How could you NOT be intrigued by an article with that name? I found this article on CLEDEMY.COM and it was written by RASHMI PANCHAL.

This famous American actor was born on January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, California. His dad, August Coppola, was a professor of literature, and his mom, Joy Vogelsang, was a dancer and choreographer. Nicolas was raised in a Catholic family –his father was of Italian descent, while his mother was of Polish and German ancestry! He is the youngest of three sons. His two brothers are Marc “The Cope” Coppola and director Christopher Coppola.

He changed his name

In 2012, Nicolas told The Huffington Post that he decided to change his last name after actors on the set of the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) resented him! It was the first movie by Nicolas and the actors hated him because his uncle was a well-known director Francis Ford Coppola. Unfortunately, most of his scenes in that movie ended up getting cut. To stand out from his relatives, Nicolas chose “Cage.” He took the name after being inspired by the African-American comic book superhero Luke Cage.

At the foot of Cage’s bed, a naked home intruder ate a fudgsicle

While talking about his home invasion thriller Trespass in the year 2011, Cage told reporters that he was once victimized in his home! He shared that a person had broken into his Orange County home. He was sleeping, and “I opened my eyes, and there was a naked man wearing my leather jacket eating a Fudgsicle in front of my bed.” He further added, “I know it sounds funny…but it was horrifying.” Later, Cage convinced the man to leave before the police arrived. While Cage didn’t press charges, he said he never stayed in the house again. 

Cage once owned 15 houses, including a haunted house

There are many interesting possessions Cage has accrued throughout his life–such as shrunken pygmy heads, an octopus, and his amazing houses located around the world.  Many of those houses were foreclosed on in the wake of debt, including America’s “Most Haunted House.” In 2007, Cage bought the LaLaurie House in New Orleans. He claimed that he bought this to get inspiration to write a book; however, the book was never produced, and two years later, the house was sold.

Cage once slept in Dracula’s castle

While promoting the film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in 2011, popular actor Idris Elba recalled an incident. One day, noticing Cage was tired, Elba asked if they had gotten any rest. He answered, “Yeah, man, I went up to Dracula’s castle…the ruins up in the mountains, and I stayed the night.” He further added, “I just had to channel the energy, and it was pretty spooky up there.” He was probably talking about Bran Castle near Transylvania, which may have been Dracula’s residence in the novel of Bram Stoker.

While filming ‘Vampire’s Kiss,’ Cage ate live cockroaches

While playing Peter Low in the 1988 film Vampire’s Kiss, Cage ate a live cockroach! Eating the cockroach was his idea as a calculated on-screen move. According to Bierman, the director, the script actually required the character to eat a raw egg. However, Bierman and Cage decided an egg wasn’t extreme enough, so Cage decided to eat a cockroach.

Cage owns a pyramid-shaped Tomb in New Orleans

Cage owns a tomb that is located in St. Louis Cemetery in the French Quarter in New Orleans.  The tomb is ready for him to be placed inside when the time arrives.  The tomb can only be seen on a licensed tour offered by New Orleans Catholic Church and it sits among the tombs of notable figures, like Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. It is not known how much Cage paid for this nine-foot-high pyramid tomb when he bought it in 2010, but according to a report, it was $40,000. It has the inscription “everything from one” in Latin.

Cage was the victim of a massive comic book heist

In 1997, comic book fan Nicolas Cage bought a copy of Action Comics #1, the highly sought-after issue of 1939. It was the issue that introduced Superman and even ushered in the superhero genre of the 20^th century. The book, however, along with some other rare titles, was stolen in January 2000 from Cage’s home. The case went cold for 11 years before the book showed up in the storage locker of San Fernando Valley. After a police investigation, Cage got his book back, and he sold it for a then-record of $2.1 million!

Nicolas Cage accidentally bought a skull of a dinosaur

The extravagant spending habits of Cage have been well documented; however, very few of them can match his grandiose gesture of spending $276,000 at a 2007 auction for a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that the skull had been stolen from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. In 2014, contacted by the Department of Homeland Security, Cage agreed to hand it over…so that it could be returned.

