Why: In "The Office," Angela described Hilary Swank as "a female Boris Becker."
Answer: He is a retired German tennis player who was good and famous when I was a small child! Also called "Boom Boom" (and "Boom Boom Baron von Slam"), he is 6-time Grand Slam singles champion (between 1985 and 96), an Olympic gold medalist (92), and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17. He retired in 1999.
The truth is that I probably watched him play before. We used to watch a lot of tennis in the summer.
The More You Know: Do you know the last names of all the characters on "The Office"? I just realized that I don't think I do. The ones I couldn't name off the top of my head are:
Except that Jan never seemed entirely convinced and, despite his being there for her during some especially rough times, continuously treated him with contempt. Is it any surprise that things eventually blew up? Jon Gottman, a well-known marriage expert, is known for blaming the breakups of most marriages on what he calls the "four horsemen of the apocalypse": criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling.
I never made it to the end of the Bible.
Answer: They are colorful beasts that ride on horses!
They are described in chapter 6:1-8 of the Book of Revelation. Jesus (the "Lamb") takes the scroll of judgment from God because he the only person worthy of opening it and revealing the future course of history to his peeps. As he breaks the first 4 of the 7 seals, horses appear! Here is what the text says:
I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
And then this is what happens when he opens the last 3 seals:
5th Seal: The souls of the martyrs "under the altar" cry out for vengeance. (6:9-11)
6th Seal: There are earthquakes and natural disasters. (6:12-17)
144,000 of "all the tribes of Israel" are "sealed." (7:1-8)
A vast multitude worship God after coming out of the Great Tribulation. (7:9-17)
7th Seal: The breaking of the 7th seal begins another series: the 7 trumpets
The whole thing is a bunch of 4s and 7s. I don't know.
Anyway, I kind of want to read on and find out how the world will end, but it's really long. It looks like there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth, though, so that's exciting! When does this start? October? Source: Apocalipsis
The More You Know: Do you remember Johnny Ringo being all creepy about Revelations in my favorite movie Tombstone?
"Behold the pale horse. The man who sat on him was Death... and Hell followed with him."
Why: In the season premiere of "The Office," they lip synched (sanched?) and danced to that song. I thought it was old, but now it's in a Nike commercial. What gives?! Answer: It's "Nobody But Me" by The Human Beinz! The song was originally released in 1968 as a reworking of a song that had been originally recorded by The Isley Brothers in 1963. This version has also been in Kill Bill: Volume 1 and The Depahted.
Here's the Isley Brothers version: Source: Idolator
The More You Know: Were you just wondering if the Isley Brothers were really brothers, they were:
O'Kelly "Kelly" Isley (1937-1986)
Rudolph "Rudy" Isley (b. 1939)
Ronald "Ronnie" Isley (b. 1941)
Vernon Isley (1942-1955; at 13, he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle)
Why:On Take Your Daughter to Work Day, Dwight starts to read to the kids from Struwwelpeter. We saw the musical of Shockheaded Peter in London. The band was super weird, but I liked one song.
Shockheaded Peter - A boy does not groom himself properly and is consequently unpopular.
The Story of Cruel Frederick – A violent boy terrorizes animals and people. Eventually he is bitten by a dog, who goes on to eat the boy's sausages while he is bedridden.
The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches – A girl plays with matches and burns to death.
The Story of the Inky Boys – Saint Nicholas catches 3 boys teasing a dark-skinned boy. To teach them a lesson, he dips the 3 boys in black ink, to make them even darker-skinned than the boy they'd teased.
The Story of the Wild Huntsman - A hare steals a hunter's rifle and eyeglasses and begins to hunt the hunter. In the ensuing chaos the hare's child is burned by hot coffee.
The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb – A mother warns her son not to suck his thumbs. When she goes out of the house, he resumes his thumbsucking until a roving tailor appears and cuts off his thumbs with giant scissors.
The Story of Kaspar Who Did Not Have Any Soup – Kaspar, a healthy, strong boy, proclaims that he will no longer eat his soup. Over the next 5 days he wastes away and dies.
The Story of Fidgety Philip - A boy who won't sit still at dinner accidentally knocks all of the food onto the floor, to his parents' great displeasure.
The Story of Johnny Head-in-Air - A boy habitually fails to watch where he's walking. One day he walks into a river; he is soon rescued, but his portfolio drifts away.
