mental_floss » Ben Smith

The 5pm Quiz: Middle Initials

Ben Smith — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:00:01 +0000

We know a good number of famous middle initials. But how many of us actually know the less famous, oftentimes strange names they stand for? Let’s find out.

Take the quiz: The Name Behind The Initial

5 Roadside Attractions Worth a Stop

Ben Smith — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:02:00 +0000

While Disney World and the beach are fine vacations for some, I still prefer the great American roadtrip with all its quirky, unplanned side stops along the way. Click below for an interactive map version of the article, or read on to find out more on these classic roadside stops.

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1. House on the Rock

5754 Hwy 23, Spring Green, WI

The Wisconsin Dells area is full of tourist traps, with an unusually high number of water parks for an area with cold winters and enough cheese shops to satisfy an army of hungry mice. But an hour outside of the main part of the Dells in Spring Green, WI, is The House on the Rock, a monument to a disgruntled architect and the crazy collections held inside its walls.

After being told by Frank Lloyd Wright he wasn’t fit to “design a cheese crate or a chicken coop,” Alex Jordan, Sr., vowed to “put up a Japanese house on one of those pinnacle rocks” to show Wright what he thought of his opinion. His son, Alex, Jr., started construction in 1945; by 1961, the house had already become a must-see attraction in the Midwest.

Nowadays, the focus is not so much about the house as the contents held within it, and the rest of the additions that have been made to the house since it first opened. Starting in 1968, the house began to display the unusual collections of Jordan, which grew from one room in the house to the whole complex, which was sold to a family friend in 1988. The museum now contains massive collections of dolls, a giant carousel, a 200-ft. model of a whale, and the Infinity Room, a window-filled room which juts out 218 feet from the rock without supports, providing spectacular views of the Wisconsin countryside around it. The collection continues to grow, and the tour of the entire facility takes over 4 hours. [Earlier this year, Stacy Conradt paid the House on a Rock a visit. Check out her Armchair Field Trip.]

2. Wall Drug

510 Main St., Wall, SD

Another long-standing Midwest tourist stop, Wall Drug is famous for the ubiquitous wooden signs advertising its free ice water and the many different attractions that have made it more than just an average shopping mall. Ted Hustead, a pharmacist from Nebraska, started Wall Drug as a drugstore, and the small store experienced low business until Ted’s wife suggested advertising free ice water outside of town. After the first sign advertising the water was placed, visitors started increasing, and they’ve been busy ever since.

The crazy attractions didn’t start, however, until Ted’s son, Bill Hustead, took over the family business. Embarrassed since high school that all the ads were for a “small town store,” Bill set out to make things interesting. Wall Drug now features a giant Apatosaurus visible from the highway, a fiberglass jackalope, a miniature Mount Rushmore, numerous animatronic creatures and bands, a pharmacy museum with a replica of the original Wall Drug, and numerous other attractions that have expanded Wall Drug from a small store to a complex spanning a couple city blocks that employs a third of the town of Wall, SD.

3. The Thing?

2631 N Johnson Rd, Dragoon, AZ

This is what I think of when I picture a tourist trap–a place in the middle of nowhere, promising something you can’t see anywhere else. ‘The Thing?’ has been showing visitors “The Mystery of the Desert” since 1950, and has remained in its current location just outside of X since 1965. The main building is your standard roadside “trading post” that sells jewelry and moccasins, but for a dollar’s admission, you get to not only see The Thing?, but all that leads up to it. Three long, open-ended steel sheds are filled with a variety of odd displays and artifacts, and The Thing? awaits you at the third shed. It wouldn’t be a tourist trap without a gift shop full of everything from Thing? t-shirts to Thing? bottled water. Whether The Thing? really contains a desert mystery or just a bunch of oddly-arranged junk is up to those to visit, but it still remains an interesting stop along the road.

4. Coral Castle

28655 S. Dixie Hwy, Homestead, FL

An unusual monument to unrequited love, this “castle” of sorts also serves as a mystery of how it was created. Jilted by his bride at the altar, Ed Leedskalnin began to build something he thought would impress her. How an open-air compound with rock tables, chairs, and beds built over 20 years was supposed to woo her back to him is anyone’s guess, but the mystery that remains to this day is this: how Ed was able to move the 2.2 million pounds of coral rock required when he was only around 100 pounds? Ed was as reclusive as he was creative, and reportedly worked only at night by lantern. He died in 1951, and since 1953, the castle has withstood hurricanes and other disasters.

