an interesting thing about 2004 was that both Mean Girls and The Incredibles had scenes where white women were frustrated/embarrassed/ashamed about having like, the slightest semblance of ass. I think about this maybe a bit too much lol but it’s fascinating to me re: culture. Pixar mom ass tweet, does this make my butt look big, hilary duff and natasha bedingfield, PAWGs

2006

I was going through some of my old tweets, as one does, and I noticed that I have quite a few tweets that mention “2006”. I’ve been meaning to write about past decades – my imagination taunts me with these sprawling hypothetical masterpieces about the ‘90s, ‘00s and 2010s, but then I get overwhelmed by them and I end up sketching a few notes and then I abandon the drafts. So… what if we just picked one year and wrote about that? We’re doing it. Let’s go back to 2006.

I turned 16 in 2006. One of the first few emails in my Gmail inbox is a signup confirmation for MySpace, July 7 2006. I would continue using MySpace for quite some time even after I signed up for Facebook. Before MySpace I used to use Friendster, and I still remember the direct compliment I got from a girl who called me hot.

In 2006, I used to wait for my girlfriend after school at the aquarium at Wisma Atria. I’d be listening to Radiohead, on my Sony Discman, watching the fishes swim in circles in time to Let Down. It was a very strong mood… could do a SG short film set entirely to OK Computer

My friends and I used to watch Prison Break every week around 2005/2006. It was an interesting time. There wasn’t much good local tv, so like all my friends were really excited about this show. torrenting itself was relatively new and exciting. an interesting thing that’s slightly annoying in today’s context is that every episode ends on a super dramatic cliffhanger. It seems unnecessary now but it’s easy to forget there was no streaming in 2005!! they had to get people excited enough to set aside time each week

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In 2006, Elon Musk published his “Secret Master Plan” for Tesla. Say what you will about his management of Twitter in 2022, but it does

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Satoshi Kon’s Paprika was released in 2006. It’s such a trippy film. pretty clearly a direct influence on Inception (2010), which I would say came to define the 2010s. Pacing felt a bit sluggish for my taste but I think it’s one that probably gets better with rewatch. Foreboding and haunting and clever.

The #metoo movement reached its peak in 2017, but it was started in 2006 by Tarana Burke. “adult swim → eric andre show → hannibal buress gains prominence → 2014 joke about cosby → old allegations resurface → more women come forward → Cosby goes to trial in 2017 → alyssa milano MeToo tweet (movement started by Tarana Burke in 2006)”

Giant Enemy Crab

Jesus vs Hitler (link)

Paul Graham wrote How To Do What You Love in 2006, which contains a section on prestige when I’ve found really important

The Prestige was a movie in 2006. Are you watching closely? Pirates of the Carribean. Rush Hour 3, which has some transphobic jokes

This was the dawn of “social networking sites”, it would be a while longer before we call it “social media”

In 2006, some people would just stop using the internet for a few days around Christmas time. (back then you had to “Go Online”. Today you’re always online, and you have to “Unplug”) (link)

In 2006 people thought $1B was too much to value Facebook

Yunus/Grameen wins Nobel Peace

Saddam is executed

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion came out, I didn’t play it till 2007, repeated a year in JC “because” of it. Around this time I was still playing a lot of GTA Vice City

Movies: 300, Da Vinci Code, Pursuit of Happyness,

“2011 was a different world” thread – for 2010s

2011

slutwalk is the main thing i think about