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Movies that appeal to guests trigger issues for locals

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Italian Americans are constantly fighting Mafia stereotypes. New Zealanders are fed up with Tolkien tourists. Italian policemen chase people out of the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

Blockbuster hits like “The Godfather” and “The Lord of the Rings” can bring a massive influx of tourism to the locations where they are filmed. But headaches often follow.

Mel Gibson’s historic action film was released in 1996 “Brave Heart“resulted in a 300% increase in visitor numbers to the National Wallace Monument in Scotland.Harry Potter“The film franchise caused tourism to grow by at least 50% in every UK location where the films were filmed, according to a 2006 article in the Journal of Travel Research.

Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” resulted in a 300 percent increase in visitors to the National Wallace Monument in Scotland.

20th Century Fox | Filmpix | Getty Images

So-called film tourism can stimulate the local economy and fill gaps created by seasonal tourism lulls. But there is often a downside.

Negative connotations

Considered one of the greatest films of all time – “The Godfather“- created a unique set of problems for the locations shown in the film.

Part of the film takes place in the Sicilian village of Corleone, where the character of Mafia boss Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando, was born and raised before he emigrated to New York City.

Fans of “The Godfather” trilogy still associate Corleone, Sicily with crime, violence and mafia culture.

Michael Ochs Archive | Filmpix | Getty Images

The artist Maria D. Rapicavoli, who studied the town of Corleone, said that many tourists are looking for the atmosphere of “The Godfather”, but leave disappointed if they do not meet the Mafiosi.

“I’m not sure what they’re looking for – maybe men who hold guns in the street or … women who wear black?” She told CNBC.

Rapicavoli has examined her experiences there in an exhibition entitled “If You Saw What I Saw” and writes that Corleone is a place where people “play the role of actors in front of an audience of discerning tourists, as if their city were one permanent film set would be. “

In a description of the exhibition she told of people she had met: a Polish tourist looking for the “godfather’s village”, a Canadian who enjoyed a “real Mafia atmosphere”, and a tour guide who taught about the Italian mob there.

Ironically, the film wasn’t even shot in Corleone, but in the Sicilian villages of Savoca and Forza d’Agro.

The popularity of “The Godfather” as well as “Goodfellas” and The untouchables“Caused problems in the United States too. Some argue that, to the millions of viewers who have seen them, these films unfairly typify Italian Americans as violent and misogynistic criminals.

Reckless behavior

“The Hangover“and its depictions of drug-addicted, wild bachelorette parties can encourage reckless behavior in Las Vegas. People try to mimic famous scenes in the movie, including sneaking up on the roof and wondering where to find live tigers,” according to the Las Vegas Review- Journal.

People still quote the famous line, “Did Caesar Live Here?” in the main lobby of Caesars Palace, a hotel representative told CNBC. Others ask to stay in the “Hangover Suite” – even though these parts of the film were shot on a film set.

A wax figure of actor Zach Galifianakis depicting the character Alan Garner in “The Hangover ‘Experience” at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas.

Bryan Steffy | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Tour packages and replica sets in Las Vegas allow fans of the trilogy to relive the film without chaos.

On the other side of the Atlantic, film fans defy local laws.

Since the release of the famous Italian film director Federico Fellini “The sweet life“In 1960, inspired tourists mimicked the film’s most memorable scene by climbing Rome’s Trevi Fountain. To this day – some 60 years later – the Italian authorities continue to struggle with overzealous fans, some of whom waded proudly in dresses and fur stoles as they waded around the fountain.

The actors Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain in Rome during the filming of “La Dolce Vita” by director Federico Fellini in 1959.

Umberto Cicconi | Hulton Archives | Getty Images

Other incidents were more chaotic. Tourists were caught swimming and splashing around, sometimes naked. Others have tried to climb on the sculptures or carve their names into them, which puts the architecture at risk.

Rome’s authorities have begun cracking down on intruders and have fined up to 450 euros ($ 527) for disorderly behavior around the fountain, according to Italian media reports.

In 2020, a plan to build a 1 meter high steel and glass barrier around the fountain was approved by Rome City Council but received heavy criticism from monument experts who feared it would ruin the view.

Overtourism

New Zealand has seen a massive tourism boom thanks to “the Lord of the rings” and “The Hobbit“Trilogies.

