New haunted house idea: Justin Timberlake beatboxing
New haunted house idea: Justin Timberlake beatboxing
Unhinged obscure Halloween costumes, Timothy Chalamet looklikes, the last Kmart 🎃
Happy Halloween!!!!
ICYMI, last week’s issue included my favorite Carly Rae Jepsen performance, an epic Imogen Heap x Caroline Polachek mashup, and more. Catch up on these before they enter the archive! 🔐
Huge thank you to Nicstalgia supporters who I will love forever: Janine, Marie, Liv, Mitra, CY, and Chet! 💐💐💐
🎃 Unhinged, obscure pop culture Halloween costumes
Super extra people – who love dressing up, are deeply invested in pop culture, and use Halloween as an opportunity to self-express, have fun, and let their freak flag fly – are my kind of people. (Then again, I don’t need it to be Halloween to do these things lol.)
The article The Chronically Online Have Stolen Halloween argues that too-specific costumes are sucking the fun out of the holiday and that context collapse ruins a mass amount of people understanding your costume at face value. The Millennial writer of the article says she’s afraid of irrelevance, and guess what: IT SHOWS. I talk about what I call The Chasm™ a lot, when you age out of the “young” generation. And that’s fine!!! There are new kids who go trick or treating! Everyone under the age of 18 HAS only known a world with the internet memes! The oldest Gen Z’s are in their late twenties! The ironic thing about this article is that it’s the exact example of what it expresses disdain for: just because you’re complaining about it on the internet doesn’t make it a thing. Just use your reference photo as the background on your phone and everyone will laugh. It’s not that complicated.
A more lighthearted take on the idea is that Halloween costume ideas have gotten too specific and are therefore only recognized by niche communities is the “I hate gay Halloween” trend, similar to last year’s “I hate when indie girls do Halloween what do you mean you're caroline polachek”. LOL.
I saw a ragebait video on Instagram the other day – presuming this video couldn’t possibly be that unaware and had to be specifically designed to annoy us, right?? – with a girl saying, “Omg no one’s gonna understand my costume this year, it’s a superrrr niche pop culture moment from 15 years ago.” Oh no honey, we were there, and we remember. Lady Gaga performing at the VMAs was among the biggest monocultural events of 2009. People have been this for Halloween literally every year since. (Seems like the IG account Pop Culture Died in 2009 is accurately named.)
As your resident expert on extremely niche, offbeat, and bizarre pop culture events, I would like to present my collection of unhinged, obscure Halloween costumes that I didn’t execute due to lack of time, cost, resources, or co-conspirators. Maybe next year!
Hilary Duff unenthusiastically lip synching and performing her “infamously low-energy” choreography to “With Love” on The Today Show at 8:42am in June 2007
Fiona Apple giving an impromptu acceptance speech at the 1997 MTV VMAs in a 1997 Dolce & Gabbana sheer ivory crochet floral dress
Mariah Carey being named the first "Celebrity Legs of a Goddess" by Gillette Venus®, kicking off the fourth annual "Legs of a Goddess" contest and unveiling a sixteen-foot high replica of her legs in May 2006
Lisa Rinna at the 1st Annual (although presumably only) ‘Smart Style With Staples’ runway show in NYC in August 2007
JoJo after you (LOSER!) left her number on your phone, more specifically a Nokia 6800 messaging device with a fold-out QWERTY keyboard
Beyoncé, wearing a green Roberto Cavalli dress at the Samsung Experience Store in October 2007, presenting the “very sexy and beautiful” B’Phone by Samsung, a $99, burgundy-and-gold Sprint phone, camera and MP3 player including a never-before-heard song recorded by Beyoncé when she was 10
Britney Spears in a 1999 Polaroid i-Zone Instant Pocket Camera advertisement
Carly Rae Jepsen wearing a vintage Valentino 1973 Chevron Stripe Cashmere Sweater on her E•MO•TION album cover
“Start-Over Girl” at Rancho Carne Toros cheer auditions from Bring It On (2001)
Sky Ferreira attending the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in a fuchsia velvet Alessandra Rich babydoll dress
Michelle Branch at the Thong 'n Cheek lingerie display at the 2003 Tall Pony Radio Music Awards gift lounge, in Las Vegas, in October 2003
Adriana Lima talking on a cell phone while also wearing a cell phone on her shorts waistband, taking a break from filming a commercial for Italian telecommunications company TIM in 2005
Avril Lavigne parallel parking a BMW convertible while on tour with her band in Germany
The meme of Lizzie McGuire’s little brother Matt on the phone wearing sunglasses
Travis and Heidi doing ‘The Bench Dance’ on Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance to Celine Dion’s “Calling You”
Lindsay Lohan breaking out into a hip hop dance routine in a white, rhinestoned Juicy Couture sweatsuit while hosting the 2004 MTV Movie Awards
Madame Tussauds’ Christmas Nativity scene featuring the Beckhams as Joseph and Mary and Kylie Minogue as The Angel
Lady Gaga putting on Hannah Montana lip gloss that she found in a CVS in South Beach, Miami
Mariah Carey getting her hair brushed by her assistant on a roller coaster at Universal Studios
Elle Woods’ “But your major is Fashion Merchandising” guidance counselor underestimating Elle’s choice to apply to Harvard
📲 I’m just a simple girl in a high-tech digital world
🎶 Blossoms (love) and Rick Astley (love) covering Charli XCX’s “360” (love)!!!
🍫 Here’s the whole story behind the Timothy Chalamet lookalike contest
🛍 Meet You at Kmart on Guam, where it’s still thriving!
📺 I’m interested to see the My Generation docuseries that revisits the “the iconic events, people, and media that shaped each generation” for Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z
🎤 Speaking of docs, I think I may have reached my quota on Boy Band documentaries, but there’s another one coming
🧟♀️ New haunted house idea: it’s just Justin Timberlake beatboxing
😈 Best costume I’ve seen this year hands down is this Oblina one
🌭 Similar to the ‘Bimbo Summit’ redemption arcs of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, et al., I’m also interested in the public perception shift around nu metal acts and former child stars. Very very long, but very interesting article about the Loserville tour with Fred Durst and Corey Feldman
🌊 Peter Gallagher, aka. Sandy Cohen from The O.C., is in a new Broadway show and mentioned being protective over Mischa Barton in this recent interview
🦋 Social butterfly
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tag yourself I'm Lindsay Lohan breaking out into a hip hop dance routine in a white, rhinestoned Juicy Couture sweatsuit while hosting the 2004 MTV Movie Awards (which was only rehearsed once right before the performance btw)