Delia's Holiday '96 Catalog

In December of 1996, my life revolved around ski club, Josta pop, playing Ice Hockey for Nintendo (why??) and probably being a general brat because I was 13. And one day this Delia's catalog arrived in the mail and I totally wanted everything in it for Christmas.

Of special note are the pages containing gift ideas to buy for your best buds:

Don't forget your 3 tins of Candy Kisses lip balm that come in a drawstring bag!

Have Yourselves a Very Merry 90s Boy Band Christmas

This playlist will most definitely give you some holiday cheer:

Hanson - "Little Saint Nick"

'N Sync - "Under My Tree"

Spice Girls - "Christmas Wrapping"

All-4-One - "Christmas With My Baby"

Boyz II Men - "Let It Snow"

'N Sync - "The Only Gift"

Hanson - "Run Rudolph Run"

Backstreet Boys - "Christmas Time"

98 Degrees - "This Gift"

Hanson - "Everybody Knows the Claus"

Boyz II Men - "Cold December Nights"

'N Sync - "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays"

And hopefully you'll dream of sugarplums and not this frightful image :)

For Your Viewing Pleasure

My new favorite YouTubes are retail/restaurant training videos. This one for Blockbuster is from 1990 and takes us back to a magical time of videotape rental, baggy pleated front khakis, and VCPs. If you're like me, you might ask, what is a VCP and why would I want to rent one from Blockbuster? Well the VCP is apparently like a VCR but doesn't record. I feel pretty certain that everyone else just referred to those as VCRs regardless. But you could rent one if your personal VCR was being repaired!

Anyways, this video is mildly annoying but still a poignant reminder of the past to me. Sure, I can still find a brick & mortar location to rent movies, but really that whole experience is dead as a dinosaur to me. If I can watch practically any movie or tv show instantly at home, why bother? I'll just remember fondly my trips to the neighborhood Videojack, whose smell I still recall (sort of a mix between the video tapes and nacho cheese). Eventually they introduced a computerized catalog, which of course seemed pretty awesome at the time. RIP Videojack; the last building you occupied near me is now a dentist.

Celine Dion's Heartwarming Duet with... R. Kelly

Now that the holiday season is in full swing, it's nice to relax with some soothing music while reading a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. Why not choose "I'm Your Angel", a lovely track where Celine has partnered with R. Kelly, a man with a very nice voice. A man with a penchant for underage girls. A man who has this thing called a "panty gram" that you can send to your friends. Yummy!

This song debuted in 1998. It reached #1 on the U.S. charts, but I had no idea it existed until recently. Thank you Songza, your Worst Songs of All Time station has given me some real gems.