A Japanese corn snack used Cage’s likeness without permission

In October 2017, Cage’s fans in Japan were very happy to see the actor’s face emblazoned on a snack package!  It was a crunchy corn snack known as Deluxe Umaibou Nicolastick! The snack was intended to promote his movie, Army of One, in a few theaters; however, no one asked him for his consent.

Cage helped Johnny Depp break into acting

Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage were good friends, and during a casual game of Monopoly, Cage told Depp that he should try acting! Later in 2019, Cage told The New York Times that Depp was actually dismissive of the suggestions and even said that he couldn’t act and wanted to be a musician! However, Cage pestered and had Johnny Depp meet with his agent. Soon after, Depp was cast in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

One of Cage’s kids is named after Kal-El, his favorite superhero

Cage has two sons, Weston, and Kal El. Weston was born in 1990 and is the child of Cage and his long-time girlfriend, Christian Fulton. Weston is a musician, has entered acting, and even wrote a comic book with his father called Voodoo Child.

Cage’s third wife, Alice Kim, gave birth to the boy Kal-El in 2005. The name of the actor’s younger son is the same name given to Superman when he lived on Krypton. The name is believed to resemble the Hebrew words for “Voice of God.”

After Cage was arrested in 2011, Dog the Bounty Hunter posted his bail

In 2011, Cage was arrested in New Orleans for domestic abuse and disturbing the peace. He had been fighting with his wife, Alice Kim, according to the police. Duane “Dog” Chapman, also famous as Dog the Bounty Hunter, came to help Cage, posting the $11,000 bond required to be released. According to Chapman, he just performed his duties as a bail bondsman.

Cage has been married five times

In February 2021, Cage walked down the aisle with Riko Shabata in Las Vegas, NV, making it the fifth marriage of the actor. He married Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004), Alice Kim (2004-2016), and also Erika Koike (2019).

Nicolas Cage worked his way out of $6 million in debt

In an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, this talented actor, Nicolas Cage, revealed that at one point in his life, he was $6 million in debt! So, he had to act in different kinds of movies, including a few “crummy movies”, but he managed to work himself out of that debt.

SOURCE: CLEDEMY.COM RASHMI PANCHAL

Today is Mel Gibson’s birthday (born in 1956), and I went looking for interesting facts about this talented, sexy man. I found this article on factinate.com and I wanted to share some of the article.

1. A Few Brothers and Sisters…

Mel Gibson is the sixth of eleven children. Eleven children.

2. Poser Down Under

Originally born in New York, Gibson and his family emigrated to Australia when he was twelve. He kept his American citizenship, but picked up the Australian accent.

3. Knowledge is its own Reward

Gibson’s father won $21,000 playing Jeopardy.

4. Bottled Up

His sister applied on his behalf, but without his knowledge, to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. At the time, Gibson had graduated but was working at an orange juice bottling factory. Somewhere out there is an alternate universe where Mel Gibson is referred to as the “Clark Gable of Orange Juice Bottling”.

5. One Day She’ll Fly Away

While working on that production, Gibson met his future ex-wife Robyn Moore. Gibson took one look at her and said, “One day, I’m gonna divorce that girl.”

6. I Don’t Want to Go to There

Gibson made $400 for his first film role, the 1977 Australian surfer film “Summer City.” It is also known as “Coast of Terror,” which would be a pretty awful tourism ad.

7. Mad Money

For his role in the first Mad Max film, Gibson made $15,000. By the time he got to the second sequel, “Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome,” Gibson’s salary was up to a million, his first million-dollar payday.

8. American Gothic

Gibson’s first American film was 1984’s “The River” in which he and Sissy Spacek played struggling Tennessee farmers.

9. Moo-Urns!

After working on four films in a row, Gibson took almost two years off to work at his Australian cattle station because cows are easier to deal with than actors.

10. Behind-The-Wheel Woes

Gibson took another year off after he rear-ended a car in Toronto whilst under the influence. He was banned from driving in Ontario for three months, which given the traffic, is much less of a punishment than you’d think.

11. Fine, I’ll Win an Oscar

Just like with acting, Gibson originally had no desire to direct. The studios encouraged him to do so, which resulted in Gibson eventually winning a Best Director Oscar for his work on “Braveheart.

