Ten years


Back in August 2002, I started Julian's Posts. Below, you'll find observations from the past decade.


- One hero died. Michael Jackson. That could have been a lot worse. Pom is still going strong, bless him.

- The cinematic Spider-Man trilogy started in 2002. The reboot has already been introduced. Weird. As if ten years never happened.

- My first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix, was purchased in 2002. Two more (a Sony and another Nikon) have since been acquired. Compact Flash seemed to be all the rage ten years ago, nowadays SD-cards rule the world.

- Donald Trull, my main inspiration, hasn't been posting as much as he used to. His hero, Anna Nicole Smith, has since died.

- Karel Crombecq, who helped me with HTML, has been promoted to Doctor Doctor Crombecq after his double thesis. Applause is in order. And major "wow!", "awe" and "way to go!".

- No iPhone or iPad in 2002. No (commercial, at least) e-readers. No PSP or Nintendo DS. Laptops were still very expensive. No Blu-ray, no affordable HDTV. DVD was touted as the best thing ever.

- In 2002, it was still very easy to connect to a 56kBps modem via your telephone socket. Not an easy feat to accomplish in 2012.

- Heath Ledger was still alive. And kicking. And unmarried, without a child. Jack Nicholson was the best Joker.

- Thirteen records. The size of my vinyl collection in 2002. Things improved.

- Facebook? Nope. Mark Zuckerberg was just a student, just like us.

- YouTube? Nope. VHS or DVD all the way if you wanted to see something again. Sure, there were video sites, but they never had the same unbelievable wealth of content.

- Bruce Springsteen was just an artist in the back of my mind.

- Kirsten Dunst was deemed "the most beautiful woman alive" by yours truly. Along came other male chauvinist targets, but no disrespect to miss Dunst.

- Lady Gaga was playing in small clubs. Justin Bieber was playing with his toys.

- No license to drive ten years ago. No license to drive today. Shame on me.

- Digital TV was a distant reality in 2002. We still have analog(ue) cable, but for how long? Belgian distributor Telenet seems intent on stealing all our channels, in a desperate move to cram the digital solution down our throats. They even stole the BBC channels this year. Telenet is/are worse than many a dictator. Shame on them.



Julian De Backer, 25 August 2012