The 2010's: A Lookback/Retrospective

Pepsi Maxil wrote:In all seriousness, I'm already done with everything and I'm only 20. I'm constantly pining for a period I never experienced and looking for a way out without going to the extreme lengths of killing myself. I fuel my porn addiction so I become trapped in a trance-like state where nothing outside my little bubble matters. This is particularly dangerous when everything in real life starts to mount up and I have to eventually face it. I fear living and I fear dying. I'm really sorry you feel the way you do, Boofer. The belief that my life is being heavily scrutinised by an unseen entity and that if I persist on making the same mistakes I will be punished severely in the afterlife has turned me into a bit of a nervous wreck. The line between what's right and what's wrong has become blurred to me. This forum has helped me through a lot and if it disappeared tomorrow forever I would be absolutely devastated.  

Cliché alert, but you have time to pull things around. I'll be 43 next month, so it's a little too late for me to reinvent myself. You don't want to drift through life and find yourself waking up in 20 years wondering where the hell your life has gone.

You have wanking, I have substances. I spent most of the previous decade stoned enough to make life more interesting, but too stoned to do anything. Last year I only had two months or so where I vaped. However, I struggled to motivate myself before I became a heavy cannabis user, and whether I do or not seems to have little effect on my productivity.

I've really only given up due to financial constraints. I'm never happier than when I'm stoned; watching the waves crash onto the beach, or when listening to bird song as the little buggers patter about on sun-soaked branches. It's as if the distractions of the world seem to dissipate and my thoughts become less intrusive.

As a humanist I can only relate to the fear I had of 'God' as a child. The very notion that an omnipotent entity was somehow judging me disturbed me to the point that I ended up rejecting my family's faith (Catholicism) and began reading lots of scientific-based books from the school and local library. These feelings were crystallised after a trip to the natural history museum. I think I was 12 when I first told my mother I no longer believed. She was deeply hurt by it, but I couldn't live a lie any longer.

I disabused myself of any notion of the supernatural very early in my life. I did go through a phase of quite aggressive anti-theism, but backed off when I realised I was hurting many people I loved who had quite benign beliefs. That said, yours do seem a little more malignant and reminiscent of the shit that was flung at me at school and by various men in frocks - like the theological equivalent of ceiling cat, but without the funny shit.

I'm round Boofer's age, and I do know some of what he's saying. I'm not quite as nihilistic, since I do still get a lot of enjoyment out of my hobbies at least, and I've never been a substance guy (unless you count caffeine) but I totally get the disinterest in being part of the modern world and the sense that my life could have been very different if just a few things had gone in a different way.
As for religion, that's just never been an aspect of my life. The only time I even recall my parents mentioning it was my mum giving me an illustrated book of Bible stories at one point when I was a kid. I seem to recall reading and finding them a bit far-fetched.
As for the idea of being "judged"... pfft. If, in the very unlikely event there is a God, all I can say is he's got some serious fucking explaining to do if I ever meet him.

2010's

On a Personal Level
I won't bore with details but the decade started fucking awful, picked up and got good around the mid-way point before coming crashing down and leaving me in living hell awfulness again.

Entertainment Level
TV-wise, Doctor Who started promising enough with a far more Doctorish Doctor before declining in quality I finally gave up on it altogether before the end of the decade. TV's series I watched during this period were: Walking Dead, Ash Vs Evil Dead, Stat Trek Continues, The Orville, Black Mirror.

Filmwise, Films I watched and enjoyed were Accident Man, Upgrade, Dredd, The Maze Runner series.

Fictionwise I got back into 2000ad in a fevered manner since 2015 having spent close on 24 years away from the comic, so not much to catch up on there!

Political Level  
Started off the decade as an anarchist, completely politically disengaged from the system, I didn't vote in the 2010 election because it was a waste of time, three identical blokes with identical policies and the only distinguishing thing about them being the colour on their ties.

Once UKIP started getting mass media attention, it changed me into being a voter(something I hadn't done for decades). I was alarmed at the free pass the media seemed to be giving a fascist who appeared to blame all structural problems upon immigration and used migrants as a scapegoat. Because this was a "populist" opinion, none of the major parties seem to want to counteract it for fear of losing Murdoch's approval apart from The Green Party, so I voted for them in the 2015 election as a protest against the mainstream media hype of UKIP.    

