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40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia That Promise to Stop Drinking If You Let Them Be Secretary of Defense

January 26, 2025

The Wrestler and Black Swan started out as one movie. Darren Aronofsky is a weird dude.

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40

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Tired Tropes (And The Movies That Pulled Them Off) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) LIQUID NITROGEN DEATH Demolition Man, Timecop, Goldeneye, Jason X- death by liquid nitrogen was all the rage for some time. But the movie that turned it into an iconic thing was this, the last Terminator ever made. CRACKED.COM — Source

39

David Fincher

The making of Alien 3 was a bitch for David Fincher. SIGURNEY WEAVER gone orever. vs In 2202 04 NaVE ALIEN3 The horror movie became an actual nightmar

38

Joker

Arthur's dance in the bathroom in Joker wasn't in the movie's script. In the script, he just gets rid of his weapon and wipes away his makeup - but Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix started having second thoughts on the set. CRACKED.COM — Source: ComicBook.com

37

Doctor Who

Doctor Who's TARDIS was originally supposed to change shape regularly to fit in with its surroundings. POLICE es BOX GIO ED THE IMPROVISATION: The series creators realized that would cost too much, and nixed the idea. They decided the TARDIS' chameleon circuit would be permanently broken, leaving the TARDIS forever stuck as a police box. THE RESULT: One of the most recognizable sci-fi ship designs on TV, ever. CRACKED.COM — Source

36

A24

A24 Movies The misses A24-distributed duds include Life After Beth, The Monster, The Sea of Trees, Cut Bank, and Equals. Now, we don't think Kevin Smith's Tusk was that bad, but yeah, we can see why it would be a low point for the company. CRACKED.COM — Source: Collider

35

Eugenie Bouchard

Eugenie Bouchard was sponsored by a bunch of companies. Colgate ENAMEL They deserted her after she suffered a concussion. Several companies, including Colgate and Aviva, sponsored tennis player Eugenie Bouchard. In 2014, she slipped in the locker room and hit her head, suffering a concussion. Her rankings plummeted over the next year, so her sponsors turned tail. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

The Smurfs

CRACKED.COM The first Smurfs story was about a zombie apocalypse. The comic The Black Smurfs (which became The Purple Smurfs in the U.S.) had many tropes of modern zombie stories: Mindless ghoul Smurfs, an infection which spreads by biting, the near extinction of Smurfkind... And it came out more than 10 years before Night of the Living Dead. — Source

33

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the LOS 1994 1995 IN 1992 1993 1994 Hedgehog 1999 1990 1996 made 199 090 1992 199 1994 1999 his 1998 debut 1990 in 1992 1991. 1993 1998 1997 1991 1995 And Resident was 10 STATE Evil was released in 1996. 1992 1993 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 NOW YOU KNOW: THE '90s CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Prank Videos

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM ANNOYING PEOPLE IN PUBLIC. Following For You It's cool, we're on TikTok, we're verified Tak 100 @straighteriplaced Source Since Chickgo Please leave the commuters alone. We could go into the psychological damage that social media has had on the impressionable youth, but all that matters is that these narcissists simply aren't funny.

31

Subway

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia That Promise to Stop Drinking If You Let Them Be Secretary of Defense — Source: Subway

30

Ben-Hur

Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince enslaved by the Romans, wears a Star of David - which didn't become a symbol of Judaism until the Middle Ages. CRACKED.

