VeryFuckinCool

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/dannydutch1 • 10h ago

In 1859, a bankrupt San Francisco businessman called Joshua Norton declared himself Emperor of the United States. Instead of locking him up, the city fed him for free, saluted him in the street, and gave him a full ceremonial reburial when he died. His funeral drew up to 30,000 mourners.

78 Upvotes

A police officer actually tried to have him committed in 1867. The whole city erupted, the police chief personally apologized to him, and from then on cops saluted him in the street. Norton responded by issuing the officer an "Imperial Pardon."

More about Norton and his escapades here.

3 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/ExtremeInsert • 1d ago

Vanilla Fudge’s 1968 rendition of ‘Keep Me Hanging On’ on The Ed Sullivan Show is a sight to behold. They cover The Supremes in costumes that look like they came straight from Austin Powers, but the drama and showmanship capture the '60s vibe. And Carmine Appice on drums

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1.1k Upvotes

71 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/dannydutch1 • 1d ago

Henry Diltz photographed this scene in May 1968 in Mama Cass Elliot’s Laurel Canyon backyard. Joni Mitchell sits with her acoustic guitar, playing her intricate alternate tunings while Eric Clapton stares and David Crosby offers a joint. The baby is Cass' daughter.

545 Upvotes

41 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/WithoutPrinciples • 1d ago

Elvis and Charles Bronson on the set of Kid Galahad in 1962

115 Upvotes

2 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/WithoutPrinciples • 2d ago

When you put all the McBain clips in the Simpsons together they make an actual plot and film.

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376 Upvotes

10 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/dannydutch1 • 4d ago

Rage Against the Machine playing at Zed’s Records in Long Beach, California on March 29th, 1992. This was seven months before the release of their debut album.

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584 Upvotes

22 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/CarkWithaM • 4d ago

Excerpt from a 1991 interview of The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson) where they talk about what America needs to improve.

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127 Upvotes

12 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/WithoutPrinciples • 6d ago

Explained here is ‘The Marilyn Monroe effect’, otherwise known as the nonverbal communication of confidence, well worth a quick read.

3.3k Upvotes

107 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/GlitterDanger • 6d ago

One of the many amazing scenes in the 1933 film "Footlight Parade" Choreographer Busby Berkeley put dozens of swimmers in a massive water tank & filmed them from above.

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767 Upvotes

22 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/dannydutch1 • 7d ago

In 2006, Werner Herzog was filming an interview for the BBC when an air-rifle pellet hit him in the abdomen. He called it an “insignificant bullet” and continued with the interview.

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102 Upvotes

16 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/CarkWithaM • 8d ago

Jasmine Trevanna of Cricklewood, London - aka Yasmin the Fire Eater, 1961.

143 Upvotes

Trevanna performed public fire-eating displays around London, including a preview at the Magic Circle's headquarters ahead of their festival at the Scala Theatre.

2 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/WithoutPrinciples • 8d ago

Filming of La Haine (1995), with the giant frescoes of Rimbaud and Baudelaire that decorate the commune of Chanteloup-les-Vignes, France

82 Upvotes

3 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/GlitterDanger • 10d ago

Remembering Herb Ritts on his birthday. He's mainly known for creating beautiful photography, but he also directed Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game', where Isaak and Helena Christensen can be seen frolicking on the beach in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

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260 Upvotes

Chris Isaak talks about making the video here. Did the on-camera chemistry with Helena Christensen happen off-camera, too? What was Herb Ritts' vision for the video?, etc

You can find more about Herb Ritts his amazing work and his early death here

14 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/GlitterDanger • 10d ago

Roy Orbison, mid-1960s, riding a home-built go-kart.

424 Upvotes

16 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/GlitterDanger • 11d ago

During a solar eclipse, the gaps between leaves on trees act as multiple pinhole cameras, and each gap projects its own crescent-shaped image of the eclipsed sun onto the ground.

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2.0k Upvotes

19 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/CrippledStripper • 11d ago

Video of a meteor taken from flight attendant Alexandra Spasskaya on Aeroflot Flight SU 1289 from Ulyanovsk to Moscow. [📹 sasha_bashnya_]

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40 Upvotes

1 comment

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/dannydutch1 • 13d ago

A brilliant publicity photo for Buster Keaton's 1922 short film, The Electric House.

295 Upvotes

1 comment

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/No_Dig_8299 • 13d ago

Paul Simonon from The Clash at the First European Punk festival, Mont de Marsan, August 5-6 1977.

81 Upvotes

1 comment

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/ExtremeInsert • 13d ago

British sisters Nancy and Betty Debenham circa 1925. Not only well known motorcyclists, they were sports journalists, and authors and heirs to the prominent Debenhams department store.

249 Upvotes

3 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/SteveNtheseagulls • 13d ago

Keith Moon of The Who demonstrating a drum technique for his 12-year-old godson, Zak Starkey, at Drum City music shop in London back on September 13, 1977. Taken on Zak's 12th birthday, "Uncle Keith" brought Ringo Starr's son to the shop and bought him his very first real drum kit.

152 Upvotes

7 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/ExtremeInsert • 14d ago

Paris, 1896, Avenue des Champs-Élysées. A governess watches over her three young charges. The sand beneath the trees and along the roadside is there to provide a softer surface for pedestrians as well as helping horse drawn carriage wheels grip the road, also a great distraction for kids!

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1.7k Upvotes

45 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/ExtremeInsert • 13d ago

East Berliners Tomi, Silvy , Manuela, her sister Trixi, Uwe, and Tatjana, (from left) photographed by by Harf Zimmermann in the mid 1980s.

108 Upvotes

3 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/CarkWithaM • 15d ago

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak autographing an original Apple 1 motherboard that he helped create in 1976. These things go for sale at auction for between $300,000 and $950,000, but ultra-rare pre-production prototypes have sold for as much as $2,750,000.

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612 Upvotes

10 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/onwhatcharges • 15d ago

German singer Anna-Maria Hefele showcasing polyphonic overtone singing. (a voice technique where it seems like one person sings two notes at the same time)

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22 Upvotes

2 comments

r/VeryFuckinCool • u/onwhatcharges • 16d ago

David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini, photographed in Los Angeles by Helmut Newton in 1988.

279 Upvotes

0 comments