Masaya Nakamura recently passed away at the age of 91. You may not be familiar with that name, but his impact on the world was huge: Known as “the father of Pac-Man,” he helped usher in the video game age. The Japanese industrialist graduated from the Yokohama Institute of Technology in 1948. He studied shipbuilding, […]
February is the shortest month, but it seems to have so many holidays, such as Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. And all of these.
While, Florence Henderson will forever be associated with The Brady Bunch, she also factors into one of the dumbest—and most enduring—traditions in rock n’ roll. It’s a cliché at this point, and one you’ve probably seen go down if you’ve been to a concert in the past 30 years or so. During a lull, or between songs […]
Here are five TV shows that for various reasons had to change their titles in the middle of their runs. Sometimes it attracted more viewers…and sometimes it lost them. (1) Currently in its 14th season, NCIS is the second-longest running drama currently on TV. It began life back in 2003 as a spinoff of the […]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights pioneer and American hero. Naturally, quite a few songs have been written about him.
She could turn the world on with her smile, and take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile. So long to Mary Tyler Moore, a pop culture icon for more than 50 years. One of Moore’s first paid acting gigs: as Happy Hotpoint, a buoyant elf in a 1956 commercial for the […]
It’s a new year, so the new world record books are out. Here are some people who in the last days of 2016 and the early days of 2017 set some very impressive (and very weird) world records.
The Oscars are the biggest awards ceremony in Hollywood, and they stretch back 80 years. That’s bound to generate some controversy…and rumors.
Today is one of those silly holidays we all love. Sort of like how September 19 is “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” make sure to talk like an old timey prospector each January 24. Here’s a primer.
Well, the Inauguration has happened, so the long election of 2016 is now officially over. Time to start looking ahead to 2020! A handful of candidates have already at least sort of declared their intention to make a run for the White House in four years’ time.
The quadrennial presidential inauguration is one of highest profile gigs in music, and many musicians have gotten a huge boost performing for the new president on his first day in office. Here’s a look back at some past galas. 1941 This marked Franklin Roosevelt’s third straight presidential election, so his vowing to uphold the Constitution […]
The “he” being Brian May of Queen. The “rock” being space rocks, or asteroids. Brian May is the lead guitarist of Queen, a position he has held for more than 40 years. But right before the band came together to produce classic songs like “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” […]
What do the following otherwise high-minded, and Oscar-winning, movies have in common? Against all odds, a memorable scene involving farts. The Usual Suspects The plot: a bunch of career criminals meet up at a police lineup and plot a heist. During the lineup, they’re all told to read a line by a police officer, but […]
Familiarize yourself with some of the latest and greatest developments in robot technology…before the robots take over. Christmas-Bot Hang Chu is working toward his Ph.D. in robotics at the University of Toronto. He’s especially keen on the relationship between robots and music, as he thinks it speaks volumes on how robots absorb and interpret the […]
What does an athlete do after the Olympics are over? They become movie stars…or at least try. Kurt Thomas… competed in gymnastics, a sport for which the Olympics are the epitome. After winning multiple medals at the World Championships in 1978 and 1979, Thomas was primed for Olympic gold…but didn’t get the chance. The U.S. […]
America has a number of iconic places where some amazing history has happened. What does all that add up to? Ghosts. Here are some spooky stories you may have never heard about American landmarks. The Ghost Ship of the Golden Gate Bridge It gets pretty foggy in San Francisco, particularly around Golden Gate Strait. In […]
There are millions of small business owners in this country, forming the backbone of our economy. And some of them are movie stars and rock stars! Samuel’s Sweet Shop In 1994, a textile worker from New York state’s Hudson Valley named Ira Gutner quit his job in the family business to fulfill a lifelong dream: […]
A lot of this year’s new shows won’t make it to a second season. They should count themselves lucky—these shows were scrapped after they were announced, produced, and promoted by their respective networks. Hieroglyph This big-budget adventure series was supposed to air on Fox sometime during the 2014-15 season, and was seen by the TV […]
