Fun facts!

[The Cunting Death]

In 1971, Dalton Trumbo wrote and directed an adaptation of his own book, Johnny Got His Gun.

Despite winning 2nd place at the' 71 Cannes Film Festival and getting a perfect 4 star review from Roger Ebert, the film was more or less forgotten until '87 when one of the bandmates behind Metallica wanted to write a song about a soldier who lost all of his limbs, was only barely conscious, and wanted to die. Their manager recommended the film book and film to them. The band saw the film and were moved to tears by it, and immediately used that as a basis for their song One. It became the band's first ever music video, and won the band the first ever grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.

In order to not have to pay royalty fees for the film every time MTV or someone showed it, Metallica just bought the rights to the film completely. Because of that, the film wasn't re-released (it had a brief release on VHS in 1980) until Shout Factory attempted to get the rights to it in 2009. Metallica had forgotten they were the sole owners of the film and agreed to the re-release.

Because of this, all North American copies of the film contain the music video for One.

 

[The Cunting Death]

This one I only just found out twenty minutes ago

So in the mid 80s, Orion Pictures (Studio behind Robocop, UHF, Amadeus, Silence of the Lambs, etc.) was going to release a slasher film called "The Piece Maker" (geddit?), but Orion had so many box office flops that they had to put the project on hold. The film's original director was allegedly supposed to be Brian De Palma, but the only source I can find on that is on IMDb.

When the director dropped out, project was put on indefinite hold and was never released.

But what makes this interesting is that footage of this film actually surfaced back in 2017, when some guy found the sales trailer for the film that was intended for Overseas investors to help fund the film.

 

[Dom Cruise]

In 1971, Dalton Trumbo wrote and directed an adaptation of his own book, Johnny Got His Gun.

Despite winning 2nd place at the' 71 Cannes Film Festival and getting a perfect 4 star review from Roger Ebert, the film was more or less forgotten until '87 when one of the bandmates behind Metallica wanted to write a song about a soldier who lost all of his limbs, was only barely conscious, and wanted to die. Their manager recommended the film book and film to them. The band saw the film and were moved to tears by it, and immediately used that as a basis for their song One. It became the band's first ever music video, and won the band the first ever grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.

In order to not have to pay royalty fees for the film every time MTV or someone showed it, Metallica just bought the rights to the film completely. Because of that, the film wasn't re-released (it had a brief release on VHS in 1980) until Shout Factory attempted to get the rights to it in 2009. Metallica had forgotten they were the sole owners of the film and agreed to the re-release.

Because of this, all North American copies of the film contain the music video for One.

I first heard of Johnny Got His Gun on this website called Revenge Is My Destiny that sold bootleg dvds of tons and tons of rare movies and many other assorted weird stuff.

Sadly the site went defunct in 2011 and I was never able to buy anything from it, there's so many interesting things I remember reading about that I assume are impossible to find now.

 

[Lunete]

The actress who voiced Velma in the original Scooby Doo series (Nicole Jaffe) also wore glasses. During an initial reading of the script Jaffe drops her own glasses and exclaims something simular to, "My glasses, I can't see without them!" The rest of the crew thought her reaction was kinda funny and it was added to the show.

 

[The Cunting Death]

I first heard of Johnny Got His Gun on this website called Revenge Is My Destiny that sold bootleg dvds of tons and tons of rare movies and many other assorted weird stuff.

Sadly the site went defunct in 2011 and I was never able to buy anything from it, there's so many interesting things I remember reading about that I assume are impossible to find now.

Luckily JGHG is on Amazon for only $10

Also it's fun to find really hard to find movies online.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Luckily JGHG is on Amazon for only $10

Also it's fun to find really hard to find movies online.

Movies are one thing but this site had tons of really obscure stuff like cable access programs and things like that, stuff that I'm sure was only available there.

 

[The Cunting Death]

Movies are one thing but this site had tons of really obscure stuff like cable access programs and things like that, stuff that I'm sure was only available there.

I still know what you mean, and hopefully someone kept copies of that shit.

 

[Count groudon]

The actress who voiced Velma in the original Scooby Doo series (Nicole Jaffe) also wore glasses. During an initial reading of the script Jaffe drops her own glasses and exclaims something simular to, "My glasses, I can't see without them!" The rest of the crew thought her reaction was kinda funny and it was added to the show.

Another funny bit of Scooby Doo spergery, one of the actors who voiced shaggy (can’t remember which one) in the earlier runs of the show was notorious for being an obnoxious vegetarian. He was so unbelievably spergy about his meatless eating habits he threw a massive tantrum on the higher ups at HB, demanding that they also make Shaggy vegetarian because he couldn’t stand the thought of voicing a character that ate meat. The higher ups told him that this was fucking stupid since Shaggy’s entire characterization revolves around him being a lovable coward that ate everything in his path, and the actor threatened to leave if they didn’t cave in believing himself to be irreplaceable.

