People obsessed with the future often remind us that we can tell our kids “I lived in a world where…”. For my parents, they can say they lived in a world where segregation still existed and cable didn’t.
There are plenty of things I can say to my kids. I lived in a world where September 11th was just another date on the calendar. Where you had to dial-up to get Internet. On the movie side of things, where “E.T.” was the highest-grossing movie of all time (not adjusting for inflation). Where Arnold Schwarzenegger was just a Terminator and a Kindergarten Cop. Where the Oscars weren’t held on a Sunday.
But one that I think they won’t be able to believe, unfortunately, is that I lived in a world where you could go to a movie and not be bothered by commercials before the trailers.
I remember this world vividly. It ended on November 15, 2002, when they showed ads for an EZ-Bake oven that made chocolate bugs before “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.” It stunned the audience. Little did we know, this would become a mainstay of trips to the movie theater. And it would only get worse.
Marshall and the Movies 
I lived in a world where DVD’s weren’t even heard of until I was 10. We had VHS and those old, failed LaserDisks. Also, portable CD players. Who owns those things anymore? Wait, we all do; it’s called an iPod. 😛
I forgot about living in a world where VHS was the dominant medium. I like these, I think I’ll do more of them some day when I’m struggling for factoids.