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Karen Lindell - Lists at Ranker

Gifts

For devotees of 1980s films, the typical merchandise to display your fandom with pride is plentiful: T-shirts and socks galore, Star Wars action figures, Marty McFly orange vests, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/ghostbusters-behind-the-scenes-secrets/zack-howe">Ghostbusters</a> proton packs, Karate Kid headbands, etc. No one should be denied a Pretty in Pink hoodie or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-behind-the-scenes-stories/ryan-sargent">Raiders of the Lost Ark</a> vintage movie poster.But for the fan in search of something different, yet still useful, here are the ’80s film gifts (for you or someone else) that transcend the standard wares.

Gifts That Fans Of '80s Films Will Love And Didn’t Know They Needed

General

Karen Lindell

Disney

Scholars and experts on children&#39;s literature have criticized&nbsp;Disney films based on fairy tales and other books for being too soft, sweet, and sentimental. Former librarian and teacher Frances Clarke Sayers, for example, <a href="https://www.hbook.com/story/walt-disney-accused-vhe" target="_blank">said in the 1960s</a> that Walt Disney &ldquo;does strange things. He sweetens a folktale. Everything becomes very lovable.&rdquo; And any film that doesn&#39;t follow the original material word for word, theme for theme, is likely to get backlash from avid fans.

But the Disney brand, from its films to its theme parks,&nbsp;is known for its attention to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/disney-accurate-science-details/jim-rowley" target="_blank">detail</a>. Some of the most beloved Disney films inspired by books include what you might consider surprisingly accurate elements.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Surprisingly Accurate Literary Details In Disney Films

Celebrities

Some celebrities have a true identical twin, DNA-style. Yet even those without <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-who-have-identical-twins/celebrity-lists" target="_blank">sibling look-alikes&nbsp;via genetics</a>&nbsp;still have a corollary out in the world - and sometimes that duplicate is another famous face.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160712-you-are-surprisingly-likely-to-have-a-living-doppelganger" target="_blank">Scientists say</a>&nbsp;it&#39;s likely most of us have a doppelg&auml;nger (someone who at least closely resembles us, if not exactly), so it&#39;s not surprising that celebrities have almost-clones, too.

<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-who-look-alike/evan-lambert?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Celebrities who look alike</a> seem to have a sense of humor about it, sharing their favorite funny mistaken-identity stories in interviews. And most&nbsp;say they good-naturedly go along with it when anyone thinks they&#39;re another&nbsp;VIP.

Celebrities Tell Their Funniest 'Mistaken Identity' Stories

Person

Celebrities Share 'Mistaken Identity' Stories

The Wizarding World

Magical families are no different from Muggle ones:&nbsp;messy, complex, beloved, and perhaps a bit dysfunctional. In the Harry Potter books and films, wizarding families with histories that in some cases go back centuries are a key part of J.K. Rowling&#39;s fictional world. Whether they are&nbsp;Voldemort devotees obsessed with power and &quot;pure&quot; blood (i.e., sans Muggle DNA) or fierce defenders of what is right, the famed wizarding families of&nbsp;Harry Potter stick together in their cruelty or kindness.

Although through seven books and eight movies, fans learn a great deal about the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weasley-fan-theories/loren-o_connell" target="_blank">Weasleys</a>, Malfoys, Blacks, Lestranges, Gaunts, Longbottoms, and other wizarding clans, those who haven&#39;t read the books might be missing out on some fascinating family facts, and even those who have read the books might be surprised to learn some of the additional details Rowling has shared over the years.&nbsp;

Things You Didn't Know About Famous Wizarding Families From 'Harry Potter'

Things You Didn't Know About Famous Wizarding Families

Get to know the biggest little family in the Wizarding World: Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fred, George, Percy, Ron, Ginny, and even Charlie.

Meet the Weasleys

Ginny Weasley

To rile up Ginny Weasley fans who insist&nbsp;the Harry Potter&nbsp;books portray the youngest Weasley in a far more positive and likable light than the films, just say one word: &quot;Shoelace.&quot; In a scene from the film version of&nbsp;Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince&nbsp;where&nbsp;she and Harry awkwardly run into each other at the Burrow, Ginny meekly mumbles, &quot;shoelace,&quot; then kneels down to fix Harry&#39;s untied laces.

