After a lengthy illness, Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul—and who Rolling Stone (among others) once called the greatest singer of all time—has passed away at age 76. Let’s all pay our R-E-S-P-E-C-Ts. Queen of Prodigies Music was a part of Franklin’s life from even before the beginning. She was born in the major American […]
…and vomit, and other fake and forbidden substances, just like they do in Hollywood. Blood When an actor portrays a character that needs to be shot, their body is rigged with small, exploding capsules called squibs. When they’re set to go off, they spew out little bits of red substance to mimic blood of course. […]
Come on down…and check out these stories about the off-stage lives of famous TV game show hosts. Bob Barker Longtime The Price is Right host Bob Barker is well known for his end-of-show sign-off, asking viewers “to help control the pet population and have your pets spayed or neutered.” Barker was an outspoken animal rights […]
Have you found the time this summer to get out to the woods and make yourself a s’more? In honor of National S’mores Day, here’s the story of how they were invented, along with some background on some of the essential ingredients for the mighty s’more. S’MORES It’s not like one person put chocolate and […]
It’s a notion first put forth—and explored—by television…but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. It’s been use as a plot device on numerous sitcoms. In fact, Uncle John got the idea for this piece when he was watching an episode of The Partridge Family the other day—Laurie had just gotten fitted for braces, and she […]
It would seem that Brookstone itself could use a sit in one of its massage chairs about now. The mall store, famous for its expensive vibrating leather chairs and ever-changing assortment of wireless speakers and other gadgets has filed for bankruptcy and will close its stores. Here are some of the oddest items that the […]
Sports fans are used to their favorite team having ups and downs over the years. In a way, these teams never let their supporters down…because they fell apart before playing a single game. Basketball in Buffalo In 1949 the two most promising pro basketball leagues in America merged to become today’s NBA: the National Basketball […]
Would these popular or classic TV shows have been popular or classic TV shows if they’d gone with their original title ideas? Maybe not. Not the Cosby Show When Married…with Children hit TV in 1987 as one of the first ever shows on the Fox Network, the family sitcom was radically different than contemporary sticky-sweet […]
These kids today! Things would be a lot better if they had those preachy ABC Afterschool Specials to give them a moral compass. Okay, none of that is true, but here are some of silliest, most over-the-top Afterschool Specials from the ‘70s, ’80, and ‘90s. Fast Forward In this very dark take on It’s a […]
We get a lot of letters here at BRI headquarters, and recently longtime reader Robert W. wrote in with a suggestion: Research, describe, and hopefully settle the most important issue of our time: Which is the “proper” way to load toilet paper—coming off the top, or the bottom? Aesthetics Whether you have the paper coming […]
Some rock stars fade into obscurity, what with changing trends and tastes. Others fade into oblivion. Here are some once-popular musicians who disappeared off the face of the Earth. The bassist from Loverboy If you listen to the radio, you’ve probably heard Scott Smith’s legacy very recently. As the original bassist for the Canadian band […]
July was a big month for French sports. Not only did France just win the World Cup, but they hosted another popular event in the Tour de France. Let’s cycle through some trivia about the biggest thing on two wheels. 21 stages The riders don’t race the whole thing all at once, because that would […]
The most famous “curse” in sports—the one that seemingly prevented the Chicago Cubs from winning a World Series in more than a century—has been lifted. Here are some other, lesser-known sports curses. The Curse of the Honey Bears Emboldened by the extreme popularity and success of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in the 1970s, many NFL […]
Here at BRI headquarters, we’re not all that ashamed to mention the bathroom, of course, but for hundreds of years, the more polite among us have used a number of euphemisms to refer to Uncle John’s favorite room. Here are the origins of the most famous ones. The powder room Today, liquid and powdered makeup […]
Potential first episodes of TV shows are called “pilots.” Sometimes a TV show will try to launch a spinoff via a “backdoor pilot”—a sample of a new series that airs as an episode of the mother show. Successful backdoor pilots: NCIS from JAG, and Private Practice from Grey’s Anatomy. Unsuccessful ones? These. Tales from Springfield […]
Okay, they don’t have “real” names because they’re fictional characters. These are merely the full, given names of fictional individuals you may have known only by their nicknames that you didn’t know were their nicknames. Scoobert Of the Mystery Inc. gang on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? the two most notable characters were known by nicknames. […]
While President Trump has floated the idea of a “Space Force,” an organization is actively taking a different approach to the cosmos—they’re going to live there. Earth’s got problems Earth is a wonderful place to live—well, technically speaking, it’s the only place to live, as far as we know. But this big blue and green […]
The ‘50s-set movie musical Grease theaters in 1978, and it became a blockbuster and an instant classic. As Rizzo might say, “there are worse things you can do” than read an interesting fact or two…about Grease. Up for Sandy Up for the role of Sandy: Carrie Fisher from Star Wars, rock star Linda Ronstadt, Susan […]
