Eminem Donates $150,000 to Change4Change & SNL Behind the Scenes Pics
Wow the biggest donation of the ENTIRE day just came in courtesy of @Eminem who just donated $ 150,000 to @breakfastclubam's #Change4Change 🙏🏾🙌🏾👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/yl9PNhXtgP
— Power 105.1 (@Power1051) November 17, 2017
The Breakfast Club recognizes the importance of equality for all regardless of socioeconomic status, race, gender or sexual orientation. We're proud to partner with an amazing foundation, The Gathering for Justice, who shares the same values and goals–to eliminate racial and social inequalities and to end child incarceration.
Ok you know I'm freaking out right now!! Oh my goodness!! @Eminem y'all know I totally fan girled out I know he think I'm a geek lol but I could not help it!! Omg!! This week is gonna be so pumped!! pic.twitter.com/dwWizggAuK
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) November 16, 2017
No idea when this album is being released now. This promo is giving me a headache tbh. Em seems over it already. But I am excited for SNL with fellow psychos!!!
https://twitter.com/Power1051/status/931361725571567617
https://twitter.com/Lesdoggg/status/931288831914938368
ONTD Original™ – Halloween Edition: The Psychology Behind 12 Episodes of 'The Haunting Hour'
Between 2010 and 2014, there was a little known young adult, episodic anthology by the name of The Haunting Hour that aired on the Hub Network (later Discovery Family). It was mainly a supernatural show partly based on two collections of short stories, 'The Haunting Hour' and 'The Nightmare Hour,' by R.L. Stine. Executive producers of the series included Dan Angel and Billy Brown, who collectively worked on series such as Animorphs, Goosebumps, Night Visions, and The X-Files. Like Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Haunting Hour used horror as a metaphor for everyday issues. There were times where episodes had heavier themes, hence why every episode had a parental advisory suggesting that viewers watch with their families. At its core, The Haunting Hour is is aimed toward children and teenagers, but there was still something in most episodes that appealed to the adult psyche.
Many of these types of "best/scariest episodes" lists about TV shows become a bit monotonous. So in a better effort to connect the series to real life as well as make this more worthwhile of a read, the psychology of themes or aspects in each episode is briefly explored. If you live in the U.S.A. and you have Netflix, seasons one and two are available to stream right now. With no further ado, here are twelve episodes of The Haunting Hour and some psycho-babble about each one. Beware of spoilers, by the way.
Season 2, Episode 11 – "Scarecrow"
A mysterious man gives Jenny a scarecrow to get rid of the crows eating her crops. Her brother, Bobby, is weary of his sister accepting the gift.
As Jenny tries to display the scarecrow, it disappears when she's not looking. Bobby claims not to have anything to do with it, though. The next day, the scarecrow is posted in the field. More strange things happen: Bobby's cows go missing, and his friend Amy calls about something evil coming their way. He goes to visit Amy, but she along with everyone else in town is nowhere to be found. It looks as if everyone has vanished into thin air. Back on the farm, Jenny is now gone, too. The mysterious man that gave Jenny the scarecrow tells Bobby that scarecrows are part of a plan to end the world. The stranger finally turns into a scarecrow, which Bobby sets on fire. Everyone Bobby knows and loves is gone, and he wanders the world alone. In an alternate ending that was shown later, Bobby becomes a scarecrow, too. He and the stranger are presumably the only ones left in the world at that point.
Why we want the world to end
The world came to an end without warning for Bobby. However, some people in real life are prepared for or at least consumed with the idea of the world's end.
Dr. Daniel Sullivan from the University of Arizona thinks that people's fascination with the world ending is rooted in our desire to reduce the real evils and dangers of life. It is easier to expect danger to come from a single rather than accept that evil is complex and unending.
"Doomsday Is Postponed Again: Here's Why We're All So Obsessed With The End Of World, According to Psychology." Newsweek, 26 September. 2017, http://www.newsweek.com/doomsday-postpone-again-heres-why-were-obsessed-end-world-according-psychology-670860.
Season 1, Episode 6 – "The Red Dress"
Jamie and her best friend work at a country club frequented by Zack, the guy Jamie is smitten with. However, Jamie does not think he would be attracted to someone like herself.
