Thursday, June 10, 2004
The More Things Change, The More Things (don't) Stay the Same (I guess Cinderella was wrong)
Okay, first of all, I found out about two new blogs I want to share with you. First is my friend Carlin's new site. The link is to the left in the links index. The other is http://andykaufmanreturns.blogspot.com/ which is funny if you know anything about Andy Kaufman and his fans.
Second of all, Things have changed a lot in my short little life... I had a few reflections on that this week.
1) Computers. They went form giant business machines, to sluggish and expensive (and underwhelming) home units, to household features. I hear older Americans talking about email and instant messaging, and it makes me smile.
2) Software. Did you know that screensavers haven't always been free? That ridiculous flying toaster screen saver used to be a software package you had to buy. The many free screen savers you can now download, or that come packaged in Windows are eons cooler than what people used to pay for. Interesting.
3) TV. Cable TV has saturated American with so many shows and channels, that there are very few shows that are a shared experience. Sports viewership is down for this reason, because there are other options on TV. Gone are the days when MASH's finale set records of viewership. Sitcoms are almost completely dead, and reality shows rule the airwaves. There are news shows on nightly, but they are becoming more and more tabloid, as there are entire channels dedicated to up to the minute news. In my home town one of the network affiliates has quit doing sports during newscasts. They assume that the internet and ESPN provide information much more timely and in depth. OF all of these things, the worst thing of all is that the ritual of Saturday Morning Cartoons is dead... there still are some, but they are nothing like the programming masterstroke of the old days. THis is due to childrens channels like Nickelodian and Cartoon Network. Heck, you can even watch movies and anime on TV now (for free), where before that was unheard of.
4) Cereal. The prizes in cereal used to be totally awesome. The prize determined if you bought one cereal over another. Now, there are few prizes. Most toys are send-away offers that do not require purchase of one particular cereal, just loyalty to a manufacturer. In Japan, they still have awesome candy-toys... something better than, but close to the hey-day of American cereal toys. However, McDonalds Happy Meal toys are more epic than ever. Since when did we ever have action figures in a Happy Meal? Or Hot Wheels? Or Legos? Burger King had Dragonball Z toys, which blows my mind how mainstream anime has become in the USA.
I have more, I'll save for later. I need to get back to work! : )
See ya!
Second of all, Things have changed a lot in my short little life... I had a few reflections on that this week.
1) Computers. They went form giant business machines, to sluggish and expensive (and underwhelming) home units, to household features. I hear older Americans talking about email and instant messaging, and it makes me smile.
2) Software. Did you know that screensavers haven't always been free? That ridiculous flying toaster screen saver used to be a software package you had to buy. The many free screen savers you can now download, or that come packaged in Windows are eons cooler than what people used to pay for. Interesting.
3) TV. Cable TV has saturated American with so many shows and channels, that there are very few shows that are a shared experience. Sports viewership is down for this reason, because there are other options on TV. Gone are the days when MASH's finale set records of viewership. Sitcoms are almost completely dead, and reality shows rule the airwaves. There are news shows on nightly, but they are becoming more and more tabloid, as there are entire channels dedicated to up to the minute news. In my home town one of the network affiliates has quit doing sports during newscasts. They assume that the internet and ESPN provide information much more timely and in depth. OF all of these things, the worst thing of all is that the ritual of Saturday Morning Cartoons is dead... there still are some, but they are nothing like the programming masterstroke of the old days. THis is due to childrens channels like Nickelodian and Cartoon Network. Heck, you can even watch movies and anime on TV now (for free), where before that was unheard of.
4) Cereal. The prizes in cereal used to be totally awesome. The prize determined if you bought one cereal over another. Now, there are few prizes. Most toys are send-away offers that do not require purchase of one particular cereal, just loyalty to a manufacturer. In Japan, they still have awesome candy-toys... something better than, but close to the hey-day of American cereal toys. However, McDonalds Happy Meal toys are more epic than ever. Since when did we ever have action figures in a Happy Meal? Or Hot Wheels? Or Legos? Burger King had Dragonball Z toys, which blows my mind how mainstream anime has become in the USA.
I have more, I'll save for later. I need to get back to work! : )
See ya!
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