12. Why So Serious?

As a director, Gibson likes to break the tension on set by having his actors perform serious scenes while wearing a red clown nose.

13. It’s a Sign

After making “Signs,” Gibson said he no longer wanted to be a movie star and only wanted to focus on roles that were “extraordinary.” He went on to make “Edge of Darkness,” which scored 56% on Rotten Tomatoes.

14. As You Wish

In keeping with his desire to no longer be a movie star, in 2010, Gibson had a public (and profoundly racist, cruel, and threatening) outburst against his girlfriend and was dropped from William Morris Endeavor, his talent agency.

15. Alcohol

On July 28^th, 2006, Gibson was arrested by deputy James Mee of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for driving under the influence while speeding in his vehicle with an open container of alcohol. Gibson first told the officer, “My life is over. I’m [redacted]. Robyn’s going to leave me.” When the officer wouldn’t let him drive home, he exploded into a racist tirade which culminated with, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?”

16. Not the Best Record

Gibson’s divorce was finalized in December 23^rd, 2011 and, at over $400 million, the settlement was said to be the highest in Hollywood history.

17. In the Right

Gibson’s political views have been charitably described as “ultraconservative.”

18. Laughing in the Face of Controversy

Gibson’s Icon Productions originally agreed to finance Michael Moore’s film “Fahrenheit 9/11” but later sold the rights to Miramax Films. Moore said that his agent claimed that “top Republicans” had called Gibson to tell him not to expect any more invitations to the White House. A spokesperson for Icon dismissed the story saying, “We never run from controversy. You’d have to be out of your mind to think that of the company that just put out The Passion of the Christ.” Fair point.

19. Stickler for the Rules

Gibson was raised a Sedevacantist traditionalist Catholic. He believes that, “There is no salvation for those outside the church… My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s… Episcopalian. And it’s not fair if she doesn’t make it. She’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.”

20. On Abortion

Gibson is staunchly pro-life, telling Barbara Walters in an interview that, “God is the only one who knows how many children we should have, and we should be ready to accept them. One can’t decide for oneself who comes into this world and who doesn’t. That decision doesn’t belong to us.” This certainly explains why Gibson has nine children.

21. Breakfast of Champions

Despite his problems with alcohol addiction, he still managed to maintain his professionalism. “Lethal Weapon 2” director Richard Donner recalls being quite surprised when Gibson confided that he was drinking five pints of beer for breakfast. What’s more surprising is that Gibson managed to maintain his action star physique considering the sheer number of carbs he was consuming on a daily basis.

SOURCE: FACTINATE.COM

Happy New Year’s Eve! I do not drink, but I always find it interesting to see what other people are drinking. I found these unusual cocktails at The Pioneer Woman’s website!

Sugar Cookie Martini

Peppermint Martini

Espresso Martini

Chocolate Martini

Pomegranate Margarita

For recipes for these drinks, please visit The Pioneer Woman’s website!

Have a Happy New Year’s Eve! If you drink, don’t drive!

Today is Ray Romano’s birthday (born in 1958), so I found an article about Everybody Loves Raymond!

From: Mental Floss:

1. THE SHOW BEGAN AFTER RAY ROMANO DID A STAND-UP SET ON LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN.

“I was doing stand-up for 12 years,” Romano recounted to Larry King in 2005. “I did my first stand-up spot on Letterman and then the following week his company called me up to say, ‘We want to try to develop a show based around what we saw.'”

2. ROMANO DIDN’T LOVE THE TITLE.

“It was a title that, first of all, the critics … it invites hatred,” Romano explained. “It came about from a sarcastic comment my brother made, who is a police officer. And he said, ‘Look what I do for a living, and look at Raymond—yeah, everybody loves Raymond.’ So we used it as a working title. And it just grew on CBS, and we couldn’t get rid of it.”

3. DORIS ROBERTS THOUGHT SHE WOULD BE TOO BUSY TO EVEN AUDITION.

Doris Roberts was busy directing a play while the Marie auditions were taking place. The play’s producer made sure to have her available for 3:30 one fateful Monday. She beat out over 100 other women for the part.

