Nicstalgia

I'm Tired of Rumors Starting

Adryan Corcione is featured on this week’s episode of Nicstalgia. Tri-State Area pop culture enthusiasts unite!!! We chat about how we met (spoiler alert: we are the only people talking about Xanga), Gerard Way working at Hot Topic in the Willowbrook Mall, Adryan’s journalistic work and forthcoming book about growing up online at the advent of social media, the themes of identity and connection, and parallels between the early internet and now. We have a show and tell of select pieces Adryan’s awesome physical media collection, featuring Lindsay Lohan covers from Cosmopolitan (2022), Playboy (2012), Nylon (2009), Maxim (2007), Fangoria (2007) featuring possibly the only favorable review of I Know Who Killed Me (2007), and Interview (2004). We talk about how Lindsay’s personal life overshadowed and informed the perception of IKWKM and the parallel between how her public struggles with substance abuse mirrors how society views drug and mental health crises. How we treat It Girls affects the treatment of girls everywhere. Ultimately, I pose the question – How can we as the general public, media, internet, and cultural critics do better going forward have more compassion for the people around us? We dive into the consumption of public figures, the price of pursuing fame, and the right to privacy. Even reality TV stars have boundaries! Despite what’s shown (and sold) to the public, celebrities are people and have nuance…but so does everyone else. Social media has democratized access to celebrities - we can contact them – AND celebrity – we can become them ourselves. We close out with a Britney Spears oracle card reading! Moral of the story: Pop culture matters! 💿 About our Guest Adryan is a pop culture essayist behind Adryan's POV. Over the years, their journalism has appeared in Teen Vogue, Vice, MTV News, SELF, them, Rolling Stone, and more. They also work in content marketing in the tech industry. 🛼 Connect with our Guest Substack [https://adryancorcione.substack.com] 〰 Instagram [https://www.notion.so/7c2a658bf3964c47ac39d849e27bc06b?pvs=21] 〰 LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adryan-corcione] 🍒 Connect with Nic Substack [https://nicstalgia.substack.com/] 〰 ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/nicoletremaglio] 🦋 Special Thanks Doll Artwork by @hmdraws_ Theme Music by @egmusicnyc Intro Video by @valentinareyes9

Laguna Beach Was Real to Me

Kelli Williams is featured on this week’s episode of Nicstalgia. Kelli shares how Laguna Biotch came to life, and we explore the sense of freedom that comes with shamelessly leaning into the things you like – including but not limited to Backstreet Boys and Celine Dion. We explore the undoing of societal conditioning around being a fangirl, revisiting things you loved when you were younger, healing your inner teenager, and creating a world where you can be you. Why aren’t people willing to be silly anymore?? We wouldn’t know. Kelli and I talk about the wave of millennial nostalgia happening right now and how it’s not new, buying concert tickets instead of houses, Kelli’s experience of being in the crowd at TRL, and how in the 2000s, BSB had to do a whole media circuit with news vs. celebs’ Notes app posts today. Speaking of celebs, we dive deep into the democratization of access to celebrities through social media, blurring of lines with parasocial relationships, how social media has changed the concept of celebrity and whose legacies are impacted (Justin), and how this affects us as pop culture researchers and lifelong fans. We explore how different celebrities are positioned as actors (Jennifer Aniston), entrepreneurs (Gwyneth), and even products or objects of consumption themselves (Britney, Paris). Of course we talk about Laguna Beach!! Reality TV has evolved and is more produced, but there will always be conflicting stories about what’s “real”. Wanna know what 2000s fashion was REALLY like? Watch Laguna Beach and you’ll find out everything you need to know. We also explore who the best/worst One Tree Hill character is and our initial reactions to The OC vs. our reactions during the rewatch. California, here we come! 💿 About our Guest Kelli is the content creator behind Laguna Biotch and co host of the podcast Beyond the Blinds. 🛼 Connect with our Guest Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/laguna_biotch] 〰 Twitter [https://www.twitter.com/lagunabiotchIG] 〰 TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@laguna_biotch] 🍒 Connect with Nic Newsletter [https://nicstalgia.substack.com/] 〰 ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠Twitter⁠ [https://www.twitter.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠TikTok⁠ [https://www.tiktok.com/@nicoletremaglio] 🦋 Special Thanks Doll Artwork by @hmdraws_ Theme Music by @egmusicnyc Intro Video by @valentinareyes9

