Things Only You Know

[Ms. Jellybean]

C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" are now released in chronological order instead of their original publishing order, as some people know.

But one of the main reasons to quibble is the publishing order is also the correct narrative order. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, there is a specific line of text that states that the children do not know who Aslan is, anymore than the reader does. This makes no sense if a reader were to have read the series in its currently-released chronological form. Yes, I noticed this about the fifth time I read the book. ;D

Plus, it's just better literature when read in the original publishing order.

[aargmematey]

"floccinaucinihilipilification" is (according to the Guinness Book of World Records) the longest "real word" in the English language. It means the act of estimating that something is worthless.

I love wikipedia.

[drew]

Bill Brasky named the group Sha Na Na. They did not want to be called that.

[DarthShady]

Bodhidharma is often credited as one of the most important Buddhist figures and the first Zen Master in China. He was born and lived in India early in his life, studying Zen Buddhism and becoming a monk before deciding to go to China. Why he went to China, I'm not quite sure of. But I do know that he did spend much time at the Shao-Lin Temple. The monks there had often been the victims of viscious attacks as they owned much land but as a rule of their faith were forbidden to carry weapons. Bodhidharma decided it was necessary to teach the monks unarmed combat for self-defense, and indeed martial arts had been born. In a Buddhist temple. Mr. Miyagi lied to Daniel-san.

[kylerexpop]

i always thought it was "sherbert," as in "i'd like a big scoop of rainbow sherbert, please."

and apparently you CAN spell it that way. but more appropriately, it's "sherbet."

crazy!

[Head Mutant]

What I love is when people try to correct me when I pronounce it as "sherbet".

While watching Star Wars: A New Hope (special edition), I noticed that Lucas' team didn't quite clear up all the matte lines -- in particular, when the Falcon is fighting some TIE fighters, there is an obvious box around one of the fighters as it ducks in for a shot.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Comedian Albert Brooks was born Albert Lawrence Einstein.

Wonder why he changed his name?

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

There's a small town in northern Ontario called Swastika. *shivers*

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Turkey Vultures often eat so much in one meal that they become too heavy to fly. In order to quickly escape predators, the bird would have to regurgitate its meal.

[TheLuckyOne]

Bonnie Parker, of Bonnie & Clyde fame, wrote poetry when not committing robberies. One, entitled "The Trail's End," predicted the pair's eventual fate:

They don't think they're too smart or desperate
They know that the law always wins
They've been shot at before;
But they do not ignore,
That death is the wages of sin

Some day they'll go down together
They'll bury them side by side
To few it'll be grief,
To the law a relief
But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde

-D

[coccatino]

oogieboogieman said:

There's a small town in northern Ontario called Swastika. *shivers*

is it weird that instead of being perturbed by this (which I am!) I instead immediately started singing Neil Young's 'Helpless'

[sarahbot]

Anyone remember that show "Two Guys, a Girl & a Pizza Place"? It actually had three male leads: some guy who must be absolutely kicking himself/his agent, Ryan Reynolds and Nathan Fillion.

I knew even then that this show sucked. Is it so bad that I'm looking for DVDs then?

[TheLuckyOne]

In 1986, Elvis Costello took on the alias "Napoleon Dynamite" for his album Blood & Chocolate (though he had previously used it once for a B-side song in 1982). The creator of popular movie character Napoleon Dynamite, when asked about this, claims to have had no knowledge of that when giving a name to his creation.

-D

[StarOpal]

Before Maurine Watkins, playwright, wrote Chicago, she had been a police reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Watkins didn't so much invent the character "Velma" as transpose what she'd reported about the arrest, trial, and acquittal of a middle-aged, former cabaret singer named Belva Gaertner. Chicago's "Roxie Hart" had the same newsprint lineage: the beautiful Beulah Annan had shot her boyfriend in the back less than a month after Belva Gaertner had shot her lover during an alcoholic blackout. Both were acquitted.

[lupineragdoll]

"Golf" is an acronym, meaning "gents only, ladies forbidden". Posh is another one, meaning "port out, starboard home".