A list of curious facts

One: Hollywood productions often venture out of their studios to shoot in real, sometimes unexpected locations. Most recently, Wadi Rum in Jordan was seen in the movie ‘Dune: Part Two’, with the desert used to depict the arid and torrid terrain of the fictional planet Arrakis. Here’s a still from the film:

The Jordanian desert actually seems to be popular with filmmakers across genres. It also became the red planet Mars for the movie ‘The Martian’, a site of vengeance in the acclaimed ‘John Wick 4’, a place to chase spacecrafts in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’. Even the recent Indian film ‘Aadujeevitham’ or ‘The Goat Life’ was filmed in the vast desert landscape. In fact, one of the earliest times we saw Wadi Rum on screen was in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, back in 1962! 

Speaking of versatile locations, did you know that hamara Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur was in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’? Yup, you can see the towering fort in the background as Bruce Wayne gets out of a cylindrical prison. Our lead is the close-up view of the fort, clicked by our assistant editor Aarthi.

This detailed thread on X has an expansive list of other real locations that were used as memorable visuals in movies.

A bonus movie fact: The skull on the iconic poster of ‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ on the moth, isn’t actually a human skull. If you look closely, the skull is made up of nude female bodies, which is a direct homage to a piece by Salvador Dali, in collaboration with photographer Philippe Halsman, titled ‘In Voluptas Mors’, from 1951. You can see a side-by-side comparison below. (Snopes) 

Two: Say hello to the world’s tallest rideable bicycle—nicknamed Starbike—which stands at a massive height of 25.5 feet. The idea was conceived at a bar five years ago, by two friends and bicycle activists David and Nicolas who wanted to promote the environmental benefits of cycling. Staying true to their sustainability goal, they used alloy, steel, and wood to build the bike, sourced from discarded furniture.

It took them two years to build the bike, and it was unveiled at the annual bicycle festival in the city of Clermont-Ferrand two weeks ago. David took it for a spin at the festival and rode unassisted for over 100 m, breaking the previous Guinness World Record of 36 cm, unassisted. As you can imagine, riding the bike is quite the task:

For example, the pedals are connected to the wheels via a 16-meter (53-ft) chain, and because of its extreme height, the bicycle has to move at a speed of around 15-20 km/h (9-12 mph) for the rider to maintain balance. 

Now, the duo are considering making the world’s smallest bicycle. You can see a clip of the Starbike’s first-ever trip below. (Oddity Central)

Three: According to a report released last year, 41% of Indian gamers happen to be women, proving that gaming isn’t a male-dominated hobby, any more. In terms of time spent, women averaged 11.2 hours per week—while men spent 10.2 hours a week. In fact, 56% of female gamers in India are considering gaming as a viable career option. 

But, but, but: Sexism and reductive stereotypes still restrict women in gaming—along with a lower access to smartphones and mobile internet. In better news, the report also highlighted that 66% of all mobile gamers come from non-metro cities—which further shows how the gaming arena is opening up in India. Indian Express has more.