Iconic sculpture STOLEN from set of BEETLEJUICE 2!

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Buy Amara. This is a weekly news show where we'll discuss some of the weird, strange, and just downright odd things that have happened this week in the art and history fields.

I'm your host and personal curator, Amara Andrew. This week, it is a very movie-filled week. We're going to be talking about I just spit on my laptop.

That's gross. This week, we're not going to be talking about that. Instead, we're going to be talking about an artist challenging Mattel's trademarked Barbie pink, the oldest artwork created by Neanderthals found, and an iconic prop that was stolen from the set of Beetlejuice 2.

So, like I said, super movie-filled week, so we're just going to get straight into it.

Maybe? Yep, there we go. Okay, my brain stopped working for a second.

When does it not? This part of the show is called updates, so I do personal life updates that you probably don't give a single fuck about. Yes, I can start cussing now.

YouTube has really strict swearing laws, so I normally try to wait a little bit. So, I do personal life updates, and I actually do have an update for a story that we've talked about previously, so we're going to get to that. I hope your week has been doing well, or that you've been having a good week.

That made no sense what I just said. English not my first language. Just kidding, it is, which is a huge problem.

Anyway, so this week, we actually saw the Barbie movie, and I do have more Barbie movie news, but this is really cool and subversive. But, before we get to that, we did see the Barbie movie, of course, because how could I not? Granted, I'm not a big fan of pink, so everything was definitely very pink.

And it was funny, too, because when we were walking like to the movie theater, we could see all these little pockets of groups of people that were in like pink and cowboy hats and stuff like that. And I was like, "It looks like a bachelorette party, but like it looks like Nashville or something where you just have all these little pockets of bachelorette parties and stuff." I don't know, it was really funny.

But I really like how much people dressed up for the movie, also, just because if I had any pink, well, I did wear I had one pink undergarment that I was like, "I'll wear that." Not to get too graphic, but this is my show, and I'm going to talk about my undergarments if I feel like it. So, anyway, I don't didn't have any pink.

Instead, I was just in my regular black, gray, and white, so didn't really fit the vibe, but that's totally fine. If I had any pink, I totally would have worn it. But anyway, blah, blah, blah.

So, we went to the Barbie movie, we saw it. I didn't think I was going to like it. I really loved it.

Both my boyfriend Geoff and I absolutely loved it. We were just like, "We should go back again." Just really liked it. It was really good.

It did get a little preachy in the middle, but that's just my own personal thought and feeling. But yeah, it was really good. If you're If you've even remotely played with Barbies, or you just know that Barbie exists, I think you should see it.

It was really fun. Also, this week, we shot some historic homes for the La Grange Area Historical Society, which is just outside the city of Chicago here. Something they do every year where they have like a whole home tour thing, blah, blah, blah.

We've never recorded it. This was our first year recording it, and we did it with a couple of my clients, actually, because they're part of the historical society, whatever. It was really fun to see all these historic homes.

I think it was like 1880 to like 1950s or so was like the time span of all the homes, and I loved it. I was so jazzed, and getting to be inside all these historic homes and see how people kind of modernized them, they were all absolutely beautiful. I loved every single one of them.

So, that was just super fun. And again, I got to like combine my two loves of videography, which is my whole business, MAVEN, and then combine that with all my historical stuff. Obviously, we are doing a history podcast right now, sort of.

And just being able to combine those two things was really fun. So, anyway, blah, blah, blah, if you're ever shooting anything historical, call me up, I loved it. Anyway, I teased that I do have an update for stories that we've talked about in the past, stories past.

So, in episode 12, this is now what? Episode 43, so back in episode 12, which was November 2022, which feels like an entire lifetime ago. But, anyway, we do have an update, so in that episode of Buy Amara, we talked about how thieves stole 438 Celtic gold coins from the Celtic and Roman Museum in Manching, Germany.

People have been apprehended in this. So, just to give you a little bit more context though about what the hell I'm even talking about. So, at the time th- of this heist, the people who did the heist, they allegedly like cut the phone lines in the town, and they cut like all communication from Manching, Germany to the outside world, so nobody could be notified like, "Hey, this is happening," or call the police.

