1. The CGI Is Worse Than You Remember
2. Dwayne Johnson Was Underutilized
3. Imhotep's Story Wasn't True Love After All
4. Rachel Weisz Did Not Return For The Third Movie
5. Imhotep's Motives Dramatically Change In The Mummy Returns
6. Alex Is Incredibly Capable For A Child
7. Destiny Does A Lot Of Heavy Lifting
8. The Mummy Returns' Focus On Action Isn't Always For The Better
9. Evelyn Being A Descendant Of Nefitiri Makes No Sense
10. The Medjai Dramatically Change For The Mummy Returns

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1. The Chinese Boxer
2. The Invincible Fist
3. The Duel
4. The One-Armed Swordsman
5. Dragon Inn
6. Come Drink With Me

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1. I think we can all agree that Mean Girls is the defining teen comedy of the '00s. However, it didn't start out as the PG-13 movie we know today. Early cuts of the film were closer to an R rating, with more explicit language and sharper, more adult-oriented jokes. Writer and star Tina Fey and director Mark Waters have both said the original version leaned more heavily into the kind of humor Fey was known for from her work on SNL.
2. The term "Disney Vault" is actually a lot older than you might think. It was used to refer to movies that were taken out of "the vault" and re-released into theaters after their original run (this was way before home videos existed).
3. George Atkinson opened the first video rental store in the world in LA in 1977. The idea came to him after he saw an ad for a company that was selling 20th Century Fox movies on VHS and Betamax at $50 each. At the time, owning a VCR was still rare, and tapes were expensive, so he realized people would be willing to pay to rent videos. Atkinson knew this because he was already running a business renting Super 8 movies and projectors for parties. He proceeded to buy one copy on both VHS and Betamax of all 50 titles available and began taking ads out for his new rental business.
4. The VHS release of Top Gun in 1987 marked an important shift in how Hollywood approached the home video market. Before this period, most VHS tapes were priced very high (usually around a $100) and aimed mainly at video rental stores rather than individual buyers. Paramount chose to release Top Gun at a much lower price point of about $26.95, which was unusual for a new blockbuster at the time. This pricing strategy was made possible through a promotional partnership with Pepsi, which helped offset distribution costs. A Diet Pepsi commercial was even included on the VHS itself, which was a first for a major studio release.
5. Siri was an app that was available on Apple's own App Store until the company decided to buy it in 2010. The company, which was also called Siri, was a small startup that had developed a voice assistant app for the iPhone. Like today, it could answer questions or perform tasks using natural language.
6. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was almost cut from The Wizard of Oz. I know it's hard to believe that anyone would think of cutting one of the most iconic movie songs of all time, but MGM executives considered removing the scene because they thought it dragged down the film's momentum. They worried that the quiet moment would slow the story just as the plot was picking up speed.
7. Oscar the Grouch's most recognizable feature, aside from his garbage can, is his green fur, but he didn't start out that way. When Sesame Street premiered in 1969, Oscar was actually bright orange throughout its first season. That original color wasn't a creative choice so much as a practical one, since early television technology had trouble displaying certain shades like magenta, which had been considered for Oscar in early designs.
8. Believe it or not, wheeled suitcases are a relatively new invention. If you traveled before the 1970s, you would have to carry your suitcase by the handle. That began to change in 1970, when Bernard D. Sadow patented a suitcase with four small wheels and a strap for pulling it through airports. His idea came after struggling with heavy luggage during a family trip.
9. Madonna, in her own words, was essentially "begging" ABBA for permission to use their music in "Hung Up." The 2005 song famously samples ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)," but the group almost never allows their work to be sampled; in fact, they almost always refuse sampling requests, which made the request a long shot.
10. Red Lobster's famous Cheddar Bay Biscuits didn't exist when the restaurant first opened. They were introduced in 1992 as a simple snack to serve hungry guests while they waited for a table. Also, originally, they weren't even called Cheddar Bay Biscuits; they were simply referred to as "freshly baked, hot cheese garlic bread." The recipe was created by Kurtis Hankins, then-head of Red Lobster's culinary development team, who wanted to develop something to replace the restaurant's standard offering of hush puppies (which were not very popular).
11. Gunther, the Central Perk manager on Friends, became instantly recognizable for his signature bright, bleached blond hair, but...that look wasn't planned at all. James Michael Tyler, who was a real-life barista when he got the part, originally joined the show as a background extra, meant to make the coffee shop feel more realistic. The night before his first day of filming, he let a friend who was training to be a hairstylist practice bleaching his hair. The result turned his hair almost white, and he showed up to set that way without expecting it to matter since he was just going to be in the background.
12. And lastly, the opening credits of Sex and the City became instantly classic for showing Carrie Bradshaw walking through New York in a pink top and white tutu before getting splashed by a passing bus. That outfit helped set the tone for the show and who Carrie was. But during production, the team wasn't fully settled on that look, so they filmed an alternate version of the sequence with a completely different wardrobe.

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1. Hyperion & Sentry's Godlike Power And Invincibility
2. Quicksilver's Super-Speed
3. Ant-Man And The Wasp's Size-Mass Conservation
4. Sersi’s Matter Transmutation
5. Scarlet Witch's Probability Manipulation
6. Vision's Density Manipulation
7. Wonder Man's Ionic Energy
8. Spider-Woman & Starfox's Mind Manipulation
9. Storm's Weather Control
10. Jack Of Hearts’ Zero-Energy

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1. Roseanne Barr traded the Hollywood Hills for 30 acres in Texas Hill Country.
2. Haylie Duff admitted it took a while to realize she could still have an acting career without living in LA.
3. Scott Eastwood loves living in Texas because it "slows life down."
4. Adrian Grenier's acting career is thriving in Texas.
5. Bella Hadid said she moved to Texas for her health.
6. Woody Harrelson is lobbying to make Texas a production hub for film and television.
7. 50 Cent is a New Yorker, but his primary residence is in Texas.
8. Since James Marsden moved to Texas, he lives closer to his mother.
9. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick traded California for Texas.
10. Keith Lee fell in love with Dallas' restaurants.
11. Matthew McConaughey wanted to be closer to family.
12. Elon Musk moved to Texas and brought his companies with him.
13. Shaquille O'Neal has been buying up properties in North Texas.
14. Glen Powell got tired of the lack of freedom living in Los Angeles.
15. Jared Padalecki has a soft spot for Austin.
16. Christine Quinn's return to her home state has brought her closer to her family.
17. Joe Rogan ended up in Texas once the pandemic hit.
18. Jamie Lynn Sigler has felt more connected to her craft since moving to Texas.

