Rachel

What is this?

The Fall TV Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly, with Jennifer "I give a lot of interviews about my brutal workout regimen" Garner on the cover.

Original publication date?

September 13, 2002.

Why do you still have this?

Because I met a hooded witch at a crossroads and she said, "So long as you keep this magazine, Jennifer Garner will remain employable. Help a sister out." That the witch may have looked like Jennifer Garner is, I'm sure, purest coincidence. After all, if Jennifer Garner could tap the ebon wells of eldrich power, why would we still live in a world with Ben Affleck?

What stands out on re-reading?

Where to begin? How about with...

How badly the WB botched it on Birds Of Prey -- and how EW was along for the ride. In order to explain how much of a squandered chance this is, a little comics nerdery is in order. Back in 1996, a regular Batman writer named Chuck Dixon began writing Birds Of Prey, which teamed up two not-very-well-deployed women in the DC Comics universe -- the now-paralyzed, once-Batgirl Barbara Gordon and occasional Justice League member/frequent mess Dinah Lance, alias Black Canary. The idea was that Black Canary would be Barbara's legs and that they'd go on to fight crime, redress wrongs, and pose like Victoria's Secret models if they happened to be drawn by Greg Land. The series was fun, and what made it a refreshing read was the relationship between the two women as friends and colleagues -- and how that relationship became the building block for a whole lot of other female heroes to drop in and work with the Birds (or become one too).

SO. You have what could basically be "The Spice Girls Take Girl Power In A Pummeling Direction," which is awesome and fun, but in the hands of the WB, it somehow turned into "These lingerie models will wear fishnets for YOU!"

In other words, the people putting the show together completely missed the point of the Birds Of Prey. This is, honestly, a bit baffling when you consider how the WB managed to nail a similar ethos with Charmed, then on Sundays. And there was Buffy over on, by then, UPN. And we were one year out from the end of Xena: Warrior Princess.

There's a happy ending for the comic franchise Birds Of Prey because in 2003, Gail Simone took over writing it and her run is funny, fun, poignant and feminist. But we could have had a show like that -- IN THE ERA OF BUFFY, EVEN -- and instead we get crap that starts off with:

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that there's a new superhero series featuring three lissome heroines using their various superskills to battle evil. What would be the one thing any of the crime-fighting gals could say that would make the comic-book geek within you sit up and take notice?

This, in the year of our lord 2002. The piece trips along, mentioning a bustier-clad model here, a fishnet-clad teenager there, until:

Meyer is already geek pinup material for her roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 (she played a professor's sexy wife), Starship Troopers (as tough gal Dizzy Flores), and her upcoming appearance as a Romulan commander in the feature film Star Trek: Nemesis.

Anyway -- this show was doomed, but Ken Tucker's piece on it is really one to remember for how, back in 2002, it was apparently taken for granted that the only people interested in comic books and shows about comic-book characters were nerdy straight white dudes.

(Meanwhile, over in syndication, She Spies nailed the real feel for Birds Of Prey. You won't find any mention of that in this magazine issue.)

There are two tiny, snarky details I adore. First, in the blurb for Ed, costar Josh Randall's crack-smoking arrest is tagged with "Maybe it was one of those ten-dollar dares," which is a stinging callback to one of the show's running jokes. And second, the blurb for The West Wing is all about Rob Lowe's impending departure, and the picture accompanying it shows a Rob Lowe who is giving the camera his best bitchface.

Hey, remember when Fred Thompson replaced Dianne Wiest on Law & Order? You do now. He was hailed as the "post-9/11 DA," the first overt reference to the attack being part of the narrative fabric of a TV show.

Finally, this is the year Firefly debuted. And it's adorable to read Alan Tudyk smack-talking Star Trek, but here in the future, I'm all, "Dude. Dude. Trek managed to reboot the franchise and your movie...did not make a similar argument."

Still, it's nice to see a picture of the cast, because they're all adorable babies in it. Even Ron Glass.

What does not hold up on re-reading?

One of the saddest things about reading through these issues is looking at the well-groomed (and well-Photoshopped) faces of actors and actresses and thinking about what future horrors await. I can't look at a picture of Stephen Collins now without shuddering, for example. It's poignant to see John Ritter fronting a feature article on his return to television and remember he's got less than a year to live.

Ditto for seeing Bernie Mac and remembering he'll be dead in less than six years. And the saddest of all is looking at the blurb for The Bachelorette and realizing we have had Trista Rehm thrusting herself into the minivan majority's supermarket magazines for fourteen years.

The other weird and sad thing is seeing how many actors are in different television shows every season. Any time anyone has a bad day at work, they can just think of Paula Marshall, Mark Feuerstein, Chyler Leigh, Jason O'Mara, Randy Quaid, or Carol Kane, all of whom had a lot of churn in the ol' IMDb CV back in the Aughties.

(This is something EW will actually address in 2005, in one of my favorite pieces they've done, "TV Casting Directors Love These Faces -- Will You?" In it, Christopher Gorham, Paula Marshall, Carla Gugino, Chyler Leigh, Holly Robinson Peete, Eddie McClintock, and Maggie Lawson are all name-dropped. I'd love to see an update these days with the actors who are just one or two series away from having that sweet, multi-year gig -- or an update that addresses how the explosion in scripted content means it's a different world for a working actor.)

Final verdict?

The first few years of any decade are usually a little weird, mostly because people are hoping to figure what the particular decade is going to be about and what's about to undergo backlash. The Aughties are very similar to the 1980s in that there were two unmissable "Yeah, the 1990s are DONE"-type events at the very beginning of the decade, and then there was a brief period where, really, pop culture could have gone in about five different directions before the defining trends really took hold.

To its credit, this issue of EW does a great job of managing to tag into every one of the trends that would shape network programming -- the serialized drama-with-heart shows (Everwood, Alias); the sitcoms and procedurals that are as comforting and unchallenging as that wallpaper with the tree trunks you see in every design blog (Eight Simple Rules, CSI: Miami, Life With Bonnie, The Guardian); the prestige dramas (Boomtown); the comedies that throw the occasional well-timed curveball (King Of The Hill). Plaudits to whomever figured out these were the stories shaping up in scripted television. They hadn't managed to figure out which trends would end up defining the decade, but at least they managed to map the prevailing cultural currents.

