In 1989, the world was a different place.
There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo. Or Iran-eng, for that matter.
In 1989, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 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 Driving Miss Daisy. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Cinema Paradiso. The top actor was Daniel Day-Lewis for his role as Christy Brown in My Left Foot. The top actress was Jessica Tandy for her role as Daisy Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy. The best director? Oliver Stone for Born on the Fourth of July.
In the year 1989, 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 Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it? Look at the cover!
In 1989... George H. W. Bush succeeds Ronald Reagan as the 41st President of the United States of America. Satellite television service Sky Television plc is launched in Europe. Nintendo releases the Game Boy portable video game system in North America. A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954. Barbara Clementine Harris is consecrated as the first female bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US $3-million bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie. The Berne Convention, an international treaty on copyrights, is ratified by the United States. Portugal wins the FIFA U-20 World Cup, defeating Nigeria on the final by 2-0 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Students from Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, and Nanjing begin protesting in Tiananmen Square. The television show Seinfeld premieres. Indonesia's first privately owned television station, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia, RCTI, begins broadcasting. Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria. Voyager II passes the planet Neptune and its moon Triton. The Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, is forced to step down as leader of the country after a series of health problems. A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The video game of the day was Prince of Persia.
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 Camilo José Cela. The Nobel Peace prize went to 14th Dalai Lama. The Nobel prize for physics went to Norman Foster Ramsey from the United States for the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks. 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 1980s were indeed a special decade. The Soviet-Afghan war goes on. Eastern Europe sees the collapse of communism. Policies like Perestroika and Glasnost in the Soviet Union lead to a wave of reforms. Protests are crushed down on Tiananmen Square in China. Ethiopa witnesses widespread famine. Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown. The AIDS pandemic begins. The role of women in the workplace increased greatly. MTV is launched in the US. There is opposition against Apartheid in South Africa as well as worldwide. Heavy Metal and Hard Rock bands are extremely popular. The rise of Techno music begins. Originally primarily played on campus radio stations, College Rock enters the scene with bands like the Pixies, REM and Sonic Youth. The Hip Hop scene continues to evolve. Teletext is introduced. Gay rights become more widely accepted in the world. Opposition to nuclear power plants grows. The A-Team and Seinfeld are popular on TV. US basketball player Michael Jordan bursts on the scene. Super Mario Bros, Zelda's Link, and Pac-Man gain fame in video games. People wear leggings, shoulder pads and Ray-Ban sunglasses.
Do you know what was on the cover of Life that year?
Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15? The Day After Tomorrow. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was Burn by Usher. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember?
In 1989, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Two Hearts by Phil Collins topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.
Well, there was no reason to believe she'd always be there
But if you don't put faith in what you believe in
It's getting you nowhere
Cos it hurts, you never let go
Don't look down, just look up
Cos she's always there to behind you, just to remind you
...
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 Practical Magic was playing. When you were 8, there was George of the Jungle. When you were 7, there was a Disney movie out called Hercules. Does this ring a bell?
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 1989. 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 Roseanne. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's Doogie Howser, M.D. 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 1989. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? Blue Laser. Digital Waveguide Synthesis. Viagra.
Well, I'm afraid of that picture
From 1989
Faded colors and worn out texture
From 1989
...
That's from the song 1989 by Titiyo.
In 1989, a new character entered the world of comic books: Silver Fox. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1989, Sergey Fesikov was born. And Corbin Bleu. Zhong An Qi, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It's 2011.
The world is a different place.
What path have you taken?
more...