The scene is symbolic of the films&#39; overall unfair and flat treatment of Ginevra <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weasley-family-fun-facts/saim-cheeda" target="_blank">Weasley</a>, rendering her timid, lovesick and subservient, with only glimpses of her fiery personality. Ginny in J.K. Rowling&#39;s books is far more interesting, has a strong and likable personality, and proves herself as Harry&#39;s equal (and future wife).&nbsp;It&#39;s not necessarily the fault of actress Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny; she just didn&#39;t have much to work with because the filmmakers chose to mostly keep her on the sidelines. They never appreciated how well she played Quidditch. Or did a lot of other things.&nbsp;

10 Reasons Why Ginny Weasley Was Done Dirty By The 'Harry Potter' Movies

Ginny Weasley Was Done Dirty In The 'Harry Potter' Movies

Entertainment

Long weekend shifts, stingy tippers, diners who keep asking for more ranch dressing to pour on everything... being a waiter or waitress is hard. A potential perk might be the chance to wait on and meet a celebrity while serving. As with any restaurant customer, however, this encounter could turn negative, depending on the celebrity&#39;s attitude, mood, or desire to be just another diner.

According to the&nbsp;waiters and waitresses of Reddit, along with other restaurant employees, most celebrity diners&nbsp;are kind - and generous. Restaurant workers&nbsp;eagerly shared their feel-good&nbsp;stories of waiting on celebrities, all served with a side of star-struck nervousness, or in some cases, surprise at what the famous person&nbsp;ordered, said, or left at the table.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Waiters And Waitresses Share Their Most Positive Celebrity Interactions

Lists for fans who have already read every book, seen every movie, and then read / watched each of them all several more times.

Going Deep in Harry Potter

Lord Voldemort

Voldemort, AKA Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who, and&nbsp;the Heir of Slytherin, is a disturbed, ruthless&nbsp;- and complex - guy. In J.K. Rowling&#39;s books as well as the&nbsp;Harry Potter films based on her series, Voldemort is evil in every way: cruel, merciless, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/harry-potter-creepy-moments/colinmorabito" target="_blank">creepy</a>, amoral, callous, power-hungry, narcissistic, a killer without remorse. But if you think he&#39;s diabolical in the films, he&#39;s even more depraved in the books, which include lots of additional details about his background.

Many of Voldemort&#39;s darkest moments throughout his life, both as a child and adult,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/harry-potter-moments-in-books-not-in-movies/joshualee" target="_blank">aren&#39;t in the movies</a>, perhaps because they&#39;re just too harrowing, depressing, or gruesome. But in a way, learning more about the depths of Tom Riddle&#39;s depravity offer insight into who he was and why he was so deranged, including information about his family of origin.&nbsp;Dark details that the movies left out won&#39;t make you feel sorry for Voldemort, but might help you understand him a little better.

Disturbing Voldemort Moments The 'Harry Potter' Movies Wouldn't Dare Show You

Pop Culture

First introduced by J.K. Rowling as &quot;patched and frayed and extremely dirty,&quot; the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series of books and films&nbsp;does not inspire great confidence. Yet somehow this clairvoyant cone of decrepit headgear manages to not only place students in their proper <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/hogwarts-house-by-zodiac-sign/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">Hogwarts house</a>, but it also - according to each Sorting Hat meme&nbsp;here - gets other things right as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Which all goes to suggest that you shouldn&#39;t judge a hat by its shabby cover. Or as the Sorting Hat itself tells students in one of its songs, &quot;Oh, you may not think I&#39;m pretty, but don&#39;t judge on what you see; I&#39;ll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me.&quot;

14 Memes That Show The Sorting Hat Is Super Smart (And Always Right)

These Super Smart Sorting Hat Memes Are Always Right

Rubeus Hagrid

Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts,&nbsp;and Care of Magical Creatures professor, gets knocked around for being a bit bumbling, blabby, and way too infatuated with fire-breathing dragons. But Hagrid&nbsp;also has a warm heart, and is fiercely loyal - a real friend and father figure to Harry Potter and his pals. Rubeus Hagrid memes suggest he&#39;s truly a gentle half-giant, and the kind of wizard you&#39;d want around whether you need defending from a nasty uncle and aunt, a massive shoulder to cry on, or arms and a flying motorcycle to carry you to safety.

