Song of Summer 2024: ‘I Had Some Help’; Breakout artist: Chappell Roan

As is customary for Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of summer, it’s time to crown the song of summer. This year’s honoree, based on Billboard charts, is “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and featuring Morgan Wallen.
It currently is the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Song of Summer chart and has been the top song for 13 weeks. The rowdy country party song debuted on May 10.
Featured artist Morgan Wallen had last year’s song of summer with “Last Night.”
An early contender for 2024 song of summer was Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.” The hit pop tune premiered on April 11 but peaked too soon in the season.
Meanwhile, my choice for artist of summer 2024 is Chappell Roan. She exploded onto the scene from seemingly nowhere and has ruled the charts with songs like “Good Luck, Babe!” and “Hot To Go!”
Her set at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago on Aug. 1 drew a massive crowd, worthy of a headliner. (See articles by Yahoo Entertainment, WGN TV and Rolling Stone.)
Runners-up for artist of summer include Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX.
Taylor Swift dubbed the season the “Summer of Sabrina” in reference to the younger artist’s hit songs and sold-out tour. (See article by the Daily Mail.)
Meanwhile, Charli XCX’s “Brat” album had “an undeniable cultural moment,” Rolling Stone said. Vice President Kamala Harris even coopted the aesthetic for her presidential campaign. (See article by Today.)

Recent songs of summer

2018   “In My Feelings” by Drake
2019   “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
2020   “Rockstar” by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
2021   “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo
2022   “As It Was” by Harry Styles
2023   “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen
2024   “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and featuring Morgan Wallen

Music artist of summer

2018   Cardi B
2019   Billie Eilish
2020   Doja Cat
2021   Olivia Rodrigo
2022   Harry Styles
2023   Taylor Swift
2024   Chappell Roan

Other opinions on Song of Summer 2024:

8 Correct Answers to ‘What Was the Song of the Summer?’ (New York Times; Aug. 23, 2024)

‘Song of the summer’ may be dead, but 2024 was the summer of song (Midia Research; Aug. 22, 2024)

‘It invites the listener to join in’: How Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso became the song of the summer (Aug. 21, 2024)

What’s 2024’s “song of the summer”? (Vox; July 29, 2024)

What’s the Song of the Summer? Let’s Do the Math (Rolling Stone; July 28, 2024)

Who will have the 2024 song of the summer? We offer some predictions (AP; June 18, 2024)

The Musical History Lesson Buried Beneath the Song of the Summer (Slate; June 4, 2024)

Mascot Hall of Fame closing its doors

One of the oddest halls of fame that you can visit is the Mascot Hall of Fame in Whiting, Indiana. But sadly the hall is closing its doors in September to make way for a development project by BP, the British multinational oil and gas company. The Mascot Hall of Fame will continue to exist online as a virtual hall.
The Mascot Hall of Fame celebrates famous North American sports mascots for professional and college teams like the Phillie Phanatic, Mr. Met, Benny the Bull, Bucky Badger and Nittany Lion.
The museum opened in December 2018 but faced sustainability challenges, relying heavily on partnerships, donations and public funding.
The Mascot Hall of Fame is holding a “Grand FURnale” event on Sept. 14.
The physical location billed itself as an interactive children’s museum. That limited its appeal, in my opinion. I would have been interested in visiting the Mascot Hall of Fame if it were more of a museum that broadly examined the history of mascots. That includes not just sports but consumer products and services.
The hall needs to consider that if it opens a new physical location somewhere else.

Related articles:

Beloved Mascot Hall of Fame to close in Whiting (WGN; July 24, 2024)

Mascot Hall of Fame in NW Indiana to close (Fox 59; July 22, 2024)

Halls of fame for rhythm and blues, gospel music and more still hoping for physical homes

The New Jersey Hall of Fame just opened a physical location for visitors to learn more about the Garden State’s most important citizens. But many other organizations are still trying to open brick-and-mortar hall-of-fame museums for their passions.
What follows is a few that have announced locations for their potential halls of fame.

National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame

In September 2022, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Foundation held a groundbreaking ceremony in Marks, Miss. It hopes to build a “permanent brick-and-mortar state-of-the-art world-class complex” to house the R&B hall of fame, according to a press release.
But as of October 2023, when a Google Maps Street View car drove by the site, there had been no construction activity. There also haven’t been any progress reports published by the R&B hall or news agencies lately.
Since 2013, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame has inducted over 200 artists including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Prince and Elvis Presley. But the hall remains virtual.

Gospel Music Hall of Fame

The Gospel Music Hall of Fame of Missouri hopes to turn the former Second Baptist Church in St. Louis. Mo., into a 40,000-square-foot museum, education, cultural and performing arts center. It looks to create Missouri’s first Gospel Music Hall of Fame Art Museum and Research Center. (See article by St. Louis Public Radio.)

