Author: Jennifer M Wood

A food tour is all well and good, but sometimes you just want to see something really off the beaten path. These six guided tours deliver.

1. DEARLY DEPARTED TOUR // LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The Dearly Departed Tour is a guided bus tour of Los Angeles that caters to the morbidly curious. It features crime scene photographs, eerie 911 calls, death memorabilia, and visits to the actual locations of celebrity deaths. There’s even a three-and-a-half hour Helter Skelter Tour, which retraces the steps of the Manson Family.

2. THE VEGAS MOB TOUR // LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Before Las Vegas was known as a family-friendly vacation spot, it was a breeding ground for organized crime and murder. The Vegas Mob Tour treats travelers to an inside look at the Mafia and other crime syndicates from the ’40s to the ’80s, many of whom helped build Sin City. Tours around Las Vegas feature various locations and sites where murders and mob activities occurred, as well as admission to the Mob Museum and Geno’s Pizza Party—where the notorious Hole-In-The-Wall Gang planned their crimes and hits.

3. WILD PARROT SAFARI // BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

In a failed attempt at pest control, the Argentine government shipped a large number of monk parrots to North America during the 1960s, pitching them as pets to the U.S. consumer market. The USDA halted the scheme after several containers of the parrots broke open at airports and the birds escaped. At least one crate of parrots got free at JFK, and the birds have since made their homes in various spots around Brooklyn. Today, tour guide and parrot enthusiast Steve Baldwin leads walking tours throughout Brooklyn College for those who want to learn more about the exotic birds and how they came to call the borough home. The “wild parrot safaris” are free through the Brooklyn Parrot Society.

4. CHERNOBYL TOUR // PRIPYAT, UKRAINE

A catastrophic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant took place 30 years ago, but now you can safely walk the grounds. The Chernobyl Tour offers a (mostly) radiation-free look at the remnants and debris of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, including a view of the zones after the accident, survival and migration stories from people who lived through the disaster, and information on surviving a nuclear fallout. The Chernobyl Tour also offers single day or up to seven-day tours of the Chernobyl Zone and the abandoned town of Pripyat.

5. GHOST TOUR // OAHU, HAWAII

Hawaii’s combination of modern cities built right next to burial grounds and ancient rainforests has led some to believe that much of the state is haunted with ghosts and supernatural beings. The Oahu Ghost Tours offer tourists a glimpse of the sacred grounds of Hawaii’s past, featuring a look at the myths and legends of Waikiki, the “Night Marchers,” the “Orbs of Oahu,” and many other sacred spirits.

6. CATACOMBS TOUR // PARIS, FRANCE

The Catacombs of Paris are a series of underground tunnels and limestone quarries originally used as a network of mines but later transformed into a burial ground for over 6 million Parisians when cemeteries began to overflow in the 1700s. Now, tourists and travelers can take guided tours of the spooky underground ossuaries, which feature millions of human skeletal remains resting over 65 feet underground in dark cavernous tunnels. Be prepared to do some stair climbing, though: The catacombs also feature about 215 steps to go down and back up to street level.

Call it #Oscargate2017. After a nearly four-hour Academy Awards ceremony that produced a few fun surprises—including a bus full of starstruck tourists and candy and doughnuts falling from the sky—the auditorium at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre erupted into total confusion when the night’s biggest award was mistakenly given to Damien Chazelle’s La La Land … only to discover that it was, in fact, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight that had been named Best Picture.

Though PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that tallies the night’s big winners, has officially taken blame for the gaffe, it’s a moment that will be remembered for years to come. But it’s not the first time the wrong winner has been announced in a very public way.

1. MISS UNIVERSE // 2015

In the wake of last night’s Best Picture mix-up, Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel joked, “This is very unfortunate what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this.” In December 2015, Steve Harvey became the internet’s favorite meme after he mistakenly named Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, as Miss Universe, when it was Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, who had actually won. Though both women took the error in stride, Harvey told Jimmy Fallon that “It was four minutes of pure hell.”

2. BET AWARDS // 2011

An awkward moment occurred at the 2011 BET Awards when contest winner Tiffany Green was given the opportunity to announce the year’s Viewer’s Choice Award. She announced Chris Brown as the year’s recipient—then had to quickly correct herself and announce that it was actually Brown’s ex, Rihanna, who had won. (Drake graciously accepted the award on RiRi’s behalf.) It wouldn’t be the last time Rihanna was involved in this sort of mix-up (more on that below).

3. AUSTRALIA’S NEXT TOP MODEL // 2010

In 2010, with a live crowd watching, Australia’s Next Top Model host Sarah Murdoch announced that contestant Kelsey Martinovich had won the reality show title. Tears of joy were shed and thanks were given, until a pale-faced Murdoch interrupted the happy moment to apologize and say that it was actually Amanda Ware who had been the intended winner.

“I don’t know what to say right now,” Murdoch told the finalists—and the confused crowd of 2000. “I’m feeling a bit sick about this. I’m so sorry about this, oh my God. I don’t know what to say. This is a complete accident, I’m so sorry. It’s Amanda … it was read to me wrong.”

4. NRJ MUSIC AWARDS // 2009

Call it a case of things getting lost in translation. In 2009, Katy Perry happily accepted the award for Best International Song for “I Kissed a Girl” at the NRJ Awards in Cannes, France. Except the award wasn’t Perry’s to accept—it was meant for Rihanna and “Disturbia.” Fortunately, Perry didn’t go home empty-handed: she did (legitimately) win Best International Album for One of the Boys at the same event.

5. MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS // 2002

Michael Jackson’s win for “Artist of the Millennium” at the 2002 VMAs wasn’t so much an error as it was a misunderstanding. Because the event happened to fall on the King of Pop’s birthday, Britney Spears was tasked with presenting him with an elaborate cake to mark the occasion. In her lead-up to the baked goods, she referred to MJ as the “artist of the millennium” (no caps) which he understood as “Artist of the Millennium”—an award that, unfortunately, did not exist. (Though if it had, we’re sure he would have been a top contender.)

6. “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN” // 1948

If ever there was a time to yell “Stop the presses!,” it would have been in the moments following the 1948 presidential election, when the Chicago Daily Tribune ran a headline that boldly—albeit incorrectly—stated that “Dewey Defeats Truman.” In truth, it was the other way around. Fortunately, President Truman found the whole thing pretty funny and happily posed for pictures while holding up the paper.

For almost 90 years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded excellence on the big screen. Over the decades, there have been a lot of “first”s (and some “first and only”s) as the Academy Awards have grown and evolved. Here are 15 of them.

1. FIRST BLACK ARTIST TO WIN AN OSCAR: HATTIE MCDANIEL

In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to be nominated for an Oscar, then the first African American to win an Oscar, when she took home the Best Supporting Actress statuette for her work in Gone with the Wind. Nearly a quarter-century later, in 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win a Best Actor Academy Award for playing Homer Smith in Lilies of the Field.

2. FIRST ACTOR TO REFUSE AN OSCAR: GEORGE C. SCOTT

In 1971, George C. Scott refused both the nomination and eventual win for Best Actor in Patton. Scott sent the Academy a telegram saying that he refused to accept the nomination because he disliked the voting process and felt that competing against his fellow actors was artistically wrong. When his name was announced as the winner, Scott was asleep at home with his family in upstate New York. When asked about refusing the Academy Award a few days after the ceremony, Scott replied that he had “no feeling about it one way or another.”

3. FIRST PERSON TO PRESENT HIM/HERSELF WITH AN OSCAR: NORMA SHEARER

During the third Academy Awards in 1931, Norma Shearer was the presenter for the Best Actress category. Shearer was nominated for two Oscars in the Best Actress category that year, and she won the award for her role in The Divorcee (which she had to announce, rather awkwardly). It was the last time a nominated actor presented an Oscar for his or her own category.

4. FIRST COLOR MOVIE TO WIN A BEST PICTURE OSCAR: GONE WITH THE WIND

In 1938, A Star Is Born became the first all-color movie to receive a Best Picture nomination. Two years later, Gone with the Wind became the first color movie to win the award. It took a long time for Hollywood to fully embrace the technology; it wasn’t until 1956 that all five Best Picture nominees were color movies.

5. FIRST PERSON NAMED OSCAR TO WIN AN OSCAR: OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN

Composer Oscar Hammerstein II was the first person named “Oscar” to win an Oscar. Hammerstein won two Academy Awards throughout his career, one for the song “The Last Time I Saw Paris” from Lady Be Good in 1942 and another for “It Might As Well Be Spring” from State Fair in 1946.

6. FIRST TELEVISED AWARDS CEREMONY: THE 25TH ACADEMY AWARDS

The first Oscar ceremony to be televised was the 25th Academy Awards back in 1953. The event was simulcast in black and white from both the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, with Bob Hope as host, and the NBC International Theatre, with Fredric March, in New York City.

In 1966, the Academy Awards ceremony was broadcast in color for the first time on ABC.

7. FIRST X-RATED MOVIE TO WIN A BEST PICTURE OSCAR: MIDNIGHT COWBOY

The first and only X-rated movie to win Best Picture was Midnight Cowboy in 1970. In 1972, A Clockwork Orange was the last X-rated movie to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. In 1990, the MPAA moved away from the “X” rating because of its association with pornographic films and instead introduced the “NC-17” rating for movies with graphic sex and violence.   

8. FIRST SEQUEL TO BE NAMED BEST PICTURE: THE GODFATHER: PART II

In 1975, The Godfather: Part II became the first sequel to win an Oscar for Best Picture, two years after the original won the same award. The Silence of the Lambs and The Return of the King would follow The Godfather: Part II as sequels that also won Best Picture Oscars.

9. FIRST WOMAN TO WIN A BEST PICTURE OSCAR: JULIA PHILLIPS

In 1974, Julia Phillips accepted the Oscar for Best Picture for The Sting, alongside Tony Bill and her then-husband/producing partner, Michael Phillips. The film’s success paved the way for Julia and Michael to make Taxi Driver just two years later; in 1977, they earned another Best Picture nomination for the dark Martin Scorsese classic.

10. FIRST WOMAN TO BE NAMED BEST DIRECTOR: KATHRYN BIGELOW

In 2010, after 82 years of Academy Awards, Kathryn Bigelow was the first female filmmaker to win the Best Director Oscar. She won for directing The Hurt Locker, which also ended up winning Best Picture.

Only three other women have been nominated for Best Director Oscars: Italian director Lina Wertmüller was nominated for Seven Beauties in 1977, Jane Campion was nominated for The Piano in 1993, and Sofia Coppola was nominated for Lost in Translation in 2004.

