A nostalgic dive into Lollapalooza’s wild early years, guest writer and longtime listener Brian Coe blends personal memories from the 1992 tour with highlights from Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival—a book chronicling how the genre-defying event shaped ’90s youth culture, transformed the concert industry, and left an enduring mark on music history.

Cats have been silently judging us—and selling us things—for over a century. From 19th-century posters to viral TikToks, these furry icons have clawed their way into advertising history and our hearts.

Our two recent posts about collecting have focused on the purposeful and the accidental. Let’s go even bigger. Let’s talk about the collective memory of a generation. A Gen X doc, Brats, centers on a pop culture watershed moment in the 1980s when Hollywood discovered teens and young adults on dates were the ones buttering their bread.

There’s a whole category of stuff we all collect without even noticing it. Orbiting around us like cosmic trash, tagging along for the ride. The documentary Flipside charts one man’s struggle to close the circle with all of his aborted video projects, cast against the backdrop of a New Jersey record store.

Think about it for a minute. You collect something, don’t you? Beanie Babies, baseball cards, comic books, autographs—there’s something in your house, your garage, or maybe even your soul that you’ve decided is worth amassing.

The acclaimed podcast, Two Designers Walk Into a Bar, has been honored with an American Digital Design Award from Graphic Design USA magazine. The podcast, hosted by designers Todd Coats and Elliot Strunk, was noted for its innovative approach to promoting the stories behind design, creativity and craft.

What makes a great package? An iconic bottle, box or bag? The answer may surprise you.

Todd Coats and Elliot Strunk, the creators behind the hit design and pop culture show Two Designers Walk Into a Bar, announced last week at the PodFest Expo Upfronts the release of their newest investigative true-crime series, Design Crimes: Comic Sans, Who’s Laughing Now?, set to drop on April 15, 2024.

For Boomers and Gen X viewers alike, Miami Vice blended the nighttime grit of the criminal underworld with the pastel-tinged sleekness of New Wave, all set to the beat of a Hollywood-ready soundtrack.

We remember the halcyon days of being old enough to have a few bucks in our pockets but not experienced enough to have been burned by a product that didn’t measure up to its billing.