Top products from r/wikipedia

We found 25 product mentions on r/wikipedia. We ranked the 186 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

Next page

Top comments that mention products on r/wikipedia:

u/carters_here · 38 pointsr/wikipedia

Christopher Guest was pretty meticulous in researching the scenarios that would be improvised by the cast. He talked to a number of bands that told him ridiculous stories of life on the road, many of which made it to the film. Among the bands and scenes?

Uriah Heep - They were actually once booked at an Air Force Base.

Slade - Noddy Holder and Jimmy Lea told Christopher a number of stories from the road that all were embellished for the film.

They were the band that got lost backstage. Although, in the case of Slade, they were admittedly drunk at the time and couldn't find the door. A nice security guard eventually helped them to the stage.

At a low point in their popularity, they were billed at an amusement park, second to a magician (changed to a puppet show in the movie; and nothing to do with a girlfriend managing the band in real life).

In fact, most of Slade's "low period" of the late 1970s is what inspired Christopher Guest to create Spinal Tap in the first place. For those who don't know, Slade was a heavy rock band that was absolutely huge in Europe in the early 1970s that then found their popularity severely decline after the punk revolution.

This particular scene from Slade's film "Slade In Flame" is what inspired Spinal Tap overall. In the movie, Slade vocalist Noddy Holder is stuck in a casket and can't get out. This was based on a real-life thing that happened to Holder when he sang for another band. The "pod scene" in Spinal Tap came from this.

When Chris discovered that this scene was based on a real-life event, that started the ("are you serious? that REALLY happened?!") conversation and then got the ball rolling for Spinal Tap.

Slade eventually rebounded quite nicely during the Heavy Metal years of the early 80s...but Chris and Mike McKean have said that Slade and their hilariously awkward fall from rock superstars to suddenly "who?" was a big inspiration for Spinal Tap.

See these books for more great and very funny details about Slade in general.

Van Halen - Nigel's rant about the bad deli tray was inspired by Van Halen's demand that only brown M&M's be allowed in their dressing room. This was seen a prima-donna move by VH until David Lee Roth later explained that they specifically requested brown M&Ms only because they wanted to be certain that promoters had read through their entire contract regarding safety requirements. If they arrived and saw anything other than brown M&Ms, they knew that the promoter hadn't read the agreement and then got pissed as the audience might be in danger. Thus, the stories of "VH got pissy and trashed their dressing room because the promoter didn't take the time to provide a big bowl of brown M&Ms" - no, they were mad because their very specific requirements for staging were likely also ignored...and the stage could collapse, endangering thousands of fans. But I digress...

Saxon - Contrary to what others have said in the thread, actually it wasn't Sabbath that inspired "Stonehenge" (their album and the debacle that came with it was released a year after This Is Spinal Tap). It was the British heavy metal band Saxon that inspired the scene.

In this case, it wasn't a Stonehenge set. Vocalist Biff Byford told Chris Guest of a similarly ridiculous story of the band ordering a stage piece (a giant anvil) that was supposed to be dramatically lowered to the stage at a key point in their rocking-out-ness...and they looked behind them only to find a small, foam-like anvil being sheepishly lowered to the stage.

Guest brought the story to the table and during improv, Stonehenge was born. This was Mike McKean's baby as he built the backstory.

But one of my favorite artist reactions to the film was Tom Waits': "I can't fucking watch that movie. It hurts. It's too real."

Source? I'm a huge fan of the movie, Christopher Guest in general and here's an additional one if you're picky.

