#American Nightmare Merchandise

[americannightmaremerch]

American Nightmare Merch

American Nightmare is an American hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. They have released three albums, one EP and a compilation of earlier released material under the name American Nightmare. American Nightmare have been categorised as hardcore punk, melodic hardcore and emo. Their music was a reaction against the lyrical positivity of Youth Crew revival bands that had been popular in Boston at the time like In My Eyes, Floorpunch and Bane. The band pursued a more dark and nihilistic sound in comparison through the influence of the Smiths and Joy Division. Shop American Nightmare Merch Here! #americannightmaremerch #americannightmaremerchandise

American Nightmare Merchandise American Nightmare Band Merch American Nightmare Merch Store American Nightmare Merch UK Official American Nightmare Merch Store New American Nightmare Merch Shop American Nightmare Merch 2024 American Nightmare Merch Long Sleeve American Nightmare Merch Women's Tee American Nightmare Merch Hoodie American Nightmare Merch T Shirt American Nightmare Merch Shirt

[mushiemellows]

Where’s that post that’s like Thinkin about the Frorb (Franky orb) but what I’m actually thinking about is this terrible plush they made

[scramble-crossing]

If you notice a random Canadian city start to implode...mind your own business.

[randomitemdrop]

Trick or trivia

Happy Halloween! I do enjoy trivia of many types, but one of my favorite genres is what I call the Berenstein Timeline: unmade shows and movies, versions of classic movies where studios and producers made different decisions, some better, some much worse. All of these are real projects that were, on some level, considered (there are some recurring names)

"Heat Vision & Jack", a 90s pastiche of 70s-80s action shows starring Jack Black as an astronaut on the run from the law and Owen Wilson as his talking motorcycle

"Jurassic Park" directed by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp as Alan Grant, Jim Carrey as Ian Malcolm, and Vincent Price as John Hammond

the 90s "Batman" directed by Ivan Reitman; Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy were going to star but couldn't decide which of them would be Batman and which would be Robin

Back in the 1970s the American network was getting good numbers showing heavily-edited reruns of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", so they tried to sell the Pythons on the next logical step: an animated Saturday morning cartoon

"Edward Scissorhands" still directed by Burton but starring Tom Cruise or maybe Michael Jackson

"Return of the Jedi" directed by David Lynch; Harrison Ford was considering not coming back for the third movie and so when he came out of the carbonite there was a chance he would have been Christopher Walken

Guillermo del Toro's "At the Mountains of Madness". Also "the Hobbit" and lots of other things, he seems to have a lot of unmade projects

the 2010s "Star Trek" movie directed by Quentin Tarantino, where the edgy reboot crew visits the Gangster Planet from that one stupid episode of the original series

Everybody knows about the unmade "Superman Lives" starring Nicolas Cage in the title role, but did you know it was going to be directed by Tim Burton and include Christopher Walken as Brainiac, who would have been a green head on spider legs

Harold Ramis didn't particularly want to act on camera, so when they were casting "Ghostbusters" Egon could have been Christopher Walken, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, or John Lithgow. Supposedly the movie was originally intended to be a relatively serious exploration of Dan Akroyd's very real interest in paranormal investigation, although this clashes a bit with the fact that Peter Venkman was originally going to be played by John Belushi and Winston Zeddmore was written for Eddie Murphy who backed out when the character's backstory and most of his lines were cut

John Waters' animated series "Uncle John" on 90s MTV

the original version of "Bill & Ted's Time Van" starring Pauly Shore and Sean Penn

"Red Dragon" (the original Hannibal Lecter novel) directed by David Lynch starring John Lithgow as Hannibal Lecter and Mel Gibson as Will Graham

the 1970s "Dr. Strange" TV series

the 1990s Disney animated "John Carter of Mars"

the 1990s Warner Bros animated "King Tut" musical with songs by Prince

the serious horror version of "Beetlejuice"

Drew Barrymore's 2000s remake of "Barbarella"

the Dungeons & Dragons movie James Cameron was going to make until TSR left the table over merchandising disputes, forcing Cameron to go work on some dumb movie about the Titanic

American "Doctor Who" movie starring Michael Jackson

Canadian "Doctor Who" cartoon by Nelvana starring a Doctor based intensely off of either Jeff Goldblum or Christopher Lloyd

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" directed by Terry Gilliam

"Good Omens" directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Robin Williams

"The Black Cauldron" using character and background designs by Nightmare-era Tim Burton

[desertdollranch]

What a week it's been. Woke up to horrible political news on Wednesday, and had to take a social media blackout for a few days just to stop being sick to my stomach and reminded of what a nightmare we're all facing here in the USA. Then more than a foot of snow fell, and my electricity kept flickering on and off all night. So I'm trying to focus on the positive things in my life as best as I can and try not to let the stress overwhelm me.

So let's talk dolls.

Last weekend I attended the Albuquerque doll show not as a buyer, but for the first time as a vendor.

My mom came over with a huge carload of things to sell. We had two tables and still didn't have enough room for everything! Most of what we sold came from her and her sister's collections, since both of them are clearing out all their 18 inch doll stuff. They are only interested in Barbie these days and so everything else had to go. I don't share their interest in Barbie and am still thoroughly enjoying my 18 inch dolls, so I did get to have first dibs on their merchandise. I didn't end up picking anything besides a couple of American Girl books.

I actually didn't sell very much, but truly I didn't bring a whole lot of things to sell anyway. Mostly some extra wigs of various sizes, off-brand doll clothing that I priced at $1 per outfit, and a few thrift store dolls (of various brands) I bought and then decided not to keep. Now I have to list my leftovers for sale online, which is overwhelming to think about, considering how hard I worked to get everything ready before the show only to have to put in even MORE time and effort to get anything sold.

Overall, selling at the show was a tremendous amount of labor for not much financial reward, so my mom and I agreed that we're never doing this again. It's so much more fun just attending the show as a buyer. And selling online is by far easier and more profitable.

But I did meet a lot of very nice customers, and that was the best part. That's something that doesn't often happen online! Everyone I sold to was wonderful. Not one person I encountered was rude or unpleasant. The other vendors I talked to were lovely as well. There were a few sellers who make/buy/sell dolls and toys year-round and do it for a living, but a lot were collectors like me who were just selling parts of their collections to make room for new additions.

Speaking of new additions. The only thing I bought at the show was a Gotz doll.

She's an 18 inch Hannah doll from 2008. She was unbelievably inexpensive (they're around $100 or more brand new), so I was pretty surprised to see her and many other Gotz dolls at her vendor's table still for sale after closing time when I swung by. Her vendor was delighted to see Hannah go to a happy home.