6 Issues Read	4 Issues Remaining
Best Thing About This Issue They finally featured a viewing calendar! We're still not to a point where anyone's attempting the "watch this, DVR this" gambit for scheduling, but it's a baby step toward admitting that viewers are getting more assertive with how they spend their time.	Worst Thing About This Issue The ongoing trend of sticking nubile actresses in revealing outfits, putting women over forty in flippin' plush animal costumes, and letting men wear Dockers casual in promotional photos. Between that and the retrograde approach to Birds Of Prey, it's hard to believe we're reading an issue from 2002 and not, say, 1962.

Explore the Television forum.

When Twin Peaks aired on ABC from 1990 to 1991, there was nothing like it on TV. There still isn’t, though David Lynch and Mark Frost’s surreal crime drama left hordes of imitators in its wake. Stylistically, the show, as Vulture’s Matt Zoller Seitz put it, is canon: “Everyone knows what it was, and is, and meant, even if they haven't watched a frame. Everything from The Sopranos to American Horror Story owes it a debt.” But standing next to Twin Peaks’ artistic influence is its redheaded stepchild: marketing. While discussing his upcoming series Atlanta, Donald Glover said, “I always wanted to make Twin Peaks with rappers.” In promoting their Archie reboot, the stars of the CW’s mid-season drama Riverdale made a similar comparison. “We’re comparing it to Twin Peaks,” star Camila Mendes told EW, as if echoing a conversation with a PR team.

In both cases, the analogy doesn’t quite work. Atlanta, if anything, is more of a rap-inflected sadcom than a murder mystery. Riverdale sounds darker, but it’s still invoking Lynch for the cachet — can you imagine a surreal CW show? Zounds! — as many series before it have done. Saying your show is “like Twin Peaks” is a way of saying a show will push boundaries, but in a way you already understand. It’s marketable weird.

Here are a few shows that invited, sold themselves with, or had to grapple with the inevitable comparison to Twin Peaks.

Northern Exposure (1990 to 1995)
The pitch: Premiering in July of 1990, just a few months after Twin Peaks’ April release, Northern Exposure feels right in the middle of the latter show’s shadow, especially since it was also about quirky people in a small town in the northwest — Alaska, in this case, instead of Washington. As EW put it at the time, “Is this Twin Peaks territory? Geographically, yes; spiritually, not quite.” Northern Exposure occasionally ribbed its trippy cousin, but tended to go after more grounded story lines.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 1.6 peaks

Picket Fences (1992 to 1996)
The pitch: If Northern Exposure took on the Pacific Northwest aspects of Twin Peaks, Picket Fences absorbed Lynch’s brutal take on suburbia. Premiering in 1992, Fences came out after Twin Peaks left the air, even as it plundered its aesthetic. “With Fences,” EW’s Ken Tucker wrote at the time, “[L.A. Law’s David E.] Kelley created the first family drama that seems inspired by Peaks-like quirks and eccentricities.” Or, as the Hallmark reruns put it, “it makes Twin Peaks look normal,” which perhaps oversells Fences’ craziness, but gets the gist of the show’s angle.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 1.3 peaks

Wild Palms (1993)
The pitch: Taking place in a surreal 2007, Wild Palms was Oliver Stone’s 1993 mini-series about a don’t-call-it-Scientology fascist cult. It aired on ABC, somehow, and was deeply, deeply weird. Different as it was from Twin Peaks — think more paranoia, less small-town oddity — Wild Palms came with marketing that pitched it as the former show, but more contained. At a press tour, network president Robert A. Iger said, “Twin Peaks should have been commissioned as a seven-hour show. It should have been called Who Killed Laura Palmer? and we should have found out at the end of seven hours. Then it should have faded into history as one of the more significant shows ever to air on network TV.” Saying the show was like Twin Peaks, even if only on the packaging, essentially allowed ABC to smuggle more weird onto TV.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 0.8 peaks

The X-Files (1993 to 2002, 2016)
The pitch: The chain of creative influence from Twin Peaks to The X-Files is undeniable. Chris Carter’s series even cast David Duchovny, who also appeared on Peaks, among many other cast members on the show. The two diverge in key ways — especially as The X-Files was more procedural and channeled a lot of different styles — but for any Lynch fan paying attention (or dreaming of crossover episodes) the medium was the message.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 1.5 peaks

The Sopranos (1999 to 2007)
The pitch: Unlike most of the other shows on this list, The Sopranos was served with the crust of a raucous mob drama and a creamy, Lynchian dreamscape center. Creator David Chase once spoke to Vulture himself about the myriad influences Peaks had on his show, even as it took an interest in the unconscious and subconscious in different directions.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 0.6 peaks

Carnivale (2003 to 2005)
The pitch: HBO’s mystical Dust Bowl series was perhaps too arcane to ever be a hit with viewers, and it was canceled after two seasons. And, using the tried-and-true equation of Twin Peaks = weird, HBO courted viewers with comparisons to Peaks. It helped that Lynch favorite Michael J. Anderson was onboard, as he told reporters at a press event, “I’ve been calling [Carnivale] Twin Peaks with logic.” (If you take “logic” to mean “an Escher-like labyrinth of symbology,” this is true.)
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): π peaks

Lost (2004 to 2010)
The pitch: A group of ordinary people arrive in a mysterious town island with magical properties. Structurally, Lost is Twin Peaks crossbred with Survivor, but as much as that might have been an influence, Lost led with adventure, and then followed up with mystery. Over the course of its run, as creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse became celebrities in their own right, that started to change. As obsessive viewers pieced apart Lost, Lindelof and Cuse’s reference points, from Stephen King to Peaks, seemed more crucial to understanding the show.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 1.2 peaks

The Killing (2011 to 2014)
The pitch: By 2011, references to Twin Peaks could be the focus of a show’s advertising campaign. The Killing, which was based on the Danish Forbrydelsen (a show about knit sweaters and murder), introduced itself to the U.S. with the tagline “Who killed Rosie Larsen?,” which seems awfully familiar to anyone who’s seen ABC’s posters about Laura Palmer.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 0.5 peaks

Happy Town (2010)
The pitch: By 2010, we’re at a point where “imitation Twin Peaks” is itself a selling point. The trailer for ABC’s 2010 small-town drama gets to the point within the first few seconds: This is “from the network that brought you Twin Peaks.” From there, we’re introduced to an out-of-towner meeting some quirky residents, followed by a smash cut to a murder investigation. Of course, ABC overplayed its hand by having a character say “murderrrrr” and a serial killer called “the magic man.” Entertainment Weekly called Happy Town “the poor man’s Twin Peaks,” and the show was bumped from ABC’s schedule to burn off the rest of its run over the summer, just two episodes into its first season.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 1 peak

