Useless Information from the Big Wide Internet

Apparently Himmler has an IMDb page. I'm not sure if I find this amusing, disturbing or just plain weird. Is IMDb expanding into war criminals or was Himmler just in a lot of films? I haven't looked at the page - I'd almost rather not know. Partly because it's funnier, and partly because a glitzy database of actors and filmmakers doesn't seem like the right place for a Nazi.

I learnt this from a little news item about The Sound of Music, which I've always had a soft spot for. Apparently someone is planning to turn the real Baron von Trapp's house into a hotel, and Himmler used to live in Baron von Trapp's house (presumably not whilst von Trapp was still there). So for numerous reasons, turning it into a hotel is inappropriate. I agree that it's inappropriate, but I sort of want to go there now. Well, mainly I want to march round the fountain singing, but then I'm terribly juvenile, as we all know.

Also in Creepy House Information, the house that Heath Ledger died in was the models' apartment in season (sorry, cycle) two of America's Next Top Model.

The Internet is weird.

Useless Information from the Tuesday Pub Quiz

Not much to tell you today, because we only got two questions wrong. And really, it's kind of embarrassing. There's a "wipeout" round in the quiz, where if you put down answers for all 10 questions, you get an extra five points if they're all right and no points at all if you get any wrong. This week it was a lyrics round and I essentially got six points for knowing the words to "The Chicken Song". I don't know if this particular piece of magic is an international phenomenon, but the bit most people know goes: "Hoooooold a chicken in the air, stick a deckchair up your nose..."

So this week, I learned that there are five seconds between each chime of Big Ben, and that the word "fuck" is used 257 times in Pulp Fiction. Use this information wisely, my friends.

Useless Information From The Tuesday Pub Quiz

(Look, a second post in a regular feature!)

A baby oyster is called a spat. As opposed to a regular oyster, which is a spit (I mean, yuck). I don't know who picks these baby names - it can't be the same person who picked "puppy" which is one of the loveliest words in the English language. It just sounds cute and fuzzy. Baby animals should have cute names, even if they're not cute. In previous pub quizzes, we've been asked what a baby pigeon is called. It's a squab. Which is nice, but nowhere near as nice as "pidgelet".

Also, I have no interest in watching Mulholland Drive, but is there really a scene with three women in spangly dresses and two grinning clean-cut blokes singing in what appears to be some sort of diner? I'm just checking, because Cheese has a habit of not checking the answers, and people singing in a diner doesn't tie in with what I've heard about the film. But then, perhaps it's some sort of cosmic lesson. It's probably not right that I retain my position as the team's resident film expert when I've barely seen any films. I read film reviews and have a worryingly good memory for plots and actors and such, but I have the world's lowest gore-and-violence tolerance. Out of the IMDb Top 250, I've seen 25. Ten per cent. That's a bit crap. I really must watch Annie Hall and boost it up one.

Useless Information from the Tuesday Pub Quiz

My first regular feature! Yay! I don't even have any readers yet! And this is technically cheating, because it's from last week's pub quiz, but never mind.

In 2001, the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cannes Film Festival was... Melanie Griffiths. Melanie Griffiths? I can think of approximately one film she's done. I know she was Oscar-nominated for it (well, I didn't - I looked it up because I didn't believe this was the right answer), but really. In most people's heads, she's two things: Antonio Banderas's wife and an example of why plastic surgery is a bad, bad thing. Which I suppose is an achievement.