Thirteen Random Facts About Whatever: 2023 Version

[RCMerchant]

13 Facts about ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (1979)

1. Darby Crash (lead singer of the GERMS) can be seen in the crowd at the concert wearing a white jacket.

2. The Ramones were not the first choice. CHEAP TRICK were slated, but wanted too much money.

3. Clint Howard, who played Eaglebauer, is the brother of Ron Howard.

4. PJ Soles, who played Riff Randell, was 28 years old at the time.

5. Mary Worvonov, who played Principal Togar, was once a member of Andy Warhol's entotage, and starred in a number of his underground films and appeared as a go-go dancer in the Velvet Underground's Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows.

6. Johnny Ramone was an avid collector of B- film posters.
7. Joey Ramone had OCD.

8. Dick Miller, an AIP regular, who played the Police Chief, has the line- "they're ugly, ugly people"-which was improvised.

9. Other songs in the film were done by Alice Cooper, MC5, Paul McCarthey and WINGS, Brian Eno, and the VELVET UNDERGROUND, among others.

10. Vince Van Patton, who played Tom Roberts, was the son of Dick Van Patton of 8 IS ENOUGH tv fame and the nephew of Tim Van Patton, who starred in the Punk Rock horror film CLASS OF 1984 (1982).

11. Dick Bartel, who played Mr. McGree, starred with Mary Woronov in 17 films together.

12. Dee Dee Ramone was probably the most prolific songwriter of the group, followed by Joey.

13. My first "punk" rock album I ever bought was the Ramones first album in 1979.


Darby Crash in white jacket.

[Trevor]

13 weird 1980s subsidy film titles from South Africa (largely made by fraudulent 'filmmakers')

1.  SLOW VERSUS BONER 
2.  THE HORROR
3.  THE BLACK NINJA
4.  SAY MAMA
5.  PICNIC OF FEAR
6.  FRIDAY'S GHOST
7.  TIP VERSUS TAP
8.  SPACE MUTINY
9.  RETURN OF THE FAMILY MAN
10. THE TOOTHMAN AND KILLER
11. TOXIC HEART
12. HOTTER THAN SNOW
13. JED AND OWEN MEET BIG GEORGE

[ER]

1. When I was little, new local UHF channel 64 was so broke it had virtually no commercial sponsors, so during breaks it ran almost nothing but minutes' worth of PSAs and program announcements.

2. During a pledge-a-thon on our city's PBS station, someone called in and promised a big donation if the GM, this ultra-dignified "probably takes a bath wearing a suit" type of man danced to Madonna's Vogue live on the air, and he actually did.

3. The local Fox affiliate 's evening news anchor got suspended for calling Rachel Maddow an angry young man.

4. Late night DJs on an area top-40 station I used to stay up and listen to during the summer would let people come be on the air with them if they brought them a pizza. Many, including my cousin Dana, did.

5. During a 1997 tornado warning when the situation was looking particularly bad, a DJ in that same station broke "character" and talked to his scared little girl at home over the airwaves.

6. My Aunt Christie volunteered for decades for the PBS affiliate's on-air auction, and one year the item that got the highest bid was the donated outfit Tom Cruise wore while filming Rain Man in the station's studio.

7. Right after WWII Rod Serling used to work for an area radio station (which still exists) but ran afoul of management for wanting to turn some commercials into the advertising equivalent of soap operas, complete with cliffhangers.

8. Jerry Springer launched his talk show in the basement of our downtown NBC affiliate where he was news anchor. It was originally intended to be a high-brow interview program like Charlie Rose meets Phil Donahue, but sleaze was more profitable.

9. When my husband was a media studies major in college he was intern at a TV news station and had something going on with the hot second string weekend weather girl there, as did her married boss. Everybody got fired.

10. Just north of the city a 50,000 watt AM station broadcast tower sat right beside the Voice of America's 200,000 watt broadcast tower, and cars driving past used to sometimes have their electrical systems scrambled, even as some people with metal fillings in their teeth would find the broadcasts issuing out of their mouths.

