Month: January 2017

The definitive hockey comedy, Slap Shot had a biting script, a cast filled with professional players, and more F-bombs than some contemporary movie critics could handle.

1. THE CHARLESTOWN CHIEFS WERE MODELED AFTER AN ACTUAL PRO HOCKEY CLUB.

In Slap Shot, fact and fiction are joined at the hip. The movie was inspired by a down-on-its-luck professional hockey club based in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1950, the Johnstown Jets represented their community in three different minor leagues before a rough economy forced the team to fold in 1977—the year Slap Shot came out. For two seasons in the 1970s, the Jets roster included a winger named Ned Dowd. His experiences on that squad were of great interest to his sister, Nancy, who happened to be an aspiring screenwriter.

Fascinated by the pro hockey subculture, Nancy penned an irreverent script about a struggling minor league club in the fictional rust-belt city of Charlestown, Pennsylvania. Titled Slap Shot, the screenplay was picked up by Universal Studios, which put George Roy Hill—the Oscar-winning director behind Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting and other classic films—in the director’s chair. Johnstown was then selected as the movie’s primary shooting location, although the road game scenes were filmed in an assortment of other cities throughout Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

2. AL PACINO WANTED THE LEAD ROLE.

The main character in Slap Shot is Reggie Dunlop, the Chiefs’ grizzled player-manager. Although Al Pacino expressed a strong interest in the role, Hill chose Paul Newman instead. In Al Pacino, journalist Lawrence Grobel’s extended interview-turned-semi-autobiography of the actor, Pacino cited Slap Shot as a movie he still wishes he had been able to make. “But because George Roy Hill was doing it, I couldn’t do it,” Pacino explained. “I should have made that movie. That was my kind of character—the hockey player. Paul Newman is a great actor, it’s not a matter of that. I read that script and passed it on to George Roy Hill that I wanted to talk to him about it, and all he said was, ‘Can he ice skate?’ That’s all he was interested in, whether I could ice skate or not. That was a certain kind of comment. He didn’t want to talk about anything else. It was like he was saying, ‘What the hell, it could work with anybody.’ The way in which he responded said to me he wasn’t interested.”

For the record: Newman was a gifted athlete and a confident skater. He ended up doing a lot of his own skating in Slap Shot, although professional hockey player Rod Bloomfield served as his on-ice stunt double in many sequences.

3. TAPE RECORDINGS OF AUTHENTIC LOCKER ROOM CONVERSATIONS PUNCHED UP THE SCRIPT.

While Ned was still playing for the Jets, Nancy gave him a tape recorder and asked him to document some of the colorful banter that his teammates tossed around; Dowd’s fellow players didn’t seem to mind. “He carried it everywhere and he just recorded all of this sh*t that went on,” said longtime Jet John Gofton. “He would send the tapes to Nancy, and Nancy in turn would write.” Gofton ended up getting a small role in Slap Shot: He played Nick Brophy, the Hyannisport Presidents’ intoxicated center.

4. ONE EX-HOCKEY PLAYER CLAIMS HE WASN’T CAST BECAUSE THE FILMMAKERS THOUGHT HE MIGHT BEAT UP PAUL NEWMAN.

Bill “Goldie” Goldthorpe was not a man to be trifled with. Over the span of his near-20-year hockey career, this Ontario-born enforcer earned a reputation as one of the sport’s biggest bullies. Instantly recognizable by virtue of his curly blonde hair, he had a mile-wide mean streak. During his rookie season with the Syracuse Blazers, Goldthorpe got into an altercation with the team’s broadcast announcer—a young Bob Costas—and threatened his life with a hacksaw. He once jumped out of a penalty box to bite an opposing player. And during a different game, he accidentally knocked a man unconscious with a plastic water bottle. By the time he retired in 1984, antics like these had gotten Goldthorpe arrested in multiple cities.