11. FIRST BEST PICTURE NOMINEE TO BE RELEASED ON HOME VIDEO BEFORE THE OSCARS CEREMONY: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

The Silence of the Lambs was the first Best Picture nominee to be released on home video (VHS and laserdisc) before the start of the awards ceremony. The movie was released in theaters on February 14, 1991 and on VHS on October 24, about four months before the Oscars telecast in 1992. It was also the first horror film to win Best Picture.

12. FIRST ANIMATED FILM TO EARN A BEST PICTURE NOMINATION: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Although it didn’t win the award, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991) was the first animated movie to receive a nomination for Best Picture. Since then, Pixar’s Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) have also received Best Picture nominations. In 2001, the Academy introduced a Best Animated Feature Film category.

13. FIRST ACTOR TO RECEIVE TWO NOMINATIONS FOR THE SAME ROLE: BARRY FITZGERALD

In 1945, Barry Fitzgerald became the first and only actor to ever be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role, for playing Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way; Fitzgerald ended up winning the latter. AMPAS later changed the rules and guidelines for acting nominations, so that a double nomination couldn’t happen again.

14. FIRST ACTOR TO WIN A POSTHUMOUS AWARD: PETER FINCH

Peter Finch was the first actor to win an Academy Award posthumously. He received the Best Actor Oscar in 1977 for his electrifying performance as TV anchor Howard Beale in Network. Finch died of a heart attack on January 14, 1977, less than three months before the ceremony.

15. FIRST 3D FILM(S) TO EARN BEST PICTURE NOMINATIONS: AVATAR AND UP

Though the 3D format has been around since 1915, it took until 2010 for the first stereoscopic film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. And it was a big year for the format, as it wasn’t just one 3D film that earned the Oscars’ top nod—there were two of them: James Cameron’s Avatar and Pete Docter and Bob Peterson’s Up (ultimately, both films lost to Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker).

As Oscar season comes to an end, it’s time to find a new batch of movies to keep you busy. And Netflix is ready to deliver, as it welcomes nearly 100 new movies, television series, documentaries, and comedy specials to its streaming lineup, including Julie’s Greenroom, Julie Andrews’s new educational series for kids; the new season of Judd Apatow’s Love, which was recently renewed for a third season; The Discovery, Charlie McDowell’s indie sci-fi drama about love and the afterlife starring Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, and Robert Redford; and a lot of Jurassic Park.

March 1

Angry Birds (Season 2)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Chicago (2002)
Deep Run (2015)
Dirt Every Day (Season 1)
Epic Drives (Season 2)
Friday After Next (2002)
Head 2 Head (Season 2)
Hot Rod Unlimited (Season 1)
Ignition (Season 1)
Impossible Dreamers (2017)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park III (2001)
Kate and Mim-Mim (Season 2)
Know Your Enemy – Japan (1945)
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Let There Be Light (1946)
Memento (2000)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Nacho Libre (2006)
Nazi Concentration Camps (1945)
Roadkill (Season 2)
Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane (2012)
San Pietro (1945)
Singing with Angels (2016)
Sustainable (2016)
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
The Craft (1996)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny (2006)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944)
The Negro Soldier (1944)
Thunderbolt (1947)
Tunisian Victory (1944) 

March 3

Greenleaf (Season 1)

March 4

Safe Haven (2013)

March 5

Señora Acero (Season 3)

March 7

Amy Schumer: The Leather Special

March 8

Hands of Stone (2016)
The Waterboy (1998)

March 9

Thithi (2015)

March 10

Buddy Thunderstruck (Season 1)
Burning Sands
Love (Season 2)
One More Time (Season 1)
The Boss’ Daughter (2016)

March 13

Must Love Dogs (2005)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)

March 14

Pete’s Dragon (2016)
Jim Norton: Mouthful of Shame

March 15

The BFG (2016)
Notes on Blindness (2016)

March 16

Beau Sejour (Season 1)
Coraline (2009)

March 17

Deidra & Laney Rob a Train
Julie’s Greenroom (Season 1)
Marvel’s Iron Fist (Season 1)
Naledi: A Baby Elephant’s Tale (2016)
Pandora
Samurai Gourmet (Season 1)

March 18

Come and Find Me (2016)
The Vampire Diaries (Season 8)

March 20

El Reemplazante (Seasons 1-2)

March 21

Ali & Nino (2016)
Another Forever (2016)
Evolution (2015)
Fire at the Sea (2016)

March 23

How to Get Away with Murder (Season 3)
Welcome to New York (2015)

March 24

Bottersnikes & Gumbles (Season 2)
Déjà Vu (2006)
Felipe Neto: My Life Makes No Sense
Grace and Frankie (Season 3)
Ingobernable (Season 1)
Spider (2007)
The Square (2008)
The Most Hated Woman in America
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

March 25

The Student Body (2017)
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)

March 26

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

March 27

Better Call Saul (Season 2)

March 28

Archer (Season 7)
Jo Koy: Live from Seattle

March 30

Life in Pieces (Season 1)

March 31

13 Reasons Why (Season 1)
Bordertown (Season 1)
Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life (Season 1)
Dinotrux (Season 4)
FirstBorn (2016)
Five Came Back
GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (2012)
Rosewood (Season 1)
The Carmichael Show (Seasons 1-2)
The Discovery
Trailer Park Boys (Season 11)

If there’s one thing fans of Black Mirror—the technology-meets-sci-fi anthology series that has led millions of viewers to cover up their laptop webcams with tape—know, it’s to expect the unexpected from the show. Over the past three seasons, the British series-turned-Netflix Original has delved into the darkest corners of technology to present what some might consider a very possible, and very dystopian, future. And they can’t get enough of it. Here’s everything we know about the show’s highly anticipated fourth season, which is expected to drop later this year.