11. Radio pioneer Powell Crosley Jr. was so admired in the city in the 1930s that its art deco train terminal was built to resemble a giant old-time radio. Today it houses the natural history and historical society museums.

12. In 1980 a gunman who'd murdered his girlfriend walked into the city's CBS affiliate and took hostages, live on the air, and stayed on broadcasting live, firearms in hand. He took his own life in the newsroom and the anchor did his afternoon broadcast with the gunman's body lying beside him, just off camera.

13. George Clooney's father was the leading news anchor in the city across most of the 1980s. George later got him a bit part in the Batman movie in which he starred.

[claws]

It's a fact, my family has experienced this. 13 true family tales of the creepy kind.

1. My aunt who lives in Kansas says they got a Native American spirit living in their house. They can see footprints appearing on rugs. Their automatic garage door will open occasionally by itself. She can see it sitting down on the bed next to her, as in the blanket deepening. My aunt never bothered to get "rid" of it or to seek help, since the spirit never did anything drastic, like keeping them awake at night or destroying stuff.

2. When we lived in Las Vegas, my dad saw a formation of lights flying in the night sky. Dad was perplexed and pulled over to watch the lights. He said he had never seen anything like that before. My dad was in the military, and he was sure those flying objects weren't military based.

3. When my oldest sister was 6 or 7, she saw a tiny person standing next to her bed at night. It was about the size of a doll, and staring at her. My sister pulled the blanket over her head, almost dying of fear. She took a look after five minutes or so, and the person had moved closer to the bed. My sister then screamed, and our parents came in the room, turning on the light. Of course, nothing was there, but my sister claims to this day it wasn't a nightmare.

4. When I used to share a room with my youngest sister, she once saw the silhouette of a tiny person looking through the window at night. She told me about it the next morning. We then went outside. There was our garbage can underneath our window where it always is, but we also saw little footprints in the snow, coming from our neighbor's backyard leading to the garbage can. We told and showed our mom, but she said they could be prints from a cat, which my sister and I thought they were not.

5. My second-oldest sister had a tiny triangle-shaped object in her lungs. Doctors noticed when they did an X-ray. They said it doesn't appear to do my sister or her lungs any harm, otherwise they would've done surgery. When my sister had an X-ray as an adult, there was no tiny object in her lungs.

6. After our mom passed away, one of my sisters, who doesn't believe in the paranormal, could smell her scent in her (my sisters) car. She said first was nothing, then suddenly there was this strong scent of mom, which would then slowly fade.

7. Years ago I was waiting for the bus after work in another town, and I had a brief thought about my grandmother, who passed away a few years prior. The same moment, I turned my head and noticed a silver cigar-shaped object hovering next to a church tower. I stared at it for like 20 seconds, and it zipped away so fast, almost like disappearing on the spot.

8. My nephew has a few cams installed in his house on the second floor, for checking on his three small children. Last September, he and his family went to Italy on vacation. After two days, he got a notification on his smartphone telling him there was movement detected in one of the children's room. When he checked the footage, the cam was panning slowly from left to right, and there was the cam's green square indicating that something is moving "inside" the square. However, there was nothing and nobody in the square. No fly or insect on the cam's lens either.

9. When we lived in Louisiana, we did a little 4th of July BBQ at a small lake surrounded by nearby woods. This wasn't a camping area or anything like that. My dad and his brother always went fishing there. We saw what most of us believed to be Bigfoot in the woods. It was huge, walking on two legs, and we made out longish hairy fur. It was breaking branches and let out a spine-tingling scream that literally froze everyone in their tracks. It wasn't until the Internet that I found out that Bigfoot sightings in Louisiana are very rare. However, there have been sightings of Cajun Sasquatch, which is basically the same thing.

10. A few years ago, my oldest sister believed that her daughter unintentionally brought a ghost that was attached, to her apartment when she came for a visit. Her daughter had mild paranormal activity in her apartment for years. She would see shadow figures from the corner of her eye. My sister would hear rustling at night, and ever so often the small door of her nightstand would be open when she woke up in the morning. She also claimed to have felt a presence. I suggested putting up a cam, but she was too freaked out to do that. When she moved to another apartment (not because of the ghost), her "problem" was gone.