Goldthorpe was also the primary inspiration for Slap Shot’s main villain: the dreaded Ogie Oglethorpe of the Syracuse Bulldogs. Onscreen, it was Ned Dowd who brought this character to life. Oglethorpe’s real-life counterpart could’ve also appeared in the film—if his temper hadn’t gotten the better of him. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Goldthorpe discussed the matter. “You want to know why I wasn’t in the movie?” he asked. “They thought I was too wild and I’d beat up Paul Newman.”

During pre-production, Newman and his brother, Art, would regularly attend Johnstown Jets games. Often, they’d invite a player to join the Slap Shot cast afterwards. One night, they took in a contest between the Jets and the Goldthorpe-led Binghamton Dusters. True to form, the scrapper picked a fight with a fan, earning him one charge of assault. Later, in the dressing room, Goldthorpe erupted. “I had a Coke bottle and I was so angry I threw it at [teammate] Paul Stewart because he wouldn’t shut up,” Goldthorpe told The Globe and Mail. “The bottle hit the wall, and at that moment Newman’s brother walked into the room and got Coke all over him. That was it. They thought I was an undesirable.”

5. TWO OF THE THREE HANSON BROTHERS WERE PLAYED BY REAL-LIFE SIBLINGS.

Slap Shot’s de facto mascots, the bespectacled Hanson brothers, were based on a trio of Johnstown Jets teammates—brothers Jack, Steve, and Jeff Carlson. All three were originally slated to co-star in Slap Shot together, but when Jack was unexpectedly called up by the Edmonton Oilers, he left the project. He was then replaced by yet another Jet: Defenseman Dave Hanson, who supplied the fictitious brothers with their now-famous last name.

6. THE “FINER POINTS OF HOCKEY” BIT CONTAINS A FEW INACCURACIES.

Slap Shot opens with an uncomfortable TV interview between Charlestown media personality Jim Carr (Andrew Duncan) and Denis Lemieux (Yvon Barrette), the Chiefs’ French-Canadian goalie. For the benefit of viewers who might not understand “the finer points of hockey,” Carr asks the athlete to demonstrate some penalty-worthy offenses. On the DVD commentary, Dave Hanson points out that Lemieux rather botched the job. As the scene unfolds, Barrette’s character clearly mistakes hooking for slashing, cross-checking for high-sticking, and butt-ending for spearing. “That’s what happens when you get a goaltender trying to [explain the rules],” Hanson quipped.

7. BEHIND-THE-SCENES PRANKS ABOUNDED.

Hanson and the Carlson brothers would lighten things up via all manner of practical jokes. “We pulled more pranks I think than they ever experienced on a movie set before,” Hanson boasted. “I think because we were three young, tough, carefree, crazy kind of guys they just let us run with things.” On one occasion, the trio surprised Newman by filling his portable sauna with popcorn. The rest of the cast pulled plenty of pranks as well and the group’s shenanigans involved everything from flaming shoelaces to hairdryers that spewed baby powder.

8. LOTS OF ACTORS SUSTAINED INJURIES DURING THE SHOOT.

Even pretending to play hockey can leave you all scratched up. In the above scene, Dunlop and an opposing goalie (portrayed by Christopher Murney) get into a brawl inside the Chiefs’ penalty box. While filming the skirmish, both men injured their groin muscles. Such accidents were commonplace, as Jonathon Jackson revealed in his authoritative book, The Making of Slap Shot: Behind the Scenes of the Greatest Hockey Movie Ever Made.

“Yvon Barrette took a puck off an unprotected part of his leg and wound up hospitalized briefly,” Jackson wrote. “Steve Mendillo [who plays Jim Ahern] suffered a serious cut on his cheek, opened up by a deflected puck during a scrimmage … the cut required 30 stitches to close and Mendillo, accompanied by Nancy Dowd, chose to drive to Pittsburgh to have it sewn up.”

9. SLAP SHOT MAY HAVE COST THE JETS A LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP.

As the movie entered its production period in 1976, the Jets were simultaneously making a North American Hockey League (NAHL) playoff push. All the while, the 11 Johnstown players who joined Slap Shot’s cast remained active members of the roster. So when a rival club eliminated the Jets from the NAHL semifinals, some observers blamed their defeat on the film. In fact, Johnstown’s executive director John Mitchell went so far as to accuse his men of prioritizing Hill’s movie over the team.