1. THE NEW SEASON IS SHOOTING RIGHT NOW.

Earlier this week, The Telegraph ran an interview with Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, who shared that he and his team are in the midst of shooting season four right now. And that one of the challenges they face is in trying to “predict” what will be happening in the world by the time the episodes air. “We’re working on the new season at the moment—we’re about to start filming the third episode in Iceland—so if we were trying to predict the real world, we’d have to think about where the real world’s going to be in another six months or so,” Brooker said.

2. AS WITH PREVIOUS SEASONS, EACH EPISODE WILL HAVE A DISTINCT TONE.

“When we did previous seasons, we realized after we’d done the first two [episodes] that basically each one was a slightly different genre, and we actively approached the first Netflix season like that,” Brooker told The Telegraph. “And we’re carrying that forward [into season four], so we’ve got some strikingly different tones and looks.”

3. IT WILL TAKE A STAB AT COMEDY.

Though he’s tight-lipped about the plot lines the fourth season will delve into, Brooker has confirmed that one episode will go in a comedic direction. “We’ve got one that’s overtly comic, much more overtly comic than anything we’ve done,” Brooker said. “It’s got fairly mainstream comic elements, but also some really unpleasant stuff that happens.”

4. JODIE FOSTER WILL DIRECT AN EPISODE.

Though Black Mirror is hardly lacking in star power, the next season will see two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster step behind the camera to direct an episode. Foster’s attachment to the show was reported back in October. Brooker says that the episode, which will focus on a mother-daughter relationship and star Rosemarie DeWitt, will have an indie movie tone.

“Netflix got in touch with her,” Brooker explained of how Foster came to the series. “She’s done episodes of Orange Is The New Black before, and they spoke to her and sent her our script, and within a week of that we were Skyping. It was a bit odd, to be Skyping with Jodie Foster—but I did a good job of hiding my delight that I was Skyping with Jodie Foster.”

5. A COUPLE OF EPISODES ARE STILL UP IN THE AIR.

Yes, season four is already in production. But Brooker’s still got two episodes left to write, and says the tone of those episodes is “still slightly up for grabs.”

6. SEASON FOUR MAY NOT BE AS BLEAK AS PREVIOUS SEASONS.

In addition to being one of Black Mirror’s most universally acclaimed episodes, season three’s “San Junipero” installment is also notable for being one of the hit series’ most uplifting episodes … well, as “uplifting” as a show about the many ways technology can be terrifying can be. But the success of the episode has posed some challenges for Brooker going into season four.

“I’m terrified of ‘San Junipero’ in a way, because I think we sort of captured lightning in a bottle there,” Brooker admitted. “You try and think, okay, that went really well, what else can we do? But you’ve got to then immediately put everything you think of out of your mind, because you can’t really do the same thing again.”

In addition to making sure that each episode is unique, it’s important to Brooker—and his sanity—that he not be constantly immersed in dark themes. “I do think that at the moment, as we’re doing new episodes, there’s a limit to how much constant nihilistic bleakness I can take,” Brooker continued. “And the world is in a place at the moment where I think maybe people appreciate things that aren’t so unremittingly horrible. But you also don’t want to short-change people on the unremitting horribleness.”

On January 14, 2016, the world lost one of its most enigmatic actors when Alan Rickman passed away following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. On what would have been his 71st birthday, we’re looking back at 10 surprising facts about the beloved actor.

1. HIS FIRST CAREER WAS IN GRAPHIC DESIGN.

Though he dabbled in drama as a teenager, Alan Rickman’s first career was as an artist. After studying graphic design at Chelsea College of Art and Design, followed by graduate classes at the Royal College of Art, he and a few friends launched their own graphic design business, Graphitti. “It all seems like a 1970s fantasy now,” Rickman told Design Observer when asked about his first career. “A top floor studio in Berwick Street, shared with a photographer, whitewashed brick walls and a vaulted glass ceiling … My job also included hiking around a huge and heavy portfolio to all the art directors. Again, this was BC: Before Computers. We worked on magazine layouts and illustrations, book jackets, album sleeves, and advertising. And learned quickly that we had to pay our bills immediately, but that the same rule did not apply to our clients. A constant financial tightrope. It came to a natural finish when I started to work in fringe theater and then went to RADA, and the others merged with Alan Aldridge at Ink Studios. Happy endings.”

2. HE CAME TO ACTING LATER IN LIFE.

Though he found success in the graphic design world, Rickman admitted that, “theater was always lurking in the background.” So, while still working as a graphic designer, he sent a letter to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to request an audition. “I was getting older and I thought if you really want to do this you’ve got to get on with it,” he told GQ. He was 26 years old when he auditioned with a speech from Richard III and was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious acting academy. “My body finally sighed with relief at being in the right place,” he said. “I had really come home at last.”

