Category Archives: Celebrities and Entertainment

The Flash (Superhero)

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The Flash (Superhero)

Nothing is as fast as the Flash. Well, maybe except Superman.

  • The Flash is a fictional superhero, who has featured in the DC Comics ‘universe’ since 1940, and is also known as ‘Scarlet Speeder’.
  • The Flash has the powers to run lightning fast as well as have extremely quick actions, talking and thinking skills, and uses his superpowers to travel through universes or time.
  • The Flash is most popularly the name of Barry Allen, although three others, Jay Garrick (the original), Wally West and Bart Allen (who are both from the bloodline of Barry Allen), precede or succeed him with the same name of ‘the Flash’.
  • The Flash is good friends with Green Lantern, who is another superhero that has the power to control the physical world of the universe.
  • All Flashes gained superpowers by inhaling or making contact with charged chemicals, expect Bart Allen, who was born with the powers.

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  • The Flash’s appear wearing red and/or yellow, with a lightning bolt as his trademark.
  • The comic that the Flash makes his first appearance in, the DC Comic’s ‘Flash Comics’ issue #1, is one of the most valuable comic books of all time, with one copy being sold for $450,000 in 2010.
  • The Flash was conceived by the comic story author Gardner Fox, who had worked for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and originally drawn by the cartoonist Harry Lampert, who helped create Popeye.
  • The Flash typically fights the villains known as The Rogues, most notably the gang leader Captain Cold, who takes a part in robberies and abides by a code that states no murdering, unless needed, or drug use.
  • The Flash and Superman sometimes have races; even while crime fighting, although the results generally finish as a tie.
Bibliography:
Flash, 2013, Ducksters, < http://www.ducksters.com/biography/flash.php>
Flash (Comics), 2013, Wikipedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_(comics)>

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DC Comic’s Flash Comics Series

Rubik’s Cube

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Rubik’s Cube

Twist, turn, twist, turn Rubik’s cube

  • A Rubik’s Cube is a 3D puzzle, typically a 5.7 cm (2.25 inches) cube, that involves turning connected smaller cubes to create a solid colour on each side of the large cube.
  • Ernő Rubik, who was a Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture, invented the Rubik’s Cube in 1974, and it took him more than a month to solve it.
  • Rubik’s Cube was the game of the year in Germany in the 1980s, and became a craze in the same decade, as well as the most popular puzzle, with 350 million cubes being sold up to 2009.
  • The classic Rubik’s Cube has 26 cubies, which are the smaller cubes that make up the large one, six faces of nine tiles, also known as the 3 x 3 x 3 cube, with the tiles traditionally white, red, blue, orange, green and yellow.
  • Rubik’s Cube is also known as the ‘Magic Cube’, or ‘Büvös Kocka’, the original names, as well as the ‘Hungarian Horror’.

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  • It is said that some Rubik’s Cube experts can solve the puzzle in 24 to 28 moves, in the standard puzzle position.
  • The Rubik’s Cube has variations that range from pocket sized 2 x 2 x 2 cubes to enormous, most expensive  17 x 17 x 17 cubes that cost over $1000 as well as virtual versions in both 4D and 5D.
  • The quickest official time to solve a Rubik’s Cube is in 5.55 seconds, achieved in March 2013 by Mats Valk from the Netherlands.
  • There is only one correct answer to the Rubik’s Cube, with 43 quintillion incorrect ones and both Rubik and experts believe that the cube would take more than a lifetime to solve if the pieces were moved randomly.
  • Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube to answer the following question: “How could the blocks move independently without falling apart”.
Bibliography:
Bellis, M 2013, Rubik’s Cube, About.com, <http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/Rubik_Cube.htm>
Rubik’s Cube, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik’s_Cube>

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Thunderbirds

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Thunderbirds

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…. Thunderbirds Are Go!

  • Thunderbirds was a science fiction television series, that debuted in 1965 and ran until 1966 with 32 episodes produced over two series, running for 50 minutes per episode, which in some later reproductions became two 25-minute halves.
  • Thunderbirds is about the International Rescue team, or Thunderbirds, who have high technology of aircraft and other rescue equipment and is set in the future, originally 2026, which changed to 2065.
  • Thunderbirds was made in marionette puppet style, with some real life filming, with the puppets designed to be one third of a real person’s size and they had a lip sync mechanism which received electrical pulses to make the mouth move with the voice.
  • The main characters of Thunderbirds are the Tracy Brothers and their father Jeff Tracy, as well as Brains and Lady Penelope with her butler, Parker.
  • Thunderbirds was made in the United Kingdom and authorized by ITC Entertainment and produced by AP Films, who were experienced in the area of marionette puppetry.

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  • The idea for Thunderbirds came from the 1963 mining disaster in Germany, when miraculously nearly half of the trapped crew were saved.
  • The voices of Thunderbirds came from many nationalities, including American, Canadian, Australian and British actors and actresses.
  • Many materials were used for the special effects such as explosions in Thunderbirds, including petrol and fueled rocket canisters.
  • Thunderbirds is known for the rescue crafts Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, which range from a large jet to a space station.
  • Three films have been adapted from the main series, ‘Thunderbirds Are Go! (1966)’, ‘Thunderbird 6’ (1968) and ‘Thunderbirds’, the most recent film released in 2004.
Bibliography:
The Background, n.d, Thunderbirds, < http://www.fab1.co.nz/thunderbirds.htm>
Thunderbirds (TV Series), 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_(TV_series)>

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Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

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Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

More mysteries solved by Nancy Drew.

