Is somebody gonna match my freak?
RIP TITS, Bonnie and JoJo are free, Chappell Roan Polly Pocket, J14 back 💫
Happy Thursday. If you’re new, welcome, and thank you for being here!!!!!
Between The Cut’s latest rage-bait, “Is Dating a Total Nightmare for You Right Now?” (not linking out of principle) and getting waitlisted for
’s IRL meetup – it’s a very hard time to be a hot, capable woman. However, this unfurling love story gone-viral about two very tall social media influencers made me feel better, as did this J14 quiz from 2002. It is my summer of love, fyi.
Summer bucket list update:
🖼 Had lunch at the local art cafe, a nonprofit space whose mission is to provide free art and music education to underprivileged youth in our community. As much as I love going to art museums in NYC, there’s something really special about seeing local students’ artwork. Artists ranged from elementary school to high school, and there were a variety of mediums represented – painting, mixed media, embroidery, etc. Art class was my favorite class in elementary school! (I have my Joan Miró drawing from first grade hanging in my apartment!) These were among my favorites:
👕 Went on a thrift store crawl. I was shocked, surprised, and thrilled to find two Around The World Barbies – the dolls I collected as a kid! – for like, $2 each. While I do still identify as a relative minimalist (in quantity of possessions; in terms of style, I’m the maximalist), I understand that it’s a slippery slope from hobbyist to hoarder. Here’s the haul – Mary-Kate and Ashley, Kylie Minogue, Twilight, The OC, and more:
🎵 Went to see the local community chorale’s biannual concert. The theme was a salute to women composers, and songs included Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time”, Diane Warren’s “Rhythm of the Night”, and Carole King’s “One Fine Day” and “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman”. It was absolutely incredible to see these singers (mostly women, mostly over ~60) do something purely for enjoyment and camaraderie. I teared up when soloist Carol sang “The Rose” and actually cried when the conductor called for the Veterans in the audience to stand up.
Something else I found purely fascinating and beautiful is that during the intermission, NO ONE WAS ON THEIR PHONES. While I’m glad the recent internet colloquialism ‘yapping’ recognizes the human need for verbal exchange with one another, it’s nice to see IRL community members taking time to talk, connect, and reinforce bonds with each other. Many people, especially those in younger generations, are so inconvenienced by small talk, hypnotized by the blue light of their phone, apathetic to the human beings around them. It’s sad!!!!!!! No wonder people think they will be replaced by AI; a robot shouldn’t have more personality than you!
I looked around at all of these people – the overwhelming majority of the audience was my parents’ or grandparents’ age – and they were just happy to be there, together. This intergenerational activity brought me more joy than I could have anticipated.
In this issue:
🪦 TITS and ephemerality of digital and physical spaces
📰 Bonnie’s album out of jail, JoJo’s memoir, Sabrina Brier audiobook, Mariah zine, J14 coming back
📲 Chappell Roan Polly Pocket, Duck Tape prom, 2014 Tumblr nails, and more
📺 “London Bridge”, Nelly Furtado & Sean Paul Tiny Desk, Julia Fox x Zach Sang
ICYMI, last week’s issue included Tiger Beat Theory, musings on online <> offline identity, simulacra marketing, my piece on AI x aesthetic labor for the Take Up Space zine, etc.
Note: Huge thank you for everyone continuing to visit and share my Hire Me website. Unfortunately, I am still available for hire lolol. I’m looking forward to releasing a portfolio-esque page on my site that aggregates all my mini essays, digital art projects, etc. by the end of this month. (Accountability post!)
Support Nicstalgia with a paid subscription for less than a Purple Haze fishbowl from TITS.
Huge thank you to Nicstalgia supporters who I will love forever: Janine, Marie, Liv, Mitra, CY, and Aleena! 💐💐💐
🪦 I hope you had the time of your life
I’m finally ready to talk about it…Tavern In The Square, colloquially known as TITS, has permanently closed in Allston after 13 years. (Which was 2011…wtf?! We were there since the beginning?!) I could write an entire novel about Boston college culture. I’m sure anyone who went to school there has a story about this place. (If you do, please tell me.) This was one of my favorite spots in my early 20s. All of my stories are NSFNL, not suitable for newsletter, but they primarily involved the Purple Haze fishbowl, sticky dance floor, and photo booth.
I think a lot about digital media ephemerality – as the only generation with a truly integrated analog <> digital upbringing, we thought everything that was put on the internet was FOREVER. We now know this is not true, RIP to my MySpace. Slightly before the advent of in-real-time, visually-driven social media (i.e. Snapchat and IG stories), we were still bringing digital cameras to the club. So do we remember places more fondly when we do or don’t have photos from the occasion? Do photos capture the essence of the place when you’re not under the blinding LED lighting of 20 TV screens playing four different professional sports games? When you can’t smell the sweat and spilled beer, hear the early 2010s EDM music, feel your feet aching in Bakers stilettos, and taste the watered down vodka cran that expectant guy wearing a polo and boat shoes just bought you? How much do we rely on memory to fill in the blanks?
Similarly, I think about the ephemerality of physical spaces when brick-and-mortar businesses I’ve frequented close. This is not from a logical business perspective, like, that business ran out of money, their lease ended, or the company filed for bankruptcy – but rather in a metaphysical way. All memories associated with a place and time become physically untraceable. You can’t go back. Even if you tried, it’s not the same. The place has changed, and most of the time, you’ve changed too. This feels really eerie sometimes – like when I went to the Dollar Tree in my hometown physically, but mentally (and also perhaps spiritually) was still in the Blockbuster I knew as a kid. I’m obsessed with playing the “What [store] was that?” game, testing the limits of my individual, and my family’s collective, memory.