So, they were able to steal all of these coins from this museum. So, they were just like gone. Like, nobody knew where these people went, where they were, blah, blah, blah.

And while the value of the coins are relatively low material value, they're valued at about €250,000, or about $278,000. They have an irreplaceable cultural treasure, and there is a very sad sort of ending to this story. But, or to this update rather, but we'll get to that in a second.

So, like I said, the suspects were arrested. They were arrested in Bavaria. There were four men that were connected to this crime, and they were arrested after there was a huge search of 28 homes, businesses, vehicles, and even a boathouse.

I don't think they were found in the boathouse, but allegedly, one of the suspects was found in possession of a plastic bag that was filled with, quote, "Lumps of gold that match the composition of the stolen Celtic coins." So, that also suggests that some of these coins have already been melted down. It's believed that 70 of the coins have been irreparably lost, but they're still hoping to find some of them.

Additionally, these four men were connected by DNA evidence to a string of other robberies that were both in Germany and Austria dating back to 2014, and this includes robbing supermarkets, a casino, and gas stations. And while not 100% certain, their crimes may even go back to the '90s, so this is just It's a common motif, I guess, for them.

And as for now, just to kind of wrap this update up, as for now, police are still combing the area around the northern German city of Schwerin using metal detectors to search for the remaining gold that they believe is buried somewhere. So, kind of a happy story that there is retribution, I guess, for this act, but it's still kind of sad because some of these coins are just gone forever, presumably.

So, yeah, that is the only update I have, so let's just get straight into the show.

This week, we are going to be talking about, well, we're starting off the week, rather, with an artist who is challenging Mattel's trademark on the signature Barbie pink color. He is creating his own shade that is very similar that you can actually purchase. Artist Stuart Semple has created his own version of Barbie pink that is called Pinkie, and he's dubbed it the, quote, "Barbiest pink paint." So, Mattel has trademarked their own version of Barbie pink, so no one like it's not publicly accessible, which we're going to talk a little bit more about this in a second, but Semple's one of his main pillars in his artistic practice is making these trademarked colors, which is a ridiculous notion in and of itself, in my personal opinion.

Trademarking colors, that is. But he subverts all of this, which we'll talk about that in a second, so let's just stick with Pinkie, which is an adorable name, also. So, Pinkie is a blend of acrylic resins, optical brighteners, and fluorescent pigments, and it really makes this bright, vibrant, beautiful Barbie pink.

So, if you're watching this, you can see the image right here, but if you if you're listening to this, you should check it out. It's It's very Barbie pink. Like I said, Mattel has their own trademarked version, and this is his response to this trademarking of this color pink.

Anyone who uses the signature Barbie color from Mattel can be subject to lots of legal litigation and things like that. Semple, on the other hand, like I said, is making this publicly available to people through his shade. However, there is one stipulation in the description.

Those who purchase Pinkie have to agree that they aren't associated with Mattel in any way and that this product will not make its way to Mattel. So, as long as you don't work for Mattel, Pinkie is available for purchase, and it's actually very affordable, which is surprising. But that, again, that is his whole artistic practice.

And this isn't the first time that Semple has actually created his own signature color that is a riff off of another color. He also has the, quote, "blackest black," which there are several versions of how you can get this black. There's like Black Ink, Black 1.0, and then this is the one that I'm talking about, which is Black 3.0.

This is to combat, not really combat, but just be in competition, rather, with Anish Kapoor's Vantablack, which Kapoor marketed as being the blackest black that ever blacked. Like the blackest pigment that you could possibly purchase. It is not available publicly, which is something that Semple is saying, you know, "You need to be able to make these things publicly accessible because it's weird to be able to trademark a color." Again, I don't know all the legal mumbo jumbo or whatever, but I think it's personally ridiculous to be able to trademark a color because it's like, it's just a fucking color.

Like, I don't know, that's my own two cents. Anyway, if you want to buy Black 3.0 on Semple's shop website, Culture Hustle, I think it's just culturehustle.com. I don't know, go check it out.

You have to agree, just like with Pinkie, that, quote, "By adding this product to your cart, you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor. To the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, this material will not make its way into the hands of Anish Kapoor," end quote.