Allan Nicholls, who plays Johnny Upton in Slap Shot, believes there could be some merit to this argument. “I would think that having a major film being shot in your city … loosely based around your team, [and] being filmed with your players would cause a distraction,” Nicholls said in retrospect. “I think John Mitchell, being the proud owner that he was, would probably use that as an excuse.”

10. THE NATIONAL ANTHEM SCENE INVOLVED AN ACTOR WHO COULD BARELY SKATE.

One of Slap Shot’s most famous lines comes when a referee played by Larry Block starts lecturing Steve Hanson (a.k.a. Steve Carlson) during the singing of America’s national anthem. Irritated by the tirade, Hanson cuts the man off and screams, “I’m listening to the f*cking song!” According to DVD commentary with Dave Hanson and the Carlson brothers, this brief little moment was surprisingly hard to shoot because Block had difficulty skating over to Carlson—who was standing just a few feet behind him. “Every time he’d turn, he’d fall,” Hanson recalled. Finally, Hill decided to cut the scene in a manner that spared Block from actually having to skate on-camera.

11. SLAP SHOT HAD A DETRIMENTAL EFFECT ON NEWMAN’S VOCABULARY.

The hockey flick’s near-constant use of four-letter words shocked many critics. “There is nothing in the history of movies to compare with Slap Shot for consistent low-level obscenity of expression,” wrote TIME’s Richard Schickel. When ABC created a TV-friendly audio track for the picture, a censor counted no less than 176 F-bombs in the original audio. During a 1983 interview with Rolling Stone, Newman admitted, “Ever since Slap Shot, I’ve been swearing more. You get a hangover from a character like [Reggie Dunlop], and you simply don’t get rid of it. I knew I had a problem when I turned to my daughter one day and said, ‘Please pass the f*ckng salt.’”

Despite this verbal side effect, the film quickly became one of Newman’s favorite projects. “I’m not usually happy with my work,” he once said, “but I loved that movie. It rates very high as something in which I took great personal satisfaction.”

12. A CURRENT NHL COACH WAS AN EXTRA IN THE MOVIE.

Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau is a Slap Shot alum; he portrayed a member of the Presidents in the beloved film. Look for him in the above clip (he’s wearing number seven on his jersey). Boudreau spent a grand total of two weeks working on the film, earning $2600 in the process. “I probably spent it in about two days, but [that] was good money,” he said.

It’s hardly a secret that politics and history are intriguing subjects to Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Pulitzer Prize-winning visionary behind Hamilton. So it makes sense that he’d be a superfan of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin’s iconic—and award-winning—political dramedy, which ran for seven seasons beginning back in 1999.

To prove his allegiance to, and intimate knowledge of, the series, Miranda penned an epic rap entitled “What’s Next,” named for President Bartlet’s favorite query, for The West Wing Weekly podcast, which you can see below.

If you want to download the song, you can choose between an “explicit” or “clean” version. (We promise the former is more fun.)

There weren’t many constants in Al Capone’s rocky life, but the crime boss—who was born on this day in Brooklyn in 1899—had a love of music, and it never wavered. He spent countless hours reclined listening to his phonograph, which cycled through an impressive collection of Italian opera records (Aida by Giuseppe Verdi was a personal favorite). Capone also adored—and more or less controlled—Chicago’s rising jazz scene. Musicians would gravitate toward him, hoping to score a gig at his favorite nightclubs.

In 1926, the mobster’s friends kidnapped jazz star Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller. Holding him at gunpoint, they ordered the terrified artist into the back of their limo. But, to Waller’s surprise, he wasn’t harmed. Instead, he was taken to Capone’s 27th birthday party and politely asked to perform. The shindig lasted for three days, and by the end, Waller had received scores of tips and free drinks from grateful attendees.