While perusing the belongings at a thrift shop called The Raven's Chest, Jamie spots a beautiful red dress. The blind owner, Abigail Raven, tells her the cost, but Jamie cannot afford the dress. Jamie returns that night and tries on the dress, which she ends up stealing. Jamie wants to return the dress later, but she now has Zack's attention. She keeps it for the time being. The longer she holds on to the dress, the more Jamie believes that Abigail is stalking her. She can't enjoy finally having Zack to herself because of how scared she is of Abigail. After going to the dance with Zack, Jamie returns home to find Abigail's pet raven from the shop. Jamie calls out to Abigail in the house, if she is there, and says that she can have the dress back. A hand suddenly grabs Jamie and pulls her inside her room. The next morning, Jamie wakes up, but she cannot see anything – she has gone blind. Back at The Raven's Chest, Abigail puts Jamie's glasses in a glass case. She opens her eyes, revealing that she is no longer blind. Abigail says, "Everyone must pay."
Revenge – worth it or not?
Jamie stole a dress from a blind woman, but Abigail took her sight. Is the idea of an "eye for an eye," pun unintended, really worth it?
Author Peg Streep says that most people never get past the fantasy part of revenge. That alone is enough to satiate one who feels like they have been wronged. Your moral compass basically won't let you carry out the revenge scenario you've concocted in your head. The difference between revenge and punishment is with punishment, one is trying to improve the transgressor's behavior while serving that person a deterrent so that they do not repeat the actions that got them punished in the first place. Revenge is about making the transgressor suffer. In the end, the act of revenge may have a cathartic effect, but it might also make participants feel worse. They will be left to stew over their actions even more.
"The Psychology of Revenge (and Vengeful People)." Psychology Today, 19 July. 2017, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/tech-support/201707/the-psychology-revenge-and-vengeful-people.
Season 2, Episode 5 – "Pumpkinhead"
Scott and his brother Dave want to go out on Halloween night, but the town has a curfew in place since three kids went missing last year.
With their mother at work, the brothers force their sister, Allie, to take them to get bigger pumpkins to carve. They sneak onto a farmer's forbidden pumpkin patch, where they steal some gourds after being told by the owner to leave and never return. The pumpkins they took turn out to be unusable so they watch a movie. Allie and Dave race back to the farm when they realize that Scott is missing. They assume their brother went back to the farm. Dave waits in the car as Allie searches for her other brother on the grounds. The farmer confronts her and reveals that he beheaded the the three missing kids from last Halloween for trespassing . He replaced their heads with pumpkins. Back at the car, Dave sleeps as a Pumpkinhead approaches outside.
Halloween is beneficial
Two of the protagonists in "Pumpkinhead" wanted to have a fun Halloween, but the adults wouldn't let them – for good reason. However, do kids and teens really need Halloween?
In an article penned by Nick Nedeljkovic, he determines that for the most part, yes, the youth do benefit from participating in Halloween. Especially the younger ones. While costuming gives kids a confidence boost, it may also encourage temporarily acting out and defiance. Children can use their costumes to combat their fears, especially of death. A downside, at least for adults, is that Halloween can cause kids to act more demanding and mischievous.
"What Halloween Teaches Us About Child Psychology." Matific, 27 October. 2016, https://www.matific.com/us/en-us/blog/2016/10/27/what-halloween-teaches-us-about-child-psychology.
Season 1, Episodes 21-22 – "Scary Mary"
Hannah, a teenager that does not like to look at herself in mirrors or photographs, plays a game with her friends called "Scary Mary."
The game supposedly summons the spirit of Mary, a vain girl that died in a farmhouse fire. If one does the ritual properly, Mary will appear before the summoner and steal their face so that she can become beautiful again. The spell works and Mary's masked servants abduct Hannah through a mirror. With Hannah stuck in the mirror world, Mary, disguised as Hannah, takes over her life in the real world. Eventually, Hannah's friend Eric rescues her from the mirror reality before she suffers the same fate as Mary once did.
Avoiding mirrors boosts self-esteem
Hannah said she didn't like to look at images of herself, which could have been a sign of low self-esteem.
