Saturday marks the 117th anniversary of the birth of Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (1892-1972). Amorsolo, who is described as “one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines,” was and continues to be one of the most popular Filipino artists.

1. Fernando Amorsolo was a highly prolific artist. He began selling watercolor postcards as a child and continued to create art for the rest of his life. His work appeared in novels, school textbooks, commercial designs, and periodicals. For at least 15 years, Amorsolo averaged about 10 paintings a month.

2. When Amorsolo designed the logo for Ginebra San Miguel, a beverage company, the owner was so impressed by his skill that he offered to fund Amorsolo’s further education. Amorsolo took the entrance exam for the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, but wasn’t accepted as a student—based on the results, the school informed him that they would accept him as a professor instead.

3. In addition to his paintings, Amorsolo also drew comic strips. He is credited with having created at least two comic strips, Kiko at Angge and Ganito Pala sa Maynila. These strips may have been the first comic strips to be published in the Philippines at all.

(more…)

Ethan Trex posted a great article this week on the strange early jobs of celebrities. Here’s something else some celebrities did before they got famous…appear on The Dating Game. Read on to see Steve Martin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jackson and more.

Andy Kaufman gets stumped by a Santa Claus question. (more…)

Editor’s Note: This summer, we’ll be inviting a handful of special guests to contribute a week’s worth of quizzes in the 5pm time slot. Our first such guest is baseball expert/food critic/bookworm Keith Law of ESPN. Make him feel welcome!

I’ve been asked in ESPN chats to name my favorite rock band, but my answer depends on the day on which I’m asked. I’ve said U2 at least once; I’m a pretty big Soundgarden partisan, even if Chris Cornell kind of went off the reservation with Audioslave; and every time I pull out an old Soul Coughing disc, I wonder if peak value should trump longevity.

 But if the question is my favorite artist regardless of genre, the answer will never change. It’s the artist who fits into so many genres that he fits into none: Prince. A singer, songwriter, and multi-talented musician (Wikipedia repeats the long-heard claim that he played 27 different instruments on his debut album, For You, which was released a few weeks before his 20th birthday),

Prince has had the very definition of a Hall of Fame career, with a long and high peak, writing six songs that hit #1 on the Billboard pop singles chart. Can you name them?

Take the Quiz: Name the #1 Songs Written by Prince

In the late 1960s, researchers at Stanford devised what’s now known as the “marshmallow test” to test participants’ ability to defer gratification. The test went like this: put a marshmallow on the table in front of a four-year-old; tell the child that he or she can either eat the marshmallow now, or leave it uneaten for a while (15-20 minutes) and receive a second marshmallow at the end of the test; have the researcher leave the room for the prescribed period of time; if the child sits alone with the marshmallow for the test period and does not eat the treat, the researcher returns and gives the child two marshmallows to eat. This a test of delayed gratification — the ability for a person to put off the instant thrill of one marshmallow for the promise of two marshmallows down the road. What’s interesting is that the test is apparently predictive of future life success. If a four-year-old delays gratification (which is pretty rare), that kid will very likely grow up to be a very successful adult. Read on for more details.

A recent New Yorker article on the Stanford research is very compelling. (The research also involved treats other than marshmallows — including small toys and other treats — presumably to control for kids who just don’t like marshmallows.) Here’s a snippet (emphasis added):

Most of the children [struggled] to resist the treat and held out for an average of less than three minutes. “A few kids ate the marshmallow right away,” Walter Mischel, the Stanford professor of psychology in charge of the experiment, remembers. “They didn’t even bother ringing the bell. Other kids would stare directly at the marshmallow and then ring the bell thirty seconds later.” About thirty per cent of the children, however, were like Carolyn. They successfully delayed gratification until the researcher returned, some fifteen minutes later. These kids wrestled with temptation but found a way to resist.

… Once Mischel began analyzing the results, he noticed that low delayers, the children who rang the bell quickly, seemed more likely to have behavioral problems, both in school and at home. They got lower S.A.T. scores. They struggled in stressful situations, often had trouble paying attention, and found it difficult to maintain friendships. The child who could wait fifteen minutes had an S.A.T. score that was, on average, two hundred and ten points higher than that of the kid who could wait only thirty seconds.

Wow. Read the rest to learn more about this research, how it came about, and what it might mean about you. (Also, I dare you to try this with your own kids!) After the jump, a related TED Talk and some more links on how to conduct your own marshmallow test.

(more…)

One of the surprising highlight of my trip last week was a tour of the Warner Brothers backlots. I’ve done studio tours before and I’ve never been all that impressed. But this one was pretty cool, if not just for the access to the Warner Brothers Museum at the end of the tour. You couldn’t take pictures, so I don’t have any personal shots to show, but rest assured that it was amazing. Most of the costumes and props weren’t enclosed in glass, so you could get quite up close and personal (without touching anything, mind you). Here are a few of the things we got to see.

