[Dues]

Alright, here goes. I don't mean this to come off as sharp as it does, but I have a vicious thing against all things 'retro'. I hate things because they are 'retro'. I just don't see how nostalgia or the passing of time could make a certain object more valuable. Now don't get me wrong: I'm not dissing all things old here, on the contrary, there are lots of old things in my surroundings (tactile and non-tactile), as there are new ones, but I protect myself from loving/liking objects (of culture) BECAUSE they are old. It just doesn't make any sense. They were very new at some point. Like I don't like Hitchcock because his films are in black and white and have that '60 feel to them. I like them because they're greatly directed pictures, and it'd be stupid to diss them because they aren't new. This is why I am fond of updates. Like you can love mixtapes because they have a certain aesthetic quality that you can't find in any other medium, but you can't diss .mp3's along the way. They have that same aesthetic in their own way. And it's very valuable in that own way. Be there to recognize the aesthetic now, is what I think. In short it comes to this: media/objects are there to serve a certain demand (i.e. communication) in life. Or let me rephrase: media are still – surprise surprise – object when they have become subject today, and can't have become the only subject in the ongoing conversation, with a clear emphasis on 'ongoing', (r)evolving. If not, why would we want to speak any longer? New people are born every day, and everything changes, and we speak – in its widest of meanings – only to give answer to our being thrown into this world, to our being here. This will go on and on untill there's no more birth. Naturally, this will never happen. Our being born craves for others or other things, or statements for that matter, being born.

Also, let it be just as clear that I feel the same towards a desire to relish all things new BECAUSE they are new. To me, the world and its objects are all equally valuable; each have their own qualities and it's up to their user to use them for the right purpose, because of how great each one is, and not because they are old or new. For example (yet another one): I love VHS, and I think it's very legitimate to still bring out films on VHS, VHS is great and DVD will never capture its feel. But VHS will never be able to bring what DVD can bring.

I could go on and on about this. It has a lot to do with living your life in the present, loving your past and future in the process. It's like if I could, I would see every new movie (the ones I want to see ofcourse) in the best of presentation options. Why wouldn't you? That for one is nothing new. THX, dolby surround, screens the size of football fields, the works… Those medial specifications can place one in the present, are symptoms of our time now, and the film they present has been given shape by them in that time, and there's no point in denying that time, 'cause in its very own way, it's just deadly wonderful (as were those 'retro' objects when they weren't 'retro' yet, but brand spankin' new and had the power to be just what they were, undone of some fake romantic idea that has grown around them, that has blurred them out; take away the dust). It's like when you look at Jurassic Park now, or Suspiria for that matter, you think the special effects are just very non-realistic, even though you know that when you saw it when it came out you were totally amazed by how realistic those effects were and got caught up in the story being told [EDIT: which to me should be the final product of any conversation].

Suspiria could be a very good example of this. Adequatly updating that film could strip it from its 'haha, look how funny, that blood looks just like ketchup, it's so not realistic, I love it' (to me lame) meaning that retro has put around it. It could bring back its original effect and the desires of the director so much better than the original ever could today, at least if you're not willing to take away the dust.

I suppose by now it's pretty clear I'm passionate about these things… So I'll leave it at this. Thanks for reading if you have.