Five years later, Big Al’s chickens came home to roost. On October 24, 1931, he was sentenced to 11 years in Alcatraz for having committed tax evasion. While behind bars, numerous attempts were made on his life, including an especially nasty shower room episode in which bank robber James “Tex” Lucas stabbed Capone with half a pair of scissors. “It looks like Alcatraz has got me licked,” Capone famously told the warden.

Things started looking up (if only slightly) when Capone joined the Rock Islanders, Alcatraz’s very own inmate-run band, which threw Sunday concerts. Capone’s instrument of choice was a banjo sent by his wife, Mae—though he eventually switched to the mandolin-like mandola.

Between performances, Scarface could often be found strumming away in his cell. And on Saturdays, he’d speak at length with a special guest: Vincent Casey was a future Jesuit priest whose training involved spiritual visits with Alcatraz detainees. Over a two-year span, he and Capone grew quite close. According to Casey’s son, Mike, “My father spoke very highly of him. It was incredible. This criminal murdered many people, but he told me when you got to know the man in the cellblock on Alcatraz, he was very humble and polite and courteous.”

One holiday season, Casey received an unexpected present: a piece of sheet music. “To my good friend Father Vin Casey,” the accompanying note read, “with the best in all the world for a Merry Christmas always for you. Alphonse Capone.” Entitled “Madonna Mia,” the romantic solo had been penned by the ex-gangster himself, presumably about his faithful Mae.

Here’s how it went:

In the quaint Italian garden
While the stars were all aglow
Once I heard a lover singing
To the one that he loved so.

In that quaint Italian garden
‘Neath the starry sky above
Every night, he’d serenade her
With his tender song of love:

“Madonna Mia,
You’re the bloom of the roses,
You’re the charm that reposes,
In the heart of a song.

Madonna Mia,
With your true love to guide me,
Let whatever betide me,
I will never go wrong.

There’s only one moon above,
One golden sun,
There’s only one that I love,
You are the one.

Madonna Mia,
This I vow here before you,
‘Till the end, I’ll adore you.
Madonna Mia.”

Once again, I see that garden
Many years have hurried by
I can see that sweet Madonna
There’s a teardrop in her eye

For her soldier has departed
Left his loved one with a sigh
She said “I will wait forever”
As he sang this last goodbye:
“Madonna Mia…”

Betty White—who turns 95 years old today—is busier, sassier, spunkier, and better than ever. The beloved actress and comedian has appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls, Hot In Cleveland, and on countless talk shows during her incredible 60-some years on television. Known for using language to masterful (and often surprising) effect, it’s only right that we pay proper tribute to some of her best wise words and one-liners.

1. ON THE ART OF A DIRTY JOKE.

“Well, I mean, if a joke or humor is bawdy, it’s got to be funny enough to warrant it. You can’t just have it bawdy or dirty just for the sake of being that—it’s got to be funny.”

—From a 2012 interview with The Huffington Post

2. ON HER REGRETS.

“I have no regrets at all. None. I consider myself to be the luckiest old broad on two feet.”

—From a 2013 interview with Guinness World Records

3. ON WHETHER SHE’S EVER MADE SOMEONE ANGRY. (SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE, RIGHT?)

“I have two ex-husbands.”

—From a 2012 interview with Momtastic

4. ON LIKING OLDER MEN.

“I’ve always liked older men. They’re just more attractive to me. Of course, at my age there aren’t that many left!”

—From a 2010 interview with Parade Magazine

5. ON HER CULINARY SKILLS.

“I’m not a big cook. I only go in the kitchen to feed my dog.”

—From a 2014 column in Bon Appetit

6. ON HER COLLEAGUES.

“I am still to this day star struck. I look out at this audience and I see so many famous faces, but what really boggles my mind is that I actually know many of you. And I’ve worked with quite a few … maybe had a couple … and you know who you are.”

—From her 2009 Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech

7. ON HANDLING GRIEF.

“There’s no formula. Keep busy with your work and your life. You can’t become a professional mourner. It doesn’t help you or others. Keep the person in your heart all the time. Replay the good times. Be grateful for the years you had.”