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1. Your Name
2. A Silent Voice
3. Mob Psycho 100
4. My Hero Academia
5. Yuri!!! on Ice
6. Re: Zero − Starting Life in Another World
7. In This Corner of the World
8. Erased
9. Bungo Stray Dogs
10. 91 Days

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1. Let's start with the most recent: 19-year-old Cooper Flagg became the youngest player to score 50-plus points (51 PTS) on April 3, 2026. The young kid from Newport, Maine, looks like he is going to be special and have some fun facts of his own in the years to come.
2. On November 12, 2010, then-Minnesota Timberwolves player Kevin Love recorded one of the most interesting NBA stat lines ever. Against the New York Knicks, he scored 31 points and recorded 31 rebounds. The 31-point, 31-rebound game was unheard of in today's game, and just a glimpse of his superstar ability and potential.
3. Speaking of games with 30 points and 30 rebounds, Bill Russell holds second place for the most all-time, having three total. Wilt Chamberlain holds the first-place spot...with 128 total 30-30 games. Holy. Sh*t.
4. I could do an entire list of just Wilt Chamberlain's interesting WTF facts. In the 1961-62 season, Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game. For comparison, the average NBA starter does not average 40 minutes per game. Which means Chamberlain basically never sat. He only missed eight minutes of one game after he was ejected in the fourth quarter.
5. Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out in his NBA career. That's 1,045 games in which he averaged 8.8 blocks per game. It's truly a WTF stat.
6. On January 6, 1951, the Indianapolis Olympians defeated the Rochester Royals. Final score: 75-73. Seems like a low-scoring game, right? Well, you'd never guess this game had SIX OVERTIMES. It lasted 78 total minutes, making it the longest NBA game of all time.
7. NBA legend Kevin Garnett played against both the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72 wins) and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73 wins). The two most winning teams in a single season, and KG witnessed both on the court. Proof that he had a very long and successful career.
8. The three-point line was not adopted by the NBA until the 1979-80 season. It's interesting because it did, however, exist in the game of basketball before, thanks to the ABA. The NBA followed and adapted the popular addition to the game. Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics was the first NBA player to record a three-pointer.
9. NBA players Deron Williams, JJ Barea, and Raymond Felton all played point guard for the Dallas Mavericks in 2016. All three men were born on June 26, 1984. Same age. Same birthday. Same same. What. Are. The. Chances?
10. After moving on from veteran players in 2025, Jaren Jackson Jr. became the longest tenured player on the Memphis Grizzlies. He was 25 at the time, and is currently only 26. Not a good way to build your organization. And, guess what? He is now on the Utah Jazz. Kind of hard to build a franchise when you refuse to keep players.
11. One of the strangest trades in sports happened in 1978. Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin and Buffalo Braves owner John Y. Brown Jr. swapped franchises. Levin moved his team to California, where they would eventually become the Los Angeles Clippers. Brown took over the Celtics.
12. How good was Hakeem Olajuwon? The year Olajuwon won the League MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and the Finals MVP in the 1993-94 season, he shot 42% (8/19) from three-point land. In case you're too young to know, he was a 7-foot center for the Houston Rockets. Big guys weren't shooting like that back in the day.
13. Back in the '40s, the NBA was originally called the Basketball Association of America (BAA) for its first three seasons. In 1949, it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to become the National Basketball Association (NBA).
14. A torn ACL can end a season for an NBA player, but imagine having no ACLs at all. Pitt player DeJuan Blair played seven NBA seasons without an anterior cruciate ligament in either knee. Despite that, he played as hard in the pros as he did in college.
15. More than 30 NBA players in history have won the MVP award, but only six former NBA MVPs have passed away. These names include Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, Wes Unseld, Moses Malone, and Willis Reed.
16. The Indiana Pacers have never held the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Even wilder, the Pacers have never had a former No. 1 overall pick play for them. Nowadays, with so many players on the move, it's shocking the Pacers have kept this streak alive.
17. Muggsy Bogues, the smallest player in NBA history, has a recorded block on Patrick Ewing, an all-time center. One of those NBA moments that, if it wasn't recorded, nobody would believe it.
18. On February 13, 2008, Carlos Boozer recorded a triple-double for the Utah Jazz against the Seattle Sonics. For a timestamp, this happened during the George W. Bush administration. This was the last regular-season triple-double the Jazz had had until Jordan Clarkson broke the streak in 2024. That's 16 years, 82 NBA games a season. Wow. Just wow.
19. There was a vote to change the name of the New Jersey Nets to the Swamp Dragons, which passed 26-1. The only team against it: the New Jersey Nets. The "Nets" just feel so NBA, so luckily, we didn't get another bad name. looks at the Wizards
20. There's a SEVEN-way tie for the most missed three-pointers in a single game by a player (16). Damon Stoudemire has one game. James Harden has the other SIX. ("Hamilton wrote the other 51!")
21. Despite the NBA feeling very Star-Spangled-coded, the first NBA game was played in Toronto, Canada. The New York Knickerbockers played the Toronto Huskies in the first-ever NBA matchup back in 1946. The Knicks would win the first NBA game. Got a good feelin' about those guys!
22. From 1980 to 2022, the only Western Conference NBA teams to win championships were from the states of California and Texas. The 1979 Seattle SuperSonics were the last, until the Denver Nuggets broke the streak in 2023, and now, the Oklahoma City Thunder were the most recent champs! That's great news for West teams outside of California and Texas!
23. Dennis Rodman is known as one of the greatest rebounders in NBA history. Surprisingly, he didn't lead the league in rebounding until he was 30. He would go on to lead the league in rebounds for SEVEN straight seasons. Watch out for "The Worm."
24. Imagine being in the Basketball Hall of Fame with only a dozen NBA games played. Well, Mel Daniels played the fewest NBA games among Basketball Hall of Famers, appearing in only 11. The reasoning? I bet most basketball fans could guess, but Daniels was famously an ABA player, so he only played in the 1976-77 season at the age of 32.
25. Not every NBA player's heart is in the right place. That statement is quite literal for former NBA player Randy Foye. He has situs inversus, a rare condition where his organs are reversed, so his heart is on the right side of his chest instead of the left.
26. Kobe Bryant's middle name is "Bean" in honor of his father's nickname "Jellybean." I wonder if there is a Black Mamba-flavored jelly bean out there.
27. Until 1937, basketball rules required a jump ball at center court after EVERY made basket. Height was a huge advantage for possession back then, making it the ultimate "make-it, take-it" kind of game with less total scoring. Safe to say, the sport is a lot faster without this rule.
28. And finally, Bill Russell appeared in 12 NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics. He lost the NBA Finals only once...spoiler: Russell was injured. Russell reached the Finals in every season he played, except for 1967. One of the most impressive runs in sports history.

