[optimus_prime]

its 2007

exactly 20 years ago it was 1987.

in 1987, I was in the 5th grade. I would listen to my music on 60 or 90 minute cassette tapes, sometimes if i wanted a song and didnt have the cash, i would try to record it when the radio station played it. usually, the radio station would sometimes be assholes, and would take forever to play a song that i called into the station to request over 2 hours ago. so, i would be in a different room than where my stereo was at, already preloaded with the blank cassette tape, ready for me to hit record once i heard the song play....trouble was,..once i heard the first few notes of any given song..it was a mad dash for me to rush to the cassette player and hit record so i wouldnt miss too much of the song.

if i was lucky..i would get a decent recording,.without any background noises,.or my parents shouting at me in the background of "Bon Jovi's-Livin on a Prayer"

now, its easy..get an MP3 player, create an account with music download service.and youll get the same song..in crystal clear digital stereo..and you wont have to worry about your cassette player trying to eat your tape up anymore...and you can store hundreds upon hundreds of songs...never having to worry about the quality of the song deteriorating..as with vinyl, magnetic cellophane, etc..as mp3 format is virtually flawless.

..and mp3 players free up sooo much room in your home, as you dont have to store cds, cassettes, 8-tracks, LPs, etc anymore...(did I say,.cough...8-tracks??)

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in 1987..the Nintendo NES was the big gun of video games. It had only been out two years, and had taken kids and parents alike by storm. Super Mario, Zelda, Metroid..all great games...only problem is..sometimes they wouldnt always play perfectly..and required you to either take the cartridge out and blow inside of it 17 times. if it got filthy inside,.sometimes a damp q-tip would suffice for cleaning. other times you had to intermittenly switch the power button,.on and off,.and on..and off,.and on..and off..very vigorously and rapidly..creating a fast flickering between a snowy screen and a bright orange screen.

Now in 2007,..video games systems operating relatively flawlessly in comparison to their 1987 counterparts. as long as you keep the gaming discs scratch free..youre good to go. ..and by the way..the games have became much more defined in graphic detail and gameplay depth...but you didnt need me to tell you that. You can also play movies via DVD disc, upload photos, and play CDs on some systems...who would have imagined this in 1987?

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In 1987 you had telephones..for the most part, the majority of us had just basic landline phones,.and they belonged to our parents. we were strictly forbidden to make long distance calls,..ever..because the prices per minute were astronomical. if we were lucky..our parents got us a "teenager line",.so when our school sweethearts called, and we chatted for hours on end..our parents didnt get upset at us tying up the phone line.

If we were home..an answering machine recorded messages onto a cassette tape,.that we would play back..the tape could be reused over and over. we never knew who was calling,.because caller id didnt exist back then.

now in 2007, almost everyone has a cell phone..more and more people are dropping landlines,.as cell phones can do pretty much anything a landline phone can do and more.

most major carriers include a robust assortment of features with their plans: caller id, call waiting, voicemail, web browser, text messaging,..phones can even take pictures, record video, and even stream video..all this fits inside your front shirt pocket...amazing!

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In 1987, few people had computers. no where near the percentage of todays ownership. laptops werent even thought of.

most schools had desktop computers..the power of them was more than likely far less than the computing power of even a pentium one. i dont remember exactly..but i do recall a lot of schools carrying apple computers. there wasnt "windows" anything..everything was ms-dos based. computer games existed,.but were on par with about the same as being no more than 8-bit graphics. even though. technically, the internet did exist,.no average grade school had it...no average person had it. i do recall the commodore 64 having a modem..but for the life of me..i couldnt tell you what it was used for.

today in 2007..computers are absolutely astonishing. the computing prowess that we each possess in our homes today, would have cost a fortune in 1987..assuming if the technology was available then (which it wasnt..not even government computers had it). i dont have to tell anyone what computers are capable of...or even as technology constantly advances,.what they may soon be capable of,..when it comes down to computers,..the sky is truly the limit.

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in 1987, most people either owned a 35mm camera, a polaroid instamatic camera,.or a pricier camera, such as a minolta or canon.

if you had the latter two,.you were luckier

the polaroid was the only real way to see if your pic turned out looking good,.without having to wait until you actually got the pic developed. this proved resourceful for those taking vacations, etc. however, polaroid film was more expensive than its 35mm rival.

but with the 35mm film..you hoped that every pic you took came out ok...there was no way to ensure that your sweet aunt beatrice didnt get red-eye when you took her pic. you had to wait, until you went to the photolab..and by the way.."1 hour photo processing"..was something relatively new in 1987,..and cost more for that option...than waiting about 2 days for your pics to be sent away to a lab for development.

today..its so simple...with digital cameras. with their increasingly higher megapixel capacity, red-eye reduction, auto-focus, auto-zoom, anti-polarization, etc...youre ensured perfect pics everytime. ..and if you didnt like the pic..just delete it, and take another one...piece of cake.

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in 1987 movies were popular as they are now,.but the means to access films and watch them were somewhat limited.

this was the golden age of video rental stores. it seemed like there was a video rental store on every corner block in 1987.

blockbuster was just breaking new ground, and nintendo had a class action suit against them trying to prevent the rental of video games, claiming they ruined their chances of selling games

but back to movies...there was no such thing as dvds...VHS reigned king..Beta was on the way out,.and some people owned super-huge "dvds",..called laser discs.

now in 2007...

video rental stores have pretty much dwindled away...VHS is a thing of the past, and DVD is the standard,.with current competition from Blu-ray and HD-DVD fighting tooth and nail to become the successor of the DVD. Most consumers are thoroughly confused by the commercial commotion..and are reluctant to shell out big bucks for one or the other,.only to find out, the machine they invested in, is the one that will be phased out.

lets not forget about online movie rental services. Netflix and Blockbuster both allow you to watch movies at your home, without ever having to leave your home..they are sent right to you.

sometimes, you can even watch movies for free, such sites as tubezoom.com allow free movie viewing.
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newspapers, magazines, and other related publications still exist,..but are losing subscriber support as many flock to read stories online..it saves them money,..and they dont have to worry about the paper clutter anymore.