Not everyone agrees - one fan even came up with a theory that <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/dark-hagrid-fan-theory/crystal-brackett" target="_blank">Hagrid is a Death Eater</a>. But consider the words of Albus Dumbledore at the beginning of&nbsp;Harry Potter and the Sorcerer&#39;s Stone: &quot;I would trust Hagrid with my life.&quot;

18 Hagrid Memes That Show He's A Real Keeper

Rubeus Hagrid Harry Potter Memes

A look behind the scenes of the films that brought Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and the wizarding world to life.

Harry Potter Movie Magic

Total Nerd

Just try to find actors who hated their time on the Harry Potter films. You can&#39;t. Overwhelmingly, the Harry Potter cast members, from the main actors to the extras, felt extremely positive about their experiences on set - which for some, spanned over 10 years. But every once in a while, in an interview sharing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/harry-potter-actors-franchise/garri-chaverst" target="_blank">their memories and opinions</a> of the film series, the actors will admit something that wasn&#39;t the most positive experience&nbsp;or that they disliked. No movie experience is perfect. After all, especially when the Hogwarts students became teenagers, Harry Potter could be a bit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/harry-potter-was-high-school-behind-the-scenes/jonathan-kantor" target="_blank">like high school behind the scenes</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But when you hear about things they didn&#39;t like, remember that even though sitting on a broomstick was uncomfortable&nbsp;and walking a red carpet was intimidating, they mostly think being Harry, Ron, Hermione, Snape, and all the rest was a pretty great thing.

What 'Harry Potter' Cast Members Disliked About Filming The Series

What Harry Potter Cast Members Disliked About Filming The Series

Film Trivia

From September&nbsp;29, 2000&nbsp;to June 12, 2010, Daniel Radcliffe went through 70 wands and 160 pairs of round glasses during the filming of eight Harry Potter movies. After a <a href="https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/our-history/" target="_blank">decade</a> working together, he and the other Harry Potter cast members shared tears and memories on&nbsp;their <a href="https://twitter.com/HPotterUniverse/status/1006563884679991297" target="_blank">final day</a> of filming, with <a href="https://youtu.be/meRv7341jTc?t=253" target="_blank">Radcliffe saying</a> he had been on the set for so long that &quot;I don&#39;t know what my day-to-day life consists of without you.&quot;

The cast members,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/harry-potter-then-and-now/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">from then until now</a>, have shared their favorite memories from the series, whether it was a cherished scene to film or a behind-the-scenes moment.

'Harry Potter' Actors Share Their Favorite Memory Of The Series

Harry Potter Actors Share Their Memories

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

When Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch isn&#39;t patrolling the hallways, testing for Dark objects, complaining about Peeves, or snapping at students&nbsp;(which is most of the time), he can be almost endearing,&nbsp;in a lovingly cantankerous way. Memes about Filch from both fans and detractors suggest that even though he makes <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-aspects-of-hogwarts/erin-maxwell" target="_blank">Hogwarts a living nightmare</a>, at the same time, the school would be a little too tame and staid without his constant scowl and ever-vigilant determination to enforce rules.

Although throughout J.K. Rowling&#39;s Harry Potter series, Filch is cranky, unfair, and way too fond of punishment, he sort of redeems himself by being a cat man and an unfairly treated Squib.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Memes That Show Argus Filch Is The Crankiest Caretaker Ever, But Hogwarts Truly Needs Him

Argus Filch Harry Potter Memes

Lists about the wizarding world that captured the imaginations of children and adults alike and forever changed the way we view owls, brooms, and round eyeglasses.

The Universe of Harry Potter

Memes

When Harry Potter first meets Professor Minerva McGonagall at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer&#39;s Stone, the first thought that goes through his mind is that &quot;this was someone not to cross.&quot; Indeed. Minerva McGonagall memes are clear that the Head of Gryffindor House, head Transfiguration teacher, former Head Girl, and&nbsp;eventual Hogwarts Headmistress is a stern but classy and caring leader with the smarts, sass, and savvy to be head of just about anything.&nbsp;

Memes about Professor McGonagall pay tribute to her bravery, intellect, no-nonsense attitude, biting remarks, and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/wholesome-harry-potter-memes/ddefrank" target="_blank">wholesome compassion</a> - all excellent qualities in a leader. And if you think she&#39;s a little too strict, author&nbsp;<a href="http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-scholastic-chat.htm" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling once said</a>, &quot;Under that gruff exterior, Professor McGonagall is a bit of an old softy, really.&quot;

