Welcome To Derry seems like the most non remarkable set of words at first glance, until the connection clicks for Stephen King addicts (and those Constant Readers). The title, of course, refers to Maine setting of the frequent TV watcher and horror maestro’s It franchise, which first surfaced onscreen in a 1990 miniseries starring Tim Curry. Years later, director Andy Muschietti rebooted the source material in 2017’s It and 2019’s It Chapter Two with the help of scribes Gary Dauberman, Chase Palmer, and Cary Fukunaga.
Both of those films were straight-up hits, so Welcome To Derry has been birthed as a prequel series. Obviously, this means that Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, and Finn Wolfhard won’t be making appearances as the Loser’s Club unless a time machine somehow becomes canon in this story. However, a significant (and downright vital) common element was recently revealed. It’s time to get down to business on what shall come.
Plot
The Warner Bros. Television series begins in the 1960s with the origin story of Pennywise the killer clown while he begins to prey upon his first scores of victims by feeding upon their fear. Also, Andy Muschetti not only developed the series (while teaming up with Barbara Muschietti, who produced the It movies) but is also directing several episodes. That information has been public for awhile, but a key question remained: would Pennywise appear in the flesh, and if so, then who would portray the demonic entity?
There was a danger here of Pennywise being recast, which would have been a shame since Bill Skarsgård went through the paces of fan scorn due to an early costumed photo and then earned his evil-clown stripes. Now, it’s hard to imagine anybody else portraying Pennywise even though Skarsgård wasn’t the first, but some excellent news recently developed, via Deadline:
A familiar face is coming back to terrorize the children of Derry, Maine. Bill Skarsgård is set to star in and executive produce the Max It prequel series Welcome To Derry (working title). He will be reprising the title role as It/Pennywise from the hit 2017 New Line movie It and its sequel, It Chapter Two.
Notably, what happens in this series will largely be unfamiliar to previous Pennywise viewers since the story will take place before the events of the initial cinematic defeat of Pennywise and a blood oath for the Losers Club to return and vanquish the demonic clown again. Despite diving into previously uncharted territory, however, the project received a thumbs-up from King (“Red balloons all around!”), who is thrilled that Andy and Barbara Muschetti are doing the honors. Likewise, the Muschetti siblings are all over this adaptation of their almost-lifelong obsession:
“As teenagers, we took turns reading chapters of Stephen King’s It until the thick paperback fell to pieces. It is an epic story that contains multitudes, far beyond what we could explore in our It movies. We can’t wait to share the depths of Steve’s novel, in all its heart, humor, humanity, and horror.”
Cast
As mentioned already, the audience will not have to warm up to any Pennywise other than Bill Skarsgård. Additionally, expect characters portrayed by Madeleine Stowe, Stephen Rider, Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Chris Chalk, and James Remar.
Release Date
Max will stream the first nine-episode season in 2025 with a specific date to come.
Trailer
Too soon for a full-on trailer, but a peek at first-look footage can be seen at the 1:30 mark below.
Ice Spice has had a pretty busy day so far, announcing the release date of her long-awaited debut albumY2K, and now, the dates for the accompanying tour, which will include several festival appearances overseas throughout July and 17 dates in the US through July 30 and August. The “Think U The Sh*t” rapper, also released her new single, “Gimmie A Light,” last month, will be hitting New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and more on her cross-country trip, finishing up in Miami Beach on August 31. Her album Y2K will release just before she returns to the US, on July 26. Cash Cobain, whose breakout song “Fisherrr” Ice Spice remixed, will join her as opening act.
Tickets for the tour will go on sale on June 7 at 10 AM local time, with a Citi presale beginning today at 1 PM local time. You can see the tour dates below and find more information here.
Getty Image
Ice Spice 2024 Tour Dates
07/04 — Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival^*
07/05 — Gdynia, Poland @ Open’er Festival^*
07/07 — Vienna, Austria @ Rolling Loud Europe^
07/11 — Costinesti, Romania @ Beach, Please! Festival^*
07/12 — London, UK @ Wireless Festival^
07/13 — Frauenfeld, Switzerland @ Openair Frauenfeld^*
07/18 — Dour, Belgium @ Dour Festival^*
07/30 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
08/01 — Montclair, NJ @ The Wellmont Theater
08/02 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark
08/04 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
08/06 — New York, NY @ The Rooftop at Pier 17
08/09 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
08/11 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
08/13 — Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
08/14 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
08/17 — Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
08/19 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
08/21 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater *
08/23 — Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
08/25 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory Deep Ellum *
08/26 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
08/28 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
08/31 — Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater
Danny McBride and Jody Hill have built themselves a mini-empire on HBO. It began with the debauched baseball comedy Eastbound & Down before McBride teamed up with Walton Goggins on Vice Principals, which was misunderstood at the time but has since found a cult audience. Speaking of cults: The Righteous Gemstones, the deliriously funny religious satire about a family of frequently feuding (and very rich) televangelists, is McBride and Hill’s most popular show yet — and maybe their best.