I may or may not make a post advertising the stuff I'm selling. I usually do okay by just listing on Mercari and letting buyers come to me. I'll decide once I'm ready whether it's worth the extra effort posting them here too.

[thenightling]

I just had a culture shock from listening to the German version of "This is Halloween" from Nightmare before Christmas. The tone is entirely different. The citizens of Halloween Town talk about killing you with fear and Jack has obviously murdered people. The child-like innocence isn't here.

And there's no lyric of

"Tender Lumplings, everywhere, Life's no fun without a good scare. That's our job but we're not mean In our town of Halloween."

(Lumpling is Danny Elfman's made up term for a naive innocent. It came from his Oingo Boingo days).

The reassurance that they just want to scare you, they're not evil, isn't there. Instead that important lyric is replaced with one about how in Vienna and Berlin everyone loves Halloween.

Also they talk about the citizens being "on patrol." This is much darker than the English lyrics.

So... Uh... Yeah... if you've been watching Nightmare before Christmas in German with English subtitles... if you can speak English, watch it in English.

That had an entirely different feel to it. The very first line talks about wanting to make children cry instead of

"Boys and girls of every age, Wouldn't you like to see something strange?"

They changed wanting to show you something strange with "Hey, we're going to make you cry."

And what makes it even more disturbing is this- THIS is what made Germany decide to start celebrating American style Halloween. Germany made a lot of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Hallowe'en merchandise for the American market but didn't celebrate it until the success of films like Nightmare before Christmas.

[paulagnewart]

Sonic the Oz-Hog Act 4/12: Knux Readux!

Knuckles the Echidna Volume 2 issue 1 AU Publication Date: 14th April 1997 Price: $2.70

Spinoffs. No self-respecting media can live with them. No self-aggrandising media can live without them. And for those of us who lived through the space year that was 1997, corporations were chomping at the bit for a slice of those sweet spinoff dollarydoos.

Best place to start and witness such influence would be, arguably, the cinema. After Baz Luhrmann's blockbuster remake Romeo + Juliet spent weeks atop the box office, the majority of March was a bitter struggle between Wes Craven's thriller Scream and Cameron Crowe's football drama Jerry Maguire. A fascinating if ultimately pointless grudge match between two distinct genres. For all their efforts, neither claimed victory when by month's end, a film 20 years their senior blasted both off the map. The Star Wars Special Editions had arrived.

The promotion (and merchandise deals) was huge. A New Hope proved an instant hit, swiftly followed on 10th April by The Empire Strikes Back. Everything old was new again, and the re-hits just kept coming. Audiences pounded the pavements, eager to revisit Jurassic Park when its sequel The Lost World saw release on 29th May (only a week after its US premiere, a then-impressive feat). Superhero buffs ignored the winter freeze to watch Batman and Robin on 26th June, a film often lauded yet pulled respectable numbers and local reviews at the time.

Speaking of space, following a successful campaign through latter 1996, the Oddbodz were back. Smith's Chips and Glow Zone launched their second series of 61 collectable glow-in-the-dark cards featuring a myriad of wacky, wicked and occasionally controversial space-themed characters. If gross-out humour wasn't your speed, ripping into packs of Thins, Ruffles, Cheetos or Doritos chips instead offered adventures in a galaxy far far away with official Star Wars 3D Magic Motion and Techno Tazos.

After the toyline's initial launch in January, Beast Wars had successfully put Transformers back on the map, though kids would have to wait at least three more months to see their favourite characters in animated action. To Channel 7's credit, they at least gave the program a decent timeslot. More than can be said for Channel 9's decision that April to broadcast the all-new Star Trek: Voyager season 2 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4 at the ghastly time of 11pm weeknights.

In spite of the former losing 30 minutes off its timeslot, the rivalry between weekday morning children's entertainment continued between Agro's Cartoon Connection and Cheez TV. Both were banking on the spinoff craze, and viewers waking up 14th April could choose between the premiere of Power Rangers Zeo episode 'Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise', or the premiere of Earthworm Jim episode 'Darwin's Nightmare'. For the musically inclined, American rockers No Doubt had enjoyed 8 weeks atop the music charts with the third single on their third album, 'Don't Speak'. At least until April saw them bumped off by Aussie pop prodigy Savage Garden and their third single 'Truly Madly Deeply'.

But of all the spinoffs to arise and bedazzle locals, after three years of development and an exclusive preview party the night prior, SEGA World Sydney opened its doors at 4pm on Saturday 22nd March 1997. Touted in print and on TV as "Australia's Largest Indoor Theme Park!", it offered hours of unrivalled entertainment and programs for Sydneysiders and visitors alike. Anyone who could afford its hefty entry fee lost themselves in all the games and rides they could handle (except Mortal Kombat, which was pulled last-minute). An escape into pixilated fantasy guaranteed to forget their real-world troubles for several hours. Mundane adult things like Victoria and Western Australia's brief yet brutal summer bushfire seasons where 3 lives and some 59 homes were lost. Or how after one year into the top job, captain conservative John Howard faced international anger over comments at the United Nations General Assembly, and local anger over casual dismissing threats by extreme right-wing rival Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

Be it stage shows, costumed cameos and all types of merchandise featuring their antics, fans of Sonic, Tails, Sally and Robotnik were in paradise. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for a fifth member of the cast. For someone who enjoyed strong popularity and a species originating right there, SEGA World put the bare minimum effort into giving Knuckles the Echidna his own time to shine. A remarkable oversight undoubtedly leaving young fans wondering where that embattled echidna was hiding. As luck would soon have it, they needn't look far.

Nestled comfortably among the shelves between Sonic issues 45 and 46 came Knuckles: The Dark Legion. Sales had proven strong enough (or at least stronger than Tails and Sally's comics) to warrant the development of a second miniseries. Exciting in its own right, only amplified when exclusively announced through AOL in January 1997 it would evolve to a fully-fledged ongoing spinoff. No longer was trotting off to the newsagents exclusively a Friday end-of-month treat. Knuckles' arrival meant a mandatory Monday mid-month booster for us deprived of Mobian adventures.

Over the course of its 32 issue run, Knuckles the Echidna was, much like Endgame two months later, once praised as a pinnacle of Archie Sonic. Fans adored the series, giving ol' Rad Red his own unique mythos and adventures. While Sonic naffed around aimlessly in a post-Robotnik world, we saw Knuckles as the cool, 'mature' comic. He had stakes. He had drama. Quite a turnaround after the heavy criticism its writer took in late 1996 over Sally's leaked demise. Within months he was described as "a kewl writer!", or "one of the ONLY "good" and "balanced" writers Archie has", or how they're "so much better then sonic comics now its not funny." with "all the good villains and family members." Fans swarmed en mass to his WWWBoard, creating their own stories, characters and entire websites tied to the Brotherhood and Dark Legion. Not everyone agreed on the book's mission statement "Why does everybody liek it so much? All it is really is a bunch of Penders' characters running around with slight appearacnes by Chaotix and occasionally knuckles himself.", but it made a lot of other people happy. Enough for both The Dark Legion and Lost Paradise reissued as 'back catalogue' orders to selected comic book stores in late 2004.

