Fact Of The Day

[Trevor]

Eric Clapton and George Harrison contributed to an anti-South African film: 

[BoyScoutKevin]

What does . . . look like? It looks like this.

01/23 Strange Magic
02/20 McFarland USA
03/13 Cinderella
04/17 Monkey Kingdom
05/01 Avengers: Age of Ultron
05/22 Tomorrow land
06/09 Inside Out
07/17 Ant Man
10/19 The Jungle Book
10/16 Unnamed Spielberg
11/25 The Good Dinosaur
12/18 Star Wars: the Force Awakens

People who crunch the numbers, now think that there is a possibility that these films could earn $6 billion at the international box office. With "Avengers" and "Star Wars" each earning $2 billion.
If so, that should be some sort of record for Hollywood, as no movie studio's releases have earned more than $5 billion in an year at the international box office.

Next time: Another 1 of the Big 6

[BoyScoutKevin]

1. It began as the Famous Players Film Company.

2. Making it the 5th oldest film studio in the world.

3. It's first film was a French silent film "The Loves of Queen Elizabeth" in 1912.

4. The old logo was last seen in 2007 in "The Adventures of Tintin."

5. Till then it was the longest existing original film studio logo in Hollywood film history.

6. The new logo was first seen on "Mission : Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" in 2011.

7. At one time it was in the them park business. Some of its theme parks included Canada Wonderland, Great America, King's Dominion, King's Island, etc.

8. Some of the animated characters created included Baby Huey; Buzzy the Crow;  Casper, the Friendly Ghost; Little Audrey, etc.

9. Its answer to MGMs Tom and Jerry were Herman and Katnip. And its answer to Warner's Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle was Moe Hare and Tommy Tortoise.

10. Since its founding it has distributed 1500 films.

11. Its best year was 2011, when its films earned between $4 billion and $5 billion at the international box office.

Paramount Viacom trivia

Next time: the films to be released by Paramount Viacom this year, if I can find the list.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I found the little list.
Of movies you might miss.

01/30 Project Almanac
02/06 The SpongeBob Movie
02/20 Hot Tub Time Machine
03/13 Paranormal Activity : Ghost Dimension
04/10 The Moon and the Sun
07/01 Terminator : Genisys
07/21 Mission : Impossible 5
10/30 Scouts vs. Zombies
11/03 Friday the 13th (2015)
12/25 Monster Trucks

Paramount Viacom in 2015
The last film. The one on Christmas Day is animated. Which is why it probably snagged that day.

Next time: We'll talk about Chris Pratt

[Rev. Powell]

11/03 Friday the 13th (2015)

No way! Not again! 

[BoyScoutKevin]

I was going to state facts about Chris Pratt, whose career is an interesting point, at this time, but we'll put that off to next time, so, I can post these facts.

They love American films in Japan, the home of anime. And as an example, "Big Hero 6" just wrapped up being the top grossing film in Japan, where it was the top grossing film for 5 or 6 weeks in a row, and has earned $66 million to date at the box office. The filmmakers of "Big Hero 6" must have done something right.

Actually, American films so better overseas than they do here. "Big Hero 6," which has earned over $500 million to date at the box office. Of which, 43.6% was earned here in the U.S. and Canada, while 56.4% was earned overseas, and it has yet to open in China and France.

And this has been true for sometime. American films making more overseas than they do at home. The only question is when comes the tipping point. When does the domestic box office become secondary to the foreign box office?

I presume the purchase of movie tickets is limited, so a ticket purchased for an American film overseas means that a there are fewer movie tickets purchased for domestically made films. So, how did America come to give something to foreigners that their own filmmakers were unable to give them? That is a film which foreigners want to see. Which is just the opposite of how I feel personally. Preferring foreign films, whether in subtitles or dubbed into English, over American films.

Of course, American films have in some places been a godsend to the foreign film industry. For example: not only were most of the Bond films, which are basically American films, made in the U.K., but so was "Star wars : Episode VII," many of the Marvel films, as were "Maleficent," the upcoming "Cinderella," etc.

