AVQ&A: What's your prized pop culture-related possession?

When I was 18, I was obsessed with the movie Rushmore, so trying to meet its star, Jason Schwartzman, when his band Phantom Planet played Milwaukee seemed like a no-brainer. I had never heard the outfit (and certainly didn’t know then that the song that repeated “California” a whole lot would go on to become a very famous opening theme), but did sneak backstage with my friends, with the actor politely fielding questions about Wes Anderson’s upcoming project (something about Jacques Cousteau), took photos with us, and signed all of of our Rushmore stuff, including my beloved, overwatched VHS tape. Later on, my future roommate yelled out, “Fischer, you fuck!” between songs, which I thought at the time was quite funny. Now I’m older and more mature and realize how annoying that must have been to endure shouted-out references to the film show after show…actually, no: That’s still pretty funny. [Tim Lowery]

My little brother is nine years younger than me, which means I spent a decent chunk of my high school years taking him to kids’ movies. On babysitting duty the summer before I left for college (Jonah was in fourth grade), we went to see How To Train Your Dragon 2. On the way out, I told him that I wanted a dragon of my own, just to make conversation (and because it’s hard to sit through 90 minutes of that movie without feeling the same). I forgot about that comment soon after, but Jonah didn’t. As I was packing a few weeks later, he came to my room to deliver my very own Toothless. He had apparently asked my mom to buy him as soon as we got home. It was one of the cutest things that’s ever happened to me, and little Toothless still sits on my desk today. [Emma Keates]

I’ve never felt cooler in my life than the time I stood guard at the entrance to a run-down alley outside a club in Cambridge, MA, watching for the cops as Jeff Rosenstock spraypainted a t-shirt for me. After a Bomb The Music Industry! show in 2012, I picked up a t-shirt at the merch table, and Jeff was hanging around nearby, chatting and signing things. I’d heard that he’d spray a design on your shirt if you asked, but I probably wouldn’t have worked up the courage on my own. Luckily, I was with two good friends who were a lot bolder than me, and we all approached him to see if he was willing to customize our shirts. He was a little nervous about it, said he’d had trouble with the cops at a few of the other stops on the tour, but he still grabbed some red and orange paint cans from under the merch table and ushered us out a side door into the alley. It was December in Massachusetts, which means it was absolutely freezing, and Jeff wasn’t wearing a jacket, but he didn’t complain about the cold. Instead, he just told us to keep an eye out while he painted. The street was deserted and Jeff worked fast; just a few minutes later, he handed me my shirt, on which he’d written “BTMI PUNX.” To this day, it’s probably the most punk thing I own. [Jen Lennon]

There’s nothing I love quite as much as a map of a fake world. If you looked on the walls of my office right now, you’d find a lovely recreation of the tumult of Terry Pratchett’s Ankh-Morpork, a shadowbox recreation of Hyrule from The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, and even a look at the goofy, pun-filled world of comedy podcast Tales From The Magic Tavern‘s Foon. But picking my favorite is easy: It’s the handmade recreation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Wilderland” map, published in every copy of The Hobbit, which my wife gave me on our first Christmas together. Tolkien’s thinly sketched map is a masterpiece of fantasy world-building, implying mystery and adventure at every margin. But it’s obviously the labor of love that raises this from “prized possession” to “genuine treasure”; every time I look at it, I’m struck by the care embodied in every delicate line. [William Hughes]

The first record store I ever entered—not a Best Buy where I browsed for ska and pop-punk and Weird Al CDs, but an honest to God record store—was in Norman, Oklahoma where I went to college. Someone at Guestroom Records (I’m not sure if it was the owner or the manager or just some local artist) supplied their walls with dozens of charming plywood paintings, featuring artist interpretations of album covers. Being a broke student in need of both vinyl and wall decor on the cheap, this was a great two-for-one stop. And who doesn’t need to be reminded, every day, of an oddball covers album and a depressed piece of art rock electronica? After one unwieldy walk back to my apartment, colorful versions of David Bowie’s Low and Pin Ups, versions that made Bowie’s alien face even more bizarre and alluring, gave my home a much-needed touch of DIY pizzazz. Over the next decade, those paintings would come with me through countless moves, all the way up to Chicago, where they still remind me to take a break and listen to a Bowie B-side. [Jacob Oller]

I’m a lifelong fan of The Simpsons [insert apologia/”The Simpsons are good again” addendum here). When the movie was released in 2007, Target had some kind of deal on the show’s DVDs, and my family teamed up to buy me the first 12 seasons. But I still have the VHS tapes with the season-12 episodes that my late mother recorded for me. I worked my way through school, which meant my Sunday nights were spoken for; knowing how much I loved the show, my mom taped the Fox 32 broadcasts (without express written permission, d’oh!). It’s not the full season, and some recordings are more complete than others. There might even be a bit of an old Chicago Bulls game on one of them. But even though I can’t readily watch them, these tapes will always have a place in my heart—and physical media collection. [Danette Chavez]

When you own near a dozen tarot card decks it can be hard to choose a favorite, but the Philly Tarot Deck holds a special place in my heart. Beautifully illustrated by James Boyle, the Major Arcana and court cards depict iconic Philadelphian landmarks, athletes, and artists, be they born in the city (Grace Kelly as The Star) or otherwise have a connection to the town (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts alum David Lynch as the King of Wands). My pop culture favorites in the deck include the Always Sunny gang as The World, Will Smith (in Fresh Prince mode) as the King of Pentacles, and legendary Fresh Air host Terry Gross as the High Priestess. I love this deck so much I have three prints in my room: Death (Edgar Allen Poe), Temperance (Joel Embiid), and Strength (the Rocky statue at the steps of the Art Museum). [Mary Kate Carr]

It started with Wicked, as it so often does. When I was about 8 years old, I learned that you could write to the cast of a Broadway show and ask for a signed Playbill and they would send you one back, free of charge. (Or, at least they did 20 years ago.) I was completely obsessed with Wicked at the time and had just seen the production with my family, and when the signed piece of memorabilia arrived, I was intoxicated. For about three years, I wrote to just about every Broadway show that was currently running, asking for a signed Playbill and including a self-addressed stamped envelope. Miraculously, it worked almost every time. (Beginning each letter with “I am eight years old” certainly didn’t hurt.) Eventually, I aged out of this, and doing this is something that I would never in a million years dream of doing now, but it remains both a cool time capsule, and a thing that I have, that no one else has in exactly the same way. [Drew Gillis]