Bates Motel (2013 to ... )
The pitch: “We pretty much ripped off Twin Peaks,” creator Carlton Cuse said of his show a few months after its premiere in 2013, which acts as a prologue to Psycho. “I loved that show. They only did 30 episodes. [Co-creator] Kerry and I thought we’d do the 70 that are missing.” By this point, the stylistic influences of Twin Peaks were baked into pretty much all television, so saying your spooky series is “like Twin Peaks” is a little like saying, “This soup has broth.” Though perhaps you also want to emphasize that it’s damn fine broth. (See also: Hannibal and Fargo, whose creators also looked to Frost and Lynch when they translated film properties into prestige TV.)
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 0.7 peaks

Wayward Pines (2015 to ... )
The pitch: Compared to Happy Town, Wayward Pines was the Twin Peaks knockoff that could — at least in terms of getting a second season. But where Twin Peaks comparisons tend to buoy other shows, the specter of Frost and Lynch weighed Pines down. After a series of headlines like “M. Night Shyamalan's new TV show looks like Twin Peaks meets The X-Files,” the tide started to turn. “Sorry, Wayward Pines,” Wired wrote in a headline, “You’re No Twin Peaks—Nothing Is.”
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 1.7 peaks (attempted), 0.4 peaks (achieved)

Atlanta (2016 to ... )
The pitch: “Twin Peaks,” Glover has said, “with rappers.” In actuality, Atlanta is more like Louie with rappers.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 0.3 peaks

Riverdale (premiere date TBA)
The pitch: Archie Comics' small-town bliss meets grown-up Lynchian drama, which, to be fair, is itself the pitch for Twin Peaks. It remains to be seen whether Riverdale fully embraces that influence, though murder-y shows like Pretty Little Liars (and movies like the Pacific Northwest–set Twilight) prove that teen dramas have a lot of Peaks in them already.
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): A whole lotta soil (potential peaks)

Twin Peaks (2017)
The pitch: With the rise of “this show is like Twin Peaks,” perhaps it was inevitable that a network would eventually revive Twin Peaks. That network is Showtime, that revival is happening in 2017, and the pitch is “This show is Twin Peaks.”
Twin Peak–iness (out of two peaks): 2 peaks

Hidden rainbows are all the London rage right now. #hiddenrainbowhair #hiddenrainbow #rainbow #rainbowhair by Carla

A photo posted by Not Another Salon (@notanothersalon) on Aug 28, 2016 at 5:07am PDT

This woman has a party hiding underneath her everyday hair style. Wear it hanging down for work, and tie up the top to show off your inner unicorn at night! The hidden rainbow look is trending in London, and a few salons are specializing in it. This hair was done by Carla Rinaldi at Not Another Salon. See more of their work at Instagram, and see more examples of hidden rainbows at Buzzfeed.

Brenham, Texas-based BlueBell Creameries has launched a new "Camo 'n Cream" camouflage ice cream. It's a combo, containing pistachio almond, milk chocolate and cream cheese flavors. The packaging features woodland pattern camouflage which I guess makes sense given the ice cream was launched on the first day of dove hunting season in texas. Yum?

(Houston Chronicle)

Did you know that Carice van Houten and Guy Pearce are together? Well, they are, and as of Monday they are also the proud new parents of a human infant, People confirms. The baby boy, who is not a semi-sentient mass of magical black smoke sent to assassinate a political rival, is named Monte. (Pearce starred in the 2002 film adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, a fact that may or may not be related.) Regardless, the happy couple appears to be ready for your jokes.

In 2005, Golden Girls star Bea Arthur put on a benefit show for The Ali Forney Center, a New York-based charity dedicated to helping LGBT youth. Then, upon her death a few years later, Arthur bequeathed $300,000 to the organization, giving it enough money to continue operating and break ground on a homeless shelter for LGBT youth. Now, DNAinfo is reporting that the shelter—dubbed The Bea Arthur Residence, due to her being one of Ali Forney Center’s “greatest supporters and cheerleaders”—will open early next year. Located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the 18-bed shelter was originally set to open this summer, but workers had to gut the “long-derelict” building before getting started on the necessary renovations, which pushed everything behind schedule. Once it’s all finished, the Bea Arthur Residence will offer “beds, on-site counseling, and case management to the city’s homeless gay and ...

Flashback Friday.

In the U.S. men’s and women’s bikes are built differently, with women’s bikes lacking the bar that goes from the handlebar to just below the seat. The bar is a matter of tradition.  According to Andrea at Bike City Recyclery, when women began riding bikes in the 1800s, they were required to wear heavy skirts.  The low bar allowed them to mount the bikes “modestly” and was a space for their skirts to go.  Back then, bikes also had “clothes-guards” that would keep women’s skirts from being caught up in the mechanics of the bike.  This picture is from the 1890s:

Today most women riding a bike do not wear heavy skirts and clothes-guards are rare, but the low bar persists.  This ad from 1971 assures parents that  “girl bikes” can be converted to “boy bikes” and vice versa. The upper bar is purely “decorative,” but boys apparently must have it.

Selected text:

A popular 16-inch beginner’s bike. Top bar removes easily to convert it from a boy’s to a girl’s bike in minutes… The perfect first bike that’s built to last from child to child.

This goes to show how strongly we invest in purely symbolic gender differentiation.  There is no need for a high bar and there is no need to differentiate bikes by gender in this way. We could do away with the bar distinction in the same way that we did away with the clothes-guard. But the bar is a highly visible signal that we are committed to a gender binary (men and women are “opposite” sexes). It is some men and the defenders of masculinity who are most opposed to this because collapsing the gender differentiation means collapsing a devalued category into a valued category. For individuals who embrace the valued category, this is a disaster. A male-coded bike frame is just one small way to preserve both the distinction and the hierarchy.

Originally posted in 2010.

Lisa Wade, PhD is a professor at Occidental College. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture, and a textbook about gender. You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

(View original at https://thesocietypages.org/socimages)

Hello, friendly friends! We’re here to discuss the men of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. As any feminist musical comedy is wont to do, this show has set up a super-acute love triangle for our heroine, Rebecca Bunch. Who should our favorite Shebrew from Scarsdale be with: Her ex-boyfriend and longtime crush, the beefy Josh Chan, or her current flame, the sarcastic and troubled bartender Greg Serrano? There's been some friendly disagreement in the Vulture nest, so let's grab a boba tea and dive in.