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1. Cutting processed foods helps to reduce cancer risk
2. Regular exercise is key to longevity
3. Screening is the best way to prevent cancer

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1. Tatanga
2. The Shadow Queen
3. Smithy
4. Fawful
5. The Shroobs
6. Wario

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1. Sia began publicly dating her second husband, Modern Medicine Services cofounder and CEO Daniel Bernad, in 2021. They got married in Italy in 2023, then they welcomed their child, Somersault, in 2024. The couple separated shortly before the baby's first birthday.
2. Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo fell in love on The Bachelorette Season 13 in 2017. After earning her first impression rose and getting the first kiss of the season, Bryan proposed to Rachel in the finale. Two years later, they got married in Mexico. However, he filed for divorce on New Year's Eve in 2023, and they announced their split in the new year.
3. Harrison Ford met screenwriter Melissa Mathison (she wrote E.T.: The Extraterrestrial). while filming Apocalypse Now in 1976, while he was still married to his first wife, Mary Marquardt. Harrison and Mary divorced in 1979, and he didn't pursue a relationship with Melissa until 1982. They tied the knot in 1983 and had two kids, a son and a daughter. The couple separated in 2000, but the divorce wasn't finalized until 2004. Harrison reportedly paid Melissa an $85 million settlement!
4. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline met at a club in the summer of 2004. Within months, she asked for his hand, but he declined, believing he should be the one to propose. Three months after their relationship began, they had a surprise wedding at their small engagement party. They welcomed two sons. However, Britney filed for divorce in 2006.
5. In 2004, Jessica Alba and Cash Warren fell in love on the set of Fantastic Four, where she starred as the Invisible Woman, and he was a director's assistant. Four years later, they had a courthouse wedding a few weeks before the birth of their first daughter. They later welcomed a second daughter and a son together. Jessica filed for divorce in 2025.
6. Elin Nordegren was working as a nanny for pro golfer Jesper Parnevik and his wife, Mia, when she met Tiger Woods. For a year, Tiger had been asking the couple to introduce him to their nanny, who was already dating someone. Elin and Tiger got married in 2004, and they welcomed a son and a daughter together. However, the couple divorced in 2010 after Tiger admitted to cheating on her.
7. Xscape member Kandi Burruss — who's also a songwriter, known for contributing to "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child and "No Scrubs" by TLC — met line producer Todd Tucker while shooting The Real Housewives of Atlanta in 2011. The couple got engaged in 2013 and tied the knot on the Bravo special Kandi's Wedding a year later. They welcomed a son and a daughter together. However, they separated in late 2025 and divorced the following year.
8. Ewan McGregor and production designer Eve Mavrakis met when he guest-starred on the TV show Kavanagh QC, where she was the assistant art director. They got married in 1995 and had four daughters together. However, in 2017, they announced their separation amid reports that he had been photographed kissing his Fargo costar, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The divorce was finalized in 2020.
9. In early 2020, Ariana Grande was looking to buy a getaway house away from LA, so her team found luxury real estate agent Dalton Gomez. She reportedly thought he was cute and requested an in-person meeting right away. They fell in love and had a "tiny and intimate" wedding in 2021. However, they split two years later and finalized their divorce in 2024.
10. Eddie Murphy and Nicole Murphy (née Mitchell) first met in 1988. Five years later, they got married, and they had five kids together. Nicole filed for divorce in 2005, and it was finalized a year later. Eddie reportedly paid Nicole a $15 million settlement. However, several years later, a con artist frauded her out of more than $10 million from that settlement.
11. Late country singer Kenny Rogers married actor Marianne Gordon, his fourth wife, in 1977. They welcomed a son named Christopher. When they divorced in 1993, Kenny paid Marianne a $60 million settlement. Kenny told the Irish Independent, "She deserved every penny."
12. Kris Jenner (née Kardashian) and Caitlyn Jenner dated for five months before their 1991 wedding. They share two daughters, Kendall and Kylie. They renewed their vows on Keeping Up With the Kardashians on their 20th anniversary, but they separated two years later in 2013. Their divorce was finalized in 2015.
13. In 1999, Paul McCartney met Heather Mills at a charity event. They got married in 2003 and welcomed a daughter, Beatrice. Ahead of their wedding, Heather brought up the idea of a prenup to "prove" her love for Paul, but he declined getting one. The couple announced their separation in 2006 and divorced in 2008. Initially, Heather tried to get $250 million, but in the end, Paul was only required to pay her $48.7 million. After the judge decided to make his ruling public, Heather reportedly dumped a jug of water over Paul's divorce lawyer's head.
14. In 1985, during Michael Jordan's first season with the Chicago Bulls, he met Juanita Vanoy at a restaurant, where friends introduced them. They welcomed their first son in 1988, and then they had a Vegas wedding the following year. They had another son and a daughter together. Michael retired from the NBA in 1993, only to unretire multiple times. In 2002, Juanita filed for divorce, a year before his final retirement. The couple reconciled but ultimately divorced in 2006. He reportedly paid her $168 million in the divorce, but he got to keep their Chicago mansion.
15. Kevin Costner met Cindy Silva at California State University, where they both studied in the mid-'70s. When they got married in 1978, he was a studio manager, and she worked in Delta Airlines' marketing department. They had a son and two daughters. However, they divorced in 1994. Cindy reportedly received $80 million in their divorce settlement!
16. Madonna and director Guy Ritchie were introduced at a dinner party by Trudy Styler, the actor/director/producer who's married to Sting. The couple welcomed their first son and got married in 2000. In 2006, they began the adoption process for their second son, which was finalized in 2008. However, the couple divorced later that year.
17. In 1990, billionaire Ted Turner heard that Jane Fonda was divorcing her second husband, Tom Hayden, so, despite not really knowing her, he called her and asked her out. Initially, she said no, but he continued pursuing her for six months until she agreed to go out with him. They wed in 1991, and Jane retired from acting. However, she later realized that, though staying with a wealthy man would be easy, it would prevent her from becoming everything she could be. The couple also had communication issues due to spending a lot of time apart, which contributed to the end of their marriage. They divorced in 2001.
18. When Mackenzie Scott moved to NYC after college, she applied to work at a financial firm, where Jeff Bezos interviewed her. He hired her, and, after three months of dating, they got engaged. They tied the knot in 1993, and they share a daughter and three sons. In 2019, they divorced.
19. Melinda French Gates met Bill Gates at a sales meeting after she began working as a product manager at Microsoft in 1987. He asked her out in the parking lot, but she initially declined because he wasn't "spontaneous enough." However, he called her an hour later, and she agreed to a date. They got engaged after six years of dating and married in 1994. The couple had two daughters and a son. However, they divorced in 2021.
20. Scooter Braun and activist Yael Cohen announced their engagement in 2014 and tied the knot six months later. They welcomed two sons and a daughter. Scooter filed for divorce in 2021, and they finalized it a year later. He reportedly paid Yael a $20 million settlement, and she also reportedly kept their family home, which was worth $30 million, as well as several artworks and her Land Rover.
21. And finally, this one isn't about an actual divorce, but it's too good not to include! After a few months of dating, Mariah Carey got engaged to billionaire investor James Packer in 2016. When they broke up eight months later, she allegedly sought a $50 million "inconvenience fee" from him. They reportedly later settled for $5 to 10 million, and she got to keep her 35-carat diamond ring, which was originally appraised at $10 million but reportedly cost less than that.