3. HE AUDITIONED FOR RETURN OF THE JEDI.

In The Making of Return of the Jedi, author J.W. Rinzler revealed that Rickman auditioned for the role of Admiral Moff Jerjerrod, who oversaw the construction of the second Death Star. The role ultimately went to Michael Pennington.

4. HE ROSE TO FAME IN AMERICA ON THE STAGE.

Rickman’s big break didn’t come in the movies, but on the stage, where he played Vicomte de Valmont in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985. When the play made the move to Broadway in 1987, Rickman came with it and received both Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for the role.

5. DIE HARD MARKED HIS FEATURE FILM DEBUT.

Rickman owed a debt of gratitude to Sam Neill, who was approached to play Hans Gruber in Die Hard but turned the role down. Then, in the spring of 1987, the film’s casting director saw Rickman playing the dastardly Valmont on Broadway and immediately wanted him for Hans. Though Rickman may have played the part as cool as the other side of the pillow, it was actually his first role in a feature film.

6. HE ALMOST TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF HANS GRUBER.

Though Die Hard turned Rickman into a hot commodity in Hollywood, he later admitted that he almost turned down the role. “I didn’t know anything about L.A. I didn’t know anything about the film business … I’d never made a film before, but I was extremely cheap,” Rickman said of the casting process for Die Hard—and when he read the script he thought, “What the hell is this? I’m not doing an action movie.” Fortunately, upon closer consideration, he realized that the film was “quite revolutionary, and quietly so.”

7. HE WAS SUPPOSED TO STAR IN FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL.

If Rickman has Sam Neill to thank for his Hollywood stardom, Hugh Grant should be thanking Alan Rickman. Grant was not the first choice to play Charles in his breakthrough film, Four Weddings and a Funeral; screenwriter Richard Curtis thought Grant was “too handsome” for the part. At one point, it was supposed to star Alan Rickman and Marisa Tomei. Fortunately for Grant, that changed.

8. ACCORDING TO SCIENCE, RICKMAN HAS A “PERFECT” MALE VOICE.

In 2008, a pair of researchers—linguist Andrew Linn and sound engineer Shannon Harris—were tasked with analyzing voice samples from more than 50 people to determine what makes the perfect human voice. For men, it turns out that it’s a combination of Rickman and Jeremy Irons.

“As humans we instinctively know which voices send shivers down our spine and which make us shudder with disgust,” Linn explained. “The emotional responses panelists had to the voices were surprising and go some way to explaining how voiceover artists or radio DJs are selected, or why particular celebrity voices appeal.”

Helen Mirren seemed to confirm this when she spoke about Rickman following his death, saying: “Alan was a towering person, physically, mentally and as an artist. He was utterly distinctive, with a voice that could suggest honey or a hidden stiletto blade, and the profile of a Roman Emperor.”

9. J.K. ROWLING GAVE HIM SOME CONFIDENTIAL HARRY POTTER INTEL.

Moviegoers of a specific generation know Rickman best for his role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series. When the actor took on the role, the book series was only four installments in, so there was still much to learn about what made Snape tick. In order to help Rickman play the character all the way through to the end, the author shared some information about Snape that wouldn’t be revealed until much later.

According to Rickman, it was “one tiny, little, left of field piece of information,” but it “helped me think that he was more complicated and that the story was not going to be as straight down the line as everybody thought. If you remember when I did the first film she’d only written three or four books, so nobody knew where it was really going except her. And it was important for her that I know something, but she only gave me a tiny piece of information which helped me think it was a more ambiguous route.”  

10. HE MET HIS LONGTIME PARTNER WHEN HE WAS JUST A TEENAGER.

In 1965, while a student at Chelsea College of Art and Design, Rickman—then 19 years old—met his first love, 18-year-old Rima Horton, who served as a Labour Party councilor on the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council from 1986 to 2006. She has also worked as an economics lecturer at Kingston University. Though it would take until 2012 for the couple to tie the knot in a private ceremony in New York, they remained a devoted couple for more than 50 years, until his passing. “She’s tolerant,” Rickman once said of Horton. “She’s incredibly tolerant. Possibly a candidate for sainthood.”

While transparent-beverage-loving drinkers of every age could enjoy sucking down Crystal Pepsi, Tab Clear, Clearly Canadian, or New York Seltzer in the 1990s, the see-through beverage of choice for harder drinkers was also clear: Zima.

Introduced by Coors in 1993, the sorta-citrusy malt beverage launched with much fanfare; the company spent a massive $180 million to market Zima, promising consumers that it was “zomething different.” No one zeemed to care.

By the time Coors introduced Zima Gold in 1995, the beverage had already become more of a punch line in America—though it would take another 13 years for it to be officially discontinued in the country. “We decided to do Zima Gold, which was a huge disaster,” Pete Coors, MillerCoors’s vice chairman of the board of directors, told Ad Age in 2012. “And then we decided to take the nice fluted bottle and make it into a generic bottle. We killed the brand, frankly.”

But following on the heels of Crystal Pepsi’s 2016 relaunch, MillerCoors thinks Zima is ready to make a comeback. Though few details have yet been revealed, company spokesman Marty Maloney recently confirmed that the beer alternative will be returning to store shelves in the near future, stating that, “If you’re one of the zillion fans who have missed Zima, the answer should be clear.” Zign us up!

