We kick off this week with a digital painting inspired by a photo of silent movie star Theda Bara as Cleopatra. I basically swiped the pose and the costume, and put her against an abstract background. I also limited the color pallette for this one for no particular reason. Nine months after my catastrophic computer crash, I’m still learning my way around the new tools I have with a more powerful computer, and mixing those with custom brushes I’ve been using for more than ten years. As always, click the image for a bigger version.
Meanwhile today over on The AIR, we present a Monday Marathon of Radio Free Charleston from 7 AM Monday to 7 AM Tuesday you can tune in for the best local music I can shoot your way. What other radio station brings you 24 hours solid of local music?
Tune in at The AIR Website, or on this neat little embedded player…
Don’t forget to check back later today for more of The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide. We’re doing this all month, and it’s the best way to find pop culutre gift ideas anywhere on the internets.
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society Deluxe LP (12″ album, 33 rpm), Box Set
The perfect BIG TICKET DAY gift for the rabid Kinks fan, devout anglophile or just anyone with a fascination with intricate and pastoral late-1960s British pop, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society Deluxe LP (12″ album, 33 rpm), Box Set is an epic presentation of a sadly-overlooked classic.
THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY 50th ANNIVERSARY SUPER DELUXE BOX SET – 2018 REMASTER is a lavishly packaged super-deluxe box set, part of the BMG ‘Art Of The Album’ series, which focuses specifically on high quality, bespoke packaged re-issues of seminal albums within the BMG catalogue, offering the highest spec audio masters and original artwork.
The set contains remastered original LPs, CDs of the remastered original albums plus a wealth of unreleased bonus material, reproduced 7″ singles, deluxe hardback photo book with comprehensive notes and new band interviews, and reproduced original memorabilia.
Somewhat overlooked upon its release in November 1968, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society is now seen as one of the best British albums ever recorded. Created in difficult circumstances by a band who refused to follow fashion, it is an album of timeless, perfectly crafted songs about growing up and growing old, and the decline of national culture and traditional ways.
Enduring and unsurpassed, with its wit, sadness, quiet anger, regret and charm, it is generally considered the high point of The Kinks’ outstanding career and Ray Davies’ masterpiece. A calm, nostalgic album which feels like a sweet, hazy dream but with endless layers of musical and lyrical innovation, The Village Green Preservation Society‘s defiantly British sensibilities became the foundation of generations of British guitar pop.
The band’s sixth studio album was originally issued in November ’68 and would be the last album by the original line-up (bass player Pete Quaife departed in early 1969). Describing the album today, Davies says it’s about “the ending of a time personally for me in my life. In my imaginary village. It’s the end of our innocence, our youth. Some people are quite old but in the Village Green, you’re never allowed to grow up. I feel the project itself as part of a life cycle.”
Counting all the CDs, and vinyl (12″ and 7″), this super deluxe edition is a staggering eleven-disc set. It contains a double vinyl LP with stereo and mono versions (both 2018 remasters) and a 12-track ‘Continental’ (Swedish) version on vinyl.
In addition there are five CDs of content:
CD1:
2018 Stereo Remaster, from the original HD tape transfers + bonus tracks of singles, B sides and original album related tracks
CD2:
2018 Mono Remaster, from the original HD tape transfers + bonus tracks of singles, B sides and original album related tracks
CD3:
Village Green Sessions – Including alternate versions, mixes and backing tracks, many previously unreleased
CD4:
Village Green At The BBC – TV performance track audio and band interviews, many previously unreleased
CD5:
Preservation, Sessions, Live & Demos – including mid 70s recordings, previously unreleased home demos, Ray Davies live in Denmark 2010 and unreleased track ‘Time Song’.
There are three replica seven-inch singles, reproduced in picture sleeves. They are:
“Days” / “She’s Got Everything” (1968)
“Starstruck” / “Picture Book” (1968)
“The Village Green Preservation Society” / “Do You Remember Walter?” (1969)
The box set comes with a 52-page hardcover book with extensive sleeve notes and new band interviews and includes essays by Pete Townshend and other writers. It boasts “special packaging” with debossed box cover, foil & metallic text, linen cloth finish and a ‘bespoke accessories holder’.
