Page 14 of 31

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 4:35 pm
by Gloomy Rube
Today I learned Death Stranding is named using the word "Stranding", as in, like being stranded on an island.

I know that's obvious, but it took me far too long not to see it as a goofy typo of "Standing" and I don't know why

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 4:53 pm
by Mr. Big
Gloomy Rube wrote:
Mon Nov 18, 2019 4:35 pm
Today I learned Death Stranding is named using the word "Stranding", as in, like being stranded on an island.

I know that's obvious, but it took me far too long not to see it as a goofy typo of "Standing" and I don't know why
...holy shit, I always read it as "Death Standing". Didn't notice the "R" in "Stranding" :starity:

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 5:27 pm
by Gloomy Rube
Okay so it's not just me that had trouble with that, I'm glad to hear that

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 5:41 pm
by Mr. Big
To be fair, "Death Standing" would be an awesome title for something.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:35 pm
by Pocket
For a while I kept misreading it as "Depth Stranding" and thinking it had something to do with the ocean.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:41 pm
by DaikatunaRevengeance
well, there's a beach

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:50 pm
by Perrydotto
The game is about being stranded but also about strands, as in connections between people both literally and metaphorically, so it's layered you see

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 12:30 am
by Madeline
TIL that despite a few years of it being common knowledge that BET was launched as a part of Nickelodeon was wrong, and the video that sets this out is a great example of how easily misinformation is spread on the internet.


Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 12:05 pm
by Mr. Big
TIL that a Garfield strip for October 20, 2002 had its dialogues altered in reprints.

The original:

Image

The reprint:

Image

This was due to Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" being still under copyright at the time the comic was published. However, the poem has since lapsed into public domain, so they can restore the original version if they desire.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:22 pm
by DaikatunaRevengeance
Cool

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:15 pm
by Pocket
Aaaand I just now learned that Robert Frost lived until 1963. I guess I always assumed he lived exclusively in the days before cars, since his most famous poem involved being on horseback. I can't be the only one. I'll bet there were people in '63 who thought the same thing. Imagine how weirded out they must have been to see his obituary on the evening news.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 3:06 pm
by Mr. Big
As a kid I remember grown-ups thinking that Shel Silverstein died long before I was born. In reality he died in 1999, when I was 10.

Here's another comic-related TIL: Cousin Itt in "The Addams Family" was created specifically for the TV series. Charles Addams didn't draw him in the cartoons until after the show debuted:

Image

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 6:31 pm
by Orange Fluffy Sheep
they keep the Naked Garf thouggh

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:08 pm
by Mr. Big
You know the phrase "hoist with his own petard"? Well, TIL that petard is a type of small bomb that was used in the 16th century.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:20 pm
by Gloomy Rube
It's also from Shakespeare, to be exact, Hamlet. :spike101:

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:33 pm
by Mr. Big
So a 1940 Tex Avery cartoon "Holiday Highlights" has this gag in the beginning:



As a kid, I didn't get this. Well, TIL that this is in reference to how, for a brief period in the 1940s, Thanksgiving was celebrated in two different dates depending on which state you lived (and which political party controlled the said state).

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:36 pm
by Octavia
Having separate Thanksgivings based on political views would make it a whole lot easier to deal with older racist relatives.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:48 pm
by Bigdog
Lifehack: You can still have separate Thanksgivings without your racist relatives

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:49 pm
by Gloomy Rube
Yeah this was referenced in Holiday Inn, too, with the Turkey getting really confused about what day to stand on.


Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:51 pm
by Mr. Big
I keep seeing this comic shared on Twitter and Tumblr:



TIL that this was drawn by Courtney Dunkel (1902-1982), who was a man btw.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:52 pm
by DaikatunaRevengeance
aww :allears:

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 10:31 pm
by Mr. Big
For some reason, I always thought "Baked Alaska" was just another name for pancakes.

TIL that, no, it's not. It's an entirely different dessert. And it's considered one of the most difficult dishes to create.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:47 pm
by Mr. Big
You know this animation of the Grinch?

Image

TIL who animated this. It's Ben Washam, who co-directed the special with Jones.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:58 pm
by Madeline
Mr. Big wrote:
Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:47 pm
You know this animation of the Grinch?

