A signpost in Delta Junction, Alaska (https://is.gd/JtCAVn) marks the end of the Alaska Highway, formerly called the ALCAN, that connects to Dawson Creek, British Columbia in the south. Dawson Creek is about 1,500 miles from Delta Junction, which in turn is about 100 miles from Fairbanks.
The Faber College campus in “Animal House” is actually the University of Oregon at Eugene. It was the only school that would let the production shoot on campus.
And the reason behind that is even more surprising. The U of Oregon president agreed to filming because of a previous missed opportunity. Years earlier, he had rejected the offer to have the production of The Graduate shoot on campus. Not wanting to let another go at Hollywood pass him by – and without even reading the Animal House script – University President William Boyd instructed Director of University Relations Muriel Jackson to negotiate with the studio, giving the producers such carte blanche that his own office was used as Dean Wormer’s office in the movie.
It might also be noted that once it was realized just what they had let themselves in for, an addendum to the contract was made so that the university would not be identified in the film, and for decades both the university and the city tried – unsuccessfully – to conceal the fact. However, they have come to realize that, like it or not, the film is something of an icon and in later years have embraced their connection with the film, so much so that when the ramshackle building that was “Delta House” was finally torn down in 1986, a bronze plaque was later installed near the sidewalk to commemorate the site.
-“BB”-
(edited to add … Ninja-ed, dammit!! But I’m leaving this up because it’s still good trivia,)
Sorry @Bicycle_Bill! Good trivia, yes. I shall play off of it. Unfortunately this play isn’t all that goodly.
John Belushi’s second film was Animal House, in 1978, after Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle in 1975. In 1981 he would do Continental Divide and Neighbors. Sadly, he passed away in 1982.
Rural residents are more likely than people in suburban and urban areas to know all or most of their neighbors, but they aren’t more likely to interact with them.
According to the US Census Bureau, roughly 80% of Americans live in urban areas. However, according to Gallup, 27% of all Americans would like to live in a rural area, and another 12 percent would like to live in a small town.
Pope John Paul I only served as pontiff for 34 days in 1978, dying suddenly from a heart attack while reading in bed. However, he was not the shortest-tenured pope, as ten others served for 33 days or less. The pope with the shortest reign was Pope Urban VII, who died of malaria in 1590, 12 days after being named pontiff.
One of the major arteerial streets in east-end Montreal is Pie IX Boulevard. It is pronounced “pee neff”, and is French fir Pope Pius the Ninth’ who was Pope until 1878.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a commune/village in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in France which also refers to the papacy. The literal translation is “the New Castle of the Pope” and is a reference to the 14th century period (1309–1377) when the seat of the Roman Catholic Church was in Avignon.
There was indeed a château built for Pope John XXII, the second of the seven Avignon popes, but none of his successors occupied the castle. When the papacy returned to Rome, the castle passed to the archbishop who found it too large and expensive to maintain, and it became the source of much of the stone used for building work in the village.
The commune is currently famous for the production of red wine classified as Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation d’origine contrôlée, which is produced from grapes grown in the commune of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and in portions of four adjoining communes.
-“BB”-
(Châteauneuf-du-Pape is one of my very favorite wine varieties!)
In play:
Honky Château is a 1972 album by Elton John; the album’s name is a tribute to Château d’Hérouville, an 18th Century chateau near Paris, where John recorded the album. It was the first of seven consecutive Elton John albums to reach #1 on the U.S. Billboard album chart, and featured the songs “Rocket Man,” “Honky Cat,” and “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.”
The traditional colors of Paris are red and blue, as shown on the city’s flag. Those are, of course, two-thirds of the colors of the flag of France itself: Flag of Paris - Wikipedia
Although the population of the city of Paris is about 2.1 million, the population of the Paris Region is over 12 million, or about 18% of the French population.
Paris Hilton was named The World’s Worst Celebrity Dog Owner by The New York Dog and The Hollywood Dog Magazines in December 2005 and was ranked 2nd the following year.
Several old-time baseball players wound up as owners of a team and its stadium, named after themselves. But among non-owners, only one stadium used for MLB games ever bore the name of a former player. He was Hiram Bithorn, the first Puerto Rican in MLB who pitched briefly in the 1940’s. In their final years, the Montreal Expos played several games in the Puerto Rico stadium named after Bithorn.
Sahlen Field, located in Buffalo, New York, is the home of the Buffalo Bisons, the AAA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the Blue Jays are not allowed to play in Toronto during this season, so they are playing their ‘home’ games in Sahlen Field. Their first home game was played this past Tuesday.
The last big league contest in Buffalo was held in 1915, when the short-lived Federal League held Buffalo Blues games in the city.
I’m guessing Michael Vick took the title away from her.
In play:
The long-fallen Federal Empire built the immense biological warfare ship Ark in George R.R. Martin’s acclaimed distant-future sf environmental satire, Tuf Voyaging.
The Federal League was the most recent attempt to provide a third league of major league baseball, conducting seasons in 1914 and 1915. The US entry into WWI hurt attendance, as did the fact that their lawsuit against the National and American Leagues was delayed by Federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The leagues remembered Landis, and, when they desperately needed a commissioner to counteract the Black Sox scandal, turned to him for the post.
OK, this made me laugh.
In play: Kenesaw Mountain Landis was in fact the first commissioner of baseball, assuming the role on January 21, 1921. He remained commissioner until his death in 1944, a span of 23 seasons. Bud Selig, the ninth commissioner, also held the post for 23 seasons from 1992 through 2015.
Bart Giamati, #7 on the list, was commissioner for just 5 months. His term started April 1, 1989, but he died of a heart attack on September 1, 1989.
Early in his film career, director John Landis worked in the industry in a variety of roles, including assistant director, actor, stuntman, dialogue coach, and production assistant.
Among his early film work was playing an uncredited henchman in a 1971 spaghetti Western. In Landis’s own words, “I worked on a movie called Red Sun where Toshiro Mifune kills me, puts a sword through me.”
John Landis’s first acting role was in 1970 in Kelly’s Heroes as Sister Rosa Stigmata; his most recent was in the 2015 short film Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling, in which he played a therapist.
Actress Minnie Driver was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Skylar in 1997’s Good Will Hunting. The Oscar that year went to Kim Basinger. Minnie Driver, born in London in 1970, debuted in 1991 in a television commercial for Right Guard deodorant.