When last we saw the Gemstones, Baby Billy’s dream of hosting Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers came true; Eli mourned the death of NASCAR driver Dusty Daniels, who left his land to the family; Kelvin and Keefe agreed to “live and let live”; Judy and BJ embraced Amber’s “The System,” which is definitely not a scam; Giden expressed an interest in becoming a preacher to the Eli; and, oh yeah, there was a monster truck montage. What a good show.
It appears the Eli and Gideon scene is the most important for season 4, however. For once, John Goodman teased in an interview with TV Insider, “something is going right” for the family patriach. How will Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin react to their father finding his potential protege in someone who isn’t them? Probably not well! For now, however, all we can do is speculate about plot details (including whether Kelvin and Keefe will Make It Official) because the cast and writers haven’t said much of anything about season 4.
Until reported otherwise, expect everyone to return, including John Goodman (Eli Gemstone), Danny McBride (Jesse Gemstone), Edi Patterson (Judy Gemstone), Adam DeVine (Kelvin Gemstone), Cassidy Freeman (Amber Gemstone), Tony Cavalero (Keefe), Tim Baltz (BJ), Skyler Gisondo (Gideon Gemstone), Gregalan Williams (Martin), and Walton Goggins (Baby Billy).
Release Date
The Righteous Gemstones season 4 started filming in May 2024 (“We Are So Back,” an Instagram post from Rough House Pictures announced, along with a mandatory pic of a clapperboard). Based on previous production cycles, it’s unlikely any new episodes will premiere before the end of the year. Boooooooo. Counterpoint: now there’s something to look forward to in 2025.
Trailer
Hey HBO, stop misbehavin’ and start releasin’ the season 4 trailer.
The Utah Jazz recently went through a rebrand that simply did not go over very well. Their minimalist highlighter scheme fell flat and looked uninspired, and the frustration with the new look only grew when you saw them up against their tremendous purple mountain throwbacks.
Thankfully, the Jazz saw the public reaction to their new unis and those throwbacks and made the correct call to go through another rebrand that built off of those throwbacks for an entirely new uniform set. The team unveiled the new uniforms on Wednesday, to a much better response from fans.
The most courts per capita in the nation The largest youth program in the league 85% of the population near the mountains
The new uniforms will arrive in phases, as they can’t completely rid themselves of the highlighter look until the 2025-26 season. That means next year the black Jazz note uniform and the purple throwbacks with white lettering will join the white and black highlighter uniforms as their four options. Then, in 2025-26, they’ll go fully to the mountain look, with the reimagined purple and white mountain uniforms taking over as their full-time, standard fit. They will also unveil a fourth uniform in 2025 as their City Edition look.
Utah Jazz
It is a considerable upgrade, and while you could argue they should’ve done this in the first place, I will give them credit for not trying to double down on a bad idea and being willing to listen to the people in order to get the look right.
Illuminati Hotties has announced her new album Power, arriving later this summer. Last month, Sarah Tudzin, the creator of Illuminati Hotties, teased the album with “Can’t Be Still.” Upon the announcement today, Tudzin has shared “Didn’t,” the album’s lead single, which features Cavetown.
On “Didn’t,” Tudzin asks herself “What if I just didn’t” live by the expectations of others, or put so much pressure on myself?
In the song’s accompanying video, Tudzin is seen riding in the back of a double-decker bus, enjoying the sights of Los Angeles, eating In-N-Out Burger, and snapping pictures with her disposable camera. Though Cavetown doesn’t appear in the video, the bus is driven by comedian Caleb Hearon, who lip syncs Cavetown’s verse.
Toward the end of the video, Hearon and Tudzin share somewhat of a heartfelt moment, in pure humorous fashion.
You can see the video for “Didn’t” above and the Power cover art and tracklist below.
