Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack.

And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray.

~ Terence Mann, Field of Dreams

If you haven’t seen the movie Field of Dreams, close out DEXTools, pause your saltwater fast, and go watch it. The film is about Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner), a family man in Iowa who finds himself underwater in his struggling farm. Guided by strange voices and serious hubris, Ray decides to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield. What happens next is a moving tale of a father, a son, and the redemptive powers of baseball.

*In terms my audience understands: Field of Dreams is about a degen, neck deep in a rekt asset, who gets alpha from a curmudgeonly chad, re-finds his conviction, and makes a big play to win it all back.

They’ll Turn Up Your Driveway Not Knowing For Sure Why They’re Doing It

Field of Dreams reminds us how compelled we are by sentimentality, nostalgia, and meaning-making.  So it is in our little corner of ENS; the sentimental collectors among us, holding our cat names, Marvel heroes, and anniversary dates in .eth, wondering what have we done with our children's 529 accounts and wen rest of the world?

ENS may look a certain way now, with its eight wallets and fickle liquidity. But in a blink there will be (to borrow from my dear Dua Lipa) a future nostalgia, driving interest and liquidity to names once undetected by the ENS Sales Bot. Sentimentality is timeless. Nostalgia is timeless. Culture is timeless.

RetroENS exists as a reminder to everyone why we drove thousands of miles to Iowa to pursue these names, and why others will too. 

VH1 Behind the Domain

RetroENS is a weekly space on X. Think of it as VH1 Behind the Music for ENS domains. 

Each week I profile a new category, and several domains within that category, joined by the domain owners and opening up the floor for audience banter. The space uses ENS as a gateway to talk fandom, collectibles and cultural touchstones.

While the likes of 10K digits and Pokémon are categorized on ENS marketplaces, there's a great wide ocean of names that are not. I wanted to give voice and shine to those. In both the space, and the weekly post I'll be doing here on Paragraph.

RetroENS aspires to bring a more human touch to the ENS game; a cross-cultural space where passionate collectors can, for one hour a week, 'dip themselves in magic waters' and wax poetically about what ENS names mean to them.

~Careless Whisper