Stream Online Monty Python and the Holy Grail Free on Its 50th Anniversary

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9B7fBPhWzU

This year, YouTube cel­e­brat­ed its twen­ti­eth anniver­sary, prompt­ing younger users to won­der what life could have been like before it. The fifti­eth anniver­sary of Mon­ty Python and the Holy Grail, which pre­miered in April of 1975, has inspired sim­i­lar reflec­tion among com­e­dy enthu­si­asts. It can be dif­fi­cult, at this point, to imag­ine one­self…

Marvin Gaye’s Classic Vocals on ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’: The A Cappella Version

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It’s hard to believe, but Mar­vin Gaye’s clas­sic 1967 record­ing of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was orig­i­nal­ly reject­ed by his record label.

The song, about a man’s grief over hear­ing rumors of his lover’s infi­deli­ty, was writ­ten by the leg­endary Motown Records pro­duc­er Nor­man Whit­field and singer Bar­rett Strong.…

The Heavy-Metal Band Disturbed Covered Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” Ten Years Ago, and It’s Still Topping the Charts

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“The Sound of Silence” Is the Most Met­al Song of the Past Decade”: imag­ine that head­line, and the con­trar­i­an cul­ture piece prac­ti­cal­ly writes itself. Not so long ago, Slate was noto­ri­ous for pub­lish­ing that kind of thing, but it seems they’ve now put that sen­si­bil­i­ty behind them — or at least most­ly behind them.…

A Stylish 2,000-Year-Old Roman Shoe Found in a Well

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When the Romans pushed their way north into the Ger­man provinces, they built (cir­ca 90 AD) the Saal­burg, a fort that pro­tect­ed the bound­ary between the Roman Empire and the Ger­man­ic trib­al ter­ri­to­ries. At its peak, 2,000 peo­ple lived in the fort and the attached vil­lage, and it remained active until around 260 AD.…

The Simple, Ingenious Design of the Ancient Roman Javelin: How the Romans Engineered a Remarkably Effective Weapon

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As Mike Tyson once put it, with char­ac­ter­is­tic straight­for­ward­ness, “Every­body has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Back in the time of the Roman Repub­lic and the ear­ly Roman Empire, all of Rome’s ene­mies must have had a plan until pila punched through their shields. A kind of javelin with a wood­en…