Tara: Alex, I hear you are Team Josh, which I think is crazier than a Dream Ghost hallucination. Explain yourself.

Alex: Here are the facts: Josh is a babe — and I love me a babe. He’s sweet, handsome, athletic, and can do multiple back flips in a row. (Can you imagine how that would translate in bed?) He’s kind, thoughtful, and will put up with your bullshit. Even though he only considered Rebecca a friend, he helped her when she needed it, like when he made her house party seem cool on Instagram. His popularity is the kind that doesn’t require demeaning other people, but lies in being generous and confident. Plus, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Asian bro.

Now, tell me why you’re into the cantankerous and insecure Greg?

Tara: Let it be known that I have always been, and forever will be, on Team Nice Guy. Greg may have a hard exterior, but he is all gooey at the core. The way he cares for his sick dad and searches for Rebecca when he thinks she’s missing. The get-well-soon Jesus balloon! There is a sweetness to Greg that far surpasses the dopiness of Josh. Sure, Chan has the classic leading man bod and charm, but he doesn't care for Rebecca the way Greg does. When Greg realizes he doesn’t love his girlfriend like he does Rebecca, he runs to her immediately.

Would Josh do that?

Alex: Well, I would argue that Josh Chan hasn’t had the chance to care for Rebecca the way that Greg has. After all, he had a girlfriend! And if their relationship is any indication, he was kind and patient with Valencia despite her heinous behavior. In this technicolor reality though, both Josh and Greg are inherently nice guys. This isn’t a Fitz-Jake or Big-Aiden dyad, where one man is the “bad boy” and the other is the puppy dog waiting for our gal. I concede that Josh is a little dumb, but that simplicity might be just what Rebecca needs to counteract her own neurosis. Is it healthy for two neurotic people to be together? I ask this as a deeply neurotic person.

Tara: I feel you on the neuroses. So know that it comes from a place of experience when I say yes, two neurotic people can be together. I’ve dated Gregs. They’re self-destructive and unpredictable, but they often don’t expect perfection because they know they can’t deliver that, either. Rebecca needs someone she can be herself around. Someone who doesn’t expect her to be Little Miss Sunshine everyday because that person knows that not every day is going to be her best. Greg understands Rebecca’s crazy (yes, I know it’s actually a lot more nuanced than that) because he has baggage, too. They’re both damaged by their past, and Rebecca needs someone who gets that side of her. Mr. Chan is not that guy. Weren’t you put off by Josh’s face after Rebecca’s confession at the end of the finale?

Alex: Josh Chan is clearly a dim bulb, and the fact that he didn’t realize Rebecca had in fact moved to West Covina for him is evidence of that. But aren’t you put off by Greg’s own insecurities, and his need to play the aloof asshole as a way to maintain the upper hand in the relationship? For me, the question between Josh and Greg is, who is confident to be himself? Greg dithers, puts on airs, and torpedoes his chances with Rebecca. Really, he’s the one who drove Rebecca into Josh’s well-muscled arms. But just as we saw what happened to Greg when he finally got his dream girl, I think we’ll see what happens to Rebecca now she has her dream guy.

Tara: I just want our full-breasted heroine to be happy and find a man that matches her sparkling wit and makes her feel warm inside. Perhaps a third suitor can swoop in?

Alex: True! Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to a third-party candidate. Both Josh and Greg are probably unhealthy attachments for Rebecca. As a therapist might say, she needs to work on herself first. Choose yourself, Rebecca! That said, the one couple I am firmly behind is White Josh and Daryl. Those are two men after my heart.

Darlings, let’s all be trend whores together!

In case you missed the first two entries in the series (LEOPARD! & PURPLE!), we’re looking at the trends for the upcoming season and translating them into real-world options for people who don’t walk runways for a living! We’ve long told anyone who asked that the best way to freshen up your wardrobe without blindly chasing after every trend and breaking your bank on things that you’ll only wear once is to scan the mags and the runways, make note of what’s hot for the coming season, and find ways to appropriate that trend in items and pieces that fit your life. Personally, we’ve always found this to be one of those approaches that makes shopping more fun.

As the title suggests, one of the must-haves for fall 2016 is a bold plaid. Call it the Outlander effect. Given how beautiful the costumes are on that show, we wouldn’t be surprised if it continues to influence designers for a couple of seasons, much in the way Mad Men and Downton Abbey did.

 

Balenciaga | Barbara Bui | Bottega Veneta | Burberry Prorsum
Calvin Klein | Chanel | Coach | Daks
DKNY | Dolce&Gabbana | Etro | Gucci
Isabel Marant | Jacquemus | Jean Paul Gaultier | Les Copains

Loewe | Michael Kors | Missoni | No. 21
Prada | Preen | Rachel Zoe | Ralph Lauren
Sonia Rykiel | Suno | Tod’s | Tory Burch
Trussardi | Vetements | Victoria Beckham | Vivienne Westwood

One of the great things about compiling a trend list like this is that it handily illustrates just how arbitrary and non-revolutionary most trends are. Purple, leopard and plaid. These are not shocking ideas about style, but that’s entirely the point. Fashion is consumer driven, and most consumers can’t be talked into something totally off-the-wall, avant garde or impractical for their wardrobe. You’re just not gonna see many “The hot item everyone must have this fall is a MINK TURBAN!!” trend pieces. And if you’re a smart and savvy consumer with an interest in style, buying a select few items to try out is a great way to find out if, say, you’re feeling a big purple coat or a leopard dress or a plaid jacket might work for you. Style is a laboratory, darlings. A constantly evolving experiment we get to enact on ourselves just to see if we like the results.

Anyway, plaid isn’t exactly something new, nor is it something missing from most of our wardrobes, but it never hurt to toy with the idea of freshening up the arsenal, now does it?

Ding! First floor: BAGS.

There are a couple of pricey options here, but some of those Vivienne Westwood bags are really, really cute. There’s a great range of colors there that definitely gives these plaids a modern and fresh feel. LOVE that Under One Sky backpack. And that little Nila Anthony backpack is adorable. All of the Kate Spades are classics.

Second floor: FOOTWEAR.

