"Timeline twins" · 14.11.08
Noted blogger Jason Kottke wrote earlier today about a phenomenon that he calls “timeline twins”. The basic idea is that, as we grow older, music we listened to or movies we watched when we were younger “feel” more recent than those that were the equivalent age back then. When we compare our childhood favourites to the oldies from that time, we do recognize our favourites as being older, but they still feel more “current” than those older works.
To clarify, here are a couple of Kottke’s examples:
Listening to Michael Jackson’s Thriller today is equivalent to listening to Elvis Presley’s first album (1956) at the time of Thriller‘s release in 1982….
Watching Star Wars today is like watching It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) in 1977.
Applying the method to horse racing, watching a YouTube video of Affirmed winning the Triple Crown in 1978 is equivalent to watching newsreel footage of 1948 Triple Crown champion Citation that same year (2008-1978=30yrs, 1978-1948=30yrs).
Go back 35 years: today, watching Secretariat and Riva Ridge turn the 1973 Marlboro Cup into the match race it was originally supposed to be is equivalent to watching film footage that same year from the Seabiscuit / War Admiral match race (1938).
Finally, going from today back to the 1964 Kentucky Derby spans the same period — 44 years — as going from that year back to the Kenilworth Park Gold Cup.
Feeling old yet?
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