How To Get It Good.

12/16 2011

You wanna know what’s weird? The fact that we get things in total different ways than we used to. I mean, in the grand scheme of life, I’m a pretty young buck. Not diapers-young. Just deliciously youthful (wink). And even I have seen some insane changes in the channels through which I receive information.

Exhibit A: Movies
I was in Austin at my sister’s apartment and she (poor girl still hasn’t jumped on the Netflix wagon) asked me if I wanted to rent a movie. Yeah. Rent one. From a store. A MOVIE store. I jokingly asked her if those still existed, and she gave me the usual “pishaw” and eye roll. It got me thinking though: for me, movies now mean mail. They arrive in my mailslot in a little red envelope, and that’s just the way it is. I don’t even know where I would go to get a movie in a store, other than the Red Box things at McDonalds. I like the convenience of the mail-movie system, but it does lose some of that nostalgia of aimless aisle roaming to find what you want to rent. I remember being a kid and my mom would take us to the music and movie store when we were running errands. It had a bunch of murals on the walls and felt so delightfully odd and a little scary to me at that age. Mom…what the hell was that place called? It was right on Main St. …

Exhibit B: Music
Now it comes from the air. Oh, amazing Internet. I mean, I love iTunes—I think the iPod is a great invention (wow, that’s some groundbreaking thinking, Erin) and I use mine almost every day. But it’s just so damn different than it used to be. No longer do I take pride in my growing CD collection, which was totally legal, by the way; I even have the accompanying lyric/art books to prove it. Now I just click a little box and I have new music. It’s mind-blowing, really.

And last, Exhibit C: Letters.
I just love getting holiday cards in the mail this time of year. It just feels so special when people use pens these days. So I think I’ll end this blog and acknowledge those of my super cool friends who mailed me cards so far this year. Thank you Erin Two, Leesha, Noodle, and Tam-Tam. You guys are kickin’ it old school.