In what is referred to as “Tolkien tourism,” travelers look for locations where the films were shot, such as Matamata – which served as the Shire – and the picturesque Queenstown reservation, where the character of Boromir met an early death.

According to Tourism New Zealand, the country’s tourism authority, one in three New Zealand visitors visited at least one movie set in 2019. In the same year, more than one in ten people went to Hobbiton, where guided set tours of Hobbit’s homes are offered.

Film buffs can take part in “Second Breakfast” tours in Hobbiton in Matamata, New Zealand.

Anna Gorin | Moment | Getty Images

The films are why, according to Tourism New Zealand, in 2019 around 10% of all visitors to New Zealand were seriously considering traveling there. These travelers contributed around $ 630 million ($ 437 million) to the country’s economy in 2019 alone, the tourism authority told CNBC.

However, a survey by the tourism association found that almost one in five Kiwis is concerned that the country is attracting too many tourists. According to a 2019 report by Tourism New Zealand, overcrowding at tourist attractions, lack of infrastructure, traffic jams and environmental damage create tension between locals and visitors.

Popularized by Leonardo DiCaprio’s adventure drama “The beach,Maya Bay on the Thai island of Phi Phi Leh was closed to visitors in 2018 after a surge in tourists damaged the island’s environment.

The popularity of Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2000 adventure film “The Beach” made Thailand’s Maya Bay a hotspot for international tourists.

Lillian Suwanrumpha | AFP | Getty Images

After the film was released in 2000, the once-deserted bay became a popular destination for tourists from Phuket and Krabi. Tourists, said to be up to 5,000 daily, traveled to the area by boat, leaving behind trash and pollution that harmed local wildlife and corals.

About three years later, Maya Bay will remain closed. Some visitors were allowed to tour the island as part of a reopening test, a Thai tourism representative told CNBC.

Exaggerated effect

Film tourism doesn’t always get mad.

The release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens“(2015) and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017) sparked a significant surge in interest in Ireland’s Skellig Michael, an island that appears in both films.

According to the Irish Office of Public Works, which oversees the site, nearly 17,000 people visited the island in 2018 – an increase from the 11,100 visitors who had visited a decade earlier.

A fan disguised as Rey from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” stands on Skellig Michael, an island that was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Charles McQuillan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

However, contrary to media reports, UNESCO has not viewed the surge in tourists as a threat to the site.

Mechtild Rossler, the director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, said UNESCO contacted Ireland about the increased tourism in Skellig Michael after the “Star Wars” films were released.

“Ireland informed the World Heritage Center that there has been an increase in the number of visitors to the area on the mainland, but this is not reflected in the number of visitors to the island itself,” she said.

Skellig Michael is open May through September, but tourists are capped at 180 daily, a representative from the Irish Office of Public Works told CNBC. This limit was introduced in 1994 and approved by UNESCO in 1995 according to a draft management plan for the area published in November 2020.

Tourist boats to the island are also limited and require special permits to operate, Rossler said.

Find out how to Play Japanese and European eShop Video games on Your Nintendo Change

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Image for the article titled How to Play Japanese and European eShop Games on Your Nintendo Switch

There are so many games available for digital download on the Nintendo Switch, but the library varies depending on where you live. Tons of fun games are only officially available in Japan and Europe, and every now and then a country before other parts of the world get early access to an upcoming global release.

Thankfully, the Nintendo Switch is a region-free console, so you can usually import a boxed copy of a game from Japanese or European retailers, plug it into your Switch, and play with no fuss (language barriers aside, of course). It also means users can access a different region’s eShop to download games, demos, and other content that is exclusive to a specific country – but this is a little more difficult.

To download games from other regions to the Switch, you will need to create a region-specific Nintendo Account that is linked to a separate profile on your system. In some cases, a regional Nintendo Account is even required to play physical copies of imported games or to access DLC and online features or game modes.

This might all sound like a chore, but we’ll walk you through the entire account creation process, show you how to link it to your Switch, and give you tips on how to find and buy games in Japanese and European eShops.

How to create and link a regional Nintendo eShop account

The first step is to create a new Nintendo Account using a browser on your computer, phone or tablet.

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Image for the article titled How to Play Japanese and European eShop Games on Your Nintendo Switch

Screenshot: Brendan Hesse

  1. Go to account.nintendo.com.
  2. click “Create a Nintendo Account.” (Make sure to use a different email address than your default account.)
  3. Select the country / region of residence for the eShop you want to access – Japan, Europe, North America, etc.
  4. Finish creating the account.

