Lester and Carolyn Burnham are on the outside, a perfect husband and wife, in a perfect house, in a perfect neighborhood. But inside, Lester is slipping deeper and deeper into a hopeless depression. He finally snaps when he becomes infatuated with one of his daughters friends. Meanwhile, his daughter Jane is developing a happy friendship with a shy boy-next-door named Ricky who lives with a homophobic father. In 1929 an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing village is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto’s Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo....

We’ll start off with a couple of light ones that shouldn’t be surrounded with controversy as much as misconception, which I will attempt to rectify. As we work our way down, though, you will notice that the topics will become less trivial or one-sided and more controversial. With the touchier topics, my only intention is to elucidate why there are two lines of thought, by presenting facts from both sides....

10Pierce Brosnan 54 year old Pierce Brosnan was born in Ireland. He first shot to fame playing Remington Steele in the television series of the same name. Before his contract on the show was up, he was offered the role of James Bond in an up and coming film, but he was unable to break his contract. The suave actor finally played the role of Bond in Goldeneye, and he played Bond for a further four films (the last being Die Another Day)....

10Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems In 2013, Texas teenager Ethan Couch—who at the time was wasted, speeding, and driving illegally on a restricted license—plowed into a group of people with his truck. Four died; nine were injured. At trial, Couch’s attorneys blamed “affluenza,” a portmanteau of “affluent” and “influenza,” for Couch’s actions. According to Couch’s lawyers, his wealth prevented him from appreciating the consequences of his actions. Perhaps the legal team was inspired by Clarence Darrow, who used the same strategy in the famous Leopold and Loeb case....

I think we can all agree that the Cenobites are some of the creepiest dudes and dudettes around. By the first Hellraiser they seem to be old hat at torturing and maiming (and sexing up? Not sure how that pleasure/pain thing works) people who are good at puzzle boxes. We get a nice little introduction to all of them, and they all made their individual initial visual impacts: there was a chick cenobite, a fat cenobite, and the one that chatters his teeth....

Over the years, many of America’s great writers—including a few surprising ones, like Alcott—have explored the dark, the disturbing, and the macabre. These authors often based their stories on real people, places, or events. In many cases, these source materials were just as unsettling as the tales they inspired. Childhood nightmares, grotesque insects, psychological experiments, hidden corpses—all of these and more found their way from reality to the pages of renowned, award-winning American literature....

Buy War and Peace In this corner, weighing in at 2.6 lbs and 1,296 printed pages, Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, considered by some to be the greatest novel ever written, as well as the book most people lie about having read. In fact, many people have read it just to say they did. And that’s a shame, because Tolstoy can write beautifully, either as an omniscient narrator or when writing directly from the character’s point of view....

Whether taking to the skies is nerve-racking or frustratingly tiresome, such taxing journeys are only compounded by the difficulties brought about by the plane’s flight crew. The following ten stories delve into comically epic errors and meltdowns by pilots and flight attendants which their passengers will not soon forget. 10 Wrong Destination In January 2014, passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight were jolted when their 737 had to brake hard on landing in order to come to an abrupt stop....

SEE ALSO: 10 Real-Life Places Ripped Straight Out Of Science Fiction 10. Simplicity This is less a crime of commission than one of omission. Space is full of wonders we cannot even begin to understand, yet most science fiction films are based in a very simplistic environment and do not even begin to investigate the wonderful possibilities that science fiction offers us. We don’t see interplanetary tunnels, aliens on planets around pulsars, creatures living on dead suns, alien life forms that inhabit the edges of supermassive black holes, or so many of the other thought provoking scenarios....

Of course, not everything available is necessarily a good pet. Some are incredibly difficult to care for, while others are just plain dangerous. These ten critters may have seemed like a good idea at first, and there are places where you can own them, but you absolutely shouldn’t. Top 10 Exotic Pets That Killed Their Owners 10 Prairie Dogs Prairie dogs are adorable rodents found throughout the Great Plains of the United States....

