A Matter of Perspective...Not!

Alright, so the Generation Z kids wont agree because they don’t know any better, as all of us Gen Y-ers know, the 90's were, in fact, the bomb. But in lieu of Y2K, the familiarity of our golden childhood days is quickly slipping away.


In the last decade audio players went from cassette tapes to walkmans (dude!) to cds to mp3 players, which will surely be phased out any month now. Landlines have been damned to quaintness as every man, woman, 9 year old and their dog has their own personal cell phone (minimal radiation emissions!) to text each other when it's time for dinner. Kids born after the mid-90's have never known a time in their life when the internet hasn't been available for completing school projects at the last minute. Oh, hey, does anyone want a Polaroid? Better get one soon if you do, because they're not going to be making them for much longer.
Polaroid is getting out of the Polaroid business. What the hell is this?


Turn of the century kids never got to appreciate that which went before them; cds, cell phones, computers and crappy tv have just been the norm. Gone are the days of good cartoons and simple childhood pleasures. Here's a prime example; a beloved elementary school toy, Bop It, as the 90's kids will remember it.



And here is the ungodly post-millennium version, Bop It Download. How are kids supposed to play with that thing? How do you even hold it?




Are you happy now, Gen Z?




What about another simple toy, Skip It? Where are those now? Oh, wait, nobody cares, because kids are too busy playing with their Nintendo DS's and Hannah Montana Music Video sets.


And as time went on, baseball cards became [insert popular anime-model tv show] cards, Barbies became Bratz, and Pogs simply disappeared. MTV traded music videos for "reality" shows about a bunch of jerkoff 20-somethings that live on the beach of South California. Saturday morning timeslots got filled with Disney drivel and the 17th incarnation of Power Rangers. N*Sync gave way to Eminem. Though to be honest, I can't tell which of those two is the greater evil.


The shortcomings of the new millennium are many, and I could write a page-long post full of reasons why, but I don't want to be writing all night, and you don't want to be reading all night, right? I haven't even talked about the difference music, gone in-depth with cartoon comparison, or talked about the plague that is reality television. So consider this post the first of...well, a series of posts about why the 90's were better than Now.

'Til next time, all the best.

Clash of the Consoles, pt. 1 (Why 90's Kids Never Wanted to Go to School)

If you're anything like me, you know that the mid-90's were a magical time for kids, introducing the first generation of competing video game consoles. Parents the world over would come to lament the time their kids would spend in front of the tv instead of doing "better things"...going outside, doing their homework, reading, and all that noise. 90's consoles brought us some of the most recognizable and classic characters in the video game industry. Here are some of the most popular consoles in the order they were released; which was your favorite?

Let's start things off with: Nintendo Game Boy

Old school

Remember this bad boy? How many hours did you kill using one of these? How many batteries did you have to buy to keep that sucker running? The original Game Boy came out in August of 1989, so 80's kids got to enjoy it first, but many of the good games came about a couple years later. You could numb your mind with some Tetris, though. Being part of the Nintendo franchise, Gameboy users could also play classics from their NES (released in 85) like Super Mario Bros. and Zelda on the go. Hundreds of other games followed, including Wario World, Kirby's Adventureland, Donkey Kong Land, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and, of course, Pokemon. Yup, Pokemon. That's a whole other animal that we'll get to in another post. Oh yeah, we're coming back around for that, don't you worry. But not now. Later. You'll have to contain yourself til then.

Next up: Sega Genesis

You were probably either a Sega kid or a Nintendo kid; they were like the first Burger King vs McDonalds of the video game world. Even now, 20 years after the Sega Genesis came out, the best-known icon of the console, Sonic the Hedgehog, is one of the biggest names in video games, along with Nintendo's Mario. How's that for a lasting impression? I have proof:

http://www.gamespot.com/wii/sports/mariosonicattheolympicgames/

The Genesis wasn't the last we heard from Sega, but it was by far the best received, and was (for those who somehow still have one somewhere. You nerds) the classic console of the company. The Genesis did have other games you could buy (it's true!), but who really cared?