And just like Endgame, those nostalgic memories have since dissipated when adults reflected on his tales with matured, scrutinous eyes. We grow. We learn. We reevaluate on what was once adored as adolescents, realising perhaps those good times weren't all that good. Maybe the series and characters were fine in concept but lacked competent execution. Maybe our childish expectations meant they were never good to begin with and the critics were right all along.

The youthful, creative glory days from the late-90's to mid-2000's of Knuckles of an Echidna, Kragok Comics, Echidna Gals, Dark Legion HQ, Echidnapolis, Knux Redux, Tisha-Li's Dark Legion Camp, Kensuke Aida's Julie-Su Shrine, Echidnoyle, Shattered Moonlight, Knuckles 9000, Kiri Megami's Chaotix Hideout, Darkest Mysteries, and of course True Red's mighty Knuckles Haven have long passed.

It's from learning said past our futures are forged, but do any of these characters have a future? Do they even deserve a future?

Or maybe it's just best they're all forever banished to the Twilight Zone of cultural irrelevance.

Next Time: For years I said it wouldn't be done. Yet promises, like the hearts and cheekbones of fictitious rodents, were made to be broken. Will May's hedgie rectrospect-y truly be worthy of such hate? Or have revisionists painted a far worse picture over the past two decades?

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[downsteepy]

IT IS I

THE GOOD VIBES ANON

GET GOOD VIBED OP ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

I AM ALIVE AND SURVIVED ANOTHER SUNDAY

SO LEMME ASK (if u Don mind ofc)

*puts Ghostface mask*

What's your favorite scary movie? 💀👀👀👀👀

hello i missed you 🩷

this is always a surprisingly difficult question for me to answer because i have about 50 and my answer changes pretty regularly LMFAO

my staple favorites are (putting this under a cut because i did not expect this list to be so long <3)

the og evil dead trilogy (2013 reboot + rise are right behind them in terms of Pure Favoritism but i love them just as much)

the first two texas chainsaw massacres

the first three nightmare on elm streets

essentially the entire friday the 13th franchise but especially part 7, jason x, and freddy vs jason (with the grand exception of the 5th one + jason goes to hell bc i cant be assed to give a fuck about them)

the thing

black christmas

the og halloween + 2018

christine

killer klowns from outer space

eraserhead

suspiria

tourist trap

re-animator + bride of re-animator

tremors

braindead

se7en

scream

american psycho

saw

behind the mask the rise of leslie vernon (i will always mention this one bc it is a favorite but also bc i think its criminally underrated)

pontypool is a recent favorite

annihilation

the boy

pg psycho goreman

skinamarink

longlegs

house of wax (specifically the 2005 remake)

malignant

mandy

i have so so many that i love so much its hard for me to ever really concisely categorize Favorites but narrowing it down further, evil dead + friday the 13th are my absolute babies . i have so much jason stuff around my room its almost a little embarrassing LMFAO so im kind of glad that ash doesnt seem to get a lot of (affordable) merchandise

[pluck-heartstrings]

"Her aesthetic is platinum, with an array of subtle colours. Picture fine particles of glitter that catch the light and refract into a multitude of colours"

Do you have any *idea* what a yarn crafting nightmare this is? I have some ideas but I've finally decided on a long bodied frame I can put multiple dresses on so I can experiment. Unless I find the perfect embroidery thread for a mini......

In any case-

I fully believe the future of Princess merchandise for Fazco lies in makeup/costumes/dress up merch, and hard bodied dolls. Think like, american girl, barbie, monster high, ect. Ball jointed things with every accessory under the sun. The castle, by nature of its built in narritive, would be downright tone deaf to not merchandise towards pretend play. And fazco has two predominate plush styles. The chunky kind (think plush baby) and the long bodied kind (sun and moon AR plushes). While possible for them to redesign the plush's from the ground up, the infrastructure for assembly already existed from the pizzaplex. The attendant's hips are also a plush nightmare. But liberties are probably taken to emphasize other features and leave them the long body plush bodies.

Now you can either market the princess as a unit with the attendants, giving her the long body type, or independently, reusing the chunky plush style, which has far less detail and is printed felt. Actually given her size, and encouraging imagination play with the knight plushes (no doubt chunky), making her a chunky plush in sky blue (guarentee it would test better than grey. Might even end up in like a cream cause little girls would dig it as wedding aestetic) is most likley.

*having said that*

I personally would prefer her in a long body, to preserve her elegance.

So that's def what I'm doing.

after my current project, which unfortunately is slated for a few months worth of work given my limited work time, I'm definitly going to bare minimum rough out a body and face. Time to order all the armature wire ever.

(A mental image, of a small girl repeat customer, who obsessivley ships anyone but sun with the princess, and makes direct eye contact with sun while making her toys kiss. She probably has a crush on sun)

Nelly I'm so sorry I was just trying to give you more informationnnnn Basically I'm saying her palette is really minimal so she'll look great in a bunch of colours and I TRUST ANYTHING YOU DO I PROMMIE

I totally agree that dolls would be a huge hit later down the line when the Castle gets more popular. Doll!Princess would be a similar shape to the Glamrock action figures to encourage cross over play. Glamrock Chica and Roxy having girlie sleepovers with the Princess, small replicas of the Castle made ripping off Barbie's Dream House.

(Also that little girl with the Princess toy doll making them kiss everyone, that's me. That's my self insert. She's got a big ol' crush on Sun but keeps making doll!Sun smooch literally everybody.)

[jacenbren]

2 tag memes

Got tagged in these by @dragonofeternal and I’m more than happy to play along!!

Current things tag meme

3 ships: Inumaki Toge/Okkotsu Yuuta; Legato Bluesummers/Millions Knives; Kai Smith/Zane Julien

Last song: Your Best American Girl by Mitski

Currently reading: the Jujutsu Kaisen manga. against my own better judgement.

Currently watching: working my way through rewatching Supernatural and Death Note. the former is a lot lamer than I remember and the latter is a lot goofier than I remember.

Last movie: Annihilation!! I love that movie and rewatch it from time to time, however I made the mistake of watching it while on a redeye to San Franciso and dozed off halfway through. had a nightmare of That Goddamn Bear chasing me. bad plan.

Currently consuming: fuck I forgot to eat breakfast today. I will make up for it by eating an entire box of cherry tomatoes.