11. My mom who was suffering from schizophrenia would tell my dad and me that she hears a strange beeping noise at night. Of course, we didn't believe. One night, my mom came in my room and told me that it's "beeping" again. It was 3:00am. I went in her bedroom and indeed, there was a loud, weird, electronic beeping noise. It was coming from the corner walls next to her bed. My mom had no alarm clock or any other devices in her room that would make such a noise. The beeping was coming from the wall, not muffled. It was loud and clear. After a minute or two, it slowly faded. This was so strange. After that, my mom never complained about the beeping anymore. Apparently it was gone.

12. When my dad was a little kid, he lived with his family literally in the middle of nowhere. A heavily wooded area with only one dirt road. Back then, my dad would sometimes ride their horse to school, because there was no school bus. Sometimes he would visit his friend who lived a few miles away. When doing so he would take the family's horse "carriage" which was a wooden platform on wheels, intended for transporting stuff. One time he stayed late at his friend's house, it was already dark when he headed home. My dad said the horse knew the way home. All he had to do was sit on the small bench on the carriage. It was pitch black and the dirt road went through a forest leading to his home. After some time the horse started to snort. It was sensing something. That's when my dad heard something jump on the carriage platform behind him. He felt the weight of something pushing down the end part of the carriage. Something or someone was right behind him, most likely crouching. He could hear it breathing. My dad was too scared to turn around or to do anything, and after a while he pretended like everything was ok, and started talking to the horse, even though he almost passed out of fright because whatever it was, was still right behind him. After a few moments, he could see the lights of his house. That's when that thing or person jumped off the carriage, rushing into the woods. My dad had no clue what it was. He thought that it might have been a drifter.

13. When I had night shift some time ago, I went outside on my lunch break, around 2:30am. Across the street is another firm, but they don't work at night. The lobby's light was on, and for a brief moment I saw a pair of disembodied legs walking away disappearing behind the firm, at almost the same moment I saw a black disc-shaped object scooting on the ground from the lobby's entry into a field. I don't do drugs and I don't drink alcohol, so, no idea what was going on across the street.

[indianasmith]

It's a fact, my family has experienced this. 13 true family tales of the creepy kind.

1. My aunt who lives in Kansas says they got a Native American spirit living in their house. They can see footprints appearing on rugs. Their automatic garage door will open occasionally by itself. She can see it sitting down on the bed next to her, as in the blanket deepening. My aunt never bothered to get "rid" of it or to seek help, since the spirit never did anything drastic, like keeping them awake at night or destroying stuff.

2. When we lived in Las Vegas, my dad saw a formation of lights flying in the night sky. Dad was perplexed and pulled over to watch the lights. He said he had never seen anything like that before. My dad was in the military, and he was sure those flying objects weren't military based.

3. When my oldest sister was 6 or 7, she saw a tiny person standing next to her bed at night. It was about the size of a doll, and staring at her. My sister pulled the blanket over her head, almost dying of fear. She took a look after five minutes or so, and the person had moved closer to the bed. My sister then screamed, and our parents came in the room, turning on the light. Of course, nothing was there, but my sister claims to this day it wasn't a nightmare.

4. When I used to share a room with my youngest sister, she once saw the silhouette of a tiny person looking through the window at night. She told me about it the next morning. We then went outside. There was our garbage can underneath our window where it always is, but we also saw little footprints in the snow, coming from our neighbor's backyard leading to the garbage can. We told and showed our mom, but she said they could be prints from a cat, which my sister and I thought they were not.

5. My second-oldest sister had a tiny triangle-shaped object in her lungs. Doctors noticed when they did an X-ray. They said it doesn't appear to do my sister or her lungs any harm, otherwise they would've done surgery. When my sister had an X-ray as an adult, there was no tiny object in her lungs.