Next time: facts about Chris Pratt

[Rev. Powell]

If Apple were a country, it would have the 31st largest economy in the world, ahead of Denmark.

[indianasmith]

Fun Facts for President's Day -
George Washington's Indian name, bestowed on him during the French and Indian War, translated to: "Eater of Villages"
John Adams was married to his wife Abigail for 54 years and adored her to his dying day.
Thomas Jefferson dressed so shabbily in the White House that the British Ambassador was going to reprimand the President for having such a slovenly butler - until he realized the "Butler" was the President.
James Madison was the only U.S. President to lead troops in combat during wartime - he was also the shortest President at 5'4".
James Monroe once had to break up a sword fight between the British and French ambassadors at a state dinner in the White House.
John Quincy Adams liked to go skinny dipping in the Potomac; he also watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from his front porch when he was eight years old.
Andrew Jackson carried a pistol ball in his shoulder from a duel with Thomas Hart Benton for 20 years. When he finally had it removed, he invited Benton to dinner and gave the ball back to him!
Martin van Buren was nicknamed the "Old Fox."
William Henry Harrison was President for 28 days, but gave the longest inaugural address on record.
John Tyler fathered more children than any other President - fourteen kids by two wives! (Two of his grandchildren are still alive today!)
James K. Polk was the youngest President, up to that point, at 49, and added more territory to the Union than any other President.
Zachary Taylor was a crusty old general who had never voted in his life prior to being elected President.
Millard Fillmore was the only actual Whig politician to serve as President.
Franklin Pierce saw his ten year old son die in a train derailment on his way to Washington to be sworn in. He took to drinking to assuage his grief, and spent a good part of his presidency drunk.
James Buchanan was America's only bachelor President.
Abraham Lincoln was the only President to have an invention on file in the U.S. Patent Office.
Andrew Johnson never attended a day of school in his life. His wife taught him to read as an adult.
Ulysses Grant was actually named "Hiram," but the Army stenciled his name incorrectly on his luggage, so he just went with it.
Rutherford Hayes was an ordained minister who took time off the Presidency to occasionally preach revivals.
James Garfield was shot, but the bullet did not kill him - an infection from doctors probing the wound with unwashed hands was what carried him off.
Chester A. Arthur was a more honest man during his Presidency than at any previous point in his life - he was a notorious "spoilsman" but wound up signing Civil Service reform into law.
Grover Cleveland not only got married while in the White House, he married the youngest first lady in American history - his wife was 22 and he was 47 when they tied the knot!
Benjamin Harrison was the last Civil War General to serve as President. He looked like a garden gnome.
Grover Cleveland served the only non-consecutive Presidential terms in history.
William McKinley had a photographic memory for names and faces, an invaluable trait in a politician. He also kept a bowl of white carnations on his desk at all times, and wore them in his lapel - until he gave them as gifts to White House visitors. Nice guy.
Theodore Roosevelt is the only President to hold the Medal of Honor AND the Nobel Peace Prize.
Woodrow Wilson lost his wife in the second year of his Presidency, and married again the following year.
Warren G. Harding kept liquor in the Oval Office to toast his friends with DESPITE being an ardent supporter of Prohibition!
Calvin Coolidge slept more during his terms of office than any American President - 14 hours a day, on average.
Herbert Hoover directed food relief to Belgium during and after World War I, and there is a statue of him in Brussels. He is credited with saving hundreds of thousands from starvation and malnutrition.
Franklin Roosevelt spent 90% of his time in a wheelchair, and 90% of Americans were unaware of that fact at the time.
Harry S Truman was nearly assassinated by Puerto Rican radicals in 1947 - they killed a Washington Police officer and two of his Secret Service agents.
Dwight Eisenhower had two heart attacks while in office.
John F. Kennedy's famous robust health was a myth - he was hospitalized more than any other President, suffered from Addison's disease, and was addicted to painkillers.
Lyndon Johnson would dictate letters to his secretaries while he was seated on the toilet taking care of other business.
Richard Nixon would sometimes walk down to the White House fence and talk to the hippies gathered there to protest the Vietnam War.
Gerald Ford locked himself out of the White House in his bathrobe one time and sat on the steps for an hour until the Secret Service realized he was missing and let him back in.
Jimmy Carter was chased by a "killer rabbit" as President while vacationing in Georgia. He was also the only President to admit to seeing a UFO.
Ronald Reagan's eyesight was so poor he did not recognize his son Mike at the boy's own graduation!
George H.W. Bush was the youngest aviator to ever receive the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Bill Clinton was actually born William Jefferson Blythe.
George W. Bush personally met with the families of over 2500 soldiers who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. No photographs were allowed at these meetings.
Barack Obama has at least eight step-siblings from his father's "other women." Obama Senior was apparently a busy guy.

