These were explored when Redditor Fronzie7 quoted a famous music icon to ask:
"Frank Sinatra said, 'The best revenge is massive success' What's a real-life example of this?"
Everyone loves a good Hollywood ending.
You Know You've Made It When You're On A Lunchbox
"Michael J.Fox has a great story about when he started out. Some big wheel at the network didn't like him for the role of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. He was too short, not cute, not heart throb enough, you're never going to see his face on a lunch box. But the producer cast him anyway and the show shot to number one and stayed there."
"Fox sent him a Family Ties lunch box with his face on it and then Back to the Future 1,2,3 lunch boxes."
– Hazelsmom64
A Rocky Start To An Amazing Career
"Sylvester Stallone as well. Casting agents told him he was too stupid looking and he'd only get small roles as the thug who got beaten up. He said he literally went to every casting agent in NYC and got rejected by all of them."
"Even after he wrote Rocky and found producers, they didn't want him to star in it."
– YounomsayinMawfk
The Dreamgirl Who Never Stopped Dreaming
"Jennifer Hudson lost American Idol and became more successful than the winner."
– Stashdragon
"She is a recent EGOT winner and the youngest woman to do it. 7th Place looks fantastic on her."
– jdmccoy
Against all odds, the end result was a victory for these accomplished individuals.
Home Surveillance Home Run
"The guy who invented Ring cameras went on Shark Tank and was rejected by everyone. They all thought it would fail….we’ll you know the rest."
– Ruzzthabus
"He went back on Shark Tank after that, but this time as one of the sharks."
– 1Land_1Keep
The Skies The Limit
"Ron McNair had the police called on him when he was little because he was black and reading in a library. He grew up to be an astronaut and the library he was kicked out of was later named after him."
– sperdush
"For those who may not be familiar with his name; he was one of the Challenger crew members on January 28, 1986."
– This-Marsupial-6187
Emerged From The Shallow
"When Lady GaGa was in college, some of her classmates had a Facebook group called 'Stefani Germanotta, you'll never be famous.'"
"Pretty sure she proved them wrong."
– NotHisRealName
Now these are smart business moves.
Recipe For Success
"Erin French, chef-owner of restaurant The Lost Kitchen in rural Maine."
"Co-owned a restaurant in the town of Belfast with her husband; a very tumultuous relationship ended with him changing the locks on the building with all of her equipment inside."
"She licked her wounds, leased space in an old mill building in her tiny hometown of Freedom, and built from the ground one of the best restaurants in the country, with a coveted reservation that is fabled for its difficulty to get a table. Has her own multi-season documentary on TV and is absolutely killing it in the culinary world now."
– Girhinomofe
A Toy Story
"George Lucas got the ownership of the toy rights to star wars because they don’t think it would be successful. He made an absolute killing on those."
– Birds-aint-real-
"Not just the toy rights, he got the entire IP in exchange for waiving is salary."
– xdert
Lamborghini Origin Story
"Italian industrialist, builder of tractors, made a mint out of it and rewarded himself with a new Ferrari."
"Ferrari broke down. Needed a new clutch. Wealthy industrialist waited patiently for his new clutch to arrive, and after many weeks it finally showed up - same clutch he was putting in his tractors, more than twice the price."
"A little bit annoyed at this, he rang Ferrari to complain. They told him 'go back to building tractors, leave supercars to us.'"
"And Lamborghini was born..."
– RaffiaWorkBase
Gaming Victory
"Sony and Nintendo were working on a console together before the N64 came out, intending to utilize Nintendo's gaming hardware combined with Sony's sound tech to create games with more immersive sound capabilities than have been seen before. Partway through development and immediately following Sony's announcement of their partnership, Nintendo backed out of the deal, which if you're not aware of Japanese business etiquette, is kind of a d*ck move."
"Nintendo backed out to work with Philips to put Nintendo games on the CDi, which resulted in the worst-received Nintendo games of all time."
"Sony, out of spite, went on to make the PlayStation, one of the best-selling consoles in gaming history, and cement themselves as a massive player in the console wars to this day."
– Critical-String8774
Be Kind And Rewind
"Blockbuster laughed baby Netflix out of the room with their idea. Then later, grown-up Netflix killed blockbuster."
– ChurroForSure-o
"Best thing for Netflix, really. Blockbuster would have driven themselves and the Netflix rent model out of business through mismanagement."
"I don't know about you, but I can't live in a world without Voltron: Legendary Defender."
– Tobias_Atwood
So what's the moral of the story?
Basically, always be kind and never make anyone feel less than they deserve. You never know what the future brings, and you putting down someone for your own fleeting gain will come back to haunt you.
Also, remember that karma works in mysterious ways.
Like I said... money.
Money makes me happy. When I watch Scrooge McDuck swim in it I feel like I've just tasted the best pumpkin pie, which yes, is my favorite.
