Manon and Manon Lescaut are different operas.
― Trouble Is My Métier (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 17:36 (four years ago) link
Steve Priest from The Sweet wasn't gay.
― Anti-Cop Ponceortium (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 4 June 2020 20:58 (four years ago) link
The saxophone was invented by a guy called Sax
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 4 June 2020 21:25 (four years ago) link
Kevin Ayers was managed by John Reid for a while.
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Thursday, 4 June 2020 22:20 (four years ago) link
... as was Michael Flatley!
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Thursday, 4 June 2020 22:25 (four years ago) link
― Boring, Maryland, Thursday, 4 June 2020 23:09 (four years ago) link
irl titter
― an, uh, razor of love (sic), Thursday, 4 June 2020 23:11 (four years ago) link
ditto
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Thursday, 4 June 2020 23:11 (four years ago) link
Born Warren Wilhelm Jr., he changed his name to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm in 1983 and finally to Bill de Blasio in 2001 to honor his maternal family.
― all cats are beautiful (silby), Friday, 5 June 2020 03:52 (four years ago) link
Nothing untoward at all about renaming yourself for your mom's family but self-christening with a more "ayyy New Yoooak" name when you're running for city council is kind afunny
― all cats are beautiful (silby), Friday, 5 June 2020 03:55 (four years ago) link
Will that, and the German emperor.
― pplains, Friday, 5 June 2020 10:41 (four years ago) link
I had no idea that actor (etc.) Wallace Shawn was the son of William Shawn, the famed New Yorker editor. (I also could have sworn he was dead, but maybe I was thinking of William Goldman.)
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 June 2020 13:11 (four years ago) link
Limahl (of “The Neverending Story” fame) was the singer in Kajagoogoo.
― A White, White Gay (cryptosicko), Friday, 5 June 2020 13:18 (four years ago) link
Kevin Spacey's real name is Kevin Fowler, which tbf is extraordinarily boring name for an actor and sounds like the reserve team manager at Accrington Stanley or something.
― Captain Beeftweet (Tom D.), Friday, 5 June 2020 13:25 (four years ago) link
Ha - at one point my learning process went exactly in reverse: Limahl, the singer for 80s one-hit wonders Kajagoogoo, had a song in the movie The Neverending Story, which I have never seen.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 5 June 2020 13:28 (four years ago) link
Yeah, no he is definitely of Kajagoogoo and indeed Limahl fame.
― Andrew Farrell, Friday, 5 June 2020 13:36 (four years ago) link
Did not know that about the Shawns
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 5 June 2020 14:54 (four years ago) link
Limahl was the other Mark Hamill, which is what the stage name was an anagram of, surname at least.Did taht haircut take off much? Looks like he's wearing an animal head or something on his head.
Nick Beggs the band bassist went onto some renown I heard.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 6 June 2020 00:17 (four years ago) link
Max Born is Olivia Newton-John's grandfather.
― jmm, Saturday, 6 June 2020 03:51 (four years ago) link
Suzi Quatro is Sherilyn Fenn's aunt.
― Captain Beeftweet (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 June 2020 14:08 (four years ago) link
this guy is juliette lewis's father
https://i.imgur.com/gltiD6k.jpg
― mookieproof, Sunday, 7 June 2020 01:30 (four years ago) link
he's his own grandpa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A4ADzu-v3s
― j., Sunday, 7 June 2020 01:31 (four years ago) link
I'm assuming "this guy" is Elisha Cook, Jr., who appeared in both The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, among many notable films. Imdb lists over 200 acting credits for his career. And a real fun guy, too.
― A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 7 June 2020 01:51 (four years ago) link
elisha cook jr. is a different (and considerably older) this guy. but i hear you cluckin, big chicken
that is geoffrey lewis of many clint eastwood movies and 'murder, she wrote' episodes and also, i've learned, the bodyguard from the jean-claude van damme vehicle 'double impact'
he should have been a townie in 'blazing saddles' but wasn't
― mookieproof, Sunday, 7 June 2020 04:27 (four years ago) link
Ah, Salem's Lot! That's where I know that guy!(Also starring the aforementioned Elisha Cook, coincidentally.)
― Fun-Loving and Furry-Curious! (Old Lunch), Sunday, 7 June 2020 04:57 (four years ago) link
Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor sang backing vocals on Neil Young's "Heart of Gold."
― How I Wrote Neuroplastic Man (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 7 June 2020 15:16 (four years ago) link
Italy is smaller than Arizona.