And like I said, it comes in various different types. Like, there are different types of blacks, so it's like Black 1.0, Black 3.0, and various other different things. You can also get varying different sizes, too.

And like I said, it's actually pretty affordable, which is really fun. I also teased, too, that he's actually created various different versions of other trademark colors, specifically, one which is the famous Yves Klein blue, which is one of my favorite color blues. It is beyond beautiful.

The original name of Yves Klein blue is International Klein Blue or IKB. However, Semple's version is also called IKB, but it stands for Incredibly Kleinish Blue, which I just found really funny. It's also packaged in what looks like a Calvin Klein fragrance bottle and stuff like that.

He also has created a riff on Tiffany blue, so there's kind of a blue theme going on, called Tiff Blue, so T-I-F-F Blue, and that is also packaged so it looks like it's from Tiffany's. It's basically the same exact Tiffany's blue. Additionally, he has done so much service for the color and paint industry, I can't even tell you.

But, additionally, he has also created a plugin for Adobe called FreeTone, which offers over 1,200 colors that are free to the public that are basically the same tone and shade as Pantone colors. He is making these completely free and available for public use, which I found really fun. So, if you want to have any of these signature colors, I think it was Culture Hustle where you can go over, or if you just look up Stuart Semple, you can find his website, and you can purchase your own versions of these colors.

He's combating trademarked colors one color at a time. On to the next story.

Scientists, yes, you've probably heard of them before. Scientists believe they may have found the oldest intentional and non-utilitarian markings made by Neanderthals in a cave in central France. A lot of modifiers in that sentence, but this is actually really fucking cool.

While historians have known about these engravings existed, they're located in the La Roche-Cotard cave, they've known that these have existed since the 1970s, a group of researchers now are the first to argue that these 57,000-year-old markings are, quote, "unambiguous examples of Neanderthal abstract design," end quote.

The cave itself was sealed with sediment about 51,000 years ago, but it was then reopened by quarry workers in 1846. So, this is like a perfectly intact cave considering that it's very highly possible that nobody but Neanderthals and maybe a couple of other animals, like lions, bears, and hyenas specifically, were inhabitants of this cave.

So, this is like perfectly preserved in like a weird way, but really cool. So, you might be asking, what the hell did Neanderthals create? Let me tell you.

The researchers who were looking at these images, they used photogrammetry to create 3D models of the cave walls. So, whoever created these images, they used their fingers, obviously, cuz why would you make paintbrushes back then? So, they used their fingers to actually create these designs because the walls of the caves were clay-like, so you could actually like put your fingers in there and create these new impressions and everything to produce these images.

On one panel near the cave's entrance, it's believed that a series of triangle shapes were slowly and decisively applied to the wall, meaning that these weren't made quickly or without prior thought or knowledge. These were actually thought-out designs. Like, you could just tell, I guess, allegedly, you can just tell that these actually had a purpose, and like they were created with thought, forethought rather, to the design of what they were making, which is crazy.

The researchers are also arguing that whoever created these also put forethought into the composition of the cave, meaning for one of the triangle designs, there was a rock at the bottom of it, so they formed the triangle around the rock. I don't know, it's just really fascinating. I think it's really cool.

Additionally, there were also other sections. They the researchers in their study, they mostly focused on these triangular kind of shapes, but there were also other sections that were called the circular and then the undulated panels, and these were also thought to have been created with fingers as well. The circular image is an oval shape, so it's just kind of like it kind of looks like this.

I have an image up here so you can see it. And then the undulating one has like a wave-shaped central axis with smaller markings around it. These are just so cool.

Like, the fact that these are perfectly preserved, also, is amazing, and just it just shows that there is Cuz typically, when you think of Neanderthals, it's thought that, "Oh, those bumbling, buffoon, idiots." Like, it's it's a mean word that you call somebody who's just stupid, quite frankly. So, seeing that there is this kind of I mean, cuz creating and arts is thought of to be kind of like a not a highbrow, but it's it's a sign of creative intelligence that a species is able to make things like this.

