15 Trivia Tidbits for Saturday, February 8, 2025
People who kiss each other on the mouth have a natural bias toward tilting their head to the right. This tendency exists across cultures — not every culture kisses on the mouth, but if they do, the majority of people there tilt to the right. This appears to be a predisposition that the brain has toward moving clockwise.
One other cool thing about the brain is it hungers for facts, such as the ones below.
Get Your Rocks Off
Movies have been able to touch up actors’ faces long before the rise of CGI. In 1978's The Last Waltz, for example, about a famous concert featuring such artists as Bob Dylan and Neil Young, they had to edit Young’s face to remove the visible cocaine on his nostril.
Take This With a Pinch of Salt
In 1913, mustard had two uses. You could add it to your food, or you could add it to your bath. A few teaspoons of mustard in your tub effectively treated maladies of the nerves, claimed advertisers, particularly in women.
Not Entertained
In 1999, actor Oliver Reed was in a bar, and he challenged a group of sailors to a drinking contest. It’s unclear who won according to the rules, but it’s fair to say Reed lost, because he died during this contest. He was in the middle of filming Gladiator that week.
Mysterious Brunch Date
When the song “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” came out, listeners approached it not knowing that Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a movie. This utterly confused the band, as the song quite explicitly says it’s about a movie, whether you’ve watched it or not.
Grinds My Gears
The clock in Elizabeth Tower (the London tower popularly known as “Big Ben”) was designed by Augustus Pugin. That must have been a difficult job. He went insane almost immediately afterward and was committed to Bedlam Royal Hospital, where he died.
Luck and Circumstances
When you look at the notes that make up one frequently played musical theme from the show Twin Peaks, they rise and fall, visually forming twin peaks. No one intended this, leading various people in the production to credit it to cosmic fate.
Boston Stereotypes
Good Will Hunting didn’t have a big budget, so when it came time to cast the part of a judge, they just grabbed some guy from the Teamsters union. Jimmy Flynn turned out to be an actual member of the Irish mafia, and was later identified as a murderer by a victim’s dying words.
This Is Not a Pipe
Steve Jobs claimed not to sign autographs. He once typed a letter to a fan saying as much — a letter that he then signed. This letter later fetched $479,939 when it went up for auction in 2021.
Hakuna Mamia
Elton John was the second choice to do music for Disney’s The Lion King. Tim Rice first contacted Abba — who would have said yes, but they were busy, being on tour.
Honk Honk
Silent movies would have someone in the theater playing music on the piano. Sometimes, someone would be on hand to play sound effects as well. A dedicated device called the American Fotoplayer played a recorded piano roll and also let out a dozen sound effects, selected with pedals.
Just a Joke
One famous anecdote about method acting has Laurence Olivier tell Dustin Hoffman that, instead of embodying the character 24/7, “Why don’t you try acting, dear boy? It’s much easier.” He did say that. But Hoffman wasn’t actually suffering for the role when he showed up looking haggard that day. He looked so tired because he’d been partying every night.
Dry Cold
The dust storms of the Great Depression were bad for crops, of course. They were also really cold. During one 1935 storm, the temperature dropped 30 degrees in a matter of hours.
Last-Last-Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer began as a book — a book from 1973. In 2010, 37 years later, the author released a new version set in the present day. This created new challenges, including adapting the existing plot to a world where cell phones exist.
The Hand of Fate
Ace of Base’s career began went they sent a producer a demo tape, which he didn’t like, ending all chances of his signing the group. But the tape got stuck in the cassette deck of his car, so he played it every morning as he drove to work with another producer. In a couple weeks, the tape won him over after all.
Better Dead than Red
Congress investigated Lucille Ball in 1953 for being a member of the Communist Party. The movie Being the Ricardos has J. Edgar Hoover personally call Desi Arnaz during an I Love Lucy taping to announce she’s been cleared — a call that never happened in real life. However, Arnaz really did reassure that Lucy audience by saying, “Now I want you to meet my favorite wife, my favorite redhead. In fact, that’s the only thing red about her, and even that’s not legitimate.”
