March 23rd, 2011 / 10:05 pm
 Snippets
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Do you have nostalgia? Do you have nostalgia for “life before the internet”? What makes you nostalgic? Does what makes you nostalgic actually exist, or did it ever?

45 Comments

  1. March 24th, 2011 / 2:25 am Lacey Martinez—

      I’m nostalgic for now.

  2. March 24th, 2011 / 2:27 am HMD—
  3. March 24th, 2011 / 2:42 am phill—

      I have nostalgia for my SNES. I made a lot of friends on that thing.

  4. March 24th, 2011 / 2:42 am Samuel Sargent—

      I’m nostalgic for the older days of the Internet, when connection speeds were so slow they were measured in bits, not kilobits and certainly not megabits, not because of the slowness, of course, although the squelch of a modem occupies a special place in my heart, but because in those days, before the advent of social networks, you had to manually connect to other people, which resulted in real connections rather than blips on a feed.

  5. March 24th, 2011 / 2:46 am Frank Tas, the Raptor—

      Nostalgic for games of war on neighbors’ front yards.

      Nostalgic for playing pick up games of soccer until it got too dark to see.

      Nostalgic for soda bottles filled with whiskey passed over the Williamsburg bridge.

      Nostalgic for sitting on a moldy couch on the front porch of a worn-down house, reading some book in torpid summer air.

      Nostalgic for manhunt.

      Nostalgic for the simple thrill of chasing something.

      Nostalgic for becoming emotionally attached to overly sentimental music.

  6. March 24th, 2011 / 3:01 am Anonymous—

      Youth.

  7. March 24th, 2011 / 3:02 am letters journal—

      Mail-ordering records from Kill Rock Stars and Ebullition. Distroing HeartAttack magazine at hardcore shows. Mail-ordering zines and having zine pen-pals. Reading every zine review in Maximum RocknRoll. Mail-ordering books from Crimethinc.

  8. March 24th, 2011 / 3:08 am Frank Tas, the Raptor—

      That’s some badass nostalgia!

  9. March 24th, 2011 / 3:17 am Frank Tas, the Raptor—

      Also, speaking of nostalgia: does anyone have the Batman Forever OST? If so, can you put it up on YouSendIt or something?

  10. March 24th, 2011 / 3:21 am Trey—

      nostalgic for some real things that I actually did (like playing with my sister and cousin and whatnot) but also nostalgic for some things that I never did and might not have existed. nostalgic for the idea of the lives of kids on nickelodeon game shows like wild and crazy kids, nostalgic for ideas like summer camps with vaguely native american names and for crazes I was never a part of (like pogs). like maybe I’m nostalgic for things that were like symbols of the 90s when I was a kid, even if my actual relation to those symbols was negligible or nonexistent.

      nostalgic for the feeling I had when I thought I was in love with a girl in middle school. what a weird feeling. I don’t know what it’s called? I mean I’m pretty sure it wasn’t actually love, or at least didn’t feel like what I think love feels like now when I think I’m really experiencing it or whatever. I mean, they’re really radically different. at least one of them isn’t love and I don’t know what to call it.

      ugh. talking about love on htmlgiant. feel stupid. ugh.

  11. March 24th, 2011 / 4:02 am M. Kitchell—

      i am nostalgic for the internet when there was still true terror to be found, before these hyper-present social networks, before youtube and wikipedia, when net.art wasn’t a tumblr filled with animated gifs, when real “creative types” had their own personal websites that looked entirely different than everyone elses, when you could literally get lost, when the internet was only really useful if you enjoyed the hunt. basically 98-02 i guess. i really, honestly, achingly miss that.

  12. March 24th, 2011 / 4:02 am M. Kitchell—

      i am nostalgic for the internet when there was still true terror to be found, before these hyper-present social networks, before youtube and wikipedia, when net.art wasn’t a tumblr filled with animated gifs, when real “creative types” had their own personal websites that looked entirely different than everyone elses, when you could literally get lost, when the internet was only really useful if you enjoyed the hunt. basically 98-02 i guess. i really, honestly, achingly miss that.