The Good Slide
Giphy"Sliding into your bed sheets after a long day and laying down."
"And the sheets are fresh out of the dryer."
Getting it Back
"Finding things that trigger lost memories and give me some of my old self back."
"Lost large chunks of memory to seizures, discovered something that triggered memories from a happy time this week. I'm still riding that high."
"I had a seizure/amnestic MCI a few years ago and know exactly what this feels like!"
"It's kind kind of bittersweet really, because everytime something triggers lost memories I'm immediately reminded of how much I lost, and can't help but what wonder what's still missing."
"Good luck on putting it all back together, friend."
I didn't show up...
"Relief. I don't win, so much as I outlast things. So far."
"One of the smartest people I ever met once told me that all you need to do well in life is to show up on time and stay till it's done. I'm a 32 year old college drop out."
"In college I didn't show up. After dropping out I quickly realized I'd need money if I wanted to sleep inside."
"I've been showing up ever since. I've worked as a dishwasher, a cook, a busser, a waiter, and a bartender."
"For each of those jobs all I had to do was be reliable and coachable. I was taught new skills by people who knew more than me, I was offered (and demanded) more money for the increasing responsibilities of my new jobs."
"And at 32 I have run more than one successful restaurant and am confident that my influence and leadership would have a positive impact on any restaurant anywhere. I know that my story isn't one of massive success and vast wealth, but remember: all I did was show up."
"What I mean is, outlasting the bad will pay off over time. Keep showing up!"
Big Fumble
"I honestly don't know. I'm a Jacksonville Jaguars fan."
"With the Jags, at least you can look at their history and be like, 'Well, their players sucked'."
"The Lions have had Barry and Megatron and others I'm surely forgetting. The whole narrative for the Rams this year is 'Stafford is finally playing for a competent franchise, so we expect great things from him'."
Climax
Giphy"Sometime's its like the first bite of your favorite food but sometimes its just like nothing happened."
Now those are some good eats.
I could definitely break bread with this menu and feel happily full and satisfied.
My bed is also one of my best friends.
Manly tastes...
"My family weren't into sports, but if we ever had a 'manly' job to do, like going to the dump, helping someone move, doing a long drive, collecting and chopping wood, stuff like that, my dad would take us to the pub for a victory pint."
"So victory was something like orange juice and lemonade, a packet of McCoys salt and vinegar crisps, and the smell of beer."
"An ice cream from the corner shop on the way home from school on Friday was a close second."
Feel the grinds...
"5am espresso with the kid still asleep and having slept through the night."
"I don't even have my machine calibrated very well and I still pull tastier shots than most coffee shops I go to. Gotta love home espresso machines."
"No kids for me but I have a new dog that keeps waking me up at 5am, 3-4 hours before I even need to wake up for work, not even to go to the bathroom. Just anxious cause my girlfriend left for work usually."
It Hits You
"It feels like a very powerful wave of strong emotions going around you and through you."
"You feel lighter, adrenaline wears off from the peak, you start to calm down, tiredness hits you, and your mind feels quiet and at peace."
"This is from some extremely powerful events I've had happen to me personally."
"Just so everybody knows, my story isn't one of those fairy tales with a happy ending. We broke up after a while and sure, it was hard to handle in the beginning."
"But that's what life is all about, numerous of ups and downs. Many things are just out of your control and sometimes you just gotta let go, even those you love the most."
"One thing I'm sure of, the memories and feelings that she gave to me, made me stronger. IMO, this is a huge victory, besides learning to love myself again!"
I love to hear about accomplishments.
It makes my cold heart feel like happiness is possible. I miss the taste of that.
Somebody bring me some cinnamon french toast.
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I for one am tired of heading about how fitness releases endorphins, therefore I'll super happy and thrilled once I'm on a treadmill. I have never enjoyed one second on a treadmill. So Beach Body... you can shove it!
Avoidance
Friends Moving GIFGiphy"That fat is the thing to avoid in foods taking away the spotlight from sugar."
Not so rare...
"De Beers diamond campaign. Idk if propaganda, but was the best advertising campaign of all time."
- HuntStag
"Diamonds can actually burn with enough oxygen and heat. They also degrade back to graphite on their own (over a billion years, but still) or much more rapidly if the proper energy source is used (say a high energy laser). The real propaganda is that diamonds are very rare. They are not, just highly controlled by De Beers, who are known to buy any competing mines. Of all the precious stones, diamonds are the most common."
Fused...
"The McDonald's coffee lawsuit. The lawyers made it out to be frivolous but the lady just wanted her medical bills payed after the coffee was so hot (they overheated it so people would go for less free refills) that she burned her lap and had her labia fused to her thighs."