5. Cadillac Ranch

I-40, Amarillo, TX, between exits 60 and 62

America seems to have no shortage of unusual stonehenge replicas, made of everything from limestone to refrigerators (perhaps that’s another article–anyone interested in learning more?), but the Cadillac Ranch in Texas is a monument of a different sort. Ten Cadillacs are buried nose-first, facing in the direction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The cars were installed as an art installation in 1974, and remained there until the growth of the nearby city forced the installation to move two miles down the road to its current location. The cars showcase the evolution of the Cadillac’s design, with both the birth and the death of the car’s signature tail fin represented in the lineup. As the original color of the cars have faded, graffiti has been added, and even encouraged by the original group.

The cars also have inspired various movies and songs. The Pixar film Cars featured rock formations shaped like the standing cars, and the film’s main setting, Radiator Springs, was set just outside of an area marked “Cadillac Range” on the map. Bruce Springsteen wrote a song titled “Cadillac Ranch” on his 1980 album The River. Clearly these cars are more than creatively-arranged junkers.

Interested in checking these landmarks out, but worried by high gas prices? There’s sure to be one closer to your area listed at RoadsideAmerica, an internet directory of touristy landmarks past and present.

Ben Smith is a former mental_floss intern. He currently attends the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

The Quick 10: 10 Great Colleges that Finished Second

Ben Smith — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:45:03 +0000

My college, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, was just named the number one school for engineering* by US News and World Report (for an impressive tenth year in a row). Being number one is important, but it shouldn’t be the only criteria looked at when searching for a school. Here are ten colleges that, while not topping the annual list, are still equally impressive in second place.

1. In my school’s category, Harvey Mudd College in California took the silver.

2. For those of you looking to get a doctorate in engineering, Stanford University and the University of California-Berkeley tied for second after MIT.

3. For those more inclined towards business, MIT‘s Sloan School of Business ranked just below the University of Pennsylvania’s program.

4. For those looking for a liberal arts degree, Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania placed third after a tie between Amherst College and Williams College (both in Massachusetts) for top honors.

5. The Juliard School in NYC has the second-lowest acceptance rate, admitting only 8% of applicants from 2007. The most selective school, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, only admitted 5%.

6. Williams College picks up another second place accolade-it has the second-highest graduation rate, only behind St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing in Illinois, 91% vs. 92%.

7. Students looking for plenty of merit-based financial aid should look no further than Anderson University in South Carolina, which fufills 95% of its students’ non-need based aid. The leader, Cooper Union in New York, offers a full ride scholarship to anyone who is admitted.

8. Students looking to transfer schools but afraid of being the only transfer student should consider Colorado Technical University, which had 8,352 transfer students Fall 2007. The University of Phoenix accepted 33,337.

9. For those looking for a historically black college, Howard University in Washington, DC was ranked second behind Spelman College in Georgia.

10. Finally, for those looking to join a fraternity, Sewanee–University of the South in Tennessee reports 82% of its student body is involved in a fraternity. This percentage is only surpassed by Clearwater Christian College in Florida, which requires each student to join a fraternity.

* Amongst schools with a Masters as the highest degree offered.

10 Other Amazing Buildings by 2008′s Olympic Architects

Ben Smith — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:34:29 +0000

If you have any interest in the Olympics, you’ve certainly seen Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” and “Water Cube.” But who are the geniuses behind them? And what other structures pad their rÃ©sumÃ©s? Ben Smith’s got all the answers below.

1. Herzog & de Meuron: The Guys Behind the “Bird’s Nest”

It’s stunning that in a skyline packed with soaring structures and modern design, it is a stadium that stands out. This isn’t a fluke, though. The firm responsible for the “Bird’s Nest,” Herzog and deMeuron, has a long history of designing functional but distinctive structures. In 2001, they were awarded the Pritzker Prize, one of the biggest honors in architecture, for seamlessly incorporating cutting-edge materials (like silkscreened glass!) into their highly elegant structures. In fact, they’ve been pushing the boundaries of design for years.

As you might imagine, this isn’t the Swiss firm’s first stadium. They’ve also designed Germany’s Allianz Arena (pictured below) and the St. Jakob-Park Stadium (pictured under) in Switzerland. The Beijing National Stadium, however, is the most sculptural of the three.