― i am not throwing away my snot (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 7 June 2020 19:56 (four years ago) link
okay that freaks me out
― inveterate practitioner of antisocial distancing (Hunt3r), Sunday, 7 June 2020 20:53 (four years ago) link
Europe is about the size of like New Jersey iirc
― all cats are beautiful (silby), Sunday, 7 June 2020 20:55 (four years ago) link
Not quite but it came up in conversation: Italy has like five or six distinct food regions.
How many regional cuisines exist in, say, Nevada (roughly comparable in land area)?
I realize it's not fair to ignore population and population density, but still.
― I was working as a waitress in an oxygen bar (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 7 June 2020 21:27 (four years ago) link
I heard somewhere that size doesn't matter.
― A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 7 June 2020 21:32 (four years ago) link
that the population of much much larger by landmass than UK country, Pakistan, was still lower than them as late as 1968
― calzino, Sunday, 7 June 2020 21:36 (four years ago) link
The US state of Wyoming has more landmass than the UK, yet has less than 1% its population
― Josefa, Sunday, 7 June 2020 21:53 (four years ago) link
and yet more US Senators than the UK!
― all cats are beautiful (silby), Sunday, 7 June 2020 22:05 (four years ago) link
I always thought of Pakistan as a very large country, current pop 212m. Just never realised it was still quite sparsely populated as late as '68.
― calzino, Sunday, 7 June 2020 22:10 (four years ago) link
xp Yeah it actually makes me bitter that I live in a borough of NYC that has 5x the population of Wyoming yet my ENTIRE STATE - let alone my city, let alone my borough - has the same number of senators as fucking Wyoming
― Josefa, Sunday, 7 June 2020 22:12 (four years ago) link
Italy has like five or six distinct food regions.
Is that all?
― Captain Beeftweet (Tom D.), Sunday, 7 June 2020 22:14 (four years ago) link
xps
But i suppose Pakistan and India did both have the opposite of a post-war baby boom after the disastrous partition left millions dead on both sides.
― calzino, Sunday, 7 June 2020 22:16 (four years ago) link
That the population of Ireland has only just reached and surpassed what it was in 1855. And is still some way short of what it was in 1841. In contrast the population of England is over 4 times what it was in 1841.
― Captain Beeftweet (Tom D.), Sunday, 7 June 2020 22:28 (four years ago) link
the problem after the mass flight of the famine was that of the male peasants that stayed behind, many of them had freakishly distended forehead syndrome (see brendan o'neill) which led to a population crash!
― calzino, Sunday, 7 June 2020 23:03 (four years ago) link
San Bernardino County in California is larger in landsize than Switzerland.
And neither is a member of the E.U.
― pplains, Monday, 8 June 2020 13:42 (four years ago) link
today i was shockingly old when i learnt how ginormous san bernardino cty is-- that would be the 42nd biggest state. i am trying hard to resist looking into this further.
― inveterate practitioner of antisocial distancing (Hunt3r), Monday, 8 June 2020 14:18 (four years ago) link
As big as 20 Rhode Islands, iirc.
― nickn, Monday, 8 June 2020 17:27 (four years ago) link
Picturing 20 Woonsockets out in the desert somewhere, just chilling.
― pplains, Monday, 8 June 2020 18:41 (four years ago) link
the bloke who wrote the 'who'd break a butterfly on a wheel?' piece about the rolling stones' drug arrests was J Rees-Mogg's dad.
― koogs, Monday, 8 June 2020 19:10 (four years ago) link
Shame i thought taht was getting semi liberal. Not read it recently but i thought it was arguing against stentorian drug enforcement landing on the Stones at th etime of the Redlands bust. I think there's a tie in tv interview taht I have on video somewhere.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 10:28 (three years ago) link
Just had it confirmed that New York is not part of New England. Always associate it with being part of it because the name comes from the UK obviously and its geographically almost right next to what is considered to be New England proper.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 10:30 (three years ago) link
"Debrett's single sourceless sentence on the subject describes the charter of 1439 as a writ, although Cokayne denies that Ireland recognised the creation of peerages by writ; some websites have copied Debrett."
― mark s, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 10:33 (three years ago) link
Washington DC is not a state. For some reason I always thought it was one.
― the grateful dead can dance (anagram), Tuesday, 9 June 2020 10:35 (three years ago) link
i've been hearing the expression "it is always darkest before the dawn" all my life and it wasn't till about a week ago that i thought about it for more than a second and realized that it is not, in fact, true from a scientific pov
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 9 June 2020 10:38 (three years ago) link