J.K. Simmons was motivated to get into shape after watching himself on "Oz." Simmons told Business Insider in 2016 that his role as Vern, the neo-Nazi leader, pushed him to improve his health. Simmons said, "I was not in good shape at all. I was overweight and soft and here I am playing the head of the Aryan Brotherhood in this maximum-security prison in the first-ever HBO original drama and I was watching the first season when it came out and I just thought, 'Wow, I don't believe this guy at all. Read More...
Generally speaking, the United States frowns on its military officers holding rank in a foreign country's army. General Douglas MacArthur not only did so, but also managed to get paid for his service in a big way.
After the 1932 Bonus Army debacle, General MacArthur continued to serve as U.S. Army chief of staff under a new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1935, the president of the Philippine commonwealth, Manuel Quezon, asked MacArthur to be the country's military advisor. Read More...
Rivers Cuomo has occasionally gone to extreme lengths for songwriting's sake. In a 2005 interview with LA Weekly, he elaborates on the drastic method he used to write his song "Hold Me" (off the Weezer album "Make Believe"): fasting.
After a short period of starvation, Cuomo began to notice changes in his mental state. "I felt really sad, and I really pitied myself, and I felt a lot of loss, and of course I was really hungry. Read More...