—From a 2011 interview with Time Goes By

8. ON STARRING IN A SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL FOR SNICKERS.

“Well I love Snickers and I thought, sure that’d be fun, why not? So I got over there early one morning and didn’t know I was going to be in the … ice cold muddy water, but all I had to do was just lie down in it. This poor stunt woman took the dive, she went in. And it was a great stunt that she did, and I got the laugh. Now, really, that’s unfair when that happens. She’s probably sticking pins in a little Betty White doll.”

—From a 2010 interview with Ellen DeGeneres

9. ON HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS OUTSIDE OF SHOW BUSINESS.

Happy #NationalPuppyDay! Today is all about celebrating puppies and encouraging adoption. pic.twitter.com/D27j889PUO

— Betty White (@BettyMWhite) March 23, 2015

“I’ve worked with the Morris Animal Foundation for over 50 years, I’ve worked with the Los Angeles Zoo for over 50 years. The Morris Animal Foundation is an animal health organization, and we fund humane studies into specific health problems—dogs, cats, horses and zoo and wildlife. And at one point, I said nobody was addressing pain in animals … I said, okay, I’ll start it. And so, bless their hearts, they sent out these brochures about anybody wanting to research that and study it. And now, there’s not a scientific study that Morris Animal Foundation funds—and they fund hundreds—that doesn’t have pain medication built into the research. And I think I’m happiest about that.”

—From a 2012 interview with Momtastic

10. ON HOW IT FEELS TO BE CALLED “LEGENDARY.”

“I just laugh. Have I got them fooled.”

—From a 2010 interview on CNN with Joy Behar

11. ON HOW SHE STAYS HEALTHY.

“I’m a health nut. My favorite food is hot dogs with French fries. And my exercise: I have a two-story house and a very bad memory, so I’m up and down those stairs.”

—From a 2012 interview with The New York Times.

12. ON THE VIRAL FACEBOOK PETITION THAT GOT HER TO HOST SNL.

“Well I didn’t know what Facebook was, that’s how dumb I was. And I had turned [hosting SNL] down about three times years and years ago, because I was so afraid it was so New York and I’m so west coast, I thought it’d be like a fish out of water. Which I probably was, but I was too dumb to know it!”

—From a 2010 interview on The View

13. ON CHIVALRY.

“If you’re walking with your lady on the sidewalk, I still like to see a man walking street-side, to protect the lady from traffic. I grew up with that, and I hate to see something like that get lost. I still like to see that a man opens the door. I like those touches of chivalry that are fast disappearing. If I sound old-fashioned, it’s because I’m as old as I am! But it’s just polite.”

—From a 2011 Q&A with The Chicago Tribune

14. ON HARRY HOUDINI.

“I not only knew Houdini, but we had a very lovely relationship … I really thought we had something going, and then the son of a gun disappeared.”

—Joking in a 2014 interview with Craig Ferguson (Note: She was 4 years old when Houdini died in 1926.)

15. ON PLASTIC SURGERY IN HOLLYWOOD.

“Gravity has taken over. So there’s not much I can do about it … My problem with [plastic surgery] is you’ll go to a women’s press conference or something like that, and old friends will come up and I kind of don’t recognize them. I recognize the voice, but I don’t—all of a sudden, there’s this whole new face that I don’t know who that is.”

—From a 2010 interview on CNN with Joy Behar

16. ON HER GOLDEN GIRLS CO-STAR BEA ARTHUR.

“Bea and I are the two almost reclusive, unsocial types … And Bea is very shy. I’m shy, but you’d never know it, and with Bea, she seems so strong, and she’s a bowl of Jell-O come show night.”

—From a 1986 interview with Barbara Walters

17. ON HER CAREER LONGEVITY.

“I had no idea that I would still be around at this point for one thing, but that I’d still be privileged enough to still be in this business. And it is such a privilege. And the bottom line I think to the television business is that unless you’re a real bad egg, it is such fun. It really is. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

—From her 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at the Emmy Awards

Few celebrities have become internet cult heroes the way Jeff Goldblum has. He’s come in the form of countless memes, YouTube mashups, and a very odd prayer candle over on Etsy. Now Goldblum’s brand of neurotic charm is being turned into its own activity book.

