It’s been a minute since Justin and I have shared our takes on “the news,” so this week we have a typically dark, unhinged conversation about what’s coming for us in 2024, with an American population frothing at the mouth to BUILD THE WALL and weapons-crazy madmen lashing out around the globe. It’s an incredible time to be alive.   Full episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102232361?pr=true ..read more

Conspiracy theories are a hell of a drug. Justin and I know this from experience, so watching the new Netflix documentary American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders brought up some deeply identifiable thoughts and emotions for both of us. Do you REALLY want to know the exact details of the dark forces at work within our most sacred institutions? As we discuss here, there’s a heavy price to pay for that knowledge, one way or another.   ..read more

This is the first half of this week's episode, go to our Patreon page to listen to the whole thing! https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-386-of-98833719 It’s Part Four of our six-part adventure through the history of American automaking and car culture, and we’ve finally reached the moment when everything starts to unravel: the 1970s. When Arab nations decide to flex their oil muscle against the United States in 1973, they deliver American consumers into an entirely new economic reality, and Detroit struggles to meet the era’s new demands for fuel efficiency, safety, and lower emissions. Mean ..read more

In Part Three of our journey through the history of American car culture, we explore how the massive cultural and political shifts of the 1960s made an impact on American automaking. From the Chevrolet Corvair spinning out and making Ralph Nader a household name, to the Ford Mustang turning boring housewives and husbands into hip celebrities, this was a wild era. When Detroit takes a sinister turn with the 1965 Pontiac GTO, a muscle car war grips American street racing subcultures, before it all burns out when the gas gets too expensive and the smog chokes the skies.  Full episode here: h ..read more

As we continue our story of America’s love affair with the automobile, it’s time to look at the tailfin behemoths of the 1950s, the cars that look like “guns you can fuck.” With the automakers morphing into weapons manufacturers to help Uncle Sam win World War II, the postwar consumer reaped the strange benefits of military technology and imperial ideology seeping into the design of his suburban luxury sedan. Meanwhile, a cute little car produced by the Nazis was slowly stealing the hearts of America’s budding counterculture.  Full episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/97593008?pr=t ..read more

This week we watch Fast Five (2011), the fifth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, and contemplate how these movies embed radical ideas about criminality, subversion, insurgency, and family in often goofy stories about driving really fast cars, furiously.  Full episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-383-fast-97420130 For more reflections on car culture, check out Part One of our new series, The History of America in Six Cars: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-382-of-t-97179277   ..read more

This week Justin and I discuss the 1989 tearjerker Field of Dreams, a film about ghosts playing baseball in some guy’s backyard that endures as a beloved classic of American cinema. What’s going on with  that? As a lifelong devotee of the film, Justin articulates why Field of Dreams hits so hard, as we explore how the secular religious magic of baseball and movies intermingle with dreams of capitalist and socialist utopias.    Sign up for a free 7 day trial of our massive library of podcasts, videos, and more: https://patreon.com/nostalgiatrap   ..read more

Float Universe is an Instagram meme/troll account that’s ostensibly focused on the intersection of floatation tanks and psychedelic culture. The account’s creator joins me this week to explain how the floating experience mirrors the druggy rush of online dopamine adventures, as we explore how trolling and conspiracy theories are bending our everyday realities.  Sign up for a free 7 day trial of our massive library of podcasts, videos, and more: https://patreon.com/nostalgiatrap ..read more

We simply did not cover enough topics in our first “2023 Year in Review” episode, so this week Justin is back to talk about some of the big trends looming on the horizon of 2024: another grim yet insanely consequential U.S. presidential election, rising anti-immigrant sentiment on both left and right, the ominous march of genocidal war in Gaza, and the accelerating violent race for resources to light up our dumb little devices.  This is the first 7 minutes of a 70 minute conversation -- listen to the whole episode and access tons of other cool stuff by subscribing to our Patreon: https ..read more

Clay Routledge is a teacher, writer, and researcher in the field of existential psychology. His latest book, Past Forward: How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life explores a topic near and dear to our hearts: nostalgia and its power to shape the future. In this conversation, we talk about our own obsessions with specific pop cultural objects from our respective youths (video games, music, movies), and reflect on how nostalgic memories shape our individual and collective identities. Sign up for a free 7 day trial of our massive library of podcasts, videos, and more: https://patre ..read more