The New Holland Mouse is a rodent first described in 1843. It vanished from view after that and was presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in 1967. It is found only in Australia. The mouse is currently listed as endangered and a number of the populations are now considered extinct – some due to the Ash Wednesday Wildfires in 1983. The terror skink (Phoboscincus bocourti) was long thought extinct until a specimen was discovered in 2003 in New Caledonia....

Nothing you see will resemble the spectacular Hubble images. But stargazing tends to be more of a spiritual and intellectual excursive than an aesthetic one. Just knowing that I am seeing actual photons released 2.5 million years ago from a galaxy far, far away leaves a deeper impact on me than beautiful space photographs. Scanning the Milky Way on a truly dark, clear, moonless night has a beauty deeper than its aesthetic appeal....

10The Pilgrims Were Actually Escaping The Religious Tolerance Of The Dutch The Pilgrims didn’t flee religious persecution in England by going to America—they went to the Netherlands. Long before the Pilgrims stepped aboard the Mayflower, they settled in a Dutch city called Leiden, where they were welcomed with open arms. The Dutch let them hold Puritan services in their churches, promising that they let all honest people live freely in their nation....

The Ivory Coast is recovering from violence which began when Alassane Ouattara, a presidential candidate, won the national election by a small, but internationally certified, margin. Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president, refused to step down, sparking a conflict which ended with at least 1,200 civilians dead. Because of the conflict, the economy ground to a halt. The conflict ended when Ouattara’s supporters stormed Gbagbo’s house, and took him captive. The Ivory Coast is now led by Ouattara, who must resolve these issues....

Whether you know him from his time as 007 or from any of the dozens of movies he headlined, it’s a fair bet that you know a bit about the man. Still, there are some fascinating facts about the life of Sir Sean, and these ten are just the tip of the iceberg. 10 Most Controversial James Bond Facts 10 He Was Knighted By Queen Elizabeth II Becoming a Knight or a Dame in the 21st century is significantly different than it was in ages past....

Salt can solve mysteries, help us explore space, and reveal Earth’s past. The most fascinating is sodium’s dual role of danger and savior: It kills millions every year but also offers a cheap weapon against infections and climate change. 10 Salt Is Better Than Soap When someone arrives at the hospital, they go through debridement, which is basically the cleansing of any wounds with soap and water. Yet, thousands of patients need treatment for infections that occur after injuries are cleaned....

In the 21st century, football (soccer to those of you across the pond) has become the world’s most popular sport, and there are thousands of football stadiums all around the world. Not all of them can be said to match the Coliseum for its architectural grace and beauty, however. So here are ten bizarre and fascinating football stadiums which have taken the ancient concept of the sports arena in new and surprising directions....

Series of Ghost Photos Most Haunted Ghost shown on CNN Dorm Ghost Ghost Car Mexican Graveyard Japanese Ghost Argghh! Scary House Vatican Ghost Bonus: Incredible Footage This is probably the most conclusive proof I have ever seen for the existence of ghosts – and I am a skeptic. If you don’t believe in ghosts now – I believe you will after seeing this particular clip. Technorati Tags: ghosts, paranormal...

Major Titles Held: 2 Rogers became extremely popular in the 1950s and 1960s. A very flamboyant competitor; he combined: attitude, an outstanding physique, and a signature finishing move to become the first truly “complete” wrestler. Although he could not surpass the two top wrestlers of his era (Thesz and Sammartino), he helped elevate them and many others by playing the villain character so successfully. Bottom line: No Buddy Rogers, No Ric Flair....

10Nobody Knows Who Built It When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in America and saw Teotihuacan for the first time, the Aztecs were living there. They had moved their people in and taken it as a part of their empire—but they didn’t build it. It had stood for 1,000 years before the Aztecs and 500 years before the Maya ever came to Mexico. Nobody knows who built it. A group called the Toltects tried to take credit, but the city had been in Mexico for longer than they had, as well....