Memes That Prove Minerva McGonagall Should Be The Head Of Everything In The Wizarding World

Memes That Prove Prof. McGonagall Should Be The Head Of Everything

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol 

The Art of Art

Portraits

In a <a href="https://www.cartooncollections.com/directory/keyword/rembrandt_paintings" target="_blank">New Yorker cartoon</a> by J.B. Handelsman, Rembrandt stands at an easel and says, &quot;I feel another self-portrait coming on. Bring in the funny hats.&quot; Rembrandt&#39;s early painted &quot;selfies&quot;&nbsp;would fit on any Instagram feed (floppy big hats and all), but other painters from the past&nbsp;instead created&nbsp;self-portraits hidden in&nbsp;other paintings, creating&nbsp;a fine-art version of &quot;Where&#39;s Waldo?&quot;&nbsp;

This practice was especially common during the Renaissance, which valued creative independence, although earlier artists did it as well. (Perhaps some of these secret self-portraits foreshadowed&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/beautiful-fore-edge-paintings/laura-allan" target="_blank">fore-edge paintings</a> starting in the 1700s.) But in some cases, the artist, even if not the center of attention, was still not too secret or hidden, and often peered out at the viewer.&nbsp;

James Hall, in his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Self-Portrait-Cultural-History-James-Hall/dp/0500292116" target="_blank">The Self-Portrait: A Cultural History</a>, writes that self-portraits&nbsp;raise questions: &ldquo;Is the artist looking at us with a view to portraying or judging us? Is the artist looking at a mirror, with a view to portraying or judging themselves? Is the artist creating a persona to serve specific ends?&quot; In the end, the viewer gets to decide.

Artists Who Snuck Themselves Into Their Paintings

Artists Who Hid Self-Portraits In Their Paintings

Guinness World Records have been around since the 1950s, when Hugh Beaver, managing director of the Guinness Brewery, argued with friends&nbsp;about what the fastest game bird in Europe was, but couldn&#39;t find the answer in a book (it&#39;s a golden plover). <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/about-us/our-history/" target="_blank">Guinness World Records</a>, now much more than a book, covers topics far beyond fast feathered friends, and its database of 53,000-plus items includes plenty of records related to film, TV, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/surprising-guinness-world-record-video-games/terrance-w-pryor" target="_blank">video games</a>, and other entertainment. And some of them are surprising.&nbsp;

Among the Guinness Word Records for films&nbsp;are things you might expect, like <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-box-office-film-gross" target="_blank">highest-grossing film at the global box office</a> (as of April 2020, that would be Avengers: Endgame, with $2,797,800,564). A less lustrous but sweeter&nbsp;movie milestone is the first film to feature the tossing of a custard pie. (Hint, the movie came out in 1913.)

From MCU blockbusters and Hollywood classics to some truly obscure titles, here are some of the more unusual world records held by movies.

21 Movies With Surprising Guinness World Records

Film

Movies With Surprising Guinness World Records

&quot;Improviso&quot; isn&#39;t a Harry Potter spell, but it sure sounds like one, and the term is appropriate for&nbsp;the film versions of J.K. Rowling&#39;s stories about the boy wizard. With an impressive cast of British actors, both kids and adults, the series&#39;&nbsp;eight films were bound to contain some unscripted Harry Potter moments. Over the years, interviews with various cast members and crew have revealed some of the unscripted lines and moments in Harry Potter.

The improvisers include&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-harry-potter-cast-thinks-of-daniel-radcliffe/math-erao" target="_blank">Daniel Radcliffe</a>, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, and even Emma Watson, despite playing perhaps the franchise&#39;s&nbsp;least spontaneous character, Hermione Granger. Holy cricket!

The Best Improvised And Unscripted Moments In The 'Harry Potter' Movies

The Best Unscripted Moments in the 'Harry Potter' Movies

Lists and galleries of some of the most famous, interesting, and beautiful buildings around the world and throughout history.

Architectural Marvels

Weird History

Wood, stone, brick, and even steel are generally no match for military might, horrible weather, too much fire or water, shoddy workmanship, shifting soil, or just plain old time. Even the most famous historical buildings, designed by the smartest&nbsp;minds of the time, using the most sturdy materials and latest construction materials, cannot stand forever. But like <a href="/list/historical-photos-of-things-being-built/jordan-love" target="_blank">noted monuments</a>, when famous structures topple due to natural disasters, military conflicts, weak foundations, or other reasons, people and governments usually want to build them back up.

