whyisthisinteresting

The “J Crew Crew” Edition

The models in the catalogs solved murders while trying to sell you cable-knit sweaters. It got passed around avidly on the Buzzfeed-era internet.

whyisthisinteresting

The Pizza Hut Classic Edition

What is most interesting to me is this isn't really a stunt, but something that cost some CapEx, and also likely required some serious crate digging into the archives. It's an interesting example of a brand leaning into some latent emotional equity, and not just turning it into a campaign, but doubling down with actual spending and immersion.

whyisthisinteresting

The Thrift Store Edition

"Open up a newspaper and take your pick. The energy crisis, the hostages — it was a marathon of disaster," he explained. "People needed Argent again for proof that there had been good times before the bad times."

whyisthisinteresting

The Saturday Selection, Vol. 114

"…is the tendency for adults over forty to have increased or enhanced recollection for events that occurred during their adolescence and early adulthood."

whyisthisinteresting

The Saturday Selection, Vol. 113

Play any FIFA game long enough, and its soundtrack becomes inseparable from that period of your life.

longreads.com

Skill Nostalgia

Nostalgia can be a toxic impulse, reactionary and uncritical, but it can also hold revolutionary potential for the future. Here, nostalgia is more than a self-soothing search for comfort; it's about engaging with loss, reconnecting with ideals that might improve the future.

noahpinion.blog

The American age was the human age

The past has become more valuable than the future to many Americans; they cling desperately to the power to enforce stasis, preserving a facade of the country they grew up in at the expense of the very dynamism that made that country great.

3quarksdaily.com

The Surprising Folklore of Analog Horror

Audiences experience analog horror as viewers of cryptic and sinister tapes, which often take the form of training videos, documentaries, or children's television, endowing the subgenre with a characteristic tone of dark or uncanny nostalgia.

3quarksdaily.com

Chuck Norris once beat the sun in a staring contest

There was a time — in the days when the internet was still a force for fun — when Chuck Norris jokes flooded our screens. It was the mid-2000s. Twitter and Facebook were not yet ascendant. We weren't yet glued to our phones.