One of my friends celebrated her birthday this weekend at a pub that's known for its 90s dance parties. I'm convinced that that is the secret to the ideal after-work Friday: good friends, good food, cheap beer, and Britney circa 1998. Our group was the biggest on the dance floor and everyone, guys and girls alike, had a great time. No one judges you for dancing like an idiot to Vanilla Ice when everyone else is doing the same thing.
I bring this up not just to brag that I performed the puppet dance from NSync's "Bye, Bye, Bye" video on the dance floor (it was epic, by the way), but to talk about nostalgia and how we get attached to familiar things - places, movies, songs - from our childhood.
Most 90s pop might not be groundbreaking, nor does it have very well thought out lyrics, but my friends and I grew up with this stuff and watched all the videos on TRL after school.
Nostalgia also applies to books. I see so many great middle-grade recommendations on the blogosphere, but mostly they just make me want to revisit the stories I read as a kid: The Phantom Tollbooth, anything by Roald Dahl, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, A Wrinkle in Time, Julie of the Wolves, Charlotte's Web, Bridge to Terabithia, the original Nancy Drew hardcovers.
So it's really a treat to see some of these classics come back to life. Here's one that I was obsessed with: The Adventures of Tin-Tin and Snowy, by Belgian artist Hergé. I used to watch it religiously when it was a show on Nickelodeon.
Apparently it's coming to the big screen this December, courtesy of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson:
What books are you nostalgic for? If you've re-read them recently, what do you think of them now?
Aaand, just for fun, here's a sample of the music I heard on 90s night for those of you who remember it as fondly as I do. Enjoy!
23 comments:
Oh, but I remember Firdays like you described! Lots of fun! Classics I read and re-read? Can't remember how many times I've read "Gone with the Wind" (hey, I'm a Southern gal!) or Michener's "The Covenant" - lived in Africa for three years - and oh so many more. EVen though I know where the book is going, it's still the joy of getting there.
What an awesome pub!! How fun. I love jamming out to those old '90s tunes from my teenager days!
I still re-read my favorite MG novels. The Anne of Green Gables series, Little House series, anything by Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, Katherine Paterson, Sharon Creech... There are so many! I appreciate them more now than when I was kid because I understand so much more now. To kids, MG novels are fun and they can relate to the events. But there is so much more going on in those novels, which makes them enjoyable for adults to read, too.
I would go to a pub that had 90s dance parities EVERY DAY if there was one by me!
And I know not a ton of time has passed for me to feel all that nostalgic--and I know they're not MG--but seeing The Hunger Games trailer today has made me SO nostalgic for that series! I'm definitely going to reread over the holidays :)
Your friend's birthday party sounds like so much fun! I recently reread Madeline L'Engles series and I enjoyed just as much as I did when I was growing up.
You had me at Ninja!
I didn't read the Adventures of Tintin, but The Mouse and the Motorcycle was a favorite.
I'm nostalgic over everything. My sentimental streak is just a little too wide. lol The birthday party sounds amazing!!
I would have liked to have seen your fun.
Pippi Longstocking. I can't get enough of that quirky girl.
I love Roald!
But I have to admit that the music makes me feel OLD!!
Shelley
(Maybe that is because I AM old....)
OMG, I remember 98% of that playlist and I want to go to that pub. Like yesterday!!
I love Nostalgia in music.
A great song comes on after so long and you wonder "why did I ever stop listening to it?"
Some of those songs brought back great memories (and others not so great), but my dance music mix is a few years before those. Think Salt n Pepa, Black Box, C&C Music Factory. Too bad it's morphed from being dance music to being exercise music. LOL
A wonderful post, memories recalled by the songs. Thanks.
Yvonne.
Kittie: I LOVE Gone With the Wind, in both book and movie form. Scarlett's one of the best characters I've ever read.
