Quote
“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”
Neil Armstrong
Joke
What did the Ranch say when someone opened the refrigerator door? "Close the door, I'm dressing!"
Fun Fact
“Weird Al” Yankovic wrote “Albuquerque” to be as a joke specifically to “annoy people for 12 minutes.” It ended up becoming one of his most popular songs.
Reading Fact
The Japanese language has a word to denote letting reading materials pile up in one’s home and never read them – tsundoku.
The term originated in the Meiji era as Japanese slang and is a combination of two words – tsunde-oku (to pile things up ready for later) and dokusho (reading books).
There’s also an English word that can be used to describe loving the smell of old books – bibliosma, and one to express fear of running out of reading material – abibliophobia.
History Fact
Impostor
Look, I don’t want to blow your mind or anything (yes I do), but Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian. She was an ancestor of Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great’s generals.
Movie/TV Trivia
In The Wolf of Wall Street, the actors snorted crushed vitamin powder whenever they had to look like they were snorting cocaine. Jonah Hill was hospitalized because of it.
Movie/TV Quote
"Are you watching closely?"
The Prestige (2006)
The whole point of magic tricks is to deceive. That's why they're called TRICKS, and that's what makes the twisty-turny storytelling of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige so riveting, even if you already know what happens. Part of doing magic is making the audience think the trick is happening over here, while actually making something else happen over there. "Are you watching closely?" is the catchphrase of Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), one of the rival magicians warring for power in the movie, and he uses that phrase to misdirect the audience's attention. When you're watching the ball in one hand, you're not focusing on what he's doing with the other, which is what makes the trick work in the end.
Conversation Starter
What was your favourite restaurant when you were in university? How about when you were a child?
Writing Prompt