Having apple pie at the Singaporean Dôme in Dubai, and a bout of nostalgia hits. I’m a kid of the 90′s (hardly remember anything from the 70′s, and the 80′s I prefer not to), and the apple pie (my Proustian Madeleine moment) reminds me that 20 years ago Clinton was getting elected, bringing a promise of (well, what was it exactly? Whatever the first baby boomer prez was going to signify), Eastern Europe was opening up and the Cold War was beginning to fade from memory, the new American century was about to begin and the American way of life (wasn’t the Washington Consensus another word for this) was the Only Way Ahead, time-tested and success-confirmed, grunge was breathing new life into music, Hollywood blockbusters were just so cool. Life was simple and clear and all of us were going to ride into a predictable future of progress, prosperity, entertainment and bland happiness.
20 years on and how things have changed. I haven’t watched a ‘Hollywood blockbuster’ in I don’t know how long, I have no idea what music is popular anymore (I stopped following bands around the time that Korn and Marilyn Manson dissipated), this is the 4th year I haven’t been back in the US, and there isn’t much of an American century worth bragging about anymore.
Maybe I should read (and watch again) Primary Colors.