If you ever watched the older cartoon and wondered why Shaggy suddenly sounded different after a few seasons, that’s why.

 

[Gordon Cole]

Another funny bit of Scooby Doo spergery, one of the actors who voiced shaggy (can’t remember which one) in the earlier runs of the show was notorious for being an obnoxious vegetarian. He was so unbelievably spergy about his meatless eating habits he threw a massive tantrum on the higher ups at HB, demanding that they also make Shaggy vegetarian because he couldn’t stand the thought of voicing a character that ate meat. The higher ups told him that this was fucking stupid since Shaggy’s entire characterization revolves around him being a lovable coward that ate everything in his path, and the actor threatened to leave if they didn’t cave in believing himself to be irreplaceable.

If you ever watched the older cartoon and wondered why Shaggy suddenly sounded different after a few seasons, that’s why.

It was Casey Kasem. IIRC that same attitude led to him being replaced by Billy West for Zombie Island because Shaggy was in a Burger King commercial. Ironic considering that Billy West is a vegan too.

It just astounds me how so many actors can't understand how acting works.

 

[Lunete]

Another fun fact: Frank Weller has voiced Fred in almost every Scooby doo series (the only exception being a pup named Scooby Doo). He also voiced Scooby from 2002 onwards. He is the only original cast member to still be involved in the franchise.
He also voiced nibbler in futurama.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

It was Casey Kasem. IIRC that same attitude led to him being replaced by Billy West for Zombie Island because Shaggy was in a Burger King commercial. Ironic considering that Billy West is a vegan too.

It just astounds me how so many actors can't understand how acting works.

He got his way when What's New Scooby-Doo? came around, with Kasem returning and Shaggy was a vegetarian. I will give them credit that they didn't really shove it down your throat since I doubt anyone watching would notice it. Even so it's fucking dumb.

 

[Tabtar]

There is an exclusive club you can only join if you’ve ejected from a combat aircraft. It’s called the Martin-Baker Tie club. http://martin-baker.com/ejection-tie-club/

Tons of interesting testimonials on this site. Considering the fact that many pilots break half the bones in their body ejecting, they really earn that fucking tie.

Here.. read this one:

 

[Lunete]

Another funny bit of Scooby Doo spergery, one of the actors who voiced shaggy (can’t remember which one) in the earlier runs of the show was notorious for being an obnoxious vegetarian. He was so unbelievably spergy about his meatless eating habits he threw a massive tantrum on the higher ups at HB, demanding that they also make Shaggy vegetarian because he couldn’t stand the thought of voicing a character that ate meat. The higher ups told him that this was fucking stupid since Shaggy’s entire characterization revolves around him being a lovable coward that ate everything in his path, and the actor threatened to leave if they didn’t cave in believing himself to be irreplaceable.

If you ever watched the older cartoon and wondered why Shaggy suddenly sounded different after a few seasons, that’s why.

Which is pretty funny since there is a scene in Mystery Inc where Shaggy spits out a tofu burger.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

If you press and hold the close door button in an elevator and then also hold the button for the floor you want to go to, it will skip other floors in most elevators.

In some older elevators it was possible to get to closed off floor(that require a key or a card) by pressing the key to a public floor and the private one at the same time, it registered as a valid input to whatever box of paperclips they used as a computer back then.

 

[Count groudon]

Those weird ass headbands from Naruto that weebs love to wear out In public as a testament to their lack of self awareness actually did exist. However, much like most things attributed to ninja in modern media, they were actually something used by samurai. Ya see, many samurai weren’t too fond of the clunky helmets that came with their armor because they fucked with the range of movement of their necks which can be pretty detrimental on a battlefield, so instead some had metal plates affixed to regular headbands to give them some protection without restricting their field of vision. Since most swordsmen in that era favored a move that involved a violent downward slice aimed at the forehead, it was actually pretty effective, and it was even surprisingly effective at blocking headshots from archers since the forehead is pretty much the biggest target on your head.

The guy who created Naruto implemented the headbands early on in the series because he started to hate drawing Naruto’s goggles, and after some digging around he decided that the forehead protectors had a much more unique look and they were much easier to draw.

Spoiler: Actual pics of ancient forehead guards

 

[Malagor the dank omen]

Those weird ass headbands from Naruto that weebs love to wear out In public as a testament to their lack of self awareness actually did exist. However, much like most things attributed to ninja in modern media, they were actually something used by samurai. Ya see, many samurai weren’t too fond of the clunky helmets that came with their armor because they fucked with the range of movement of their necks which can be pretty detrimental on a battlefield, so instead some had metal plates affixed to regular headbands to give them some protection without restricting their field of vision. Since most swordsmen in that era favored a move that involved a violent downward slice aimed at the forehead, it was actually pretty effective, and it was even surprisingly effective at blocking headshots from archers since the forehead is pretty much the biggest target on your head.