Currently craving: I would kill for some donuts right about now lol

15 people 15 questions tag me

Are you named after anyone? Yes actually! My legal name is based on the name of a band my dad likes, and I stole my chosen name off of a character from the Star Wars EU.

When was the last time you cried? While I was traveling a week ago; I got really overstimulated and exhausted while off my ass on Nyquil and had a meltdown :(

Do you have kids? Nope I am nineteen and not at all mentally healthy enough to be emotionally there for a child. am currently hoping to remove the baby making bits asap.

What sports do you play/have you played? I ran cross-country for about seven years (all the way through both middle school and high school) and got my varsity letter my senior year! I also did track & field for a few years (my events were long jump and 100-meters) and to this day I still go on jogs during the summer.

Do you use sarcasm? I am very autistic so my ability to discern tone is. not great. apparently I use sarcasm a lot without meaning to lmao

What’s the first thing you notice about people? Probably their voice tbh

What’s your eye color? Blue. like apparently scarily blue. fucking satoru gojo dayglow freaky ass cerulean orbs.

Scary movies or happy endings? It wildly depends on the genre and my attachment to the characters. I'm much more of a psychological horror guy rather than an enjoyer of slasher films, so I definitely tend to prefer horror literature than movies. as for happy endings?? I definitely enjoy them when I'm looking for escapism, but unhappy/bittersweet endings definitely still have special a place in my heart.

Any talents? I'm really good at driving and I have perfect pitch!

Where were you born? Anchorage Alaska, born and raised :)

What are your hobbies? I'm a big writer, and I occasionally dabble in drawing. I'm really into Stardew Valley at the moment and I've racked up over 200 hours at this point in just one save file. I am falling hopelessly for Sebastian but I feel too guilty to divorce my current husband Elliot. help.

Do you have any pets? Yep, a cat named Ekko and a dog named George. No the dog isn't named after GeorgeNotFound. My dad named him after George Costanza from Seinfeld.

How tall are you? 5'6"

Favorite subject in school? I was always really into history and would meticulously take notes to the point where I could've probably taught the class myself. however autistic gifted kid burnout hit halfway through high school and I barely graduated after sleeping through most of my classes lmao.

Dream job? Any job where I can put some music on and just Do Tasks all day. I worked tourism over the summer (hated that job and I never want to go back) and spent half of it hiding in the back room putting stickers on merchandise. I Love Boring Menial Tasks.

anyway tagging @mellointheory @hecksee @apollos-boyfriend @setsuntamew @acewendino @wigglesforsquiggles @siryyeet @routeriver @versaphile @avitus-ostrander !! feel free to join in if you like; no pressure :D

[aspenmissing]

𝚆𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚐𝚘 (𝙿𝚝 𝟷)

Sam is wearing a suit and tie, carrying a bouquet of various flowers, except roses, and walking through an otherwise deserted cemetery. Sam sighs and stops next to a gravestone. It reads:

Jessica Lee Moore,

Beloved Daughter

January 24th, 1984–November 2nd, 2005.

There is a small picture of a grinning Jess set into the stone above her name, a black-and-white picture of her leaning against the stone between a white teddy bear and a wooden box with a crucifix leaning on the picture, a small American flag next to the box, and three candles standing on the gravestone; one is of the Virgin de Guadalupe. Sam looks between the gravestone and the flowers.

"I, uh..." Sam laughs. "You always said roses were lame, so I brought you, uh." Sam looks at the picture set into the gravestone, then looks away, choking back tears. He steps closer to the gravestone. "Jess...oh God..." Sam kneels to set down the flowers. "I should have protected you. I should have told you the truth." Sam leans the flowers in front of the crucifix. An arm covered in dirt shoots out of the ground and grabs Sam by the wrist.

==

Sam jerks awake. It is November 10, 2005, he is in the back while Dean and Y/N are upfront, with Y/N driving. Foreigner's 'Hot-Blooded' is playing. Sam blinks and rubs his eyes. Dean turns his head to face Sam, concerned.

"You, okay?" He questions. Sam glances over and away.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Dean nods.

"Another nightmare?" Y/N questions, smiling sadly. Sam clears his throat.

"You wanna drive for a while?" Dean asks, looking at him in the rear-view mirror.

"Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that." Sam says, laughing.

"I just thought you might want to. Never mind. Besides, as Y/N says, it's her car, so it's up to her."

"Go one, Sammy, you've always wanted to drive, baby," Y/N says, smiling at him.

"Look, guys, you're worried about me.".

"I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay." Sam leans forward, putting his hand on top of Y/N's shoulder, and gives her a reassuring smile, returning it and placing a hand over his before placing it back on the steering wheel. Sam dropped his hand.

"Mm-hm," Sam grabs a map.

"All right, where are we?"

"We are just outside of Grand Junction." Sam folds down the map, which is Colorado and has a large red X labelled 35-111.

"You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."

"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you want to find the thing that killed Jessica," Y/N says.

"We gotta find Dad first."

"Dad disappearing-"

"And this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence."

"Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do."

"It's weird, man."

"These are the coordinates he left us."

"This is Blackwater Ridge."

"What about it?" Y/N asks.

"There's nothing there. It's just wooded." Sam puts down the map. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" They drive past the National Forest sign that says, 'Welcome to Lost Creek Colorado National Forest'.

==

The Impala is parked next to a sign that says, 'Ranger Station Lost Creek Trail, Lost Creek National Forest'.

"So, Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." Sam looks at a 3D map of the national forest, paying particular attention to the ridge labelled 'Blackwater Ridge' Dean looks at the decoration, and Y/N is looking around at the merchandise. "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, and abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place."

"Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear." Sam looks over, and Dean is looking at a framed photo of a man standing behind a much larger bear. Sam comes to stand next to Dean, followed by Y/N.

"And there are a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." A forest ranger, Ranger Wilkinson, walks up behind the three; when he speaks, the three whip around, startled.

"You three aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?"

"Oh, no, sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Sam laughs a little, and Dean grins and raises a fist, Y/N just nods.

"Recycle, man"

"Bull" Sam's eyes flick to Y/N and Dean, who doesn't move.

"You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" Y/N considers.

"Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger." Y/N checks the Ranger's nametag, "Wilkinson."

"Well, I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit, saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing person now, is it?" Dean shakes his head. "You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine."

"We will. Well, that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Y/N says.

"That is putting it mildly."

"You know, what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date." The Ranger eyed Dean. Dean raises his eyebrows.

==

The three leave the ranger station. Dean is holding a piece of paper and laughing.

"What, are you cruising for a hook-up or something?" Sam asks.

"What do you mean?"

