On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was
Mean Girls collabs, Rugrats live-action movie, Hallmark hunks, American Girl true crime 👚
Happy Thursday! It’s been a pivotal week with lots to celebrate, namely Avril Lavigne’s birthday, International Coffee Day, National Pumpkin Seed Day, my half birthday, Ashlee Simpson’s 40th birthday, and Mean Girls Day.
I’ve also come to an important post-solar eclipse realization (in Libra, which is my 3rd house of writing, by the way). I have so many essays I can’t wait to write, a portfolio to build, projects to submit, pitches to send, a programming language to learn, a manuscript to research & write, a book to compile, playlists to curate, dances to choreograph, and people to meet. The time feels right to shower these pursuits with the love and attention they deserve.
After 203 consistent, free newsletters over 4.5 years, the time has finally come to make some changes:
On Substack, my posts older than 4 weeks are now paywalled. (Like 95% of you get this delivered to your email inbox, so this doesn’t necessarily apply to you.) This emphasizes the importance of ✨subscribing!✨
I’ll continue to give you updates about my projects and pop culture factoids, but going forward, the length of this newsletter will be shorter and the essays will be more periodic and paywalled.
In an effort to finally finish (and start lmao) my portfolio, I’m gonna clean up some essays you’ve read here and make them available for purchase. People ask me often how they can support my work, and the short answer is money.
My asks:
Can you think of anyone who simply needs a newsletter about pop culture’s quirks and nuanced impact on society? Send them here!!!
If you’re a writer on Substack, please consider recommending Nicstalgia on your page!
If you’re a writer, cultural critic, artist, or technologist pursuing creative work, let’s catch up! I’m always looking for co-conspirators, collaborators, and peers/friends. Tell me what you’re working on, and we can see how we can support one another.
Take my fitness class! or tell someone you know in CT about them. How do we get Jesse McCartney to show up when he’s in New Haven this month? (Real question)
One last personal note: Starting to teach dance and fitness again has given me such joy, purpose, and meaning in a way that I totally wasn’t expecting. Feeling more like this is exactly the kind of life I want to build for myself. It’s inspired the conviction and courage I needed to wholeheartedly pursue my creative calling, whatever that ends up looking like. Yay! Thank you so much for continuing to read and support my work. Love u!!!
Today’s issue is primarily about Mean Girls because it is October 3rd, but we’ll also get into:
🎥 The live-action (kinda) Rugrats movie
📺 MTV’s nostalgia problem
👩🏻⚖️ Legal jurisdiction over counterfeit American Girl dolls
💚 Rachel Green…or is it blue?!
🏕 Luxury fashion banking on arts & crafts nostalgia
🎨 Nostalgic modern still life paintings
ICYMI, last week’s issue included an actually *realistic* Gilmore Girls Fall Itinerary, my nostalgic EnV flip phone tufted rug, Strega Nona September, FRIENDS vs. Coupling friend archetypes, and more!
Support Nicstalgia with a paid subscription for less than tickets to Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Huge thank you to Nicstalgia supporters who I will love forever: Janine, Marie, Liv, Mitra, CY, and Aleena! 💐💐💐
📲 I’m just a simple girl in a high-tech digital world
The Bratz x Mean Girls collab dropped today, and the details are impeccably stunning. I’m obsessed. It’s a drip release, with Cady available today, Regina available 10/17, and Karen & Gretchen available 10/31. They always do a great job on Instagram too, and I obviously loved their “I’m just a rock chick” tribute for Avril Lavigne’s birthday.
Rajiv Surendra, aka. Kevin Gnapoor, the Math Enthusiast / Bad-Ass MC from Mean Girls, posted an intimate talk on his YouTube channel (one of my absolute favorites!) about his personal growth since being in Mean Girls 20 years ago. Though I enjoy his grounded energy, articulate voice, and curiosity exploring creative and domestic arts in all his videos, this one particularly resonated with me. And it had nothing to do with the fact that he was in Mean Girls. Rajiv touched upon topics like questioning societal norms, pursuing happiness over convention, inspiring others through example, lifelong learning and trying new things, gratitude for unexpected opportunities, following your intuition, embracing an unconventional career path, and finding fulfillment in creative pursuits. Now I’m crying! Exactly what I needed to hear today.
Lancôme tapped Amanda Seyfried for Juicy Tubes sponcon. Target audience reached. There was nothing I was more obsessed with at one time than Mean Girls and Juicy Tubes, and that is in no way an exaggeration. The perfect ad does not exi– “What’s today? It’s October 3rd. But every day, we wear Juicy Tubes.”
While Mariah Carey, [not legally] the Queen of Christmas has already confirmed that it’s not time yet, Hallmark is firing on all cylinders, using Mean Girls Day to kick off the holiday season. They did a callback to “get in loser, we’re going shopping!” to promote the Celebrations with Lacey Chabert show. Meanwhile, it was also announced today that Jonathan Bennett is hosting Finding Mr. Christmas, a competition show where 10 contestants compete to be the next Hallmark movie hunk!
A live-action Rugrats movie is being made! Apparently, the film is set “in the real world while the characters Tommy Pickles and his pals Chuckie Finster and Phil and Lil DeVille will be animated.” Hmmm. As long as Mýa is on the soundtrack.
Friend of Nicstalgia Kelli Williams was quoted in MTV’s nostalgia problem, explained by The Challenge by Kyndall Cunningham for Vox. “You see a sort of progress happening in terms of the show not being as problematic as it was before, but then there’s also the [newer] problem that it takes away from the drama of the show.” This is what I call the “And Just Like That” phenomenon: a form of contemporary virtue signaling and audience pandering. It’s caving into pressure from angry social media users or bad press and coming up with an unnecessary overcorrection of past behavior – that ultimately degrades the integrity of the present iteration of the cultural product – as the solution. It’s a skill issue IMHO. There’s such a lack of invention and imagination in this industry that many shows still can’t figure out how to make jokes, stir up drama, or create entertainment not at the expense of marginalized people.
38 people from New York submitted orders to a Chinese company called Zembrka to order counterfeit American Girl dolls. The appeals court ruled that AG can proceed with a lawsuit in New York federal court against Zembrka. This case interestingly highlights the issue of jurisdictional requirements for e-commerce retailers. So even if a company doesn’t physically ship a product to New York, if you take an order or someone’s money, you can get sued in New York courts. Now this is my kind of true crime.
Jennifer Aniston responded to whether the dress she wore was really mint green or blue, as it’s shown in the 4k remastered version of FRIENDS. (It was green.) Reminded me of this (h/t Gretchen Rubin): Do you see blue or green? This viral test plays with color perception. It’s a running joke between my sister and I that we perceive colors differently, and this test proved it. I’m more green, she’s more blue.
Lmaooooo at Miu Miu sellling this braided keychain for $480. This is the epitome of “I could’ve made that!” energy, because we did make them at summer camp in the 90s. I really wanna make one again, they were so fun. Can you start it for me though?? :)
I recently came across @not_sorry_art’s modern still life paintings, and I especially love the ones with a nostalgic theme. These paintings also often have deeper cultural meaning than their glossy surface. Dollar Store Barbie Aisle is a statement on growing up in poverty in America. “You can have both so much and so little at the same time…Poverty, much like plastic, is sold to us as temporary and yet is around forever.”
🦋 Social butterfly
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