It also comes with a load of ‘memorabilia’. This includes a poster of Village Green LP inner gatefold; Empire Liverpool 1968 tour poster; glossy 10” x 8” photos from Hampstead Heath 1968 photoshoot; color press photo with reproduced band signatures; Bournemouth 1968 gig ticket; PYE Records promo card; ‘Days’ sheet music and more
As I said, this is the perfect gift for the rabid Kinks fan on your shopping list, but it will also appeal to anyone who loves well-crafted, interesting music. List price is upwards of $160 for this set, but if you shop around online, you’ll find it in the $120 to $145 range.
Best of Warner Bros 20 Film Collection: Best Pictures
Our next BIG TICKET DAY pick came out several years ago, but has dropped enough in price at Amazon that it’s still just barely a big ticket item (just over sixty bucks) but since it includes 20 top-notch films, it breaks down to little more than three bucks per movie for what amounts to an instant movie collection of OSCAR Best Picture winners.
Best of Warner Bros 20 Film Collection: Best Pictures is on sale now at Amazon, and it’s a great collection of films for the beginning movie buff, or young film appreciation student on your holiday shopping list.
This box set pays homage to one of the most iconic all American movie studios, Warner Brothers, with 20 Warners Best Picture winners spanning almost 70 years. Contents include Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), An American in Paris (1951), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Chariots of Fire (1981), Million Dollar Baby (2004) and The Departed (2006).
Included are 20 Best Picture Winners on 23 Discs. Broken out into 3 chapters:
1929-1942 (A New Era)
· The Broadway Melody (1929) · Grand Hotel (1932) · Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) · The Life of Emile Zola (1937) · Gone with The Wind (1939) · Casablanca (1942) – Mrs. Miniver (1943)
1946-1959 (The Golden Years)
· The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) · An American in Paris (1951) · Around the World in 80 Days (1956) · Gigi (1958) · Ben-Hur (1959)
1975-2006 (The New Classics)
· One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) · Chariots of Fire (1981) · Amadeus: Director’s Cut (1984) · Driving Miss Daisy (1989) · Unforgiven (1992) · The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) · Million Dollar Baby (2004) · The Departed (2006)
Also included is a 24-Page Booklet.
To be honest, this collection includes several movies that rank among my favorites of all time, as well as a few that I’d rather rip my eyes out than watch again. That’s part of the fun. You can watch these films with a friend (or loved one) and discuss afterward whether or not it deserved the OSCAR. Was Chariots of Fire really better than Raiders of the Lost Ark? Was Gone With The Win really better than The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington or Wuthering Heights? With this set, you can loads of fun finding new classics you may have missed, and wondering why some were even nominated for the OSCAR in the first place. And it’s on sale at Amazon with the bonus of being in a box that should be easy to wrap.
Our next BIG TICKET DAY item in the 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is one that Beatles fans (like yours truly) have been waiting for. Following last years comprehensive box set devoted the Sgt Pepper album, The Beatles have released an amazing multi-disc remix and expansion of their 1968 opus, The Beatles, better known as “The White Album.”
This is the only gift that you need to get the obsessive Beatles fan on your shopping list, provided that they aren’t so obsessive that they already pre-ordered it so they could get it the day it was released last week. List prise is $159.98, but you can shave twenty bucks or more off of that if you shop around.
The comprehensive, individually numbered 7-disc and digital audio collections feature:
CDs 1 & 2: 2018 stereo album mix–this is a new mix by Giles Martin, based on the original stereo mix by his father and the band.
CD3: Esher Demos–previously only available in low-fi bootlegs, these are recordings the Beatles demoed at their home studios prior to entering Abbey Road to record the album.
CDs 4, 5 & 6: Sessions– 50 additional recordings, most previously unreleased, from ‘White Album’ studio sessions; all newly mixed from the four-track and eight-track session tapes, sequenced in order of their recording start dates. 107 tracks in total
The Blu-ray includes:
– 2018 album mix in high resolution PCM stereo
– 2018 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 album mix
– 2018 Dolby True HD 5.1 album mix
– 2018 direct transfer of the album’s original mono mix
Book:
The book has 164 pages and is made up of 3 themes:
• The bulk of the book is taken up with song and recording notes, all written in exemplary detail by Beatles expert Kevin Howlett. He explains all of the different takes and the actual writing and recording process for every track in the set.
• There is a new scholarly essay on the art of the White Album – explaining that it was actually an important moment in the development of modern pop art and it explodes several myths about what people think had been other cover ideas as well as exploring the way rock music and art were starting to grow together.