UK publisher Belly Kids is responsible for this dream product, aptly titled Do I Hate Being Right All the Time: The Jeff Goldblum Activity Book. Coming in at £7.00 (about $8.43), the book is 32 pages of stammering fun, complete with games, mazes, puzzles, and more, spanning the highlights of Goldblum’s career. There’s a page urging you to draw a Goldblum emoji, a look-and-find puzzle set in Jurassic Park (1993), and a cut-out of The Fly (1986).

Belly Kids isn’t shy about its love for the actor, as the book’s description reads, “First crush, only love, most charming man on screen. To say Jeff Goldblum is the one great thing in this world would be a mass under statement.” 

If Goldblum isn’t for you, Belly Kids has plenty more items to satisfy your obscure soul, like a Bill Murray coloring book (called Thrill Murray), a David Attenborough quote book, an illustrated collection of classic eating scenes from movie history, and a book collecting various illustrations of Milhouse from The Simpsons.

But let’s be honest, Jeff Goldblum is for everybody, and you can order Do I Hate Being Right All the Time: The Jeff Goldblum Activity Book here.

[h/t Nerdist]

English is a notoriously difficult language to learn to speak—and it’s perhaps even harder to write. Benjamin Franklin—who was born on this day in 1706—certainly thought so, which is why he proposed getting rid of certain letters that make redundant sounds. Why have the letter “C,” for example, when all the sounds it makes can be covered by “S”or “K”?

Other letters he thought were completely replaceable: J, Q, W, X, and Y. Cutting all of these “useless” letters wouldn’t shorten the alphabet, however, because Franklin also proposed six entirely new letters, including one to replace the “sh” sound and one that makes a soft “o” sound. Check out this letter he wrote using his phonetic alphabet:

Since kids these days are still learning the ABCs and not the ABDs, it’s clear that Franklin didn’t get his way. Though he managed to convince famous lexicographer Noah Webster that a phonetic alphabet would be best for the new country, they couldn’t convince anyone else. The public was unimpressed with the idea, and Franklin eventually gave up.

Students attend graduate school to gain more knowledge in a specific field, increase their future earning power, or switch careers. But depending on the type and length of the program, grad schools can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Whether you’re planning to get your master’s, Ph.D., MBA, or J.D. degree, here are nine things you should know about paying for grad school.

1. START RESEARCHING YOUR OPTIONS EARLY.

If you know what type of graduate program you want to attend, start researching your options early. Different schools offer a variety of scholarships, fellowships, grants and department funding, and starting the application process early will increase your odds of receiving money from a university’s limited funds. After reading about your options on the university’s website, speak to a representative from the school’s financial aid department.

2. CONSIDER STUDYING PART-TIME FOR YOUR DEGREE.

If you’re willing to spend more time earning your degree, consider taking classes part-time instead of as a full-time student. Depending on the program, earning your degree part-time may cost less than a full-time program, and you won’t lose a year (or more) of income while you’re studying.

3. DON’T OVERLOOK YOUR PROFESSORS.

If you’re currently in college, ask professors in your area of study to recommend relevant scholarships, fellowships or grants for which you could apply. Even if you graduated years ago, get in touch with your old professors to benefit from their knowledge and contacts. And because most scholarship applications require letters of recommendation, your professors can also help by vouching for you.

4. ASK YOUR EMPLOYER TO FUND YOU.

If you’re currently working and your graduate degree will be in the same field, check with your company’s human resources department to determine if there is a tuition assistance or reimbursement program. Even if your company doesn’t have a formal policy in place, don’t be afraid to ask about getting a salary advance or time off for studying. Keep in mind, though, that in exchange for funding, your employer may require you to maintain a high GPA or work for them for a certain amount of time after you get your degree.