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" They all stop on opposite sides of the Impala, with Dean and Sam on one side and Y/N on the other.

"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we walk into it," Dean says.

"What?" Sam asks.

"Since when are you, all shoots first, ask questions later, anyway?" Y/N asks.

"Since now," Sam turns away and gets into the car.

"Really?" Dean asks him, and Y/N shares a look before she shrugs and gets into the driving seat. Dean shortly followed.

==

Dean, Sam, and Y/N are standing at the door of a house. The door opens to reveal a young woman.

"You must be Haley Collins. I'm Y/N, this is Dean, and this is Sam. We're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy." Haley hesitates.

"Let's see some ID." Dean pulls out a fake ID with the name 'Samuel Cole', and Y/N does the same with the name 'Amy Cole'. They hold it against the screen. Haley looks at them, then at the two, who are smiling. Haley opens the door. "Come on in."

"Thanks," Dean says. The door swings open; Haley catches sight of the Impala.

"That yours?"

"Yeah," Y/N replies. Sam is looking back at the Impala.

"Nice car." Haley turns to lead Dean, Y/N, and Sam into the kitchen, where Ben Collins is sitting at the table on a laptop. Dean turns his head to mouth something to Sam and Y/N, who roll their eyes.

"So, if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Y/N asks, and Haley comes back into the room with a bowl she places on the table.

"He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now.".

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception," Sam says.

"He's got a satellite phone, too."

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asks.

"He wouldn't do that," Ben replies. Dean eyes Ben, making him look away. Haley puts more food on the table.

"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other," Haley says.

"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asks.

"Yeah" On a laptop, Haley pulls up pictures and says, "That's Tommy." Haley clicks twice, and another picture comes up, and then the still frame opens the latest video.

"Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." Sam spots the shadow flickering past, and looking at Y/N, he notices that she too has seen it.

"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing," Dean says.

"Then maybe I'll see you there. Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm going to find Tommy myself.

"I think I know how you feel," Dean says, glancing at Y/N.

"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asks.

"Sure." Sam, Dean, and Y/N sit down at a table.

"So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." Y/N opens John's journal.

"And before that?" Dean asks. Y/N pulls out newspaper articles to show Dean and Sam.

"Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack." Dean reads one of the articles while Sam gives Y/N his laptop, "and again in 1959 and again before that in 1936. Y/N opens the laptop, which already has a window to Tom's video. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. " Y/N pulls up the video and goes through three frames of the video, one at a time. A shadow crosses the screen.

"Do it again?" Dean says. Y/N repeats the frame.

"That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move fast," Y/N says. Dean hits Sam, who looks at him.

"I told you something weird was going on.

"Yeah," Y/N says, closing the laptop. "I have one more thing." She hands over another newspaper article. "In fifty-nine, one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive," Dean looks at the article.

"Is there a name?" Dean asks.

==

An old man by the name of Shaw is talking to Dean, Y/N, and Sam while leading them inside his house. Shaw has a cigarette in his mouth.

"Look, ranger. I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's a public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a" Sam interrupts.

"Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Shaw takes a puff of his cigarette, takes it out, and nods.

"The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" Dean says, "What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing? We knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it."

"I seriously doubt that. Anyway, I don't see what difference it would make." Shaw sits down. "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did." Sam sits down across from Shaw.

"Mr. Shaw, what did you see?" Sam asks. Shaw pauses.

"Nothing. It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like, no man or animal I ever heard." Y/N stood behind Sam, leaning against the side of Sam's chair.

"It came at night?" She asks. Shaw nods. "Got inside your tent?"

"It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming."

"It killed them?" Sam asks.

"Dragged them off into the night." Shaw shakes his head. "Why did it leave me alive? I have been asking myself that ever since." Shaw's hands go to his collar. "Did you leave me this, though. Shaw opens his collar to reveal three long scars. Claw marks. Sam, Y/N, and Dean look at them. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of demon.".

==

The three walk the length of a corridor, with rooms on either side.

"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls," Dean says.

"So, it's probably something else, something corporeal," Sam replies.

"Corporeal? Excuse me, professor."

"Shut up," Sam says, looking at Y/N. "So, what do you think?".

"The claws, the speed that it moves...could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it"?

==

Dean opens the trunk of the Impala, then the weapons box, and props it open with a shotgun. He puts some guns in a duffel bag as Sam leans in.

"We cannot let that Haley girl go out there."

"Oh yeah? What are we going to tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big, scary monster?" Dean says.

"Yeah," Sam replies, and Y/N looks at Sam.

"Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not going to just sit this out. Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend." Dean picks up the duffel.

"Finding Dad's not enough." Sam slams the weapons box shut, then the trunk. "Now we gotta babysit too?" Dean and Y/N stare at Sam. "What?"

"Nothing." Dean throws the duffel bag at Sam and walks off, followed by Y/N. Sam stares after them.

==

A man is talking to Haley and Ben while checking a shotgun. They're all carrying full backpacks.

"I'll tell you again, I don't think Ben should come," the man says.

"Roy-"

"Look, you're paying me good money to keep everybody safe. I think Ben's safest at home." The Impala pulls up. Roy, Hayley, and Ben stared. Haley shakes her head as Sam and Dean get out of the car. Sam opens the back door of the Impala, letting Y/N, who's carrying a duffel bag, in

"You guys got room for three more?" Dean asks.

"Wait, you want to come with us?"

"Who are these guys?"

"This is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Sam heads past everyone.

"You're rangers?" Roy asks.

"That's right," Y/N replies.

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley questions. Dean looks at Y/N, then himself.

"Well, sweetheart, we don't do shorts." The twins head past Haley to catch up to Sam.

"What, you think it's funny? It's a dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother might be hurt." Sam turns back.

"Believe me, we know how dangerous it can be. We just want to help them find their brother, that's all." Y/N says this as she and Dean walk past Sam.

==

The group hikes through the forest, with Roy in the lead, then Dean, Haley, Ben, Y/N, and Sam.

"Roy, you said you did a little hunting," Dean says.

"Yeah, more than a little."

"Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?"

"Mostly buck, sometimes bear," Dean passes Roy.

"Tell me, uh, did Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Roy grabs Dean. Sam and Y/N look at the two. "Whatcha doing, Roy?" Roy grabs a stick and pokes the bear trap Dean had almost stepped into. Haley looks annoyed.

"You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger "Roy drops the stick and retakes the lead.".

"It's a bear trap," they hiked on. Haley catches up to Dean.

"You didn't pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a duffel bag. You're not rangers." Haley grabs Dean's arm. "So who the hell are you?" Ben goes past Haley and Dean. Sam and Y/N look at Dean, who indicates with his expression for the two to go on by. They obey. Dean watches them go for a moment.

