Nostalgium Arcanum

A Repository For The Pop Culture That Made Us Who We Are

About the show

Each episode we add a new entry to the Nostalgium Arcanum, a repository for the movies, tv, music, games, and other pop culture that still enchants us today. Find us on twitter at: @nostalgiumpod

Nostalgium Arcanum on social media

Episodes

  • UHF

    July 1st, 2024  |  2 hrs 4 mins
    1980s, 80s, accordion, comedy, cult classic, cult classics, film, flims, fran drescher, geek, kevin mccarthy, michael richards, movie, movies, music, nerd, parodies, parody, polka, weird al yankovic

    We become parodies of ourselves as Dan Oster (MadTV, A Podcast, But Evil) joins us to revisit UHF, Weird Al Yankovic's cult classic about weird people trying to run a weird tv station for a non-weird world. As a bonus treat, we've included some old audio of our interview with Weird Al himself, so you get to drink from THE FIREHOSE (of podcast content)!!!

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    The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

    June 24th, 2024  |  1 hr 40 mins
    007, 1990s, 90s, art, brosnan, caper, denis leary, faye dunaway, film, heist, impressionism, james bond, magritte, monet, movie, movies, nina simone, painting, pierce brosnan, rene russo, romance, steve mcqueen

    Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, 1999's remake of The Thomas Crown Affair twists and turns as Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo twist and turn around each other. Guests Tania Newton and Ryan Merlo join us to discuss high class art thievery, thrill seeking, and Pepsi guzzling.

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    3 Ninjas

    June 17th, 2024  |  1 hr 41 mins
    1990s, 90s, cinema, colt, comedy, entertainment, kids, martial arts, movie, movies, ninjas, rocky, teenage mutant ninja turtles, tmnt, tum-tum

    Hi-ya! We kick back with Josh Covel of the Still Loading podcast to knuckle up with Rocky, Colt, and Tum-Tum on their first adventure. The film hit hard in the early 90s with its blend of kid power, high kicks, and hijinks.

  • South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

    June 10th, 2024  |  2 hrs 14 mins
    1990s, 90s, animation, broadway, cartoon, cartoons, cinema, colorado, comedy, film, matt stone, movies, musical, musical theater, musicals, satan, satire, south park, trey parker

    South Park, CO may be a quiet mountain town but decades on it remains the locus for satire, profanity, and the occasional doomsday prophesy. Friendly faces Dave Jackson (the Tales From the Backlog podcast) and comedians Rich Baker (@richbakercoaching) and Rolland Lopez (@rollandlopezvoiceactor) join us to go down to South Park and have ourselves a time with their 1999 musical feature outing that fully let Trey Parker and Matt Stone off the leash of basic cable.

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    90s Movies - Part 2

    June 3rd, 2024  |  2 hrs 50 mins
    1990s, 90s, action, cinema, clueless, comedy, david fincher, disney, fight club, film, high school, horror, jim carrey, matrix, movie, movies, scifi, teen

    We conclude our survey course of 90s movies by revisiting the late teens of our crew of guests (Ami Lief, Tania Newton, and Ryan Merlo) for those films that challenged us and shaped us into who we are. Once again, our lists feature fan favorites and hidden gems alike.

  • 90s Movies - Part 1

    May 27th, 2024  |  2 hrs 40 mins
    1990s, 90s, action, cinema, comedy, disney, film, forrest gump, fugitive, horror, jurassic park, movie, movies, pulp fiction, schwarzenegger, scifi, shawshank, spielberg, tarantino, terminator

    On this episode our crew (Ami Lief, Tania Newton, and Ryan Merlo) join us for the first of a two-part roundtable of our top ten 90s films. This part focuses on movies released from 1990 to 1994. See if your favorites line up with ours, and perhaps you'll find a few hidden gems you may have missed.

  • Blazing Saddles

    May 20th, 2024  |  2 hrs 9 mins
    1970s, 70s, black lives matter, blm, cleavon little, comedy, empathy, gene wilder, madeline kahn, mel brooks, race, racism, satire, spoof, tolerance, western

    Mel Brooks' crowning achievement, Blazing Saddles blazed a trail and confronts racism with equal parts ferocious satire and wild cartoon abandon. Writer/comedian/filmmaker Tarik Davis (@tarikrdavis) joins us to celebrate 50 years of this film's uncompromising hilarity and empathy. We are awake, but we are very puzzled.

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    Super Mario Bros. 3

    May 13th, 2024  |  1 hr 25 mins
    1980s, 8-bit, 80s, 8bit, chiptunes, gamer, gamers, games, gaming, mario, nes, nintendo, retro, retrogames, retrogaming, super mario brothers, videogame, videogamer, videogames

    Super Mario Bros. 3 set the standard not only for Nintendo's flagship franchise, but it was a literal game changer. Comedian Rich Baker (@richbakercoaching) joins us to save the Mushroom Kingdom - yet again - from the nefarious clutches of Bowser and the Koopalings with a little help from flying racoon tails, frog suits, music boxes, and more.