Next, you’ll need to create a new user profile on your Switch and use it to link it to the Nintendo account created above.

  1. Grab your Switch, open the home screen, and go to Settings> Users> Add User.
  2. Follow the steps to create a new profile.
  3. Choose “Link a Nintendo Account” when prompted. Sign in with the regional Nintendo account.
  4. A verification code will be sent to the Nintendo Account email address. Enter the code on your Switch when prompted and the account will be linked.

How to buy and download games from other countries in the Nintendo eShop

After you have set up the regional account and linked it to your switch, you can now access the eShop for your selected country. Simply open the eShop from the Switch’s home screen and then select the correct profile when prompted.

Loading the eShop is easy, but once inside it can get confusing.

The North American, European, and Japanese eShops look and function the same, but the differences in language and currency / price can make browsing, searching, and buying or downloading content more difficult than you might expect – especially in the Japanese store. Here are a few tips that can help you navigate.

First, you can make finding a game easier by changing the keyboard language on your Switch:

  1. Open the switch’s keyboard (a quick way is to tap or select the search option in the eShop).
  2. Select or tap the globe icon at the bottom of the keyboard overlay.
  3. Select the language you want to use for your keyboard.
  4. You can switch back to English (or any other language) by selecting the globe icon again.

You can now type in another language’s alphabet, and your Switch has predictive text suggestions at the top of the keyboard. Unfortunately, there’s no way to translate the entire Japanese eShop to other languages ​​right on your Switch, but the Google Translate app on your Android device or iPhone does a good job when you really need it.

Even when buying games, the process is the same in every eShop, but your payment methods don’t always work. While you can try adding your credit card information during checkout, not all bank cards will work – and if so, your bank will likely charge a conversion fee for the error.

Another option is to top up your eShop account with gift card balances that you bought from a retailer like Play Asia that sells both Japanese and European eShop Cards. The Play Asia Store pages also contain steps for redeeming the cards in the Switch eShop.

Play games from other regions on Nintendo Switch

Once the game is downloaded to your Switch, you can select it from the home screen or the library screen. Fortunately, you can play eShop games with accounts from any region. So if you want to play a Japan-exclusive demo on your North American Switch profile, you can.

The only exceptions are DLCs linked to the regional account that you used to purchase the game. So if you play a Japanese game with DLC, for example, you can only play the DLC with your Japanese eShop account. The same applies to certain online games that require a region-specific account.

Given the limitations that longtime gamers have faced when importing games from other regions, none of the above should give you a break – a whole world of Switch games is yours.

Mandy Patinkin comforts an emotionally grieving Princess Bride fan

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Prepare your Kleenex because this is a tear sac.

Social media users have been discussing for years Mandy Patinkin‘s role as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. His now iconic character was a man with a mustache who was desperate to avenge his father’s death. In the film he finally faces the murderer (Christopher Gast) and challenges the man to a duel. But as he prepares for the final blow, the man begs for his life and offers him anything he wants in exchange for mercy. In response, Mandy delivers the line: “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.”

TikTok users Amanda Webb reviewed this scene in a video and explained how her father’s death last March changed her view of the character. “I saw a rumor on the internet that when Mandy Patinkin said this line he was thinking of his own father who died of cancer,” she explained tearfully, “and it was a very raw emotion.”

She continued, “It’s kind of stuck with me ever since … Because it means so much more to me now than ever before.”

The Day – Contracting Requirements Board can create transparency and get monetary savings

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Regarding the recent editorial from The Day, “A Special Session Should Include Funding Watchdogs,” we could no longer agree, so we proposed changing the budgetary executor to restore funding to the State Contracting Standards Board. The reason for the change was the excellent work of the Board of Directors to uncover issues related to the Dillon Stadium and the Port Authority.

We are all of the opinion that adequate funding for this body would save tax money in the long term and lead to more transparency in government contracts. With the ongoing controversy surrounding the Port Authority and the State Pier project, it makes perfect sense to have a reliable watchdog overseeing all contracts related to its construction. Unfortunately, our amendment failed by a narrow margin (69-71) because too many Democrats preferred Governor Lamont’s debt relief to transparency and ethics. The Senate also approved the implementer, with all Democrats present voting in favor.

