For Trivia Geeks

The dwarf that stands on the the giant's soldiers sees the farthest of the two.

-- Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury

It's no secret that I'm a trivia geek, so I have a collection of web sites that tickle my fancy. Tonight I was in mood to read up human mistakes, so here is a selection as I thought you might like a smile or two. :)

• Nitpickers Example: The Natural Watch carefully the scene when Roy Hobbs [Robert Redford] is supposed to have broken his bat Wonder Boy. The bat is clearly still intact when he finishes his swing, and it is only when the shot cuts back after the ball has gone foul that we see it spilt in two.
• Movie Mistakes Example: Star Wars When the stormtroopers break into the control room, watch very carefully and you will be able to see a storm trooper nearly renders himself unconscious by smacking his head off a door frame. This is now so notorious that on the new DVD there's an audible "bump" when he hits it.
• Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics Example: Outer Space Explosions Star Trek originally got it right. In early episodes, when something exploded in outerspace, it made no sound. That's because there is no air in outerspace to transmit sound. [more...]

For readers of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series: Bloopers Horror author Stephen King's books? Try this one, Mistakes, Bloopers & Errors. How about the accidental humour in advertising? And my favourite:

• The Slip-Up Archive Books Example: The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver On the first page of Chapter 28, Amelia Sachs removes and flings away off her gasoline-soaked police uniform blouse before entering a burning church. 3 pages later in the church basement she cuts a patch off of her uniform blouse to protect her hand from the hot handle of a fire extinguisher. (pages 342 & 345 of paperback edition.) Films Example: Sense and Sensibility In the scene where Emma Thomson is worried about Kate Winslet when she disappears in the storm, she is handed a cup of tea and she looks out the window. In the next shot, someone is handing her the same cup of tea that she had been given just a few seconds earlier. Television Example: Friends In the episode where Ross is deciding what to wear on the Discovery channel. It is also the one where Rachel gets hit in the side by Monica. When Ross is asking Joey and Chandler which coat would look better on him, the brown one is in the wrapping and the blue one is in his hand. Then the cameras change and the blue one is in the wrapping and the brown one is in his hand. And Slip-ups.com's Easter Egg Archive, which inspired a web site I used to maintain, Easter Eggs in Romances. Hm. Maybe I should motivate myself into get it up online again. It was a fun way to kill time. :)

Turning the coin round: Life in the 1500s. It used to drive me crazy when I see posters present this as a factual list on various message boards. Especially this insane line: "England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people." So, Sol Squire of AyshireRoots.com does his best to debunk the entire list. Urban Legends Reference Pages Urban Legends at the Darwin Awards The Urban Legend magazine List of dubious historical resources at Wikipedia Be good, be bad & be safe.