People started talking about the arrival of the year 2000 in, oh. Maybe 1541? Maybe earlier, even.
And when 1999 finally got here, it was all 2000 all the time. In some ways we felt sorry for 1999, getting overshadowed by a year that hadn't even arrived yet. But all those exclamation-point-packed Y2K stories. The best of the century picks. Heck, the best of the millennium picks.
The printing press was up there for us. Electricity comes in very handy, too. You had a best of the millennium list, too, we trust.
Now speed forward a decade, to 2009. The end of 2009. You hardly realized we'd reached the end of another epoch, had you? Same. But Entertainment Weekly is here to tell us, with its best of the decade lists. "At the Movies," likewise, is doing the same. (We agree with you, Michael Phillips, on "Mulholland Drive" deserving a spot).
And now Newser has highlighted New York Magazine's look at those items that kind of got obsolete-ish over the last decade.
So, it is still early December. We have time. You have time. Time to compile our top ten foods (things with fancy foams), our top ten ways to spend time on the internet (poring over animals for adoption, and then emailing everyone we know about potential pets), our top ten emotions (hazy befuddlement mixed with a pleasant ennui).
Or maybe we'll just stick to top ten movies and books and songs. Goodbye, aughts. We ought to have prepared better for your exit, but we're on it.
