Rachel Moloney gets nostalgic
The last time I mentioned by housemates in an article, they got all excited. So IÔÇÖm going to do it again. They think IÔÇÖm Carrie Bradshaw. For the minority who have never seen Sex and the City (and I include myself in that group), Carrie is the fashionable and fun-loving newspaper columnist, who writes about her own relationships as well as those of her friends. Now I donÔÇÖt advertise everyoneÔÇÖs love life to the world, live in New York or have an endless supply of shoes, however, I rather like the sound of being a successful fashionista in NYC, so IÔÇÖm going to take it as a compliment.
After delighting fans with over ninety TV episodes, a film and then its sequel, there was only one thing left for Sex and the City to do: a prequel. Recently airing on US television, The Carrie Diaries sees young actress AnnaSophia Robb step into the towering heels of Sarah Jessica Parker, as she breezes her way through school. Teenage romance, a law internship in Manhattan and a rather tame-looking ÔÇÿ80s hairstyle keep the 16-year old preoccupied in the meantime and no doubt provide her with plenty of anecdotes for the future. A TV series made about my childhood? Yes, I could handle that too.
[pullquote]A TV series made about my childhood? Yes, I could handle that too.[/pullquote]
However so many things from my childhood are no longer there. Take this scenario: you walk down the street, you see that shop with three pink letters on a black background and you think, no HMV, I can buy that DVD online. After 90 years of being the only shop with a dog and gramophone for a logo, HMV was always going to lose its customers to websites such as iTunes and Amazon and has unsurprisingly gone into administration. With a month-long sale expected, which will probably slash prices down to the same as everywhere else, it’s a good idea to spend all of those HMV vouchers you got for Christmas. Quick: before they stop accepting them again.
Yet if you do fancy a good old DVD, then head on down to your local Blockbuster. Damn, you canÔÇÖt do that either. With so much choice online, itÔÇÖs not surprising that these stores have been forced to close and frankly IÔÇÖm amazed theyÔÇÖve kept on going for so long. However it will be sad to see yet another empty building on the high street, as you used to be able to pick out a DVD for the weekend (or a VHS if you were really cool), before popping into Woolworths for a cheeky bag of pick ‘n’ mix. Those were the days and gone in the blink of an eye, along with Pok├®mon cards, Yo-YoÔÇÖs and SM:TV Live.
Children these days just donÔÇÖt know what theyÔÇÖre missing. After over 60 years on BBC One, childrenÔÇÖs television programmes came to an end just before Christmas with a special Blue Peter show and CBeebies Panto. Now I know that these programmes can still be seen on specifically childrenÔÇÖs channels and that such a move hardly affects me now, but it is strange to think that kids these days donÔÇÖt come home from school, automatically turn on the Beeb and then sit down for a bit of SMart or Newsround. Yeah, I told you I was cool.
DonÔÇÖt get me wrong, some of the things from the ÔÇÿ90s were awful, but that doesnÔÇÖt mean itÔÇÖs not fun to look back on them now. That decade, as well as the beginning of the noughties, gave rise to some of the cheesiest pop bands ever who are set to perform on ITV2ÔÇÖs The Big Reunion later this month. The show will no doubt remind us that 5ive, B*Witched, Liberty X or Honeyz could neither sing nor spell, yet even IÔÇÖll admit that when 5iveÔÇÖs ÔÇÿEverybody Get UpÔÇÖ came on in a club the other day, I just couldnÔÇÖt stop myself from singing. As per usual, we have Simon Cowell to blame for their stint on the music scene, and in their heyday, the boys were apparently known as the bad ones in pop. This somewhat passed me by when I was 9; have they not heard of Harry Styles?
Another ex-boy band member also returning to his roots is Justin Timberlake, who recently announced details of his first single since 2006. Although the ÔÇÿN Sync star has been busy appearing in The Social Network and being Mila KunisÔÇÖ Friend With Benefits, he has since retreated to the comfort of the recording studio, enlisting the help of Jay-Z and Timberland (you could do far worse). His new single ÔÇÿSuit and TieÔÇÖ will be the first song to be released from the album called ÔÇÿThe 20/20 ExperienceÔÇÖ and with such a cryptic title, who knows what JustinÔÇÖs new sound will be like.
To be honest, I donÔÇÖt really care, as I was never that much of a Justin fan anyway. But there is something incredibly reassuring about the reappearance of something from your childhood. I may not have my life planned out like a Carrie Bradshaw, but at least I can look back and remember what it was like to be a youngÔÇÖun. Or I would be able to, if everything just stopped disappearing.