Thread: Strange and Unusual Facts

Originally Posted by jabir

Yeah, but given how close the ISS is to the earth, it's kinda the same.

The Jensen Interceptor, introduced in 1949

^ not that Interceptor TC, thats a MkIII

A picture of a fucking car is not a "strange and unusual fact".

At most it's a "strange and unusual car".

This is a strange and unusual fact:

Ramon Artagaveytia was one of only 65 passengers who survived the fire and sinking of the ship America in 1871. The mental trauma gave him nightmares for the rest of his life and kept him off of ships for 40 years – until April 10, 1912, when he decided to visit the US and boarded the Titanic

Originally Posted by strigils

not that Interceptor TC, thats a MkIII

...racing to correct my files...

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

A picture of a fucking car is not a "strange and unusual fact".
At most it's a "strange and unusual car".

...close enough...

^^ Jaysus...that's a good one.

Sylvester Stallone recently listed one of his houses on the market for $130m. It’s not surprising that just one of his several properties could be worth so much. When you mostly write, direct, produce and star in seven sequels to one of the most popular movies in history, money comes with the territory. Lots of it.



But how did he do it? At the age of thirty, Stallone was an unemployed actor. No one was interested in hiring him. An accident at birth cut a facial nerve, leaving one side of his face droopy. It also affected his speech, making him look and sound like Fred Flintstone minus a few IQ points. He sold his wife’s jewellery without her consent. Still broke and in despair, he sold his Mastiff for $50 to buy food. No education, no prospects, and no dog, Stallone hated his life. Thirteen schools had expelled him for behavioural problems. At the age of 15, his school's admin labelled his brain “dormant”. He was a problem child, and throughout his life he was constantly bullied and never had the confidence to defend himself.

Just one opportunity is all he wanted, to prove to himself and the world that he wasn’t, as he put it, “just another bum from the neighbourhood”.

He wallowed in his misery month after month, sulking and feeling sorry for himself. He had heard about Chuck “The Bayonne Bleeder” Wepner, going fifteen rounds with the heavyweight champ, Muhammad Ali. He later watched the fight on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. This was not possible. Wepner, a mediocre fighter, known for his blood splattering into the first three rows rather than his boxing skills, was supposed to lose, and badly. This was supposed to be an outing for Ali. Instead, he almost beat the man many consider to be the greatest boxer of all time.

This inspired him. No education, illiterate by normal standards and certainly not a writer, he drafted a script based on a fighter, who against all odds fights the champ. This took him less than a day, and tweaking took another few days. Next he did the rounds, his script being rejected time and again without anyone even bothering to read it, simply because he was an unknown. Eventually he found an agent that promised to read it; he liked it, and passed it around. Everybody who saw the script liked it. $100,000 was offered, and James Caan of Godfather fame would play the lead.

Dead broke and with no future, Stallone recognised that this was the one chance to do something with his life. He turned it down.

Next offer was $300,000 which he again rejected. This was the opportunity he dreamed of, and he wasn't about to let it go. He wanted to play the part of Rocky. That’s all, and everything else was secondary.

Finally, United Artists accepted the offer, giving the unknown Stallone $35,000 for the script, and the lead part. It was doomed to fail, but the risks were insignificant since the entire cost for making Rocky was budgeted at less than a million dollars. It was a good script, improved by Stallone and a team of pro writers, but less than a million is all that investors were prepared to cough up.

Stallone accepted, took the money and bought back his dog, Butkus, to co-star with him in the movie.



Rocky grossed over $220,000,000, and turned into a money-making franchise - seven sequels, written, directed and starring Stallone. From there it was all systems go, Stallone broke hearts, and ran into a string of blockbusters, including Rambo, which made him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.



Having been through the mill, the advice he now gives to wannabes in any field is to know that opportunity is out there for the taking, recognise and clamp onto it when you see it, and this can only be done if you believe you can do it; stop feeling sorry for yourself, off your butt and get out there to achieve your greatness.

Originally Posted by jabir

Having been through the mill, the advice he now gives to wannabes in any field is to know that opportunity is out there for the taking, recognise and clamp onto it when you see it, and this can only be done if you believe you can do it; stop feeling sorry for yourself, off your butt and get out there to achieve your greatness.

...and luck...lots of luck...and a good read on an early tRumper audience...

Bailing out of the US to work in an American college in Switzerland was well timed - he handily avoided Vietnam.

That account also doesn't mention that Stallone had appeared in several movies prior to Rocky.

wtf this has got to do with 'strange and unusual facts' only jabber will know.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Bailing out of the US to work in an American college in Switzerland was well timed - he handily avoided Vietnam.

That account also doesn't mention that Stallone had appeared in several movies prior to Rocky.

wtf this has got to do with 'strange and unusual facts' only jabber will know.

One of them was a softcore romance. Stallone was offered the rights to it for $100k and refused because he said it was shit.

Children's author Roald Dahl was given a 'Viking funeral' and buried with wine, snooker cues, pencils and a power saw.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Bailing out of the US to work in an American college in Switzerland was well timed - he handily avoided Vietnam.

That account also doesn't mention that Stallone had appeared in several movies prior to Rocky.

wtf this has got to do with 'strange and unusual facts' only jabber will know.

Hey moron, name a person we all know with a perfect history, and I mean aside from you.

Still waiting...

What a characteristically, unfathomably irrelevant 'response'.

Peter Adolph invented a new tabletop game and wanted to call it "Hobby" but, being a common word, this name was refused registration as a trademark.

Instead, he took the Latin name of the Eurasian Hobby bird (Falco subbuteo) and called his game: Subbuteo.

There is a screenplay named 'Atuk' which has never been made into a movie because anyone
who has shown interest in playing the lead role has died unexpectedly, including John Candy,
Chris Farley, John Belushi and Sam Kinison.

This bonsai is the Yamaki Pine. It's around 400 years old and even survived the bombing of Hiroshima.

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Is the power outlets in heaven 240 volts or 120 ?

...google is your friend...

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Is the power outlets

Hmmm . . . yes.

Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name was Moon.

Meet the newly discovered nano-chameleon, which is possibly the world's smallest reptile.

Kangaroos have three vaginas.

TD has more.

Some of Jurassic Park's Raptor sound were actuially tortoises mating (14 second mark).

Noisy fuckers.

WTF ? Is that the actual moment of tortise orgasm ?

Koalas sound pretty bizarre when they are fucking and fighting.