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!

[Trevor]

Benjamin Harrison was the last Civil War General to serve as President. He looked like a garden gnome.

I googled a picture of him and I see what you mean. 

Richard Nixon would sometimes walk down to the White House fence and talk to the hippies gathered there to protest the Vietnam War.

So that scene in Nixon where Anthony Hopkins speaks to the radicals at the Lincoln Memorial isn't that far-fetched. 

Ronald Reagan's eyesight was so poor he did not recognize his son Mike at the boy's own graduation!

I heard once he told his son Michael that he wanted John Hinckley's family to buy him a new suit "as their son shot through this one". 

[BoyScoutKevin]

Chris Pratt

6 years married this year

5 different ancestries
Mother was Norwegian,
while father was English, Swiss, German, French and Norwegian

4 nephews

3 trade marks
Tall.
Affable
Says "Dude!" a lot

2 siblings
1 brother + 1 sister
Both older

1 son
Named Jack
Did his parents ever think about that Mother Goose rhyme, when they named him Jack?

Jack Pratt could eat no fat.
His wife could eat no lean.
And together they licked the platter clean.

And while he had an acting career before appearing in "Guardians of the Galaxy," his career has really taken off since then.

He stars in "Jurassic World," which will be out this year.

He has, at least, 2 more "Guardians of the Galaxy" films coming up
+ 1 or more appearances in the upcoming "Avengers" films.

They are thinking about reviving the Indiana Jones series with "Indiana Jones 5," where he'll star, with rumored, Harrison Ford. At least he looks like an young Indiana Jones.

But what excites me the most is the rumor that they'll remake "The Magnificent 7" with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, if no one else has been cast. So, far I like the cast. Denzel has the gravitas to pull off the Yul Brynner role, and Chris would be good in the Steve McQueen role, as the young up-and-comer. Now for the other 5. One of whom I expect to be a woman.

Next time: facts about films similar to "The Magnificent 7."

[BoyScoutKevin]

When you make a film about a disparate group, at least a half dozen, of individuals who volunteer to find something or lose something or protect something from something, then you have most likely made one of the most "democratic" (small d) films out there, as so little matters. Neither . . .

Wealth
the well off and the poverty stricken

Sexual orientation
gays and straights

Sex
both men and women

Religion
Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, pagans, Protestants, etc.

Race
Africans, Afro-Americans, Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, whites, etc.

Health
the healthy and the terminally ill, who see it as a chance to die with their dignity intact

Class
upper, middle, lower

Age
adults and children (both boys and girls)
As the film who has the youngest questers, it's probably between "Krull" and "Mad Max Beyond Thunder dome"

All come together to find something or to lose something or to protect something from something.

The only thing that seems to matter is the willingness to die for "The Cause," which the questers often do.

Next time: some 5 dozen films that I have seen that fit the definition in the 1st paragraph.

[ER]

According to most legal contracts I've seen, a new day apparently doesn't begin at midnight, it begins at 12:01 AM. Don't ask me why...

[BoyScoutKevin]

Using the definition posted previously, there are approximately some 5 dozen films that I have seen, that fit that definition, and they cover all or almost all film genera.

And while most would think the 1st film that would fit that definition would be "The 7 Samurai" from 1954, there would actually a couple of films before that on the same subject. Both of them from a decade earlier, and both from 1943.

