In 1990, the world was a different place.
There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo. Or Stumbleupon, for that matter.
In 1990, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Ghost. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.
Remember, that was before there were DVDs. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty.
Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to Dances with Wolves. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Journey of Hope. The top actor was Jeremy Irons for his role as Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune. The top actress was Kathy Bates for her role as Annie Wilkes in Misery. The best director? Kevin Costner for Dances with Wolves.
In the year 1990, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time was The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it? Look at the cover!
In 1990... The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns. Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc and Warner Communications Inc The United Kingdom and Argentina restore diplomatic relations after 8 years. Police seal off Brixton in South London after another night of protests against the poll tax. East Germany holds its first free elections. The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba. Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million. The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty. The Detroit Pistons defeat the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals. Underwater volcano Mount Didicas erupts in the Philippines. In Rome, on the night before soccer's 1990 FIFA World Cup, the Three Tenors sing together for the first time. The event is broadcast live on television and watched worldwide by millions of people Alberto Fujimori becomes president of Peru. Nintendo releases the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America. The video game of the day was Final Fantasy.
That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.
The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Octavio Paz. The Nobel Peace prize went to Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. The Nobel prize for physics went to Jerome I. Friedman, Henry Way Kendall and Richard E. Taylor from the United States and Canada for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?
The 1990s were indeed a special decade. The Nineties saw the beginnings of the World Wide Web, originating at CERN. Email becomes popular. The Soviet Union dissolved. Living standards in East Asia and Europe generally improved. The Cold War ends. Iraqi forces invade Kuwait. A UN coalition force led by the US was sent to the Persian Gulf, and aerial bombing of Iraq began. The Kosovo War took place. The Ethiopian Civil War ends. Dolly, a sheep, is cloned. The Global Positioning System GPS becomes fully operational. Genetically engineered crops are developed for commercial use. Intel develops the Pentium processor. The Java programming language is created. Microsoft released Windows 95. In Los Angeles, riots occur after the police brutality case involving Rodney King. Great Britain hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to China. East Timor breaks away from Indonesian control. US president Bill Clinton was involved in the Lewinsky scandal. Dogme 95 becomes an important artistic movement in European film. Teen soap Beverly Hills 90210 has its long run. Baywatch becomes the most watched show in history. On MTV, reality television makes its beginning. Nelson Mandela is elected president of South Africa. Germany was reunified. The prediction of computer bug Y2K spreads fear.
Do you know what was on the cover of Life that year?
Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.
There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.
When you were 9, the movie The 13th Warrior was playing. When you were 8, there was The Parent Trap. When you were 7, there was a Disney movie out called Mulan. Does this ring a bell?
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 1990. There's TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV is America's Funniest People p. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's The Bradys on now. That's the world you were born in.
Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1990. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The World Wide Web.
Usin' and confusin' beats that ya never heard
1990, put a smile on your face like ultra bright
You're just fessin' man
I don't even wanna hear about it, you're just fessin'
...
That's from the song Best Foot Forward by DJ Shadow.
In 1990, a new character entered the world of comic books: Gambit. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1990, Emma Watson was born. And Alex Teixeira Santos. Emily Mae Young, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It's 2010.
The world is a different place.
What path have you taken?