The Story of Flying Robert - A boy goes outside during a storm. The wind catches his umbrella and sends him to places unknown and presumably to his doom.
Why:I just noticed that Oscar isn't sitting with his back directly to Phyllis and Stanley like I thought. I know Angela sometimes looks over the little reception wall at Pam, but I assumed she was just at the copy machine or something. Answer: Well, my life has just turned upside down.
The More You Know: I also thought the Break Room was just off of that door by Oscar (which I thought was right next to the door to the Kitchen). Also, wtf is that ??? room? Is that where Jim sat when he was co-Regional Manner? Am I the only person who still watches this show? Or who doesn't care that it's no longer cutting-edge? I don't even know what to think anymore.
He's had recurring roles in "Alias," "Boston Public," and "Nip/Tuck."
Source: Me only
The More You Know: He was also one of the nerdy Doris [Rosie O'Donnell] fans in A League of Their Own. Do you remember? They leaned over the thing and yelled, "Number twenty-two!!"
Why: I have been meaning to watch it for weeks. It is... I dunno, a spin-off? featuring "The Office (U.S.)" characters Kelly Kapoor, Erin the new secretary, Andy Bernard, and Ryan the Temp.
Answer: Oh boy. Their imaginary band is called Subtle Sexuality: Read full lyrics here.
The More You Know: Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor) went to Dartmouth and was in their a capella group The Rockapellas. Ellie Kemper (Erin Hannon) went to Princeton and is a contributing writer for The Onion. BJ Novak (Ryan Howard) went to Harvard and started his TV acting career on "Punk'd," like in this clip from 2004. (John Krasinski, btw, went to Brown.)
The More You Know: Erntedankfest (the "harvest festival of thanks") is Thanksgiving in Germany. It is primarily a rural and a religious celebration, usually celebrated the 1st Sunday in October . When it is celebrated in larger cities, it is usually part of a church service and not anything like the big traditional family holiday in North America.
A typical Erntedankfest celebration at Berlin's Evangelisches Johannesstift Berlin (the Protestant/evangelische Johannesstift Church) is an all-day affair held in late September. A typical Fest begins with a service at 10:00 am. A Thanksgiving procession is held at 2:00 pm and concludes with the presenting of the traditional "harvest crown" (Erntekrone). At 3:00 pm there's music ("von Blasmusik bis Jazz"), dancing, and food inside and outside the church. A 6:00 pm evening service is followed by a lantern and torch parade (Laternenumzug) for the kids — with fireworks! The ceremonies end around 7:00 pm.
How long will it take, after the film "The Lovely Bones" comes out, for the porn movie with the obvious parody title to come out?
I read that book. Saoirse Ronan will play the dead girl (Susie Salmon) in the movie due out in January. Answer: SEER-shuh! The word means "freedom" in Irish.
BURT: They expect that from me. VERONA: They expect you to sound like Casey Kasem. BURT: Verona, most of these guys are in their 50s and 60s. We're talking about millions of dollars of insurance futures. They don't want to be dealing with some 33-year-old that didn't finish college. VERONA: Oh, so Casey Kasem finished college? BURT: ...Yeah.
BURT: This next long-distance dedication- VERONA: No. BURT: -goes out to a really special girl. The letter reads: "Dear Casey, My name is Burt, and my girlfriend's pregnant and frustrated. Could you play a song that will make her smile? Thanks. Signed - Burt Farlander." VERONA: Your pregnant girlfriend's gonna kill you. [They smooch.] BURT: Thanks, Casey.
...it's a safe bet that their famous friends will be in attendance - including Emily's The Devil Wears Prada co-star Anne Hathaway, who actually set them up last November. "Anne is thrilled," says the source. "She has been a huge cheerleader of John and Emily's relationship."
Answer: Hahah she was Ruthie Pigface Draper in Dan in Real Life!!! (which is on Encore right now, by the way). She was born one day before Lisa.
The More You Know: Here are the lyrics to her jam:
Ruthie Pigface Draper There's a girl coming over here She's on her way right now She's driving here to meet Danny (What's her name?) Ruthie Pigface Draper She's living in a house of bricks - not straw or sticks I'll be your big bad wolf I like her cute curly tail This little piggy went to market, oh yeah This little piggy stayed home This little piggy had roast beef This little piggy had none This little piggy went wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee All the way home
Why: There is one in In Touch Weekly from a scene filmed last week in Van Nuys. Jim's tie appears to be cut the same way family members' clothes are cut or torn at Jewish funerals. Wtf.
