T.I.D.

Don't think too much - or your brain will hurt!

[theoryisdead]

Are Lionel Richie TV commercials funny or desperate? You decide

Lionel Richie has made a handful of commercials over the years. He's tried to squeeze some more money off his music and his celebrity. Is tongue-in-cheek funny? Or not?

1. "Say you, say me"

Walkers Extra Crunchy (Aug 2010)

Walkers Extra Crunchy #2 (Apr 2011)

2. "Hello, is it me you're looking for?"

Tap King Beer (Aug 2013)

3. Bonus

Foot Locker, Nike, and Kobe Bryant (Mar 2014)

[theoryisdead]

Secret rules of writing well for super spies - Find out how they do it

Be quick and download it now before it disappears - the Directorate of Intelligence’s Style Manual & Writers Guide for Intelligence Publications (8th edition, 2011) is available online.

As described in the website: "This is the official CIA style manual.  Prior to this release, the last publicly available edition was the Sixth Edition, published in 2001 (and still for sale at some retailers)."

And on page 44, the CIA presents their decision on the serial comma ("the comma after the next to last element"):

[theoryisdead]

12 countries you never realized were the same size as New Zealand

Because it’s at the bottom of the world, everyone assumes that New Zealand is smaller than most countries. In fact, New Zealand is larger than the UK by only 24,100 square kilometers, and hardly smaller than either Italy (+33,630) or the Philippines (+32,290).

Here’s the list with size comparison (in square kilometers):

New Zealand 267,710

Laos (-30,910)

Romania (-29,319)

Ghana (-29,177)

Uganda (-26,672)

United Kingdom (-24,100)

Guinea (-21,853)

Western Sahara (-1,710)

Gabon (-43)

Burkina Faso (+6,490)

Ecuador (+15,851)

Philippines (+32,290)

Italy (+33,630)

Source: Central Intelligence Agency, the legendary global spy network

[theoryisdead]

King Théoden of Rohan now on welfare in New Zealand

Bernard Hill, who played King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings films, went back to New Zealand to play a welfare beneficiary in a television series about survivors of the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes.

Before The Lord of the Rings, he last worked in New Zealand as an actor for The Bounty (1984), with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.

[theoryisdead]

What does Wesley Snipes have in common with Tywin and Cersei Lannister?

Long before Game of Thrones, Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) and Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) had already played father and daughter - in a straight-to-video Wesley Snipes vehicle, The Contractor.

In fact, the first time they worked together in a movie was in a period drama, Century (1993), when Lena Headey was barely out of her teens.