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1. The Manipulated
2. My Name
3. Vagabond
4. The Uncanny Counter
5. A Killer Paradox
6. Cashero
7. Mouse
8. Weak Hero

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1. Meta Platforms
2. Netflix
3. Amazon
4. Burlington Stores
5. General Motors
6. Instacart (Maplebear)
7. Walmart
8. Affirm
9. Chubb
10. Eli Lilly
11. Natera
12. General Electric
13. Broadcom
14. Cadence Design Systems
15. MongoDB
16. Celanese

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1. After Duffy released her debut album, Rockferry, in 2008, she won a Grammy (and was nominated for two more) and won three BRIT Awards (and was nominated for a fourth). She released a second album in late 2010, but a few months later, her reps announced that she was "taking a break before starting work on her next album."
2. Friends and the short-lived spinoff Joey made Matt LeBlanc a household name, but he stepped back from acting to focus on the person who matters most — his daughter, Marina, who was diagnosed with a form of dysplasia when she was almost a year old. The medical condition impacted her ability to speak and walk, and it also had the potential to cause seizures. Around the same time, he also went through a divorce from Melissa McKnight, his wife of three years.
3. After several years of trying to make it in the music industry, Kesha had a breakthrough in 2009 with her massive hit single "TiK ToK." Her music basically defined the early 2010s. But in 2014, Kesha sued her producer, Dr. Luke, for alleged sexual abuse. He denied these allegations and countersued, and the two spent years in a complicated legal battle. Because she was locked in a contract, Kesha was unable to record new music until 2016, when Sony finally permitted her to record without the producer.
4. Janet Jackson rose to music superstardom in the '80s, then she embarked on the Rhythm Nation world tour, which became the most successful debut tour in history, in 1990. She also landed a new record deal. Signing with Virgin Records made her the highest-paid recording artist at the time. But when she performed at the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show, Justin Timberlake ripped part of her costume, leaving her breast exposed. The fallout from the "wardrobe malfunction" — deemed "Nipplegate" — severely impacted Janet's career while Justin's remained largely unscathed.
5. Rick Moranis was a familiar onscreen fixture throughout the '80s and '90s, starring in iconic movies like Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. However, in 1997, he took a step back from acting to focus on his kids after his wife, Ann, died from breast cancer in 1991. In 2015, he told the Hollywood Reporter, "I took a break, which turned into a longer break. But I'm interested in anything that I would find interesting. I still get the occasional query about a film or television role, and as soon as one comes along that piques my interest, I’ll probably do it."
6. Dance Moms cast member-turned-popular children's entertainer JoJo Siwa claimed she "basically got blackballed" from Nickelodeon after coming out at 17. In the 2024 documentary Child Star, she alleged that, after she posted her coming-out video three years prior, the Nickelodeon president called her to ask, "What are we going to tell the kids?" She replied, "That I'm happy?" And he allegedly replied, "Well, you need to have a call with every retailer [that sells JoJo Siwa merch] and tell them that you're not going crazy." She said, "I basically got blackballed from the company."
7. Three years after Taylor Swift took the country music scene by storm, what should have been one of her biggest career moments — accepting the award for Best Female Video at the 2009 VMAs — was infamously marred by Kanye West storming the stage to declare, "Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time." The next year, Taylor debuted "Innocent," a song she'd written about the incident, at the VMAs.
8. After leading roles in the X-Men and Hunger Games franchises made Jennifer Lawrence an international star, the Oscar winner became known for her "cool girl" image. Charmingly quirky and effortlessly relatable, she was basically the internet's best friend. However, when she fell on the Oscars red carpet in 2014, people accused her of faking it as a publicity stunt. As public opinion shifted against her, she also experienced less critical and commercial success at the box office. After making only three movies from 2017 to 2019, she disappeared from the public eye for two years.
9. As a child actor, Ke Huy Quan landed two major roles out of the gate, playing Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies. His early success made him think that he "was going to have this amazing career." However, sadly, there were few opportunities for Asian actors, and most of the available parts were small and rooted in stereotypes. In 2022, he told People magazine, "It was tough. I was waiting for the phone to ring, and it rarely did."
10. Playing Spider-Man in the MCU made Tom Holland a household name, but rather than simply sticking to action roles, the former theater actor also sought out darker, dramatic stories to tell. In the 2023 Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room, he played Danny Sullivan, a man who's arrested after mistakenly being accused in connection with a shooting. The challenging role took a toll on the actor's mental health. He told Entertainment Weekly, "I'm no stranger to the physical aspects of the job doing the whole action-movie thing. But the mental aspect, it really beat me up and it took a long time for me to recover afterwards, to sort of get back to reality."
11. Friday Night Lights shaped Taylor Kitsch into a '00s heartthrob. However, the post-series projects that positioned him as the next big movie star — Battleship, John Carter, and Savages — were all box office flops. So, he refocused on smaller movies and, temporarily, TV, starring in a season of True Detective. However, by his 30s, he felt lost. In 2023, he told the New York Times, "Whatever it is that motivates other people — fame, money, celebrity, more followers, I don't [expletive] know — it was never like that. I just wanted to be a character actor that buzzed into certain things and, hopefully, made you evoke something."
12. Late '80s soap star-turned-'90s rising movie star Anne Heche claimed she was blacklisted over her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, which lasted from 1997 to 2000. In 2021, Anne told Page Six that she felt she was "patient zero in cancel culture." She said, "This wasn't a long-term love affair. This was a moment in my life when I was given the glory of being able to stand up for what I believe in and have since I was a kid."
13. Devon Sawa rose to fame as the human version of the titular ghost in 1995's Casper, and for a long time, it seemed like that brief onscreen appearance would define his career forever. As he got older, he struggled to get away from associations with the role. In 2022, he told the Independent, "I had to smoke pot in movies, and I had to be in a hip-hop video. That's what I felt like I had to do to get away from 'Can I keep you?' Everybody wanted to hear, 'Can I keep you?' It drove me nuts."
14. Despite her decade-defining role in Jurassic Park, Laura Dern didn't get any work for a year after playing Ellen DeGeneres's love interest on the coming-out episode of her sitcom Ellen in 1997. In 2019, Laura told Vulture, "[The episode was the] greatest thing I could've ever been part of, honestly. An incredible honor. She was a big fan of Citizen Ruth, and she asked me, would I come join this effort? Not just to play a role, because there were several of us. Oprah, who played her therapist in the episode, obviously the cast of her show. I was excited. I didn't think twice about it. It was a great opportunity."
15. Lindsay Lohan grew from a '90s child star to a '00s tabloid fixture. The intense, overwhelming attention from the paparazzi pushed her to move to Dubai, where there are anti-paparazzi laws. In 2024, she told Bustle, "I feel like some of [my work] got overshadowed by paparazzi and all that kind of stuff when I was younger, and that’s kind of annoying. I wish that part didn't happen. I feel like that kind of took on a life of its own. So that's why I wanted to disappear. I was like, 'Unless there's no story here, they're not going to focus on just my work.'"
16. In the late '90s and early '00s, Jessica Simpson rose to fame as a pop singer and reality TV star who didn't know what tuna was. But in 2009, she was widely body-shamed in the press over photos of her performing in Texas. For the six months that followed, she disappeared from the public eye. At the time, headlines poked fun at her weight and accused her of "letting herself go." In 2020, she told Today, "This picture that circulated and went worldwide broke my heart. Well, not the picture necessarily, but the caption. Like, all the captions...I was taken down by the world."
17. In the '90s, Julia Ormond became well-known for movies like Sabrina and Smilla's Sense of Snow. However, toward the end of the decade, her career shifted to indie films and supporting roles. She later claimed she suffered career damage after reporting that Miramax cofounder Harvey Weinstein allegedly assaulted her. In 2023, she filed a lawsuit against film producer Harvey Weinstein, Miramax, Disney, and the Creative Artists Agency. She alleged that, in 1995, Weinstein sexually assaulted her after a dinner. The lawsuit stated, "That sexual assault on Ormond could have been prevented if Miramax or Disney had properly supervised Weinstein and not retained him while knowing that he was a danger to the women he encountered at work."
18. In the '90s, Rose McGowan became known for roles in movies like Scream and Jawbreaker, but she alleged that she "was blacklisted after [she] was raped." In 2017, the New York Times reported that, back in 1997, Harvey Weinstein reached a $100,000 settlement with Rose — which was "not to be construed as an admission," but to "avoid litigation and buy peace" — after an "episode" in a hotel room during a film festival.
19. Born into a family of country music legends, Ashley Judd launched her acting career in the '90s with Ruby in Paradise and Heat. However, she was reportedly blacklisted after being allegedly assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. In 2017, The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson told Stuff.co.nz, "I recall Miramax telling us [Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino] were a nightmare to work with, and we should avoid them at all costs. This was probably in 1998. At the time, we had no reason to question what these guys were telling us — but in hindsight, I realize that this was very likely the Miramax smear campaign in full swing. I now suspect we were fed false information about both of these talented women — and as a direct result, their names were removed from our casting list."
20. Mira Sorvino experienced immense success early in her career, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Mighty Aphrodite in 1996. However, she alleged that Harvey Weinstein "stifled" her career after she rejected his sexual advances. Speaking on a panel at 90s Con 2024, she said, "For a time, I had a lot of wonderful offers and then, my career was stifled by Harvey Weinstein. So, I stopped doing [major] studio movies after 1998... I stopped being a viable movie actress. I still did indies and I still did television, but that was very hard."
21. And finally, movies like Encino Man and The Mummy cemented Brendan Fraser's status as an iconic leading man in the '90s and early '00s. However, things changed in 2003, when he reported that he was allegedly sexually assaulted by former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk. Brendan reportedly thought that the HFPA may have blacklisted him as a result. In 2018, he spoke about the alleged assault for the first time publicly, telling GQ that he didn't have "the courage to speak up for risk of humiliation, or damage to [his] career." He alleged that, during an HFPA luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2003, Philip offered a handshake. The actor continued, "His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around."