Sahara
In which we have a varied group of allies, including a South African, protecting a dry water well from the Germans, in the desert, and

Bataan
In which we have another varied group of allies, protecting the road to Manila from the Japanese, in the jungle.

And both films, before the era of Civil Rights, some 2 decades later, were some of the 1st to give major non-comedic roles to blacks. Rex Ingram in "Sahara" and Kenneth Spencer in "Baatan." The Spencer role was particularly noteworthy, for when most Afro-Americans were placed in labor battalions, and we have a black man fighting a common enemy, even if the enemy being the Japanese, still,  to see a black man in that role, put a lot of people's noses out of joint.

So here are the 5 dozen--films, TV miniseries, TV movies- that I have seen. By film genera.

Adventure
The Bushido Blade -- Flame Over India -- 7 Magnificent Gladiators -- Mad Max Beyond Thunder dome -- Season of the Witch -- Stunt 7 -- and The 13th Warrior

Animated
Flight of the Dragons -- Katy Meets the Alien -- Lord of the Rings -- Recess -- and Star Odyssey.

Comedy
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World -- Rat Race -- and Scavenger Hunt.

Crime
Dead Presidents -- The Devil's 8 -- Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) -- and The Heist.

Drama
The 7 Samurai

Fantasy
Adventures of Sinbad -- The Beast master -- Dragon storm -- Lord of the Rings -- Hawk the Slayer -- Krull -- and Willow.

Historical
Christopher Columbus: the Discovery -- The 1st Olympics -- Glory -- Lion heart -- Operation Dumbo Drop -- and Shaka Zulu.

Horror
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) -- It -- and The Mummy (1999)

Science Fiction
Armageddon -- Battle Beyond the Stars -- The Ewok Adventure -- The Lost World (1996) -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's the Lost World -- and  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's the Lost World (1998)

Sports
The Air Up There -- D2 -- Little Giants -- The Mighty Ducks -- Necessary Roughness -- and Wind.

War
Bataan -- and Sahara

and Western
Cannon for Cordoba -- The Deserter -- El Diablo -- The Gambler : the Adventure Continues -- The Guns of the 7 -- The Magnificent 7 -- The Magnificent 7 Ride -- Massacre at Fort Holman -- Only the Valiant -- and the Return of the 7.

Of course, these are only the ones that I have seen. Using the same definition, there are many that I have not seen.

Next time: I think we'll have some more major film studio trivia.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Can you name the major film and TV studio from these 10 trivia facts?

01. The 1st Biograph girl was Florence Lawrence in 1910.

02. The 1st non-all black film to star a black actress in a major role was "Imitation of Life" in 1934.

03. The actress was Louise Beavers. It also starred Claudette Colbert.

04. It was remade 25 years later in 1959.

05. With Juanita Moore in the Louise Beavers role and Lana Turner in the Claudette Colbert role.

06. The employees of this studio won a gold medal in basketball in the Summer Olympics of 1936.

07. The 1st 3-color Technicolor film was "Arabian Nights" in 1942.

08. Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" in 1975 was considered the 1st "blockbuster" film in Hollywood history.

09. The top grossing film (international gross) during the last decade for this studio was "Mamma Mia" in 2008.

10. The top grossing film (domestic gross) during the same decade for the studio was "Fast and Furious" a year later.

And the answer is . . .
NBC Universal

Next time: the films to be released by this studio during the rest of this year.

[Newt]

Dozens of common plants are toxic. Archaeologists have long suspected that our Palaeolithic ancestors used plant poisons to make their hunting weapons more lethal.  Now Dr Valentina Borgia has teamed up with a forensic chemist to develop a technique for detecting residues of deadly substances on archaeological objects.

...

Borgia denies that her family name (Lucrezia Borgia is legendary as a devious poisoner) prompted her interest in poisons but she delights in the Latin quip 'nomen omen'. It translates roughly as 'significant name' and certainly the name Borgia has powerful historic resonances. Luckily for Borgia's colleagues, her objectives are honourable and entirely academic.

Text supplied by University of Cambridge under a Creative Commons License


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