1. Costumes from The Dark Knight. These were the first group of costumes you see when you walk in the door and I think I spent at least three of my allotted 15 minutes staring at how detailed and intricate the Joker costume was, right down to the socks. It was amazing. Batman’s costume was there as well, and so was the Joker’s nurse costume, several of the henchmen clown masks from the heist scene at the very beginning and a mini replica of the Tumbler.
2. The actual Maltese Falcon from The Maltese Falcon. I believe this one was enclosed, lest anyone be tempted to make off with it, and why shouldn’t they want to? It’s one of the most valuable movie props in the world. There were several copies of the statue used in the film, but this one is the one Humphrey Bogart dropped and dented – you can see that the tailfeathers are marred (so I’m told… I didn’t know to look for this at the time). One of the other copies was sold to Harry Winston, Inc. for nearly $400,000 in 1994 – at the time, it was the highest price ever paid for a movie prop.

3. Tim Burton mania. This is where I got into trouble. I knew the whole second floor was Harry Potter stuff, and I love Harry Potter, but coming upon props and costumes from Sweeney Todd, Mars Attacks!, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Corpse Bride was just way too exciting for me. I don’t believe they had Sweeney Todd’s costume, but they did have Mrs. Lovett’s main costume. I happened to be Mrs. Lovett for Halloween last year, so I was pretty pleased to see how close my homemade costume came to the real thing (although I’m willing to bet that Helena Bonham Carter’s dress wasn’t held together with hot glue in several places). They also had one of the razors, a blood-splattered note to Judge Turpin, and Johanna’s dress. Other Burton memorabilia included some of the models from The Corpse Bride, the skintight red swirls dress worn by Lisa Marie in Mars Attacks!, the Veruca Salt and Augustus Gloop costumes from Charlie, and plenty of other Charlie delights – had you ever noticed that Willy Wonka’s cane was filled with sprinkles? Neither had I. Awesome. I would probably still be there looking if they hadn’t given us a time limit.

4. The Sorting Hat from Harry Potter. The real one! And they let you try it on, sort of. They put it on your head and it determines what house you should be in. I’m not sure if there’s a switch or a button that lets the person who puts it on your head determine which house you should be in, or if it’s just motion-activated and completely random. I ended up being Gryffindor, which I suppose I should be happy about, but I kind of wanted to be Slytherin. Is that wrong? My friend Courtney got Slytherin… maybe we could trade. The girl in front of us got Hufflepuff and was visibly disappointed. (more…)

For many fans, the promise of a great game is plenty of enticement for a pilgrimage to see their local Major League Baseball team play. Others are a bit choosier and need to be lured in with promotions and special events. If you fall into the latter camp, here are some offbeat celebrations and giveaways that might just have you hitting up StubHub and heading to the park this summer:

1. Meet Arnold Umbach

Some teams like to use the prospect of meeting franchise stars to bring fans to the park. The Atlanta Braves have a pretty nice slate of alumni coming back for appearances, including Dale Murphy. There’s also the legendary Arnold Umbach. You know, the Arnold Umbach! Who? Exactly. Umbach, a right-handed reliever, put up a nice 3.12 ERA over the course of his Braves career, but said career probably isn’t fresh in even die-hard fans’ minds. Umbach only pitched 49 innings over the course of his entire MLB career; he tossed 8 1/3 innings in 1964 for the Milwaukee Braves, didn’t play in the Majors in 1965, and then went 40 2/3 innings in 1966 for Atlanta. And that’s it. So why is he the featured alumni draw at a Braves game? Good question. Head to Turner Field on June 7 and ask him yourself.

2. Garry Maddox Ribfest

(more…)

A reader writes:

I have a friend who can be quite the know-it-all and as a result, quite annoying. He made a statement a few nights ago that really irritated me, he said (and was insistent) that all farmers are STUPID. Your average farmer may not be the most learned individual, but to label an entire industry as a bunch of troglodytes is, well….stupid. I was hoping your readers could give some examples of farmers throughout history who did not fit my narrow-minded friend’s vision.

If the Scripps National Spelling Bee has you in a competitive spelling mood, here’s a chance to get it out of your system. We’ve compiled some difficult-to-spell names from the sports world. Can you tell which variation is correct?

Take the Quiz: The Sports Spelling Bee

Or should I say rockbots? Yesterday I wrote a bit about Al-Jazari, the 12th-century inventor of musical robots, and today I wanted to pay tribute to the modern-day descendants of his genius. I’m talking about the Rockafire Explosion band from Showbiz Pizza, of course, a life-sized “band” of animatronic animals which entertained kids while they were eating pizza from 1980 to 1991, and now, sadly, can only be seen in a few places around the country. There’s been a revival of late, however, in which owners of the few remaining Rockafires have been programming their robots to perform recent indie rock and hip-hop hits, which is surreal to watch, to say the least. Take a gander!

Neighborhood #1 by Arcade Fire
The contrast between this song’s bizarre lyrics and the Rockafire’s bizzare look almost makes my head explode.

(more…)

As I’ve mentioned before, my spelling bee dreams died in the Lakeview Elementary School cafeteria in 1989. But that hasn’t soured me on the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The finals are tonight on ABC.

Think you can spell with the best of them? Today’s quiz, which originally ran last year at this time, contains ten winning words from past Scripps National Spelling Bees. Can you tell which variation is spelled correctly?

Take the Quiz: Spelling Bee

(When you’re done, let us know which word spelled your downfall in your own spelling bee career.)