Louis Berk - October 2021

Man Sues Woman for Texting During a Movie Date

for the movie ticket he’d paid for. If she didn’t pay, he threatened to go after the money in small claims court. When Cruz initially refused, Vezmar made good on his threat and filed a petition in Austin, Texas. Vezmar made the case that Cruz had violated the cinema’s no cellphone policy and had negatively impacted his and other moviegoers’ experiences of watching a raccoon and a talking tree (among other beings) save the day. He claimed that while he sought modest damages, it was the principle of the thing that really mattered to him. He called Cruz’s behavior “a threat to civilized society.” As entertaining as it might have been to see that case fully make its way through the legal system, the lawsuit was eventually dropped after the TV show “Inside Edition” reunited Cruz and Vezmar and filmed her paying him back for the date. As the camera rolled, he counted his cash and considered them square. Unlike “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” there were no good guys in this story — but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining to read about after the fact!

We’ve probably all found ourselves annoyed with someone who uses their phone during a movie at the theater, but have you ever been so annoyed that you sued them?

That’s what Texas resident Brandon Vezmar decided to do back in 2017, following a “first date from hell” (as Vezmar put it) with

Crystal Cruz. According to Vezmar, about 15 minutes into “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Cruz was texting on her phone. When Vezmar asked her to stop texting, she refused. Then, Vezmar suggested that she step outside of the theater to text. Cruz took his suggestion and never returned.

Most people would chalk the experience up to a bad date and

move on, but Vezmar was so indignant that he reached out to Cruz the next day and requested that she compensate him $4 for the pizza and $17

Corn Mazes Date Back to Ancient Greece? A Historical Look at This Wacky Fall Tradition

Exploring a corn maze is a great way to get outside and enjoy the fall season with friends and family — but who came up with the idea of wandering around a corn field for fun? As it turns out, outdoor mazes are an ancient tradition, and the American corn maze of the ‘90s sprouted from the mazes of 17th-century European gardens. Don’t believe it? Here’s a quick tour of corn maze history. The Minotaur and the Maze Have you heard of Theseus and the Minotaur? This ancient Greek legend tells the story of the hero Theseus, who ventured into an elaborate maze to kill the half-man, half-bull imprisoned there. The monstrous Minotaur was known to eat heroes, and the labyrinth was known to trap them, but Theseus managed to slay the Minotaur and find his way home with the help of a string that he unspooled as he walked. This story isn’t the first recorded example of a maze or labyrinth — according to the World History encyclopedia, “[L]abyrinths and labyrinthine symbols have been dated to the Neolithic Age in regions as diverse as modern-day Turkey, Ireland, Greece, and India, among others” — but it’s perhaps the most famous ancient tale. If you’ve ever navigated a Halloween corn maze staffed by ghouls and ghosts, you can see the parallels! Garden Art to Get Lost In Mazes formed from bushes began popping up European gardens in the 17th century. They were a popular artistic feature of upper-class gardens in England, more for looking at than solving. One famous

example is the half-mile-long Hampton Maze, which was planted in 1690 and still stands today. The Corn Maze: An American Invention Garden mazes eventually hopped the pond to America but didn’t become interactive puzzles until Don Frantz, Creative Director of the American Maze Company, came on the scene. In 1993, Frantz created the “first ever cornfield maze for private and public entertainment” to attract college kids in Pennsylvania. Today, every small-town corn maze is a descendant of his “Amazing Maize Maze.” To learn more about that wacky history, visit AmericanMaze.com.

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