How cute are those Bella Vita flats? Those Boston Proper pumps are the perfect Holiday party shoe. Kinda living for those shit-kicking GX (by Gwen Stefani) boots too. They would be a lot of fun with skinny black jeans. And those old school high-vamped plaid pumps from Stewart Weitzman are classic and elegant. Can’t go wrong with any of those J. Crew options either. Or the Converse or TOMS, for that matter.

Third floor: RANDOM ACCESSORIES

Well, who can’t use a plaid scarf? Aside from people who live in arid or tropical environments, that is. For those folks, have a phone case. But for the rest of y’all… well. It would be silly for us to talk up something that almost everybody’s had at one time or another in their wardrobe. But as we said, if you’re freshening your style, it’s not a bad idea to look at what the colors are – and some of these scarves are loaded with modern and on-trend colors. We love the blue Marc Jacobs and the Bindy especially, but the Steve Madden one is nice too. The Ralph Lauren gloves are bargain, but the RGLT gloves are really cute.

What’s catching your eye here?

 

 

Standard disclaimer: All of the above are clickable links that will take you to online retailers who give us a commission based on any sales we send their way. Daddy and Papa gotta pay their telephone bills, kittens. Please note that the sale runs for these items can be brief and some of the links may either take you to an item that’s no longer available or no longer available at the sales price. On the flip side, you’ll sometimes find these items marked down even further than the price listed above, but you gotta be quick!

[Photo Credit: IMAXTree]

• Bags
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The post Translating the Trends for Fall 2016: Plaid/Tartan appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

Hopefully, you've had a few minutes to play around with our Fall Entertainment Generator. But if you’re looking for straight and simple lists of things to look out for by medium, we’ll be breaking them out separately. Here's a look at fall movies.

SEPTEMBER

9/2
The Light Between Oceans
A lighthouse keeper (Michael Fassbender) and his wife (Alicia Vikander) raise a baby they found in a rowboat. Directed by The Place Beyond the Pines’ Derek Cianfrance.

Morgan
A large cast led by Kate Mara tackles the question of how, exactly, one terminates the life of a sentient robot.

No Manches Frida
When a released bank robber finds that a school has built a gymnasium above his stashed loot, there’s only one way to get it back: Pose as a teacher.

9/9
Kicks
When a 15-year-old’s box-fresh Air Jordans are stolen, he embarks on a journey through Oakland to get the shoes back.

Sully
In 2009, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger gracefully landed his disabled passenger jet in the Hudson River. Clint Eastwood directs a white-haired, amply mustachioed Tom Hanks.

Before I Wake
Things get scary when a grieving couple (Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane) take in an orphan after their son dies, in an entry in this fall’s robust child-in-danger subgenre.

The Wild Life
A seemingly anti-imperialist animated adaptation of Robinson Crusoe told from the point of view of the animals who share an island with the shipwrecked interloper.

Author: The JT LeRoy Story
This documentary revisits the real-life tale of Laura Albert, the Brooklyn mother who became a literary celebrity by posing as an HIV-positive, transgender male ex-prostitute.

When the Bough Breaks
Like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, but pre-cradle: A psychotic surrogate (Jaz Sinclair) gets obsessed with the family who have employed her to carry their little bundle of joy to term.

9/16
Bridget Jones’s Baby
Bridget’s hit 40, been promoted to news producer, and is single and knocked up. But she doesn’t know who her baby daddy is.

Snowden
Oliver Stone takes on the multi-tentacled story of the multi-tentacled surveillance state and the alleged traitor (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Needless to say, Stone does well with manic, paranoid conspiracy narratives (JFK was insane but wildly entertaining).

9/23
The Magnificent Seven
Denzel Washington and his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua head up this remake. (Read our interview with Fuqua here.)

Storks
A stork who works as a deliveryperson gets some feathers in a fluff when he accidentally activates a machine and produces a baby girl in this animated romp.

Queen of Katwe
Director Mira Nair again examines a culture clash in a film based on the true story of a Ugandan chess star. Starring Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, and newcomer Madina Nalwanga.

Goat
Andrew Neel directs Nick Jonas, Gus Halper, Danny Flaherty, and James Franco in a hazing drama about a boy determined to join his brother’s fraternity.

The Lovers and the Despot
A documentary about the 1978 kidnappings of the South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee and director Shin Sang-ok — ordered by Kim Jong Il. Lots of found footage and the secretly taped voice of the dictator himself.

9/30
Denial
Lawsuits, Holocaust deniers, and Rachel Weisz are featured in Mick Jackson’s take on historian Deborah E. Lipstadt’s book about a painful libel lawsuit.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Tim Burton’s latest fantastical adventure is set on an island for abandoned “peculiar” children. Eva Green plays the den mistress.

Deepwater Horizon
When the Gulf of Mexico oil rig exploded in 2010, it led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Mark Wahlberg is the roughneck hero, John Malkovich the BP suit, Peter Berg the director.

Masterminds
Zach Galifianakis works his loopy southern accent alongside Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson in a comedy drawn from the true story of 1997’s Loomis Fargo robbery.

American Honey
A band of runaway teenagers (Sasha Lane, Riley Keough, Shia LaBeouf) party hard and increase circ numbers even harder while driving across the Midwest selling magazine subscriptions.

OCTOBER

10/7
The Birth of a Nation
In this Sundance hit, Nate Parker tells the true story of the slave Nat Turner (played by Parker), originally dispatched by his master to control other slaves but then moved to lead them to freedom. There’s big awards buzz on this — and also buzz of a very different kind, about the reemergence of the fact that in college, Parker and his Birth co-writer, Jean Celestin, were accused of sexual assault by a young woman who has since committed suicide. This will be one hell of a conversation.

The Girl on the Train
Can 2015’s “next Gone Girl” the book become 2016’s “next Gone Girl” the movie? The always-excellent Emily Blunt will do her best.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
Based on a kids’ novel by megaselling human fiction mill James Patterson, this family comedy features Griffin Gluck as a creative genius stifled by his school’s fuddy-duddy principal.

10/14
The Accountant
Ben Affleck is a math savant moonlighting as an accountant for criminals in this soon-to-be-favorite of CPAs everywhere.

10/21
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Tom Cruise in his second go-round as author Lee Child’s zero-BS ex-military badass who says very little and runs with truly remarkable posture and determination.

In a Valley of Violence
A drifter (Ethan Hawke, in his second Western of the fall, after The Magnificent Seven) and his dog attempt to make their way to Mexico. A marshal played by John Travolta puts a hitch in the travel plans. 