6. After our mom passed away, one of my sisters, who doesn't believe in the paranormal, could smell her scent in her (my sisters) car. She said first was nothing, then suddenly there was this strong scent of mom, which would then slowly fade.

7. Years ago I was waiting for the bus after work in another town, and I had a brief thought about my grandmother, who passed away a few years prior. The same moment, I turned my head and noticed a silver cigar-shaped object hovering next to a church tower. I stared at it for like 20 seconds, and it zipped away so fast, almost like disappearing on the spot.

8. My nephew has a few cams installed in his house on the second floor, for checking on his three small children. Last September, he and his family went to Italy on vacation. After two days, he got a notification on his smartphone telling him there was movement detected in one of the children's room. When he checked the footage, the cam was panning slowly from left to right, and there was the cam's green square indicating that something is moving "inside" the square. However, there was nothing and nobody in the square. No fly or insect on the cam's lens either.

9. When we lived in Louisiana, we did a little 4th of July BBQ at a small lake surrounded by nearby woods. This wasn't a camping area or anything like that. My dad and his brother always went fishing there. We saw what most of us believed to be Bigfoot in the woods. It was huge, walking on two legs, and we made out longish hairy fur. It was breaking branches and let out a spine-tingling scream that literally froze everyone in their tracks. It wasn't until the Internet that I found out that Bigfoot sightings in Louisiana are very rare. However, there have been sightings of Cajun Sasquatch, which is basically the same thing.

10. A few years ago, my oldest sister believed that her daughter unintentionally brought a ghost that was attached, to her apartment when she came for a visit. Her daughter had mild paranormal activity in her apartment for years. She would see shadow figures from the corner of her eye. My sister would hear rustling at night, and ever so often the small door of her nightstand would be open when she woke up in the morning. She also claimed to have felt a presence. I suggested putting up a cam, but she was too freaked out to do that. When she moved to another apartment (not because of the ghost), her "problem" was gone.

11. My mom who was suffering from schizophrenia would tell my dad and me that she hears a strange beeping noise at night. Of course, we didn't believe. One night, my mom came in my room and told me that it's "beeping" again. It was 3:00am. I went in her bedroom and indeed, there was a loud, weird, electronic beeping noise. It was coming from the corner walls next to her bed. My mom had no alarm clock or any other devices in her room that would make such a noise. The beeping was coming from the wall, not muffled. It was loud and clear. After a minute or two, it slowly faded. This was so strange. After that, my mom never complained about the beeping anymore. Apparently it was gone.

12. When my dad was a little kid, he lived with his family literally in the middle of nowhere. A heavily wooded area with only one dirt road. Back then, my dad would sometimes ride their horse to school, because there was no school bus. Sometimes he would visit his friend who lived a few miles away. When doing so he would take the family's horse "carriage" which was a wooden platform on wheels, intended for transporting stuff. One time he stayed late at his friend's house, it was already dark when he headed home. My dad said the horse knew the way home. All he had to do was sit on the small bench on the carriage. It was pitch black and the dirt road went through a forest leading to his home. After some time the horse started to snort. It was sensing something. That's when my dad heard something jump on the carriage platform behind him. He felt the weight of something pushing down the end part of the carriage. Something or someone was right behind him, most likely crouching. He could hear it breathing. My dad was too scared to turn around or to do anything, and after a while he pretended like everything was ok, and started talking to the horse, even though he almost passed out of fright because whatever it was, was still right behind him. After a few moments, he could see the lights of his house. That's when that thing or person jumped off the carriage, rushing into the woods. My dad had no clue what it was. He thought that it might have been a drifter.

13. When I had night shift some time ago, I went outside on my lunch break, around 2:30am. Across the street is another firm, but they don't work at night. The lobby's light was on, and for a brief moment I saw a pair of disembodied legs walking away disappearing behind the firm, at almost the same moment I saw a black disc-shaped object scooting on the ground from the lobby's entry into a field. I don't do drugs and I don't drink alcohol, so, no idea what was going on across the street.