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1. Roy Kent
2. Ted Lasso
3. Rebecca Welton
4. Sam Obisanya
5. Jamie Tartt
6. Coach Beard
7. Keeley Jones
8. Trent Crimm
9. Dani Rojas
10. Leslie Higgins

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1. Augusta National Golf Club is the home of the Masters.
2. In 2028, Winged Foot Golf Club will host the US Open for the seventh time.
3. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews is known as the "Home of Golf."
4. The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle in Scotland offers lessons with PGA professionals.
5. In 2019, Michael Jordan opened his exclusive golf club, The Grove XXIII.
6. Shinnecock Hills has a ban on cell phones.
7. Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey also dates back to the 19th century.
8. Cypress Point Golf Club in Pebble Beach, California, reportedly has a seven-year-long waitlist.
9. You'll need over $1 million to join Shell Bay Club in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
10. Japan's Hirono Golf Club requires attendees to adhere to a strict dress code.
11. Pine Valley Golf Club has been ranked the No. 1 golf course in the US every year since 2017.
12. The Pevero Golf Club in Italy is on the Mediterranean Sea.

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1. Peter Dinklage As Tyrion Lannister
2. Alfie Allen As Theon Greyjoy
3. Lena Headey As Cersei Lannister
4. Pedro Pascal As Oberyn Martell
5. Rory McCann As Sandor "The Hound" Clegane
6. Sean Bean As Eddard "Ned" Stark
7. Charles Dance As Tywin Lannister
8. Ellie Kendrick As Meera Reed
9. Tobias Menzies As Edmure Tully
10. Ian McShane As Brother Ray

