The Age Of The Instant (My favorite things from the last decade)

So, to preface - a few of things may have been invented in the 90's, but didn't become prevalent until this decade.

Here we go...

Digital Video Disk - I remember seeing you in a small little bin in the Best Buy toward the end of the last decade, but your players were $500 plus. Not to mention, only Blockbuster's in upscale neighborhoods bothered to stock a few of you. But baby, over the last ten years, you've brought the noise. So much in fact, that you're already on your way out, compliments of HDTV and Sony's Blu-Ray format.

For a while you were the man. Highest quality sound and video, more room for extras, interactive content, commentaries, and alternate ending. Plus, I could also store two of you for every one video cassette on the bookshelf. Perhaps best of all, I could now watch full TV seasons. Twas beautiful.








It used to be that One Hour Photo was the quickest way to enjoy your fun photos. Maybe you were on vacation, drunk, little Suzie's birthday, you know, whatever. 'Let's run them down to the pharmacy, I've got a few errands to run, anyway. We can just wait for them.'

Well, in the age of the instant, is there anything better than the digital camera? No more ruining the film, or being let down when the photo didn't take or turn out well… no more film, no more shoe boxes of pics. Nope, now you're only limited by the size of your hard drive. Hell, most of us have camera on our phones now.











Sticking with technology, Apple's imac and ibook G4 were definitely great ways to spend your time computing. With the base unit and swivel screen the virgin white imac worked as smooth and clean as it looked.












Also, the 14 inch ibook was a great, and in some ways superior choice to the more upscaled Powerbook. Comfortable design, nice size screen, yet still compact. The white casing helped keep it cooler then the Powerbooks, so you didn't have to worry about setting your jeans on fire.









Apple didn't stop here, in fact, perhaps their greatest contribution to technology came along in the form of the ipod, which eventually would bring about the iphone.













'All of your music in one place, one device. Can you play it in your car? Yep. At home through your stereo? Yep. And, look! This is called itunes and you can buy all of your media here and it works seamlessly with your ipod.'

As the CD heading toward the light, and record stores became graveyards, itunes gave us the feel and excitement of browsing a record store without ever leaving your house. While some thought itunes would devalue, or make the concept of an 'album' obsolete, the ability to buy singles made me feel like a kid buying 45's or cassingles. Oh yeah, key word is buy, not download for free. Way to go, Lord Jobs.

The talk of wizards such as Steve Jobs, brings me to the next stop on our list - Hogwarts. That's right, even though he made his debut before the year 2000, Harry Potter has been a big part of the last 10 years. Between the books and it's big screen counterparts, most of us have been 'bewitched' (ba dum dump), by the magical world created by JK Rowling.

If you've read the books, then you've seen the movies. If you've seen the movies, you may not have read the books. If not, then what the hell are you waiting for?

As the books grew longer and the plot thickened, the movies did there best to keep up. At this point, they assume most folks have read the books and get it. However, if you haven't, well - you've missed a lot of shit. A lot. Important characters and story lines have been completely omitted and major events have to altered to compensate.

JK Rowling's writing is brilliant. There's no wasted words and no meaningless details. Everything has purpose, and each book adds value and relevance to the others in the series.













Now, after you've finished reading all the Harry Potter books, let's talk about some television. I loved TV shows in the 80's, but I was just a kid. Although, there were some great shows back then. Now, the 90's… um, they didn't give us shit. Except for 'Friends'. Well, and 'Seinfeld' - can't forget that. However, the last decade could be considered a return to the 'golden age' of TV.

24, Alias, Lost, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, and The Wire are all great examples of the compelling and daring storytelling that came across the tube over the past ten years. Mad Men, Big Love, the list goes on.













But, wait. How do I go back and watch these shows? Are they in syndication? No, but have you heard of Netflix? If's definitely one of my favorite contributions of this decade. Keep the discs as long as you want, no late fees. Perfect for making your way through a series.












Okay, now some folks will definitely argue this next item on the list, but let's be honest - would this decade be the same without one, Thomas Edward Brady, Jr. Winner of three Super Bowls, impregnator of super models, and just better at life then everyone else. Rumor is that he was spawned from the loins of Zeus himself. Just be thankful that Tom doesn't want to have sex with your wife or daughter. It was be like trying to stop a asteroid with a wiffle ball.










The final item on my list has to be (drum roll), Sony's Playstation 3. I remember when the PS3 came out at for a small price of $600. I thought, damn - guess I'm SOL. But, a few years later the price came down and with the combination of HD DVD/Blu-Ray Player and gaming, it became a reasonable expense. However, it's more than just those things. What it is, is a complete media center capable of all sorts of bad assery.

System updates, firmware updates, the PS Store with movies, games, and shows for easy download. Not to mention add-ons. Also, it now supports Netflix streaming.

Oh yeah, and you can play DJ Hero.