1999 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

Quick Facts from 1999:

• World Wide Worry: Would the Y2K computer bug end the world as we know it?
• The Top Song was Smooth by Santana with Rob Thomas
• The Movies to Watch include The Sixth Sense, Stuart Little, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Tarzan
• The Most Famous Person in America was probably Bill Gates
• Notable books include: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling and From Hell(collected) by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
• Price of a postage stamp in 1999: 33 cents
  Sony Discman: $59.00
  Crayola crayons 64 pack: $1.79
• The Funny Guys were: Chris Rock and Mitch Hedberg
  The Funny Late Late Night Host: Craig Kilborn
• Myth Becomes Reality: Prior to 1999, the American Express Black Card was just a myth. AmEx decided to capitalize on it and actually make a black, exclusive credit card. You can only qualify if you are a multi-millionaire and get an invitation.

“The Quotes”
“I see dead people”
– Haley Joel Osment, in ‘The Sixth Sense’

‘Is that your final answer?’
– Regis Philbin, on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Ouch:
Joan Murray survived a 14,500 ft fall when her main parachute failed while skydiving. She landed in a fire ant mound. Numerous venomous stings caused an adrenaline rush to keep her heart beating long enough for doctors to assist.

A schizophrenic man broke into George Harrison’s home and stabbed him over 40 times. His wife incapacitated the man and George was hospitalized. His official statement following the attack was “He wasn’t a burglar, and he certainly wasn’t auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys.”

World Facts:

Scotland re-established its parliament in 1999 after the Scotland Act (1998) was passed by the British parliament after a referendum. One of the first words spoken in the Parliament were, “The Scottish Parliament, which adjourned on March 25, 1707, is hereby reconvened.”

There was a two-week-long lion-hyena war over disputed territory in Ethiopia during 1999, where lions killed 35 hyenas and hyenas managed to kill six lions, with the lions eventually taking over the territory.

Despite the fact that they have been in use since the late 19th century, the current flag and national anthem of Japan were not official until 1999.

Jonathan James was only 15 when he hacked into the systems of NASA and the United States Department of Defense in June 1999. Since he was a juvenile, he was charged with 2 counts of “juvenile delinquency” placed under a 6 month home arrest and asked to write apology letters to NASA and the Department of Defense.

Hackers revealed a security flaw in Hotmail that permitted anybody to log in to any Hotmail account using the password ‘eh’. At the time it was called “the most widespread security incident in the history of the Web”.

Pop Culture Facts & History:
Finally, Pac-Man’s Perfect Score! Billy Mitchell, played Pac-Man for six hours non-stop to reach the 256th screen and achieve a score of 3,333,360. Pac-Man was released in 1980.

July 1st is Bobby Bonilla Day, the day in which the New York Mets pay Bobby Bonilla, a man who last played for them in 1999, $1.19 million until the year 2035.

Prior to 1999, the mythical American Express Black Card was just that: a myth. The myth became so pervasive that AmEx decided to capitalize on it and actually make a black, ultra-exclusive credit card.

For the 1999 Disney film Tarzan, Phil Collins sang all his own songs for the Spanish, French, Italian, and German translations of the soundtrack.

On May 19th, 1999 when Star Wars: The Phantom Menace released into theaters, an estimated 2.2 million full-time employees missed work to watch the film, costing the US an estimated $293 million dollars from loss of productivity.

Maude Flanders was killed-off on The Simpsons because of a pay raise dispute with the voice actress, Maggie Roswell. She was flying back-and-forth from Denver to Los Angeles and wanted a raise to cover the costs. Fox offered her a $150 per episode raise, so she quit.

According to the 1999 film the Matrix, Neo’s passport expires on September 11, 2001.

3.4 million copies of the animated Disney movie, The Rescuers, were recalled in 1999 because it contained two frames where there was a naked woman in the background.

They Might Be Giants were the first major-label recording artist to release an entire album exclusively in mp3 format.

In November of 1999, Kevin Smith attended a protest against his own movie, Dogma. He even made it onto the local news, when the on-the-scene reporter asked him (not knowing it was him) his thoughts on the movie. He responded: “I don’t know, but I’ve been told, ‘not good.'”. He said his name was ‘Bryan Johnson’.

The Screen Actors Guild strike of 1999 prevented the use of live actors in advertising. Needing an ad campaign, an insurance company turned to CGI to replace the actor. Thus, the Geico Gecko was born.

In 1999 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that software source code is protected speech.

A Las Vegas couple were unable to come to a decision on how to split up their Beanie Baby collection during their divorce settlement. A judge ordered them to dump their collection on the floor of the court and take turns picking them one-by-one.

In 1999 Google brought in 16 students to test out their search engine. Upon reaching the site, they sat still for 45 seconds, just staring. Worried, Google finally asked what was wrong. All 16 responded the same: they were waiting for the rest of the page to load.

The Kyocera VP-210 was released in 1999. The phone had an 0.11MP camera and could take up to 20 pictures before its onboard storage was full.

When the Nick Drake song Pink Moon was used in a Volkswagen commercial in 1999, the US sales of his albums went from about 6,000 in 1999 to 74,000 in 2000.

When he retired in 1999, Wayne Gretzky held or shared 61 NHL records. #thegreatone

Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) re-used the rocket launch scene from 1995’s Apollo 13.

Susan Lucci won her first Daytime Emmy Award, after 19 nominations.

Cost of a Super Bowl ad in 1999: $1,600,000

The Habits:
Collecting Pokemon “pocket monsters” toys, cards, and games. Also, watching them on television.

Watching The Blair With Project in theaters. The film earned $248 Million and cost about $25,000.

Watching ABC TV’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? at home. This show was the spark for network reality television.

Popular and Best-selling Books From 1999:
A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
The Alibi by Sandra Brown
Apollyon by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
Assassins by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
Bittersweet by Danielle Steel
Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
From Hell (collected) by Alan Moore Eddie Campbell
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Hannibal by Thomas Harris
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Irresistible Forces by Danielle Steel
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell
Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy
The Testament by John Grisham
Timeline by Michael Crichton
We’ll Meet Again by Mary Higgins Clark

1999 Billboard Number One Songs:
December 5 – January 15:
I’m Your Angel – R. Kelly & Céline Dion

January 16 – January 29:
Have You Ever – Brandy

January 30 – February 7:
…Baby One More Time – Britney Spears

February 13 – March 12:
Angel Of Mine – Monica

March 13 – April 9:
Believe – Cher

April 10 – May 7:
No Scrubs – TLC

May 8 – June 4:
Livin’ La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin

June 5 – July 16:
If You Had My Love – Jennifer Lopez

July 17 – July 23:
Bills, Bills, Bills – Destiny’s Child

July 24 – July 30:
Wild Wild West – Will Smith featuring Dru Hill and Kool Moe Dee

July 31 – September 3:
Genie In A Bottle – Christina Aguilera

September 4 – September 17:
Bailamos – Enrique Iglesias

September 18 – October 8:
Unpretty – TLC

October 9 – October 22:
Heartbreaker – Mariah Carey featuring Jay-Z

October 23, 1999- January 14, 2000:
Smooth – Santana Featuring Rob Thomas

Sports Highlights:
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for the first time, winning seven in all, losing all of them later, in 2012.

Brandi Chastain’s penalty kick won for the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, beating Chin. She dropped to her knees and ripped off her jersey in celebration. Sports bras as outerwear became somewhat fashionable for a few months after that.