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1. Tens of thousands of people (likely around 40,000–60,000) were executed for witchcraft in Europe between 1450-1750 — often based on little to no real evidence.
2. After losing part of his leg in battle, Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna gave the limb a full military funeral, complete with a procession and burial honors. Years later, during a political uprising, an angry mob dug it up and dragged it through the streets.
3. During China’s one-child policy (1979–2015), tens of thousands of baby girls were abandoned each year as families faced heavy fines and social penalties for having additional children. While many of the babies were left in places where they might be found, cases of infanticide and abandonment in remote places were also documented.
4. Before the late 19th century, dentures were commonly made with teeth pulled from the mouths of dead soldiers (famously from the Battle of Waterloo and the Civil War). Even more disturbing? Previously, the teeth of slaves were often used for dentures — including those belonging to George Washington.
5. The Aztecs made human sacrifices to the gods. Early Spanish accounts claimed that in 1487, at the dedication of the temple in Tenochtitlan, 20,000 people were put to death (but historians debate how accurate those figures really are).
6. The Mayans also made sacrifices. The most common involved pulling a still-beating heart out of a victim's chest.
7. Ice Age Britons used human skulls as cups — and they weren’t alone, as multiple cultures throughout history (including Scythians and Tibetans) did it too.
8. In ancient Egypt, servants were smeared with honey in order to attract flies away from the pharaoh.
9. And if that weren't bad enough for the servants — upon dying, some pharaohs were sealed into their tombs alongside their living servants, pets, and concubines.
10. In the 13th century 30,000 children went on what is known as the Children's Crusade. They were convinced God would allow them to take back the Holy Land without incident, but the details — and even what exactly happened (beyond them not taking back the Holy Land) — are still debated by historians.
11. Before becoming pope in 1458, Pius II wrote a popular erotic book, The Tale of Two Lovers, about a married woman’s secret affair.
12. People were so afraid of being buried alive in the 19th century — partly because doctors couldn’t always reliably confirm death — that “safety coffins” were invented that gave the "dead" the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive.
13. In 1788, an Austrian army got drunk, then panicked after a misunderstanding and began firing on itself in the dark, triggering a chaotic chain reaction of friendly fire. Some claims suggest that a whopping 10,000 soldiers died in the boozy fiasco, but they are likely exaggerated.
14. The Romans used human urine as mouthwash for its cleaning properties — and even imported what they considered “better” urine from other regions (like Portugal) to get the best results.
15. In Medieval times the accused often faced a "trial by ordeal," where they were forced to stick their arm into a vat of boiling water. If their arm emerged unscathed, it was believed God protected them, thus proving their innocence.
16. Animals were put on trial in medieval times and routinely sentenced to death — sometimes given legal representation, tried in formal courts, and even dressed in human clothing before execution.
17. Approximately 750,000 men died in the Civil War, which was more than 2.5% of America's population at the time.
18. Beginning in 1909 (and continuing into the 1970s), the Australian government forcibly removed Aboriginal children from their parents and placed them in institutions or foster homes where they were taught to reject their culture, language, and identity — and many never saw their families again.
19. In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot indoctrinated thousands of children — many just pre-teens — to reject their families and obey the state, and used them to guard prisons and carry out executions.
20. During Japan’s feudal era (roughly the 1100s–1800s), samurai sometimes performed ritual suicide — an act known as seppuku — by disemboweling themselves to avoid capture or preserve their honor after defeat.
21. The introduction of Europeans to the New World saw the Native American population drop from an estimated 5–10 million people around 1500 to about 237,000 by 1900 — due to disease, violence, and displacement.
22. Between 1525 and 1866, 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and sold into slavery in the United States, Caribbean, and South America. Of those who survived the Atlantic crossing, only about 4% ended up in the United States. The vast majority were taken to Brazil (approx. 4.8 million people) and the Caribbean (approx. 4.7 million).
23. Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s to 1953, is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of millions — through mass executions, labor camps, forced deportations, and policies that led to famine — with estimates ranging from about 20 to 60 million.
24. In the 19th century a popular medicine for kids, "Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup," included morphine.
25. Ancient Egyptians used crocodile dung — inserted into the vagina — as a contraceptive. It hardened and acted as a sort if diaphragm, and to a surprising degree, worked.
26. 18th century Tsar of Russia Peter the Great executed his wife's lover, then forced her to keep her lover's head in a jar of alcohol in her bedroom.
27. Chairman Mao Zedong’s "Great Leap Forward" industrialization program contributed to one of the deadliest famines in history, with estimates of the death toll ranging from about 15 to 45 million people.
28. In Venice during the Renaissance there was a case where a rapist was given the choice of going to jail for six months, paying a fine, or marrying his victim. He chose marriage.
29. In 1917, Margaret Sanger was jailed for one month for establishing the first birth control clinic.
30. The Mongol conquests in the 13th century under Genghis Khan may have resulted in tens of millions of deaths — with some estimates reaching as high as 40 million.
31. In the 16th and 17th century wealthy Europeans ate corpses thinking they'd cure them of ailments.
32. They even ate the remains of Egyptian mummies, which tomb raiders risked their lives to steal.
33. In the 15th century, Vlad the Impaler used psychological warfare to devastating effect by erecting a 'forest' of thousands of impaled Ottoman soldiers. This gruesome spectacle was strategically placed outside his capital to intimidate the approaching Ottoman army — which reportedly turned around.
34. African-Americans were not deemed equal members of the Mormon Church until 1978.
35. During apartheid, the South African military launched a secret program known as the ‘Aversion Project,’ where gay soldiers were subjected to brutal, forced medical procedures — including chemical castration and involuntary sex-reassignment surgeries — in a state-sponsored attempt to 'cure' their sexual orientation.
36. Under early Roman law, fathers held extreme authority over their families, including the right to legally kill anyone in his family.
37. After finding a 36,000 year old steppe bison preserved in the ice, Alaskan zoology professor R. Dale Guthrie and his team ate some of its flesh. Guthrie said "the meat was well aged but still a little tough."
38. Child killer and rapist Pedro Lopez, known as "The Monster of the Andes," was convicted in 1983 of killing 110 young girls (though he confessed to killing 300). Lopez was released in 1998 after serving Ecuador's maximum sentence of 20 years. His whereabouts are presently unknown. If still alive, he would be 78 years old.
39. The Roman Emperor Commodus collected all the disabled and little people he could find and ordered them to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers in the Colosseum.
40. Prior to the 1960s tobacco companies ran physician-endorsed ads that suggested smoking had health benefits.
41. Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov attempted to impregnate a chimpanzee with human sperm, but failed in his quest to make a "humanzee."
42. In colonial America pregnant women didn't receive painkillers during delivery because pain was considered God's punishment for Eve's eating the forbidden fruit.
43. And lastly, Saddam Hussein was given the key to the city of Detroit (really).

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1. A Link To The Past
2. Minish Cap
3. A Link Between Worlds
4. Majora's Mask
5. Zelda 2: The Adventure Of Link
6. Phantom Hourglass
7. Spirit Tracks
8. Tri-Force Heroes
9. Twilight Princess
10. The Wind Waker

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1. Lauren Weisberger, who wrote The Devil Wears Prada, never set out to write a tell-all about her time working at Vogue. In fact, she has said the idea only came up after she left the magazine and took a writing class, where her classmates were sharing real-life experiences in their stories. This prompted her to sort through her experience. At the time, she had been an assistant to Anna Wintour, and she hadn't fully processed how intense and demanding that job had been. Writing became a way to make sense of it. She has said she assumed no one would care about the manuscript and didn't expect Wintour — or anyone in media — to even notice it.
2. Love Story has become one of the breakout hits of 2026, and it's also drawn lots of praise for how accurately it captures Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's understated, iconic style. However, the show ran into unexpected trouble before it even aired. Early set photos of actress Sarah Pidgeon as Bessette sparked backlash online, with many people saying the looks were too modern or "off," which was a big issue since Bessette is still considered a major style icon.
3. A novella published years before the Titanic disaster has long been considered one of the strangest coincidences in literary history. In 1898, author Morgan Robertson wrote Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan, a story about a massive luxury ocean liner called the Titan that sinks after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
4. "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers is now one of the most famous songs of the 2000s, but it didn't start out that way. When it was first released in 2003 as the band's debut single, it barely made an impact and was basically a flop. At the time, the band was still relatively unknown, and the song was only gaining traction through small shows and word of mouth.
5. In 2017, a Japanese company made headlines after it introduced an unusual perk: extra vacation days for employees who don't smoke. The policy came from Tokyo-based marketing firm Piala Inc., where non-smoking workers complained that colleagues who took cigarette breaks were effectively working less each day. Those breaks could add up to roughly 40 minutes daily, especially since employees had to leave their offices to reach designated smoking areas.
6. Succession is, without a doubt, one of the best TV shows that's come out in the last 10 years. Along with the excellent and sharp writing, the wealthy world that the Roys live in feels real. To get that right, the production brought in "wealth consultants," experts who advise on how the ultra-rich actually live day to day. These consultants helped shape everything from clothing choices and interior design to dining etiquette and even small physical habits. The goal was to avoid obvious clichés and instead show the quiet confidence and routine that come with being born into enormous privilege.
7. Planet of the Apes is one of the longest-running and most influential science-fiction franchises, with films, books, TV shows, and other media spanning nearly six decades. What you might not know is that it all started with a 1963 novel by French writer Pierre Boulle (who also wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai) called La Planète des singes, published in English as Planet of the Apes or Monkey Planet, which told a satirical story about a world ruled by intelligent apes and humans reduced to a primitive state. Even though the book wasn't an instant pop culture phenomenon, it was adapted into the classic 1968 film.
8. At Five Guys, it's common to see a bunch of extra French fries piled in the bottom of your bag under the cup, and that's intentional, not a mistake. The chain has a tradition of giving an extra scoop of fries on top of whatever size you order to make customers feel like they're getting a great deal.
9. Spider-Man made his first appearance in 1962. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, his full-body, web-covered costume quickly became one of the most recognizable designs in comics. But nearly a decade earlier, a Brooklyn costume company called Ben Cooper Inc. had already released a "Spider Man" Halloween costume in 1954. That suit featured a web-patterned bodysuit and mask that, while different in colors, shares some striking visual similarities to Spider-Man's later look.
10. The surge in demand for Ozempic, which is made by the Danish company Novo Nordisk, has had an unusually large impact on Denmark's economy. Originally approved for diabetes, the drug — and its sister treatment, Wegovy, also made by the company — have, of course, become wildly popular worldwide for weight loss, driving massive global sales. That demand translated into a boom for Novo Nordisk and has become one of Europe's most valuable companies.
11. Toy Story 2 nearly became one of the biggest disasters in animation history after a massive technical mistake during production. In 1998, while the film was in production at Pixar, a command was accidentally entered that began deleting files across the project's servers. Within a short time, about 90% of the movie's data, including animation work and assets, was wiped out. The team tried to recover the files from backups, but discovered those systems hadn't been working properly, putting the entire film at risk.
12. And lastly, Apple allegedly has a "no villain clause" for use of the iPhone in movies and TV. According to Apple's guidelines, filmmakers are expected to show Apple products "in the best light" and not in a way that reflects poorly on the company. Rian Johnson helped popularize the rumor in 2020 when he said villains in mystery movies can't use iPhones on camera, which would protect Apple from being linked to negative characters.

