Nostalgia and Local Television Commercials

It's the Judge John Hodgman podcast, and I'm bailiff Jesse Thorne with me, Judge John Hodgman Yeah, hello Hi everyone, and it's high especially to the members of Maximum Fund. Thank you for being a member. If you are a member Please go check your bonus feed. Now there's a brand new fresh members only mail bag. waiting for you right now. If you're not a member Here's just a taste of what you can expect in this month's Membo mail bag All you have to do to become a member for five dollars a month is go to maximumfund. org slash join JJ H o. Maximum fundot org slash join JJHO. That link is also in the show description. So maximum fund. org slash join JJHO. become a member right now and get that membo mail bag every month Here's a little peek Jennifer Marmer out on leave. She's on assignment this membo mail bag. We've got Rguman ofalen On the production side. Hi Rgu, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you guys doing? doing great. Rgu, you have done some digging and found this commercial for the Grand Prospect Hall? Indeed, shhall we pull it up? Indeed. let's. shhall we? Yes. Indeed, yes, indeed. dreamed It's been carefully planned And here is the most important day of your life We make your dreams come true. The grand prorosper ha. seven, one, eight, seven seven, sevenven Wow I okay I think we all have a time in our lives when local television commercials suggest nostalgia to us. I suppose that ye, I suppose that younger members of Gen Z and Below will never have that because they're not walking watching local television. And so if they have any nostalgia, it will be for non shared experiences like algorithmic advertisements on YouTube That's right However We all have our own time period. That was a later time period than I anticipated. That did include a web address. Yeah, I mean, it I'm looking for when it finally closed down The aesthetic of that place was not what I anticipated. It was much more grand Dare I say It's like a laser show on the ceiling Yeah, Jesse, apppparently it closed down in twenty twenty one. The last time I was in there was in two thousand eight when I did some phone banking for a presidential candidate that I was supporting at the time Paul obviously Ron Paul? Ron Paul, right? I was oneing a young optometrist named Rand Paul. It was Jake Paul. I apologize, my mistake. My memory, you know what? I'm nostalg I'm nostalgic for that evening of in person phone banking when You know, I've done some phone banking since, but this was at a time In the ancient past, young children of numbers When you actually had to go to a grand function hall to sit at rows and rows of tables and you were provided a telephone to dial and a script to read And it was the first time I had ever done any meaningful phone banking. and I'll tell you what, it was absolutely terrifyied, but I am nostalgic for it becausecause it was a very good feeling And when I say that nostalgia is a toxic impulse, I do not mean capturing a good feeling from from your past and dwelling on it I'm thinking to myself or yourself I usually think on your behalf. so I often think to myself, but in this case, for yourself Oh yeah, that was really nice. It was nice There was this ad for this This beautiful ornate Roco co laser beamed function haul where your dreams could come true. That's a nice feeling every now and then. All I'm talking about when I say nostalgia is a toxic impulse. is that let's not build a political movement based on nostalgia If you want to hear our full meembo mail bag, Memberships at maximum Fund started just five bucks a month. Join us maximumfund dot org slash join JJ HO so you don't miss out