Stream of Facts
In 1699, British bookseller Jacob Tonson founded a political group known as the Kit-Kat Club,
bent on the forwarding of Whig objectives.
The group would carry out their meetings in the same restaurant at which Sherlock Holmes dined in Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. The location, now the spot of a restaurant known as SIMPSONS’S-in-the-Strand, also housed such patrons as Charles Dickens and William Gladstone.
To celebrate The SIMPSONS Movie DVD release in Australia, Donut King, Australia’s version of Dunkin’ Donuts, crafted a giant size version of the tasty pastry that Homer is munching down on in the poster. The six meter wide doughnut took 40 workers over nine hours and 90,000 doughnuts (all of which were donated to charity) to construct, and ended up having a weight equivalent to two RHINOCEROSES.
Despite their intimidating look, RHINOCEROSES are quite easy to hunt because of their lack of any natural predators. Prized for their unique horn that is used in traditional Asian medicine and ornamental carvings, the animals can easily be ambushed on their routine trips to water holes. To prevent extinction in the early ’90s, many were translocated to a CRASH, or group of rhinos, that live in protected,
fenced sanctuaries.
The ’80s rock band CRASH, which took its name from the 1973 novel of the same name, is one example of how new wave science fiction author J.G. Ballard has influenced popular British music. His story “The Sound-Sweep” was the inspiration for the hit song “VIDEO Killed the Radio Star.”
The VIDEO content of a commercial advertisement for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) was deemed too inappropriate to run during last week’s airing of the Super Bowl. With the slogan “Vegetarians have better sex,” the commercial was determined that sex sells and features a number of models getting unusually friendly with their produce. It is a follow-up to their “I’d rather go naked than wear
FUR” campaign.
The 2006 film, FUR: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus featured a scene where unorthodox photographer Arbus (Nicole Kidman) shaved a fur-covered Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey, Jr.). Though the script was based loosely on the events of Arbus’ life, many of the people involved in the production were strongly connected to the characters in the story. Downey, Jr.’s father made a film, Greaser’s Palace,
starring Arbus’ ex-husband Allan, and director Steven Shainberg’s uncle was a close friend of Arbus herself.
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Reporter Recommends
“The House in Hydesville.” Currently playing at the Geva Theatre, it’s a play based on a famous story about the Fox sisters, who have come to be known as celebrities of the Spiritualist movement due to mysterious rapping in the walls of their home in Hydesville, New York. This is the last weekend Geva will be running the world premiere of this show. $5 discounts are available to full-time students in certain seating arrangements on Friday and Saturday performances as well as all day on Sunday. Check it out, have a taste of the area’s history, and get your spook on. |