Many of the oldest and most <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-construction-of-the-most-famous-structures-on-earth/michael-gibson?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">famous historical structures</a> around the world, including churches, government buildings, and royal castles, have taken a severe beating over the years, but they&#39;ve risen from the ashes or ruins to come back just as strong - or even better - than before.

Famous Buildings That Were Rebuilt

The musical phenomenon Hamilton follows the life of one ambitious immigrant who helps win a revolution and shape early American politics, all while earnestly sticking to noble ideals. 

History Has Its Eyes on You

Hamilton

&quot;Just you wait...&quot; Theater fans&nbsp;have long been waiting for&nbsp;the film version of the original Broadway&nbsp;Hamilton cast performing Lin-Manuel Miranda&#39;s&nbsp;musical about <a href="/list/badass-alexander-hamilton-facts/setareh-janda" target="_blank">Alexander Hamilton</a>. The movie version of the&nbsp;Tony- and Pulitzer-winning production&nbsp;was originally supposed to be released in theaters in <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2020/02/03/hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-broadway-movie-2021/4645978002/" target="_blank">2021</a>, but Miranda&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/1260181905909129216" target="_blank">announced in a tweet</a> in May 2020 that it would instead premiere on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. The Disney streaming service&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCKfXpAGHc" target="_blank">released a trailer</a> on June 21, 2020, featuring&nbsp;scenes from the musical filmed at the Richard Rodgers Theatre&nbsp;in June 2016.&nbsp;

The characters in the musical are real-life people, and although they deliberately look a lot different from their historical&nbsp;counterparts, a side-by-side comparison of&nbsp;the Hamilton cast and actors vs. the real people they are portraying is an interesting history lesson. Or maybe you&#39;ve heard of the musical and its <a href="/list/best-songs-in-hamilton/ranker-music" target="_blank">soundtrack</a>, but want to see the Aaron Burr actor (Tony Award winner Leslie Odom Jr.) or the Philip Hamilton actor (Anthony Ramos plays Alexander Hamilton&#39;s&nbsp;son).&nbsp;

As Miranda <a href="https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/1274889996948910080" target="_blank">wrote in a tweet</a> when the trailer was released, &quot;May you always be satisfied.&quot;

The Cast Of 'Hamilton' Vs. The Real People They're Playing

Cast of Hamilton Vs. Real People

Luna Lovegood

Wrackspurts, Nargles, the Rotfang Conspiracy, and radish earrings all sum up Luna Lovegood - but only on the surface. Beneath her quirkiness, Luna Lovegood has a lot of traits that suggest she is one of the best characters in J.K. Rowling&#39;s Harry Potter series.

Don&#39;t forget she&#39;s a <a href="/list/ravenclaw-house-members-in-harry-potter/ranker-film" target="_blank">Ravenclaw</a>, so even though she often seems to be off in her own strange world reading The Quibbler, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/side-characters-that-are-low-key-geniuses/williamsbrianjake" target="_blank">she&#39;s very intelligent</a>. And her loyalty, kindness, courage, and willingness to be herself are admirable qualities, too.

Luna Lovegood memes show a lot of love for Luna. If you think it&#39;s weird to love&nbsp;Luna,&nbsp;too, don&#39;t worry - you&#39;re just as sane as she is.

17 Memes That Prove Luna Lovegood Is Way More Important Than She Is Given Credit For

Luna Lovegood Memes That Prove Her Importance

Mask Up

Coronavirus couture for people holed up at home might consist of sweatpants, slippers, and any hat that hides self-cut hair. But now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended an accessory that could save lives: cloth face masks. Because many people with the virus don&#39;t have any symptoms, wearing a cloth mask (NOT&nbsp;surgical masks or N-95 respirators needed for medical personnel)&nbsp;can prevent people from unwittingly sneezing, coughing, and spewing virus particles on others while out in public.