With much of the state, especially in southeast Connecticut, craving transparency, it is unfortunate that the majority of Democrats have rejected our common sense efforts. We look forward to continuing this conversation and hope that the State Contracting Standards Board can soon function properly with the necessary resources.

Rep Devin Carney

Rep. Holly Cheeseman

Presenter Kathleen McCarty

Representative Mike France

Rep. Greg Howard

Methods to “renovate” your front room with out spending renovation cash

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Image for the article titled How To 'Renovate' Your Living Room Without Spending Renovation Money

Photo: Photographee.eu (Shutterstock)

Sure, you might wish you had thousands of dollars to modernize your living room to include a new – massive – TV (plus surround sound), new built-in lighting, a large leather section to relax in, and a handcrafted coffee table from yours Favorite local craftsman. That sounds good. However, if your budget is significantly lower, you can still make some changes and add some additions that will give the room an updated feel.

Start with a little indoor green

Plants are an inexpensive and easy way to add color and (literally) life to your living room. And you don’t need to be particularly skilled or experienced in growing and caring for plants. Start by checking out Anyone can grow these easy-care, pet-safe houseplants, or these simple houseplants for beginners; Prepare these sponges to prevent root rot, and let’s go.

(Just don’t forget to clean them occasionally.)

Create a bar for entertainment

If you are looking forward to the days of the indoor meeting again, take your time now and design a living room bar area for parties and meeting places yourself. A small cabinet or Trolley can be tucked away until it’s time to pull out the front and center.

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Look for a few quick fixes

If you have the money on budget for new furniture and are ready to upgrade, do it. However, if you want to add new colors, patterns, or textures without the higher sticker prices, you’ve come to the right place with your throw pillows, carpets, and window treatments. Get a new vase for your side table or new candles for the coffee table. Several small changes in space can do as much as one bigger change.

Move the furniture

One way to make your living room look completely different without spending a dime is to move the furniture. Energize the room by moving the seating so that they face each other to prioritize the conversation. Or create a new eye-catcher, such as a fireplace or a work of art. On Instagram, DIY enthusiasts for DIY enthusiasts reside shows us how to create a canvas image that can be rolled over the TV when not in use.

All you need is one shelf above the TV a square of Canvas or fabric slightly larger than the size of your TV, Fabric color, and some Velcro fastener (Everything you can get for just over $ 40). First, install a floating shelf over the TV to frame it. Then decorate your canvas with paint and fun designs and stick the Velcro on as shown in the video. Attach your artwork to the shelf above the TV, roll it up, and tape it to the Velcro when it’s TV time; roll it back down when the screen goes dark.

OnlyFans lifts the porn ban after a backlash from customers

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LONDON – OnlyFans said Wednesday that it had “suspended” plans to ban pornography in a stunning U-turn that came after violent backlash from its users.

A spokesman for the online subscription platform told CNBC that the proposed changes were no longer necessary “because of assurances from banking partners that OnlyFans can support all genres of creators.”

The London firm last week announced plans to ban porn from October 1st, citing pressure from its banking partners.

“Thanks to everyone who made your voices heard,” said OnlyFans in a tweet on Wednesday.

“We have received the necessary assurances to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1st policy change.”

“OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators,” added the company. “An official notice to YouTubers will be emailed shortly.”

OnlyFans’ decision to block sexually explicit posts was quickly condemned by sex workers, who were largely responsible for the platform’s success and relied on it for a source of income. The website enables adult performers to sell “unsafe” content for a subscription fee.

Founded in 2016, OnlyFans has grown into a social media powerhouse thanks to its looser approach to overtly sexual material. With more than 130 million users, 2 million content creators, and reported $ 150 million in free cash flow last year, OnlyFans has numbers many startups can only dream of.

OnlyFans has been trying to rebrand itself as a platform for all types of creators lately, claiming that it is used by everyone from chefs to musicians. Celebrities like Cardi B and Bella Thorne have even joined as creators. Still, porn is by far the most popular category on the site.

OnlyFans founder and CEO Tim Stokely said in an interview with the Financial Times this week that the company was forced to ban such content after being treated “unfairly” by banks.

Stokely cited JPMorgan, BNY Mellon and the UK’s Metro Bank as examples of lenders who have made life difficult for OnlyFans and sex workers. All three banks declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

There has been speculation that several other factors were at play. For example, an Axios report last week said the company was struggling to find outside investment due to concerns about hosting adult content.