  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is a book series that is often named the ‘original’ or ‘classic’ Nancy Drew series.
  • Stratemeyer Syndicate, producers of other mystery series such as the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, produced the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories.
  • Grosset & Dunlap first published the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories in 1930 and continued publishing the series until 1979, when Simon & Schuster took over, until the series concluded in 2003.
  • Twenty-eight people, all ghost writers for the series, have written Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, most notably Mildred Bensen under the pen name Carolyn Keene, under the orders of Edward Stratemeyer and descendants, who thought of the idea and founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is a series of 175 books, the first 56 published by Grosset & Dunlap, and the rest by Simon & Schuster.

 Nancy Drew Mystery Series, Four Books, Teenager, Classic, Quad, The Secret in the Stars, number 167, 156, 155, 173, Mystery in Tornado Alley, Library, australia, Ten Random Facts, Danger on the Great Lakes

  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories were originally published as hardbacks, but in 1979 they began to be produced as paperbacks.
  • Nancy Drew is the main character in the series of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, who is a female teenager and the mystery solver.
  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories were written after the success of the Hardy Boys, also produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, to give a sense of mystery to young female readers, and the series made a very significant impact on female culture and society, and continues to be popular to this day.
  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories have been turned into six films, all produced by Warner Bros, the most recent film having been released on 15 June, 2007.
  • The first Nancy Drew Mystery Stories book was ‘The Secret of the Old Clock’ and the last being ‘Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland’.
Bibliography:
Nancy Drew, 2013, Wikipedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew>
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew_Mystery_Stories>

 

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Nancy Drew Book Series – Multiple Selections

 

Dominoes

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Dominoes

Dominoes – a fun family game…

  • Dominoes is a game that involves matching the game pieces, rectangular ’tiles’, on a flat surface and each domino tile has a number of spots, or none at all, at each end of the tile that must be matched with another of the same number of spots.
  • ‘Dominoes’ is also spelt ‘dominos’, while the spots on the dominoes are also known as ‘pips’, and the game pieces, called ’tiles’, are also known as ‘bones’, ‘stones’, ‘cards’, ‘spinners’ and ‘tickets’.
  • Dominoes were first documented in China between 12 and 13 century AD, and in the western world were initially played in Italy in the 1700s, and from there it spread throughout Europe.
  • Bone, ivory or hardwood were the original domino materials, and some other materials such as stone, metal, ceramics and glass have been used, but modern dominoes are generally made from plastic or resins.
  • European domino sets, which generally differ slightly to Chinese dominoes, have 28 tiles, but sets with up to 253 have been made, but are rare and are more than enough to suit eight players.

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  • They most common sets of dominoes are known as ‘double six’ or ‘double nine’, which have 28 and 55 tiles respectively, with values of zero to six and zero to nine.
  • Dominoes are played with two to eight people, depending on the quantity of tiles, making it a great family game, the aim of which is to be the first to rid your hand of all your tiles, blocking your opponents as you do so.
  • Dominoes have often been used to create what is known as ‘domino effects’ that are lines, or many other things such as spirals, of dominoes standing on their ends, that when one is toppled over the rest should follow in turn.
  • Chinese dominoes were originally made to represent all the possible throws of  two six-sided dice, with some added duplicates to make a set of 32.
  • To this day, it is uncertain whether the game of dominoes derived its name from the word ‘domino’, that once referred to the black hood-like accessory that priests wore, or directly from the word ‘dominus’, meaning lord or master.
Bibliography:
Dominoes, 2013, Wikipedia, < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominoes>
Dominoes Information, 2013, Domino Games, < http://www.domino-games.com/>

 

Amazon:       Fishpond:  Maxam 28pc Double 6 Color Dot Domino Set  Premium Set of 55 Double Nine Dominoes in Wooden Case

 

Peanuts Comic

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Peanuts Comic

‘Good Ol’ Charlie Brown’ – Peanuts

  • Peanuts is an American comic that was distributed daily and weekly from 2 October 1950 to 13 February 2000, and it was featured in nine newspapers on its first day of being published.
  • Peanuts was illustrated and authored by Charles M Schulz, an American who was born on 26 November 1922 and died 12 February 2000, and even though he had retired from his work in December 1999 due to ill health, it was only a few hours after he died that his last Peanuts strip was published, on the 13 February 2000.
  • Schulz created 17,897 Peanuts comic strips, which have been translated into 21 languages, read by hundreds of millions of people in 75 countries and have been published in 2,600 different newspapers.
  • Peanuts comic strips and products gave Schulz an estimated income of $30-40 million each year, and Peanuts characters were featured on 20,000 new products every year, by 1999.
  • The main character of Peanuts is Charlie Brown (aka Chuck) who is a timid character and second to that is Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s pet dog, which the comic is well known by, and other characters include Lucy, Linus, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, Sally, Pig Pen, as well as a few more.

Peanuts Comnic, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, colour,Black and White, Snoopy Snaps, Book, Lots, six, Peanus for everyone, Lucy, Ten Random Facts

  • Charlie Brown of Peanuts was named after Charles Schulz’s friend from school but Schultz has a number of similarities with the comics different characters.
  • Many films have been based on Peanuts, most notably ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’ which are among the five specials that have won Emmy Awards.
  • Peanuts was named after a ‘peanut gallery’ by the United Feature Syndicate who published Schulz’s work, which Schulz had originally named ‘Li’l Folks’, a name that the syndicate did not want to use due to its similarity to another comic, though Schulz was never happy with the name ‘Peanuts’.
  • There has never been an adult face in the Peanuts comic, although an adult sometimes speaks, represented by a speech bubble coming from the side.
  • Peanuts is considered as one of the most influential, greatest and popular comics of all time, receiving a number of awards over the years, and as a result, Snoopy became the mascot of NASA personal safety for astronauts, and along with Charlie Brown became the semi-official mascot of the Apollo 10 mission.
Bibliography:
Peanuts, 2005, The Great Idea Finder, <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/peanuts.htm>

Peanuts, 2013, Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts>

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