[h/t: Ad Age]

Nothing is more synonymous with trash TV—or early reality TV—than the syndicated The Jerry Springer Show. Former mayor of Cincinnati Springer has taped almost 4000 episodes over the course of 26 seasons, and featured more than 35,000 guests. Because the format allowed for crass topics and guests who weren’t afraid to throw chairs at each other, in the late 1990s the show’s ratings topped Oprah Winfrey’s. Over the years, guests have accused the producers of staging and encouraging the fights for ratings. Still, it’s been popular enough to remain on the air since September 30, 1991. Here are 12 final thoughts about the controversial talk show, which is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year.

1. THE FIRST SEASON TAPED IN CINCINNATI.

Before he stepped in front of the cameras, Springer’s main gig was in politics. He (unsuccessfully) ran for Congress in 1970, but was elected to Cincinnati’s city council a year later. In 1977, he served as the city’s mayor for one year and made a run for governor in 1982, but was derailed by a sex scandal.

In September 1991, Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT needed to replace The Phil Donahue Show, so they tapped Springer to host his own politically-focused daytime talk show, The Jerry Springer Show. At the same time, he was also appearing as a nighttime co-anchor on WLWT. In 1992, Springer moved The Jerry Springer Show to Chicago; he flew back and forth between Cincy and Chicago every day so that he could continue hosting his nightly broadcast. But in 1993 he resigned from Channel 5, after the ratings slid. 

2. TWO ANCHORS QUIT BECAUSE SPRINGER APPEARED ON THEIR NEWS SHOW.

In 1997, Springer began a temporary job on Chicago’s WMAQ as a news commentator. Anchor Carol Marin, who had worked at the station for 19 years, refused to share airtime with Springer and quit the show. “I am sorry she found it necessary this week to use me as the stepping stone to martyrdom,” Springer said at the time. In solidarity with Marin’s decision, co-anchor Ron Magers departed a few weeks later. Dozens of people from religious and women’s organizations protested the station’s nighttime addition as well.

The heat ended up being too much for the station; in May 1998, it dropped The Springer Show, though a Fox affiliate quickly snatched it up. To cover costs, they had to air the show not once, but twice a day.

3. SECURITY DIRECTOR STEVE WILKOS THOUGHT HIS JOB WAS A “ONE-TIME GIG.”

The show hired Steve Wilkos, a former Chicago cop and marine, for a 1994 KKK-themed episode. “The pay was good and I figured it was a one-time gig,” Wilkos told Mediaweek. “But I ended up doing another show, and another, and before I knew it, I was hired as the full-time director of security. So, I left my career as a cop to give this a shot.”

Eventually, Wilkos gave advice on a “Steve to the Rescue” segment, and started subbing for Springer when the host went off to appear on Dancing with the Stars. That led to Wilkos getting his own show, The Steve Wilkos Show, in 2007.

4. THE SHOW WAS TARGETED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

In 1998, at the show’s peak popularity, education secretary William Bennett and Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman spoke at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention and implored broadcasters to remove the program from their schedules. “Drop it, or if you won’t drop it, urge the producers to clean up the show,” Lieberman pleaded.

“We’re here for three reasons,” Bennett added. “The first is to remind broadcasters of the high standards they once had; the second is to remind people in the business how low much of it has sunk, and also to remind people of the enormous influence and responsibility they wield.”

“The kind of perversity and violence on that show every day has to have a bad effect on the people and children who watch it,” Lieberman said. “Springer is not a network show. You make the decision to carry it. It’s not worth it … If you can’t do that, at least put it on late at night so that fewer kids are watching.”

5. SPRINGER STARRED IN HIS OWN MOVIE.

At the apex of his popularity, Springer played a talk show host named Jerry Farrelly in the 1998 box office and critical bomb Ringmaster. The movie, like Springer’s talk show, involved love triangles and cheating. It did win Springer an award, though: a Razzie for Worst New Star.

6. RELIGIOUS LEADERS FORCED THE SHOW TO TONE DOWN ITS VIOLENCE.

Under pressure from Chicago religious leaders, executives from The Jerry Springer Show promised to reduce the violence, though the fights are what helped it topple Oprah in the daytime talk show ratings. “We don’t want to take away from the show—we just think that Jerry will be able to do this show a different way,” Greg Meidel, the chief executive of then-distributor Studio USA, told the Los Angeles Times in 1998. “It will still be confrontational, it will still be unpredictable, you will still sense the conflict. You will still see yelling and screaming. But we’re not going to show anyone getting hit.”

A spokeswoman for the religious Community Renewal Society felt it was a “partial victory,” but she also called for the cursing and poor treatment of women to be toned down.

7. AUSTIN POWERS PARODIED SPRINGER.

In the opening of 1999’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Scott Evil (Seth Green) appears on The Jerry Springer Show—Springer cameos as himself—and confronts his father, Dr. Evil, who plots to take over the world. In typical Springer Show fashion, a fight breaks out and a lot of cursing spews from the guests’ mouths.

8. ONE FEATURED LOVE TRIANGLE ENDED IN A MURDER.

In 2000, during an episode called “Secret Mistresses Confronted,” a husband, his new wife, and his ex-wife appeared on the show and got into a tiff. The newlyweds accused the ex, Nancy Campbell-Panitz, of stalking them. But hours after the episode aired, a friend of Campbell-Panitz discovered her dead, beaten body inside her home. Eventually, Campbell-Panitz’s ex-husband and his new wife turned themselves in. In 2002 the case went to trial and the court found the ex-husband, Ralf Panitz, guilty of second-degree murder. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison.

