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Steven Spielberg and Herge were avid fans of one another's work. Spielberg found out about The Adventures of Tintin after reading a review of Raiders of the Lost Ark that compared Raiders to Tintin and decided to read up on Herge's work quickly becoming a fan. Herge thought Spielberg was the only one who could make a proper adaptation after being disappointed in the live action adaptation and cartoon series of Tintin. The two were actually going to meet up when Spielberg was filming The temple of doom, but Herge died the exact week of the meeting.
Fortunately, Herge's widow gave Spielberg the rights to make a Tintin movie. After more than 20 years of development hell and reacquiring the rights, Spielberg managed to release The adventures of Tintin with a tribute to Herge as he was the painter seen in the beginning of the film. It also plays into an injoke of Herge's where he would put in the likeness of family and friends in his comics.
 
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License to kill was the last James bond movie to be released in the summertime due to the highly competitive box office during the summer of 1989
 
The ortolan bunting is a tiny songbird that summers across Western Europe and winters in Africa. It is considered a vulnerable species, especially in France, because the bird is trapped to be the centerpiece of a very particular rituel gastronomique. Netted ortolans are kept in dark cages, which tricks them into gorging themselves on grain and figs. (It’s said they also may be blinded to achieve the same effect.) Once the small birds have doubled or more in size, they are drowned—and simultaneously marinated—in Armagnac brandy. They’re then plucked and roasted, which doesn’t take long, since there is little meat on their bones.

Diners pick up one whole, hot bird by the head—with that towel covering the act—and place it feet-first into their mouths, saving only the beak. Advocates say that the crunch of bone, the hot fat, and the bursts of flavor from the organs makes for a delicacy with no equal.

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The site of the Battle of Visby in July 1361 is our biggest source for what medieval infantry armor looked like. Visby was a total one-sided rout where veteran Danish and German men-at-arms completely slaughtered an inexperienced peasant militia of local farmers. Most medieval armor was used until it wore out and then scrapped, but most of the bodies found in mass graves at Visby were thrown in still wearing their armor. The reason for this is unclear, but it may have been because of the massive amount of bodies (2000+ have been found so far) and the heat of the July day making the bodies decay prematurely.

Most of the armor was chainmail:
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And coat of plates:
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~2 million artillery shells were fired by the Germans on the opening day of the battle of Verdun. This is possibly the most concentrated artillery barrage in history as the front for Verdun was only a couple of kilometres. The most powerful artillery barrage was at one of the battles of Ypres that I forgot, the Germans stored artillery shells for 2 weeks and let all of them loose. Many of the guns used at that battle were naval batteries meant for the navy.
 
Cantercoin said:
Steven Spielberg and Herge were avid fans of one another's work. Spielberg found out about The Adventures of Tintin after reading a review of Raiders of the Lost Ark that compared Raiders to Tintin and decided to read up on Herge's work quickly becoming a fan. Herge thought Spielberg was the only one who could make a proper adaptation after being disappointed in the live action adaptation and cartoon series of Tintin. The two were actually going to meet up when Spielberg was filming The temple of doom, but Herge died the exact week of the meeting.
Fortunately, Herge's widow gave Spielberg the rights to make a Tintin movie. After more than 20 years of development hell and reacquiring the rights, Spielberg managed to release The adventures of Tintin with a tribute to Herge as he was the painter seen in the beginning of the film. It also plays into an injoke of Herge's where he would put in the likeness of family and friends in his comics.
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A similar thing with different outcome was when Hayao Miyazaki(Studio Ghibli) traveled to Sweden to try to get Astrid Lindgren to give them the rights to make Pippi Longstocking into a series. That didn't happen but he eventually used the locales he visited(Stockholm, Visby(home of the mass graves mentioned above)) in Kiki's Delivery Service, including signs in Swedish.

It captured the essence of these places so well, including the weather, light and tone of shadows, that you immediately recognized where a street was even though it didn't actually exist. It was really weird to watch.
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Miyazaki's son eventually made Ronja, another story from Astrid Lindgren, into an anime.
 
Cross posting from the random pics thread

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Fun little fact about the Aliens powerloader: it has a Caterpillar logo on it, to make it look like a commercial cargo forklift from the future. It just happens to be the logo Cat used from 1967 to 1989
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