Quick Thought ... on Nostalgia, Memory and Media.

Sometimes my memory works in mysterious ways. These days I often stumble upon things and feel a certain warm feeling of nostalgia coming up. Often these things are connected to (perceived) fond childhood memories. Often they are connected to moments that appear to be part of the past, but I can't immediately sort out just how old these moments are. I just read Mortiz' post on Sockenblog. He recently rediscovered a clip from the movie Mulan. He still had that movie on tape. Yeah, on VHS.

That is a method to determine just how old a memory is, in what part and phase of my life I first discovered this band/song/book/poem/film - I sort them by two categories: storage device and the way I had to wait to get hold of the next release/episode/rerun. If I can remember first discovering it via computer - let alone the infamous web 2.0 - it's probably not that old. And as much as I love my recent discoveries, recent favorites and the new technology - somehow having to wait 'til next Saturday to see another episode, to tape it on VHS or to waittto buy the new CD without ever hearing a single track of the record before or to wait to have a reason to go out and celebrate and have a beer with friends - somehow that forced process made those moments even more precious, the memory of them even more nostalgic. The input more important.

Maybe the longing for slower, more concious moments is the reason for these nostalgic moments.