4. PETER BOYLE WAS PERFECTLY ANGRY AT HIS AUDITION FOR FRANK.

Peter Boyle had trouble just getting into the studio lot. He then couldn’t find a parking space. Then he went into the wrong building. By the time he reached Romano and show creator/showrunner Philip Rosenthal he was, in his own words, “enraged”—and perfectly in character for Frank Barone. The topper of it all was that, according to Romano, the CBS president was going to give Boyle the gig anyway.

5. CBS OFFERED CAROL FROM FRIENDS THE PART OF DEBRA.

Jane Sibbett (Ross’s first ex-wife on Friends) declined the role once she discovered Romano was both unaware she had been offered the role by the network, and that Romano was pushing hard for Patricia Heaton to play his on-screen wife.

Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice on Friends, auditioned for the role of Debra, too. She ended up playing Debra’s friend Linda over the course of the series as a consolation prize. Heaton wasn’t officially cast until one week before the pilot began shooting.

6. RAY IS OLDER THAN HIS “OLDER” BROTHER.

Brad Garrett, who played Ray’s older brother Robert, was 36 when the series first started. Romano was a few months shy of his 39th birthday.

7. PHILIP ROSENTHAL’S WIFE GOT USED TO STORIES FROM HER MARRIAGE BEING WRITTEN INTO THE SHOW.

Monica Horan—who played Robert’s on-again-off-again girlfriend and eventual wife Amy—was married to the show’s creator, Phil Rosenthal. She got used to her arguments with Rosenthal ending up in scripts. Horan told People about an episode where Debra has PMS: “I’m hearing lines from conversations I had with my husband. Ray was telling Debra to take medication, and she was telling him she needed a hug. I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I was crying, then laughing, then crying. It was surreal.”

“Ninety percent of everything you hear on the show has been said to me or Ray Romano or one of the writers,” Rosenthal admitted in the same article. Horan claimed her favorite line to Rosenthal is, “You can say the right thing on TV, but why can’t you do it in real life?”

8. THE NAMES OF THE TWIN BOYS WERE CHANGED AFTER THE FIRST EPISODE.

In the pilot, the kids were known as Matthew and Gregory, but were subsequently turned into Michael and Geoffrey for the rest of the series. Romano’s own twin sons are named Matthew and Gregory; he decided that art was imitating life a little too closely and asked for the names to be changed. Matthew and Gregory not only got new names, they got new actors to play them: Rosenthal cast Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten as Michael and Geoffrey, respectively. They were the real-life brothers of Madylin Sweeten, who played their TV sis, Ally.

The inclination to separate fact from fiction never seemed to apply to Ally, who kept her character name despite being based on Romano’s real daughter, also named Ally. Not only that, the real Ally (Alexandra Romano) played TV Ally’s friend Molly on the show.

9. RAY’S BROTHER WAS A POLICE OFFICER, WHOSE COLLEAGUES MADE FUN OF HIM.

“Well, my brother was—he is a retired cop now, but at the time he would take a lot of stuff from the other cops,” said Romano. “They think it’s a documentary.” While Garrett put his own spin on the character to differentiate Robert Barone from Rich Romano, there was a point where Ray’s brother—an NYPD sergeant—moved back in with their parents.

10. PATRICIA HEATON’S FATHER WAS A SPORTSWRITER, LIKE RAY BARONE.

Chuck Heaton was a sportswriter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer for 50 years. He’s mentioned in the season one episode “Recovering Pessimist” when Debra runs down a list of Ray’s competition for a Sportswriter of the Year award: “Chuck Heaton’s big story this year was ‘too much violence in boxing.’ Thanks for the scoop, Chuck.”

11. PETER BOYLE’S CAREER WAS ALLUDED TO TWICE IN THE SAME EPISODE.

In “Halloween Candy,” Frank gives the same speech about mortality he famously gave to Robert De Niro’s character in Taxi Driver (1976). He also dressed as Frankenstein’s monster, a nod to his work in Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein (1974).