All you ever needed

Pictured: Crime against video games

Check back for the big-name systems in Clash of the Consoles, part 2, and watch for the coming poll to vote for your favorite video game system!

"OH YEAH!"

Let's jump right into this one, shall we?


Iiiiiiiiiiinnn West Philadelphia, born and raised...

Growing up in the 90's, what kid didn't know the words to that song? You probably either loved this show or you hated it, but either way, there was no escaping it. Every afternoon, it'd be on the tv, and you'd hear Will Smith's rapping and your kids or siblings or friends singing along. And probably laughing way too loud at the gags, but what the Hell did we care, we were kids.

Maybe some kids got in trouble for some show-inspired hijinks, as kids are wont to do, but it was all in the spirit of fun and rebel-tastic coolness. Will Smith was like the Optimus Prime of actual people; he was that cool.

Sadly, old-time fans will find themselves relegated to watching reruns on Nick @ Nite to get their Fresh fix. But for your enjoyment, here is a tribute site that is really god-awful. It's good for a few kicks and any website-revision project, because it's really just terrible. But I digress. There are also numerous sites where you can watch episodes of the show online, and you can now buy the first 4 seasons on DVD. Pop in some popcorn and let the hijinks commence!

Oh, and just try getting that song out of your head now.

On to our second bit of memorabilia:

Kool Aid Man!

Okay, so Kool Aid Man wasn't from the 90's; his actual birth date was in 1954 as "Pitcher Man". The animated rendition we know now, though, did start in the 90's. Circa '75, the now-famous (and often parodied) mascot was an actual person dressed up in a giant pitcher costume, while before that he was simply a smiling piece of creepy glassware.

By the time the 90's came around, advertisements featured Kool Aid Man performing extreme sports and bursting through brick walls. It was probably shortly thereafter that the clunky pitcher costume was abandoned in favor of an animated mascot (actual human beings do have an unfortunate lack of brick- and concrete-busting ability). Thanks to his sixth sense for finding large groups of bored children, Kool Aid Man would show up at backyard parties, pools and playgrounds to give everyone Kool Aid, announcing himself with a shout of "OH YEAH!" and thereby becoming the life of the party. Whether these spontaneous arrivals were met with restraining orders from concerned parents remains curiously unanswered.

Kool Aid Man's destructive tendencies and hilariously famous catchphrase has since been parodied in numerous animated cartoons, the best known of which being Family Guy.

Here's another gatecrashing food mascot. Partners in crime?

"How do you mascots keep finding me???"

And now here's something we hope you'll really like;

DAMN YOU, AOL!

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to the commencement post of Psyche! The 90's! My aim for this blog is to bring a touch of nostalgia to my audience and help you to reminisce about your memories of all the 1990's had to offer: the best, the good, and even the not-so-good. Hopefully you'll enjoy my posts; maybe you'll passionately dislike some of them--not all memories are good ones. But I hope to keep you interested and entertained, and offer material that everyone can enjoy.

Let me break the blog down for you; each post from here on out will highlight a few aspects of the 1990's, whether they be musical artists or songs, movies, tv shows, celebrities, toys, fads, news, events, or just miscellanea. There are far too many things to talk about for every post to include something from each of these categories, so check back often if the latest post doesn't include a topic you're looking for.

Also, most topics will include a commentary, but some may just be an image, video, or audio file to be amusing and to appreciate; not everything will necessarily have a rhyme or reason.

Now, being the conscientious blogger that I am, I will present you with a few links to other 90's-themed sites, should my blog alone not be enough to satisfy your (surely ravenous) desire for 90's nostalgia. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.inthe90s.com/index.shtml

http://www.1990sflashback.com/

http://iceicebabies.com/

I leave you now with a memory of a better, simpler time.

Remember that? Ha!