What Herzog and de Meuron seem most known for, though, is their work with museums. The group gained recognition in this area when they converted Bankside Power Station into what’s now the Tate Modern gallery in London. On this side of the pond, the best example of their aesthetic can be seen in their expansion of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. The new portion of the museum has doubled gallery space and created a stir with its unusual angles and crinkled-metal exterior. For a better sense of how much space was added, take a look at the tiny pic below. The original building is the brick portion to the right.

While the Walker may be my favorite, the IKMZ building in Germany is a close second. Whatever the facade is created from, it creates a stunning effect.

2. PTW Architects: The Geniuses Behind the “Water Cube”

PTW’s work isn’t often as bold as that of Herzog and deMeuron, but their design for Beijing’s Aquatics venue has been making a splash in the design world. Those eye-catching soapy bubbles are based on the Weaire-Phelan structure. And the ETFE (or ethyl tetra fluoro ethylene) pillows that cover the building’s steel frame work better than glass– allowing for more light and heat to enter the building, and decreasing energy costs by 30%. PTW does have experience with other Olympic venues. The firm also designed the Olympic Villages for the Beijing and Sydney games and they oversaw the transformation of the many venues used in the Athens games into Olympic-level facilities.

Outside of the Olympic Games, PTW’s work ranges from typical skyscrapers in Australia to more exotic designs. Perhaps their most talked about (and frequently web-linked) project is the beautiful Palm Islands development in Dubai.

3. Arup: The Structural Engineers That Make it Happen

While it isn’t exactly easy to come up with the idea for a building that looks like a nest or replicates the pattern of soap bubbles, it’s quite a different burden to get the building to stand up straight! That’s where structural engineers come in, and Arup provides some of the most creative solutions in the business. The firm first gained prominence when they figured out how to create the spectacular arcs of the Syndey Opera House. The structure had been notoriously difficult to implement, and Arup did it by cutting the shapes from hemispheres of the same radius. Their enormous creativity and massive know-how has pushed them to the forefront of the profession, making them one of the most sought-after structural engineering groups in the world.

The Bird’s Nest and Water Cube aren’t the only Beijing structures the group has worked on, though. The team recently recently oversaw construction on China’s new CCTV headquarters. The building is a continuous loop consisting of two towers connected at the top by a horizontal section. The result is yet another spectacular building dotting Beijing’s continuously improving skyline.

So, what else has Arup worked on? Some of their notable works in Europe includes the Casa da MÃºsica in Portugal, 30 St. Mary Axe in London, and one of my favorite buildings by them, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Arup’s work covers a variety of different and creative architectural styles that woudln’t otherwise be possible without their knowledge.

The Quick 10: 10 Incidents (Other Than Boycotts) That Shook the Olympics

Ben Smith — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:10:25 +0000

Boycotts have caused controversy at the Olympic games in 1976, 1980, and 1984, and pressure was put on the United States and other nations to lead a boycott of the current games because of China’s support of the Darfur genocide and mass displacement of residents, amongst other reasons. They aren’t the only incidents that have caused scandal at the Games, however. Here are 10 other events, both major and minor, that have also created controversy in the history of the Olympics.

1. 1932—Equestrian Bertil Sandstrom of Sweden is demoted to last place for clicking to his horse to encourage it.

2. 1936—German cyclist Toni Merkens fouls Dutch opponent Arie van Vliet; rather than being disqualified, he is fined and keeps his gold medal.

3. 1968—The East German women’s luge team is DQ’d for heating the runners prior to each of their runs.

4. 1972—Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team are taken hostage by a Palestinian terrorist group and later murdered.

5. 1980—In addition to massive boycotts led by the United States, pole vault jumper Wladyslaw Kozakiewics was almost stripped of his medal for making a “bent elbow” gesture at the public.

6. 1988—Three judges for the boxing final between Park Si-Hun and Roy Jones Jr. are later suspended after it was found they may have been bribed into giving the win to Park despite Jones’ clear success in the match.

7. 1994—Tonya Harding is banned for life after arranging for an attack to be made on her closest rival, Nancy Kerrigan.

8. 2002—Various members of the IOC were forced to resign after it was revealed they accepted expensive “gifts” in return for choosing Salt Lake City as the host of the Games.

9. 2002—The gold medal for pairs figure skating is given to both Berexhnaya & Sikharulidze and Sale’ & Pelletier when it was found that the French Judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, had been bribed.