Turn it up to 11!!

u/CapnCrunchHarkness · 3 pointsr/wikipedia

If you like that, check out the book An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton (yes, the "Inside the Actor's Studio" guy.) that is mentioned on the Wikipedia page. It has a great introduction about these "terms of venery" and some of their origins, a really comprehensive list with illustrations, and Lipton himself even gets into creating new ones. Very cool book.

u/Pfmohr2 · 2 pointsr/wikipedia

If you get a chance, Ronson's book Them: Adventures with Extremists is an incredibly interesting read. The documentary was somewhat of a pairing with the book, and the two are very informative and entertaining.

u/[deleted] · 6 pointsr/wikipedia

This book is a pretty good summary of the whole story of Black Metal, if you're interested.

u/drwicked · 1 pointr/wikipedia

Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson is an exceptionally fun read if you'd like to learn more about this.

u/Xiphoid_Process · 5 pointsr/wikipedia

If you have Amazon Prime, Lore has an excellent episode devoted to the history lobotomies. It's incredibly chilling.

u/JonNix · 21 pointsr/wikipedia

The Professor and the Madman tells the story of one contributor very well. I loved it at least

u/ddefranza · 8 pointsr/wikipedia

If this is something you're interested in, I strongly recommend the book The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus by Robert Funk.

u/whinemore · 2 pointsr/wikipedia

This is what it was by painted as by Jefferson and this is the history we are stuck with, but the truth is much more complex. I'd recommend reading https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195140559/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_jKJtzbT9DMHZ4

u/burying_luck · 1 pointr/wikipedia

Lords of Chaos does the same and is a great read.

u/Frantic_Dragon · 1 pointr/wikipedia

There is a book written about these and other insane WWII ideas. It's not too serious. It's pretty good though.

http://www.amazon.ca/My-Tank-Fight-Zack-Parsons/dp/0806527587

u/24Seven · 1 pointr/wikipedia

I've already presented where to get the evidence you seek. We have the memoirs and diaries of Truman, Marshall and Stimson and other decision makers at the highest levels. We have the minutes of the numerous meetings related to the use of the bomb including those of the White House and other meetings amongst military personnel. We have the numerous meetings related to the invasion of Japan and the consensus that invasion was going to be extremely costly in lives and materials.

The problem here is that because the data doesn't fit your preconceived notion, you don't want to do the research. Get Operation Downfall if for nothing else the bibliography and go find and read the original research material for yourself.

You keep contradicting that the US dropped the bomb on Japan to end the war but haven't presented one shred of evidence to support an alternate theory that would support your hypothesis and explain all of the existing historical evidence that point towards ending the war.

u/bhal123 · 2 pointsr/wikipedia

Until just last night I had never heard of the Essex. I was talking with a guy at my local bar and he recommended I read this book.

u/Wiggles69 · 1 pointr/wikipedia

See also: My Tank is Fight!

Covers 20 of the crazier weapons built or envisioned in WWII. Most of them by the Nazis. Very funny too.

u/Quince · 7 pointsr/wikipedia

This island is featured in the book "Atlas of Remote Islands" by Judith Schalansky

I had made a companion "book" to it via the Wikipedia service:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Xefer/Books/RemoteIsland

u/50missioncap · 2 pointsr/wikipedia

Winchester also wrote The Meaning of Everything, which discusses more broadly the story of the OED.

u/SourcesPlease · 13 pointsr/wikipedia

Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down

More specifically, The Case of Smelly Nellie on page 16.

u/Lookmanospaces · 4 pointsr/wikipedia

I'd recommend this read to anyone interested in getting a feel for one of the most horrific episodes of the past century.

u/lenaro · 8 pointsr/wikipedia

Since you didn't specifically mention it: it was a whaleship that was attacked and sunk by a whale. For those who want to read more on this, I enjoyed this book.

u/FuriousGeorge8629 · 1 pointr/wikipedia

No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War https://www.amazon.com/dp/1557506639/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_nmajDb1MPSGBF

Different guy but the book you're looking for.

u/prototypist · 14 pointsr/wikipedia

I read Onoda's book No Surrender and it's a great look into his mindset at the time.

He and his compatriots didn't believe the first news of surrender, and no one wanted to be the first to give in. They were on a recon/intelligence mission for the Japanese invasion.

They understood that fighting had stopped, but believed Japan would gather its armies and resume the war, and at that point greatly need his intelligence on the island. Once the others died believing this, even a search party with his own brother could not get Onoda out of hiding. It was awful hard on him.