A Mall in New Jersey is The Best Place in The World

with Tom McLeod of Arkive 🏛

Sep 08, 2022

Tom McLeod from Arkive is featured on this week's episode of Nicstalgia. We discuss the objects that serve as milestone-markers throughout childhood and his formative memories around gaming. (Well actually, Tom playing games and me eating popcorn watching other people play games.) There’s definitely a Slap Bracelet Entrepreneur to Tech Founder pipeline.

You’ll learn why pop culture will move the needle toward mass adoption in web3, how Beethoven was really just the Drake of his time, which piece of pop culture memorabilia I finally bought off eBay, and why one day, 80s-90s ‘Grandma Names’ will become cool once again.

We explore the maps ➡️ Mapquest ➡️ physical GPS ➡️ smartphone GPS timeline and work together to wrap our heads around the fact that we are further from Y2K now than we were then from the creation of the internet. Are the malls in New Jersey superior? As Tri-state area natives, we say yes.

Watch/listen: YouTube • Spotify • Apple Podcasts • Website

🛼 Haven’t You Heard?!

My fav things from the internet rn:
Know Your Meme released a report, Where Do Memes Come From? The Top Platforms From 2010-2022, and now THAT’s what I call data. It’s fascinating to see TikTok overtake Twitter overtake YouTube as main purveyors of internet culture.

The Teenage Dirtbag trend may be over (this may be the third time I’m mentioning it oops!!!) but you know what never is?? The enduring legacy and impact of Rick Astley. This TikTok of “Teenage Dirtbag” in the style of “Never Gonna Give You Up” is the best thing on the internet since Rickrolling.

Friendster was slightly before my time, so I’m always interested in learning more about the pre-Facebook social media site. Really enjoyed this edition of CAFÉ ANNE, with Anne Kadet in conversation with Ryan Broderick of Garbage Day (one of my fav newsletters) about it.

Liz Hagelthorn, host of Girl Gone Viral, legendary storyteller, and epic meme-maker wrote an awesome piece, What Does “Ownership” on the Internet Mean? (This article is my new gold standard for what I’ll show people when they ask me what web3 is lol.) You will especially enjoy it if 1. You have experienced social media burnout or fatigue 2. You wonder how the ‘creator economy’ works when only 4% of creators make a living from their content 3. You don’t exactly know what web3 is yet but know it’s going to change everything.

File this under ‘Best Twitter thread I have ever read in my life’ about the history and legacy of the one and only Swedish pop band ABBA. I'm about to get it professionally printed and bound as a coffee table book. I sincerely regret not visiting ABBA The Museum when I was in Stockholm. It being -7°C in the dead of winter is no excuse and I acknowledge that now !!!

🖼 This is a Work of Art

Arkive’s latest acquisition is the fan that Madonna used in the Vincent Patterson-choreographed 1990 MTV VMAs performance of Vogue. Here are a few VMAs outfits I would personally curate in a museum:

1984: Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” wedding dress. Couldn’t be more obsessed with how over-the-top this is and lol at how controversial it was seen at the time.

1999: Lil Kim’s purple pastie jumpsuit. (The story behind it, including it being inspired by Missy Elliott and the pastie being secured by eyelash glue, is amazing.)

2001: Britney’s “I’m a Slave 4U” performance literally raised all of us.

2002: Avril Lavigne, in all of her Sk8er Boi glory. She invented neckties, white tank tops, black eyeliner, studded bracelets, straight hair, and camo pants, and no one can tell me differently.

2002: Xtina in her Stripped era. No further explanation needed.

2005: I am obsessed with this Baby Rihanna outfit bc this is what we ALL dressed like at the time. (If you haven’t seen the Realistic 2000s Fashion episode of Nicstalgia, you MUST. We talk about tiny shrugs at length.)

2009: I mean there’s only one way to describe this Lady Gaga performance and accompanying blood-soaked fit. “Talented. Brilliant. Incredible. Amazing. Showstopping. Spectacular. Never the same. Totally unique. Completely not ever been done before.”

2019: Missy Elliott’s Medley where she calls back to her “Pass That Dutch” music video dressed as a scarecrow. Her vision is UNPARALLELED!!!

💿 Hey Mr. DJ, put a [playlist] on

Playlist of the week:
Don’t You (Forget About The 80s) is a beautiful playlist of, you guessed it, 80s songs. Tbh 80s music was an acquired taste for me, as I grew up listening to 60s-70s classic rock and 90s-00s pop. But wow…there are some bangers here.

🏆 Nicstalgia Trivia

My favorite non-painting piece of artwork is Lobster Telephone (aka. Aphrodisiac Telephone). I was so captivated by this as a teenager that I designed one of my old Myspace layouts around it. Dedication. Was super psyched to see this IRL at Museu Coleção Berardo in Lisbon, Portugal.

Which artist created this Surrealist object?

Find the answer in this week’s episode of Nicstalgia!

Last Week’s Answer
Me and Jessica both grew up in dance studios, where we were able to discover music we wouldn’t have otherwise had access to. There was a song played at the barre that I was fully obsessed with, not knowing it was called “Watermark” for literally 22 years.

Who is the singer, pictured above, that supplied the soundtrack to much of my time as a childhood ballet dancer?

Enya, the famously castle-dwelling Irish icon. Fact Magazine stated in its Enya’s Watermark 30th Anniversary Essay, “Enya only needs one name…And Enya is a reclusive trailblazer for women in electronic music composition.”

Watch last week’s episode, My Chemical Romance: The Musical with Jessica Conrad, on YouTube!

Nicstalgia