10. 2004—Marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima is pushed into the crowd by a defrocked Irish priest, losing his first place position.

Annotated Cinema: The Prequel!

Ben Smith — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:00:13 +0000

Ed note: Here’s a new idea from the All-Star Summer Interns. They’re taking a movie everyone can easily find in their collection and developing an annotated “guide” to go with it. Each intern will watch the flick, find behind-the-scenes info and facts about the people, places, and things in the movie, and then compile their findings (along with timestamps and movie stills) in a post or pdf. Think of it as a factual Mystery Science Theater-style commentary, or an off-screen Pop-Up Video.

For an example of the sort of information they’ll be covering, intern superstar Ben Smith did a test run with a recent Youtube hit after the jump. Enjoy!

THE CINEMA:

Love in This Club (as performed by the Rockafire Explosion)

THE ANNOTATION:

The Rockafire Explosion was the in-house animatronic band for Showbiz Pizza locations in the 1980s and early 1990s. What made this particular show rise above the handful of other similar shows of the time were its size, construction, and programming. The “performers” took up the entire length of the Showbiz Pizza showroom, and unlike cloth and foam models (like at competitor Chuck E. Cheese), the faces of the characters were made with latex to provide more realistic movement.
The company that developed the animatronics used in the Rockafire Explosion also created Whack-a-Mole
The shows were originally programmed with reel-to-reel audio tapes with 4 tracks of audio, 2 with the performances and two with the data needed to move the characters, although the characters are now programmed with a modified Tivo. A song like “Love in this Club” usually takes about a week of programming to fully complete.
MGMT’s video for “Electric Feel” features the Rockafire Band in a few scenes
Love in this Club rocketed from #51 to #1 in its third week, giving it the fourth highest jump of all-time, behind Maroon 5′s “Makes Me Wonder” (which jumped from 64 to 1), Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” (53 to 1) and Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This” (52 to 1)
Nolan Bushnell, one of the founders of Atari, created the Chuck E. Cheese concept and developed the chain as a way to distribute Atari games. In the early 90s, after Showbiz and Chuck E. Cheese’s had merged, the restaurants started to phase out the animatronics in favor of “unifying concepts” and focusing on video games.
1:09–Cheerleaders were originally all male
Lawrence Herkimer made many cheerleading innovations or improvements, such as “pom-pons,” “spirits sticks,” and “booster ribbons.” He founded the National Cheerleader’s Association and formed a Dallas company to produce cheerleading products. He is also credited with creating the “herkie” jump
In England, usher is a now obselete name for a schoolmaster, and the word comes from the french “huissier”
The original programmer of the Rockafire Explosion, Aaron Fecter, is responsible for the choreography on the youtube videos. Song requests can be made on his website for the project.
Usher syndrome, also known as Hallgren syndrome, is one of the leading causes of deaf-blindness.
2:32–Ventriloquism as we know it began in the days of vaudeville in the late 19th century
Shari Lewis debuted Lambchop on the Captain Kangaroo show after she was asked to bring something other than the wooden figures she usually used.

So now that you’ve gotten a taste of what we’re looking to do, here’s where you come in: We’re trying to pick a movie for the second full installment of Annotated Cinema (the first will be a favorite of all three of us, John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club). Between the three of us we’ve suggested everything from Cool Hand Luke to Young Frankenstein. Let us know in the comments what you’d like to see in future installments, both in choice of movie and commentary.

4 Ways to Unleash the Power of Your Wiimote Controller

Ben Smith — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:43:23 +0000

A big part of the Nintendo Wii’s charm is its wireless motion-sensing controller, the Wiimote. But who knew it could do so much more than just serving as a virtual racket or bat? From pointing your Roomba to where it should go, to creating an interactive whiteboard for a fraction of the cost, here are 4 Wiimote hacks guaranteed to make you smile.

1. Hook it up to a Horse

With the technology available for modifying the wiimote now, nothing is impossible these days. Even rigging a springy horse to work as a controller in Need for Speed. Admittedly, it’s kind of a niche project, but there are plenty of other crazy (and easy to do) ideas as well. Like #2 on our list:

2. Control Your iTunes

Hesitant to go crazy with your wiimote before a smaller test? Why not use the controller to power your favorite media library? An already existent program, Blue Tunes, allows you to do just that, using the buttons on your wiimote to control the various functions. No programming experience is necessary–just download, adjust the settings to your music library of choice, and you’re ready to go.