I quickly switched over from Green to Labour after the election of Corbyn as leader because after almost 4 decades, here was someone I could actually identify with as being "proper" Labour again, in the tradition of Attlee or Wilson.

Then things started to go from bad to worse, Leave won the EU Referendum(which wouldn't have been such a worry with a Labour Govt), the Blairites and Media kept trying to get rid of Corbyn by consistently undermining & lying about him, our Government seemed to be turning more and more into a full-on fascist party in order to neutralise the UKIP threat. It wasn't this which was so scary but the fact our media was cheerleading these developments every step of the way.

The only respite being the General Election of 2017 where Corbyn took the Tories majority away despite what everyone predicted and the Blairites never being off his back for 5 seconds and the delight of seeing Laura Kuenssberg's jaw hit the floor when the exit poll came in. It really was one in the eye for Murdoch and a delight to behold on that level. Unfortunately, it was only to be a briefly held victory and cherished moment before outright disaster struck at the end of the decade.

All in all, a pretty shit decade which briefly perks up around the middle to come cascading down again the end.

Just occurred to me that I hadn’t posted here, and thought that I had. I’ll run down the decade in a manner similar to Rob’s. Although I’ve only recently become politically active as a result of my age, and I’ve detailed my thoughts on the current state of British politics elsewhere. I can’t say we benefited from the Tories winning every single general election this decade, although only really began to take proper notice during the 2015 election at the age of 13, and was only eligible to vote in the recent election (having tactically voted for the Liberal Democrats in spite of not endorsing their party or their policies in any fundamental manner due to their general disingenuousness), though given the turnout of my constituency vote, I might as well thrown my vote away and just gone for Labour given that I essentially wasted it anyway.

Personal level
Decade started relatively well concerning family life, although it was during the early 2010s that I began to academically and socially struggle rather considerably, and having been fucked off at the rather patronising and pious nature of the school I went to alongside how they clearly took zero interest in my difficulties concerning Autism (given that they simply labelled me “too clever” to warrant being worth tended to back in the 2000s), I often attempted to defy the school’s authority and even escaped the grounds a few times (only to be caught again, naturally). That, and how they patronisingly tried to instil and endorse spurious religious notions and anecdotes within their assemblies which seemed like utter bollocks. Things picked up for me on an academic level later on rather considerably, and I naturally became less of a twat, seeking philosophical discussion on a more overt level as opposed to simply conforming to already held views I had, and I developed a keener interest in film and literature as a whole (even if I’m generally rather rubbish socially still). Experiencing more thought-provoking content certainly aids one’s intellectual and emotional development, even if covertly. I’ve been rather successful on that end fairly recently, although things have become decidedly worse within the family as the decade has progressed. I won’t bore with the details, though, as I’ve probably rambled on too much already.

Entertainment level
To start with the obvious, I did enjoy Series 5 of NuWho on initial broadcast, even if it was around this time that I discovered TruWho and began to realise just how poor much of NuWho truly was. As it progressed, I became less and less interested, and after Death In Heaven began to re-evaluate NuWho completely, and my interest in Who died for several years. Ironically, it peaked again after Twice Upon a Turd (having been so disheartened by its treatment of Hartnell’s Doctor and TruWho as a whole), and my interest in the Classic series sky-rocketed as I wanted to go back and explore the stories I’d yet to experience whilst also establishing a firmer inherent understanding of where it succeeded, and where NuWho failed in the most striking of ways. I couldn’t cope with almost any of series 11, of course.

Concerning TV: This decade, I’ve checked out Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones (which completely shat the bed by the end), Black Mirror, The Walking Dead (up to a point), Babylon Berlin, Stranger Things, Dark, True Detective (season 1), Mindhunter, and fuck loads more that would take me ages to list.

Concerning Cinema: Checked out and liked: Inception, Shutter Island, The Artist, The Master, The Dark Knight Rises (although it has got worse on repeat viewings), Argo, Prisoners, The World’s End, Under the Skin, Birdman, Arrival, The Revenant, Sicario, Logan, Blade Runner 2049, Joker, etc. Although there have also been so many mainstream films that have been fucking awful too- the likes of The Last Jedi killed my interest in cinema for ages, and I can’t say I can be arsed to list other examples on the top of my head, as this list would simply become too extensive.