Stokely denied this, saying OnlyFans “did not make this policy change to make it easier to find investors.”

The OnlyFans founder also hit back on the suggestion that Mastercard might be behind the ban. The payment network will have stricter rules for adult merchants starting October 1st, the day OnlyFans should ban sexually explicit content.

Stokely said the company is already “fully compliant” with Mastercard’s new rules and they have “no control” over its policy change. A Mastercard spokesman told CNBC that the company had not contacted OnlyFans in connection with its decision.

“You made this decision yourself,” said the Mastercard spokesman.

The hospitals are operating out of beds and intensive care workers

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An infection control nurse accompanies a patient who was born on Jan.

Karen Ducey | Getty Images

The Washington state Covid outbreak is so bad that hospitals are running out of intensive care beds as the Delta variant is driving cases near record highs, state health officials said Wednesday.

At least one woman died while waiting for a bed in the intensive care unit, Dr. Steve Mitchell, medical director of the Emergency Department at Harborview Medical Center at Seattle Hospital.

“This patient who was seriously ill, and sadly, actually died in this little hospital after trying for eight hours conference with the country’s health authorities.

Another patient had to wait six hours for life-saving surgery and one patient had to be transferred to an Idaho hospital where a bed was available, he said.

“Unfortunately, we have long since got to the point where there really are no ICU beds in our state to accept these patients,” he said. Hospitals lack staff at all levels, from janitorial staff to clinical staff, he added.

According to a CNBC analysis of the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, cases are nearing all-time highs set in December, which averaged around 3,200 cases per day for the past week. However, Covid hospital admissions have hit an all-time high of 1,460 Covid patients, officials said. In the past month alone, 1,100 new Covid patients have been hospitalized and they double every 18 or 19 days, state officials said.

All hospitals in the state are “stressed, stretched and strained,” said Washington Minister of Health, Dr. Umair Shah. Hospital stays tend to rise a week or two after spikes in cases, but Covid deaths in the state have remained relatively stable.

The highly transmissible Delta variant now accounts for 96% of cases in the state and has taken the case numbers “higher than ever in Washington state,” said the state’s acting chief science officer. Dr. Scott Lindquist.

An overwhelming majority, 95%, of Covid hospital admissions in the state from February 1 to August 3 were people who were not fully vaccinated.

Vaccinations across the state have increased 21% in the past week and 34% in the past two weeks as the Delta variant dominates the headlines, officials said.

“We’re seeing an increase in vaccinations across all age groups,” said Michele Roberts, Assistant Secretary of State at the Ministry of Health.

The biggest surge in vaccinations is in older adults as parents worry that the Delta variant will spread to children when they return to school. About 48% of 12-15 year olds in Washington have started vaccinating, and 54% of 16-17 year olds have also started vaccination.

“That’s about half the children eligible in our state … we’d love to see those numbers rise, especially early in school,” said Roberts.

Washington ranks eighth among all states when it comes to how much of the population is fully vaccinated with two doses, about 59.5%, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug. 24.

The state currently vaccinated 71.5% of its population 12 and older with at least one dose, according to the state Department of Health, but some counties in the state are still lagging behind.

“If we had 70% in the entire state, every neighborhood, every county, every region, we would be in a different place,” said Shah.

Some counties have incredibly high vaccination rates, well over 90%, and others are in the 30% range, “and that is our concern,” said Shah.

“If we don’t vaccinate people and people don’t do what they can to help, then unfortunately we will move on in this situation,” said Shah. “And I know the majority of Washingtoners don’t want that.”

Tips on how to allow background noise in iOS 15 (and why it is best to)

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Image for the article titled How To Enable Background Noise In iOS 15 (And Why You Should)

Photo: Khamosh Pathak

Sometimes background noise can help you fall asleep or calm down – like the sound of the ocean or even static noise. There are plenty of websites and iPhone apps out there that allow you to play a variety of background sounds. However, if you’re using iOS 15 or iPadOS 15, you can just use the built-in background noise feature on your iPhone or iPad.

How to play background noise through the settings

Background noise is an accessibility feature. You can find it in the “settings”App by clicking on. walk Accessibility > Audiovisual > Background noise.

