I Just Learned The Stars On Paramount’s Logo Have Secret Meanings, And I Had No Idea

Posted on 20/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Logos are interesting things.

There’s the hidden bear in Toblerone’s one, for instance; there’s the interesting history of NBC’s rainbow-hued logo, partly designed to emphasise the beauty of colour TVs, to consider, too.

It turns out NBC isn’t the only Hollywood bigwig with a quietly clever logo, either.

According to TIME’s Populist, there’s a hidden significance to the stars above Paramount’s iconic mountain, too.

Which is?

Well, first we have to talk about the studio’s history.

The company, which was founded in 1912, was known for discovering and signing the biggest stars (hmmm…) of its day.

Marlene Dietrich, Mary Pickford, Douglass Fairbanks, and Gary Cooper were among its early Hollywood heroes.

The mountain itself was allegedly scribbled on a scrap of paper by “the Man Who Invented Hollywood,” W.W. Hodkinson.

This mountain has since changed design, and so have the number of stars (from 24 to 22).

“The original logo had 24 stars (for each of the two dozen actors under contract in 1916),” TIME writes.

Though Paramount says “the meaning behind [the stars] has always been a subject of lore in the industry,” they link out to the same TIME article on their site.

Huh. Why has it changed?

Even if we can’t say for sure the actor theory is true, the company themselves has written that their Paramount+ logo’s constellation hides a sneaky Easter egg.

“The number of stars was reduced to 13 — a star for each letter used when spelling ‘Paramount Plus’,” their site reads.

They also had to be made bigger to be visible on a phone screen (handy that there are fewer of them, then).

It’s not clear why the company shifted from 24 to 22 stars, though.

As the company’s content travels online as well as being shown in cinemas, its site says there need to be different considerations for its logo ― especially as it’s increasingly seen on smaller screens.

That includes not only the stars, but “the detailing on the mountain, or even the spacing between the classic Paramount script” too.

Who knew so much went into the iconic logo?

I Just Learned Why We Say ‘O Clock’ And I Never Would Have Guessed

Posted on 18/08/2024 by Boris Clair

At HuffPost UK, we’ve been really nerding out about language recently.

With all of this in mind, we thought it was about time that we spoke about clocks. As our knowledge about language keeps ticking over, we figured that we’d take a hot minute to really look into how we talk about time.

Basically, what I’m saying is, we wanted to know why we say ‘o’clock’

Before researching this,.I considered what I thought it could mean or where it came from. As a northerner, my first instinct was to think that it was a derivation of on’t’clock

However, the actual answer is definitely not something I could have come up with myself.

So, according to Vocabulary.com, It’s a shortened form of the now obsolete phrase ‘of the clock’, from the Middle English ‘of the clokke’.

Additionally, IFLScience said: “The first recorded instance of this use reportedly being in 1560.

“For a time, a rival phrase “a clock” was also used, though this seems to have died out in the 19th century, with o’clock becoming the preferred contraction.”

Of course, we know that over time, language and how we convey expressions and phrases evolves.

So, with that in mind, it’s worth noting that ’o’clock wasn’t the only phrase going through some changes back then.

Gizmodo explained that during this period, the phrase ‘Jack-o’-lantern’ started to popularise. This name came from ‘Jack of the lantern’,.which originally just meant ‘man of the lantern’ with ‘Jack’ at the time, being the generic ‘any man’ name.

Jack of all trades, anyone?

Really, the phrase is quite obsolete these days but we are glad we’re still clocking in some nods to our ancestors and simpler times.

I Just Learned The Names Of Tetris Blocks, And They’re Perfect

Posted on 08/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Next year, Tetris turns 40 and I have been pre-emptively celebrating by giving myself wrist cramp as I marathon the game on my phone.

While we all know by now that Tetris has quite a bit of Lore, I mean, even Apple Studios have produced a film about it starring Taron Egerton.

That being said, while I spend all of my hours in the evening flipping and swiping Tetris blocks around, I’d never considered that they actually have names and, uh, I would never have guessed them.

The names of Tetris blocks were an important tool in the early days of the game

In the early days of the game, the bricks didn’t have colours as the game was in black and white. This meant that identifying the blocks was easier done by using names for the shapes.

According to The Gamer: “One of the most popular ways to name the blocks is to call them as the letter of the alphabet that they resemble: I, O, L, J, S, Z, and T.”

Which, honestly, makes perfect sense.

However, some pranksters have given them other names in the past in a move that actually was believed by the producers at the trivia show Jeapordy!

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It all started when X (formerly Twitter) user vechitto shared a post, saying: “I found the original instruction booklet for Tetris and… did anyone know that these pieces had names??”

The edited instructions said: “There are seven total Tetris blocks, and knowing which is which at a glance is essential to mastering the game.”

In this cheeky post, our L shaped friends are named Orange and Blue Ricky, the Z’s are named after Cleveland and Rhode Island, the long line is called Hero, the T is Teewee and the cube? Smashboy.

Now, I will admit that when my blocks are getting too high and I desperately need to score a Tetris, yes, I would call the long line a hero. So, fair play. That one kind of works.

Orange and Blue Ricky, though?! Chaos.

Ryan Reynolds Actually Starred In Deadpool Long Before The First Film Was Released

Posted on 30/07/2024 by Boris Clair

Have you noticed that Ryan Reynolds seems almost too into Deadpool?

Of course, we all know that it’s great fun and the role was basically made for Ryan but why has it become his whole personality almost?

Well, it may seem like he was destined to play this role because, if the comics are anything to go by, he kind of was.