Laura: So true! I'll never get tired of reading MG books. I also loved the Laura Ingalls series. My third grade teacher actually got me hooked on them when she got all of us books for Christmas and mine was "The Long Winter." Talking about the series makes me want to read it again!
Sara: Haha... me too! I think it's only a few times a month - maybe once a week? - but I'd totally go more often if they had one every night. And YES, the Hunger Games trailer gave me mad chills. I cannot wait to see that movie!
Jennie: I used to love Madeleine L'Engle! It's been too long since I've read her books.
Alex: Haha yes, you're the ninja captain after all! The Mouse and the Motorcycle was so great - I'll have to see if my local library has a copy.
Jessica: Same! I'm nostalgic for everything. I think it basically means I just want to be a kid again :P
Journaling Woman: I never read any Pippi, but I know she's a spunky redhead like my favorite redheaded character Anne of Green Gables!
Shelley: Hhahha! STOP, you're not old!
NiaRaie: I know, I wish this stuff played on the radio more often nowadays!
Naina: Agreed! I love when that happens!
B.E.: Aha, Salt n Pepa! I think that is the fate of all dance music/music with a good beat - it is introduced to spinning class. LOL
Yvonne: Thank YOU for reading!
I would pay money to see you do that NSNYNC dance! LOL. Thanks for the trip down memory lane with the songlist.
Nostalgia can be a powerful thing. I recently started rewatching the kid's show Reboot.
As for books it will be The Hobbit.
And thanks for the comment on my story and my writing. It's a standalone flash, but do you think there's enough for a novel there?
The Encyclopedia Brown series of books, even before the Hardy Boys, turned me on to mysteries! *sigh*
Lydia: You don't have to pay money, you just gave me an Amazon gift card! I'll do the dance for FREE :D
Craig: I've never seen that show! I love The Hobbit as well, but actually didn't read it til I was older. No problem, I really enjoyed that piece and definitely think it could be expanded!
Don: I've never read those, but I did give the Hardy Boys series a whirl and didn't like it as much as Nancy Drew. I'm still sold on her blue Mustang convertible that she zipped around town in :D
Oh goodness woman, that is like my entire CD collection. Haha. For the record, I was a Backstreet Boys fangirl, and it never ceases to amaze me how easily I can bust out lyrics for any of their songs. Karaoke sessions are now never complete unless we sing a Britney circa 90s song.
Also, why are there no videos of this epic NSYNC dance? :)
I don't reread too many books, but just thinking about them gives me the warm fuzzies. 90s pop songs though... my sister and I have music video watching marathons sometimes on youtube.
I remember when all MTV did was play music videos. At the top of each hour, they'd show a blip of three videos coming up that hour. My friend and I used to sit glued to the tv, waiting to see if they'd be playing Duran Duran. Fun memories!
No Diggity! I loved that song. :)
Hmm, I was a big fan of LM Montgomery. I'd love to revisit some of her novels now.
Krispy: HAHA! No way, the dance is something that needs to be witnessed in person. I was also a HUGE Backstreet Boys fangirl - NSync just doesn't compare. Have you gone to any of BSB's concerts since they came back? (in conjunction w/ NKOTB, which is interesting)
Susan: I know! I miss MTV. I haven't had cable TV for a couple of years, so I don't know what it's like now, but it used to be awesome.
Talli: Oh I love LM Montgomery. I've read some of her other books too and they're just as lovely, though not as great as the Anne series of course :)
OMG, KTBSPA!!! Ahem, the BSB fangirl lives. LOL. Okay, so I was actually kind of psyched that they became NKOTBSB. My friends and I almost went when they were in town, but by the time we looked at tickets, there were (SURPRISE) only nosebleed seats left! Also, I wasn't sure if I liked NKOTB enough to pay the ticket price to see both of them, you know? So no, I haven't been to a BSB show since their heyday, but I still love them! Have you?
Not recently, no! The last time I saw them in concert was in 1995, so a looooong time ago :) Maybe someday we'll both get to attend an NKOTBSB concert!
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