American Pastoral
For many years, filmmakers have wanted to adapt Philip Roth’s powerful and unwieldy novel, which is both the archetypal story of a teenage girl who becomes a political terrorist in the ’60s and another Roth meditation on Jewish assimilation. Ewan McGregor makes his directorial debut and stars as the former high-school athlete who searches for his wayward daughter (Dakota Fanning).

Boo! A Madea Halloween
Tyler Perry is in drag for the ninth time, now with jack-o’-lanterns.

A Monster Calls
A reworking of a children’s fantasy novel, in which a boy enlists the aid of a monster, played by Liam Neeson, to deal with the pain of his mother’s illness. Fall’s very busy Felicity Jones plays the mom.

10/28
Inferno
Ron Howard and Tom Hanks reenter, for the third time, the adventurous world of symbology scholar Robert Langdon. Like their previous two efforts, Inferno is based on a Dan Brown best seller.

NOVEMBER

11/4
Doctor Strange
The next chapter of the seemingly endless Marvel Cinematic Universe unfolds. Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is radicalized, in a magical way, after he meets a sorcerer played by the oft-ensorcelling Tilda Swinton.

Bleed for This
Miles Teller beefs up to play boxer Vinny Pazienza, who attempts a comeback after a car crash.

Loving
Jeff Nichols (who scored earlier this year with Midnight Special) directs this drama about the plaintiffs in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down laws against interracial marriage. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga are the couple.

Hacksaw Ridge
Mel Gibson directs his first film in a decade — a WWII drama about a violence-averse medic (Andrew Garfield) who saves nearly 100 soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa.

11/11
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Ang Lee’s study in the psychological fallout of combat: A 19-year-old Iraq War hero, played by newcomer Joe Alwyn, has an existential crisis during his “victory tour.”

Shut In
The endangered-child trend continues, this time with Naomi Watts as an isolated widow desperate to rescue a young boy from a deadly storm in rural New England.

Arrival
Aliens come to Earth; Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner greet them. (Read our chat with Adams here.)

11/18
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
A magician (Eddie Redmayne) is at large in Jazz Age New York in this adaptation of a J. K. Rowling Potter-verse spinoff.

The Edge of Seventeen
An awkward high-schooler, played by Hailee Steinfeld, endures romantic indignities in director Kelly Fremon Craig’s feature debut. 

Manchester by the Sea
An uncle (Casey Affleck) steps in to care for his teenage nephew following the death of the latter’s dad. Expect Oscar momentum for Affleck.

Nocturnal Animals
Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, and Laura Linney will attempt, and probably achieve, the near impossible in Tom Ford’s latest: Make a thrilling movie about a writer. 

11/23
Allied
Secrets, lies, and (more) war: A WWII operative (Brad Pitt) discovers a disturbing secret about his wife (Marion Cotillard).

Bad Santa 2
Billy Bob Thornton is back as the degenerate department-store Saint Nick.

Moana
Disney’s first Polynesian heroine, Moana, and Maui, a demigod, team up to find an island in the South Pacific. With music by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Just buy your kid a ukulele now.

Rules Don’t Apply
Warren Beatty returns after a long absence to direct this comedy-romance, in which he plays a Howard Hughes whose puritanical rules get in the way of a relationship between an actress and her driver in 1950s Hollywood.

11/25
Lion
Dev Patel gets his meatiest post–Slumdog Millionaire role in a drama based on the true story of a man who used Google Earth to track down the family he left in India when he was adopted by Australians (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham).

DECEMBER

12/2
La La Land
Crazy, Stupid, Love co-stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are reunited in this musical as a jazz musician and an aspiring actress. Whiplash’s Damien Chazelle writes and directs.

12/9
Office Christmas Party
A CEO (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to close down her brother’s (T. J. Miller) office branch. His response? Throw an out-of-control party.

12/16
The Founder
Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc — who took McDonald’s to the big time — in this seriocomic business saga. Let’s hope it’s not a bouquet to rags-to-riches capitalism, given the horrific impact of fast food. But the writer is Robert D. Siegel, of the weird Big Fan — promising.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
A prequel of sorts to the very first Star Wars movie, about a gang of rebels attempting to pilfer plans for the Death Star. 

Collateral Beauty
Will Smith plays an ad executive spiraling out after a tragedy.

12/21
The Assassin’s Creed
Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Irons, time-travel, and sword-fighting in this adaptation of a popular video-game series.

Passengers
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt romance each other as two interstellar colonizers who awake from hibernation years before their ship reaches its destination. 

12/25
Fences
A Denzel Washington–directed adaptation of August Wilson’s acclaimed play. Denzel also stars, along with the great Viola Davis.

*This article appears in the August 22, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.

Gabriel and Sarah Chrisman of Port Townsend, Washington wear Victorian style outfits every day. They run a website called This Victorian Life, which chronicles their "long-term experiential study of culture and technologies of the late nineteenth-century." They don't have cell phones or watch television. "This is who we are," they state on the site. But when they traveled to Victoria to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary they were turned away from Butchart Gardens because their "costumes" are forbidden.

The website for the Butchart Gardens has a link to a PDF with a list of "Garden Etiquette" rules, which includes a ban on costumes:

The Chrismans say their clothes are not costumes, and it is wrong for the park to deny them entry. From CBC:

"We've worn this type of clothing before and we've never been turned away before. Never had this sort of official banishment," Gabriel told CBC News.

"These are not costumes — it's just our everyday dress," Sarah told CBC News

The couple blog and write books about their favorite era. They cook with a cast iron stove and even ride a replica 1885 Victory bicycle.

After the Chrismans wrote about their experience, Butchart Gardens issued a statement, that read, in part: "For the enjoyment and safety of all visitors, and to preserve our tranquil atmosphere, the Butchart Gardens joins many international attractions … in not permitting costumes or masks to be worn on-site."

Link to job posting. Deadline: 8/21/16Filed under: 0-2, Public, Wisconsin Tagged: library page, public, Wisconsin

The Wisconsin State Law Library is searching for a Library Assistant LTE, 15 hours per week. Qualified applicants must be available to work Monday through Friday, 8-11 AM. Duties include staffing the circulation desk, filing looseleaf services, shelving, moving and … Continue reading →

Finally, one weird trick that might actually work.

