If the tiny seats, delays and bad food weren’t bad enough, there’s a chance that you might encounter someone like these guys the next time you set foot on an airplane. Gray Area During a KLM flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam last September, a Scottish man named James Gray attempted to open one of plane’s […]
Celebrities: They’re all such good friends with each other! Some are so close that they name them their children’s godparents. Jake Gyllenhaal. The actor’s parents are director Stephen Gyllenhall, close friends with Jamie Lee Curtis, Jake’s godmother. Jake Gyllenhall himself is godfather to Michelle Williams’ daughter Matilda. (Matilda’s father is Heath Ledger, Gyllenhaal’s Brokeback Mountain […]
Kenny G is still a famous saxophonist, but he’s arguably more famous for his hair. Kenneth Gorelick grew up in Seattle and became infatuated with the saxophone after watching a musician play one on The Ed Sullivan Show. He started taking lessons when he was 10 years old and later tried out for his high […]
Unlike Santa Claus, who (legend has it) lives at the North Pole, works alongside reindeer and elves and tends to be pretty jolly, the Saint Nicholas who delivers gifts to Austria and a few other European countries employs a much nastier seasonal helper.
The two Santas that deliver gifts to well behaved kids in France are pretty weird. One of them also has a very crazy sidekick.
On December 23, 1888, Vincent Van Gogh famously cut off his own ear and reportedly gave it to a prostitute. A year and a half later he died a short while after a suicide attempt. Or was it an accident?
Here’s a trio of recent Christmas stories that will help you get into the spirit of the season.
Back in the day, Time Life made a killing by shipping lightly educational book series to households all around the world. How many of these weird book collections do you remember? The Civil War Time Life launched their book division in the early ‘60s. The books were high quality, featured top notch photography and illustrations, […]
75 years ago today, F. Scott Fitzgerald died at age 44. Today he’s most famous for The Great Gatsby, a book not widely appreciated in his lifetime…which was difficult to say the least. Fitzgerald became an overnight sensation in 1920 with This Side of Paradise, a huge hit novel about post World War I youth […]
Much like customers at a fast food joint, these menu items came…and left. In September 2013, McDonald’s introduced Mighty Wings—breaded bone-in chicken wings. It seemed a natural fit for the fast food behemoth, but it ended up being one of the chain’s most costly mistakes. After purchasing 50 million pounds of chicken wings from poultry […]
Titanic was released to theaters on December 19, 1997. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time…which nobody saw coming. Titanic was originally set for release in July 1997, but as the date approached, Paramount Pictures pushed it back to Christmas 1997. The movie, which cost $200 million to make, was very […]
Unfortunately, only Earth women compete in the Miss Universe pageant, which will take place on December 20. In 2002, billionaire Donald Trump bought 50 percent of the Miss Universe Organization, and co-owner NBC broadcast the annual event. (This TV partnership soon led to Trump’s NBC reality show The Apprentice.) After Trump made comments about […]
Bed and breakfast…or dead and breakfast? Omni Parker House (Boston) It was founded in 1855 by Harvey Parker, who still likes to check in on the guests and make sure that they’re enjoying themselves, even though he died in 1884. And the ghost that inhabits room 303 served as the inspiration for 1408, a Stephen […]
Do you have any of these items stashed away in your garage or attic? If so, you could be in for a big pay day. A 1977 “early bird” store display As you may already know, Kenner wasn’t prepared for the popularity of A New Hope and had to resort to sending customers cardboard […]
Musicians have to pay the bills, too, and before rock stardom arrives, many have made a quick buck writing TV or radio commercial jingles. Barry Manilow The soft rock superstar got his start backing up Bette Midler in the 1970s, but before that, he wrote dozens of commercial jingles that have gotten stuck in your […]
Polynesian-themed bars were once incredibly popular but they fell out of favor in the ‘80s. Now they’re in the middle of a revival. Trader Sam’s The Disney theme parks helped further bring Polynesian culture to America with the Enchanted Tiki Room, a long-running attraction that features animatronic idols and chattering robotic birds. Disneyland and Disney […]
Have you ever wanted to go on a treasure hunt? Does trying to reach a random location sound like a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon? Then you may want to try geocaching . The concept is simple. After jotting down coordinates via a website or logging onto an app with their smartphones, geocachers […]
Players are traded in sports all the time, but here’s the story of a time when owners traded entire teams. Even a casual basketball fan would tell you that the most storied team in the NBA is the Boston Celtics, and the one with the most woeful history (until recently) was the Los Angeles Clippers. […]