If you’re familiar with manifesting, let me introduce you to Ryan-i-festing.

How the Deadpool comics manifested Ryan Reynolds’ starring role

So, eight years ago, Ryan did an interview with Talks at Google and he revealed that in 2004, a rival executive from another major studio saw his performance as Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, and it reminded him of Wade Wilson aka Deadpool.

The actor then revealed that the executive had said to him: “Trust me, if they ever make a movie about Deadpool, you’re the only guy who can play Deadpool.”

Quite the honour, actually.

This same executive then sernt Ryan a bunch of Deadpool comics and when the actor read the first issue, he realised he had actually been referenced.

Ryan said that he fell in love with the character immediately: “I’m not a big comic book guy, but I really gravitated toward Deadpool. I fell in love with Deadpool.

“The first issue I opened up, I’m not making this up, I was on the panel. Like in the comic, it said Deadpool was saying ‘I look like a cross between Ryan Reynolds and a shar-pei.’ And I was thinking, Jesus, this is f***ing destiny.”

The issue was Cable and Deadpool #2 by Fabian Nicieza and Mark Brooks and was written way back in 2004, 12 years before the release date of the first Deadpool film, which was produced by Ryan.

A match made in heaven, we’re sure you’ll agree.

Deadpool & Wolverine is out in cinemas now.

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So, This Is How Accurate Crime Shows Really Are

Posted on 19/07/2024 by Boris Clair

Nothing beats a good, cosy crime drama.

Following a detective as they retrace steps, interview suspects and wander into gruesome crime scenes without even a hint of hand sanitiser. All of that while having a cheeky late night cup of tea? Can’t beat it.

That being said, how accurate are these shows in depicting what actually happens during an investigation? We know that it’s not quite as glossy as it is on screen, but are the important details factual?

Well, not so much.

Digital Spy spoke with Sophie Harris, a forensic assistant apprentice who revealed that not only is most of it not factual, but for shows like Luther, even the premise is off.

In a lot of crime and detective shows, there is one person fronting the investigation who not only does the paperwork, but gets their hands dirty in the nitty gritty of the crime scenes and is responsible for speaking to witnesses and suspects.

Harris explained that this isn’t quite so straightforward in the real world, saying: “On a lot of crime dramas, they show everything being done by one or two people, but that’s not true. You have a first officer attending the scene who alerts other people about what’s going on.

“After that, when forensics get involved, you’ll have a forensics scene investigator come, you’ll have crime scene coordinators, you’ll have all sorts of different people attending the scene.”

Another very satisfying plot point in many crime scenes is somebody being identified from a single fingerprint.

Usually, you’ll see one tech whizz sits in front of a screen, who scans the fingerprint and boom — we have our criminal.

Harris said: “On NCIS, I remember, they found a fingerprint and just popped it onto the system and then they got a suspect straight from that.

“But, you’ve got to be able to find a certain amount of characteristics on a fingerprint to be able to compare it to a mark, so it’s not that straightforward.”

Reality is, as ever, a little more admin-heavy than fiction.

The Historically Inaccurate Reason That Product Placement Was Removed From The First Gladiator Film

Posted on 11/07/2024 by Boris Clair

When you picture the original Gladiator film from 2000, the first thing that likely comes to mind is Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius. However, in an interview with Vanity Fair, the actor revealed that he actually almost dropped out of the film entirely as he didn’t like the script, and there were some strange inclusions that he didn’t agree with.

“I was confident about my abilities as a leading man. What I wasn’t confident about with ‘Gladiator’ was the world that was surrounding me.

“At the core of what we were doing was a great concept but the script, it was rubbish, absolute rubbish. And it had all these sorts of strange sequences.”

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Confidential,’ ‘Gladiator,’ ‘A Beautiful Mind,’ ‘Cinderella Man,’ ‘American Gangster,’ ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and newest film ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’\r\n\r\nTHE POPE’S EXORCIST is in theaters now, https://www.thepopes-exorcist.movie\r\n\r\nDirector: Funmi Sunmonu\r\nDirector of Photography: Joe Machart\r\nEditor: Matthew Colby\r\nCelebrity Talent: Russell Crowe\r\nLine Producer: Romeeka Powell\r\nAssociate Producer: Emebeit Beyene\r\nProduction Managers: Natasha Soto-Albors\r\nTalent Booker: Meredith Judkins\r\nPost Production Supervisor: Edward Taylor\r\nPost Production Coordinator: Jovan James\r\nSupervising Editor: Kameron Key\r\nAssistant Editor: Justin Symonds\r\n\r\n00:00 Russell Crowe’s Career Timeline\r\n00:37 Young Doctors\r\n02:30 L.A. 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Gladiators were the original influencers

One of these ‘strange sequences’ was scenes in which the gladiators rode chariots that had promotions for olive oil and other products on them.

While this may have seemed like an anachronistic choice for the filmmakers, gladiators in the Roman Empire really did take on endorsement and product placement deals.

According to the marketing experts at Banknotes: “The Colosseum was the mecca of entertainment in Ancient Rome, exposing gladiators to thousands of people at once.

“This is why historians have long suggested that Roman Gladiators were arguably the first influencers of purchasing behaviours.”

Russell did actually know this but said that it just wouldn’t resonate with audiences. He exclaimed: “That’s all true but it’s just not going to ring right to a modern audience, they’re going to go, ‘What the fuck is all this?’”

Maybe he was on to something as the film grossed $465.4 million worldwide.

Gladiator 2 is out in cinemas on15 November 2024.