5. THINK ABOUT MOVING STATES.

Because many grad schools charge less tuition for in-state rather than out-of-state students, consider moving. Depending on the state, you may be able to establish residency in six months to a year. If it’s not feasible to move states before you begin your program, you may be able to apply for in-state status after a year of living in-state. Some schools also offer in-state tuition to residents of nearby states as part of a regional college exchange.

6. APPLY TO WORK AS A TEACHING ASSISTANT.

Depending on the university, grad students who work as teaching or research assistants may get health insurance in addition to part-time wages. To get free or reduced room and board, consider working as a resident assistant, living in a dorm and being responsible for a group of undergraduates.

7. CHOOSE WISELY BETWEEN FEDERAL AND PRIVATE LOANS.

The federal government offers grad students loans with fixed interest rates, while private lenders and banks offer student loans with variable interest rates. This means the interest rates on private loans may start lower, but have the ability to rise. When they do, you may need to refinance your private loans to get a better rate, and private loans often have fewer, less flexible repayment options than federal loans.

8. WORK IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR TO QUALIFY FOR LOAN FORGIVENESS.

If you opt for a federal student loan, consider working in the public sector after you graduate. Thanks to a loan forgiveness program, the government will forgive the rest of your debt after you make your monthly payments for 10 years. The catch? You must work full-time for the government or a not-for-profit organization. Some grad schools offer their own forgiveness programs to graduates, rewarding those who choose careers in teaching, healthcare or not-for-profits.

9. REMEMBER TO CLAIM RELEVANT TAX CREDITS AND DEDUCTIONS.

Grad students can take a variety of tax credits and deductions depending on their financial situation. Before you file your tax return, make sure you have a solid understanding of the requirements for taking any deductions for grad school. Ask an accountant if you qualify for the lifetime learning tax credit, student loan interest deduction or tuition deduction.

Florida Tech’s online programs offer flexibility and affordability via scholarships and financial aid packages for qualified applicants. Click here to learn more about Florida Tech’s online graduate degrees.

In a report dated July 22, 1975, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recorded the details behind one of the biggest raids of a pirated movie collection in the agency’s history. The previous December, agents had descended on an opulent home in North Hollywood and seized more than 160 film canisters and more than 1000 video cassettes from the garage, all unlawfully copied for use in private screenings. The Bureau estimated the collection to be worth more than $5 million.

After boxes of films were hauled out of the home and into FBI vehicles, the owner of the collection was interviewed. Rather than face serious charges, he agreed to inform investigators about how he acquired his library and who else he knew that might be in possession of similar goods.

The film Giant, starring James Dean, had been given to him by actor Rock Hudson; Arthur P. Jacobs, producer of the long-running Planet of the Apes film series, was another source. Other names were redacted in the FBI’s official document released to the public.

The source of this one-man analog pirate operation was Roddy McDowall, a former child star who gained notoriety for his portrayal of Cornelius and Caesar in the Apes franchise. And while his criminal record would remain clean, his willingness to out other celebrity movie collectors would come at considerable personal cost.

Although the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has fought its biggest battles against copyright infringement in the age of broadband file-sharing, film piracy was a problem long before anyone was wired for internet access. In the 1920s, exhibitors tried to get away with cutting studios out of their share by screening films past the agreed-upon distribution windows; projectionists would sometimes make duplicate prints from originals, selling them for a profit. By the 1960s, consumer-use camcorders were being surreptitiously brought into theaters to point directly at the screen, a practice that endured for decades.

Fed up with the theft of their content, which may have cost them an estimated billion dollars in revenue annually, the studio-backed MPAA began a vigorous fight against infringement in the early 1970s. Bootleg sellers were cornered and litigated: if the government could prove they profited from the sale of a bootleg film—which could carry a price tag in the hundreds of dollars—fines and jail time were put on the table.

It’s possible the MPAA and the FBI didn’t stop to consider that some sizable collections would be found inside the industry’s own inner circle. But actors, producers, and studio personnel had something that conventional pirates had a difficult time accessing: original, high-quality prints of major studio films. Some would be loaned to talent for private screenings and then returned; others could be purchased outright, although never for duplication purposes.