  13. March 24th, 2011 / 4:31 am deadgod—
  14. March 24th, 2011 / 4:57 am ZZZZZIPPP—

      IN 1997 ZZZZZZIPPP FOUND A WEBSITE THAT CLAIMED TO REPRESENT THE POETRY OF A DEAD IMP KILLED IN A GAME OF DOOM. ALL OF THE “DEAD IMP POETRY” WAS PRINTED AND KEPT IN A BLACK BINDER, AND THEN FORGOTTEN. WHERE IS THAT INTERNET WHERE NO ONE WOULD EVER THINK OF LIKING THAT POETRY ON FFFACEBOOK AND THERE WAS NO BOING-BOING TO CATALOGUE AND DISMISS IT.

  15. March 24th, 2011 / 5:03 am ZZZZZIPPP—

      IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO REASONABLY REPLICATE A WORLD BEFORE THE INTERNET: JUST GET IT OUT OF YOUR HOUSE. WHY FEEL NOSTALGIC FOR YOUR CHOICE TO ENGAGE IN A MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION. THE ONLY DIFFERENZZZE IS THAT WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN’T FIND IN ANY BOOK YOU WILL CALL YOUR FRIENDS/SIBLINGS/LOVERS REPEATEDLY FOR THIS INFORMATION. THEY MIGHT GET ANNOYED BUT FEELING THEIR ANNOYANCE ON THE PHONE IS NICE IN A WAY.

      BUT HOW CAN ZZZZIPP FEEL ANY OF THIS HE IS BEFORE AND AFTER THE INTERNET HE IS A FORM OF LIGHT AND CAN TRAVEL TO ANY DIMENSION EVEN THOUGH HE PREFERS THIS ONE AND THIS WEBSITE WITH ITS AWFUL COMMENTING SYSTEM.

  16. March 24th, 2011 / 5:28 am reynard—

      i remember every family photo i’ve ever seen as if i were there

  17. March 24th, 2011 / 6:10 am Rita—

      I am nostalgic for having just a few real friends , not several hundred of fake ones on the Facebook.
      I am nostalgic for feeling that a book is sacred, but not a fear that e-book will replace a real book forever, and most bookstores will be closed forever too.
      I am nostalgic when parents and even grandparents could talk to their children in the same language, and not to feel completely as the last generations of humans, living on the Earth.

  18. March 24th, 2011 / 6:18 am c2k—

      What today will be worth feeling nostalgic about in the future (or in other dimensions/warps)?

      I ask only so that I might pay closer attention at present to this nostalgia-worthy thing/event/activity/object/fad/tv show/internet sensation/software program/religious movement/food/drink/sport/personality/app/fashion/idea/concept/practice.

  19. March 24th, 2011 / 6:22 am postitbreakup—

      I’m nostalgic for when writing wasn’t WRITING, it was just something I did, and I actually did it. For when I was always toying around with story ideas, making diagrams and web pages, starting a new novel every week. Never mind that I rarely finished anything… at least I was writing.

      Now I can’t do anything, and I work all the time, and I’m about to drink myself to sleep.

  20. March 24th, 2011 / 7:13 am lorian—

      i’m nostalgic for ‘cybering’ with weirdos in yahoo chat rooms at the library across from my junior high school; i’m nostalgic for the itch of pantyhose on sunday nights because i left them on after church; i’m nostalgic as fuck for the krispy kreme down the street from my apartment on 10th street in greenville north carolina; i’m nostalgic for the smell of my ex-partner’s cock; i’m nostalgic for http://www.smutland.com and http://www.rotten.com

  21. March 24th, 2011 / 7:15 am lorian—

      rotten lives! and that’s not the original ‘smutland’–the original consisted of a rodent tour-guide who took you around a theme park of ‘smut’

  22. March 24th, 2011 / 8:29 am phill—

      Being able to buy single-purpose machines (watches, calculators, pens, wallets, shoes) that did what they were supposed to do and nothing else.

      Being able to catch up with people and on news events.

      Mousewheels.

  23. March 24th, 2011 / 9:51 am Janey Smith—

      I miss payphones.