Back in 2011, blogger Autumn Whitefield-Madrano wrote about an experiment that went viral: she believed that not looking at the mirror for an extended period of time (a year) would help her self-esteem. Those who held their own similar experiments felt less worried about how others perceived them, or they were less inclined to be self-deprecating about their bodies.
"Does Not Looking In Mirrors Really Help Your Self-Esteem, Or Could It Hurt It? Here's What The Science Says." Bustle, 26 March. 2015, https://www.bustle.com/articles/72194-does-not-looking-in-mirrors-really-help-your-self-esteem-or-could-it-hurt-it-heres-what.
Season 2, Episode 6 – "Brush with Madness"
Corey is upset after finally meeting his idol, graphic novel artist Alan Miller, at a convention. The teenager's overzealous approach scares the artist off.
Corey then steals some of his paint brushes, which he uses to create his own comic and a new villain called the Mad Artist. Soon, Corey realizes that every panel he paints is actually predicting future events pertaining to his life. This puts his best friend, Emma, in danger as the Mad Artist has become real himself. In coming to help Emma, who has been taken by the Mad Artist, Corey allows himself to be abducted, too. The two are restrained, left helpless as the Mad Artist lowers a machine saw over them. Everything up to that point was revealed to be part of Alan Miller's new comic, which was inspired by his encounter with Corey. As Miller destroys the comic in a paper shredder, he says that Corey will "never read it." Corey and Emma's screams are heard, implying that they died in real life.
When idol admiration stops being okay
Corey looks up to Miller and lets him know that well into their meeting. However, the way he presents himself to the artist was more aggressive than Miller would have liked. Is Corey's behavior okay?
Psychologist Shira Gabriel did an experiment that showed that those individuals with favorite celebrities scored higher on self-esteem tests. This was attributed to the subjects' admiration of their respective idols, which was said to help reinforce two important pieces of healthy childhood development: community and belongingness. Reasonable idolatry is viewed as healthy in any age group, but when it starts to affect one's personal life in negative ways, that is considered to be something called celebrity worship syndrome.
"The Psychological Effects Of Idolatry: How Celebrity Crushes Impact Children's Health." Medical Daily, 25 October. 2015, http://www.medicaldaily.com/psychological-effects-idolatry-how-celebrity-crushes-impact-childrens-health-358604.
Season 3, Episode 15 – "Séance"
Carla's sister, Naomi, and her friend Tracey try to scare Carla with the legend of Cyrus Clayton, a disgruntled sawmill worker that killed his boss after being fired for drinking on the job. Clayton then lost his leg in a freak accident.
Naomi and everyone conduct a séance to contact Clayton. To further scare Carla, Naomi's friend Dylan pretends to be Cyrus Clayton. Naomi and her friends begin to wonder if they took things too far and if the séance actually did summon Cyrus. Their fears are temporarily quelled once Carla admits that she was pranking them back. She finally introduces the real one-legged Cyrus, who is holding an axe and asking the other three which one of them is gonna give him a leg.
The truth about séances
Like in horror movie where people resort to conducting séances as a gag, Naomi and her friends use it as a way to bully Carla. Are real-life séances any more or less real?
Professor Richard Wiseman, also a magician and the author of Paranormality, says that seances are built more on framing and suggestion than anything else. Once participants in a séance believe there is a spirit involved, they won't accept another explanation. How the séance is set up helps, too: for instance, susceptibility is increased if you darken the room to heighten senses. Séances are ultimately not real, as many people already know.
"The psychology of spiritualism: science and seances." Rawstory, 20 October. 2013, https://www.rawstory.com/2013/10/the-psychology-of-spiritualism-science-and-seances.
Season 2, Episode 8 – "Mascot"
Willie and Drake petition to replace their school's current mascot, Big Yellow, with a new mascot.
