Mental Floss

POP CULTURE

Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon in Tremors (1990).

'Tremors'—which is easily the greatest subterranean monster movie ever made—is the definition of an underground classic. '

Mark Mancini
George Michael, Bono, Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Howard Jones, Bob Geldof and other musicians gather on stage for the finale of the Live Aid concert at London's Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1985.

While 1984 was iconic, 1985 was an even bigger year for pop culture: New Coke, 'Back to the Future,' WrestleMania, Live Aid, Calvin & Hobbes, the first .com domain ... it all happened.

Chris Higgins


MarkPiovesan/ iStock, Getty Images Plus

In 1999, people believed that Furbies contained computer chips so they could record words and repeat them. Obviously that wasn't true, but the National Security Agency still banned people from bringing their Furbies to work.

Alvin Ward






Warner Bros.

This isn’t a trick: J.K. Rowling has a very special treat in store for Harry Potter fans this Halloween. A series of games and riddles posted to Rowling’s website Pottermore.com this week culminated in Friday’s big reveal that the Rowling will release a n

Abbey Stone








Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly in Back to the Future (1985).

'Back to the Future' may be a classic movie today, but the script was originally rejected more than 40 times. Here are some other things you might not know about Marty, Doc, and Doc's pet chimpanzee

Jason English


YouTube

Having an evil twin can be a drag. They run around causing mischief and often trying to steal their innocent twin’s identity. Thankfully for us, when it comes to the realm of fiction, it's easy to tell the good twin apart from the evil one: by their hair.

DeAnna Kerley






Thanks to the miracle of concept art and screen tests, there’s an alternate dimension of blockbusters where Nic Cage was Superman, Jeremy Sisto has Leonardo DiCaprio’s career, and a Sam Kinison biopic dominated the box office.

Kate Erbland