Nostalgia Isn’t “Back”…It Never Left

In this episode, I explain how “nostalgia” is often used as a misnomer for “nowstalgia” when marketing an old cultural object to a new consumer demographic. Drawing inspiration from my article, “Nostalgia vs. Nowstalgia, and Why Both Matter in 2022”, and dig into six key considerations of how both affect connection, communication, and commerce: regenerative revenue, trend zeitgeists, context collapse, retro subversion, compensatory consumption, and projection bias. Get ready for a deep dive on the commodification – more specifically, the Etsyfication, Coachellafication, yassification, and tattooification – of licensed band t-shirts that capitalize off of existing, nowstalgic IP. Why does every youth culture fixture generation think they invented every style when it's really a recycled version of what came before? We’ll explore the context collapse of flannel shirts, The Cerulean Principle (inspired by the infamous The Devil Wears Prada monologue), and my personal favorite nowstalgic aesthetic: Groovival, a revival of 60s culture from the vantage point of the 90s. You will learn about how isolated cultural objects, like an olive green utilitarian jacket, gain context through composition and can therefore be dated like a time capsule. Millennials’ fear of being cheugy exemplifies their resistance to The Chasm™ – when you become old enough to witness the completion of a standard 20-year trend cycle and are no longer considered the fixture generation of youth culture. I explain how tie dye has been an enduring cultural symbol with different meanings over time, why hipsters annoy everyone, why Millennials are outraged by Gen Z reselling their 00s pink and black zebra print homecoming dresses, why I love nowstalgic content creators (shoutout to Merel, Nicole aka. Misss 2005, Sammiee, and Sarah), and why everyone for some reason thinks they can predict the future about what will “come back”. Even if a headline says the biggest trend for 2024 is nostalgia, it isn’t. That’s because nostalgia never goes out of style. 🍒 Connect with Nic Newsletter [https://nicstalgia.substack.com/] 〰 ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠Twitter⁠ [https://www.twitter.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠TikTok⁠ [https://www.tiktok.com/@nicoletremaglio] 🦋 Special Thanks Doll Artwork by @hmdraws_ Theme Music by @egmusicnyc Intro Video by @valentinareyes9

Physical Media Renaissance™

In this episode, I share the experience of my Physical Media Renaissance™ project that I’ve been working on for about a year. I dive into the physical media (CDs), 00s entertainment technology (icy blue Memorex CD boombox), and memorabilia (the iconic Geri poster) that I’ve acquired and six key considerations: consumption, media ephemerality, perceived value, circular economy, friction, and taste. I talk about what this project means to me on a personal and generational level, why 90s-00s nostalgia has become a thing, the nostalgic and nowstalgic resurgence of flip phones and digital cameras by Luddite teens and Millennial lifestyle editors avoiding doom scrolling, why Urban Outfitters can sell a first-gen iPod for $350, and why I’m buying $1 CDs when Boomers told us to stop eating avocado toast and drinking Starbucks to buy a house for $725k. Haters will have their questions answered: Is this project wasteful? Is it materialistic? I dig into themes of ownership, transience, and – of course – the Diffusion of Innovations model as it relates to physical media. We constantly switch from screen to screen with utmost ease and endless distractions, so is the friction of using physical media really worse than the feigned conversancy of Spotify Wrapped? If an algorithm wasn’t reinforcing confirmation bias and shaping your choices, would you be able to make them on your own? Wouldn’t it be fun to genuinely discover something? You’ll learn my Nicstalgia Consumption Rubric framework of how to know what to buy and what not to buy, the similarities and differences between modes of consumption – thrifting, resale, and fast fashion – and how to curate and refine your own taste by using my ‘Live Laugh Love Loathe’ Nicstalgia Curation Rubric. I share my favorite finds and takeaways from the project around mindfulness, non-attachment, value, memories, and sense of self. 🍒 Connect with Nic Newsletter [https://nicstalgia.substack.com/] 〰 ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠Twitter⁠ [https://www.twitter.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠TikTok⁠ [https://www.tiktok.com/@nicoletremaglio] 🦋 Special Thanks Doll Artwork by @hmdraws_ Theme Music by @egmusicnyc Intro Video by @valentinareyes9

Checkpoints and The Shock of Deletion

Ruby Thelot is featured on this week’s episode of Nicstalgia. He shares how his love for studying and researching niche internet communities and cultures led him to writing his forthcoming book, A Cyberarchaeology of Checkpoints. We talk about how the concept of checkpoints originated in video game culture and took on a subversive new form as personal life status updates in a YouTube comments section. What happens when a community is formed by thousands of checkpoints in a YouTube comments section, and what happens when that YouTube video is deleted? We explore the shock of deletion, the jarring experience of no longer having access to a digital space you once frequented. (RIP MySpace.) In the words of internet archivist Rebane2001, “Forget what you lost, save what you can.” Is everything meant to be saved? We ponder the concept of media ephemerality and why we assume permanence of what’s on the internet when we expect real-life places to come and go. (RIP to my Midtown hair salon.) Digital media is full of paradox – abundance devalues digital media and makes access harder (i.e. trying to find one of the 7500 photos on my phone), preservation disrupts the content’s original environment (i.e. downloading my Xanga archives), and materiality affects relevance and value. We dive into the intricacies of memory and technology, my Buddhist internet philosophy, and how deletion of digital artifacts erases stories, memories, and ‘monuments of emotional history’, therefore impacting the future interpretation and legacy of our civilization. I ask Ruby what he’d leave in a digital time capsule, the ethics of digital life after death, the morality of AI when “we can only perceive the present once it is the distant past”, and how media literacy and astuteness will develop for young generations in a new digital age. 💿 About our Guest Ruby Justice Thelot is a designer, cyberethnographer and artist based in New York. He is an adjunct professor of Design and Media Theory at New York University. He is the founder of the award-winning creative research and design studio 13101401 inc. 🛼 Connect with our Guest Twitter [https://twitter.com/being_on_line] 〰 Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/being_on_line] 〰 TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@being_on_line] 〰 YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@being_on_line] 🍒 Connect with Nic Newsletter [https://nicstalgia.substack.com/] 〰 ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠Twitter⁠ [https://www.twitter.com/nicoletremaglio] 〰 ⁠TikTok⁠ [https://www.tiktok.com/@nicoletremaglio] 🦋 Special Thanks Doll Artwork by @hmdraws_ Theme Music by @egmusicnyc Intro Video by @valentinareyes9