Reihan: '00s Nostalgia

As 2007 draws to a close, it's time to steel ourselves for the '00s retrospectives. Remember Ellen Feiss?

Possibly the greatest advertisement ever made, much better than the unreleased Ellen Feiss Powerbook video. But yeah, she still seems pretty stoned.

What a totally strange decade. The world was collapsing, yet the culture was vibrant and vital. In the near future, The American Scene will have a mini-symposium on the '00s: what were the unique and likely to last cultural phenomena? The return of Weltanschauung politics, Web 2.0 and the democratization of culture, the death or transcendence of hip-hop, etc. ...

Comments

Um, when will Ross be back?

Posted by Alan Vanneman | October 2, 2007 11:53 AM

I watch less TV than Alan, so thanks for this.

Posted by Cap'n Rufus | October 2, 2007 12:01 PM

Dear Alan:

Not for a while -- he'll be on his honeymoon until the middle of next month. And I think you'll agree with me that his break is richly deserved. He's a hard-working guy, and wedding planning is (as you probably know) pretty stressful.

But check out the rest of the blogosphere! It is a fascinating, diverse place and I'm sure you'll find plenty that will line up with your tastes. And I understand that my guest-blogging isn't to everyone's, or perhaps even anyone's, taste.

Also, click through Ross's links -- for the most part, these are blogs he enjoys and endorses.

Posted by Reihan | October 2, 2007 12:06 PM

He's a hard-working guy

I'm sure he is, in general, but it's hard to tell from his blog. Your productivity simply dwarfs his, as does almost any daily blog.

Posted by Freddie | October 2, 2007 12:20 PM

Ross has been working for The Atlantic since 2002, and his responsibilities extend far beyond the blog -- he's an editor and writer who occasionally blogs, not a blogger who talks long walks through the afternoon!

And as for me, I'm hoping content will make up for lack of quality. You can see that this hasn't worked out thus far -- ask Alan!

Posted by Reihan | October 2, 2007 12:33 PM

The world was collapsing . . . .

What are you talking about? Collapsing? How did I miss this?

Posted by JWR | October 2, 2007 12:47 PM

he's an editor and writer who occasionally blogs, not a blogger who talks long walks through the afternoon!

Sure. But he's producing a blog, and I get to critique that blog with the same criteria I would critique any other. I don't say of a novelist "well, he's also a magazine editor and Garfield-clock maker, so he's off the hook." If he's going to be out there doing this thing, I'll critique him like any other blogger.

Posted by Freddie | October 2, 2007 1:38 PM

"The world was collapsing, yet the culture was vibrant and vital"

Vital? Any more so than any other decade ever?

Posted by mad6798j | October 2, 2007 2:00 PM

Hyperbole: it's been with us for since the days of the cavemen.

"That mammoth was the biggest mammoth ever!"

Posted by Reihan | October 2, 2007 2:07 PM

I'm hoping content will make up for lack of quality.

Speaking of which, Reihan, does Ross have some kind of special productivity bunker he's letting you use? This looks like way more than we usually get out of you.

Posted by Trevor | October 2, 2007 6:54 PM

I don't think the current culture is vibrant or vital at all. I don't subscribe to HBO, so I can't speak to whether The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire, etc. really are as wonderful as so many people claim, but even if I spot you that one and admit that television reached an artistic peak, on the whole this may well be the worst decade, culturally speaking, since the tenth century. (And I consider myself a relative moderate on these issues - I've gotten into energetic Internet arguments with people who believe it's un-Christian to own a television or listen to rock and roll; I don't want you to think I am a hermit.)

Posted by James Kabala | October 2, 2007 9:01 PM