3. Create an Interactive Whiteboard

Don’t want to shell out $1500, for an interactive white board? Why not do it on the cheap while harnessing the full potential of what the Wii controller can do. Johnny Lee’s genius whiteboard that could be placed and used anywhere was picked up quickly by major technology blogs like Gizmodo. The ease is the big factor. As long as you’ve got a projection screen or LCD monitor, a laptop, and a cheap infrared (IR) device, you have a whiteboard that can be used by multiple users at the same time for a fraction of the cost of other interactive whiteboard systems.

Amazingly, the whiteboard is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Johnny’s developments. Other projects use concepts of image recognition and computer vision to use the Wiimote to track finger positions and create VR displays that display different views of an image based on the postion of your head in relation to the sensor bar. Interested in seeing what that means? All of these projects are available at his website and youtube channel.

4. Make Sweet, Sweet Music

Creatively stifled by Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but don’t want to wait around for Wii Music to come out? Or maybe you just don’t want to invest in a real drum kit. Either way, it’s now possible to make great music with your controller!

Because of the Wiimote’s rectangular shape, the drums are a natural extension of the controller’s capabilities. Those looking to replicate a full drum kit can even use Nunchuks to simulate the pedals. The software to do all this can be found here. Personally, I’m looking forward to testing this out once I’m back at school and need a break from the work.

Of course, there are plenty of other great ideas out there as well. From turning the controller into a spray can (pictured left), to controlling your Roomba (below)if you’ve got a little imagination and a little know-how, the sky’s the limit. In any case, if you know of any applications we missed or need to check out, be sure to drop them in the comments.

5 Bizarre Brand Extensions We Completely Endorse!

Ben Smith — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:00:50 +0000

When Harley-Davidson made motorcycle boots and leather jackets, that made sense. When the rugged brand started hawking cake decorating kits, that made less sense. And it made us laugh. Here are a five other confused brand extensions we heartily endorse.

1. Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Dog Food

The Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books have been bestsellers since the first one was published in 1993. Various special editions followed, including Chicken Soup for the Dog and Cat Lover’s Soul in 1998 and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul a year later. Seeing a gap in the book-based pet food market, the brand decided to launch dog and cat foods named for the book in the early 2000s. While the website for the company contains answers to questions such as “Where are your foods made?” and “Do you use any chemical preservatives?”, it doesn’t answer the more important questions like, “Why does a book need a tie-in pet food?” and “What if my soul is vegetarian?”

2. Heinz All-Natural Cleaning Vinegar

Every kitchen has a bottle of vinegar. The versatile liquid is a staple in dressings and middle school volcano experiments. But when the popular Household Hint columnist Heloise showed that it could be used to remove rust, kill weeds, and clean a variety of surfaces and materials, vinegar makers started salivating. Heinz, for one, saw the magic liquid’s potential, and expanded into the household cleaner market.Released in 1991 in four test markets and marketed as “Heloise’s Most Helpful Hint,” the Cleaning Vinegar had twice the acid content of regular white vinegar and was lemon scented. Needless to say, the product was a failure. Consumers were confused by the similar looking bottles and the specific purpose of the solution, and the product never made it beyond the test markets.

3. Dunkin Donuts Pizza

In a bid to move beyond donuts and coffee, Dunkin Donuts has been flirting with selling made-to-order personal pizzas in a handful of markets since late 2006. While the pizzas may be delicious, consumers are still wrapping their heads around buying pizzas at a donut shop. While we’re not sure who convinced DD to encroach on Pizza Huts personal pan territory, we’d love to see more products. Dunkin Donuts burritos? Or maybe Dunkin Donuts track shoes (what better way to tie in to their America to run on Dunkin slogan).

4. Gerber Singles

Sounds like something out of an April Fool’s Day press release—a baby food company releasing a version of its product for adults. Gerber Singles were no joke, though, and small jars containing fruits, vegetables, starters, and desserts appeared on store shelves in 1974. Clearly it wasn’t a good idea. Customers had no interest in eating ‘Creamed Beef’ out of a baby food jar, and the name of the product, “Singles” couldn’t have helped either. As Business 2.0‘s Susan Casey said, “they might as well have called it ‘I Live Alone and Eat My Meals From a Jar.’” Gerber’s baby food for adults ranks up there with New Coke as one of the worst brand failures of all time.