I can't give you karma but this entry deserved it!

[claws]

Thanks!

[Paquita]

^ Agree with Indy! I loved reading that!  The Prince stuff is cool too!

[claws]

Thank you.

[claws]

13 more Vanity 6 facts



1. Prince got the idea of putting together an all-female group in 1981, after watching The Idolmaker (1980), which is about a songwriter who had huge success with teen idols and bands he created. However, Prince's best friend and band member André Cymone claims Prince got the idea of putting together a girl group from him. Years later, Rick James would claim Prince "stole" the idea of putting together a girl group from him. He told Prince about The Mary Jane Girlls in 1980, when Prince was the opening act for Rick James.

2. Prince started working on songs for an all-female group before he had any singers for the group.

3. Prince came up with the sexually charged and seductive image for the band, to be called The Hookers.

4. Prince talked his personal assistant Jamie Shoop into being part of The Hookers. He said it doesn't matter if she can sing or not.

 
(Jamie Shoop with Prince)

Jamie was then joined by Prince's girlfriend Susan Moonsie, and her sister Loreen Moonsie. Loreen was never meant to be part of The Hookers. She filled in briefly for a test concept/previsualization shoot.


(Jamie Shoop, Susan Moonsie, Loreen Moonsie)

Unlike Jamie and Susan, Brenda Bennett could actually sing. She was Prince's wardrobe mistress on his 'Controversy' tour when he asked her to join The Hookers.


(Brenda Bennett)

5. When Prince met model and actress Denise Matthews at a music award show in January 1982, he knew he found the perfect leading woman for The Hookers. Prince wanted Denise to change her name to Vagina, but she objected. They settled on Vanity instead, and the band's name was changed to Vanity 6. When Vanity came on the scene, Jamie Shoop gladly stepped back. She never had ambitions to become a singer, as she was talked into it by Prince.

6. Vanity joined Prince on his Controversy tour, and they became lovers. After the tour, Vanity packed her belongings in Canada and moved to Minneapolis to be with Prince.



7. Prince would entertain the girls all the time. They went rollerskating together, and bought lingerie for their outfits together.

8. The Vanity 6 album was completed in May 1982. One song intended for the album was 'Let's Pretend We're Married' but Prince decided to keep it for himself. He put it on his '1999' double album.

9. The Vanity 6 album was released in August 1982 to mostly positive reviews (it sold 500,000 copies).
Prince used his alter ego name 'Jamie Starr' on the album credits as the producer.
The songs 'Make-Up' and 'Drive Me Wild' were recorded in 1981.
The Foo Fighters did a cover version of 'Drive Me Wild' in 1997.
Only one of the four singles released made the charts. 'Nasty Girl' was #1 on Billboard's Dance Charts, and #5 in Netherlands Dutch Top 40.
A music video for 'Nasty Girl' was filmed in the Netherlands when Vanity 6 was there on promotion.
Most radio stations in America refused to play 'Nasty Girl' because of spicy lyrics.
'Nasty Girl' can be heard in Private School (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Girl 6 (1996).
'Nasty Girl' was also in the rough cut of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) but was later replaced with another song.
'He's So Dull' can be heard in the movie National Lampoon's Vacation (1983).
Between Spring and Summer 1983, Prince wrote at least six songs intended for the second Vanity 6 album:

   Promise To Be True
   Vibrator
   G-Spot
   Wet Dream Cousin
   Velvet Kitty Cat
   Moral Majority
   Sex Shooter

Sex Shooter and Vibrator were completed with vocals by Vanity before she left Prince. Between Vanity leaving and casting Apollonia, Prince recorded '17 Days' with Brenda Bennett. It is not known what plans Prince had with '17 Days' first, but he ended up keeping the song for himself and replaced Brenda's vocals with his own. '17 Days' aka '17 Days (the rain will come down, then U will have 2 choose. If U believe look 2 the dawn and U shall never lose)' was then released as a b-side on When Doves Cry in 1984. Years later, Prince would sample Vanity's moaning from 'Vibrator' into other songs.