If you were hoping to see more of Veep Hugh Laurie than House Hugh Laurie in the near future, you're going to be in for a little disappointment. Laurie's new Hulu series, Chance, is a tried and true psychological thriller with a menacing edge — it revolves around a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist who winds up getting involved with the violent and dangerous world of mistaken identity, police corruption, and mental illness when he tries to help one of his patients. Based on the novel by Kem Nunn, the 10-episode series will premiere on the streaming network on October 19. Try not to mutter "where's your cane?" while watching.

By now you may have grown tired of hearing about zucchini noodles (aka “zoodles”) but I’m here to break up your veggie noodle boredom with eggplant noodles. You don’t even need a spiralizer.

Read more...

Until just a few years ago — when The Internet Archive brought the game to most current browsers — the only way to relive your virtually Typhoid-filled childhood traversing The Oregon Trail was to hook up that ancient computer still stored in your parent’s basement. Now, you don’t even need a computer, or any electronic device, as there’s a tabletop game.

According to the Oregonian, the tabletop card will hit select retailers’ shelves this Sunday, July 31, giving people everywhere the opportunity to gather around the kitchen table to hunt game and avoid dysentery as they make their way west.

The new tabletop version of the classic game — which was recently inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame — was first spotted by a redditor and confirmed to be in stock at several Portland-area Target stores.

A spokesperson for the retailer tells The Oregonian that the game will officially debut on July 31, although some store chose to sell the product earlier.

Despite advancements in technology since the game first debuted in 1971, a post on the game by the Reddit user shows the new card version has kept many of the aspects The Oregon Trail is known for: cards feature 8-bit imagery of oxen, bullets, food, and other things you would have previously seen on the computer.

Additionally, it appears the cards include tombstones in which players can write their names and cause of death on the Trail.

The game is reportedly one of several Target exclusives that were released without promotions or fanfare, The Oregonian reports.

‘The Oregon Trail’ released as a Target-exclusive tabletop card game, on sale July 31 [The Oregonian]

Things are getting a little bit Game of Thrones over on Sesame Street right now, minus the sex, plus the emphasis on children's literacy. Apparently three long-standing Sesame Street actors, Emilio Delgado, Bob McGrath, and Roscoe Orman, known respectively as Luis the fix-it man, Bob the music teacher, and Gordon the science teacher, have been axed from the new HBO version of the show. “They let all of the original cast members go, with the exception of Alan Muraoka — who is probably 20 years younger than the rest of us — and Chris Knowings, who is also young,” McGrath told Florida Supercon 2016 earlier this month. “I have completed my 45th season this year. And the show has gone under a major turnaround, going from an hour to a half-hour. HBO has gotten involved also.” McGrath had been on the show since its premiere season in 1969, while Delgado became Luis in 1971, and Orman assumed the mantle of Gordon in 1974. Reports also claim the new HBO Sesame Street will seek to appeal to “tech-savvy” kids via Muppets using smartphones. All of which begs the question: Which classic character is the next one to get the boot? Mr. Snuffleupagus doesn’t have hands to hold a tablet, so he seems like the obvious choice. And really, is a giant, semi-imaginary woolly-mammoth kindergartner even “relevant” anymore in today's fast-paced child lifestyle?

If you believe in the personality profiles generated by the twelve signs of the zodiac then you probably use those profiles to help you look for and understand your romantic partner.

Many believe the zodiac holds the key to long lasting relationships because the 12 profiles help daters weed out all the bad matches ahead of time.

Taking dating advice from the zodiac hasn't worked that well for me in the past, but maybe consulting these charts created by Summer Anne Burton for BuzzFeed will work for you.

I'm a Gemini so naturally my chart is spot on in every way.

See 12 Charts That Explain What It's Like To Date Every Zodiac Sign here

Television’s golden age of white male antiheroes may finally be over, but pessimism still reigns on TV. The shows with the largest audiences and the most critical buzz are overwhelmingly grim, gritty dramas that feature self-destructive protagonists or are set in cold and unforgiving worlds. From HBO’s new crime drama The Night Of to returning favorites UnREAL and Mr. Robot, the summer’s most lauded series explore isolation and the oppressive weight of an uncaring society. These are stories worth telling, and all three series are strong, but the sheer quantity and continuing popularity of bleak and cynical television paints a disquieting portrait of what we value as a society. (And that’s to mention the overwhelmingly dire picture currently being presented by TV news outlets.) To those tired of this trend and hungry for television that nourishes the soul while it entertains, I present The Great British ...

Netflix knows it's your favorite place to procrastinate. To help you kill more time,  it's added a new feature---Flixtape, a playlist function that will enable you to make Netflix TV and movie "mixtapes," because you don't need to do errands or clean your house, you need to make an "Every Show You Liked in 1999" playlist (Start with Buffy, proceed with West Wing...)

If you're looking for inspiration, Netflix has some premade Flixtapes all lined up for you. The "Besties or Frenemies" playlist contains eps of Pretty Little Liars, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, New Girl, and wild card 1997 film Good Burger, while the "Summertimes" playlist features Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Moonrise Kingdom, Grease, and, ahem, High School Musical 2.

Before you commence your Flixtaping, remember John Cusack's High Fidelity mixtape advice: “The making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all you’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.” Truer words.

Nintendo Announces Mini-NES Console with 30 Games Coming in November

Nintendo of America has announced today that come November, you’ll be able to walk into a store and by a brand-new Nintendo Entertainment System. That’s right, the original NES. The Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition, launching in stores on November 11 at a suggested retail price of $59.99, is a near-identical, mini replica of Nintendo’s original home console and plugs directly into your high-definition TV using an included HDMI cable. The console comes complete with 30 NES games built in, including:

• Balloon Fight
• BUBBLE BOBBLE
• Castlevania
• Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest
• Donkey Kong
• Donkey Kong Jr. 
• DOUBLE DRAGON II: THE REVENGE
• Dr. Mario
• Excitebike
• FINAL FANTASY
• Galaga
• GHOSTS’N GOBLINS
• GRADIUS
• Ice Climber
• Kid Icarus
• Kirby’s Adventure
• Mario Bros. 
• MEGA MAN 2
• Metroid
• NINJA GAIDEN
• PAC-MAN
• Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream
• StarTropics
• SUPER C
• Super Mario Bros.
• Super Mario Bros. 2
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• TECMO BOWL
• The Legend of Zelda
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

“We wanted to give fans of all ages the opportunity to revisit Nintendo’s original system and rediscover why they fell in love with Nintendo in the first place,” said Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. “The Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition is ideal for anyone who remembers playing the NES, or who wants to pass on those nostalgic memories to the next generation of gamers.”

