Page 274 - Celebrity Facts

Cake recorded their latest album with solar power.

The first album from the band Cake in 6 years, "Showroom of Compassion", was recorded in a solar powered studio! "We're making our own electricity to produce our own music and videos, and no one can stop us -- not a power company, not a record company, not even SPIN.com", said lead singer John McCrea to Spin.com (obviously).

As an added bonus, over the years that the band spent collecting energy from solar panels and recording their album, they have also been feeding excess electricity back into the city of Sacramento's grid. They've actually been making money from the solar while recording. The new album also makes use of more acoustic instruments than past records, so it's possible they saved on energy costs by not powering on as many amplifiers?

Their studio is actually a converted house in Sacramento that was outfitted with solar panels on the roof from Borrego Solar. Check out this video of the instillation process:



More information about Cake's solar project can be found on their website. More info on the album in this article.

A man's skin has been turned permanently blue.

With his beard, Paul Karason looks like a real-life Papa Smurf! After the death of his father 18 years ago, the northwest Washington resident developed a severe case of dermatitis, which causes itchy, reddened skin. Most people would have seen a doctor or bought an over-the-counter remedy, but not our Paul. He developed his own remedy using colloidal silver that he prepared himself using electrolysis (colloidal silver is silver suspended in a liquid, which was distilled water in this case).

In 1999, the FDA banned the medical use of silver because...you guessed it...it can turn people blue! This bluish skin discoloration is called argyria and is caused by light reacting with silver, similar to the reaction that occurs in photography. Unfortunately, Paul learned this the hard way. He will also be blue for the rest of his life because the silver collects in the skin and other organs and does not go away! Luckily, he has no other serious side effects caused by the metal, which can be poisonous and cause organ damage in high doses. He only has to deal with his strange appearance in public, which he no longer finds to be a problem. I'm pretty sure he couldn't have been too thrilled when Avatar came out though...
(Sources: 1, 2)

Heath Ledger locked himself in a hotel room for about a month to prepare for his iconic role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Heath Ledger locked himself in a hotel room for about a month to prepare for his iconic role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

The late actor went on the record with Empire Magazine to describe his approach to developing a unique interpretation of the character. Holed up in a London hotel, he read through every bit of relevant comic book material and meditated until he came up with a persona he liked. Ledger even jotted down his thoughts in a creepy Joker diary! One of the most important things was coming up with a distinctive voice, including an insane clown laugh.

This task was made even more difficult with talented actors such as Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero, and even Mark Hamill having left their own iconic stamps on the role. Over $533 million in domestic ticket sales and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor later, I think it's safe to say Heath more than accomplished his goal.

The word vader is Dutch for 'father.'

This is pretty cool if you're a fan of the Star Wars trilogy. We're not going to say any more on this subject, just in case you're one of the 5 people who hasn't seen Star Wars. This fact probably has no significance to the plot whatsoever. But seriously, watch the movies already. It can only make your life better. Heck, you could even watch them with your vader.

(source)

Update: the Harry Potter bathroom stall has been painted over.

Sad day...but come on, we all knew it was bound to happen, right? If you haven't read this OMG-Fact yet, you should check it out and get yourself up to speed. Caitlyn posted the original photo here on her Tumblr, and recently updated fans about her subsequent graffiti defeat. Here is a transcript of her summary of the events that followed her 'accomplishment':

"okay basically i found out that the principal knew about it. so before they could call me down i turned myself in, thus possibly getting less of a punishment and such, and so yeah i went to the principal and confessed. it's funny cause she had pictures in her hand of it (and all the other graffiti in that bathroom) and idk anyways we had a little discussion, i told her i understood it was defacing school property, she knew i didn't mean any harm and such. there's a bunch of other small unnecessary details in the conversation blah blah blah. punishment is to pay for "damage" but no detention or suspension! :)"