10. Vanity 6 was the opening act during Prince's 1999 concert tour, but things would soon escalade. Prince was still in a relationship with Susan, which didn't go well with Vanity, causing drama on the tour bus. Vanity would stay in her hotel room after concerts, not socializing with others. Apparently this was the first time she took cocaine. Vanity would later say cocaine made her more confident to stand up to Prince.

11. Prince caused more friction between the girls by choosing Brenda to look after and 'babysit' Vanity. He also told Brenda to take care of the girls' choreography. Vanity was furious, because technically it was her band. She got into fights with Brenda. At one point, Brenda had Vanity by the throat and against a wall. Prince asked Brenda's husband if he doesn't have any control over his wife. His answer was he forgot his remote control at home.

12. Prince and Vanity would constantly argue and make up again. She would later say she couldn't handle Prince's relationships with other women.

13. Vanity 6 became Apollonia 6 when Vanity left Prince, who had to look for a replacement he found in Apollonia Kotero.

Bonus facts:

14. Vanity would release two solo albums on Motown Records. Wild Animal (1984) and Skin on Skin (1986). 'Pretty Mess' from Wild Animal (1984) went to #13 on the U.S. Dance Charts. 'Under the Influence' from Skin on Skin (1986) reached #56 on the U.S. Pop charts, and #6 on the U.S. Dance Charts.

15. From 1988 to 1989 Vanity was working on a third album with songs written and produced by Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam. Terry and Jimmy were former members of The Time, a band created by Prince. Prince fired both in 1983 after they got stuck at an airport and failed to make it to their The Time concert. Terry and Jimmy then became world-famous producers (Janet Jackson). It is unclear why Vanity's third album was never released.

16. Vanity became a born-again Christian in 1992 after almost dying from years of drug abuse. Vanity married football player Anthony Smith of the Oakland Raiders in 1995, but their marriage ended in 1996.



In 2016, Smith was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, without the possibility of parole, for torturing and killing three people between 1999 and 2011. He was also involved in and charged with a fourth murder.

[ER]

Thirteen Odd Things I Have Done

1.   I used to sometimes write messages backwards on Brian's shoulder blades before I left his place after school so he'd have to stand turned around in front of a mirror to read them.

2.   Because she loved it with an unholy passion, I used to slice off bits off frozen beef liver and get my dog Charlotte Sometimes to stand up on her back legs and feed it to her from my fingertips.

3.   When Paramount bought King's Island amusement park by my house, they brought in costumed Star Trek characters, including Klingons and Ferengi, and I used to ask the Ferengi actors if their wives charged them for sex. I made one break character and laugh that way.

4.   In high school I used to sit in the confessional at St. X. Church downtown and have long self-centered conversations with a highly patient Jesuit there named Father Huber.

5.   In every house in which I've lived, even briefly, I've left something behind, notes slipped between floorboards or down inside air ducts. Once I wedged myself up inside an old brick chimney and wrote my name and the date in pencil on the bricks there.

6.   I once tried hard to talk "Hugh" in Austin into bidding at auction on the watch Buddy Holly was wearing when he.... Uh, yeah. He said it would cost too much.

7.   A crazy man I halfway knew from seeing him so much downtown came up to me at a bus stop in the city in the 1990s and said there was a giant "half bird man" walking down by the river, and he offered to show me its tracks, so I went down there with him and he looked around but couldn't find the tracks, so I said thanks for trying though, and caught the next bus.

8.   In the mid-'00s my current mother in law emailed her son a list of reasons why he should never marry me, and she accidentally sent it to me as well (and from her embarrassment I really do believe it was an accident) and I had the list made into a T-shirt and gave it to him on our first anniversary.

9.   Back when I was single I used to buy dresses and costumes and outfits from other eras, and wear them around my house sometimes. I think I did the 1920s well but I also made a good 18th century fop.

10.   I once walked a dog down the street with my friend to let the dog poop on the lawn of my Aunt Christie's neighbor, a guy named Jerry Springer.

