Physical Media Renaissance™
My IRL treasure hunt is now a dynamic zine! 💿
In November 2022, I went to a large-scale book sale at a local library and was shocked to see what was in circulation. There were thousands of CDs and DVDs that I pored over for almost two hours after having not seen them in 20 years. I might have been so interested in these long-lost items because I was seeking a sense of ownership, renewed relevance after having crossed The Chasm™ and witnessed the completion of a 20-year trend cycle for the first time in my own lifecycle, or simply just to feel something. I started collecting physical media including CDs, DVDs, magazines, books, retro tech & consumer electronics, and other nostalgic ephemera. And thus, the Physical Media Renaissance™ began.
This project is not about nostalgia. It’s a Peak Millennial’s – the largest single age group within a generation – reaction to late capitalism, inflation, economic recession, exhaustion of material resources, and society on the brink of collapse. (And I said this in 2022…) It’s an antidote to algorithmically-controlled, artificial discovery from behind a screen. It’s a question of material permanence, emotional attachment and the perceived, dynamic value of physical objects. It’s an exercise in fine curation that requires curiosity, taste, and a keen eye to see beyond what’s trending at the moment. It’s celebrating the liminal space between obsolescence and resurgence. It’s living and breathing the Sliding Doors moment between ‘too late’ and ‘too early’.
My Physical Media Renaissance™ project has evolved from a personal treasure hunt, to a Nicstalgia episode, to a dynamic virtual zine of my archive. I say dynamic because I will continue updating it as I acquire more! Click on the image below to get your free copy!
I was so in my element presenting PMR at SMALL BATCH: A Dataset Farmers Market for Rhizome this past weekend!!!! The last time I was in WSA’s space was for a Rhizome event last year when I saw performances by an avant-garde dance company – complete with a lit candle dripping wax down a dancer’s bare ass and a Pilobolus-style lift where one dancer was holding another whose knee was balancing inside of a watermelon – as well as an experimental puppetry troupe. Absolutely unforgettable.1
I airdropped the zine to people through my sister’s flip phone from 2006. How? MAGIC. I also brought along my HitClips and Polaroid iZone camera, which surprisingly (to me), a lot of people had never seen before. You want to know what HitClips and iZone are? You’ve come to the right place! I also had visitors sign my super special guest book: the notebook with my high school senior photo on it. One page even has my mom’s To Do List from 2008 on it LOL. Another highlight of the day was singing lines from the Mean Girls script to Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” at Robot Karaoke!!! I had so much fun exploring this project and will keep you posted on the next one! (And when I update PMR…lots of book sales to attend this month!)
In this Nicstalgia video podcast episode from December 2023, I share the experience of my Physical Media Renaissance™ project that I’ve been working on since November 2022.2 I dive into the physical media, 00s retro consumer electronics, memorabilia, and other ephemera that I’ve acquired and six key considerations: consumption, media ephemerality, perceived value, circular economy, friction, and taste.
I talk about what this project means to me on a personal and generational level, why 90s-00s nostalgia has become a thing, the nostalgic and nowstalgic resurgence of flip phones and digital cameras by Luddite teens and Millennial lifestyle editors avoiding doom scrolling, why Urban Outfitters can sell a first-gen iPod for $350, and why I’m buying $1 CDs when Boomers told us to stop eating avocado toast and drinking Starbucks to buy a house for $725k. Haters will have their questions answered: Is this project wasteful? Is it materialistic? I dig into themes of ownership, transience, and – of course – the Diffusion of Innovations model as it relates to physical media.
We constantly switch from screen to screen with utmost ease and endless distractions, so is the friction of using physical media really worse than the feigned conversancy of Spotify Wrapped? If an algorithm wasn’t reinforcing confirmation bias and shaping your choices, would you be able to make them on your own? Wouldn’t it be fun to genuinely discover something?
You’ll learn my Nicstalgia Consumption Rubric framework of how to know what to buy and what not to buy, the similarities and differences between modes of consumption – thrifting, resale, and fast fashion – and how to curate and refine your own taste by using my ‘Live Laugh Love Loathe’ Nicstalgia Curation Rubric.3 I share my favorite finds and takeaways from this project around mindfulness, non-attachment, value, memories, and sense of self.
Nicstalgia is a reader-supported publication. Huge thank you to the people who go above and beyond to support my work: Janine, Marie, Liv, CY, Chet, Jack, and Matthew! À la Jessica Simpson, I’m gonna love you forever 💐💐💐 If you enjoy Nicstalgia, please consider upgrading so I can continue writing the most fun newsletter about offbeat, obscure, and niche pop culture.
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It was exactly the same vibe as the “Be Silent, Be Still” scene from She’s All That.
Lmao do you like how I made my Nic Doll have long hair like I do again?
Live, Laugh, Love, Loathe’s primary use case is for thrifting clothing, but it can also apply to decor, furniture, consumer electronics, et al.
The zine is finally here!!