9. SPRINGER ELIMINATED THE WORD “TRANNY.”

The Jerry Springer Show was one of the first talk shows to focus on transgender issues, but he regularly referred to his guests as “trannies,” like in a 2014 episode named “Trannies Twerk it Out.” The LGBT community felt it was time to phase out that word, and Springer immediately obliged. “I didn’t know it was offensive to them and I’m not interested in offending people, so obviously I’ll just change the term,” he told The Huffington Post. “There’s no argument there.”

10. THE SHOW PRODUCED A CONTROVERSIAL EPISODE ON BESTIALITY.

A 1998 episode entitled “I Married a Horse” featured a British man who married his horse. Cameras went overseas to film the man and his “wife.” A disclaimer opened the segment: “Sexual content with animals is illegal in this country and most of the Western world. This is the first film to examine a subject which many find deeply disturbing.” Some stations found the episode so disturbing that they refused to air it, opting instead to broadcast a rerun of “Past Guests Do Battle.”

11. IT WAS TURNED INTO AN OPERA (WHICH ALSO CREATED CONTROVERSY).

A musical version of the show, Jerry Springer: The Opera, debuted in London in April of 2003 and toured the UK in 2006. The production drew ire from the Christian community, because it included actors playing God, Satan, and Jesus, and the actors uttered about 8000 obscenities. When the BBC decided to air a performance in 2005, 45,000 angry viewers contacted the station about the show’s content. But, that didn’t prevent the opera from expanding to the U.S. In 2007, Las Vegas became the first American city to welcome the show. In 2008, Harvey Keitel played Springer in a two-day New York City performance.

12. SPRINGER MOVED THE SHOW TO STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT.

In 2009, after spending 17 years in Chicago, The Jerry Springer Show moved to the east coast and besieged the idyllic town of Stamford, because Connecticut offered tax breaks and built the Stamford Media Center to create a local entertainment industry. Springer’s arrival was met with protests from the community. But it continues to shoot there to this day.

James Bond is one of the most coveted roles an actor can ever hope to land, and it’s been that way for decades. Six different men have played the role in a series of 24 films produced over nearly six decades, which means many, many more actors either tried to get the part and failed, or got the part but didn’t want it. Here are just a few Bond candidates you might not have seen coming.

1. CARY GRANT

At first brush, Cary Grant seems like a natural choice for Bond, and he had both Bond creator Ian Fleming’s favor and a close friendship with producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli on his side. Grant was already in his late 50s by the time Dr. No began its journey to the screen, though, and would only commit to a single film. Hoping for a star who would sign a three-picture deal, the production moved on.

2. REX HARRISON

Best known for films like My Fair Lady and Doctor Dolittle, Harrison might not exactly be super-spy material, but he was among the many actors considered when Eon Productions began casting Dr. No. In the end, despite his debonair side, it was decided Harrison didn’t have the action chops for the role.

3. DAVID NIVEN

David Niven certainly had Bond’s charming, tuxedo-clad side down, and was a favorite casting choice of Ian Fleming. The role ultimately went to Sean Connery, but Niven did get a revenge of sorts, playing a retired version of Bond in the 1967 spoof Casino Royale, loosely based on Fleming’s novel.

4. RICHARD BURTON

Another favorite of Fleming’s, Richard Burton was just beginning his legendary film career when he was approached about the role. Disagreements over salary and his belief that the Bond concept might not have stood up on film got in the way, though, and he ultimately passed.

5. PATRICK MCGOOHAN

When casting on Dr. No began, Patrick McGoohan—perhaps best known today for the TV series The Prisoner—was starring in the series Danger Man (Secret Agent in the U.S.), and was asked to consider the Bond role. But McGoohan, a devout Catholic, turned it down.

“It has an insidious and powerful influence on children,” McGoohan told the Express. “Would you like your son to grow up like James Bond? Since I hold these views strongly as an individual and parent I didn’t see how I could contribute to the very things to which I objected.”

6. DICK VAN DYKE

Yes, it sounds weird, but when Sean Connery departed the Bond role after making You Only Live Twice (he would later return for a massive salary to make Diamonds Are Forever), Dick Van Dyke was among the actors considered to replace him. According to Van Dyke, he was asked to consider the part by Broccoli, but when he reminded the producer of his famously bad English accent from Mary Poppins, Broccoli replied: “Oh, that’s right—forget it!”

7. PETER PURVES

In the mid-1960s, Peter Purves was a TV actor best known for his role as Steven Taylor on the then-relatively new sci-fi series Doctor Who, which he’d recently departed when he auditioned for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Needless to say he didn’t get the part, and was then dumped by his agent. His string of bad luck ended when he landed a presenter job on the long-running BBC children’s program Blue Peter in 1967, where he stayed for more than a decade.

8. TERENCE STAMP

Terence Stamp was one of the hottest young actors of the 1960s, so it was only natural the producers wanted him to consider playing Bond when Connery left after five films. When Stamp pitched his idea for how to introduce a new Bond to producer Harry Saltzman, though, it was quickly rejected.

“[Saltzman] took me out for dinner at the White Elephant in Curzon Street,” Stamp told the Evening Standard. “He said, ‘We’re looking for the new 007. You’re really fit and really English.’