Thinking that Big Yellow is behind the disappearance of the student replacing him, Willie and Drake look into the history of Big Yellow. No one on staff seems to know anything about Big Yellow or who the student inside of the costume is. Willie goes to confront Big Yellow one night at the school. He enters the auditorium to find the Big Yellow costume with the removed head resting on the seats. As Willie turns his back to it, the headless Big Yellow rises up behind him. Drake goes to the next basktetball game and calls Willie, who he hasn't seen in a while. He can hear his friend's cell phone ringing inside of Big Yellow. Willie and the student that went missing earlier are trapped inside of the digestive system of Big Yellow, who is actually a real monster and not just a student in a costume.
Coping with fear of masks and costumes
The boys in "Mascot" could have benefitted from a healthy fear of Big Yellow. Do people really fear mascots, though?
Yes. There is a diagnosed fear of those wearing masks and costumes called masklophobia. It is especially common in children, and some link it to the fear of clowns, too. Experts think the fear stems from people's expectations of how a human should look. When those affected see someone that is obviously a person, but in a mask or costume, they become confused and scared. Treatment includes cognitive-behavioral therapy and systematic desensitization.
"What is Maskaphobia or Fear of Masks?." Very Well, 19 August. 2017, https://www.verywell.com/maskaphobia-or-fear-of-masks-2671868.
Season 1, Episode 17 – "Catching Cold"
Marty becomes obsessed with a mysterious ice cream truck that he can never seem to catch in time. The mailman tells Marty that there was once a boy named James that eventually caught the elusive ice cream truck, but once the child entered, he never got out.
After the truck gives him a free sample, Marty refuses to eat any other ice cream. Marty manages to stop the truck one night by laying out tire spikes from his father's police car. Inside the truck, Marty meets an adult man that refuses to take any money. The man is actually James, all grown up. He reveals that the truck has no driver, and it runs on souls. James leaves the truck, forcing Marty to take his place. The truck drives off with Marty forever trapped inside.
Proof that ice cream makes you happy
Marty's obsession with ice cream got him in trouble. Was it worth it?
In an experiment on twelve subjects, sometimes a fatty solution was injected via a gastric feeding tube with its tip in the person's stomach. Other times, it was another solution, such as a salty one. They watched visuals of sad human facial expressions while listening to morose or neutral classical music. When the respondents were given the fatty solution, the intensity of their sad emotions were reduced by almost half, which is comparable to the results of taking a prescription antidepressant. They also noted that giving the subjects the fatty solution before administering the imagery and music helped reduce subsequent sadness.
"Fatty acid–induced gut-brain signaling attenuates neural and behavioral effects of sad emotion in humans." The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 25 July. 2011, https://www.jci.org/articles/view/46380?key=d4c77fedce32ebbd4d8a.
"Why Ice Cream Chases the Blues Away." Psychology Today, 26 July. 2011, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-sense/201107/why-ice-cream-chases-the-blues-away.
Season 3, Episode 8 – "My Imaginary Friend"
Shawn has an imaginary friend name Travis, who Shawn's brother David thinks is a bad influence.
David is suddenly able to see Travis as well. This puts David in danger as Travis tries to kill him. Shawn comes between them during a fight. Now understanding who Travis really is, Shawn turns on him and Travis disappears. The ordeal forces Shawn to realize that he was going through a phase, and that he needs to get rid to all of his imaginary friends. Shawn tearfully says goodbye to David, who fades away like Travis did.
Having imaginary friends is normal
For Shawn, having imaginary friends helped him cope with his home life. A study by the University of Washington and University of Oregon says that by age seven, over fifty percent of kids will have an imaginary friend.
Eldest or only children are more likely to create them, too. These invisible friends can be born out of a need for imaginative play, or out of boredom and loneliness. Parents shouldn't worry because kids do usually know the difference between real and pretend. These imaginary friends tend to go away when children enter school, where it's socially frowned upon to have them.
"Why kids invent imaginary friends." Today's Parent, 26 October. 2016, https://www.todaysparent.com/kids/school-age/why-kids-invent-imaginary-friends.
Season 3, Episode 16 – "Detention"
Audrey, a jock nicknamed Halftime, and homecoming queen Kate are all stuck in detention with nerdy Gabe. As their time in detention furthers, strange things start to happen, and Audrey sees a devilish face in the door window.