29

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Mind Spotless the O Kanye West was SO impressed with the film's music score that he contacted the composer, Jon Brion, SUNS and that's how we got Gold Digger. Etey - Brion, who had never done any rap work before, met up with WEST, KANYE SCE West and in a — Mic

28

Tom Morello

Tom Morello makes a cameo appearance in 'Iron Man! CRACKED.COM The 'Rage Against The Ma- chine' and 'Audioslave' gui- tarist was the first terrorist guard killed by Tony Stark when he made the first Iron Man suit in a cave with a box of scraps. — Metal Underground

27

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris CRACKED COM ADAM WILES won't answer to Calvin Harris when he's not behind the DJ booth: I'm sorry this is ridiculous. You're speaking

26

Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky considers The Wrestler and Black Swan closely related. Не started writing a movie about love between a wrestler and ballet dancer, but he had to split it up. He'd like to see them shown as a double feature. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Interesting Facts (About Movies And More) To Tickle The Ol’ Grey Matter

25

Animaniacs

Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, but socially dead. ANIMANIACS CRACKED The Wheel of Morality promotes a healthy work/life balance. — YouTube

24

Slurpees

Slurpees happened because of a hapless shopkeeper's broken equipment. SLURPEE *** Coca-Cola - PLEASE CHOOGE ANOTHER PLAYOR CRACKED.COM One day in 1950's Kansas, a shop owner's soda fountain broke, and he had to chuck his sody pop into a freezer. Naturally, it slushed up real good, and people found the new texture refreshing. — MentalFloss

23

Jackass

COMEDY NERD Jackass best stunts I fix A to Olive Off-road Tattoo From Jackass: The Movie It's in the knowing (or even just imagining) what happens on dirt roads combined with the pain of getting a tattoo that makes this bonkers stunt so cringe-funny. Given Steve-O's many questionable tattoos, it's hard to say if this one's the worst, honestly. No Ragrets. CRACKED.COM — Video

22

Miracle on 34th Street

on 34th street: CRACKED COM Miracle ls Kris Kringle really Santa Claus? 1947 1994 INITESTATESOFA IN GOD The post office We can't prove delivers the ma

21

Dennis Rodman

CRACKED Dennis Rodman is sort of a diplomat to North Korea. Rodman and Kim Jong-un met back in 2013 and hit it off immediately, resulting in multiple subsequent meetings between the two (usually featuring other basketball players as well) and possible diplomatic implications. — Eugene Powers/Shutterstock, Kremlin.ru/Shutterstock
ABC News

20

Donald Duck

PAPERINO Nope, the name has nothing to do with paper- it just means little goose. Yes, that's right- the world's most famous duck is a goose in Italy. — Source: The Local

19

The Olympics

Some doves caught on fire during the 1988 Olympic flame lighting. GRACKED.COM Many of the doves released at the opening ceremony landed in the cauldron where the flame is lit, and did not fly away when the torch bearer approached. This was the last ceremony in which doves were released. — Deccan Herald

18

Susan Kare

Kare was making a razorback hog when Apple came calling. She was welding a real-size hog sculpture for an Arkansas museum, when her high school buddy Andy Hertzfeld, who was working for Apple, reached out to her. They needed icons and typefaces for their new Macintosh computer, and Hertzfeld thought of his artist friend. — Source: Stanford University Library (via archive.org)

17

Squid Game

One of the games in Squid Game was genuinely frightening to film. 02 It was the one with glass panels, and the panels were actually about three feet above the ground - -which made actors really afraid to jump. CRACKED.COM — Source: NME

16

Viggo Mortensen

Tolkien Movies Viggo Mortensen bought Aragorn's horse. Не was so impressed by the animal that he bought it from its owners, along with Arwen's horse which he gave to Arwen's stunt rider. CRACKED.COM — Maxim

15

Sean Connery

SEAN CONNERY CRACKED.COM I don't think there is anything particularly wrong about hitting a woman - although I don't recommend doing it in the same way that you'd hit a man. An openhanded slap is justified - if all other alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning. — Source

14

Leave It to Beaver

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia That Promise to Stop Drinking If You Let Them Be Secretary of Defense — Source: YouTube

13

Borat

For the first Borat movie, Sacha Baron Cohen never washed Borat's suit. Не never wore deodorant when he was filming, either, creating a Soviet-bloc smell the moment he walked into a room. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Now-You-Know Facts About Movies (And Other Cool Stuff)