COVID-19 has spawned a ton of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/coronavirus-reactions/mrennie" target="_blank">memes</a>&nbsp;- and crafty creativity. Sure, you can make a DIY cover-up, but the folks who sell their homemade stuff on <a href="https://www.etsy.com/" target="_blank">Etsy.com</a> are &quot;sew&quot; excited to sell you the cloth face masks they&#39;re making - many for less than $10. Along with basic black, white, and all solid colors of the rainbow, you can also find more quirky, fun, fashionable, cutesy, macabre, and statement-making face coverings.

Fashionably Funky Face Masks You Can Buy Now On Etsy

Fashionably Funky Face Masks You Can Buy On Etsy

US History

Kitschy merchandise is proof that people in the United States either love or mock the shape of their state: You can buy pasta in the form of Texas, a wooden table that looks like Louisiana, and bottle openers in the shape&nbsp;of every US state. But even though most people can recognize their state&#39;s shape by the time they&#39;re in kindergarten, not&nbsp;many know&nbsp;how their state got its strange features, whether&nbsp; that be a panhandle, notched corner, jagged line, or puzzling squiggle. And probably even fewer are aware of the dramatically different shape their state might have been - and how much bigger it was -&nbsp;before it officially joined the US.

Of course,&nbsp;before Europeans landed in what became the United States,&nbsp;the territory belonged to the Native Americans who were here first. This list acknowledges that the shapes of states were based largely on conquest. Borders have shifted wildly in the US, starting with the original 13 colonies, due to other historical and social influences&nbsp;as well, such as access to natural resources like rivers and arable land, then access to unnatural but all-important&nbsp;railroads; attempts to regulate slavery; and a principle put forth early on by Thomas Jefferson to make all states fairly equal in size (California and Texas ignored this one).

According to experts like Mark Stein in his book&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-States-Got-Their-Shapes/dp/0061431397" target="_blank">How the States Got Their Shapes</a>, every state&#39;s story is different,&nbsp;including the ones whose shapes seemed to change most drastically.&nbsp;

US States That Looked Dramatically Different When They Were Proposed

US State

Interesting

History, as learned in school, is often a necessary - yet sometimes&nbsp;dull - barrage of dates and figures&nbsp;with identical names. History, as learned on Reddit, however, can be far more quirky and interesting, even if it&#39;s not need-to-know information.&nbsp;

A <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/f9cufu/what_are_some_ridiculous_history_facts/" target="_blank">question on&nbsp;Reddit</a> asking &quot;What are some ridiculous history facts?&quot; triggered a slew of answers and comments. Some of them repeat &quot;facts&quot; that are dubious, more legendary than true, or downright false. But the facts&nbsp;that are true&nbsp;are pretty wild. And as with all history, we can learn from them. Beware falling pears, for example, and don&#39;t diss your earwax.

People Are Sharing The Most Ridiculous History Facts They Know

20 Ridiculous History Facts That Are Actually True

Every elite, out-of-touch, sickeningly rich celebrity was once a tiny helpless baby. It had parents, grandparents, maybe siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, godparents...

Famous Families

Unscripted

We&#39;ve all got doppelgangers somewhere, and the place to find them might be an old family scrapbook with <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/parents-mocking-kids-selfies/nathandavidson?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">pictures of parents</a> or grandparents in their younger days. Photos of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-and-their-famous-parents-at-the-same-age/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">famous parents</a>&nbsp;or grandparents with their children or grandkids at&nbsp;the same age are an equally fascinating look at the magical mirroring wonders of DNA. Many celebrities passed on looks as well as talent to their progeny - and the result can be uncannily clone-like.

Dates on photos are notoriously inexact, and many of the images on this list were selected from movies, with ages extrapolated from the year the film was released, although the filming might have taken place earlier. Hence the phrase &quot;around age xx&quot; for each pair. But they&#39;d be off by only a year or so.

Famous Grandparents And Their Grandkids At The Same Age

Great Depression

Ten years is a long time to go without smiling. That&#39;s the impression you might get when looking at images from Depression-era photographers. Photos of the weary, dejected, and downtrodden are common, and very much reflect the truth of that terrible economic time in the United States from <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history" target="_blank">1929 to 1939</a>. But <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/in-the-great-depression/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">life in the Great Depression</a> was not all doom, gloom, bleakness, and frowns.

Even those hit most hard by the downturn managed to find joy and pleasure, often in simpler things like playing in snow, attending a pajama party, or taking part in a parade. The photographers who documented the people and places of the Depression for the US government&#39;s Farm Security Administration, such as <a href="https://www.moma.org/artists/3373" target="_blank">Dorothea Lange</a> and <a href="http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/1698/arthur-rothstein-american-1915-1985/" target="_blank">Arthur Rothstein</a>, along with others, vividly captured glimpses of&nbsp;mirth along with the melancholy.