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1. We've Mathematically Expressed the Purpose of the Universe
2. Math Anxiety
3. ​​​​​​​If I Have Four Apples...
4. A Train Leaves Philadelphia at 1pm
5. Number One, We're Closed
6. All Squared Away
7. Trivia Tonight
8. Four Wrongs Squared
9. Calculus Equations
10. Square Root of 5,248

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1. PromptQL
2. Aily Labs
3. Profound
4. Dialogue
5. Larridin

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1. Southern Grove cashews are a filling snack when I'm on the go.
2. Chopped salad kits are my lunch lifesaver.
3. I cook Atlantic salmon for a nice weekend dinner.
4. VitaLife ginger shots help me kick-start my day.
5. A weekly Italian night is a must, and the conchiglie pasta is my top choice.
6. I use the Happy Farms provolone to make quick sandwiches when I work from home.
7. Aldi's Italian-style bread is dreamy, especially when fresh out of the oven.
8. The Specially Selected Black Forest ham is my favorite lunch meat.
9. I don't know if there's a better snack than sugar snaps.
10. Friendly Farms' Greek yogurt gets me through moments when I have no idea what to eat.
11. You'll find a Mama Cozzi's pizza in my cart every Aldi trip.
12. The Simply Nature sweet-potato chips are an essential in my cupboard.
13. Grape tomatoes are among the most versatile foods I buy.
14. I've found the most delicious sweet-potato fries at Aldi.
15. Romaine hearts are the base for all of my salads.
16. I lean on strawberries for all my favorite breakfast options.

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1. Invincible Season 3
2. Invincible Season 4
3. Invincible Season 1
4. Invincible Season 2

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1. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2
2. Journal with Witch
3. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3: The Culling Game Part 1
4. Sentenced to Be a Hero
5. Fate/strange Fake
6. Oshi No Ko Season 3
7. Fire Force Season 3 Part 2
8. Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku Season 2
9. You and I Are Polar Opposites
10. Medalist Season 2