"Y/N, Sam, and I are siblings, and we're looking for our father. He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and I've in the same boat.".

"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?"

"I'm telling you now, 'Sides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman...ever. Minus my sister. So, we, okay?"

"Yeah, okay"

"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean pulls out a big bag of peanut M&Ms and sticks his hand in the bag. "Don't tell Y/N; she'll be pissed." He hikes on. Haley waits a moment and then follows.

==

Roy leads the way, followed by Y/N, Sam, Ben, Haley, and Dean.

"This is it. Blackwater Ridge" Y/N heads past Roy, followed by Sam.

"What coordinates are we at," Sam asks. Roy pulls out a GPS.

"Thirty-five and minus one-eleven" Dean comes up to Sam and Y/N. They listen.

"You hear that?"

"Yeah. Not even crickets."

"I'm going to go take a look around," Roy says.

"You shouldn't go off by yourself," Y/N states.

"That's sweet. Don't worry about me." Roy waves his gun and pushes between Sam and Y/N to retake the lead. Dean turns back to the others as Ben and Haley catch up.

"All right, everybody stays together. Let's go"

[90363462]

FEATURES

THE 10 MOMENTS WHEN POP CULTURE GOT HIP-HOP WRONG

By Stereo Williams

Published Mon, June 29, 2020 at 10:50 AM EDT

After Hip-Hop’s mid-’80s mainstream breakthrough, the tropes and aesthetics of rap music were suddenly thrust into the commercial spotlight. Of course, that would eventually bring Hip-Hop to the forefront as the dominant cultural influencer for the generations who came of age as it took flight.

But in the ’80s and much of the ’90s, the mainstream public’s lens for Hip-Hop was limited. Even as Hip-Hop stars of the late ’80s gained high-profile critical acclaim with artists like Public Enemy and N.W.A. fostering the genre’s rebel image while acts like De La Soul were hailed for quirky eclecticism, many mainstream entities still seemed to engage with rap music as a novelty or an oddity.

Here are 10 of the most unforgettable (we tried, we really tried) moments when Hip-Hop crossovers made for woeful results.

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RAPPIN’ CARTOON CHARACTERS

For a generation of ’80s kids, cartoons like The Transformers and G.I. Joe were mainstays of their weekday afternoons. These merchandised toy fests of pop culture played a major role in signifying Hip-Hop’s growing trendiness. Popular Black characters on many popular action cartoons of the day were saddled with stereotypical tropes (there was even a G.I. Joe character who wore a basketball jersey and only spoke in hoop speak), and the rapping hero soon became an ’80s cartoon cliché.

The Transformers had Blaster, a communications export for the good-guy Autobots — a boom box who often spoke in rhyme: “Give us some answers and make it snappy, ’cause my buddy here’s trigger-happy.” Roadblock of G.I. Joe was the most prominently featured African-American character, and he also spoke in rhyme: “Play it straight or there’s no doubt, I’ll turn your eyeballs inside out.” He became one of the franchise’s most popular characters, famously portrayed by Dwayne Johnson in the 2013 movie G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

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RAPPIN’ RODNEY

Goofy singles would pepper the pop charts of the ’80s and ’90s and — were it not for its rapid expansion and diversification, often independent of the biggest commercial stages — could easily have pigeonholed the genre by the “Disco-Duck”-ing of its popular image. The mid-’80s, in particular saw jokey tracks like comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s legendary “Rappin’ Rodney,” the Chicago Bears’ terrifying-but-endearing “Super Bowl Shuffle,” and the John Wayne-themed “Rappin’ Duke.”

Imagine if you’d never heard of Grandmaster Flash but this kind of thing was your initial exposure to rapping and Hip-Hop? And it wasn’t just one-off joke records churning out novelty hits. The Fat Boys had some of Larry Smith’s best production values and very real charisma, but were soon devoured (bad pun, right?) by an image predicated on cartoonish silliness of gimmicky songs like “All You Can Eat” and oldies covers like “Wipe Out” and “The Twist.”

Part of the reason some people underappreciate DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s legacy as a DJ-MC duo is because of novelty singles like “I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson” and “Nightmare on My Street.”

But there was a string of movie-themed duds like the Fat Boys’ “Are You Ready for Freddy” from A Nightmare on Elm Street 6, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song “Turtle Power” by the annoyingly named Partners in Kryme, and Vanilla Ice’s infamous “Ninja Rap” from the Turtles’ sequel.

Far more successful smashes like MC Hammer’s “Addams’ Groove” from The Addams Family and Will Smith’s “Men in Black” kept novelty rap on the charts well into the ’90s, but as Hip-Hop became more centered in popular culture, more people recognized these kinds of songs for what they were: fun, slick, junk food.

These songs aren’t anything close to definitive now, but for many, these types of songs were their first window into Hip-Hop.

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RAPPIN’ ROCKIN’ BARBIE

Madison Avenue embraced Hip-Hop’s selling power in the ’80s and ’90s by producing rap-centric products. That still goes on today, but some early attempts at rap cross-marketing were downright strange.

In a 1992 commercial, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble became a rap duo in an effort to sell Fruity Pebbles cereal. Rappin’ Rockin’ Barbie didn’t turn out to be the toy craze of 1992, but the commercial from that year highlights the way Madison Avenue tried to connect with Hip-Hop for the sake of commerce with dance moves and a goofy boom box that “Plays a real rap sound!”

And who could forget the 1993 video game commercial for The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening? Taking a decidedly hard-core slant on a decidedly non-gangsta game was an interesting choice, with production that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Das EFX record from around that time.

“THE PRINCESS & THE HOMEBOY”

You can’t parody what you don’t know.

That’s a truth of comedy. There’s a fine line between landing a funny punch and whiffing at it because you’re swinging at something from the outside. You have to really get it well enough to poke at it, and SNL’s attempts to mock Hip-Hop were typically awkward and unfunny pre-Y2K.

Take SNL’s 1996 sketch “The Princess and the Homeboy,” which featured Tim Meadows as a foul-mouthed houseguest of Mark McKinney and host Teri Hatcher. It opens with the warning:

“Get ready America, because next Monday there’s a surprise in store for the Fresh Prince and for LL COOL J. You see, a new brother is moving to the hood, and he’s as legit as they come!”

The skit centers around a sitcom featuring a rapper named G-Dog, who comes to the live with a white-bread couple. McKinney’s character explains: “When G-Dog’s father passed away I promised him that G-Dog could live with us.” G-Dog proceeds to yell offensive things at the couple like, “I’ll thank you to shut the fuck up, and go make me a muthafuckin sandwich!” Because, y’know, that’s rappers!