11.   I collect vials of dirt from around the world.

12.   When my son was born I spread a rumor that his name was Arsenio.

13.   Looking back it also seems much weirder today than it did then that when I was in eighth grade I was more or less going out with a college student.  Yet at the time it was what I wanted most in the world, and what made me happiest of all.

[Trevor]

South African Oscar winners:

Ted Moore BSC: A Man For All Seasons
Charlize Theron: Monster
Jon Blair: Ann Frank Remembered
Eric Abraham: Kolya, Ida
Paul Kemp: Violet
Margaret Sixel: Mad Max Furry Road
Gavin Hood: Tsotsi
Pippa Reed, James Erlich, Craig Foster: My Octopus Teacher
Sir Ronald Harwood: The Pianist
Dion Beebe: Memoirs of A Geisha

[Alex]

South African Oscar winners:

Ted Moore BSC: A Man For All Seasons
Charlize Theron: Monster
Jon Blair: Ann Frank Remembered
Eric Abraham: Kolya, Ida
Paul Kemp: Violet
Margaret Sixel: Mad Max Furry Road
Gavin Hood: Tsotsi
Pippa Reed, James Erlich, Craig Foster: My Octopus Teacher
Sir Ronald Harwood: The Piano Teacher

Shouldn't you have 13? Furry Road made me laugh though. That REALLY changed that entire movie. 😂

[Trevor]

South African Oscar winners:

Ted Moore BSC: A Man For All Seasons
Charlize Theron: Monster
Jon Blair: Ann Frank Remembered
Eric Abraham: Kolya, Ida
Paul Kemp: Violet
Margaret Sixel: Mad Max Furry Road
Gavin Hood: Tsotsi
Pippa Reed, James Erlich, Craig Foster: My Octopus Teacher
Sir Ronald Harwood: The Pianist
Dion Beebe ASC: Memoirs of A Geisha

Shouldn't you have 13? Furry Road made me laugh though. That REALLY changed that entire movie. 😂

Mad Max Furry Road was the version I saw  

I don't think there have been 13 SA Oscar winners, sadly but I forgot about Dion Beebe so that makes 10.

And I gave Sir Ronald Harwood an Oscar for the wrong film so  

[Alex]

South African Oscar winners:

Ted Moore BSC: A Man For All Seasons
Charlize Theron: Monster
Jon Blair: Ann Frank Remembered
Eric Abraham: Kolya, Ida
Paul Kemp: Violet
Margaret Sixel: Mad Max Furry Road
Gavin Hood: Tsotsi
Pippa Reed, James Erlich, Craig Foster: My Octopus Teacher
Sir Ronald Harwood: The Pianist
Dion Beebe ASC: Memoirs of A Geisha

Shouldn't you have 13? Furry Road made me laugh though. That REALLY changed that entire movie. 😂

Mad Max Furry Road was the version I saw  

I don't think there have been 13 SA Oscar winners, sadly but I forgot about Dion Beebe so that makes 10.

And I gave Sir Ronald Harwood an Oscar for the wrong film so  

Pssst, look at the name of the thread.   Thats why I asked if there were 13.

[retrorussell]

Trivia about 13 different horror films:

1. FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD

Susan Blu (Tina's mom) is one of the more highly proficient cartoon voice actors (Arcee in TRANSFORMERS, Aimee Brightower in GALAXY HIGH, dozens of others). 

This was originally to be FREDDY VS. JASON but Paramount and New Line Cinema could not come to an agreement, so the idea was scrapped for 15 years and they went with a "Carrie vs. Jason" idea instead.

One of my favorite goofs in horror films is when the snooty Melissa gets a hatchet buried in her head, and Jason throws her across the room.  The actress tries to grab onto Kane Hodder in fear of being thrown.

Production title: "Birthday Bash".  An actress who was in the previous Friday The 13th film (part VI) signed on but upon admitting she was in part VI (the working title fooled her) she was not cast.