As a whole, the decade has been a rather bizarre one on many levels for me personally, having gone through multiple highs and lows, and I’m not really sure where things will truly go from here. From an artistic point of view, and for entertainment and politics in general, besides a few films and series I’ve liked, it’s been decidedly disastrous for so many beloved properties, and the amount of vacuous political bile being thrown around on all sides of the political spectrum recently has also been rather disconcerting in general. That, coupled with the current state of modern politics in general, and we find ourselves in a rather tumultuous time rife with uncertainty. Let’s hope we can find ourselves in a clearer position next decade.

Great thread btw, but I haven't got a long and detailed reply in me. For me the decade has been blur. A blur of change, and definitely a great decade personally, but a blur nonetheless.
I don't know of it's an age thing, but I can remember far more details about earlier decades as a younger person, than I can about the last 10/20 years.
As far Dr Who goes, it's been on the back burner for most of the decade, but lately it's been enjoying a bit of a renaissance in my affections. I'm talking about the classic series. I don't really give a shit about NuWho. Trying to get something out of it is just too much like hard work; as my recent attempts to re-evaluate it from S5 onwards, have demonstrated.
But not watching a lot of Who at all for most of the last decade has made my recent re-watching of the classic series really enjoyable.
Not being invested at all in NuWho is great, because it doesn't affect my appreciation and affection for the classic series in any way whatsoever. To me they are totally separate entities. One is my favourite TV show ever, bar none. And the other is just a shit, self-indulgent remake, made in the image of the those tasked to bring back a unique series that lost its way a little towards the end, into a populist saleable commodity. An imposter with the same name.
Anyway... here's to the next decade. If I make to 2030, I'll be 67.

Rob Filth wrote:TV's series I watched during this period were: Walking Dead, Ash Vs Evil Dead, Stat Trek Continues, The Orville, Black Mirror.

Ash vs Evil Dead and The Orville were my two favourite genre series of the past decade.

What did you think of the last series of Ash vs Evil Dead? It seems to be a bit polarising among fans. A lot of fans felt that Kelly should have been Ash's daughter, but I not only loved the actress they got, I also think it would have been too obvious. (and creepy considering he tried to shag Kelly earlier.)

Personally I loved season 3. The ending was a bit rushed sure, but the fight between Kelly and Ruby was awesome. I also loved evil Ruby. Lucy Lawless is amazing as a villain.

The bit where the cute fangirl of Ash, Zoe was tortured by Ruby and evil Kelly was absolutely horrific. Easily on a par with the most horrific scenes from the original trilogy.

I just hope we get more of Ash vs Evil Dead at some point. A Kelly spin off would be the best.

Once Upon A Time, Gotham, the Flash and Game of Thrones were also good genre series this decade.

The worst would have to be Doctor Who after 2013 (it was only good for 4 years this decade, so I'd say overall this was a shit decade for New Who) and Supergirl.

For me, the decade started shitty, the middle was good, and the end was shitty. I really enjoyed 2012 when I taught ancient mythology in a university, one of the better experiences in my life. In the middle of the decade I went back to school (not like I ever really left) and did a degree in physics which was enjoyable. Last year I tried teaching physics in a high school, one of the worst experiences in my life. I had to quit because it was making me crazy. I couldn't sleep (no more than 2 or 3 hours a night), and when I did sleep I was having these awful nightmares.


The only two TV shows I liked from the 2010s were the X-Files revival (which is really a 90s show), and Fringe (which began in 2008). And there was a goofy cop show that ran in 2010 called The Good Guys that I kind of enjoyed. The only movies I even saw from the decade were Hot Tub Time Machine I and II (I was enjoyable, II sucked), one of the Star Trek reboots (shit), and the new Ghostbusters (not at all good - but better than the Star Trek). As far as TV and movies go I think the 2010s sucked donkey dick.

I didn't know there was an Evil Dead series - I might check that out. Anyone that likes Bruce Campbell stuff (and doesn't already know about it) should check out a TV show from the 90s called The Adventures of Brisco County. It only ran for 1 year, but like it even better than his Evil Dead movies.  

I've been really enjoying The Omega Factor, now that my DVDs have arrived. I know its from the 70s, but its new to me. Given how much TV has sucked in the last decade it has become extremely rare that I get to watch something I like this much that I haven't seen before. I think it's awful that they cancelled it after only 10 episodes.

Going back a few posts, as far as the supernatural/paranormal and that sort of stuff, I've had enough personal experiences of the sort to be totally convinced there is something to it. But I think the idea of a god who judges people is the height of silliness.