Michael Jackson's You Are Not Alone.A personal meaning.

1995, I was a 9 year-old kid living my own life. I was far away from the tabloid events at the time. I paid no attention to what was going on in the world at the time. And in my house, Michael Jackson was getting airplay. This week in 1995 was the last week Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" was #1 on the R&B singles chart. I never heard the song until 1996, being as behind as I was at the time. Like I said, I did my own little things. What did I worry?

Being an MJ fan, the last album I was familiar with was "Dangerous". I remember this album because I was living in the Seattle area in 1991, and when this album was played, well, I can't describe it. I already have an entry regarding one of his songs from that album. All I can say is that the world was beginning to change in front of me.

1995 was a time of events and change. In 1995, the Seattle Mariners(my favorite team) would clinch the American League West for the very first time ever. OJ Simpson was being put on trial for murder. Oklahoma City suffered a homegrown terrorist attack. Brian McKnight released the album "I Remember You". South Africa won the Rugby World Cup following the end of apartheid.

"You Are Not Alone", what can I say? It is a great song. But more than that, when I first saw the video, one of the first things I thought about was "I'm in the west coast again". It made me thing of the Pacific Northwest. Another thing that struck me was how time ambiguous it felt. It had scenes from an auditorium, the shore, and some kind of palace. The relatively clear picture in color lets you know it came from the 90s. The only sign that this was from the 90s was Michael's curtained haircut. The video felt more like a timeless montage.

More than that, it was like a bouncing back for Michael Jackson. In 1993, Michael Jackson was accused of child molestation. It was never proven that he actually did anything. However, it put a tarnish on him. It was later found that the child who accused him committed a false accusation to get money out of Michael. It ruined MJ's life. However, making this video might have been a way of saying "I Still Got It", no matter what.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAyKJAtDNCw

Home Alone 2: An allegory for the 1990s transition.

In technicality, the 1990s started on 1/1/1990 at midnight. However, the 90s culture for which it is know has a fuzzy starting day, late 1992/1993. One movie that I feel is an allegory for this transition is Home Alone 2.

Why of all the movies I could pick, Home Alone 2 gets picked? Well, like many things, I was often behind on the times. I saw this film on VHS in 1994. When I did see it, I obviously enjoyed the movie. However, in 1994,  I never gave much thought to the cultural allegory that this film actually had. There is a bit of an 80s feel to it, while at the same time, it was released in November 1992. What makes this seem like an allegory for the 1990s transition?

The Talkboy

In 1992, you could not get this toy. It was used as a prop in the film, where the sneaky Kevin McCallister uses it to record the voices of adults, then uses those recorded voices to get hotel reservations in New York. Kevin even has part of his own voice on there and slows it down. The toy didn't come out until 1993. Tiger Electronics decided to market this as a toy, being as it had ties to the movie that was so popular, and sales took off. I eventually got one of these. I still have it.

You could record your voice, play it regular, fast, or slow. You could play tricks with your voices to make your voice sound really high and squeaky, or make it sound very deep. On the other side of the included tape, there were clips from the Home Alone 2 film.

I remember the Talkboy being advertised on TV. As a child, I thought it was so funny that one could play tricks on other people with it. If memory serves me correct, I saw this commercial on Nickelodeon, the Nickelodeon of the 1990s, the glorious years of Nickelodeon. I never thought of the cultural significance of it, that youth culture made especially for people ages 7-12. The Talkboy, in many ways, served as the bridge to the cultural 1990s, as opposed to the literal 1990s.

So that fuzzy period of late 1992/1993, that could be considered when the 90s as a cultural time actually started. This movie was basically a bridge to the cultural 1990s. The film was of the late 1980s/early 1990s feel. The Talkboy represented something that took the youth culture to a new era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anjyiO754hU

Globe Trekker, 20 years and running.

Who would think that a travel show could last 20 years? Well, I might think so, and I’m glad it has. Globe Trekker started out as Lonely Planet in 1992. Where was I in 1992? Not watching Globe Trekker. I didn’t discovery it until 1999, and it was on The Travel Channel. I instantly liked it. I remember the original Globe Trekkers, Ian Wright and Justine Shapiro. Megan McCormick would come later and then John Atherton, Neil Gibson, Shilpa Mehta, Christina Chang, Estelle Bingham, Lavinia Tan, Zay Harding, Adela Ucar, KT Comer, Sami Sabiti, Holly Morris. I’ve learned to love this show. This show is the essence of what a travel show should be. It should be about traveling, it should be like a documentary. That is what this show should be.

I remember seeing the Central Asia episode in 1999. I don’t know what year it came out (I can’t read Roman numerals after a certain number). However, I remember being in bed seeing it, watching a Kyrgyz woman playing a song, as the men were slaughtering sheep, and then roasting it. Something just made me want to be there. It made me want to travel more.

It bites that this show has not been on The Travel Channel for a long time. Maybe Globe Trekker leaving The Travel Channel could be a microcosm of a much larger change in The Travel Channel itself. The Travel Channel became more about niche markets and less about travel over the years, in my opinion at least. Maybe it was for the best. Perhaps Globe Trekker would like a longer life on a channel like PBS than it would on The Travel Channel.

Seeing such a show like Globe Trekker stand the test of time is a sign of hope.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d0pLO8MFe8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d0pLO8MFe8

The Travel Channel of the 1990s

Before I start, I will make a clarification. I did not really see the Travel Channel until 1999, the tail end of the 1990s, but hey, it is part of the 1990s, so I figured it should be mentioned.

Being the geography nerd that I have always been, my 1990s was spent winning school geography bees. However, I’m not going to talk about that part. I am going to talk about the things that I saw in the Travel Channel. When I first saw the Travel Channel in 1999, for me it was a pick-me-up. I was recovering at home from osteomyelitis. I spent much of the time watching television. The Travel Channel was one of my favorites. I remember such amazing shows from back in 1999, such as Adventure Bound with Alby Mangels, Lonely Planet (now called Globe Trekker), Curiosities Around The World, and other programs.

One thing I remember is that so many of these shows felt relevant. The main idea was about traveling. There was nothing about chasing ghosts. It was about travel. So far, the best I have seen on The Travel Channel thus far is No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, Man vs. Food, and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. The aforementioned shows are good decent shows. However, I feel like they belong on Food Network, Bizarre Foods and Man vs. Food at least.

The Travel Channel has not gone in a direction I want to see. I can put up with some of the vacation shows. However, the shows about ghost hunting and haunting are not things I want to see. There is less emphasis on traveling, and more about having a niche. Lonely Planet has lived another life as Globe Trekker, and I have found it on PBS. However, when Globe Trekker was Lonely Planet on The Travel Channel, it came on basically every day of the week, sometimes Sunday. I even remember it coming on twice in a day. There were other good shows. There were enough decent shows for me to spend a Saturday (or a Sunday) watching The Travel Channel. Now, I don’t even see the point of getting cable. I can go on the internet and find better shows. The Travel Channel I remember from the 1990s was that of substance, of a better quality, something that had so much to do with travel. You didn’t need a niche because traveling was the niche. It took you away to worlds unknown to you. That is the Travel Channel I knew.

I guess I’m just a relic of the 90s, someone who isn’t too open for certain changes. These new shows have found audiences among other people. However, it has not found much of an audience in me. I want to 1990s Travel Channel back. That Travel Channel was more about traveling.