Arts & Entertainment

Surprising facts about movies, music, television, celebrities, and pop culture.

Arts & Entertainment The legendary Johnny Cash fought for the rights of Native Americans and dedicated an entire album to them. Radio stations refused to play any of the album. In retaliation, Cash bought an ad on Billboard asking: "Where are your guts?" April 30, 2019
Arts & Entertainment The directors of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Baby Driver consulted each other to make sure that the films would not have the same songs on their soundtracks. April 29, 2019
Arts & Entertainment The magician Houdini took off a year during WWI to promote the war effort and taught soldiers how to get out of handcuffs giving away some of his magic secrets. April 29, 2019
Arts & Entertainment In 1998 Sony had the chance to buy the rights to almost every Marvel character for 25 million. They opted to only buy the rights to Spider-Man for just 7 million, stating, "Nobody gives a shit about the other Marvel characters." April 27, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Tori Amos taught herself to play piano at the age of 2, and started composing at the age of 3. She was admitted into the Peabody Conservatory at the age of 5, but lost the scholarship six years later, reportedly due to her dislike for using sheet music and interest in rock and pop music. April 26, 2019
Arts & Entertainment The American version of the music video for Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train" features 36 images of missing children. The music video helped resolve 26 of those cases. April 26, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Elvis Presley's manager sold "I Hate Elvis" badges as a way to make money from people who weren't buying Elvis merchandise April 25, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Romans weaved asbestos fibers into a cloth-like material that was then sewn into tablecloths and napkins. These cloths were cleaned by throwing them into a blistering fire, from which they came out unharmed and whiter than when they went in. April 17, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Japanese vending machines are operated to dispense drinking water free of charge when the water supply gets cut off during a disaster. April 17, 2019
Arts & Entertainment 7yr old Tyler Moon walked 1km (0.6 miles) of forest to save his father's life after their quad crashed. Tyler made the journey to get help despite his own injuries: two collapsed lungs filling with blood and seven broken ribs. He managed to alert help just in time before collapsing himself. April 10, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Steve Martin's wedding came as a surprise to his guests. The roughly 75 star-studded attendees (including the likes of Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, and Carl Reiner) said that he had invited them to his house just for a "party." To their shock, upon their arrival his wedding began. April 8, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Elephants are a keystone species. They carve pathways through impenetrable under brush shaping entire ecosystems as they create pools in dried river beds and spread seeds as they travel. April 7, 2019
Arts & Entertainment The band Chicago was so fond of cocaine that during a tour in the 1970's they put a fake phone booth on stage called the "Snortitorium" so they could do lines mid-concert without going backstage. April 4, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Over the course of its 20 years on Nickelodeon, The Fairly OddParents has been cancelled five times March 28, 2019
Arts & Entertainment The famous Napoleon Dynamite dance scene was spontaneously improvised at the last moment when the producers had no money left and only 10.5 minutes of film roll remaining. March 24, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Mister Rogers once used an egg timer and simply let it run for sixty seconds on a television broadcast-in order to demonstrate how long a minute is. Unlike most TV made for kids, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" was deliberately slow and contemplative. March 24, 2019
Arts & Entertainment All main actors in the movie Saving Private Ryan apart from Matt Damon were required to undergo military training. This was done so the remaining cast would build up genuine resentment for his character. March 24, 2019
Arts & Entertainment The film The Shawshank Redemption remains one of the most valuable assets in Warner Brothers catalog (which has several multi-billion dollar movie franchises) and Bob Gunton (the warden) still makes six figures a year from it. March 22, 2019
Arts & Entertainment In 2008 and at the age of 45, Flea, bass player of the multiplatinum rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, enrolled as a freshman at University of Southern California's music program to learn the academic side of music. March 21, 2019
Arts & Entertainment Stu, the IT guy from "what we do in the shadows", is in fact an IT guy named Stu in real life. He thought he was on set to help with IT related tasks and had no idea how big his part in the movie was until filming was almost wrapped March 20, 2019