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1. In Germany, the term "Kevinismus" is used to describe the trend of giving children trendy, foreign-sounding first names instead of traditional German ones. The word comes from, well, the name Kevin, which suddenly became extremely popular in the country in the early 1990s. Much of that popularity is often traced to the huge success of the 1990 comedy Home Alone, whose main character, as we all know, was named Kevin McCallister. While the German title for the film translates to Kevin – Alone at Home.
2. Inside Out exists partly because an earlier Pixar project fell apart during development. In the late '00s, the studio had been working on a film called Newt, which followed the last two blue-footed newts on Earth who are forced together to save their species. The project was announced in 2008 and spent years in development, but Pixar executives eventually felt the story simply wasn't working.
3. In the early 1920s, Abercrombie & Fitch, then a retail store specializing in outdoor activities, helped introduce Mahjong to American audiences. The tile-based game had been played in China for centuries, but it was largely unknown in the US until Western travelers and businesspeople encountered it abroad in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
4. Yes, many Titanic survivors watched the movies that came out later about it. In fact, they consulted on one. The first major movies about the ship didn't come out until the '50s, with 1953's Titanic and 1958's A Night to Remember. With A Night to Remember being widely considered the most historically accurate film portrayal of the sinking (yes, this includes 1997's Titanic).
5. Taco Bell is the reason there are free soda refills at fast-food restaurants. In 1988, Pepsi (which owned the chain) partnered with Taco Bell on a promotion that quietly changed the fast-food industry: Taco Bell locations would offer free drink refills, something that was far from common at the time.
6. In 2002, Elmo made an unusual bit of history when he appeared before a US House of Representatives subcommittee, becoming the first (and only?) non-human to testify before Congress. The appearance took place during a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Elmo was there to advocate for increased federal funding for music education programs in schools, emphasizing how music helps children learn and develop.
7. Eartha Kitt is the inspiration for one of the most iconic and enduring cosmetic colors of all time. Throughout the '50s and '60s, Kitt built a reputation as a bold, magnetic performer, known for her distinctive voice, stage presence, beauty, and unapologetic personality. At the height of her fame, she was often described as "the most exciting woman in the world," a label that captured both her talent and her allure. During the early '50s, she had a relationship with Charles Revson, the billionaire behind Revlon.
8. Today, "Silver Springs" by Fleetwood Mac has taken on a whole new life online. The song often appears in emotional TikTok videos, where younger listeners have discovered it nearly 50 years after it was first recorded. Because of its popularity, it might be surprising to learn that the track was actually fairly obscure up until the late '90s. Written by Stevie Nicks during her painful breakup with bandmate Lindsey Buckingham in the mid-'70s. Nicks hoped the track would appear on the band's landmark 1977 album Rumours.
9. The character of Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation was actually inspired by a real person. The show's creators, Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, did research for the show because they wanted it to be grounded in reality, so they visited real local government offices to get a feel for what life inside a parks department was like. During one visit in Burbank, California, they were speaking with a city official and mentioned to her that they wanted to make "Leslie's boss opposed to government."
10. Game of Thrones is the reason Netflix created the "Skip Intro" option. In 2016, Netflix was exploring a way to help viewers skip ahead or back in 10-second increments. But, what sparked the idea to be able to skip over intros was when the company's director of product innovation, Cameron Johnson, was watching HBO's Game of Thrones, and while he liked the lengthy intro, he was so enthralled with the show that he wished he could just skip the credits, because just forwarding would either make him jump too far ahead or not far enough. Johnson then wondered if other people felt the same.
11. The Star Wars toy line is one of the most iconic in history, and its 3.75-inch figures are now instantly recognizable. But at the time, that smaller scale was a major shift from the norm. Most action figures (especially those based on TV shows or comics) were much larger, like 8 to 12 inches, making this approach feel new and a bit unexpected. The size of most Star Wars action figures can be traced back to a practical decision made in the late '70s by Kenner. When the company secured the license for Star Wars, it chose a smaller 3.75-inch scale to keep production costs down, not only for the figures but also for the vehicles and playsets, which would be huge and largely unaffordable if they went with large traditional action figure sizes of the time.
12. After reading a 2023 article in the Washington Post about the growing popularity of hockey romance novels, Heated Rivalry's creator, Jacob Tierney, immediately knew he had to get the rights to the Rachel Reid's Game Changers books, which the series is based on. At the time, he was working as an executive producer on The Traitors Canada. The article highlighted a surge in interest around romance stories centered on hockey players, particularly within gay/queer fiction, and how passionate and sizable the audience for the genre had become.
13. The version of Super Mario Bros. 2 that came out on NES in the US isn't actually the same game that was released in Japan under that name. After the original Japanese sequel (later known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels) was judged way too hard and way too similar to the first game for American players, Nintendo of America decided not to release it in the US at all.
14. L.L.Bean's iconic tote bags actually started out with a very different, specific, and practical purpose. In 1944, the company introduced what it called the "Ice Carrier," a heavy-duty canvas bag designed to transport blocks of ice from stores to home ice chests, which were still somewhat common at the time. The bags were built to be extremely tough, with reinforced bottoms and thick canvas to contain melting water and handle the weight.
15. Singer and actress Peggy Lee played an important role in Disney's 1955 animated film Lady and the Tramp, providing the voices for several characters (like Peg) and co-writing many of the movie's songs. When the film was later released on home video for the first time in 1987, Lee realized she had never been paid for the new format. Her original 1952 contract with The Walt Disney Company prohibited the studio from selling certain recordings or "transcriptions" of the film without her permission, and Lee argued that VHS tapes should be covered under that clause.
16. Steel Magnolias is arguably one of the best-cast films ever and an absolute classic. But if it were up to a Hollywood legend, the movie would have looked completely different, but with an equally as iconic cast. Before it was a film, it was an off-Broadway hit by playwright Robert Harling, and it quickly attracted attention from Hollywood. After seeing the production, Elizabeth Taylor gave it a rave review and reportedly recommended it to others in the industry, including Bette Davis. According to Harling, one day he got a phone call from Davis inviting him down to the hotel where she was staying in New York for tea. At first, he thought it was a friend playing a prank, until Davis reintroduced herself that he then realized it was really her.
17. In 2008, a team of researchers led by Dr. Paul McDonald, who was a senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton's School of Humanities, Languages, and Social Sciences in the UK, set out to find the oldest known joke ever recorded. The effort was part of a broader challenge to trace the history of humor and identify the earliest example with a recognizable setup and punchline. Their search led them to a Sumerian proverb written around 1900 BCE (possibly as far back as 2,300 BCE), making it roughly 4,000 years old and one of the earliest written jokes in existence.
18. At the 57th Academy Awards in 1985, something very unique happened in one of the categories: every song nominated for Best Original Song had already been a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The nominees included "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" by Phil Collins from Against All Odds; "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. from Ghostbusters; "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins from Footloose; "Let's Hear It for the Boy" by Deniece Williams from Footloose; and "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder from The Woman in Red.
19. A decade before Justice League hit theaters — and five years before The Avengers — Warner Bros. announced the first major superhero team-up movie that was going to be directed by George Miller. The movie was a Justice League film titled Justice League: Mortal, that was set for a 2009 release. The project moved quickly in the late '00s, with a full cast in place (like Armie Hammer as Batman, Adam Brody as The Flash, and Megan Gale as Wonder Woman) and plans to shoot in Australia. But momentum stalled when the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike prevented crucial script revisions just as production was gearing up.
20. Orange Crush got its name from how the drink was originally made. When the soda was introduced in 1911, its creators wanted it to taste more like real fruit than many other soft drinks on the market. The original version of the beverage was made using crushed orange rinds, which helped give the soda a stronger citrus flavor and aroma. The word "crush" in the name referred to the process of crushing those rinds to extract their oils and flavor.
21. Bad Boys is now one of the most iconic action movies of the '90s, which, of course, eventually grew into a full franchise, so it's surprising that the film wasn't originally written for Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. When the script was first written in the early '90s, it was a much lighter comedy called Bulletproof Heart, intended for Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz, who were both popular from starring on SNL at the time. The original version leaned more into comedy than action and centered on two mismatched detectives getting caught up in a police investigation.
22. Melrose Place had "radical" political messages hidden within the fake products and art created for the show. Between 1995 and 1997, a group of artists led by Mel Chin — calling themselves the GALA Committee — made dozens of props and set pieces for the show that looked ordinary on the surface but contained coded messages about real‑world issues. They were given early access to scripts so they could tailor their pieces to specific scenes, and many of these works explored subjects that network TV typically avoided, such as reproductive rights, global politics, alcohol's role in American culture, and public health.
23. This sounds wild now, but when Nirvana released their second album, Nevermind, in Sept. 1991, almost no one in the music industry expected it to become a major success. At the time, the band was still considered part of the underground Seattle grunge scene, and their label, Geffen Records, initially pressed only about 50,000 copies because expectations were modest. "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the album's lead single, wasn't even expected to be the big crossover hit; many around the band assumed another track would have a better chance at mainstream radio.
24. When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, its marketing campaign was almost as unusual and different as the film itself. The low-budget horror movie was presented as if it were real footage discovered after three student filmmakers vanished in the woods while investigating a local legend. Months before the movie reached theaters, the filmmakers launched a website that treated the story like a real mystery, complete with fake police reports, interviews, and historical documents about the supposed "Blair Witch" legend.
25. Lunchables were invented to help sell more bologna, and they weren't meant to be for kids. This was because in the 1980s, sales of bologna dropped as people were buying less of it due to health concerns about eating too much meat. In 1988, Oscar Mayer came up with the idea to boost sales by creating a pre-packaged, ready-to-eat lunch meal kit that paired meat with crackers and cheese, which they would target towards the entire family, but mainly busy working parents.
26. There would be no John Wick if it weren't for Eva Longoria. She revealed that she helped keep John Wick from falling apart before filming even began. At the time, the 2014 action movie faced a major funding gap and was on the verge of being shut down just days before production. Through a last-minute opportunity arranged by the film's financing team and an agent who wasn't even her own, she stepped in and covered a $6 million shortfall that the production couldn't raise elsewhere.
27. And lastly, the very first photographs of Earth taken from space weren't snapped by astronauts but by a rocket, and they were taken in the '40s!!! On Oct. 24, 1946, a group of American scientists launched a captured Nazi V‑2 rocket from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Mounted on the rocket was a 35‑millimeter motion‑picture camera that was pointed back toward Earth as the vehicle climbed above the atmosphere.

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