Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 Point Game Was Truly One Of A Kind (Cool Weird Awesome 723)
Today in 1962 one of the most stunning performances in the history of basketball, or really in all of pro sports: Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game.
Wally Funk, At Long Last An Astronaut (Cool Weird Awesome 707)
Today in 1939, the birthday of Wally Funk. She first passed astronaut training in her 20s and could have been one of the first US astronauts, but after some 60 years of trying, she finally got into space.
The Time Paul Newman Really Didn’t Want People To See A Paul Newman Movie (Cool Weird Awesome 703)
Today was the birthday in 1925 of actor and entrepreneur Paul Newman, who made some very popular and very acclaimed movies. But there was one movie he made that he loathed so much, he actually took out ads to convince people not to watch it.
The Woman Who Brought Hollywood To Communist Romania (Cool Weird Awesome 676)
In the late 1980s Romania was still behind the Iron Curtain, but its people wanted to see and hear film, TV shows and music from the US and other countries. Irina Nistor used her voice to bring some of that outside media to the people.
Get me, I’m giving out DVDs
A Christmas present story
“Casablanca” Almost Had A Sequel – Twice (Cool Weird Awesome 665)
After the landmark movie "Casablanca" became an unexpected hit, Hollywood tried a couple times to make a sequel.
Being Nice Really Can Make The World Around You Nicer, Science Has Shown It (Cool Weird Awesome 655)
A University of Oregon study on what's called the “perceiver-elicited similarity effect" finds that when you’re nice, that can lead to more niceness around you! Plus: today in 1910, what’s believed to be the first movie stunt took place. And it was quite a stunt.
Incubus, The Esperanto-Language Movie Starring William Shatner (Cool Weird Awesome 642)
Today in 1966, the official release of "Incubus," the only Esperanto-language movie starring a pre-Star Trek William Shatner. The movie had such bad fortune some people actually thought it was cursed. Plus: a guy buys an airplane, and though he's never flown before, he taxis it down the runway, takes off and has to figure out how to land.
The Parrots That Almost Did Publicity For A Mae West Movie (Cool Weird Awesome 617)
Today in 1934, Paramount Pictures released the movie “Belle of the Nineties,” starring Mae West. And, for some reason, the studio trained several dozen parrots to learn to say the title of the movie so they could appear at theaters and wow the moviegoing public. There was just one problem with the plan, though. Plus: on this World Peace Day, the guy who tried to make the world a more peaceful place by walking backwards.
NestFlix Is The Internet’s Home For Shows Within Shows (Cool Weird Awesome 602)
Web developer/creator/artist Lynn Fisher's new project is NestFlix, a website that looks like a streaming service but features the fictional shows and movies that are within real world ones. Plus: the Potato Photographer of the Year gives us some unforgettable images. No small fries in this group.