I want to watch that news anchor lady who had a stroke or whatever at the Grammys

Search: news anchor stroke

Why: Did you see this on "30 Rock" last week? (Not this week; last week.) I know I'm late on this, but we still can't get enough of it.

Answer: Omglol. He did it so perfectly.

Well, a very, very heavay - ah - heavy durr, burtation tonight... We had a very darris, darrison? ...

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: In case you didn't follow up, Serene Branson says she suffered some sort of "complex migraine" that mimicked symptoms of a stroke. I dunno. I had a migraine today, and I sure didn't tarris tazen let's go to bet who had the pet.

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Who is Ron Leibman married to?

Search: ron leibman

Why: He was Rachel's dad on "Friends," and the he was in an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" that we obviously watched last night. I remember reading some time ago that he was married to someone who shocked me. Shocked!

Answer: Jessica Walter! WHAT! You know her as Lucille Bluth and Malory Archer, who - let's face it - are the same character.

She was also the President in PCU. She's 70. 70!

Source: IMDb

The More You Know: They've been married since 1983! They co-starred together in the Neil Simon play Rumors.

Here they are with Marian Seldes, who was in a different episode of "Murder, She Wrote" that we watched last night. Spoiler alert: She was the killer.

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I want to see some toad spawn

Search: toad spawn

Why: Rachel just posted:

Toad Spawn is quite different to frog spawn. The main reason is because the toad spawn, instead of being a large clump of jelly with eggs in, is a string of jelly containing eggs.

Answer: It's true!

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: For comparison, frog spawn:

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What's the sample on "Black Magic" by Jarvis Cocker?

Search: black magic jarvis

Why: I am listening to it now and blanking. Blanking! It kind of reminds me of... I dunno, Rocky Horror Show?

Answer: "Crimson and Clover"! Doy! This jam was recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells in 1968.

Source: Pulp Wiki

The More You Know: Also, only because I have been thinking about it for a while and just listened to it for the first time in a long time, maybe years, here is my favorite song "Sugar Spun Sister" by The Stone Roses.

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Who are the shortest male celebrities?

Search: short celebrities

Why: On Facebook:

Answer: Here are some!

• Danny DeVito - 5-foot-nothin
  
• Prince - 5'2
• Wallace Shawn - 5'2
• Dudley Moore - 5'2.5
  
• Martin Scorcese - 5'3
  
• Mickey Rooney - 5'3
  
• Paul Simon - 5'3
• Joe Pesci - 5'4
  
• Michael J. Fox - 5'4
• Seth Green - 5'4
• Charlie Kaufman - 5'4.5
  
• Al Franken - 5'5
  
• Fred Durst - 5'5
• Nathan Lane - 5'5
  
• Jason Alexander - 5'5
• Roman Polanski - 5'5
• Scott Caan - 5'5
  
• Woody Allen - 5'5
• Dustin Hoffman - 5'5.5
• Elijah Wood - 5'6
  
• Gael Garcia Bernal - 5'6
• George Lucas - 5'6
  
• Jack Black - 5'6
  
• Sean Astin - 5'6
• Billy Joel - 5'6.5
• Henry Winkler - 5'6.5
  
• Tom Cruise - "5'7" in quotation marks
  

Source:Senselist, Daily Top 10, Starpulse, Best Week Ever,

The More You Know: And some of the tallest (I'm obvi not including athletes because, yknow, who cares):

• Jeff Daniels - 6'3
  
• Jimmy Stewart - 6'3
• Will Ferrell - 6'3
  
• Danny Glover - 6'3.5
• Dr. Phil - 6'4
  
• Clint Eastwood - 6'4
• Conan O'Brien - 6'4
  
• David Hasselhoff - 6'4
  
• Donald Sutherland - 6'4
• Kevin Nealon - 6'4
  
• Jason Segal - 6'4
• Jeff Goldblum - 6'4
• Joel McHale - 6'4
  
• John Laroquette - 6'4
• Matthew Modine - 6'4
• Stephen King - 6'4
  
• Tom Selleck - 6'4
• Randy Quaid - 6'4.5
  
• Tim Robbins - 6'4.5
  
• Howard Stern - 6'5
  
• John Corbett - 6'5
  
• Vince Vaughn - 6'5
• Liam Neeson - 6'6
  
• Penn Gillette - 6'6
• Dolph Lundgren - 6'6
  
• Brad Garrett - 6'7
  
• Michael Crichton - 6'9
  

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Is "Morning's Here" a real song?

