position of Secretary of the Navy. He immediately made a number of reforms, notably banning alcohol from naval vessels. Sailors now had nothing on board stronger than coffee, which they derisively nicknamed “joe” after Daniels.

The big problem with this story: It’s not true. First of all, alcohol had been banned on naval ships since 1862, except for wine for officers. All Daniels did was remove the officers’ wine ration. Since there aren’t many officers (as opposed to regular sailors), there wouldn’t be enough people to throw the slang “joe” into the common vernacular. Further, linguists say that “joe” first appeared in print in 1930—almost two decades after it’s introduction. It doesn’t seem likely that a phrase would be used verbally but never printed in any way for 17 years.

The truth is that “joe” does originate from the Navy, just not in that way. The phrase appears in the 1931 edition of the Reserve Officer’s Manual in a section about helping officers understand sailors’ slang terms. “Jamoke, Java, Joe. Coffee. Derived from the words Java and Mocha, where originally the best coffee came from.”

Joe, then, is likely a shortening of “Jamoke,” which itself is a contraction and corruption of “Java” and “Mocha,” two islands once dominant in coffee production. (Java is in Indonesia; Mocha is off the coast of Chile). “Java” is still used as a slang term for coffee; “mocha” now describes a drink that consists of coffee mixed with chocolate and milk.

Happy 160th Birthday, Sherlock Holmes

Okay, we know he’s not real. But according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books, Sherlock Holmes was born on January 6, 1854. Celebrate the day (and look forward to season 3 of Sherlock) with these not-so-elementary Sherlock Holmes facts.

• Have you ever come across anyone, real or fictional, named Sherlock? It’s an obscure, Old English name that means “bright hair.”

• A common theme in all Sherlock Holmes books, movies, and other media is the great detective’s use of “deduction” to solve mysteries. Except that he doesn’t really use deduction. Sherlock uses a technique called abductive reasoning. Deduction eliminates possibilities until only one, hopefully correct theory, remains. Abductive reasoning, however, involves careful observation and consideration of evidence and any outside data to create an educated guess.

• Guy Ritchie agreed to direct the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie on two very big conditions: He didn’t want Sherlock to ever say “Elementary, my dear Watson,” and he didn’t want him to ever appear in the iconic, houndstooth double-billed hat. (Technical name for the hat: a deerstalker.)

• In 2011, film director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) staged a production of Frankenstein at London’s National Theatre. Actors Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch switched roles each night, alternating between playing Dr. Frankenstein, and the Monster. Soon after, both actors were cast as Sherlock Holmes in present-day-set TV series—Miller in CBS’s Elementary, and Cumberbatch in the British production Sherlock.

• Unlike most authors who write many books about the same character, Doyle varied how the stories were told. Of the 60 Sherlock books and stories he wrote, 56 are narrated by Sherlock’s assistant, Dr. Watson; two are narrated by an anonymous, third-person narrator; and only two are told from Sherlock’s point of view.

• He was a tireless crime-fighter, but Sherlock Holmes eventually retired—at least in the original, canonical stories of Doyle he did. According to the story “The Second Stain,” In approximately 1904, Holmes moves to a farm in Sussex and writes a book about beekeeping. Although, in Doyle’s 1926, World War I-set story called “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane,” Holmes comes out of retirement to help England’s war machine.

It’s Fact-or-Fake Friday!

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for your weekly fake-out. Here’s how it works: Two of the three following stories are true. One of them we made up. Can you guess which one is the fake? Pick your answer at the end of the article and see if you’re right.

A.

28-year-old Adam Kramer really, really wanted some free tacos. According to police, at 2:30 p.m. one day, he went into a San Antonio restaurant and ordered six tacos, then told his server that he would be getting the tacos for free. When she balked, he pulled a sword from a sheath at his waist. Kramer may have pulled off his caper, but he briefly left the restaurant (presumably while the tacos were being prepared), at which point the employee locked the door. When he discovered the locked door, “Mr. Kramer yelled that he wanted his free tacos or somebody was going to die,” according to the police affidavit. He eventually drove off, but was later arrested on separate charges, and now faces aggravated burglary charges.

B.

A restaurateur in Brooklyn is taking the local and weird food movements to their logical conclusion: She’s planning a supper club menu featuring human placenta. Esme Chavez, a 42-year old chef and co-owner of the trendy Williamsburg restaurant Sanglant has been hosting invite-only dinner parties with daring menus at different locations around the city since 2011. Previous menus have included home-fermented kimchi made with heirloom cabbage, yak’s milk ice cream, and bee-larvae paté. Chavez’s partner is expecting the couple’s first child in February, and the adventurous chef is planning the next menu around the afterbirth organ. “It’s the final taboo, to eat human flesh,” she said. “I want to explore that space and this is a rare opportunity to do so.”

C.

A Philadelphia museum is offering the chance to pay for the preservation of an old skull and have your name displayed next to it for a year. For $200, you can sponsor one of the museum’s 139 skulls from the 18th Century, which were originally collected—often by means that wouldn’t fly today, including grave robbing—by a Viennese scientist who sought to disprove the pseudoscience of phrenology (more or less fortune telling based on the bumps on your head). Many of the skulls have lost teeth in the 100-plus years they’ve been on display, due to poor mounting that fails to eliminate vibrations. On the museum’s website, you can view a skull catalog that you can use to select the skull you’d like to sponsor.

Want more fakes? Check out Uncle John’s Fake Facts. (Really!)

5 Headscratching Golden Globe Nominations

Since the 1960s, the Golden Globes have honored the finest in television…usually.

Once seen as a second-rate version of the Oscars, combined with a second-rate version of the Emmys, the stature of the Golden Globes has risen in recent years, with highly rated TV telecasts hosted by Ricky Gervais, and Tina Fey with Amy Poehler. It’s still a strange awards ceremony – attendees can drink alcohol throughout the ceremony, and the awards themselves are voted by entertainment journalists from outside of the United States. Result: some headscratching nominations (and even wins).

• In 1978, the long-running TV news magazine 60 Minutes actually won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series, beating out scripted dramas like Lou Grant and the miniseries Holocaust. 60 Minutes producer Don Hewitt had actually refused the nomination, but the show remained on the ballot anyway.

• In 1977, Dinah Shore was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series. The show for which she was noticed: Dinah!, her daytime TV talk show.

• In 1991 and 1992, the cheesy (but extremely popular) teen soap opera Beverly Hills, 90210 was nominated for Best Drama Series. Star Jason Priestly was nominated for Best Actor in a Drama Series in the latter year, but lost to Sam Waterston of I’ll Fly Away.

• Do you remember the corny, short-lived sitcom Sister Kate? It was about a kindly nun who presided over an orphanage full of precocious, wisecracking kids. It was cancelled by NBC due to low ratings after just 15 episodes had aired in the 1989-1990 season. It was also critically savaged, but star Stephanie Beacham still managed to earn a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

• Despite the existence of a Best Miniseries or Television Film category, the miniseries Shogun won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series in 1980. Even weirder is that it beat out The Scarlett O’Hara War, a made-for-TV movie about the making of Gone With the Wind.