• Guardian writer and social commentator, John Harris, has also written a fascinating chapter that looks at the reception of the album when it was released and how that has changed in perception and influence over the decades, concluding that this is in many ways perhaps their most influential album, especially in terms of how it has influenced generations of musicians since.
And we go to the (much deserved) product hype:
In November 1968, millions of double LPs were shipped to record stores worldwide ahead of that tumultuous year’s most anticipated music event: the November 22nd release of The BEATLES (soon to be better known as ‘The White Album’). With their ninth studio album, The Beatles took the world on a whole new trip, side one blasting off with the exhilarating rush of a screaming jet escorting Paul McCartney’s punchy, exuberant vocals on “Back In The U.S.S.R.” “Dear Prudence” came next, John Lennon warmly beckoning his friend and all of us to “look around.” George Harrison imparted timeless wisdom in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” singing, “With every mistake we must surely be learning.” For 50 years, ‘The White Album’ has invited its listeners to venture forth and explore the breadth and ambition of its music, delighting and inspiring each new generation in turn. On November 9, The Beatles will release a suite of lavishly presented ‘White Album’ packages (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe). The album’s 30 tracks are newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio, joined by 27 early acoustic demos and 50 session takes, most of which are previously unreleased in any form.
This is the first time The BEATLES (‘White Album’) has been remixed and presented with additional demos and session recordings. The album’s sweeping new edition follows 2017’s universally acclaimed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Edition releases. To create the new stereo and 5.1 surround audio mixes for ‘The White Album,’ Martin and Okell worked with an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios in London. All the new ‘White Album’ releases include Martin’s new stereo album mix, sourced directly from the original four-track and eight-track session tapes. Martin’s new mix is guided by the album’s original stereo mix produced by his father, George Martin.
The minimalist artwork for ‘The White Album’ was created by artist Richard Hamilton, one of Britain’s leading figures in the creation and rise of pop art. The top-loading gatefold sleeve’s stark white exterior had ‘The BEATLES’ embossed on the front and printed on the spine with the album’s catalogue number. Early copies of ‘The White Album’ were also individually numbered on the front, which has also been done for the new edition’s Super Deluxe package. The set’s six CDs and Blu-ray disc are housed in a slipsleeved 164-page hardbound book, with pull-out reproductions of the original album’s four glossy color portrait photographs of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, as well as the album’s large fold-out poster with a photo collage on one side and lyrics on the other. The beautiful book is illustrated with rare photographs, reproductions of handwritten and notated lyrics, previously unpublished photos of recording sheets and tape boxes, and reproduced original ‘White Album’ print ads. The book’s comprehensive written pieces include new introductions by Paul McCartney and Giles Martin, and in-depth chapters covering track-by-track details and session notes reflecting The Beatles’ year between the release of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and recording sessions for ‘The White Album,’ the band’s July 28 1968 “Mad Day Out” photo shoot in locations around London, the album artwork, the lead-up and execution of the album’s blockbuster release, and its far-ranging influence, written by Beatles historian, author and radio producer Kevin Howlett; journalist and author John Harris; and Tate Britain’s Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Andrew Wilson.
The BEATLES (‘White Album’) was the first Beatles album to be released on the group’s own Apple Records label. Issued in both stereo and mono for the U.K. and in stereo for the U.S., the double album was an immediate bestseller, entering the British chart at number one and remaining there for eight of the 22 weeks it was listed. ‘The White Album’ also debuted at number one on the U.S. chart, holding the top spot for nine weeks of its initial 65-week chart run. In his glowing ‘White Album’ review for Rolling Stone, the magazine’s co-founder Jann Wenner declared: “It is the best album they have ever released, and only The Beatles are capable of making a better one.” In the U.S., ‘The White Album’ is 19-times platinum-certified by the RIAA and in 2000, it was inducted into the Recording Academy’s GRAMMY Hall of Fame, recognizing “recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.”
This is quite simply a massive archeological presentation of one of the greatest albums ever recorded. It will dispel some myths, answer some questions. create some new questions and most importantly, thrill any fan of the Beatles with previously unavailable music. There are other, less expensive versions of this set, if your budget is constrained. You can also find a 4 LP vinyl version, and although you can’t wrap it or read the book, it is available from streaming services.
Our first BIG TICKET DAY choice for the 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is the perfect gift for the obsessive (and maybe compulsive) Harry Potter fan on your shopping list. LEGO has created a new and comprehensive building set of Hogwarts Castle. It’s gigantic. It will take a long, long time to assemble, and it’s going to set you back about five hundred bucks.
