Happy V Day from the Trendera team! Celebrate this holiday of love by falling down the rabbit hole of your childhood with Buzzfeed’s collection of 80s Valentines! 

Yes, the pictures above are actually SOAPS from etsy store Two Eggplants whose offerings range from the absolutely edible looking to pop-culture icons. That Gameboy soap? It’s Fruitloops scented. A perfect nostalgia conversion!

We’ve written about Dear Photograph in the past, but it continues to grow in popularity and poignancy. For those who haven’t seen it, Dear Photograph is an incredibly touching blog where users submit photographs of photographs held over the place they were taken, decades before, along with messages written  to people in the picture (sometimes the long-gone subject, sometimes a childhood version of their children, or of themselves). One particularly moving example of this blog’s gravitas are the submission for the September 11th ten year anniversary (below).

I am left wishing we could do this digitally, by holding up our smartphones. Reinserting place, and history, into the continuously placeless, globalized world seems to be an emerging preoccupation for Ys. 

There has been a recent wave of vintage retrofitting gadgets for every iThingy, but none so grand as the iVictrola. Created by NY’s made-craft, this charming idiosyncrasy marries a sleek walnut base with a vintage Magnavox phonograph horn to trumpet tunes from an iPad. The iVictrola will be sold at Design Within Reach in limited quantities come November for a cool $985. 

(Source: uncrate.com)

Yesterday, Muppets: The Green Album was released by Walt Disney records as a CD and digital download. The album features covers of classic Muppet songs like “Rainbow Connection” by contemporary artists like OK Go (amazing video above), Weezer, The Fray and Andrew Bird. As far as build up to the upcoming The Muppets film goes, it doesn’t get much better than this. OK Go has a history of creating virals, and a collab with the Muppets is almost a surefire internet takeover machine. 

Add to that the fact that many Gen Ys consider the music they learned in childhood to be serious quality fare (I will argue with anyone that the soundtrack the The Chipmunk Adventure is a work of art) and these covers act as a kind of homage to the Muppet culture. For those of us who grew up listening to the In Harmony LP, it only makes sense that great artists would join hands with the Muppets to create beautiful music together…and our countdown to The Muppets starts now.  

Peanut butter and chocolate ice cream sandwich…drooling.

What is it about ice cream that just screams childhood summers? Even after our favorite frozen treat has enjoyed recent gourmand fame, ice cream still maintains that friendly nostalgia. I’m pretty happy with scooping right from the pint to my mouth, but yesterday’s New York Times featured “Ice Cream Favorites Grow Up,” with ideas for inspired takes on ice cream—and some original recipes that take the now ubiquitous ice cream “creation” to another level of culinary creativity. An ice cream sandwich in a baguette? That qualifies as lunch, right? 

Bite-size malted milk ice cream bonbons elevate ice cream from childhood treat to chic

I hesitate to say this because I am sure that you already know, that Mad Men seasons one through four were added to the Netflix watch instantly roster two weeks ago. Which means that my roommate and I have been devouring episode after episode at a pace so fast, we are embarrassed to admit to each other which episode we are on (before disappearing into either side of our shared wall to blare the following episode).

After running into the fifth person over the weekend that had dedicated their entire weekend to reliving the days before Mad Men skipped a 2011 season, I started to realize that we were all itching to relive our 50’s style moments. Mad Men’s move to the Netflix instant queue, combined with Amy Winehouse’s death and maybe an urge to relive the American Golden Age (while the stock market dips into what some are calling the Double Dip we’ve been awaiting), has single-handily sparked an interest in late fifties/ early sixties style, culture, pastimes, etc. Just in time to prime everyone for the season five release in March 2012. Hold your breath, everyone.

Theory: Could it be that Gen Ys are accused of acting entitled because we grew up watching so many cartoons where the adults were totally inept and the kids managed to save the day? Darkwing, Inspector Gadget, South Park, Rugrats….it was definitely a theme. 

Wet Hot American Summer is 10 years old today! That means in Wet Hot American Summer land it is now 1991. Wish I was there. 

Dear Photograph

Brings the past into the present. 

Entering Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum on the weekend is like entering the depths of a Metallica concert; throngs of sweaty New Yorkers packed in between the corners of the room looked up at the romantic/ gothic figures that were sometimes more Silence of the Lambs than Isabella Blow. Even so, the show is masterfully curated, definitely one of the best exhibits of the year, anywhere. The exhibit ends August 7th.