- calvanus
An Error
"Not wartime propaganda. A notational error. "As the story goes, in 1870, a German chemist named Erich von Wolf was researching the nutritional benefits of spinach. In his notes, he accidentally printed the decimal point in the vegetable's iron content in the wrong spot. Wolf accidentally increased the vegetable's iron level to 10 times the actual amount — 3.5 grams of iron suddenly became 35 grams, an extremely high amount of iron."
Just for Bugs...
bugs bunny wtf GIF by Looney TunesGiphy"Myth of carrots being good for eyesight coming from WW2 to hide RAF victories against the german flyers coming from the use of radar."
"It's a myth but it's still true. Carrots are high in lutein and beta carotene which are both good for eye health…"
I've always loved carrots just because I love them. My eyesight is good but I think that's thanks to God. And I have always found McDonald's coffee to be lukewarm at best. So no lawsuit for me.
Worry Now!
Climate Change Earth GIF by GIPHY Studios OriginalsGiphy"Small personal changes will prevent climate change. Until things change at the industrial and corporate level the planet is screwed."
The War
"Vietnam was probably one of the most successful ones."
"I remember reading this comment once, that really pointed out how weird the Vietnam War was handled post-war by the U.S. I don't remember it exactly, but it went something along the lines of:"
"It's strange that we invaded Vietnam and decades later we now make movies about how sad soldiers were while invading and killing the Vietnamese. It's the equivalent of a burglar making a film about how sad they are breaking into someone's home and beating them up."
Reuse...
"Recycling plastics. Something like only 9-10% of recycled plastic is actually… recycled. Plastics that we all recycle are sent to a recycling center where they are melded/smashed into big cubes. Plastic using companies, say Coca Cola, have to then buy these cubes to use for their bottling."
"It typically is more labor intensive and expensive to use these recycled cubes than to just use new plastic. Therefore, after some time, these cubes are discarded by recycling companies just like normal trash is. Big oil pushed recycling propaganda HARD to make people feel better about using plastics when they switched over from glass."
Anne & Jane
"Pretty much anything about Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour. All historical evidence shows Anne as a sweet, kind, generous woman who genuinely loved Henry (they were together for around a decade), whilst all contemporary accounts show Jane to be nasty, conniving and abusive to her maids."
"Anne's reputation was initially smeared because Henry's advisors disliked how much money (that they wanted spent on them/their projects) she gave to charity. They started a mass smear campaign, and executed her based on trumped up charges that most historians agree were utterly false. The propaganda continued after her execution to ensure that Henry didn't look bad."
"Jane Seymour only has a positive reputation because she was paraded around as a sort of angelic type, in large part to justify Henry's relationship with her to the public (who contrary to popular fiction, were fond of Anne due to her charity and advocacy work) so as to prevent unrest. This reputation continued after her death and was intentionally emphasised to further enhance/legitimise Edward's claim over Mary and Elizabeth's."
The Best 'Actually, You're Speaking To The Boss' Experience | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Being a Bruncher
Gay Want GIFGiphy"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nice little marketing campaign by major breakfast food manufacturers to increase sales."
- llcucf80
The Real Succubus...
"I'm gonna pick out a much less recent one than a lot of people... hey, turns out Cleopatra was actually pretty average-looking! What she WAS was a really intelligent and sharp political operator who terrified the Romans. They ran a very good smear campaign, painting her as a succubus to disguise that."
Not so Rare
"Diamonds are forever. super successful commercial, made it the go-to engagement stone. Die ewige Juden - spreading anti jewish propaganda for maybe a decade has inflamed hatred/violence in he mid east to this day. It wasn't a picnic before, but it's gotten a lot worse."
"Diamonds also are not even rare, the whole industry is just manufactured scarcity."
Saturday Night Live Nbc GIF by HULUBeautiful...
"Keep America beautiful" still has people believing that it's the job of the end consumer to clean up "littered waste" instead of forcing companies to stop high waste practices for higher profits."
"Recycling of plastic was devised as a way to take the burden of the environment impact of the plastic industry and put in on the consumer. When in reality, we should just not be using single-use plastic for most things."
"bankrupt"
"Installing universal healthcare in America will "bankrupt" the country. Several countries have, successfully, had some form of a universal healthcare system for over a century and their economies aren't hurting b/c of it."
Lost Cause...
"Lost Cause mythology convinced 5 generations that the dirty traitors fighting to enslave children were the GOOD GUYS."
"The worst part of Lost Cause revisionism is that the Confederate leaders thoroughly documented why they seceded. It was so overwhelmingly about slavery that they couldn't shut up about how much it was about slavery."
- CHIM_Jim
Shot Up
President Biden Politics GIF by NowThisGiphy"That vaccines cause autism and other harm. Not everyone believes, but those that do will die (literally) on that hill."
We really will believe anything. Won't we? Or maybe that's what we're manipulated to believe? Who knows.
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