College Baseball Hall of Fame

In January, the College Baseball Foundation announced plans to build the College Baseball Hall of Fame within the existing Museum at Prairiefire in Overland Park, Kan.
The foundation had previously considered building a museum on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Indiana Sports Hall of Fame

Organizers of the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame announced on July 4 that they had found a location for a future museum. The group has secured six acres at the Irvington Plaza shopping center on the east side of Indianapolis.
The group hopes to build a 60,000-square-foot building that will house the hall of fame as well as a banquet space, sports bar and outdoor activity area.
Indiana is already home to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in New Castle, Ind., and Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in Jasper, Ind. Plus, it has the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum in Indianapolis. The state previously had a physical museum for the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in Richmond, Ind., but it closed in 2021.

Mobile Sports Hall of Fame

The Mobile Sports Hall of Fame in Mobile, Ala., is looking to open an interactive museum in the lobby of the RSA Battle House Tower, according to AL.com. There is currently a mural in the lobby that depicts local sports greats like Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige.
Meanwhile, the city is building a Hall of Fame Walk with bronze statues of sports heroes outside the Mobile Convention Center. The area is called Heroes Plaza. That project is expected to be completed in late 2024 or early 2015, according to 1819 News and NBC 15 News.

Other physical halls of fame have been considered in recent years. They include a proposed UFC Hall of Fame and WWE Hall of Fame.

The newest U.S. halls of fame you can visit, starting with New Jersey

I’m intrigued by the number of halls of fame that you can visit spanning sports, entertainment, business and other endeavors. To date, I’ve documented over 500 halls of fame in North America.
What follows is a roundup of the newest physical halls of fame.

New Jersey Hall of Fame

On June 28, the New Jersey Hall of Fame’s Entertainment and Learning Center officially opened at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J.
The 10,000-square-foot facility honors New Jersey’s accomplishments in entertainment, sports, business and more. The center boasts state-of-the-art exhibits and highlights the accomplishments of more than 200 inductees.
(See articles by NJArts.net, NorthJersey.com and News 12 New Jersey.)

Maui Nui Hall of Fame

Maui County in Hawaii now has a Maui Nui Hall of Fame display at the Kahului Airport. The display honors 40 inductees who have made significant contributions to Hawaii sports, music and films from across the county. The exhibit opened in June.
(See articles by Maui Now, KHON 2, Hawaii Public Radio and VitaVerse News.)

World Golf Hall of Fame

The World Gold Hall of Fame relocated to a new facility in Pinehurst, N.C., on June 10. The museum is located in USGA’s Golf House Pinehurst. The World Golf Hall of Fame had been in St. Augustine, Fla., for a quarter century.
The Member Locker Room at the Hall of Fame features nearly 3,000 artifacts showcasing the most accomplished and influential figures in the game.

New Mexico Music Hall of Fame

The New Mexico Music Hall of Fame has an exhibit at the Route 66 Visitors Center in Albuquerque, N.M. The 21,000-square-foot visitor center includes a taproom, event space, museum and amphitheater. Organizers are doing a staggered rollout of operations at the new facility.

Photos: New Jersey Hall of Fame and World Golf Hall of Fame.

Animal attack movies are popular summer fare

Movie audiences love a fun animal attack movie. That explains the popularity of the recent Netflix movie “Under Paris” about sharks invading Paris.
In fact, “Under Paris” was so popular, a sequel is already in the works.
Up next is the shark thriller, “The Last Breath,” which is set for a limited theatrical release on July 26.
Earlier this year saw the release of the well-reviewed spider-themed horror movie, “Infested.”
Last year brought a bunch of animal attack movies. Topping the list was horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear.” The year also saw shark thriller “Deep Fear” and alligator attack movie “The Flood.”
Plus, the CW aired the miniseries “The Swarm” about ocean animals attacking humans.

Related articles:

Animal attack movies are a staple of summer cinema (Aug. 28, 2022)

The best animal attack movies of the past 20 years (Jan. 3, 2021)

Photos: Promotional art for “Under Paris,” “The Last Breath,” “Infested,” “The Flood” and “The Swarm.”