  24. March 24th, 2011 / 9:59 am Iskandrian—

      I’m pretty sure nostalgia is a dominant feeling in my life. Being online in the mid-to-late 90s felt very different than now. Email was a real thrill-hole. I think nostalgia is some combination of memory + wishing, memory under the influence of wishing. And since memory is already so unreliable, nostalgia becomes a mirage, a trickster looking glass, so I’m always immediately suspicious about the things I’m nostalgic for, but no less nostalgic for them, which is a tension I guess I overall enjoy.

  25. March 24th, 2011 / 10:01 am Iskandrian—

      yes, there seemed to be more wilderness

  26. March 24th, 2011 / 10:19 am Guestagain—

      yea, you really want to be careful about that, talking about love is going nuclear, there is no intellectual dimension there, which is very bad, very compromising, totally uncool, don’t you know that four letter word has been rationalized out of human experience?

  27. March 24th, 2011 / 11:00 am Anonymous—

      problem is, you do this — sever yr net — and everyone else starts to look and sound like zombie ghosts. tho, depends what country yr.

      go congo: can u hear me now?

      dude, i’m standing right next to you.

      oh.

      yeah.

      it’s hot today.

      w3rd.

      i feel sick too.

      true.

      mmmyep.

      i know.

  28. March 24th, 2011 / 11:01 am Anonymous—

      give it time. one can only hope that facebook’s popularity is as fugacious as reagan’s.

  29. March 24th, 2011 / 11:41 am ben spivey—

      For the original Everquest.

  30. March 24th, 2011 / 1:29 pm ZZZZZIPPP—

      WHATEVER IS TAKEN FROM YOU YOU WILL MISS MOST.

  31. March 24th, 2011 / 1:55 pm M. Kitchell—

      EXACTLY

  32. March 24th, 2011 / 1:57 pm M. Kitchell—

      “the smell of my ex-partner’s cock”
      fuck yes

  33. March 24th, 2011 / 2:03 pm Erica Mena—

      The whirrrrrrrllll and sccchhhhhhh of a dial-up modem.

      Adjusting the TV to get more static, because things look better that way.

      My pager.

  34. March 24th, 2011 / 2:04 pm alanrossi—

      i use them all the time.

  35. March 24th, 2011 / 2:29 pm beardobees—
  36. March 24th, 2011 / 2:29 pm beardobees—
  37. March 24th, 2011 / 4:07 pm c2k—

      Hah. Very good. Phill’s too. Thanks. Gotta get me a mousewheel.

  38. March 24th, 2011 / 6:48 pm deadgod—

      circular mouse trap

  39. March 24th, 2011 / 6:49 pm deadgod—

      – more than what you get rid of carelessly?

  40. March 24th, 2011 / 7:22 pm c2k—

      Cheddar wheel / mouse trap combo pre-nostalgic.

  41. March 24th, 2011 / 7:36 pm Sean—

      Nostalgia gets in the way. When I feel nostalgic I want to slap myself. I shake it off. I think to time travel and wish is a sort of madness.

  42. March 24th, 2011 / 7:36 pm Sean—

      Nostalgia gets in the way. When I feel nostalgic I want to slap myself. I shake it off. I think to time travel and wish is a sort of madness.

  43. March 24th, 2011 / 7:49 pm ZZZZZIPPP—

      ALFRED BESTER WROTE A STORY ABOUT THE DISAFFECTED OF EVERY CENTURY TIME-TRAVELLING TO OTHER CENTURIES BECAUSE THEY ARE MAD AND WANT TO FIT IN WHERE THEY DON’T BELONG. IT IS NOT A VERY GOOD STORY BUT

  44. March 24th, 2011 / 7:51 pm ZZZZZIPPP—

      WHY GET RID OF SOMETHING CARELESSLY UNLESS THE CONTEXT IN WHICH WE ENJOYED IT HAS ALREADY LEFT US?

      BUT YES THAT IS A NECESSARY ASPECT

  45. March 25th, 2011 / 1:40 am mimi—

      what i am NOT nostalgic for –

      that past when i thought that ‘possibility’ and ‘impossibility’ were mutually exclusive