Hopeless Records
1. “Can’t Be Still”
2. “I Would like, Still Love You”
3. “Throw (Life Raft)”
4. “Rot”
5. “Falling In Love With Somebody Better”
6. “The L”
7. “Sleeping In”
8. “Didn’t” Feat. Cavetown
9. “You Are Not Who You Were”
10. “What’s The Fuzz”
11. “YSL”
12. “Power”
13. “Everything Changes”
Power is out 8/23 via Hopeless Records. Find more information here.
Houston’s rapping meteorologist Adam Krueger is at it again, sneaking another set of fan-favorite bars into his weather report. Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” has been literally everywhere lately (arguably, too many places), so why not the local news?
Rap fans online were tickled when they learned Krueger had incorporated the song into his latest report for CW39 Houston, imitating Kendrick’s emphatic ad-libbing as he noted an incoming heatwave. “Wop wop wop wop wop! We get hit with a heat index well over 100,” he lamented. He also sneaks in a nifty rhyme name-checking NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton. The important thing to note, as he says in a follow-up about the viral popularity of the clip, is that he’s not choosing sides in the battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake (which is basically over anyway, right?).
Houston meteorologist Adam Krueger sneaks Kendrick Lamar “Not Like Us” lyrics into his weather report.
Krueger has been entertaining rap fans with his bits for over a year, after taking a fan suggestion to recite rap lyrics during his report on TikTok. He began going viral in 2023 when he started quoting Eminem lyrics during his report, along with bars from Cardi B and Snoop Dogg. He also does songs from pop groups, suggestions from grade school students, and more, but generally gets the biggest reactions online from raps.
On May 24, the Los Angeles Sparks’ game against the Indiana Fever at Crypto.com Arena in LA was billed as the first-ever matchup between the Nos. 1 and 2 overall picks of the 2024 WNBA Draft, Caitlin Clark and Cameron Brink, respectively. I covered the game for Dime — a 78-73 Fever win — and observed Brink bring a group of 11-year-old girls to frantic, all-consuming glee with a simple wave from the bench during pregame warmups. Three of the girls wore No. 22 Clark jerseys, but Brink’s acknowledgement held just as much weight.
“I remember that!” Brink said over the phone 10 days later. “[My teammates and I] were laughing because we were like, ‘What? You like me? You’re wearing Caitlin’s jersey.”
There is so much to like about Brink. The reigning Pac-12 Women’s Player Of The Year and Defensive Player Of The Year out of Stanford is averaging 8.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals. Brink is behind only Seattle’s Ezi Magbegor (3.0) and Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson (2.8) in blocks per game, and she’s just eight games into what should be an impressive, lasting WNBA career.
Speaking with Dime, Brink dispelled mounting false narratives about the W, recalled how she made Diana Taurasi laugh during a game, shared her favorite piece of advice she’s received from Lisa Leslie, and more.
What is the most tired narrative around women’s sports?
Oh, that’s a great question. The most tired narrative is that the vets are against the rookies — this old-school versus new-school narrative — and the narrative that the rookies need to be perfect. I feel like Caitlin Clark has that the worst right now, but even I get that. She had three points the other night [against New York on June 2]. I had three points the other night [against Indiana on May 28]. We’re expected to be perfect. We were drafted to high-drafting teams coming off of losing seasons, which is fine. It’s a learning process. But people expect us to be perfect, and it’s freaking exhausting. I feel like we learn how to tune it out, but still, it’s unrealistic, and it kind of just shows that people don’t know basketball.
What has been the most exhausting adjustment between college and the W?
I would say the mental fatigue. Curt Miller is an amazing coach, but his coaching style is completely different than [former Stanford head coach] Tara’s [VanDerveer]. It’s been great, honestly, for me to learn different things, but he just runs a completely different offense, so it’s relearning everything. And then, traveling cross-country, but I can’t even complain because now we have charter flights, so I’m very excited. It’s still an adjustment to travel across the country and be expected to get good sleep and be ready to perform every day. Back-to-back, even, sometimes.
What was your “Welcome to the W” moment?
I think my first “Welcome to the W” moment was just having to guard Tina Charles. She’s just so dominant, and honestly, her jump hook middle is unguardable. Before, in college, I was kind of just able to block anybody, I guess. But now, I’m going against the best of the best.
You mentioned the season-opener against Atlanta and Tina on Podcast P With Paul George and how she treated you during the game.
She was so nice! I remember, before the game, she was hugging Kia Nurse. I went up behind them and hugged them, and I was like, ‘Tina, you’re about to hand me my ass.’ She was laughing, like, ‘No!’ She ended up having a great game. It was a close game. I did pretty well, but she still was just so hard for me to guard. There were points throughout the game where I didn’t [know what to do]. The jump balls are new for me because in college, it was just a possession change, so she was telling me where to go. It was funny.