The G-Dog character seems like the kind of rapper created by folks who didn’t know hip-hop well enough to effectively mock it. Meadows plays him like a randomly cursing Freedom Williams of C+C Music Factory. Going from Compton to the country club, indeed. SNL’s contemporary Hip-Hop shots are far more on-target and funnier. 

As the raunchy Hip-Hop soul of acts like Jodeci took over as the sound of ’90s R&B, SNL decided to spoof the lick-you-up-and-down vibes of acts of the era. Given that Chris Rock is involved, you would think the 1993 parody “Suck Your Big Toe” — a send-up of Hip-Hop- drenched R&B acts like Jodeci, Silk, and H-Town — would hit harder or be funnier.

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TOM HANKS AND DAN AYKROYD “CITY OF CRIME”

As Hip-Hop hit the charts in the mid-’80s, it also hit the big screen and not just in rapsploitation classics like Breakin’ and Beat Street. It popped up in weird and expectedly awkward scenes in other movie genres. There’s the earnest-but-lame freestyling scene from Say Anything… , which scores points for authenticity. Nothing’s more real than four white high-school guys rapping in a convenience-store parking lot.

But there were even more egregious offenders. Sticking a goofy rap into a popular comedy or kitsch flick became a bit of a go-to formula. We would all be happier to erase from existence Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks’ atrocious “City of Crime” rap from Dragnet. We all love Hanks, but somebody should be made to answer for this one.

And the less said about the better about the 1986 video “The Karate Rap,” which appeared in the 1994 forgotten martial arts film Sister Sensei. And we may never forget the “Lambda Lambda Rap” from the finale of Revenge of the Nerds.

While the next entry could fit neatly into this category, it’s so notorious it deserves special recognition.

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“TOP THAT!” FROM TEEN WITCH

So bad, it merited its own standalone spot.

It’s hard to describe Teen Witch, the 1989 fantasy-comedy white-rap musical. There’s so much bad suburban white-kid rap in this movie it’s kind of amazing. Highlights include a crew of bros rhyming their come-ons from their jeep to star Robin Lively and an infamous rap-dance scene performed by Noah Blake as the character of Rhet.

Many of the principals involved with Teen Witch explained on People TV in 2018 how that scene came to be.

“They wanted to redo the opening of the movie, and they really wanted to come up with a big rap song in the middle of the movie as a feature,” shared Teen Witch score composer Larry Weir. “So the new producers I met with said ‘Do you write rap?’ and I said ‘Yeah, I’ll write a rap.’ So I went home and worked on a rap.”

After Weir debuted the song to a raucous reception from the producers, they reshot the movie to include the scene. So they spent more money to make sure this made it into the movie.

“We had wrapped Teen Witch and all was well,” explained actress Mandy Ingber, whose character Polly is clearly impressed by Rhet’s funky dancing and rhymes. “I felt like it was a few months later, I got a call and they wanted to add some new scenes to the movie.”

Actor Blake knew immediately how cringe-worthy it all was going to be.

“I do remember walking out of the dressing room onto the set and thinking ‘Wow, this is really pushing the envelope of whatever this is supposed to be,’ ” he explained in ’18. “There was not any moment in time that I ever thought what I was doing was cool. There was no moment that I was ever not in peril that this was would be just totally humiliating.”

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KARL LAGERFELD’S 1991 FASHION SHOW

In 1991, legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld debuted his latest creations for Chanel, and it became evident that the Fall 1991 Chanel fashions were heavily inspired by the Hip-Hop trends of the early ’90s.

“I think what Lagerfeld has always done amazingly well is completely capture the mood of the moment,” explained style.com editor-at-large Tim Blanks. “He listens to everything, reads everything, sees everything, and then distills it into these incredibly potent fashion images. In this collection, you get a sense that he was probably listening to rap music.”

Lagerfeld gave rappers props during the show. “The rappers are more clever, and you cannot fool them. The make-believe and all this doesn’t work anymore. You can’t cheat nobody anymore. I think it’s a good thing.”

Baseball caps worn backwards, long chains, baggy pants — they were all there. It was definitely high fashion. Was it Hip-Hop? Not sure. The looks are undeniable, but it’s hard not to wonder how much Hip-Hop fashion he’d actually absorbed up until then. Lagerfeld proved to foreshadow what would become an industry unto itself — couture fashion’s flirtation with Hip-Hop. Some people might side-eye.

But hey, at least they’re not bad looks.

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MARRIED WITH CHILDREN: BEST OF GRANDMASTER B

In the early ’90s, teen stars on Fox started pining for Hip-Hop cred. Could it have been because Fox was the most Hip-Hop-friendly of the networks at the time? It was home to Martin and In Living Color, but two of the network’s biggest stars began flaunting their supposed Hip-Hop cred as their shows became ratings smashes.

One was Beverly Hills, 90210 star Brian Austin Green. His character, David Silver, was written to match his own interest in rapping and DJing, and both became heavily referenced aspects of the character throughout the show’s run. After several false starts, he actually dropped an album — 1996’s One Stop Carnival — produced by SlimKid3 of Pharcyde. There’s also a video for his quasi alt-rappy single “You Send Me.”

But if you somehow missed David Silver’s wannabe-Hieroglyphics rhyme career in the ’90s, you may recall Married With Children’s David Faustino’s foray into the rap game. Playing the popular character Bud Bundy on the hit sitcom, Faustino used his fame to bolster Hip-Hop among the LA elites, opening one of the first rap clubs on the Sunset Strip in the early ’90s. On the show, the writers took note of Faustino’s rap interests and wrote them into his character. Thus, Grandmaster B was born.

Grandmaster B was nerdy Bud Bundy’s rapper alter ego. Both a parody and a full-on representative of the kinda goofs who’d made Vanilla Ice a star, Grandmaster B makes you wonder how many people actually got the joke.

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VANILLA ICE WINS BEST NEW ARTIST

Hip-Hop has an awkward history with music awards shows. Kanye West spent the majority of the ’00s ranting about it. Diddy decided to call it out in ’20. But the Grammy Awards and American Music Awards have always had a weird relationship with Hip-Hop, and it’s not limited to the infamous ’89 ceremony and MTV’s Hip-Hop boycott of that show.

You can’t expect an institution like the Grammys to dig deep for the most underground classic rap shit, but those popular awards shows had a specific lens — especially in the ’80s and ’90s — that was almost exclusively squared on whatever big crossover rap hit made waves, even if that hit was by Candyman.