Halftime admits to a janitor that he rigged the homecoming queen ballot box for Kate, but Kate refuses to confess to the detention teacher that she cheated to win. As the detention room's environment becomes more chaotic, Audrey finally reveals that she threw a smoke bomb at Kate and Halftime's float in the homecoming parade, causing an accident that took both their lives. Gabe turns out to be some kind of higher power that can change forms (he was both the teacher and the janitor), and he was assigned to be their guide in this sort of purgatory where they must atone for their actions. However, Kate has not admitted to her wrongdoings, and she believes she deserves to be dead. Audrey reminds her that they used to be friends, and their reconciliation frees them from purgatory. The girls and Halftime are sent back in time to the day of the homecoming parade before the accident.
Why childhood friendships end
Like for many people, Audrey and Kate were once close friends before they drifted apart in high school.
This is a common occurrence in adolescence as people want more freedom at that age. They want to explore, but sometimes friendships disallow that. It's also not to say that friends can't remain close while still going their separate ways. Both people must be aware of this as they stay in communication and share with each other their new experiences. For those friendships that just don't pan out in the long run, the one left behind should treat losing a friend with some appreciation. You were able to be best friends in the first place so you recognize the value. This prepares you for making another close friend, as long as you are open to it.
"Adolescence and the Loss of a Best Friend." Psychology Today, 3 September. 2012, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201209/adolescence-and-the-loss-best-friend.
Season 2, Episode 15 – "Stage Fright"
A high school's drama club is putting on a musical rendition of "Hansel and Gretel" in spite of learning that misfortune befell other schools that performed the same play.
On opening night, the show is a complete disaster. On top of technical difficulties, actors and stagehands begin to disappear. At the end, the cast and staff are all bound and gagged on stage by a mysterious woman. She is the witch that the play is about, and she cursed the story because it was always mistold. The audience, full of parents not realizing that this isn't part of the show, listen as the witch informs them of how her story is being told incorrectly. The witch didn't eat Hansel and Gretel; she ate their parents. As the exits are magically sealed and the lights are turned off, the parents can be heard screaming.
A psycho-analysis of "Hansel and Gretel"
"Hansel and Gretel" is one of those classic fairy tales that most people know of, but not everyone understands what it really entails.
The basic story has a poor father and stepmother discarding their children in the woods because they can no longer care for them. They find their way home once, but the stepmother orders the father to do away with them again. The children come upon a gingerbread house that they consume, not knowing that inside is a witch. The witch, having planned on eating Hansel and Gretel, is killed, and the kids return home with the witch's jewels in hand. Austrian psychoanalysist Bruno Bettelheim examined the fable from Sigmund Freud's point of view. Poverty in the story is presented as something that makes those inflicted by it less inclined to be sensitive to the suffering of others. Even though their parents abandoned them, Hansel and Gretel still desire to be at home. The first time around, Hansel used pebbles to help them get home. This indicated his maturity, something that was absent when he used breadcrumbs later. Birds ate the crumbs, preventing him and his sister from finding the path home. Moreover, the gingerbread house is a symbol for a mother – like a mother, the house feeds the children. The witch is also symbolism for a mother. Both she, the stepmother, and the house are all viewed as bad things. Many analysts ponder if the witch and the stepmother, who died of unknown causes before the children came home again, were one and the same as both perished almost simultaneously. Bettelheim states that the children's id, therefore their impulses, caused them to get in trouble (i.e., eating the gingerbread house). If they had used their ego to control their id, they could have avoided what was to come.
"Hansel and Gretel – Psychological Perspective." Edu Nepal, 22 May. 2015, http://edunepal.info/hseb/xii-english/hansel-and-gretel-psychological-perspective.html.
Season 2, Episode 4 – "Flight"
Josh is flying alone for the first time on a plane to visit his divorced father. In mid-flight, he learns that an adult passenger seated near him is actually a ghost being pursued by the Grim Reaper, who is disguised as an elderly woman.
The ghost, Vincent, refuses to go with the Reaper, though. This causes the plane to malfunction. Josh is able to get through to Vincent, who is ready to move on. On the ground, the old woman implies that she will be seeing Josh again very soon.
