1980s Thanksgiving Commercials!
We went to a mall in Jersey last night, for no special reason other than to start soaking up some holiday vibes. It’s weird for someone like me to say, but I really do enjoy the proverbial “hustle bustle” of the season — though much more so when I have no particular mission and can bow out the second it gets annoying.
Given the crowds and the decor, it might as well have been December 22nd in there. Trees and wreaths and lights everywhere, plus Santa Claus, who got a hero’s welcome from the ground floor once everyone spotted him walking around upstairs. We kinda just strolled around aimlessly with our Starbucks cups for a while. Total cliche, but it was great.
I’m glad we did it now, too. I love this season, but it goes way too fast. “November 9th” doesn’t sound late, but the end of December’s gonna be here in what’ll feel like two weeks. You never know how busy you’re gonna be once you’re really in the thick of it, so it was nice to grab hold of one of my favorite traditions — the dumb mall walk — when I knew we could.
Tonight’s video features 30 minutes’ worth of 1980s commercials, bumpers and promos all having something to do with Thanksgiving. Looks pretty fab. Enjoy!
Garfield’s Thanksgiving!
I kicked off Dino Drac’s 2019 holiday season by recreating Grandma Arbuckle’s sweet potatoes, so tonight’s pick was easy:
Here’s Garfield’s Thanksgiving, from 1989. It’s the “lesser” of Garf’s big three holiday specials, but I still dig it.
Also, for those interested, the Christmas Jukebox has been activated! And it works on mobile, for the first time ever! (Speaking of which, I may have to add the Thanksgiving song that plays near the end of this TV special to the juke. It’s… something!
NOVEMBAAAAAA.
We’d considered going out for Halloween, but I was just too tired. We instead spent the night watching bits and pieces of whatever horror movies were on cable, from The Blair Witch Project to Friday the 13th. It was so old school. I also had one extremely strong cocktail that doubled nicely as a sedative!
I had fun this Halloween season, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next one, which… I guess we’re in now?
I mean, for me, Thanksgiving and whatever-you-celebrate-in-December is all one “package.” And man does it go QUICK. December flies by in what feels like five days. I don’t want to waste any of it. I basically look at September through December as the “holiday months,” where we happily lose ourselves in nonsense before crashing back to reality in January. (Fuckin’ January!)
Soooo, new seasonal stuff will be hitting the site starting next week. As for After Dark, I’m still having an internal debate as to how often it should be updated in November and December. I don’t think “daily” makes a whole lot of sense, so maybe like, every 3 days? Give each thread a chance to shine and let the conversations that happen within them have some breathing room? We’ll see.
Halloween Week Mega Thread!
Gonna try something different to close out the Halloween season on After Dark. This will be THE ONE THREAD between now and the 31st. I thought it’d be better to give the comments section some breathing room and let y’all report back without interruptions on your last-minute spooky activities, movie watches, candy samplings and whatever else.
So, between now and Thursday, consider this THE ONE THREAD to talk about anything and everything Halloween — and also just whatever the hell else ya feel like discussing!
I won’t leave you empty-handed, though. Here’s a little something I whipped together:
I dug through YouTube to build this special playlist of Halloween-themed clips and commercials, which features a mix of stuff you’ll definitely remember and stuff you definitely won’t. It’s a little over 30 minutes long and covers a lot of ground.
Want to thank everyone who joined the many After Dark discussions over these past few months — honestly, you’re the reason this place exists, and I hope After Dark added a little to your season!
I’m not quite done Halloweening on the main site yet, so look for more on there this week, too!