Why: I just watched one of the episodes with Elle Macpherson.
Answer: Here are the people you and I both know:
Jason Alexander (1 episode)
Christina Applegate (2 eps.)
David Arquette (1)
Hank Azaria (5)
Alec Baldwin (2)
Selma Blair (1)
Eddie Cahill (7)
George Clooney (1)
Jennifer Coolidge (1)
Kristin Davis (1)
Danny DeVito (1)
Tate Donovan (5)
Morgan Fairchild (5)
Dakota Fanning (1)
Anna Faris (5)
Jon Favreau (6)
Soleil Moon Frye (1)
Teri Garr (3)
Adam Goldberg (3)
Jeff Goldblum (1)
Elliott Gould (20)
Jennifer Grey (1)
Charlton Heston (1)
Helen Hunt (1)
Chrissie Hynde (1)
Chris Isaak (1)
Penn Jillette (1)
Greg Kinnear (1)
Jay Leno (1)
Hugh Laurie (1)
Jon Lovitz (1)
Elle Macpherson (5)
Dermot Mulroney (3)
Gary Oldman (1)
Donny Osmond (1)
Chris Parnell (1)
Sean Penn (2)
Brad Pitt (1)
Freddie Prinze Jr. (1)
Michael Rapaport (4)
Leah Remini (1)
Giovanni Ribisi (9)
Denise Richards (1)
Julia Roberts (1)
Rebecca Romijn (1)
Isabella Rossellini (1)
Debra Jo Rupp (6)
Winona Ryder (1)
Susan Sarandon (1)
Jennifer Saunders (2)
Harry Schearer (1)
Tom Selleck (10)
Charlie Sheen (1)
Brooke Shields (1)
Sherri Shepherd (1)
Jonathan Silverman (1)
Cole Sprouse (5)
John Stamos (1)
Ben Stiller (1)
Christine Taylor (3)
Marlo Thomas (3)
Lea Thompson (1)
Kathleen Turner (3)
Aisha Tyler (9)
Jean-Claude Van Damme (1)
Michael Vartan (1)
Bruce Willis (3)
Reese Witherspoon (1)
Noah Wyle (1)
Steve Zahn (1)
In that list, I count at least 7 Oscars and 18 nominations - not to mention all the other Emmys, Golden Globes, Aftonbladet TV Prizes, Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, etc.
The More You Know: Here are other people you would probably recognize. I put them down here because they either weren't celebrities at the time, aren't famous now, had very small roles, or some other arbitrary reason:
Scott Adsit, Sasha Alexander, Eva Amurri, Alexis Arquette, Bob Balaban, Doug Benson, Shelley Berman, Alex Borstein, Richard Branson, Dan Castellaneta, Megan Cavanagh, Sarah Ferguson, Willie Garson, Kyle Gass, Beth Grant, Evan Handler, Melora Hardin, James Hong, Kyle Howard, Nicky Katt, James LeGros, Thomas Lennon, Alec Mapa, Debi Mazar, Eddie McClintock, Kevin McDonald, Michael McKean, Dina Meyer, Ivana Milicevic, Sarah Murdoch, George Newburn, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Emily Osment, Ellen Pompeo, Brian Posehn, Missi Pyle, Craig Robinson, Rena Sofer, Marla Sokoloff, Fisher Stevens, Allison Sweeney, Gabrielle Union, Fred Willard, Olivia Williams, Mae Whitman, Chris Young
The More You Know: Virgin America solicited the public's help to name their first aircraft, via a web contest. On October 11, 2006, the first aircraft was christened Jefferson Airplane after the San Francisco band. Former lead singer Grace Slick christened the plane along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Why: I've been reading his Twit-twits (because Mindy Kaling reads them, too). I just L-ed so L at this that it caused an uproar in my cubicle pod and I had to read it aloud:
When it comes to "burying the lede in a pop song", it's hard to outdo Gloria Gaynor's offhand mention that her ex is "back from outer space"
Answer: A writer for "The Daily Show"! He has won 3 Emmys.
Answer: "A psychic, medium, spiritual healer, and spiritual teacher who has made appearances on radio programs, TV shows, and live casino shows." I looked around his official website and I'm pretty sure his hair is a hat.