Which Sparks veteran’s shoulder have you leaned on the most so far?
Definitely Dearica Hamby. She’s like my mom out there. She is a mom to her own two kids, so I feel bad that she has another in me, but she’s just the kindest. A really great leader and very steady for us.
Has there been one moment in particular in the whirlwind of the past month where you’ve been like, I’m a professional basketball player, but I need my mom right now?
No, like, literally every single day. Even today. [Laughs] I had to be up at 3 a.m. this morning — which is great because we end early today, so I’m not complaining — but it’s just a lot. You have to adjust to a lot. So, she’s actually flying in tonight because I have another shoot tomorrow and a game the next day. She’s been there throughout it all. My dad, too. They both moved me into my apartment. I don’t know what I’d do without them.
You collected the infinity stone of making Kawhi Leonard laugh. Who is the WNBA player, past or present, you’d be most proud to make laugh?
I’ve already made Diana Taurasi laugh, so maybe that counts? Maybe Jonquel Jones. She also scares me, but in a good way because there’s a lot of respect. I’m pretty goofy, so I’m sure I’ll make someone laugh.
What broke Diana?
Just yesterday, [during the Sparks’ 87-68 loss in Phoenix], we were at the free throw line, and she came up to me, and she was like, ‘You’re gonna be dealing with this sh*t for another 20 years.’ And I looked at her and was like, ‘I feel like I’m gonna get cut next year if I keep playing this way.’ So, we both were laughing. She’s really great. And, like I said before, the narrative that the veterans are not supporting us could not be further from the truth because she is literally one of my favorite people. It’s just annoying.
Lisa Leslie is one of your idols. I know you’re getting so many pieces of advice thrown at you from all sorts of people, but has there been one that you find yourself naturally returning to in your mind?
Gosh, we just had the best phone call, and I absolutely adore her. When she played, she had a similar frame to mine, and so it was just talking about, when you’re super skinny and slight of frame, the importance of doing some sort of weightlifting every day. It’s funny because people always say, ‘You need to gain weight.’ You definitely try, and there’s only so much you can do to put on weight during a season where you’re running every day and constantly burning calories. She talked about the importance of maintaining strength. She just says, “What’s meant for you is meant for you.” A lot of people give general advice, and she’s really good at giving applicable advice.
You are Mattress Firm’s founding member of “Team Sleep Well.” How does this campaign — and I guess learning the difference between sleep and rest — align with what you’re going through?
I talk a lot about the importance of aligning with brands, and this is perfect for this year because this is probably the most exhausting year of my life — in a good way; always leading with gratitude. “Team Sleep Well” is about connecting top athletes with sleep experts and helping us get that one-percent better and optimizing performance. They were kind enough to gift me a mattress, and it’s a California King. It’s firm. Actually, my feet don’t hang off the end of it. Now, my 6’7″ boyfriend and I can fit on our mattress and actually get good, quality sleep.
What is a tweak you’ve had to make to maximize recovery that you could get away with not doing at all in college?
I would say actually investing into a good mattress. When I first moved to LA, I was in a hotel, and the mattress in the hotel was like a freaking marshmallow. I would sink so deep into it. Everyone has their preferences, but I can’t sleep on a soft mattress, so I feel like Mattress Firm gave me the opportunity to invest in a mattress to where I can get quality sleep. I also have a bad back because I’m so tall. I don’t really have the core strength yet, so I hinge a lot, and it causes a lot of back issues for me.
What keeps you up at night?
Honestly, trying to sleep after games is really hard because your adrenaline is rushing so much. That’s why it’s even more important to feel comfortable and relaxed. Obviously, you have your common fear of not doing well and failing, but it’s definitely the outside factors of coming off of late, tough games. Just living up to the pressure, which we all let it get to us at times.
Finish this sentence: I will not rest until…
I will not rest until the W is even more iconic than it is now.
What part do you want to play in that?
I could go way deeper into this, but I would just say growing the fan base to support all types of players. I will acknowledge there’s a privilege for the younger white players of the league. That’s not always true, but there is a privilege that we have inherently, and the privilege of appearing feminine. Some of my teammates are more masculine. Some of my teammates go by they/them pronouns. I want to bring more acceptance to that and not just have people support us because of the way that we look. I know I can feed into that because I like to dress femininely, but that’s just me. I want everyone to be accepted — not just paid attention to because of how they look.
