This week on The Deep Dive: I’m starting a petition to ban cars from Pike Place Market, the Jingle Bell Rock talent show scene from Mean Girls is so much better than I thought, we need Comic Sans more than we’ll ever know, Noggin is another chapter in the book of things Nickelodeon ruined, and more than you ever wanted to know about that Folgers commercial.

And if you want more, don’t forget to upgrade to The Rabbit Hole! This week on the podcast, I talked about last week’s video essays, cringe culture going too far, and a way-too-long rant about how the 10-year-olds at Sephora are probably not as bad as you think.

As always, don’t forget to catch up on The Deep Dive’s YouTube playlist and shop The Deep Dive merch here!

URBANISM

The Insanity of Allowing Cars in Our Most Walkable Places by CityNerd (16:46)

Last year, I visited Seattle and had a wonderful time. I especially loved strolling through Pike Place Market until suddenly, while browsing a flower stand and admiring the low price of some of the most stunning bouquets I’d ever seen, I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the dead center of the market. “A car? Another car?! Hold up, is there an entire parking lot in the middle of Pike Place Market, the busiest tourist destination in Seattle?! Where people are walking in droves??” Thankfully, in this video, CityNerd shares my horror about a genuinely cool landmark that could be so, so much better with one (huge) small change.

FILM

why this is the most brilliant scene in Mean Girls by art at midnight (17:36)

In the 20 (yes, 20) years since its release, Mean Girls’s iconic scenes and quippy dialogue have been repeated and analyzed to death. So I wasn’t expecting a new perspective to be introduced to a conversation that’s been going on long enough to reach a remake for a new generation. But in this video, art at midnight exceeded my expectations with a breakdown of the Jingle Bell Rock talent show scene and the ways it represents power, social order, femininity, belonging, and individuality in high school. At first glance, the scene can feel like a throwaway that does little more than further reinforce the influence of The Plastics, but there’s much more going on behind the curtain.