Your PopCulteer has thus far remained immune to the appeal of the boy wizard, but even I was mightily impressed when I saw this set assembled at the LEGO Store in Chicago. It’s huge and epic and I can’t imagine any Harry Potter fan not wanting to have it.
Let’s go to the product hype:
Make the magic come alive at the LEGO Harry Potter 71043 Hogwarts Castle! This highly detailed LEGO Harry Potter collectible has over 6,000 pieces and offers a rewarding build experience. It comes packed with highlights from the Harry Potter series, where you will discover towers, turrets, chambers, classrooms, creatures, the Whomping Willow and Hagrid´s hut, plus many more iconic features. And with 4 minifigures, 27 microfigures featuring students, professors and statues, plus 5 Dementors, this advanced building set makes the perfect Harry Potter gift.
“Includes 4 minifigures: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw, with a buildable minifigure display stand. Also features 27 microfigures: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Professor Dolores Umbridge, Argus Filch, Lord Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, 3 students from each of the 4 houses, 2 chess pieces and the Architect of Hogwarts statue and 5 Dementors, plus Aragog the spider and the Basilisk figures, and a buildable Hungarian Horntail dragon.
Features a buildable microscale model of Hogwarts Castle, hut of Hagrid, Whomping Willow tree and 5 boats.
Hogwarts Castle features the Great Hall with buildable ‘stained glass windows’, house banners, benches, tables, flaming torches and moving staircases; potions classroom with racks of jar elements; Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom with assorted potion jars, gramophone and a closet containing a boggart; Chessboard Chamber with chess piece elements; Room of Requirement with assorted elements, including the Goblet of Fire and the vanishing cabinet; Chamber of Secrets with the Basilisk and Tom Riddle’s Diary; hidden Devils Snare room with vine elements; Gryffindor common room with fireplace and seating; Professor Dolores Umbridge’s office with desk, chair and pink furnishings; library with bookcase and desks; and Professor Dumbledore’s office with the Griffin statue entrance and Memory cabinet.
Hagrid’s hut features Aragog the spider and buildable pumpkins.The Whomping Willow includes the buildable blue Flying Ford Anglia car in its spinning branches. Also includes 5 buildable boats.
Take a seat in the Great Hall and feast with the Hogwarts professors and students! Sneak your way into the Chamber of Secrets through the secret entrance and face the Basilisk! Attend a Defence Against the Dark Arts class to learn how to protect yourself from dark magic! Climb the moving staircase! Study for your Ordinary Wizarding Level exams in the library.
Accessory elements include the Sword of Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff´s cup, wands, potions, house banners, flames, a cauldron and 2 magnifying glasses. Microfigure accessories include 2 chess statues and the Architect of Hogwarts statue.
Hogwarts™ Castle measures over 22” (58cm) high, 27” (69cm) wide and 16” (43cm) deep.
Your best bet is to order Hogwarts Castle directly from LEGO. Other retailers are selling this set, but at a higher price. Get this for the Harry Potter fan on your gift list and they’ll never know that you’re a Womble…or a Muggle…or whatever.
It’s a short PopCulteer today. We are still in the midst of the 2018 PopCult Gift Guide and that’s eating up a lot of our writing time. I do want to remind you that you can still tune in to The AIR, our sister internet radio station, at the website, or on this embedded player…
We’re hoping to bring you new episodes of our music programming next week, including Radio Free Charleston and a very special 50th episode of Mel Larch’s Curtain Call. In the meantime, we’re still bringing you the best independent re-runs you’ll find anywhere.
Also, before we get to our main topic today, since we posted our suggestion for the 2018 HESS Toy Truck, they have released a commercial, which you can see right here…
Geoffrey’s Toy Disappointment
News broke late last week that the much-vaunted “Geoffrey’s Toy Box,” the psuedo-revival of Toys R Us following their bankruptcy, is a bit of a fizzle. Rather than partnering with Kohl’s, which is what I thought would happen, it turns out that their retail partner is Kroger.
We will be getting Geoffrey’s Toy Box in all the local Kroger locations, and to be honest, it’s no big deal. There will be cardboard dumps on pallets with Geoffrey’s Toy Box markings, and all that they will hold will be the private-label Toys R Us knockoff brands, priced twenty to fifty bucks each, with are not terribly appealing.
