Posts

10. Bake-Danuki Thebake-danukiis a shapeshifting yokai (supernatural spirit) that’s known across many parts of Japan and was called by different names depending on the region. It’s commonly depicted, characterized, and associated with the real-life Japanese raccoon dog (tanuki) and it’s often pictured as a big-bellied, four-legged creature that changes its shape to trick people. InNaruto, the One-Tailed Beast named Shukaku is based on the tanuki, and the way he fires his wind bullet is similar to the widely known trait of the bake-danuki drumming its belly....

10. In 1994, Forrest Gump Wins Best Picture Over Pulp Fiction 1994 was a great year filled with great movies, which makes it somewhat underwhelming in retrospect that the best movies of that year will always be represented byForrest Gump. While the Robert Zemeckis-directed drama epic is far from the worst film ever, it’s hard to swallow when you realize the Best Picture category also included bothPulp FictionandThe Shawshank Redemption....

10. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) “Opinions differ as to the casualty rate.” Those are the disturbingly nonchalant words of historian Kevin Brownlow as he discussed the production ofBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Filming in Rome under Mussolini’s National Fascist Party, the set was rife with conflict between fascist and anti-fascist extras, some of which went “missing” after a fire broke out on one Roman ship. Later, a stuntman died of internal injuries when a wheel fell off his chariot....

10. Anne Sexton (1928–1974) The Pulitzer Prize is considered the highest honor in the world of literature and journalism. A few people on this list won this prestigious award, and that includes American poet Anne Sexton. Her work was daringly vulnerable, like private confessions courageously made public. Sexton’s 1966 poetry collectionLive or Dieintimately details her battle with bipolar disorder, hospitalization, domestic abuse, and suicidal thoughts in free verse. Sadly, she killed herself with carbon monoxide in 1974 at the age of 45....

10. Frankenstein’s Monster (Frankenstein) There are many versions of Frankenstein’s infamous monster, but Junji Ito created a brand new take on this iconic creature inFrankenstein. The story features drama, revenge, and horror, following the sinister experiment of Victor Frankenstein that gave birth to a living corpse consisting of multiple parts from several dead bodies. This creature, an 8-foot-tall man, started to learn the meaning of life right after he escaped from Victor’s makeshift laboratory....