Things that Will Make You Feel Old: 2018 Edition
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Jan. 10, 2018, 9:01 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Another new year has begun, so it is time for me to write another entry of things that will make users born between 1980 and 1990 (including myself) feel old.
2018 is the 10th anniversary of: The Iron Man and 2008 Incredible Hulk films, and, thus, the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Dark Knight
Wall-E
Kung Fu Panda
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Death Magnetic by Metallica
2018 is the 15th anniversary of: The 2003 Hulk film.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2018 is the 20th anniversary of: The 1998 Godzilla film
The Big Lebowski
The Mask of Zorro
A Bugs Life
Saving Private Ryan
The first Blade film
Windows 98
Godsmack and System of a Downs self-titled debut albums
Rob Zombies debut solo album, Hellbilly Deluxe
Cowboy Bebop
Outlaw Star
Starcraft
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
This year is the 25th anniversary of: Jurassic Park
Free Willy
Hocus Pocus
The Nightmare Before Christmas
2018 is the 30th anniversary of: And Justice for All by Metallica
South of Heaven by Slayer
State of Euphoria by Anthrax
Power Metal by Pantera
Kings of Metal by Manowar
Ram it Down by Judas Priest
No Rest for the Wicked by Ozzy Osbourne
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son by Iron Maiden
Super Mario Bros. 3
Mega Man 2
It may be reaching too far into the past for some users, but 2018 is also the 35th anniversary of: Metallica, Pantera, and Slayers debut albums (Kill Em All, Metal Magic, and _Show No Mercy,+ respectively)
Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
I usually mention anniversaries only in multiples of five years, but it has now been twelve years since Steve Irwin died and seventeen years since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, and, on that subject, students in school are now learning about those attacks as a historical event that occurred before they were born and not something of which they would have first-hand knowledge from directly experiencing it.
Last year was the tenth anniversary of the Virginia Tech Shooting, and I cannot believe that it has been that long since it occurred, as I can still recall first hearing about it in the news while I was in college.
I will not make posts like this every year, but this year commemorates many significant milestones, as seen above. Next year does not have very many noteworthy anniversaries (apart from my brother's 30th birthday), so I may not make a thread for that year, but I will likely make a thread in 2020, since that year will be commemorating many significant milestones.
What does everyone else say about this? How does this make you feel? Do you have any of your own items to add, things that you remember from your childhood that now make you feel old?
Honestly.
It makes me feel:
Loss
Dissonance between current and prior self
Mind blown as to what life could become
After enjoying 35 years of nearly diabolic consistency of Waltonesque family patterns, nearly ritualistic regularity in geek squad Friday Night Game Night ala cheetos & Mtn. Dew spanning decades past HS graduation - and totally buying this grand illusion as to who I was in terms of other people - it's all blown to bits with mere fragments of what life once was.
I was upset about this in 2015 when it really set in. But now I am grown used to it and look back on those decades with effort to recall what it felt like to be the person I was then.
Nostalgia feels like snowflakes to me. There was a time when I nearly branded myself with them as my.personal motif and now I rejoice at my liberation from them , grasping to understand how they once fit in my life.
But I'm okay! MTG happens to be one of those few rare unicorn holdovers pulling the carriage of my pumpkin popped life after that clock struck whatever hour and the spell of your laid out lists of shared memories expired leaving me with just here and now.
January 10, 2018 10:20 p.m.
Started my senior year in HS 25 years ago - 1993 experienced the first World Trade Center bombing, the Waco standoff, the first Intel processor and the Buffalo Bills losing their third straight Super Bowl. Most notably, though, the birth of Magic the Gathering.
January 10, 2018 11:30 p.m.
Game_of_Cones says... #5
Watch movie The Running Man this year, as it was made in 80s but takes place pretty much right now (2017 is probably the actual "future" in movie....close enough).
January 11, 2018 12:14 a.m.
Remember lisa frank school supplies? I was six in 94 and all the cool kids had EVERYTHING in lisa frank rainbows.
January 11, 2018 6:26 a.m.
guessling you must be an language arts teacher or something
January 11, 2018 9:41 a.m.
@shadow63 Mostly I am a math teacher and I am teaching science currently.
But I also have occasional fits of personal poetry that they have failed to logic out of me.
It comes out when I have strong feelings about things (but isn't formally refined or trained enough to be a thing).
January 11, 2018 1:03 p.m.
Game_of_Cones says... #9
I'll take another Godzilla movie anytime - still dying to see the latest Japanese one from a year or 2 ago!
January 11, 2018 9:03 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
shadow63, thank you; I am glad that you also appreciate such music.
HorseFist, are you referring to Shin Godzilla? I saw that movie, and it was quite good; the 2014 film did not properly convey a sense of dread and panic that would logically be felt after a natural disaster or military battle, and it has been one of the few films since the original 1954 film to portray Godzilla as a destructive force of nature, rather than being a campy monster battle movie. Another nice element of the film was, without spoiling too much of the plot, it featured body horror, likely courtesy of Hideaki Anno being the director.
January 14, 2018 9:05 p.m.
Game_of_Cones says... #11
Yes, Shin Godzilla ("Godzilla Resurgent") is the film I need to see. After reading your review I'm even more determined to find it ASAP!! Fell in love w the Big Guy when I was a kid, and I got a birthday (45th) coming in a couple weeks, so there's an opportunity to treat myself I guess....
January 15, 2018 10:37 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #12
As long as I am discussing Godzilla, I feel that the 1998 film is not nearly as terrible as some diehard fans of the franchise proclaim it to be; it certainly is no masterpiece, but it was fairly dark and serious, while the majority of the films that preceded it had been campy and corny. I believe that history will be kind to it, as it has now been two decades since it was released.
January 15, 2018 9:09 p.m.
Talking about Godzilla makes me want to play the old video game. That turns 11 this year. Let's just hope that we won't have to celebrate Godzilla 2000s anniversary
January 15, 2018 9:44 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #14
shadow63, to which Godzilla game are you referring?
January 17, 2018 6:31 p.m.
I got my games mixed up. I meant to say 14 years in reference to Godzilla save the earth
shadow63 says... #2
Good choice in music
January 10, 2018 9:33 p.m.