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that causes mass walkouts and even in-theater vomiting, and that’s how you know a new horror classic is upon us. Stephen King sure thinks so!
In A Violent Nature is the upcoming slasher that takes the typical killer formula and adds in a few curveballs. The film made its debut earlier this year at Sundance, where it was described as an “ambient slasher” due to its lack of score and all of that slashing. Oh, and it tells the story through the point of view of the slasher himself. Everyone deserves a chance to have their perspectives shown, even undead serial killers.
The film has been getting a lot of buzz, and that’s not just because of all those pesky lake mosquitos. Here is everything to know about the bloody thriller.
Plot
Not that slashers of such a nature need a plot, but this one actually does provide some backstory, and of course it starts with some teens who unknowingly resurrect a deadly killer who stalks his prey in the woods. Think Jason Voorhees but without mommy issues (presumably). Here is the official synopsis:
When a group of teens takes a locket from a collapsed fire tower in the woods, they unwittingly resurrect the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime. The undead killer soon embarks on a bloody rampage to retrieve the stolen locket, methodically slaughtering anyone who gets in his way..
Cast
The story stars Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone and Charlotte Creaghan, but they weren’t all on board at first.
The making of the film could have been a horror story in itself. In the fall of 2021, the movie was shot with an entirely different cast before production difficulties required them to rework the film, according to producer Stephanie Hanmer.
“We’d shot well over 50 percent of the film with our original Johnny, and then he had to go to the hospital and was forbidden to come back to set,” Hanmer told The Daily Beast.
She continued, “So it’s 11 a.m., and I lost my lead actor. I had a huge safety team waiting. We had a scuba team ready to shoot underwater. We had our most expensive rental for the camera. It was the most expensive day of the whole shoot, and our actor’s missing.” The crew took an extended break and began filming again in 2022.
Release Date
Shudder picked up streaming rights for In a Violent Nature back in January, before it was granted an initial release. The movie hit theaters on May 31 for those of you who can watch such a film in public. It seems like a lot of people did: the movie raked up $2.1 million in its opening weekend with 1,426 screens, becoming IFC’s widest opening ever.
If you’re not feeling that adventurous, In A Violent Nature will land on Shudder this summer.
June is Pride Month in many countries, including the U.S. Canada, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. It’s an entire month dedicated to uplifting LGBTQ voices and celebrating their culture, history and rights.
It’s also a time of year when anti-LGBTQ voices can be the loudest, as evidenced last year by boycotts of major companies such as Target, Kohls, North Face and Anheuser Busch.
And speaking of major companies, Pride Month also erupts in rainbow colors on social media when major brands and corporations give their logos Pride-themed makeovers. However, this doesn’t sit well with some LGBTQ activists who see this as rainbow washing or disingenuously using Pride branding for their gain or to give themselves a deceptive air of often-derided as “virtue signaling.”
In 2024, it also seems rather perfunctory for major companies to celebrate Pride Month, because failure to do so could result in them being accused of bigotry.
It’s commendable when companiesuse their capital and platforms to generously and genuinely support LGBTQ organizations. But there’s something duplicitous about companies that jump on the bandwagon during Pride Month to curry favor with those who support LGBTQ rights and do little more.
One major company is getting called out by liberals and conservatives alike during Pride Month for very different reasons. BMW is taking heat from LGBTQ rights supporters for its public admission that it doesn’t celebrate Pride in the Middle East because of “cultural aspects.” Many right-wing people on Twitter who don’t support Pride Month are enjoying the schadenfreude of seeing a company openly admit to empty virtue signaling.
It all started when someone on Twitter asked why BMW doesn’t turn its logo rainbow-colored for its Middle Eastern Twitter feed during Pride Month. “How come you don’t proudly display your logos pride colors on your Middle East posts ???” they asked.
How come you don’t proudly display your logos pride colors on your middle east posts ???
The car company’s response was cold and corporate. “This is an established practice at the BMW Group, which also takes into consideration market-specific legal regulations and country-specific cultural aspects,” BMW’s Twitter account responded.
This is an established practice at the BMW Group, which also takes into consideration market-specific legal regulations and country-specific cultural aspects (4/4)
The response begged a big question: If you don’t support LGBTQ rights in places where they are persecuted, do you really support them at all? In some countries in the Middle East, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, LGBTQ people can be punished by death.
Many accused BMW of hypocrisy for only supporting gay rights where it’s good for business.