In a written statement handed over to the FBI, McDowall said he had been collecting prints since the 1960s, when the actor had the money and means to begin acquiring personal copies of both his favorite films and those he had personally appeared in. The object, he explained, was to study the performances of other actors and to guard against the possibility that some might wind up being lost to neglect or age. The latter was not an unfounded fear: studios had been notoriously negligent in film preservation in the early part of the century.

McDowall eventually ended up with some 337 different films, many of which he transferred to cassette for easier storage and in the belief they might be better preserved that way. (Since his collection predates the mid-1970s introductions of VHS and Betamax, it’s possible he used Sony’s U-Matic magnetic tape technology, an expensive early format that never caught on with the general public.)

When McDowall grew tired of a certain film, he would sell it to a fellow collector, generally for whatever price he recalled paying for it in the first place. Three unnamed films, he wrote, once cost him a total of $705. He specifically recalled wanting to own Escape from the Planet of the Apes so that he could have a copy of his character’s death scene: 20^th Century Fox offered to sell him prints of the Apes series along with How Green Was My Valley. Unhappy with the quality, he declined.

Instead, the FBI raid found films like My Friend Flicka, Lassie Come Home, and hundreds of others. Rather than face criminal penalties, McDowall told authorities that singer Mel Torme, actor Dick Martin, and Rock Hudson were known to be collectors. He also had business dealings with Ray Atherton, a high-profile bootlegger the government had been targeting for some time. His disclosure of those contacts probably saved McDowall from being the first celebrity movie pirate to be charged with a crime.

For the MPAA, the resulting seizure of McDowall’s collection—the FBI never named its tipster, or what led them to McDowall—was significant. In their game of criminal investigation, a well-known party acted like a warning flare to other pirates. Media coverage of McDowall’s incident forced bootleggers to burrow further underground, driving up the prices for films.

The FBI didn’t pursue Hudson or any of the other parties McDowall named; the big fish was Atherton, who was charged but had his conviction overturned in 1977. Roughly 20 other dealers were indicted, with several convicted of conspiracy; the court proceedings were sometimes livened by the appearance of celebrities like Gene Hackman, who testified on behalf of the government to drive home the economic impact of pirated films.

Only a few short years later, the Supreme Court would rule that videotaping movies and television using home cassette recorders was not copyright infringement—so long as it was used for noncommercial purposes. The decision angered the MPAA, which saw the home video industry as a major threat to box office receipts. Later, they’d profit handsomely from sales of videocassettes.

It was too late for McDowall. While he escaped any criminal trouble, his reputation in the industry reportedly took a hit because of his willingness to point his finger at his fellow collectors. According to a friend, McDowall was considered a “rat” and was so crestfallen by the incident that he stopped screening films in his home, his garage empty of the films he had spent well over a decade compiling. They remained the property of the FBI.

The first snow of the season is always exciting, but the magic can quickly run out when you remember all the hazards that come with icy conditions. Along with heating bills, frosted cars, and other pains, the ground develops a coat of ice that can be dangerous for pedestrians and drivers alike. Outdoor steps become particularly treacherous and many people find themselves clutching their railings for fear of making it to the bottom head first. Instead of putting salt down the next time it snows, consider a less messy approach: heated mats that quickly melt the ice away.

The handy devices are made with a thermoplastic material and can melt 2 inches of snow per hour. They’re designed to be left outside, so you can keep them ready to go for the whole winter. The 10-by-30 inch mats fit on most standard steps and come with grips to help prevent slipping. A waterproof connector cable connects to additional mats so up to 15 steps can be covered.

Unfortunately, this convenience comes at a price: You need to buy a 120-volt power unit for them to work, and each mat is sold separately. Running at $63 a mat, the price can add up pretty quickly. Still, if you live in a colder place where it’s pretty much always snowing, it might be worth it.

[h/t Oddity Mall]