Image for the article titled How To Enable Background Noise In iOS 15 (And Why You Should)

Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak

There is no playback function in background noise. It’s just an on / off switch. While you’re here, we recommend turning off the “Use media when playing” option to prevent background noise from getting paid for along with media.

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How to play background noise from the control center

Background noises can be played back much faster from the control center, but you need to add the hearing control first. To do this, open the “settings“App and go to the”control center“Section. Scroll down and tap the green plus Icon next to the Listen control to add it to the Control Center.

Image for the article titled How To Enable Background Noise In iOS 15 (And Why You Should)

Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak

Now swipe down from the top right corner of the iPhone or iPad to open the control center. Tap the new one Hear Controls (it looks like an ear icon) and then tap on “Background noise”In the popup or at the bottom of the screen.

Image for the article titled How To Enable Background Noise In iOS 15 (And Why You Should)

Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak

The background noise function is now activated and you can hear the noise. You can click on “Background noise”Button to change the tone and choose between Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Dark Noise, Ocean, Rain and Stream. Use the slider to change the volume and you’re good to go.

Image for the article titled How To Enable Background Noise In iOS 15 (And Why You Should)

Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak

When you’re done, go back to this screen and tap the blue “Background noise”Button at the bottom of the screen to stop the background noise playing.

Want more? Check out these alternative background noise apps

When you start using the Background Sounds feature, you may want more – like the ability to mix different sounds, or just to mix more sounds in general. Now is the time to check out the wide variety of background sound apps to choose from, and we’re starting with two great options.

Dark noise: This is possibly the best background noise app out there. It costs $ 9.99, but you get an ad-free, customizable background noise experience. There are 50 unique sounds, shortcuts automation, widget support, and multiple theme options.

Relaxation melodies: This is a good free alternative. The app lets you mix 200+ sounds, brainwaves, and music.

24 lovely espresso desk books that begin a dialog

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We love these products and hope you do too. E! has affiliate relationships so we may receive a small portion of the income from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not E !.

When we think of reading in the fall, we tend to be drawn to the latest fiction must-haves or creepy suggestions we hear from coworkers to nourish our brains. However, how about feeding your soul a gorgeous new photo book (or three)?

Coffee table books are perfect for starting a conversation, adding some visual flair to an otherwise drab tabletop, and adding literary interest to your fall decor. And above all: they are beautiful to look at. Maybe you’re a cat person who loves photography or an architecture snob who lives for ornate design. Either way, adding a couple of coffee table books to your fall aesthetic will warm up any room in your home. And you can show your guests how sophisticated and cool you really are!

We have selected twenty of our favorites that will add value to any room in your home (or ideal as a gift) this season.

18 of the Greatest Black-Headed Horror Films, As Terrifying As “Candyman”

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A screenshot of a zombie from Tales From the Hood

There is a lot of nostalgia for the 90s right now, so it’s probably no great surprise that Candyman is coming back. The love-hungry killer with the haunted bass voice and hooked hand never had a box office reputation of Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers, but Tony Todd’s accomplishment – and his signature vocal rasp – immediately made him an icon in a trench coat.

The 1992 original inspired two sequels (one pretty good, one … not so much) and remains a clever, shrewd and thoughtful slasher film with all the guts and blood it takes, but also a personable killer with a pretty good motive for revenge. More importantly, the film helped remind the studios that there is indeed an audience for horror films with black leading characters.

Perhaps the only thing missing was perspective. The film’s main character (other than Mr. Robitaille himself) was still a white woman (Virginia Madsen), as were most of the faces who worked behind the scenes on the film. The new update / sequel / restart is being led by the brilliant black director Nia DaCosta who co-wrote the film with Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. There is no longer any need to lure the audience into a black story by focusing on a white lead as a guide. (Maybe there was or never would have been if Hollywood had been paying attention.)

It feels like we’ve finally buried the belief that non-POC audiences won’t show up for black-run horror films, and while Jordan Peele has a lot to do with it, he was by no means a pioneer in the place. The history of the great horror films with Black Folx in front and behind the camera has its ups and downs, but they have always been there.

These are some of the best, and most significant, black-directed horror films. About half of them feature black artists in front of and behind the camera, while the others have black actors in the foreground. Plus, this is just a selection – there are plenty of black film experts and horror aficionados out there who can give even better recommendations. Listen to them.

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