The Ancient Nineties

Albert Einstein once defined the theory of relativity this way: Sit on a hot stove for a minute, it seems like an hour. Talk to a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. 

Time is, as they say, a funny thing. 

For example, I would say that the 1990's was not that long ago. 

Next year, it will have been 30 years since Friends debuted.

Now that can't be! 30 years? Really?

Well, that explains why Matt LeBlanc looks old now. Because he is.  

Part of that feeling of disorientation, that the 1990's do not feel like that long ago, is the 1990's don't look that different from today.

There are some tell-tale signs. Cordless phones that are just too big. TVs not being flat screens. Stuff like that.

But watching stuff from the 1980's feels like such a different decade, a distinctly different aesthetic in terms of fashion.

Or the 1970's or the 1960's and so on and so on. Every decade has a particular look about it, a special feel specific to that time. 

The 1990's look pretty much like today to me.  

Another thing that contributes to my not seeing the 1990's as that far back in time is that they never really went away. Friends and Seinfeld remain in ubiquitous reruns and have an odd currency.

Even though today Jerry Seinfeld is a old curmudgeon with a buzz cut. How the hell did that happen? Because it's been 30 years, that's why! 

Really? Are you sure? It seems just like yesterday. 

While I'm grappling with this existential crisis of time and self, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You will wallow in this apparently long ago time for the month of November in a little event I call November Nineties! 

(God, I love alliterative names for things!)  

Songs For Saturday will features songs from the 1990's for this month.

Cinema Sunday will feature movies from the 1990's.  

You get the idea! 

I'll start off tomorrow with Your Friday Video Link being some damn thing or another from (you guessed it!) the 1990's.  

Not all posts will be part of November Nineties.

As long as Donald Trump and the Republican Party are engaged in some kind of fuckery, I will have current events to write about.

And the Tuesday TV Touchbase will mostly be about TV I'm watching right now.  Although I will finish out the month with a post about favorite TV shows from the 1990's.

All as I struggle with this vexing question: Were the 1990's really all that long ago?

And I am so glad my suffering amuses you.