12. THE SHOW MADE ROMANO THE HIGHEST PAID ACTOR ON TELEVISION.

Romano made $1.7 to $1.8 million per episode during the last two seasons of Raymond, surpassing Kelsey Grammer’s $1.6 million per episode salary for Frasier at the time.

13. THE SERIES ENDED WHEN THE WRITERS RAN OUT OF IDEAS.

“We ran out of ideas,” Rosenthal told The A.V. Club of why the show came to an end. “If you worked for me, I would say to you, ‘Go home, get in a fight with your wife, and come back in and tell me about it.’ And then we’d have a show. But after nine years, if we kept that up, our wives would leave us. And in California, that’s half. So we made sure that we got out before that happened.”

14. THE SERIES FINALE TAPING WAS DELAYED BY ONE WEEK.

Patricia Heaton fell ill, and by the intended showtime her voice was completely gone. The audience was sent home, and told to return seven days later.

15. RAYMOND IS LOVED ALL OVER THE WORLD.

The Voronins, or Воронины, the Russian adaptation which Rosenthal attempted to help, was Russia’s number one comedy, and performed original episodes after going through all 210 of the American installments. Local-language versions of the show were also produced in Egypt (Close Doors); Israel (You Can’t Choose Your Family); the Netherlands (Everybody Is Crazy About Jack); Poland (Everybody Loves Roman, which was canceled after four episodes), and the Czech Republic (Everybody Loves Rudy). In the United Kingdom, a pilot was shot (The Smiths).

SOURCE: MENTALFLOSS.COM

That’s it.  A picture speaks a 1,000 words.

Today is Miranda Lambert’s birthday (born in 1983) and one of my favorite songs of hers is Gunpowder and Lead.

“Gunpowder & Lead”

County road 233, under my feet
Nothing on this white rock but little ol’ me
I’ve got two miles ’til he makes bail
And if I’m right, we’re headed straight for hell

I’m going home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight, well, now he’s got one
And he ain’t seen me crazy yet
He slapped my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don’t that sound like a real man?
I’m gonna show him what little girls are made of
Gunpowder and lead

Well, it’s half past ten, another six-pack in
And I can feel the rumble like a cold black wind
He pulls in the drive, the gravel flies
He don’t know what’s waiting here this time

Hey, I’m going home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight, well, now he’s got one
And he ain’t seen me crazy yet
He slapped my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don’t that sound like a real man?
I’m gonna show him what little girls are made of
Gunpowder and lead

His fist is big, but my gun’s bigger
He’ll find out when I pull the trigger

I’m going home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight, well, now he’s got one
And he ain’t seen me crazy yet
He slapped my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don’t that sound like a real man?
I’m gonna show him what little girls are made of
Gunpowder and, gunpowder and lead
Gunpowder and lead, yeah, yeah, hey

In honor of the finding of Tutankhamun‘s Tomb on this day in 1922, I present something entirely silly—Steve Martin sings King Tut.

(King Tut, King Tut)
Now when he was a young man
He never thought he’d see (King Tut)
People stand in line to see the boy king (King Tut)

How’d you get so funky? (Funky Tut)
Did you do the monkey?
Born in Arizona
Moved to Babylonia (King Tut)

(King Tut) Now, if I’d known
They’d line up just to see him (King Tut)
I’d taken all my money
And bought me a museum (King Tut)

Buried with a donkey (Funky Tut)
He’s my favorite honkey!
Born in Arizona
Moved to Babylonia (King Tut)

Dancin’ by the Nile (Disco Tut)
The ladies love his style (Boss Tut)
Rockin for a mile (Rockin’ Tut)
He ate a crocodile (Ooh)

He gave his life for tourism (King Tut)

(Tut, tut, tut, tut) Golden idol!
(Tut, tut, tut, tut)
(Tut, tut) He’s an Egyptian
(Tut, tut, tut, tut)
They’re sellin’ you (King Tut)

Now, when I die
Now don’t think I’m a nut (King Tut)
Don’t want no fancy funeral
Just one like ol’ King Tut (King Tut)

He coulda won a Grammy (King Tut)
Buried in his jammies
Born in Arizona
Moved to Babylonia
He was born in Arizona
Got a condo made of stone-a
King Tut!