So, for Neanderthals, this is kind of rewriting the history of what a Neanderthal is and that, you know, they weren't creative. There's also a bunch of other news about other Neanderthal-related art that has been created, too, recently, so that's something cool. You could definitely go check that out.

So, TLDR, this new research is mostly intended to show that Neanderthals did have artistic intentionality, which is really neat. Currently, the researchers are stating that it's nearly impossible to decipher the meaning of these designs, so, you know, what did they mean by creating these, if there is meaning. But hopefully this discovery will make other researchers go back to other things that have been found and kind of see, "Oh, okay, there is a similarity between these undulating shapes," or maybe not entirely, or it could just be different art movements for the Neanderthals.

Like, who knows? It's It's really fascinating. So, who knows?

Maybe in the future, there will be an art history course all about Neanderthal art, which would be really fascinating. So, on to our last and final story, next and final story. Oh, boy.

If you're at all like me, Beetlejuice was an iconic part of your childhood or young adulthood. It was just a classic Tim Burton movie. Well, an iconic prop from the production of Beetlejuice 2 has been stolen.

And not just one thing, actually, but two things, which we'll talk about in a second. So, spoiler alert, also, Beetlejuice 2 is in production, so if you had no idea, it's coming out soon. With all the strikes and everything, production has been delayed, blah, blah, blah, obviously, of course.

But someone has stolen an iconic sculpture from the set. The filming is currently taking place in Vermont, which is where the first movie was filmed. On the afternoon of July 17th, the film crew alerted the Vermont State Police that someone had stolen, quote, "a large abstract art sculpture from the vicinity of the cemetery that weighed approximately 150 lb." This sculpture, if you are at all familiar with Beetlejuice, it is, of course, the one that looks like a leaf with all the legs and everything.

I have an image up here, but if you just Google Beetlejuice sculpture, you will be able to find this. But this is the iconic sculpture that almost kills Delia in the beginning, and then it also almost kills their house guests later when Beetlejuice is doing his thing. Spoiler alert.

So, this is like the iconic piece of Beetlejuice, iconic sculpture. Who wouldn't want to have it? Like I mentioned to you, this weighs 150 lbs, so somebody didn't just walk in and steal it.

You had to have it figured out ahead of time, "Okay, I'm going to drive up with this, and then we'll load it in my car, and then we'll be able to take it back to wherever." And that's just all my hypothesizing. Again, it's not really known yet exactly what happened and how this was taken away from the movie set. It's also not clear if this is the sculpture from the first movie, so if this is the original prop, or if this is a prop that was created for the sequel.

Also, like I teased, this isn't the first theft on set. So, the sculpture was stolen on July 17th. 3 days before that, on July 14th, there was yet another theft that happened on the set.

This was a large lamp post, quote, "topped with a distinctive pumpkin decoration on Village Road," end quote, and it was stolen just after midnight. According to police reports, lamp posts was removed from its base, bundled into the back of an older model GMC pickup truck, covered with a tarp, and then they just drove away quickly.

So, you do kind of have to wonder if this is the same person who is stealing this, and maybe it was a test to see, "Okay, I can load this up onto my car, and then we can drive away, and blah, blah, blah." I don't know, that's just my own hypothesis, but it kind of feels like it would sort of be a test, cuz they're like big, sort of things.

I don't know. Anyway, that's it for this episode of Buy Amara. If you have any knowledge about where the sculpture is for Beetlejuice 2, from Beetlejuice 2, rather, tell the police.

I don't know. Or keep it for yourself. No, I'm just teasing.

Do not do that. So, anyway, that has been this episode of Buy Amara. Be sure to like it if you like this episode, subscribe, tell a friend, tell no one, I don't really care.

I do care about you, so thank you so much for listening. I genuinely hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, give it the old thumbs up.

That helps me. I love you. And also help any creators out there who are also struggling, so just like their stuff, subscribe, it helps them out, so it literally takes half a second to do, so just boop, there you go.

So, anyway, I hope you have a great rest of your week, and thanks so much for hanging out with me for a little bit, and I'll see you next week. So, I'm Amara Andrew, never stop creating. I would love to have that sculpture, oh my god.