The climactic chariot race scene in the 1959 adaptation of Ben Hur required 15,000 extras.

The opening scene of The Sound of Music – in which Maria is seen singing in a grassy field high in the Alps – had to be re-shot several times because the downdraft from the helicopter used to film it kept blowing Julie Andrews off her feet.

The “blood” seen being washed down the bathtub plughole in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was actually chocolate sauce.

Psycho was also the first movie in Hollywood history to show a toilet being flushed.

The cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather movies was almost very different: the studio wanted Laurence Olivier to play Vito Corleone (not Marlon Brando) and suggested Robert Redford instead of Al Pacino to play his son Michael.

When his movie career failed to take off as he had hoped, Harrison Ford retrained as a carpenter and was working as such when he was cast in Star Wars.

The Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now was originally planned to take six weeks to shoot. In the end, it took a year and a half.

The puppet shark used in the movie Jaws was nicknamed “Bruce” by the crew.

Inside the model of E.T. in the Steven Spielberg movie was a two feet ten inch stuntman.

A penny saved is a penny earned.
But honestly, who carries pennies anymore.
Anonymous

THE CIA IS IN CUBA.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/dmitri-bolt/2026/05/15/cia-director-travels-to-cuba-n2676154

*****

I WILL BELIEVE THIS WHEN I CAT-SEE IT.

https://redstate.com/brad-essex/2026/05/15/the-essex-files-senators-finally-agree-to-share-the-pain-of-shutdowns-n2202345

*****

Gavin is the man.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/amy-curtis/2026/05/14/newsom-budget-n2676073

*****

All Virginia lawyers must graduate from the Minneapolis Learing Center.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/05/12/nolte-flailing-virginia-dems-mistakenly-address-scotus-request-to-wrong-court/

Is Rubio rehearsing ?

https://nypost.com/2026/05/12/us-news/marco-rubio-dons-nike-tracksuit-worn-by-maduro-when-venezuelean-dictator-was-captured/

The judicial system is a J-O-K-E, joke.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/amy-curtis/2026/05/13/cambridge-gunman-judge-doesnt-recall-case-n2676002

NATIONAL

Do any readers think this will pass ????????

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/05/11/thune-advances-new-bill-to-block-100-of-senators-pay-during-shutdown-n2202239

Buffalo gets a new stadium.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48744949/bills-play-first-regular-season-game-new-stadium-week-2

Problems are everywhere.

https://nypost.com/2026/05/12/lifestyle/rich-nantucket-nimbys-whine-that-chain-store-is-ruining-quaint-downtown-vibe-shop-owners-are-discouraged-and-upset/

INTERNATIONAL

Germany blew it.    Wind and solar are great for something small, but not a country.

https://pjmedia.com/vijay-jayaraj/2026/05/11/germanys-nuclear-confession-is-a-crack-in-netzero-pretense-n4952754

Is this a cloak & dagger mystery ???

https://nypost.com/2026/05/12/world-news/mystery-of-sunken-russia-ghost-ship-ursa-major-deepens/

*****

The Happy Editor:    What is more good news, LL ?

The Muckraker Cat:   I was surprised to find so much.   The first is a Georgia Assistant District Attorney turning in false information on a case.

https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2026/05/05/hot-takes-ga-supreme-courts-punishment-for-prosecutor-who-cited-fake-cases-has-people-talking-n2202033

https://lawandcrime.com/crime/far-beneath-the-conduct-we-expect-prosecutor-suspended-by-georgia-supreme-court-for-using-ai-software-to-cite-wholly-inaccurate-and-fictitious-cases/

Trump helps some Indiana Republicans.

https://nypost.com/2026/05/05/us-news/trump-backed-candidates-take-out-gop-incumbents-in-indiana-dominate-ohio-primary-in-big-night-for-president/

Another K-9 hero.

https://www.breitbart.com/health/2026/05/05/watch-good-boy-florida-k-9-rescues-missing-autistic-teen-after-sniffing-his-sock/

Good for the internet.    Katie is a LOSER.    Sometimes just be quiet.

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2026/05/05/katie-porter-videos-as-she-tries-to-change-her-image-n2202032

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=sound+of+silence+simon+and+garfunkel#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:47aaf745,vid:6GGBpOn0r-4,st:0

*****

If he was a politician it would have been worse.

https://theonion.com/michael-rapaport-gives-knicks-celebrity-row-bedbugs/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/

*****

Perfect.

https://babylonbee.com/news/hobo-with-garbage-can-stuck-on-his-head-mistaken-for-met-gala-attendee

https://www.breitbart.com/

 In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without shape and it was empty. Deep water covered the earth and everywhere was dark. The Spirit of God moved above the water.

Tolley’s Topics
SALUTES
ARMED FORCES DAY

Armed Forces Day is on May 16, 2026. It is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of May to honor and recognize the men and women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Our Armed Forces are given one day of recognition,
Not an entire month like the Gay Pride Freaks.
BUT…Now we have President Donald Trump and
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
AMERICA is BACK!
-Sheila Tolley-

The first movie ever to win the Best Picture Academy Award was the World War l saga Wings in 1928.

The Oscars were originally a private function, conducted over little more than an hour, with the winners informed of their success before the awards were handed out.

Although Judy Garland’s slippers are ruby red in the movie, in the book of The Wizard of Oz, they are silver. The movie makers wanted to take full advantage of their color technology, so they changed them for the film. 

Both Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn were considered for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind before it eventually went to Vivien Leigh.

The famous playwright George Bernard Shaw won an Oscar for the adapted screenplay of his play Pygmalion, which was made into a film in 1938. He was not pleased. In fact, Shaw wanted nothing to do with Hollywood, nor the movie adaptation, and called the award an “insult” to his original work.

On the poster for the classic movie Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart is shown wearing a fedora and trench coat. The picture doesn’t come from Casablanca but was painted based on another of his movies, Across the Pacific.

The first person to win an Oscar for a Shakespearean adaptation was Sir Laurence Oliver. He won Best Actor and, as producer, Best Picture, for his role in Hamlet in 1948.

The Oscars were first broadcast on television in 1953. 

Wisdom comes from experience.
Experience is often a result of
lack of wisdom.
Terry Pratchett