Culture Catch-Up

I am old enough to remember (less each day, though) life before the modern Internet. This post is not a nostalgia-laden trip back to the heady days of the mid-1980s, but more to establish that I’ve been an adult for nearly the entire run of what currently passes for the Internet (IP and DNS-based http content for lack of a better definition).

And yet, at a time when Web 2.0 is finding new (and not so new) and creative ways to wind down, I still find myself discovering pockets of Internet culture that missed me or that I stupidly passed on at the time. Today’s example is, frankly, something that shocked me as being a blind spot: AMV or Anime Music Video. Thanks to the Garbage Day newsletter for the clue-in.

AMV is essentially popular music layered with anime clips, sort of a remix, and an early pre-Youtube way to get fan content out over file sharing like Kazaa (oh Kazaa, you virus-filled beautiful cesspool). It’s amazing and I’m bummed I missed it at an age where I’d been more plugged into contemporary pop culture. I wonder deeply about where I would have gone if this Jimmy Eat World AMV hit me at the right time.

I also missed Pokemon, something that a younger coworker was squarely in the midst of when it hit. I missed Dungeons and Dragons too, although not from my ignorance but a concerted effort by the parents in my conservative enclave to keep away from all of us. I had friends I knew played it, but fear of exposure to my parents’ peer group kept the invites to play far away from me. Still watched the cartoon, though.

Anyway, now I’m curious what other things I missed and can’t wait to find them.

Sidebar: Jimmy Eat World is still going strong and, frankly, putting out some of their best work right now.