There are only 35 different toys, and most of them are, to be frank, boring and unspectacular. They are also priced so that they can be marked down 50% and still turn a profit. The only item they have that I found even remotely interesting is the bucket of toy soldiers, and I picked those up at their regular price of ten dollars last year, before TRU announced their liquidation.
This just seems like a way for them to wring a few bucks out of the private-label toys that were already in the pipeline to be delivered after the liquidation ended in June. So it’s there if you’re interested.
By the way, Kohl’s did not pick up Geoffrey’s Toy Box, but they did acquire the over-priced and underwhelming selection of toys marketed under the FAO Schwarz name. This was the stuff that FAO sold through Bon Ton stores (including Elder-Beerman), so if you passed up any of this stuff when it was 90% off during the Elder-Beerman liquidation, now you can go to Kohl’s and pay full price. It’s exactly the same stuff.
Also, the promised KBToys revival in time Christmas is not going to happen. There is no official word, but there are rumors they may try to launch permanent stores next summer. It also looks like we are not going to get a Go Games store anywhere near Charleston this year. With any luck, they will greatly expand the toy department in our local Best Buy, which is happening in some stores nationwide.
With that piddly news, we sign off this PopCulteer, and jump back into the 2018 PopCult Gift Guide. This weekend brings two more BIG TICKET DAYS and then on Monday we’ll try to keep every gift suggestion under sixty bucks again.
Todd Burge: The First Album and Your Reflection Will Kill You
Today’s local pick in the 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is a tremendous value. For a mere fifteen bucks you get two albums by one of West Virginia’s premiere songwriters and musicians, Todd Burge. One is his very first album, recorded in 1986 and unreleased until now, and the other was recorded just a couple of months ago.
Let’s go to Todd’s own words for the full explanation:
“One was recorded a few weeks ago and the other a few decades ago. Simply put, the new one is an acoustic album, and the old one is a rock album. This is a long story and I’m hoping you’ll follow me online or better yet, go to one of my shows so I can tell you more about it, but for now…..
“Todd Burge (1986 The First Album) was recorded while I was still attending West Virginia University back in the mid-80s. I got signed to Hardway Records in California, they paid for me to record an album, the deal fell through and I didn’t own the recordings. As a result, it was never released. It bothered me for years as I loved the album. I was kindly sent the master tapes last year (31 years later!) by the owner of Hardway Records, Randall Arlett. Listening to what the 20-year-old me wrote and sang about is interesting and fun for me now. It’s almost like an out of the body and brain experience. Even back then I was writing personal songs as well as character based songs like Cavewoman, which is about a mouth breathing sexist. I’m proud of the 20-year-old me. This is a rock record and to me it represents a sonic segue between my two bands The Larries, and the much heavier 63 Eyes, who still play a bit to this day.
“The new album, Your Reflection Will Kill You is an all acoustic album that lyrically looks back on some facts and fiction that have brought me to where I am today. It is live, except for two vocal overdubs. To me, this is a concept recording. A “37-minute-long song” and I’d love for it to be listened to in that way. For years, I’ve admired the superb musicality of Ryan Kennedy and John Inghram, who are both well-known electric players from WV, but on occasion I would hear them playing acoustic, and it got me to dreaming about what we three might sound like together. Don Dixon came to my home studio with his mobile gear and captured it perfectly. He makes it all comfortable and real. Every musical action I have made or taken in over the last three decades was poured into this latest recording and now, I hand it over to you.”
I jujst got my copy of the two-fer CD yesterday, and haven’t had time to fully digest it. You can expect to hear several tracks from each album in the coming weeks on Radio Free Charleston. This is the perfect gift for any fan of Todd’s, or anybody who appreciates clever songwriting and great music. You can order it from Todd’s Bandcamp page, or check to see if the local record stores have it in stock. It’s a winner.
Next up in the 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is our most generic suggestion of the year, a Tiki mug. We are not recommending a specific Tiki mug, but will point you to a really great online source for Tiki mugs and other stuff at prices ranging from dirt low to still quite reasonable.
Swiping liberally from the Wikipedia, let me explain that Tiki mugs are large ceramic cocktail mugs that originated in tiki bars and tropical-themed restaurants. The term “tiki mugs” is a generic blanket term for sculptural drinkware that depict Polynesian, mock-Polynesian, or tropical themes. Even a non-drinker like your PopCulteer can enjoy the craft and artistry that goes into creating this cool mugs. These are the perfect gift for the person with an appreciation of all things Tiki.
