Do you miss the 90s?

A little pop culture time capsule

👋 Hello, dear creative. How are you doing today?

A Spirit of the 90’s….

In the 90s, I was just a baby, and many of the singers and bands I enjoyed were too young for me to grasp the lyrics. However, as I grew older, their music began to uplift my spirit. In fact, I enjoy various genres and time periods, such as the 80s, featuring artists like Morrissey, The Smiths, Joy Division, Rod Stewart, Simply Red, Tears For Fears, and many more. For me, those were the glory years of music, and they extended into the soft rock of the 90s, which I grew up with. While studying graphic design, I even had a project to design a book on the history of rock. It was an advanced prototype, but unfortunately, it never materialized into a published book. I hope one day I can revisit that project file.

So what is it about the 90s and its sense of freedom and daringness to live?
I recall watching my close ones listen to those 90s icons in RNB and Soul, noticing that vibe that makes a whole generation enjoy life. Personally, I encountered 90s rock music when I moved to Europe. Before that, I was immersed in valuable and timeless African sounds, including RNB, soul, and even country music. But I remember the feelings the people around me expressed in those days: my family, pop culture and beyond. Those days had flair! I was born in the late 80s and while I can't personally recall the events of the era, I have observed the impact of a generation that many still nostalgically refer to as "the good old days."

Each decade has its share of both dark and bright days, marked by dire events and enlightening human breakthroughs. Music, art, cinema, technology, television, fashion and more fields launched products, trends and innovations that made the 90s memorable. This is true for each decade and era as well, but what was the secret recipe of those decades that made us so nostalgic? I guess I have more questions than answers, and most importantly, it’s cyclical; nothing is original.

What is your favourite 90’s childhood memory?

Sending ‘‘New Radicals’’ vibes 🌞

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📺 A list of cool movies & TV shows from the 90s

I grew up with manga, anime, and TV shows. Even today, I cherish those memories and occasional nostalgia. Place me in front of Nicky Larson or Cat's Eye, and I will happily sing along the tunes. Many of these shows featured captivating storytelling, making it difficult not to be hooked by the visual scenes. Mangas served as one of my initial drawing schools, I used to research characters in my journals and seize those lines and shadows. It's heartwarming to revisit those original sketches from those days. I may belong to a generation of adults who avidly collected posters, cards, DVDs (yes, I remember what a DVD is), magazines, and more. Those were my early collector's years.

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💎 My Top from the 90s → Mars Attacks • Sliders • Babylone 5 • Cats Eyes • City Hunter • Nicky Larson • Brandy and Monica • MTV Unplugged • Dawson • Buffy and the vampires • A 90s fashion • Friends • Leon • Pulp Fiction • Forest Gump • Matrix • and so much more…

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📹 90’s sci-fi collaboration

I asked

Andrew Smith

for 3 top sci-fi movies and he kindly shared this list. Some are treasures, like the Fifth Element, that I recently rewatched!

When Keva reached out to ask about 90s sci-fi, a lot of emotions ran through me quickly. First, the 90s were a time of rapid change for me. I began as a 14-year-old in high school in South Carolina and finished as a 24-year-old entrepreneur and restaurant worker living in Richmond, Virginia. Second, sci-fi movies during the 90s were creative and clever but also victims of awful effects (as compared to today, to be sure). With those caveats out of the way, here are some hidden gems from this decade that I thoroughly enjoyed and can go back and rewatch today. 

1. Contact → This Carl Sagan adventure positively blew my mind when I first saw it in theatres, and it does hold up to a degree today. 

Contact gives us something very Sagan-esque: a look at the universe through a scientific lens, but never without a sense of wonder. This is no clichéd alien invasion film. You're looking for Independence Day if you want that.  If you want a cerebral journey that leans heavily on physics (in spite of plenty of speculative stuff), you want Contact.

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2. The Fifth Element → Luc Besson likes to focus on the visually stunning, and The Fifth Element does not disappoint in this regard. While Contact gives us a lot of physics to think about, The Fifth Element is a nonstop wild ride from sequence to sequence, rarely allowing the viewer to catch a breath. In 1914, aliens visited an ancient Egyptian temple, meeting with their secret human contact. They leave with the only weapon able to combat an impending evil that threatens the universe: four elemental stones and a sarcophagus containing a mysterious Fifth Element in human form. 

Fast-forward to the colorful and chaotic world of the 23rd century, and we meet Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a down-on-his-luck cab driver who unexpectedly becomes the universe's last hope. What sets The Fifth Element apart is its ability to seamlessly combine so many genres. It's a sci-fi epic, a love story, a comedy, and an action-packed adventure all rolled into one. 

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3. Stargate → Here's another film that, like The Fifth Element, combines the ancient world with the futuristic (or alien) world. James Spader is an Egyptologist, and Kurt Russell is the leader of an elite military team. The two team up to journey through a portal that connects Earth with a distant planet ruled by the godlike being, Ra. 

On the negative side, this movie probably spawned thousands of conspiracy theorists ("aliens, dude!") who believe that ancient human civilizations actually had technology more advanced than we have today. On the positive side, the narrative is compelling, the visuals are stunning (for the time, mind you), and the cast is top-notch. 

Thanks Andrew for this list!
A few months ago, I rewatched The Fifth Element and was reminded of the visual innovation of that movie. It was a tour de force in those days.

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🐎 Opportunity knocks

In every letter, I share opportunities I stumbled upon. There are so many cool grants, funding, competitions, and more to enter to experience progress. I hope the list of the week will be useful.

• 🎯A call for Changemakers (Artists, student artists and/or cultural workers between the ages of 18-30. Deadline → October 15th).

• 🎙 Micro-Grants for podcasters (20 creators around the globe will receive each a cash grant up to £1000. Deadline → November 13th).

• 🌏 Visions of European youth (do you know a young person aged 13 – 19 and living in Europe? This could be for them. Deadline → October 31st).

• 🗞 Microsoft Start Creator Program (Reach a wider audience of readers).

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🤩 Creative awe

• 🧠 The Five Minute Wisdom Newsletter (Daily wisdom within this enticing structure, made of 4 quotes, 1 insight and 1 question reflect upon. I love the nuggets of wisdom within each section. A brilliant concept!).

• 🎨 Paintings out of toothpaste (Create with what you have. Botodjo reminds us of the limitless capacities we have. A tool is just a tool, not the material).

• 📈 The power of your voice (A political and societal act of positioning by writer Stefane de Freitas. His words accentuate the fracture of language in French society. There is a world not accessible because you don’t speak the language).

• 📙 Marketing Buddy (A new guest dedicated to educating designers on AI's irreversible reality + a good set of book recommendations).

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Creativity is in every little curious experimentation.

I hope you enjoyed the read of the week. If you enjoy this letter → 💖 put a heart on it and feel free to share it with peers, friends and family! It helps more people discover this space.

Until next time, keep creating!
Keva.

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