The guy who created Naruto implemented the headbands early on in the series because he started to hate drawing Naruto’s goggles, and after some digging around he decided that the forehead protectors had a much more unique look and they were much easier to draw.

Spoiler: Actual pics of ancient forehead guards

View attachment 836890View attachment 836889

That shit was called Hachigane and in time it became a symbol of good luck among warriors, because one saving your life from a blow to the head meant you had incredibly good luck.

And let's keep it up with weeb war history. One thing usually people say about samurais is that they didn't used guns because they considered dishonorable. Instead, they didn't used guns because of several reasons: they could only fire once before becoming completely useless, clumsy and loud, the shot could be deflected by armor, very expensive to produce and you couldn't use them while raining. This meant that not many warlords in the Sengoku era didn't adopted them once they got introduced by the Portuguese in Japan (the portuguese also introduced bread and two sweets that they are known today in Japan as Castella and Confeito). It wasn't until some rowdy and westaboo feudal lord decided to make use of those guns. It was Nobunaga Oda who showed everyone that guns were a very powerful weapon if used in the right way when he managed to defeat the unbeatable cavalry of the clan Takeda with several squads of riflemen. Thanks to him other feudal lords and warlords started to implement guns and also the use of the Ashigaru (translated means "Light foot"). The Ashigaru were super light infantry, usually peasants levied from towns which were considered not more than cannon fodder in past times since they were only used as spearwalls agains cavalry. With the introduction of guns, weapons that are easy to use with minimal training, the Ashigaru gained a lot of notoriety and they were levied in massive numbers during the Sengoku period due to their newfound usefulness in battle.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Those weird ass headbands from Naruto that weebs love to wear out In public as a testament to their lack of self awareness actually did exist. However, much like most things attributed to ninja in modern media, they were actually something used by samurai. Ya see, many samurai weren’t too fond of the clunky helmets that came with their armor because they fucked with the range of movement of their necks which can be pretty detrimental on a battlefield, so instead some had metal plates affixed to regular headbands to give them some protection without restricting their field of vision. Since most swordsmen in that era favored a move that involved a violent downward slice aimed at the forehead, it was actually pretty effective, and it was even surprisingly effective at blocking headshots from archers since the forehead is pretty much the biggest target on your head.

I guess the Hachigane is comparable to the early bascinet helmet in Europe.
Originally during the late 12th early 13th century, Knights would wear a rather clunky helmet like this:

And they'd wear a mail armor coif underneath. This helmet was very cumbersome in regular mounted combat with swords, however it was very useful during the first charge (to defend against arrows) and when two knights attacked each other with lances. Many knights would remove the great helmet once they got into a swordfight, only relying on the coif (this would lead to a system of chains that either attached the helmet to the knight's breastplate or his saddle, so he doesn't lose the helmet).
The coif was then oftentimes upgraded with a cervellerie like this:

Worn under the coif.

That system then was combined into a cervellerie with an attached aventail, this whole shebang was still worn under a great helmet (ever increasing in size to accomodate all this stuff).

Eventually, the Bascinet became its own main helmet with a visor that replaced the great helmet, which culminated in the so called "Hundsgugel design:

I would assume it was similar in Japan, where they'd sometimes remove the helmet (or even lose it) and then used that Hachigane sort of as a backup.
The war chronicle "Tales of the Heike" oftentimes mentiones that the helmet bands would get loose and the helmet would start sliding around on the Samurai's head, so being able to remove the helmet while still having some protection for the head seems like a good solution to that. Also, Samurai Helmets are pretty bulky, they do a great job against arrows and other weapons (as should be expected from a piece of armor), but there might be situations where a less bulky headgear would be better. Maybe it's also a question of weight. During a prolonged battle, the easiest way to remove weight is to throw away the helmet, but that leaves your most vulnerable body part exposed. Still, after several hours of fighting in the hot and humid climate of Japan, you'd certainly want a way to cool down a little and lighten your load.
I could also imagine that the Samurai would ditch their helmet once they get dismounted, since it's not as much of a bother to wear the helmet as long as the horse does the walking, so to speak.

 

[Bender]

Well, since we're doing history, one of the first computers was made in Greece over 2000 years ago. Some parts are missing and even with modern technology and knowledge we can't come to a consensus on what the missing parts were.

 

[DrJonesHat]

The original release Sega Master System had a game built into it (a simple maze game). Later editions put full games on it to save on shipping costs.
Also fun fact: the SMS is still manufactured and sold in Brazil. They still make games for it, but they're all in Portuguese.

 

[The Cunting Death]

Terrence Mallack made a movie that has Michael Fassbender tackling members of Red Hot Chili Peppers.