Also, according to Wikipedia, Tiki mugs are not commonly seen outside tiki bars and restaurants, but are also a kitsch collectors item. It is that collectors item part that makes this a great gift idea. Your PopCulteer has recently made room to start a collection of Tiki mugs, and it’s a great way to enjoy the trappings of mid-century Tiki culture in your own home.
Originally created as both signature and marketing tools to hold the exotic libations, the 1960s also saw the ceramic craft market following suit by releasing ceramic tiki mug molds for the hobbyist to customize. These original mugs, whether related to a location or made by the hobbyist, also known as the vintage mugs, once found in abundance on the dusty shelves of junk shops in the 1980s and 90s, became a sought after item for those who were responsible for the revival of interest in the heyday of places like Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s.
Though hobbyists and ceramic artists, in a small capacity, have continued to make these mugs at home, and larger manufacturers have mass-produced restaurant and bar promotional souvenirs since the 1960s the “tiki revival” of the 1990s and then 2008 onwards produced new variations.
At the website, Retro Planet, you will find a wide range of recent, yet very cool Tiki mugs. They offer “instant collections,” where you can get four, five or more mugs for one low price, and they have individual Tiki mugs that range from under seven dollars to upwards of fifty bucks. Many fairly elaborate mugs are under thirty dollars each. They offer over two hundred mugs, along with other cool Tiki items and tons of other cool pop culture, Americana and automotive collectibles at their website.
Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion
by Gina McIntyre (Foreword by The Duffer Brothers)
Del Rey
ISBN-13: 978-1984817426
$36.00 (discounted at Amazon)
The absolute perfect gift for any loyal fan of the hit Netlix series, Stranger Things, this book, Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion is the official behind-the-scenes companion guide to the first two seasons of Stranger Things and beyond, featuring exclusive color photos and stunning concept art.
This book has been cleverly designed to mimic a used book. The marks, scuffs, and tears on the cover and pages are an intentional design element. This makes it more like a prop from the show than just a simply book.
When the first season of Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in the summer of 2016, the show struck a nerve with millions of viewers worldwide and received broad critical acclaim. The series has gone on to win six Emmy Awards, but its success was driven more than anything by word of mouth, resonating across generations. Viewers feel personal connections to the characters. Now fans can immerse themselves in the world—or worlds—of Hawkins, Indiana, like never before. Inside you’ll find
• original commentary and a foreword from creators Matt and Ross Duffer
• exclusive interviews with the stars of the show, including Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, and David Harbour
• the show’s earliest drafts, pitches to Netflix, and casting calls
• insights into the Duffers’ creative process from the entire crew—from costume and set designers to composers and visual-effects specialists
• deep dives into the cultural artifacts and references that inspired the look and feel of the show
• a map of everyday Hawkins—with clues charting the network of the Upside Down
• the Morse code disk Eleven uses, so you can decipher secret messages embedded throughout the text
• a look into the future of the series—including a sneak preview of season three!
Adding whole new layers to enrich the viewing experience, this keepsake is essential reading for anyone and everyone who loves Stranger Things. If you have a rabid fan of Stranger Things on your holiday shopping list, then you know that they may be going through withdrawal pains because season three was delayed until next year. This book may be just what they need to make it through to the new season. You can order Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion from any bookstore by using the ISBN code, or go for the big discount at Amazon.
Our final gift suggestion for today is not so much a gift or a specific store, but a heads up about a Facebook page. In this case, it’s a Facebook page devoted to Downtown Charleston and the stores that will be open and participating in Small Business Saturday, which is the Saturday following Thanksgiving, and the day after Black Friday.
This November 24 you can head to the bosom of Downtown and enjoy all sorts of wonderful shopping experiences. You may find books, music, jewelry, furniture, art, art supplies, clothes, shoes and knacks of the knick variety. Like and visit the Downtown Charleston Shop Small page and you’ll discover which stores are running what specials, who has the best discounts and which place has the neatest stuff hot off the truck.
This page was created by the Downtown Charleston Business Association, and will let you know the latest about The Purple Moon, Taylor Books, Stray Dog Antiques, The Art Emporium, Tony the Tailor, Delfine’s Jewelry and the dozens of other locally-owned and operated stores and boutiques that make Downtown Charleston such a vibrant place to shop. I will be including many of the participating businesses (and many that I haven’t the space to mention here) in the coming weeks in The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide, but this page will give you additional information and more details.
And you can use the page as a reference all through the holiday season, so click on over and check it out.
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