Image

TIL who animated this. It's Ben Washam, who co-directed the special with Jones.
It’s kinda funny, he even gets his own standalone credit after the animators do in the end credits:

Image

Jones thought highly of Washam’s ability as an animator and spends a lot of time praising Washam in his books. But he should have given him proper co-director credit up front, which might have been an affront to Jones’s ego :-I

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 12:14 am
by Mr. Big
Madeline wrote:
Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:58 pm
But he should have given him proper co-director credit up front, which might have been an affront to Jones’s ego :-I
Something I noticed with later Looney Tunes done before the shutdown is that Chuck's and Friz's cartoons had co-director credits (Chuck's often had Maurice Noble as a co-director, while Friz had Hawley Pratt as a co-director). From what I know, it's because they were responsible for layouts and general design sense in the cartoons, so much so that they were considered assistants to their respective directors. Friz in particular relied heavily on Hawley Pratt to do all the designs. Chuck and Friz meanwhile would focus on stories, timing, assigning animators, and voice direction.

Interestingly, when Chuck and Friz went on their own paths after Warners shut down their animation department, Friz promoted Hawley Pratt as a full-time director on the Pink Panther cartoons. Chuck meanwhile directed most of the MGM stuff himself with Noble as co-director. He eventually promoted Abe Levitow as a full director instead of Noble (with Ben Washam directing a couple of Tom and Jerry on the side).

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 12:20 am
by Mr. Big
And yeah, I agree that Washam should have gotten credit upfront. I kinda wonder how they decided on what order the credits are listed; I noticed that Bob Ogle's and Irv Spector's credits for additional writing are just right before Washam's.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 12:25 am
by Mr. Big
Also wow, I wrote a ton of words about this :-I

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 1:21 am
by Perrydotto
They are cool and good words. :vogue:

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 5:01 pm
by Madeline
I like reading about cartoons :)

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:04 pm
by Mr. Big
:yay:

Something I learned recently is that Ben Washam surprisingly did quite a few work for Jay Ward. Before he died, Gerard Baldwin told me that Washam animated a few shots in the "Hoppity Hooper" pilot (Baldwin did most of the animation otherwise).



Baldwin's animation are always easy to spot because he had an unusual way of animating characters' mouth movements. As for Washam's animation, a friend said this part may have been his:

Image

Washam also did some animation in this unsold Jay Ward pilot from 1980. This may very well be the last thing he worked on; he died in 1984.


Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:20 pm
by Mr. Big
(also, it's weird seeing a Jay Ward cartoon with background music.)

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:48 am
by Mr. Big
There's an old comic book that used to be popular with kids called "Sad Sack", about an incompetent soldier (before it anyone asks, the comic predates "Beetle Bailey" by several years). The comic ran for a long time, lasting until the early 1980s, and it was referenced in "The Simpsons" at least once:

Image

Anyway, TIL that the name "Sad Sack" came from a WWII-era expression, "a sad sack of shit", meaning incompetent soldiers.

YOU KNOW, FOR KIDS :-I

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:51 am
by Mr. Big


TIL that Daisy Duck originally had the exact same voice as Donald, but they redubbed her later on.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 5:17 am
by Perpetual Motion
TIL that eternal edgy meme song "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence was actually originally meddled with quite a bit by the record label. They didn't think a female-voiced metal song would fly, so they forced the band to add the male rap vocals. The song then blew up, and kinda poisoned the band's legacy. Two years ago they released an album containing mostly orchestral re-arrangements of their hits, and Bring Me to Life is pretty striking with the originally intended vocals:



Cool to know that even some more obnoxious songs had a lot of musical merit to them.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 9:50 am
by Vivianinatoga
A fellow 12tone connoisseur, I see.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 10:07 am
by Fizzbuzz
"Meme song"? Oh, that isn't anywhere near enough memes. Listen to this:

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 10:53 am
by Perpetual Motion
Davyinatoga wrote:
Sat Dec 07, 2019 9:50 am
A fellow 12tone connoisseur, I see.
I follow at least three different music theory channels, 12tone being one of them. They're all quite good and interesting, even if my theory knowledge has largely faded since high school leaving a lot of stuff somewhat incomprehensible.

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 4:12 pm
by DaikatunaRevengeance
a french psychologist wanted a system to find children who have trouble learning in school to better help them

then everyone else decided to use it for racism

and that's how iq scores were created

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 4:14 pm
by DaikatunaRevengeance
racism and eugenics

Re: TIL Thread: Today I learned...

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 4:16 pm
by Mechanical Ape
DaikatunaRevengeance wrote:
Sat Dec 07, 2019 4:12 pm
then everyone else decided to use it for racism
welcome to history