Children's death anxiety
The child in "Flight" was not so much scared of Death itself, but of what would happen if one does not comply by his (or her) rules.
There is such a thing as the fear of death (thanatophobia), but one must be affected by it for at least six months before being diagnosed. Freelance writer and parent Ellen Himelfar says that it's best to be direct and swift when young children start to develop death anxiety. Parents should speak of death in biological terms rather than abstractly, and also to avoid spiritual crutches as talks of "so-and-so has gone to heaven" can be more confusing. Have kids focus on the now and not what could happen one day.
"Children and the fear of death." The Telegraph, 7 September. 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/11075311/Children-and-the-fear-of-death.html.
View Poll: #2073744
What were you scared of as a child, ONTD?
13 Vintage YA Thrillers About Secrets, Lies & Confessions
Collective Names for 13 Animals & More As Seen in Horror
15 Bullies & Mean Girls in Horror
The Horror Filmography of the 'Gossip Girl' Cast
35 Road Thrillers and Horror Movies
20 Cryptids & Mythological Creatures Found in Movies & TV
13 Tips to Help You Fight a Slasher Villain
20 Thrillers About Dangerous Obsessions
10 Horror Movies with Scary Phone Calls
12 Things You May Not Know About the 'Friday the 13th' Franchise
10 Classic Urban Legends as Told by 'Freaky Stories'
20 Horror Movies Set in Clinics & Hospitals
30 Workplace Horror Movies
Behind the Scenes of "Look What You Made Me Do"
Insider look at the production and filming of the "Taylor Mountain" sequence in her "Look What You Made Me Do" music video.
ONTD, is she still the same Taylor?
The Hidden Meaning Behind Taylor Swift's Fascination With the Number 13
It's no secret that Taylor Swift has a fascination with the number 13; both her Fearless and 1989 albums each have 13 tracks, her Twitter handle is "TaylorSwift13," and she even writes the number on her Band-Aids and hands. So, what exactly is Taylor's obsession with the number? Not only is Dec. 13, 1989 her birthday, but as it turns out, the number has a special significance to her career. "I paint this on my hand before every show because 13 is my lucky number; for a lot of reasons," she explained to MTV News in 2009. "I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album [Taylor Swift] went gold in 13 weeks. My first #1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I've won an award I've been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter. Basically whenever a 13 comes up in my life, it's a good thing."
Han Solo film had even more behind the scenes drama
New details emerge from the set of the troubled Han Solo movie https://t.co/iaPDZDbJBp pic.twitter.com/CpFlJUhDlv
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 26, 2017
More reports are coming out about the drama behind the scenes of the Han Solo spin off film. As you may be aware, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were replaced by Ron Howard last week.
A break down of additional drama is below.
The Hollywood Reporter alleges multiple situations of a difference in opinion on the film between the directors and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.
The directors were not filming extra takes to use in the editing process and Kennedy and Solo co-scriptwriter/producer Lawrence Kasdan were concerned about the direction Miller and Lord were going with the film.
Sources claimed the directors were beginning to feel massive pressure from Kennedy and Kasdan and limiting their creative freedom during the production process.
After filming moved from London to the Canary Islands this year, Lucasfilm replaced the editor of the film, Chris Dickens, with longtime Ridley Scott collaborator Pietro Scalia.
In addition, Lucasfilm also asked the directors to bring on an acting coach (as THR notes, while it's not unusual for acting coaches to be hired, it's unprecedented for a film so late in production) for star Alden Ehrenreich, after registering dissatisfaction with the performance Miller and Lord were getting out of the actor.
Kennedy requested writer Kasdan to head to the set after these changes didn't lead to the results they were looking for on the film. Miller and Lord pushed back at his presence—said to be similar to Tony Gilroy's late-game involvement in completing Rogue One after its own production troubles—and a day later, Kennedy made the decision to fire the directors.
One speaking to THR claims that upon the announcement to the crew that Ron Howard would step in to take over the film a day after Miller and Lord's firing, applause broke out. But while Miller and Lord are now off the film, s claim that Howard is very willing to use much of the footage they shot to help complete the movie.
Bob Iger isn't confirming or denying if the movie will be delayed.