12

Ke$ha

Celebrity Superstitions Ke$ha's inter- dimensional relations. About her song Supernatural, she admitted, It's about experiences with the supernatural, but in a sexy way. I had a couple of experiences. I don't know his name. Не was a ghost. I'm very open to it. CRACKED — Jaguar PS/Shutterstock,
ArtOfPhotos/Shutterstock
Them

11

Google

THE SIMPLICITY OF THE GOOGLE SEARCH HOME PAGE WAS DUE TO THE SKILL LIMITATIONS OF THE FOUNDER. Google! Search the web using Google! 10 results Google Search I'm feeling lucky Index contains s ~25 million pages (soon to be much bigger) GRACKED.COM Google founder Larry Page had no knowledge of HTML, so when it came time to design this bold new search engine he worked with what he had. The minimalist design went on to be the thing that drew new visitors, who were growing tired of the overly designed and nauseatingly busy search pages of Google's competitors. — Source: Alphr

10

Kiss the Girls

Underappreciated serial killer movies 1997 Kiss the Girls This average movie made (late) in the wake of Silence of the Lambs has some clunky plot mechanics, and would be rightly forgotten if it weren't for its final confrontation. Then the movie truly cranks up the campy violence and finally shows some fun insanity. CRACKED.COM — Paramount Movies Digital/YouTube

9

300

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia That Promise to Stop Drinking If You Let Them Be Secretary of Defense

8

Bill Watterson

Bill Watterson turned down Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Watterson is so dead-set against a movie or TV adaptation of Calvin and Hobbes, that he said no to Lucas and Spielberg in the '80s. Не has nothing against animation, and in fact he loves it - he just sees no benefit in giving that treatment to his strip. — More: Why A 'Calvin & Hobbes' Animated Series Isn't Happening (Ever)

7

Aliens

Aliens (1986) Ricco Ross, who played Private Frost, had to choose between Aliens and Full Metal Jacket. Initially, Ross was going to do Full Metal Jacket, but the schedule would overlap Aliens with a week, and Kubrick was notorious for going over schedule. James Cameron let Ross read the script — Empire Online

6

The Size of Space Ships

Sci-fi might have convinced you that space ships are, well, spacious. They're actually insanely cramped. In an actual space craft, every inch is devoted to storage - fuel, food, spare parts, medical supplies, machines to recycle your water and air, and so on. The reason? Cost. Just getting cargo into orbit on board the space shuttle cost $20,000 a pound. Add the personnel, and interplanetary flight will be less Star Trek and more Das Boot. CRACKED.COM http://usatoday30, usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-02-04-shuttle-critics_x.htm — Source: 23 Facts That Challenge Accepted Beliefs About Outer Space

5

Community

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia That Promise to Stop Drinking If You Let Them Be Secretary of Defense — Source

4

Goldfinger

Asbestos exposure on GOLDFINGER The 1964 James Bond movie used asbestos boards in its set construction. Set painter Ronald Sharp later developed mesothelioma and died at age 59. His widow sued his former employers for compensation. CRACKED — Source

3

Chris Elliott

CRACKED CHRIS ELLIOTT HASN'T MADE AN APPEARANCE ON HIS DAUGHTER'S SHOW, BUT SHE'S GOT IDEAS. Abby Elliott, star of The Bear, would love for her dad, Chris Elliott, to appear on the show. I don't know who he would play. Maybe a disgruntled customer, or someone in the family, she said. — Source

2

Grinch

Grinch was ridiculously expensive for its time. It cost $315,000 - and A Charlie Brown Christmas, made the year before, cost $76,000. It was around 10 times more expensive than most other half-hours of animation. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

The Joker

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM THE JOKER (THE BAD ONE) A GAS STATION ENERGY DRINK THAT TURNED INTO A VILLAIN. Damagen You have to have a good sense of humor to walk into a tattoo parlor and ask for the toilet stall graffiti found in a middle school Boy's bathroom. Joker is a mob boss that is funnier than he is scary, which may not be saying much when he wears his glittery, ruby red sport coat.

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