So I'm watching the C-list celebrity talking heads on VH1 snark their way through 1994 (Forrest Gump, O.J.'s "slow speed chase", Melrose Place, Ace of Base, etc.) on "I Love the 90's" and suddenly I'm feeling very old and a little disoriented (though maybe the latter state is a function of the first...) Perhaps it's a function of our collective attention span becoming shorter and shorter but doesn't it feel like our history is being put through the trivia mill at an alarmingly rapid pace?
Once upon a time, it took decades for history...even pop culture history...to settle comfortably into the realm of regurgitate-able nostalgia. But now we're fondly remembering...with misty eyes, nods of affirmation, and knowing chuckles...things that happened just a few years ago. This trend is mocked...mostly by the same aforementioned talking heads...on VH1 (a channel which used to have something to do with music at one point but mostly seems to have gotten over that phase of its broadcasting existence) on "Best Week Ever", a sometimes clever weekly half-hour that celebrates the pop culture "highlights" of the week just passed.
Ah maybe I'm just a humorless curmudgeon (you don't have to nod so enthusiastically at that, pal)...but I'd really be more comfortable if we start waxing nostalgic by things that happened at least...AT LEAST...before my granddaughter...rounding the corner towards 4...was born. And even more comfortable if we pushed that timeline back to when my kids were kids.
It's just a thought...
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