Crappy post-apocalyptic movies flood Amazon Prime Video

One of my contributions to the internet has been chronicling notable movies set in a post-apocalyptic world. And it’s not easy.
For starters, most lists of post-apocalyptic movies mix in movies about dystopian futures. And many lists add in movies that take place before or during apocalyptic events. I’ve tried to keep a clean list of movies showing people living a hardscrabble existence after apocalyptic events.
Another issue is dealing with the scores of low-budget, poorly made post-apocalyptic movies that have flooded the market, especially in recent years. You can see many of these flicks in the pay-per-view marketplace on Amazon Prime Video.
To date, I have documented 297 such crummy post-apocalyptic movies on Amazon, including 33 new titles listed below. These movies are not significant enough or good enough to put on my main list of notable post-apocalyptic movies.
But wait! There are other lesser post-apocalyptic movies to be found on Letterboxd. I’ve included 42 titles from Letterboxd below. Together with the Amazon titles, that’s 339 movies in the genre that aren’t significant enough for my main list.
By comparison, my list of notable post-apocalyptic movies has about 240 titles.

Latest lesser post-apocalyptic movies on Amazon Prime Video:

Rats: Night of Terror (1984, Italy) aka “Rats - Notte di terrore”
Savannah Electric (1985)
Deadly Reactor (1989)
Doom Runners (1997)
Against The Dark (2009)
Dark Nemesis (2011)
The FP (2011)
Day of Reckoning (2017)
Zombie Road (2018)
Lection (2019)
Impact Event (2020)
Strain 100 (2020)
The Long Dig (2020)
Among the Living (2022)
Forever’s End (2022)
Some Be (2022, Mexico)
The Inevitable (2022)
Tin Can (2022)
Walking Against the Rain (2022)
America Is Sinking (2023)
Arctic Armageddon (2023)
Darkness (2023)
Day Zero (2023, Philippines)
Dome House Six (2023)
End Times (2023)
Gangnam Zombie (2023, South Korea)
Ravage Nation (2023)
Remnants (2023)
Shelter (2023)
Solace (2023)
2029 (2024)
Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland (2024)
Planetquake (2024)

Lesser-known post-apocalyptic movies from Letterboxd:

The Lost Missile (1958)
In the Year 2889 (1969)
Battletruck (1982, New Zealand) aka “Warlords of the 21st Century”
2020 Texas Gladiators (1983, Italy) aka “Anno 2020 - I gladiatori del future”
Survival Zone (1983, South Africa)
W (1983, Philippines)
Sexmission (1984, Poland) aka “Seksmisja”
The Final Executioner (1984, Italy) aka “The Last Warrior” and “L'ultimo guerriero”
Z for Zachariah (1984, U.K.)
O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985, Poland)
Survival Earth (1985, Canada)
Dead Man’s Letters (1986, Soviet Union)
Hands of Steel (1986, Italy) aka “Vendetta dal future”
Osa (1986)
Interzone (1987, Italy) aka “Lobos guerreros”
Morning Patrol (1987, Greece)
Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (1987, Australia)
Survivor (1987, South Africa)
Terminus (1987, France and West Germany)
Empire of Ash (1988, Canada)
Escape from Safehaven (1988)
Hard Knuckle (1988, Australia)
Mutant War (1988)
Bunker Palace Hotel (1989, France)
Warlords (1989)
Legend of the Roller Blade Seven (1993)
Return of the Roller Blade Seven (1993)
The Last Border (1993, Finland, Sweden, Germany)
Warlords 3000 (1993) aka “Dark Vengeance”
Sentinel 2099 (1995)
Dragon Head (2003, Japan)
Casshern (2004, Japan)
Puzzlehead (2005)
The Dark Hour (2006, Spain) aka “La hora fría”
20 Years After (2008)
One Hundred Mornings (2009, Ireland)
Arctic Blast (2010, Australia, Canada)
World’s End (2010) aka “Downstream”
Extinction: The G.M.O. Chronicles (2011, Germany)
The Forbidden Dimensions (2013)
Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl (2014, Austria)
In My Room (2018, Germany, Italy)

Related articles:

More low-budget, post-apocalyptic movies showing up on Amazon (March 12, 2023)

The complete post-apocalyptic movie list (Updated June 23, 2024)

Photos: Movie posters for “End Times” (2023), “America Is Sinking” (2023) and “Strain 100” (2020)

K-pop filling a gap for boy bands and girl groups

I recently attended a concert with my daughter for Korean boy band Tomorrow X Together at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. A good number of K-pop acts have been touring the U.S. in recent years including girl groups Aespa, Blackpink, (G)I-dle and Itzy and boy bands Monsta X, NCT Dream and TXT.
What’s behind the rise in the popularity of K-pop groups?
My guess is that K-pop is filling an unmet demand among young people for single-sex music and dance groups because the U.S. and Europe aren’t producing them now.
Such acts used to be plentiful in the U.S. and U.K. There were boy bands Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, NSync, New Kids on the Block and One Direction. And there were girl groups like Destiny’s Child, En Vogue, Fifth Harmony, Pussycat Dolls and the Spice Girls.
So until the West produces the next wave of such musical groups, expect K-pop to dominate the category.

Photo: TXT promotional poster.