Search: morning's here

Why: Joey's neighbor sang it every morning. I swear I heard an instrumental version of it tonight in Nature Mart.

Answer: Oh my jesus, YES!!! Except not with those words. Not with any words, in fact. The tune is from a 1977 track called "Feels So Good" by Chuck Mangione, who plays the flugelhorn.

That record was nominated for a Grammy.

Source: Yahoo! Answers

The More You Know: Now I bet you're going, "Wait, I've also heard the name Chuck Mangione on 'Friends,'" and you're totally right. Phoebe's birthmom Phoebe had a picture of him on her refrigerator. She sold him a house last year.

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What are the main panels on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

Search: sistine chapel

Why: I'm looking at this cool virtual tour interactive thing on the Vatican website that lets you swing around the whole room and zoom in and et cetera. I went there in 2001, but I'll be honest with you: I don't remember every little goddamn detail.

Answer: There are 9 "central stories" from Genesis / Bereshit (since it's Passover):

1. Separation of Light from Darkness (La Separazione della luce dalle tenebre)

2. The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth (Creazione degli astri e delle piante)

3. Separation of Land from Sea (La Separazione della terra dalle acque)

4. Creation of Adam (Creazione di Adamo)

5. Creation of Eve (Creazione di Eva)

6. Original Sin and Banishment from the Garden of Eden (Peccato originale e cacciata dal Paradiso terrestre)

7. Sacrifice of Noah (Sacrificio di Noè)

8. The Great Flood (Diluvio Universale)

9. The Drunkenness of Noah (Ebbrezza di Noè)

Source: Vatican.va

The More You Know: How did He separated Light from Darkness before He created the Sun? That is for him to know and you to find out.

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What does an adult Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii look like?

Search: Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii

Why: In National Geographic's Photography Contest 2010:

Praying Mantis – Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii. This beautiful whalbergii evolved through two of its nymph-stages on the Barberton Daisy at left, surviving because of its bright color which blended so well with the flower. Towards the end of its growth into an adult, it became a little more adventurous (but not much more) as pictured here. Once it had shed the layer in this picture, it became a fully-fledged adult, and departed after about two weeks. Total stay in this tiny ecosystem was approximately six weeks. (Photo and caption by Fred Turck)

What the hell kind of bug is that?

Answer: First, it's a species of mantis called a "spiny flower mantis." Here it is in different stages. Look how weird and fancy!

Source: GOLDENORFE, Google Images

The More You Know:

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What is Paradise Circus?

Search: Paradise Circus

Why: On PostSecret:

-----Email-----
Paradise Circus

Answer: It's a song by Massive Attack! Listen here:

Did you know that the opening theme to "House" is by Massive Attack? It's called "Teardrop."

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: The image of that postcard is labeled "pinkmoonsmine." "Pink Moon" is by Nick Drake, who died in 1974 at age 26. Maybe you remember that song from this awesome Volkswagen Cabrio commercial from 1999:

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What are the words to "Friday I'm in Love"?

Search: friday im in love

Why: I just saw this on Urlesque in "Top Ten Song Charts (By the 'I Love Charts' Master)":

It's a Threadless shirt from several years ago that I'm just getting around to seeing.

I know most of the words, but apparently not all of them.

Answer: Here are the important parts:

I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too
Thursday I don't care about you
It's Friday, I'm in love

Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart
Oh, Thursday doesn't even start
It's Friday I'm in love

(Saturday, wait
And Sunday always comes too late
But Friday, never hesitate)

I don't care if Mondays black
Tuesday, Wednesday - heart attack
Thursday, never looking back
It's Friday, I'm in love

Monday, you can hold your head
Tuesday, Wednesday stay in bed
Or Thursday - watch the walls instead
It's Friday, I'm in love

Listen along and contemplate Robert Smith's hair and wardrobe here.

Source: Sing365

The More You Know: I also like this one.

