› added 1 year ago

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TIL Louis B. Mayer created the AMPAS (which runs the Oscars) to curb unions, and created the awards ceremony because "I found that the best way to handle [filmmakers] was to hang medals all over them... If I got them cups and awards they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted."

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AjvB TIL Cherophobia is the belief that when one becomes happy,something bad will happen
VMyZ TIL that Hans Zimmer, one of Hollywood’s elite composers (Rain Man, The Lion King, Gladiator), was a member of The Buggles, famous for their hit single Video Killed the Radio Star
xRVg TIL when Elon Musk was 28 in the year 2000 he contracted one of the most lethal forms of Malaria while on vacation in South Africa and nearly died, losing 45 pounds and taking six months to recover. He cites this near-death experience as the moment that gave him a renewed focus and energy.
eJBJ TIL Charles Dance’s father was 72 years old when Charles was born.
b9X7j TIL that Simón Bolívar, the great liberator of South America, was nicknamed 'iron butt' (culo de hierro) for his "endurance on horseback." Old 'iron butt' would go on to free Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, and Panamá from Spanish control in the 1800s.