So we can take from this that if market conditions made the oppression of gays profitable that little rainbow of yours would disappear pretty quickly here yeah?
As a lesbian, I would prefer you don’t pretend to take a moral stance on my human rights that is dependent on market conditions. Just drop the flag and go sell some cars.
This is called ‘fair-weather allyship’ and it’s actually pretty gross, which is why you catch so much flack for it. The places you’re avoiding allyship, are the places that need it the most. Terrible job at understanding the situation outside of dollar signs.
— Charlie’s Peefeet (@charliespeefeet) June 3, 2024
Some thought that BMW’s Pride Month logo gesture was rendered meaningless by its approach to the Middle East.
BMW is proud to support lgbt rights in places where they already exist.
The fact that U.S. companies converted their logos to rainbow-themed during Price Month shows how far this country has come in the last 55 years since the Stonewall Riot kicked off the LGBTQ movement in the U.S. in 1969. However, the fact that companies are afraid to change their logos to rainbow-colored in some parts of the world shows how far we still have to go to guarantee those same rights across the globe.
The evolution of candles from lighting necessity to scented ambience creator is kind of funny. For thousands of years, people relied on candles and oil lamps for light, but with the invention of the light bulb in 1879, fire was no longer needed for light. At that time, people were probably relieved to not have to set something on fire every time they wanted to see in the dark, and now here we are spending tons of money to do it just for funsies.
With their widespread use, you’d think we’d know a thing or two about candles, but as a thread on X makes clear, a whole bunch of us have been burning candles wrong our entire lives without knowing it.
A post from @kktweetshaha started the education session: “Just learned that my fiancé, who buys candles all the time and we literally always have candles burning, did not actually know how they work and blew out a medium first burn candle 30 minutes after I lit it when I wasn’t paying attention and ruined it.”
Many people had no idea what she was talking about, so she explained.
— (@)
“If a candle is not burned for long enough on first burn to melt edge to edge it will create a ‘memory ring.’ Once a candle has a memory ring, it will continue to tunnel and never burn all the way across.”
This is why you should not light a large candle at night, which is unlikely to burn all the way across before you need to blow out to go to bed. Allow at least one hour per inch of candle width
— (@)
“This is why you should not light a large candle at night, which is unlikely to burn all the way across before you need to blow out to go to bed. Allow at least one hour per inch of candle width,” she went on.
So that’s why candles always end up with a hole in the middle, making us think the candle companies are just running a scam to make us go through candles faster. Nope. It’s user error, and many people were flabbergasted by this realization.
“This is the most useful information I’ve been given my entire adult life,” wrote one person.
“This skill should be taught in schools,” shared another. “The amount I’ve wasted on half burnt candles is outrageous, the amount of times I’ve used Algebra since leaving school = 0.”
“When I worked at Pier 1 in the 90s I got to go to some candle workshop that taught us the correct way to use (and therefore sell) candles and that is probably some of the most useful knowledge I’ve carried in my head this long life,” shared another.
Some people suggested wrapping aluminum foil around the rim of the candle to help recover a candle that’s been tunneled or to speed the process of melting the wax across the entire candle. Other suggested melting the candle down in the oven to even it back out again. The original poster pointed out that sometimes candles aren’t wicked properly. According to Lone Star Candle Supply, if a candle is more than 4 inches in diameter it may become necessary to have two wicks.
@CompostTraining There are a few things you can try to improve it even if not fixing entirely. The popular fix is wrapping the candle in tin foil to increase the temperature across the surface.
— (@)
The candle posts also prompted a separate discussion about candles and indoor air quality and the volatile organic compounds that are released when they are burned. Some people equated burning candles with having a small engine running in your living room, though according to the Cleveland Clinic, there’s scant evidence that the amount of toxins released by burning candles is actually hazardous to your health, especially if you use high quality candles in a well-ventilated area.
How do you know if a candle is “high quality”? First, check the wick for metal. Lead in wicks is not nearly as common as it used to be, but best not to risk it if you find metal in the wick. Second, choose soy, beeswax, palm or coconut wax candles instead of paraffin, which is petroleum-based product and more likely to put off soot and smoke particles. Everyone reacts differently to different amounts of particulates in the air, so if you find yourself getting headaches or respiratory symptoms when using candles, it’s probably best to avoid them. But if you tolerate them, feel free to enjoy as recommended,—just make sure that first burn melts the wax all the way to the edges to avoid the dreaded tunneling.
This article originally appeared on 3.29.24
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(@AdamKrueger) 