You have Vanilla Ice winning Best Rap New Artist at the 1991 American Music Awards, which led to him being booed at the Soul Train Awards a few weeks later. Grammy-winning rappers of the ’80s and ’90s include Young MC, MC Hammer, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Coolio, and Will Smith (three times). To be fair, artists like LL COOL J, Salt-N-Pepa, Dr. Dre, and Queen Latifah all took home gold gramophone awards, but the Grammy organization, which promotes the show as “Music’s Biggest Night,” seemed to have a narrow idea of mainstream Hip-Hop in any given year. When you consider the historical context, the Grammys’ contemporary criticism has long, deep roots.

Today, more Hip-Hop fans tune in to the Grammys than ever before, so the criticism is louder than it was decades ago. Is change imminent? Hope so.

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JAY-Z ON OPRAH

One of the common misconceptions about Hip-Hop — specifically the art of rapping — in the earlier years of its crossover was that anyone can rap. The pervasive thinking among the older generation was that rapping was just talking over a beat, and as such, you got many lame and condescending “So show me how to rap” incidents across pop culture. Sheila E.’s terrible rhyme from Krush Groove was cute in the film’s context but also showed how musicians can sometimes dismiss the art.

And there was the JAY-Z appearance on the famously anti-Hip-Hop Oprah Winfrey’s talk show back in 2009 showing the icon how to rap. 

It also didn’t help that as other genres embraced Hip-Hop, they also embraced the idea of rapping on their own songs. We got years of bad raps from many performers, like the Pet Shop Boys and En Vogue, until someone got the brilliant (we’re not exaggerating here) idea to include actual rappers on such songs. Because as cool as anyone may think it is, not everyone can rap.

Artists like Jody Watley, LeVert, Janet Jackson, and even Sinéad O’Connor and R.E.M. reached out to actual rappers like Rakim, Heavy D, MC Lyte, and KRS-One to guest on their tracks before Mariah Carey’s ’95 hit “Fantasy” featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard turned the approach into a winning formula for pop success. From that point on, big hits meant featuring big rappers. But the beginning was dark. No one ever has to hear Donnie Wahlberg’s rap from New Kids on the Block’s single “Games” ever again.

* Banner Image: CREDIT: Vanilla Ice / Photo by Michel Linssen/Redferns

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Cody Rhodes Cracks Top 5 in Fanatics Merchandise Sales

The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes is not just dominating in the ring, but he’s also killing it in merchandise sales! According to sources at Fanatics via Fightful Select, Cody has broken into the top 5 of all athletes and personalities in overall sales. Yep, you read that right—he’s rubbing shoulders with the biggest names across sports and entertainment, and he’s the only WWE star to do…

[tomorrowedblog]

Friday Releases for June 28

Friday is the busiest day of the week for new releases, so we've decided to collect them all in one place. Friday Releases for June 28 include Horizon: An American Saga, Service Merchandise, Across the Tracks, and more.

Horizon: An American Saga

Horizon: An American Saga, the new movie from Kevin Costner, is out today.

In the great tradition of Warner Bros. Pictures’ iconic Westerns, “Horizon: An American Saga” explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won—and lost—through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Costner’s ambitious cinematic adventure will take audiences on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.

Fancy Dance

Fancy Dance, the new movie from Erica Tremblay, is out today.

Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. At the risk of Jax losing custody to Roki’s grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world while at the mercy of a failed justice system.

The Vourdalak

The Vourdalak, the new movie from Adrien Beau, is out today.

When the Marquis d’Urfé, a noble emissary of the King of France, is attacked and abandoned in the remote countryside, he finds refuge at an eerie, isolated manor. The resident family, reluctant to take him in, exhibits strange behavior as they await the imminent return of their father, Gorcha. But what begins simply as strange quickly devolves into a full fledged nightmare when Gorcha returns, seemingly no longer himself…

A Quiet Place: Day One

A Quiet Place: Day One, the new movie from Michael Sarnoski, is out today.

Experience the day the world went quiet.

A Sacrifice

A Sacrifice, the new movie from Jordan Scott, is out today.

Inspired by Nicholas Hogg’s 2015 novel Tokyo Nobody, A Sacrifice is an emotionally turbulent story that follows American social psychologist Ben Monroe who is investigating a local Berlin cult connected to disturbing events. While he immerses himself in his work, his rebellious teenage daughter, Mazzy, becomes embroiled with a mysterious local boy who introduces her to the city’s underground party scene. As their two worlds head toward a dangerous intersection, Ben will need to race against the clock in order to save his daughter.

Daddio

Daddio, the new movie from Christy Hall, is out today.

DADDIO celebrates the power found in those rare moments of pure human connection, even with the most unlikely person. This highly contained, yet kinetic character-study – encapsulated in one single cab ride – explores the complexities inherent to the secrets we keep, particularly the ones locked away on our phones. It’s about truth and illusion, how we so effortlessly substitute one for the other out of survival. It’s about the hurtful memories of childhood, how past trauma can manifest itself in profound ways. It’s about the dance between the pain and poetry that is the human experience.

WondLa

WondLa, the new TV series from Bobs Gannaway, is out today.

No amount of training could prepare Eva for what she’d find beyond her bunker walls.

Service Merchandise

Service Merchandise, the new album from Previous Industries, is out today.

Across the Tracks

Across the Tracks, the new album from Boldy James and Conductor Williams, is out today.

Samurai

Samurai, the new album from Lupe Fiasco, is out today.

MEGAN

MEGAN, the new album from Megan Thee Stallion, is out today.

[thenightling]

You never know what Halloween collectables are worth.

I do not own this. I simply could never afford her.

This witch now sells for $4200 or more at auction. I could never afford that for a semi-2D decoration.

This Beistle Witch is very scarce because a lot of these sort of decorations got damaged or destroyed from annual use outside, so one in mint or even good condition is extremely rare.

This is why Halloween collectables go up in value before a lot of other toys or knickknacks from the same era, because they often get used to death.

She's from the 1950s. And she's a Beistle, which is a party supply company that has been around since 1900. You'll find a lot of vintage Christmas collectables were made by Beistle too. But they are mostly known as being one of the first American companies to make and sell Halloween decorations and collectables.

In 1900 most Hallowe'en decorations came out of Germany even though Germans didn't start celebrating "American style" Halloween until the 1990s after the success of films like Nightmare before Christmas. Germany just manufactured a lot of Hallowe'en merchandise for America in the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century (before World War 2).

A lot of the German figures and lanterns were made in tandem with matching postcards printed in New England at the time. These would later inspire the visuals in the mini-series Over The Garden Wall.

Beistle was one of the first American companies to offer Halloween merchandise (besides postcards) and a lot of their early to mid-twentieth century Halloween collectables are now highly sought after by collectors.

Though Beistle is still around, The modern day equivalent is probably Target's Hyde and Eek collection, which changes from year to year so the figurines and plushies go up in value.

[cavenewstimes]

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