“I was very shocked but I thought it was great. ‘The fact is,’ I said, ‘Sean has made the role his own. The public will have trouble accepting anyone else. But in one of the books it starts with him disguised as a Japanese warrior. If we could do that one, I could start the movie in complete Japanese make-up. By the time it came off they are used to me a little bit. I would love to do it like that.’ He wasn’t impressed.”

9. MICHAEL GAMBON

Michael Gambon, best known to modern audiences as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise, was one of many actors considered when producers were looking to cast Diamonds Are Forever (the film Connery eventually returned for). Gambon argued to Broccoli that he wasn’t nearly fit enough for the role.

“I said, I can’t play James Bond, because I’m bald, I’ve got a double chin and I’ve got girl’s t*ts,” Gambon recalled. “So he said, ‘Well, so has Sean Connery, so we put a wig on him, and we put two big leather bags full of ice on his chest before the take. And then a man comes in just before the action and takes the bags off and then Connery has a beautiful flat chest and he has false teeth and all that.’

“He said, ‘you could well do it.’ But he didn’t offer it to me!”

10. BURT REYNOLDS

No American has ever starred in the Bond series, but a few came close, and Burt Reynolds was one of them after George Lazenby departed the series following On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Though he was offered the part, Reynolds said no, believing an American could never play the spy.

“I think I could have done it well,” Reynolds later said. “In my stupidity, I said, ‘An American can’t play James Bond, it has to be an Englishman—Bond, James Bond. Nah, I can’t do it.’ Oops. Yeah, I could have done it.”

11. CLINT EASTWOOD

Clint Eastwood was yet another American star considered when Lazenby left the series. Then best known for his TV work and his Spaghetti westerns with director Sergio Leone, Eastwood just didn’t feel right taking the character over from another actor.

“I was offered pretty good money to do James Bond if I would take on the role,” Eastwood said. “But to me, well, that was somebody else’s gig. That’s Sean’s deal. It didn’t feel right for me to be doing it.”

12. JAMES BROLIN

When Roger Moore decided he was done with Bond after For Your Eyes Only in 1981, producers again went after an American actor. After a great screen test, James Brolin essentially got the part, but when Warner Bros. announced their own Bond film—the Connery-starring Never Say Never Again—to compete with the upcoming Octopussy in 1983, the producers got nervous, and convinced Moore to return.

13. SAM NEILL

When Moore finally retired from the Bond role for good, Sam Neill was a front-runner to replace him, alongside future Bonds Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton. Neill’s screen test impressed longtime Bond director John Glen, but Broccoli wasn’t so sure. With Brosnan forced back into another season of Remington Steele, the role ultimately went to Dalton.

14. LIAM NEESON

When the time came to revitalize the Bond franchise in the ‘90s, Liam Neeson was offered the role. He turned it down for a very simple reason: Love.

“My wife-to-be [the late actress Natasha Richardson] said, ‘If you play James Bond we’re not getting married.’ And I had to take that on board because I did want to marry her.”

15. EWAN MCGREGOR

When it came time to recast Bond following Pierce Brosnan’s tenure, dozens of actors were considered, and Ewan McGregor was among the serious contenders. In the end, he turned it down because he was afraid the job would take over his career.

“With Star Wars, we did a three-month shoot and a couple of weeks of pick-ups so it wasn’t an enormous involvement,” McGregor said. “But with Bond, I suppose it’s a much longer shoot and there’s a massive amount of publicity. I would worry about not being able to do any other work.”

In his 1845 memoir, A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, the famed abolitionist wrote that, “I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.” Later in life, Douglass—who was born into slavery in Maryland—chose February 14 as his official birthdate, with some historians speculating that he was born in 1818.

Douglass would, of course, go on to become one of the most powerful leaders of the anti-slavery movement, working as an advisor to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and later becoming the first African American citizen to hold a government position. In 1872, he was Victoria Woodhull’s running mate in her bid for the presidency (even though he never officially accepted or acknowledged the nomination). He was also a dazzling orator, as these 20 quotes prove.

1. ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROGRESS AND STRUGGLE

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

2. ON THE UNIVERSALITY OF SORROW

“A smile or a tear has not nationality; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations, and they, above all the confusion of tongues, proclaim the brotherhood of man.”

3. ON THE VALUE OF EDUCATION

“Some know the value of education by having it. I know its value by not having it.”

4. ON THE DENIAL OF JUSTICE

“The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.”

5. ON MEASURING INJUSTICE

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”

6. ON EMPOWERING YOUTH

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

7. ON MORAL GROWTH

“A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.”

8. ON THE SECURITY OF A NATION

“The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”

9. ON THE NEED FOR POWER

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

10. ON FREE SPEECH

“To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”

11. ON REBELLION

“The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.”

12. ON THE CONSEQUENCE OF SLAVERY

“No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.”

13. ON RIGHT VERSUS WRONG

“I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

14. ON WORKING FOR WHAT YOU GET

“People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.”

15. ON THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE

“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”

16. ON THE NECESSITY OF IRONY

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.”

17. ON REMAINING TRUE TO ONESELF

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”

18. ON THE IMPENETRABILITY OF ONE’S SOUL

“The soul that is within me no man can degrade.”

19. ON THE COLOR OF ONE’S CHARACTER

“A man’s character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.”

20. ON USING THE PAST TO MAKE A BETTER FUTURE

“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.”