All recollections become increasingly unreliable as time passes and hindsight bias is reinforced. Memories become stories, crystallized through repeated rehearsal. Do we remember physical spaces more favorably when they’re not around anymore? Do we feel comforted by the fact that despite continuous aging and changing of everything else, the sanctity of a defunct familiar place is protected because it’s frozen in time? Do we really not know what we’ve got til it’s gone? I made this meme last year knowing I’d someday become the grandma talking about TITS. I just didn’t think it’d be so soon.
📰 Extra, extra read all about it
Don’t forget – if you haven’t watched the latest Nicstalgia episode, featuring
and their incredible Lindsay Lohan physical media show and tell, you must!!! Her legacy endures.Songwriter extraordinaire and “inventor of pop music” (no kinda tho) Bonnie McKee FINALLY got her 2013 album out of proverbial jail by rerecording her masters. Hot City is finally ours! I would like to formally state for the record that “American Girl” is the perfect pop song, and I enjoy scream-singing it in the car now just as much as I did 11 years ago.
Speaking of breaking free from the shackles of the music industry, the inimitable JoJo is releasing a memoir, Over the Influence, out 9/17/24!!!!!! I’m really excited for this. She is such an extraordinary talent, and I can’t wait for people to hear her story.
It’s been noted that the same amount of time between the release of Sex and the City and Girls is the same time between Girls’ release and now. “What’s the next show going to be about being young and fabulous in NYC?” Honestly, I think it’s already here, and it’s Sabrina Brier. In today’s day and age, it’s not a group of friends meeting up for brunch, it’s fans having formed a parasocial relationship with a relatable influencer. (Very Black Mirror.) Anyway!!! I think she’s hilarious and I’m excited to see all of her success! She’s coming out with an audiobook, “That Friend”, next year. Amidst the relentless hamster wheel of the creator/attention economy and incessant ‘content’ pumped out 24/7 – mostly via short-form video and celebrity podcasts – I’m delighted to see something a little bit different!
Between projects that I’ve contributed to and ones that have been authored by friends, I have a lovely, growing zine collection! (And also some great vintage J14 magazines.) The newest one that just arrived in my mailbox is THE 97 ZINE Issue 1: Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse, centered around Mariah Carey’s 14th studio album. “Articles have all been penned by passionate fans of pop music for fans just like us.” I cannot wait to dive in!
Speaking of J14, the teen magazine is coming back into print as of August 2024! This magazine was a huge deal to me growing up. My sister, cousin, and I would script out and film home videos to J14’s “Embarrassing Moments” section. I wasn’t allowed to put holes in the walls when I was younger, but when we’d go to the beach every summer, I’d bring a binder full of J14 posters to tape onto the wooden paneled walls. As a foremost expert and enthusiast on all things J14, here is where I make my case to be the Bobbie Thomas – current author and Style Editor at the TODAY show and former J14 editor and girlfriend of *NSYNC’s JC Chasez – for a new generation.
📲 I’m just a simple girl in a high-tech digital world
I’m obsessed with Polly Pocket restoration videos, and this one featuring a mini Chappell Roan is no exception. (Shoutout to my sister for recently getting me a vintage Polly Pocket compact at the flea market!!!!)
So glad the Duck Tape prom dress scholarship has been brought to my attention. Proud to be the class of ‘08 – year of the zebra print!!
Shoutout to my algorithm for introducing me to Iain Ross of Thug Loaf, who paints musical motifs onto ravioli and and bread. Some of my favorites are the grilled cheese, ravioli, and a blueberry pie in the style of Weezer (Blue Album), Bohemian Wrapsody, Red Hot Chili Pasta, and Pie Chemical Romance. If I were to make a music-themed food, I’d probably want a Cake cake.
Do you have any idea how much I need these 2014 Tumblr nails and also these 3D Frutiger Aero nails???
“Is somebody gonna match my freak???” The Tinashe x Raven Baxter crossover you absolutely needed.
Speaking of crossover, I love seeing memes about highly specific, seemingly unrelated pieces of pop culture, both of which I’ve written about here in the newsletter. For example, A.G. Cook x 2007 DCOM Jump In!, as pictured below, or Trixie Mattel x Fountains of Wayne as mentioned recently by
. It’s like, wow, my people really are out there.
📺 For your viewing pleasure
Zach Rickel of A Functioning Gay – one of my favorite meme accounts – had Joe Santini on the Pop Theory podcast, where he gave an entire presentation about Fergie’s “London Bridge”. There is literally nothing in the world I want to do more than to host a symposium where we all present about a particular song on science fair-inspired trifold poster boards!!!! New 2024 goal of mine.
Nelly Furtado and Sean Paul Tiny Desk Concerts have arrived. The person who books the talent for these must be a peak millennial, because it feels like a Middle School Dance (complimentary) in here!
Julia Fox on The Zach Sang Show. I really like Zach’s show, and this episode was fun. If you haven’t read Julia’s memoir, Down the Drain, listen to her narrate the audiobook. It’s a trip! (And apparently only the PG version of what happened 😳) Her relationship with a celebrity is truly the least interesting thing about her. Although she’s definitely not for everyone, I appreciate that she’s a deep thinker who’s driven by fun, sincerely values friendship, and sees the interconnectedness of all things.
🦋 Social butterfly
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I’m in the middle of that Julia Fox episode. I loved how she talked about her chosen family! She’s a girl’s girl.
Omg…TITS Allston is closing?! The nostalgiaaaa 😭💘 RIP