I Do Not Dream of Blockbuster
with No More Late Fees 🎞
Danielle Clarke and Jackie Conley from the No More Late Fees podcast are featured on this week's episode of Nicstalgia. They share what it was like working at Blockbuster: Did they incur late fees themselves? How was the transition from VHS to DVDs? What was the movie everyone wanted to see?
We really dive into our “hard opinions on random things”, like being Team Subtitles™️. We discuss physical media collections, how getting rid of all our DVDs was actually a huge mistake, the business aspect behind streaming, how streaming was positioned toward consumers in the 2000s as an “infinite” content library, and how we may actually have less options, access, and availability now than we did in Blockbuster stores.
We explore my favorite genre of 90s-00s movies and ultimate comfort: Gen X Ensemble Casts!! Everything really connects back to Can’t Hardly Wait and the Buffyverse, doesn’t it? We talk about how many movies (including CHW) haven’t aged well with time and how we perceive dated movies differently when we have firsthand nostalgic ties to it.
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🛼 Haven’t You Heard?!
My fav things from the internet rn:
I am completely enthralled by this Dec 2020 article from Screen Queens, The False Cheerocracy: The Unexamined Subversiveness of ‘Bring It On’, 20 Years On. It dives deep on the systemic inequality, cultural appropriation, intersectional feminism, and false meritocracy that the film addressed. I also did a Twitter thread on how Bring It On would’ve been different if the Rancho Carne Toros (odd name, no?) were a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization). We talk about Bring It On on this week’s podcast; Danielle is an Isis, Jackie is a Missy. I think I might be a Cliff LOL.
“People building metaverse platforms, most of them think it’s a technology question. But it’s really a community and culture question.” I am always talking about how pop culture is what will move the needle toward mass adoption of web3, and this recent piece by The Atlantic says yeah, Taylor Swift is doing a better job at world-building than Zucky ever could. Speaking of, this lil Easter egg shows that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will be her 13th (!) album.
I’m not done talking about Stripped yet!!! (My Stripped t-shirt arrived in the mail this week so I can rep on a regular basis.) W Mag did a thorough retrospective this week in celebration of its 20th anniversary. Extremely interesting (IMHO) behind-the-scenes anecdotes and recounts from people who worked on the album. Love the collage art, too. Very Nicstalgic of them.
I’m a Tegan and Sara stan and their 10th studio album, Crybaby, came out this past week. Like Nicstalgia, Tegan and Sara have a Substack newsletter too. (Stars, they’re just like us!!) In the latest edition of I Think We’re Alone Now, they share some behind-the-scenes insight on each song, which I think is an awesome way to connect directly with fans.
📹 Pop-Up Video
Undoubtedly, the most underrated Britney Spears album is Blackout. This is not up for debate!! Blackout is an era that is hard to look back on through a contemporary lens. Despite having the internet, we did NOT have access to information the way we do now. (When I saw the Circus tour in 2009, we had no idea she was in a conservatorship.) The way paparazzi, the media, and the general public treated her then is devastating, and even in 2022, she is still fighting to be ‘free’ from both people and systems that have exploited her.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances that played out both behind the scenes, in public, and through the eyes of the media and paparazzi, this album is amazing. It spawned the catchphrase that will go down in infamy: It’s Britney, Bitch.
I had no idea that Robyn (whom I STAN) recorded a demo of “Piece of Me” for Britney, who obviously loved the song. You can listen to the demo here, and although it’s a demo (aka. the vocals are not mixed, polished, produced, etc. like in a completed song), it’s cool to hear her background vocals that are still included in the final version. Maybe in an alternate universe, this song was on Robyn’s Body Talk (one of my other all-time fav albums).
Let’s explore the videography of the Blackout era!
📲 I’m Just a Simple Girl in a High-Tech Digital World
In this week’s podcast, Danielle, Jackie, and I talk about physical media, including the notorious AOL CDs that used to come in the mail or on the back of magazines. Here’s one from Vox’s archive on “AOL CDs, history's greatest junk mail”.
It’s almost the end of 2022. (How did that happen??) You know what that means! Who will be your most-played artists of the year? What about your top podcasts? Listen to (or watch) Nicstalgia on Spotify so your 2022 Spotify Wrapped is as fun and nostalgic as all those 2000s playlists you have on repeat. Make sure to subscribe while you’re there so you never miss an ep!
🏆 Nicstalgia Trivia
This week on Nicstalgia, Danielle, Jackie, and I discuss my comfort movie genre: Gen X Ensemble Casts™️. In addition to Scream, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Can’t Hardly Wait, their fav stars my alleged doppelgänger Christina Ricci (among many others). Interestingly, the music was done by the Mothersbaugh brothers (from Devo, and more importantly, Rugrats).
What’s the name of this ensemble comedy that follows “an array of young people” in New York City on New Year's Eve?
Find the answer in this week’s episode of Nicstalgia!
Last Week’s Answer
We discuss on the pod this week that Mean Girls has many similarities to other teen pop culture before it. (Is it a ripoff or a callback? We discuss it on the pod this week.)
There is one show in particular where the resemblance is a little too uncanny, from the red circled failing grade, to the mom condoning drinking only in the house, and even reference to a not-so-chic vest. What is this 90s influential teen drama, which is also my fav show ever??
My So Called Life. My favorite quote from Angela: “People always say how you should ‘be yourself’, like yourself is this definite thing, like a toaster or something, like you can know what it is, even. But every so often, I’ll have, like, a moment…when just being myself, in my life, right where I am is, like…enough.”
Watch last week’s episode, The Zinnia Wormwood Fan Club with Jaz Zepatos, on YouTube!
🧨 Spice Up Your Life
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