Re:Building Together EP 269 — Summer Movie Hits

Host: CEELOS (@CEELOSFIGG) · Wed, 22 Jul 2026 · 1:04:57 · 4 active speakers

TL;DR

• A "Way Back Wednesday" episode of the Re:Building Together community Space, given over entirely to summer-movie nostalgia — no agenda, just three generations of movie kids swapping memories.
• CEELOS traced his own timeline from E.T. (his birth year) through Batman, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, The Matrix and up to next Thursday's Spider-Man release, which he's already booked the day off work for.
• The two "90s kids," Solo dolo and Baked, independently named The Sandlot as their defining summer movie, prompting a running "is Sandlot a psyop?" bit.
• Val battled a brand-new (free) Android the whole hour, getting dropped and re-invited as co-host repeatedly — a live cautionary tale about test-driving your phone before Spaces.
• Long, fond detour into the lost rituals of video stores, VHS cover art, and the theater-as-babysitter era; CEELOS floated turning the community's NFTs into old VHS-style covers.
• Housekeeping wrap: a one-of-one "region" sold, a couple of new members joined, and shout-outs to Wolf's morning Space.

Highlights

[04:56] Val vs. the Android. CEELOS reopens the room and checks in on Val, who reveals she got a free Android that won't even show her the co-host button. It becomes the episode's running gag — she's dropped and re-invited several times, prompting CEELOS's PSA: don't learn a brand-new phone live on a Space.

[06:44] The Iceland eclipse bit. CEELOS riffs that Val is "a few weeks away from the earth losing its gravity" on her Iceland trip, advising her to find a cave or grab some weights if things start floating skyward. Pure warm nonsense between regulars.

[09:34] E.T. and the daughters. CEELOS lands his first real story: showing E.T. (his 1982 birth-year movie) to his daughters for the first time and photographing them teary-eyed at the death scene — proof to him the storyline still holds up, and a memory that gets him emotional now they're grown.

[12:30] The Sandlot enters the chat. Solo names The Sandlot as the movie that was "always on TV," and CEELOS notes Dodger Stadium is bringing back on-field movie nights starting with it, plus its All-Star Game tribute. He confesses to getting told on by his brother for spending movie money to see it twice in one week — but he kept the baseball pin.

[22:33] "Is Sandlot a psyop?" When Baked also names The Sandlot top-three, CEELOS marvels that both 90s kids landed on the exact same movie unprompted. A genuinely funny beat that both younger guests defend as an undisputed classic.

[34:00] The Matrix, still rewiring brains. CEELOS on The Matrix at 27 years old: it "completely broken people's perception of reality," and is still why people insist we're in a simulation. Baked follows with his generation's Star Wars take — that the prequels were only hated by "crafty old people," and that the real fall came "when Disney bought it."

[41:42] Dad joke of the day. Solo asks who plays the new He-Man; CEELOS: "You're... no idea, man" — then thanks the room for coming to his dad-joke set. Later he explains The Sheep Detective as a murder mystery where "Wolverine gets killed at the beginning" and the sheep solve it, to bafflement.

[46:26] Married in real life? Baked reveals he only learned three days ago, via Facebook, that Tom Holland and Zendaya are married — "What the fuck, they're married?" — while the group tries to recap the amnesia premise of the new Spider-Man.

[53:54] The video-store dream. CEELOS lays out his fantasy coffee-shop crossed with a video store — staff-pick shelves, baristas recommending drinks — and his love of VHS cover art as a lost creative form. This flows into wanting to turn the community's NFTs into VHS-style covers, which Baked is "down" for.

Topic timeline

Notable quotes

• "I think the one that I remember for sure was um the Sandlot." — Solo dolo [12:30]
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• "Sandlot is like top three greatest movies of all time for the summer, I would say." — Baked [22:33]
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• "The fall of Star Wars was when Disney bought it. That's when things went south." — Baked [35:04]
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• "Yeah, that's my dad joke of the day. Thank you, everybody. I appreciate you for coming." — CEELOS [41:42]
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• "As convenient as Amazon and everything is now, I so miss going to Blockbuster." — Baked [49:58]
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• "You'd rent things because the cover looks cool... which is why I collect VHS, because they still to this day have the best cover art." — CEELOS [53:54]
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Who said what

• CEELOS (@CEELOSFIGG) — host, and the room's resident movie historian; carried most of the hour with a decade-by-decade tour of his own moviegoing life, from theater-kid to theater-employee to nostalgic dad, plus the housekeeping and the VHS-cover NFT idea. (Appears under both diarization labels; treated as one voice.)
• ValerieKates (@valeriekates_) — fellow 80s baby, joining from Reno and gamely fighting her new Android for co-host access; supplied the Iceland-trip and PFP-artist banter.
• Solo dolo (@solodolo) — the 90s/'98 kid; Sandlot devotee, Humboldt theater updates, and the "who played He-Man" setup.
• Baked (@Bakedmetax) — the self-described old soul with young-kid energy; deep cuts (Carlito's Way, Biodome, Pest), the Star Wars/Disney take, and Blockbuster nostalgia — dialing in from a roof between work.

Worth a full listen

• [37:41]–[40:40] — CEELOS's fullest stretch: walking down the row of Broadway movie theaters, using them as a surrogate babysitter, then working in them, plus the collector's regret over tossing old posters and X-Men promo shirts. The affection here doesn't compress well.
• [49:58]–[56:00] — The video-store elegy: staff-pick shelves, cover-art as a lost art form, sneaking into theaters, and the pivot to turning NFTs into VHS covers. The group's shared "you had to be there" energy is the whole point.
• [57:21]–[1:00:00] — Modern theaters (recliners, in-seat food, bar service, Alamo Drafthouse) vs. sticky-floor purism, capped by CEELOS getting nudged awake mid-snore during Mandalorian and Grogu.