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What's a Flip Flap?

Search: flip flap

Why: This was one person's answer to a survey question:

2. do you have pets or plants, details please? if not, do you want pets or plants?
2 cats and a Flip Flap.

Answer: A solar-powered Japanese toy plant thing! They really have thought of everything. Check out what these bad boys can do!

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: But wait, that's not all!

Actually, I guess it does more than a real plant. I want one.

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What's the origin of the word "jumbo"?

Search: jumbo etymology

Why: A newsanchor teased a story about a "jumbo jet," which I sometimes can't believe is a real name for anything. Jumbo is a name for elephants. Or strip clubs.

Answer: It might have come from the Kikongo word nzamba, which actually meant "elephant"! In 1823, jumbo was a slang term that meant "clumsy, unwieldy fellow," and then the London Zoo had a huge elephant named Jumbo that they sold to P.T. Barnum in Feb. 1882.

He was captured by traders in Abyssinia in 1861, and he died in St. Thomas, ON, in 1885 after stepping in front of a train to save the life of another baby elephant. Well, maybe. The Railway City Brewing Company in St. Thomas brews that classy Dead Elephant Ale up there.

Source: EtymOnline

The More You Know: Barnum, a trustee of Tufts College, donated Jumbo's taxidermied carcass to the school in 1889. He is the school mascot, and I guess they are called the Tufts Jumbos (and by "they" I mean whatever sports teams they have, if they even have any; I've never heard of them). Jumbo's corpse was housed in the campus's Barnum Hall with a bunch of other animal specimens.

He was a big hit with the college's athletes, who adopted him as their mascot, while their coaches invoked his strength and bravery in pre-game pep talks.

For 86 years, Jumbo was a veritable mecca for students, their parents and other campus visitors. Students would pop pennies in his trunk or give a tug on his tail to bring luck for an upcoming exam or athletics competition.

In 1975, an electrical fire wiped out the whole collection, including everything but Jumbo's tail. His ashes are now kept in a Peter Pan Peanut Butter jar on the desk of the Tufts athletics director.

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Who is Boris Becker?

Search: boris becker

Why: In "The Office," Angela described Hilary Swank as "a female Boris Becker."

Answer: He is a retired German tennis player who was good and famous when I was a small child! Also called "Boom Boom" (and "Boom Boom Baron von Slam"), he is 6-time Grand Slam singles champion (between 1985 and 96), an Olympic gold medalist (92), and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17. He retired in 1999.

The truth is that I probably watched him play before. We used to watch a lot of tennis in the summer.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: Do you know the last names of all the characters on "The Office"? I just realized that I don't think I do. The ones I couldn't name off the top of my head are:

• Angela Martin
• Erin Hannon (and her real first name is Kelly)
• Gabe Lewis
• Holly Flax
  
• Meredith Palmer
• Oscar Martinez
• Phyllis Lapin Vance
  

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What type of tie does Colonel Sanders wear?

Search: colonel sanders necktie

Why: This lawyer on "Murder, She Wrote" is wearing one to show that he is from Texas, the Lone Star State. It's crazy!

Answer: Oh, I see so many names for it.

• Colonel tie
  
• String tie
• String bow tie
• Western bow tie
• Plantation tie!!
  

WHAT!

Lookin sharp! Full disclosure: I used to think that was supposed to be a little body, like that weird puppet on "Out of Control."

Here's how to tie it!

Source: Yahoo! Answers, eHow, myNexTie, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Here is where I blogged about Colonel Sanders before, and here is where I blogged about the bolo tie.

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What are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Search: four horsemen

Why: In "5 Love Lessons from The Office's Michael Scott" on YourTango:

Except that Jan never seemed entirely convinced and, despite his being there for her during some especially rough times, continuously treated him with contempt. Is it any surprise that things eventually blew up? Jon Gottman, a well-known marriage expert, is known for blaming the breakups of most marriages on what he calls the "four horsemen of the apocalypse": criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling.

I never made it to the end of the Bible.

Answer: They are colorful beasts that ride on horses!

