Top 5 Craziest Directors

5. Cecil B. DeMille
The Career

Before Spielberg and before Wyler, there was Cecil B. DeMille.  One of the earliest directors to start working in Hollywood (his first film was made in 1913), he would direct some of the earliest, and best, big budget epics in film history.  In a career that spanned several decades, his work would include silent pictures, talkies, and some of the earliest usages of the primitive two-strip Technicolor process.  Many of his films were adaptations of biblical stories, such as The Ten Commandments (1923), The Ten Commandments remake with Charlton Heston (1956), The King of Kings (1927), and Samson and Delilah (1949).  His knack for working with large groups of extras, gigantic set pieces, and colossal stories would establish DeMille’s work as the prototype for Hollywood blockbusters for decades to come.  He also was one of the first directors to become famous in his own right, paving the way for filmmakers, and not just actors and actresses, to become household names.
The Crazy
Like many of the directors on this list, DeMille was a stern taskmaster.  Actually, that is an understatement- he was essentially a tyrant on the set of his films.  He demanded absolute commitment from everybody involved in his films.  For example, in order to preserve the “spiritual nature” of the film King of Kings he made his stars enter into contracts that prohibited them from doing anything “unbiblical” for five years, including going to ball games, night clubs, and even riding in convertibles.
DeMille also demanded that his actors and actresses take physically dangerous risks on film.  If they refused, DeMille would despise them.  In one scene in Samson and Delilah, actor Victor Mature gained his hatred when he refused to wrestle a live lion (even though it happened to be tame and toothless).  During his production of The Crusades (1935), several stuntmen were hurt and several horses were killed in one particular scene. DeMille’s was so cavalier about their safety that one of his expert archers opened fire at him.  And one story about DeMille says that during the filming of a huge battle sequence he joked that he would use live bullets as a way to cut down on the cost of extras.  He was apparently aware of his reputation as a tyrant on set as he would frequently wear big leather boots and carry a whip.
4. Harmony Korine
The Career

Top 5 Longest Sporting Events

5. Baseball: Rochester Red Wings vs. Pawtucket Red Sox
Total Time: 33 innings (nearly 9 hours)

The longest recorded professional baseball game took place in 1981 between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, two Triple-A clubs. The game started around 8 p.m. on April 18 and continued on into the early morning of Easter Sunday with the score deadlocked at 2-2. Despite the fact that both a young Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken, Jr. were among the players on the field, hits were extremely hard to come by, and the game was finally suspended by the league president just after 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. Of the 2,000-plus fans that had started the night, only 19 remained, and each one was given season tickets by Pawtucket’s team owner.  Amazingly, the game was not resumed for another 65 days—the next time the Red Wings were in town—and when it was finally restarted it had become front page news around the country. Over 5,000 fans packed the stadium to see the end of the longest game of all time. Unfortunately, the game ended rather anticlimactically. After just one inning and 18 minutes of play, Pawtucket player Dave Coza hit a weak single to left field, sending teammate Marty Barrett home to score the winning run in the bottom of the 33rd inning. The game has since gone down in baseball lore as one of the most famous professional contests of all time. It is featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and in 2006 the Pawtucket Red Sox held a celebration to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their legendary win.
4. Hockey: Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Maroons
Total Time: 176 minutes, 30 seconds

Top 5 Things to Try for 30 Days

5. Cash Only
Stop Using Credit To Make Purchases For 30 Days

Put back those scissors, this is just for 30 days (for now!). Instead, take your cards out of your wallet and put them somewhere safe. One effective way to freeze your spending is to trap your cards in a block of ice. If you find yourself in a shopping fever, you have some time to cool down while the ice melts.
Prepare yourself for your 30 days by making a budget.  While you’re at it, get a copy of your credit report. If you notice any mistakes send in a dispute letter right away and your credit score could be improved right around the same time that your 30 days end (that’s how long it takes for the bureau to investigate and correct errors).
This is an excellent exercise but will require courage. It’s an opportunity to discover the reality of your spending habits and your financial situation while you practice living within your means. People “Living on a Cash Only Diet” experience empowerment, less stress, reduced debt, and a sense of accomplishment. Negative aspects of a cash only lifestyle are delayed gratification, required planning and prioritization skills, and a lack of spontaneity (CNN.com).
4. Stop Watching TV
No television for 30 days.

Top 5 Invention and Discovery Controversies

5. The Invention of Radio

There were a number of scientists who played crucial roles in the race to first transmit and receive radio signals, but the main invention controversy has always centered on the famed Serbian-Croatian inventor Nikola Tesla and the Italian Guglielmo Marconi. As early as 1891, Tesla was giving speeches on the possible practical uses of radio waves in mass communication, and he was even said to have demonstrated a wireless system in 1893. But Tesla, always hampered by a poor business sense, failed to capitalize on radio as a marketable tool, and though he claimed to have made 50-mile radio transmissions as early as 1895, none were ever verified. Marconi, meanwhile, applied for a patent on a radio system as early as 1896. In 1897, he formed his own wireless company and became the first man to commercialize radio. He was also the first to make a transatlantic radio transmission in 1901, though this claim has been disputed. What’s more, Marconi is believed to have based most of his radio designs on ideas that had already been widely described by Tesla and another inventor named Oliver Lodge. Tesla was the first of the two to receive a patent for his radio transmitter, but this was later overturned in a controversial decision and given to Marconi. Over 40 years later, this decision was itself overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court after countless legal challenges. Tesla had died only months earlier.
Who Deserves the Credit?
To give sole credit to either of these men is a grand generalization, but of the two, Tesla certainly seems the more important figure. There’s no argument that Marconi was the more business savvy of the two inventors, and his practical implementation of radio definitely makes him a major player in its creation. But it was Tesla who was most responsible for the ideas and the technical expertise that truly made radio transmission possible, and if anyone deserves the title of “the father of radio,” it’s him.
4. The First Flying Machine

Top 5 Crazy Ways to Die

5. Video games

They’re supposed to be fun and entertaining, but seriously people. There’s a time to take a break from the video games. And that time is before they kill you.
In 1981, a 19-year-old gamer named Jeff Dailey became the first official video game victim. After racking up an impressive 16,660 points while playing the game “Berzerk,” Jeff toppled over and died of a heart attack.
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Less than two years later, 18-year-old Peter Burkowski also died of a heart attack while playing the same game.
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August 2005 – South Korean Lee Seung Seop died of exhaustion after playing Starcraft online for 50 hours straight in an Internet café.
January 2007 – A 28-year-old woman named Jennifer Strange died of hyponatremia (water intoxication) after participating in a contest at a local radio station. In order to win a Nintendo Wii, the contestants competed to see who could drink the most water without taking a potty break. Strange ingested enough water to severely dilute the sodium levels in her bloodstream and bring about her death.
4. Floods – but not the water kind