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    The Wizard

    May 6th, 2024  |  1 hr 33 mins
    1980s, 80s, fred savage, gamer, games, gaming, movies, nes, nintendo, power glove, rain man, retrogamer, retrogames, retrogaming, rilo kiley, super mario brothers, video games, videogaming

    Part cross-country child road trip, part Nintendo commercial, The Wizard is a time capsule of 1980s nostalgia that holds up better than its corporately calculated premise would suggest. Players Jonathan Cardoso and Tania Newton don their power gloves to join us in retaking the road to Video Armageddon.

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    Fallout

    April 29th, 2024  |  1 hr 35 mins
    1950s, 50s, amazon, ella purnell, fallout, games, gaming, jazz, mac, pc, pc games, pc gaming, postapocalypse, postapocalyptic, retrogames, retrogaming, rpg, rpgs, scifi, twilight zone, videogame, videogames, videogaming, walton goggins, zombie

    Duck and cover! We're going back to the radioactive world of tomorrow as companion B.T. Moorer joins us to open the vault to Fallout. This unique videogame series and its recent blockbuster TV adaptation use an alternate history post-apocalypse to spin stories that, twist, turn, disgust, and delight all at once. We give it a big thumbs up!

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    Dazed and Confused

    April 22nd, 2024  |  1 hr 48 mins
    1970s, 420, 70s, affleck, anthony rapp, ben affleck, classic rock, high school, linklater, matthew mcconaughey, mcconaughey, parker posey, richard linklater, rock, stoner, teen, teen comedies, teen comedy

    We get older and this classic teen comedy stays the same age. Our bud Case Aiken (Another Pass, Men of Steel) joins us to revisit our nostalgia for Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused", the 1976 it depicts, its killer soundtrack, and our foolish teen years where everything seemed so important and, maybe, was.

  • TV Theme Songs

    April 15th, 2024  |  1 hr 43 mins
    animation, big bang theory, cartoon, cartoons, cheers, disney, ducktales, friends, full house, music, saved by the bell, sitcom, sitcoms, song, songs, television, the big bang theory, the brady bunch, tmnt, tv

    Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale of a podcaster and guests, who sit around debating which old theme songs were the best. We're joined by Ami Lief (creepy and kooky) and Ryan Merlo (mysterious and spooky) to round table our top ten TV theme songs.

  • Monty Python's Flying Circus

    April 8th, 2024  |  2 hrs 9 mins
    absurd, absurdism, bbc, britcom, british, comedy, dead parrot, eric idle, flying circus, geek, graham chapman, john cleese, logic, michael palin, monty python, nerd, python, saturday night live, sketch, sketch comedy, skit, snl, spam, taskmaster, terry gilliam, terry jones

    And now for something completely different. Monty Python's Flying Circus redefined comedy from the subatomic level up with sketches that were quotable, absurd, and of course, funnier than a dead parrot full of spam. Guest comedians Rich Baker and Ned Record (of the Lost & Confounded podcast) join us to roundtable our top 10 Python sketches. Burma!

  • The Big Lebowski

    April 1st, 2024  |  2 hrs 22 mins
    bowling, coen brothers, comedy, detective, dude, entertainment, film, film noir, jeff bridges, john goodman, julianne moore, los angeles, movies, mystery, noir, steve buscemi, the dude

    The Dude abides, and his stupefying tale from the Coen Brothers continues to make people laugh to beat the bend... parts anyway. Little Lebowski Urban Achievers Dylan Ris (Lost Moon Radio) and Dan Oster (MadTV, A Podcast, But Evil) join us to revisit this inside-out noir tale of bowling, kidnapping, and beverages in need of saving. You see what happens? You see what happens when we make a podcast?

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    Ghostbusters 2

    March 25th, 2024  |  1 hr 43 mins
    1980s, 80s, bill murray, comedy, dan ackroyd, ernie hudson, film, ghost, ghostbusters, ghosts, halloween, harold ramis, movie, movies, rick moranis, saturday night live, sigourney weaver, snl

    Too hot to handle, too cold to hold. Ghostbusters 2 is a sequel that's anything but paint-by-numbers. We're gonna call superfans Dylan Gregory and Tania Newton to blow some positively-charged slime all over a film that keeps on lifting us higher and higher.

  • A League of Their Own

    March 18th, 2024  |  2 hrs 4 mins
    1990s, 90s, aagpbl, athletics, baseball, entertainment, film, geena davis, madonna, movies, penny marshall, racine, rockford, rosie o'donnell, softball, sports, tom hanks, world series

    Batter up, hear that call. The time has come for one and all... To play ball. We load the bases with guests Ami Lief, Ryan Merlo, and Tania Newton to revisit "A League of Their Own", a seminal sports movie that's still in a league of its own.