• Conquest (white with a bow)
  
• War (red with a sword)
  
• Famine (black with a set of scales)
  
• Death ("pale")
  

They are described in chapter 6:1-8 of the Book of Revelation. Jesus (the "Lamb") takes the scroll of judgment from God because he the only person worthy of opening it and revealing the future course of history to his peeps. As he breaks the first 4 of the 7 seals, horses appear! Here is what the text says:

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!"
I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!"
Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"

Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

And then this is what happens when he opens the last 3 seals:

• 5th Seal: The souls of the martyrs "under the altar" cry out for vengeance. (6:9-11)
• 6th Seal: There are earthquakes and natural disasters. (6:12-17)
  1. 144,000 of "all the tribes of Israel" are "sealed." (7:1-8)
  2. A vast multitude worship God after coming out of the Great Tribulation. (7:9-17)
• 7th Seal: The breaking of the 7th seal begins another series: the 7 trumpets

The whole thing is a bunch of 4s and 7s. I don't know.

Anyway, I kind of want to read on and find out how the world will end, but it's really long. It looks like there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth, though, so that's exciting! When does this start? October?

Source: Apocalipsis

The More You Know: Do you remember Johnny Ringo being all creepy about Revelations in my favorite movie Tombstone?

"Behold the pale horse. The man who sat on him was Death... and Hell followed with him."

Hell's coming with meeeeeee!!!!

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Who is that actress in the "Day-O" scene in Beetlejuice?

Search: beetlejuice

Why: Katrina went to see Twin Sister in concert, which I kind of can't believe because when we saw them open for The Morning Benders, we couldn't stop talking about how they were the worst opening band in all of history. The lead singer Andrea Estella reminds me of that lady.

Answer: Adelle Lutz! She is a costume designer by day. And she was - get this - married to David Byrne from 1987-2004! WHAT! Together, they have a daughter named Malu Valentine (b. 1990).

(Their kid: )

Lutz also played a TV anchorwoman in Silence of the Lambs, so now I guess that's what I'll be looking for for the rest of the evening.

Source: IMDb

The More You Know: That character's name is Beryl, by the way. Pretty!

Day o, beetlejuice by speedy94200

Kids! You know I love them. Fun fact: Harry Belafonte is my favorite singer.

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When did "Full Metal Jacket" come out?

Search: vincent d'onfrio

Why: Cold Saturday = beer, nachos, and Adventures in Babysitting. Did you know that Vincent D'Onofrio plays Thor?

Answer: It was released June 26, 1987! That was just one week before Adventures in Babysitting, which came out July 1 of the same year! WHAT!

How did he go from this to this?

Seven-six-two millimeter

He was a dedicated ac-tor, that's how. He reportedly put on 70 lbs. to play Private Pyle, making him 280 lbs. Fact:

Vincent D'Onofrio gained 70 pounds for his role as Pvt. Pyle, breaking Robert De Niro's movie weight-gain record (60 pounds) for Raging Bull (1980). It took him seven months to put the weight on and nine months to take it off with physical training.

Also, that movie took like 6 months to film, sometime between June 1985 to Sept. 1986. Adventures in Babysitting was filmed in 1986, and D'Onofrio is only in one scene, anyway.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: And I have blogged about him before, in the context of his Egger suit in Men in Black. And I used the same picture.

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What does Mark 11:12-14 say?

Search: mark 11:12

Why: On The 55 Funniest Signs from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear:

Answer: Lol:

¹²And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

¹³And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

¹⁴And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

Read an unreasonably enraged commentary about this episode here.

Source: Bible Gateway, atheism.about.com

The More You Know: I love the pizza at Figs in Boston. Try it! Or roast some figs with honey:

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I want to see some stages from the Bregenzer Festspiele

Search: Bregenzer Festspiele; bregenz festival

Why: On Twisted Sifter's Picture of the Day:

COOLEST. STAGE. EVER.

Photograph by AP

Check out this incredible floating stage on Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria. The Bregenzer Festspiele (Bregenz Festival) has become renowned for its unconventional staging of shows. Verdi’s opera, “A Masked Ball” in 1999, featured a giant book being read by a skeleton.

That looks like a scene from "Metalocalypse."

Answer: Omg they ARE cool. Why has no one invited me to see this?

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Full disclosure: I started Stumbling Upon yesterday, and now I can't stop.

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