Rather light on the gore for a Friday The 13th film, it was heavily censored by the MPAA to avoid an X-rating.  Unfortunately for fans it doesn't look like the cut scenes will be restored (very low quality VHS print).

SFX/Director John Carl Buechler and Kane Hodder worked together on the film PRISON and Kane's work impressed Buechler enough to cast him as Jason.

Walt Gorney, who starred as "Crazy Ralph" in the first 2 films, narrates the opening.

Walking from the set in full Jason costume, Kane was annoyed by a man asking if he was with the movie.  Kane lunged at him and the man ran off.  The next day Buechler told him the sheriff was supposed to pay a visit, but never showed.

Hodder avoided very serious injury by mere inches when he fell through fake stairs in a scene, just missing his head from where the real stairs began.

2. HALLOWEEN (1978)

Director John Carpenter admitted he was high/drunk when coming up with the sobriquet "The Shape".

Working title: "The Babysitter Murders".

Due to the film being shot in the spring, many leaves were painted brown.

For much of his intended scenes, the child actor playing a young Michael could not be present, so his hands seen onscreen (like when he stabs Judith) were producer Debra Hill's.

Made a ridiculous $47 million off a $300,000 budget.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were considered for the role of Dr. Loomis.

A wrench is attached to Michael's hand when he breaks the car window at the asylum.

John Carpenter's rock band The Coupe de Villes includes Halloween crewmates Tommy Lee Wallace and Nick Castle.

3. NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)

Freddy was originally to be a child molester rather than just a child killer.  This was changed due to actual molestations in the L.A. area where the movie was filmed.  The 2010 remake integrates the molestation backstory.

The name Freddy Kreuger came from a bully who victimized director Wes Craven as a youth, as is the character Krug from LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.

Freddy's sweater colors were to initially be red and yellow.

Case XX P210 tomato knives are used for Freddy's glove.

The odd appearance of lambs in dream sequences is a reference to the phrase "like lambs to the slaughter".

When Nancy looks in the mirror and says "My God, I look 20 years old", Heather Langenkamp was actually 20 and was one of the youngest on the set (most of her castmates were older).

The real-life Brugada Syndrome/Asian Death Syndrome served as the basis for the film.

Producer Robert Shaye is responsible for the released ending, which director Wes Craven did not like as he had filmed a much happier ending.

The doctor at the dream therapy clinic is played by Charles Fleischer, who later voiced Roger Rabbit.

4. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)

The heat during filming (even at night) was so intense that it had a psychological effect on some of the actors, who would actually willingly hurt Marilyn Burns during the scenes of torturing her character.

Marilyn Burns was not terribly nimble, so her scenes of running away from Leatherface and falling down and getting hit by branches were genuine.  Also, Gunnar Hansen had to make "skidding stops" or cut at branches to give her more time to get distance.

Gunnar Hansen wore lifted shoes to appear taller.

John Larroquette provides opening narration.  His payment was one marijuana joint.

John Dugan, who plays Grandpa, was 20.

The original production company was a Mafia front.  They got busted on obscenity charges after their release of DEEP THROAT and were sued over payments owed (the company later went bankrupt).

The van the kids drive belonged to future director Ted Nicolau.

Gunnar Hansen's swinging of the chainsaw at the end was basically Gunnar letting out his frustration over the difficult production.

5. HALLOWEEN II (1981)

The Michael Myers mask is the same used in the first film-- it looks different due to being rumpled up in a pocket, being exposed to cigarette smoke and fitting over a different actor's face.

The kid with the boombox who bumps into Michael Myers is Michael's actor Dick Warlock's son Lance.

Jamie Lee Curtis had shorter hair than in the first film so she wore a wig for continuity.

John Carpenter (executive producer) made the decision to up the gore, to compete with the slashers at the box office.

Originally the film was meant to take place at a high rise apartment building.

The water in the hot tub was filthy and gave actress Pamela Susan Shoop an ear infection during her death scene.

Dana Carvey appears outside the Doyle house as a reporter's assistant.

Dick Warlock also plays the cop that drives the patrol car into Ben Tramer.

More later..