5. Smith & Wesson Mountain Bikes

Smith & Wesson are the largest handgun manufacturer in the United States, and have even made “this home protected by a Smith & Wesson security system” claims true with the release of a security system of sorts. Smart move. A less savvy extension? Introducing a mountain bike. First marketed to police officers, the bikes are now available to all consumers anxious to get their hands on a bike bearing the name of their favorite gun company. Of course, the company is offering a whole lot incentive: Customers who add a set of handcuffs or some handguns onto their bike purchase won’t get charged for shipping and handling!

Know of any stranger brand extensions? Drop us a line in the comments.

ed. note: We stand corrected! We’ve changed the Dunkin Donuts pizza section to reflect the reader comments.

5 Reasons 1980 Wasn’t the Best Year for Movie Musicals

Ben Smith — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:14:24 +0000

While movie musicals had their heyday in the 1940s through the 60s, by the 70s they were beginning to wane, and by 1980, they weren’t doing well at all. With the selection present at the time, however, it’s no big shock that they didn’t. Here are some of 1980’s notoriously cheesy musicals which haven’t gotten any better with age.

1. The Apple

It’s over the top. The best compliment you can give it is that it makes good use of sequins. And it’s set in the far off future…of 1994. Adapted from an Israeli stage play, The Apple is a heavy-handed biblical allegory about temptation that seems to think disco has no chance of ever dying. Audiences at the Los Angeles premiere loved the movie so much they threw their soundtracks at the screen, causing extensive damage. The only other positive thing about the movie is that none of its stars seems to have escaped with their careers intact; however, Nigel Lythgoe, the film’s choreographer, has gone on to produce American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. Did I mention that the end of the movie consists of God taking the protagonists away in his magic sky Cadillac? It’s not to be missed.

2. Can’t Stop the Music

Filmed at the height of 1979’s disco craze and produced by Allan Carr (coming off of the massive success of Grease), Can’t Stop the Music had the unfortunate luck of being released after disco had already peaked and was starting to experience a backlash. Directed by Nancy Walker (best known as Ida on the TV show Rhoda) and starring The Village People in a pseudo-biography of their start, the film was actually award-winning. Don’t worry, we’re not talking Oscars here. 1980 was the year the Golden Raspberry Awards started. CSTM took home the first “Worst Picture” and “Worst Screenplay” awards given out by the group, and was nominated for 5 others.

3. Xanadu

This one seems to have all the right pieces. Olivia Newton-John, fresh from her success in the film version of Grease? Check. Music from Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) during the high point of their career? Check. Gene Kelly? Check. So what happened? Well, much like the previous 2 entries on the list, Xanadu celebrated Disco at a time when no one else did. Add a completely unbelievable plot (muses…rollerskating…huh?) and you’ve got a turkey on your hands. Xanadu cost $20 million to make, and barely made it back. The movie has had some luck recently, though. A Broadway version (complete with roller-skates and tongue-in-cheek references to the original) continues to do well, recently receiving 4 Tony nominations/awards.

4. Popeye

Shame on you, Robert Altman. You can do better. We’re looking at you too, Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. While the film made double its budget in the end, critics and word-of-mouth kept many filmgoers away from the theaters after opening weekend. Harry Nilsson’s score was derided as unintelligible, and Altman’s career suffered through most of the 1980s as a result of the movie’s poor performance. Everyone eventually experienced a resurgence in their career’s popularity (Altman with The Player, Duvall with The Shining, and Robin Williams with…being Robin Williams), but Popeye still stands as a blemish on their careers.

5. The Jazz Singer

Neil Diamond is a respected musician with a long career. The Jazz Singer is best known as being the first talking motion picture. But much like oil and water, these two don’t mix well. Starring Diamond, Laurence Olivier (who stated he only did it for the money), and Lucie Arnaz, the vanity picture has an atrocious script, overly sappy songs, and horrible acting. The soundtrack was more successful than the movie, which was nominated for 5 Golden Raspberry awards and won 2 for “Worst Actor” (Neil Diamond) and “Worst Supporting Actor” (Laurence Olivier).

* * * * *

Lunchtime Quiz: The Name Behind The Initial, Part II

Ben Smith — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:30:07 +0000

Last month, we tested your knowledge of famous initials, from Susan B. Anthony to Robert F. Kennedy. Now it’s time for a sequel. Do you know the full names of P.T. Barnum and Alex P. Keaton?

Take the Quiz: The Name Behind The Initial, Part II