Each console will come packaged with a NES Classic Controller, though a Classic Controller or Classic Controller Pro can also be used. When connected to a Wii Remote controller, the NES Classic Controller can also be used to play Virtual Console NES games on a Wii U or Wii system. 

The post Nintendo Announces Mini-NES Console with 30 Games Coming in November appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Rice Krispies treats are pretty close to perfection — a sweet, buttery, chewy, and crunchy snack that requires only three ingredients. A full batch takes very little effort to execute, so why would you ever need a recipe for a single Rice Krispies treat?

This recipe is ideal for using up that last cup of cereal, making one, but is also great for teaching your little ones how to safely use the microwave. All you need is a microwave, a mug, and a minute.

READ MORE »

We know that Bill Skarsgård and his glorious cheekbones will be playing Pennywise the clown in Stephen King's upcoming film adaptation of It — an It who can get it, hardy har har — but that still didn't adequately prepare us for this nightmarish first image of Skarsgård's demonic entity. Compliments of EW, the first look may very much induce some serious coulrophobia. Beware!

“It’s such an extreme character. Inhumane," Skarsgård says of his character. "It’s beyond even a sociopath, because he’s not even human. He’s not even a clown. I’m playing just one of the beings It creates.” The film will haunt you from under your bed for an indefinite period of time — we mean, it'll arrive in theaters — on September 8, 2017.

The biggest stars of a TV show are the good guy characters, the ones we are supposed to relate to and root for. At least, that was the tradition in TV for decades. But it’s not nearly as much fun to play the good guy as it is to play the villain. That’s where the evil twin comes in. The much-used plot device opened the way for mysterious dramas that could only be explained by an evil twin. It gave a “good” character room to do things he or she otherwise wouldn’t do, and it baffled audiences until the  big reveal. And there was another benefit: it was a way to have two characters on for the price of one actor. For soap operas, these plots could go one for months or even longer.  

In 1983, Brian Patrick Clarke began his run as nice married guy Grant Andrews and his Russian spy doppelgänger Grant Putnam on General Hospital. Ellen Wheeler picked up the dual roles of Marley and Vicky on Another World in 1984, eventually leaving the part to Anne Heche. David Canary would also start his decades-spanning work as ruthless businessman Adam Chandler and his gentle, artistic brother Stuart on All My Children that year. But perhaps most interesting was the case of Frannie and Sabrina Hughes; the half-sisters appeared on As the World Turns between 1985 and 1987, and the dual role was originated by a not-yet-famous Julianne Moore.

And that’s only a few years. Evil twins have been spicing up soap operas for decades, which you can read about at mental_floss. 

Who killed Mrs. White? It wasn’t Colonel Mustard in the Billiard Room.

The buzz around the new Netflix series Stranger Things has been building for a while now. When the first look at the series hit the web, fans were treated to a throwback in every sense of the word. From the cast including Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine, to four kids riding bikes through the echoes of suburbia, to the the eerie combination of a Stephen King novel and the hauntingly familiar images of a Steven Spielberg coming-of-age tale, Stranger Things promises to be a respectful throwback that stands firmly on its own two feet.

A visit to the Atlanta set was a treat for this genre fan in every sense of the word. The locations and sets were done with incredible detail and the cast and crew were the most enthusiastic. We had the opportunity to speak with the set of young actors and the Duffer Brothers, who created, show-ran, wrote, and directed a big portion of the series.

Working in the time period was not only fun and nostalgic for the Duffer Brothers but also a necessity, as Matt Duffer explained: “Well, there were a couple of reasons [for the 80s setting]: for the story it’s important to have that – we needed it during the Cold War and during the paranoia then and experimentation, and a lot of it is based around MKULTRA and things that were going around during that.” He continued, adding, “There’s the aesthetic thing and it just felt like a time when, especially when you’re kids, your parents can’t text you or they’re not tracking you on a GPS; there’s this sense of when you go outside you’re free and you’re on this adventure.”

Ross Duffer sums it up, saying, “I think it was realizing this is a good time to tell the story and it also allows us to pay homage to all of these movies that we grew up on. So that was kind of when the idea clicked into place.”

Considering how tech savvy children are growing up with phones and access to the internet living in their pockets, you’d think it would be a challenge for the young cast to get used to the time period but in reality, for the actors, it turned out to be quite the opposite. The time period even led to star Millie Bobby Brown, who plays the mysterious and powerful young girl Eleven, to her favorite Christmas gift from 2015. “I worked in the basement [set] and I saw — this was before Christmas — and I saw this thing, it had a disc in it and I was like, ‘what is that? What does that do?’ That’s a record player, Millie. What does it do? It plays music. So I got one for Christmas and I love it!”

It appears the boys who spent a lot of time in that same basement set, filled with Dungeons & Dragons, movie posters, and vintage toys, also enjoyed the time warp. “Did you guys like it? Because I fell in love with it,” Finn asks co-stars Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin.

I want to live in there!,” Matarazzo proclaimed. “I walked in there and I was like, what’s that? It’s a typewriter?”

Lack of technological advances aside, the kids also fell in love with something else during the making of Stranger Things: the coming of age movies of the 80s. Required viewing from the Duffers, the cast screened The Goonies, E.T., Stand By Me, and Poltergeist if they hadn’t seen them before. With CGI and animation taking over film and television today, how did the kids react to stories about kids from 30 years earlier? The answer was, somewhat surprisingly, with major enthusiasm.

“I love 80s movies. When I watched The Goonies I was like, Ah, this is great! I love this! And then I watched Poltergeist, it’s great,” Millie Bobby Brown exclaimed. The boys echoed a similar excitement when I brought up The Goonies with an enthusiastic, “Oh yeah!!!”

There was a similar affinity for Stand By Me with Caleb McLaughlin explaining, “I love the bond in that. Because I see the bond in the movie with our relationship.”

Gaten Matarazzo agrees, noticing common threads and themes in the movies, “It’s really similar, they’re looking for someone, they’re all together, they become better friends.” He continued, “In The Goonies you can definitely see that Lucas’s character is Mouth probably,.. and he’s [Finn’s character Mike] definitely like Mikey. People will think [of my character Dustin as], ‘Oh, Chunk from The Goonies but I think he’s a mix of all of them.”

—

Stranger Things, starring Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, and Matthew Modine, premieres on Netflix Friday, July 15.

Image Credits: Netflix