As Lange once said, &quot;To be good, photographs have to be full of the world.&rdquo; And the world during the Depression was filled with happiness, too.

Photos Of People Smiling And Doing Not-So-Depressing Things During The Depression

Depression-Era Photos Of People Smiling And Doing Not-So-Depressing Things

27 years after The Losers' Club defeated Pennywise, children are disappearing from Derry once again. Now, Mike has called the others home.

It: Chapter Two

Just two little letters - helped by&nbsp;a diabolical clown, a stellar cast of kids, a red balloon, and Stephen King&#39;s frightfully brilliant storytelling&nbsp;- made&nbsp;It&nbsp;a triumph of terror cinema in 2017. The horror flick, about King&#39;s lovable Losers&#39; Club and a shapeshifting evil spirit that most often appears as Pennywise the Clown, became the highest-grossing supernatural horror film ever, according to <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=it.htm" target="_blank">Box Office Mojo</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But the story&nbsp;of&nbsp;It&nbsp;wasn&#39;t done, covering only part of King&#39;s book, which was <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-stephen-king-stories/juliet-bennett-rylah" target="_blank">inspired by a true story</a> from his life. The sequel, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/it-chapter-two-twitter-reactions/samantha-dillinger" target="_blank">It Chapter 2</a>, released in fall 2019, finishes the tale. King&#39;s lengthy <a href="https://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?TSID=5036&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FNovel-Stephen-King%2Fdp%2F1501142976&amp;amazon-ids-by-cc=US%3Drankercom2808984-20" target="_blank">novel</a> (spanning&nbsp;1,168 pages) moves&nbsp;back and forth between the past and present, but in the first film, director Andy Muschietti kept the setting during the Losers&#39; Club members&#39; childhood growing up in Derry, ME. In the sequel, the club members are adults who have returned home to Derry to confront the evil force that terrorized them long ago.

It Chapter 2 features the characters both as kids, with the young actors returning, and adults, with an all-new and equally stellar cast including <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1567113/awards" target="_blank">Oscar nominee</a> Jessica Chastain and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564215/awards" target="_blank">Golden Globe nominee</a> James McAvoy.&nbsp;The child and adult actors are paired here so you can see what casting directors thought everyone might look years later. Did they get&nbsp;It right?

The Adult Cast Of 'It Chapter Two' Vs. Their Younger Counterparts

'IT: Chapter Two' Cast: The Adults Vs. The Child Actors

When word came that the&nbsp;Harry Potter books would be turned into a series of films, everyone cheered &quot;Hooray for Hogwarts in Hollywood,&quot; but author J.K. Rowling had a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-real-reason-daniel-radcliffe-was-cast-as-harry-potter_n_585b7664e4b0d9a594572683" target="_blank">few stipulations</a> that meant the geographical Hollywood crowd wouldn&#39;t be part of the cast: all the actors, she said, needed to be British.&nbsp;This famously meant the late Robin Williams, who lobbied for a role, was turned down. But it also meant the actors playing&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/harry-potter-characters" target="_blank">Harry Potter&nbsp;characters</a> were some of the best thespians from the UK. And&nbsp;the young actor playing Harry Potter (at the time a relatively unknown Daniel&nbsp;Radcliffe)&nbsp;was a real British boy, not a cute American kid trained to speak with an English accent.

Some Harry Potter readers engage in endless discussions about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/harry-potter-fan-theories/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">fan theories</a> related mainly to the books, while others mull over questions about the films, such as whether on-screen Dumbledore was too mean, the injustice of eliminating S.P.E.W. from the plots, and the total absence of Charlie Weasley.

They also offer alternative casting choices. With the original film series now over, it doesn&#39;t feel too sacrilegious to ponder what a hypothetical&nbsp;American Harry Potter&nbsp;cast might look like. The actors on this list wouldn&#39;t be able to attend Hogwarts, and even with a fake British accent they probably couldn&#39;t replace the actors fans have come to know and love, but it doesn&#39;t hurt to wonder how they&#39;d do at wielding a wand, playing Quidditch, or saving the Wizarding World from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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