recounting (getting straight in mind) my pop-cultural awareness history. mainly, lightly & fairly normally aware through high school. then completely out of it until second year in chicago. then, int in the internet summer 2005. then, int in tv fall 2006.

from Dec 2006 Salon.com article fr wh posted below:
Hilton first came to national attention eight years ago*, the teenage heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune.
But Hilton's fame mysteriously increased as her coming-of-age coincided with a booming Internet gossip culture and an explosion of weekly magazines really in need of trashy characters to keep their serialized narratives chugging along.

*1998. so that fits with my not hearing about her. I started sjc that year, had no tv until.. 2004? I think that's right, after all of 2003 here without one, during my second summer (or the spring before or fall after) rg got the tv on my behalf. and I remember rg at work telling me about paris hilton, who I'd not heard of. In 1995 I was somewhat tuned in, I watched 90210 (& melrose place after) sometimes with BCC girls. I remember watching it at Abby's once, I think, sometime around the end of the school year. with Clare. Liz & Sarah (last name) were there.. I more fondly remember watching it at Maurisa's once, her mom's house, room by the kitchen. and, earlier probably, I remember being at the Smiths house on Connecticut Ave, watching with Whit & Kendall whose remarks toward Brenda I found very funny. so I guess my tuning out starts in fall 1995, along with the rest of my disconnection. while working at P&P, I didn't hear about pop culture? well I guess anyway I was not home in the evenings to watch tv. so: mid1995 (summer I went to Greece, after that I was out) to mid2004, I was out of the popular culture loop. huh. nine years. almost a decade. age 18 to 27.
then, I got the tv and learned about reality shows. I'd only known of MTV's TheRealWorld.
and then, summer of 2005 I learned about blogs, and started doing this (dlww...). when rg talked about being secretly blogged about by the manager guy during his smog tour, he had to tell me that a blog was a web diary. so when was that? summer of 2003? yes I think so.
then, last fall a year ago, fall 2006 I got all into tv - learning about the web ('blogosphere') was not moving me much, and then I started reading on the web about tv. all the new shows. laurel's tv picks, various lists introducing all the serial dramas, which I followed (the news of, if not the show itself).
I'd already had the thought that about tv one could find real (as in lively) conversation. and it was satisfying to have a qstn (even if the subject matter was not intriguing - desperate housewives) and search successfully for an answer, and find witty or thoughtful comments too (on a soap opera discussion site!).
and I think there is some fine writing on twop.


first show I saw & sincerely liked was BostonLegal? on Sunday nites, after DespHousewives. was theat 2004? let's see. this past fall 2006 was the beginning of their third season. so 2005 was the 2nd season, and yes 2004 into 2005 was the first. and during that year, saw some GilmoreGirls in repeats, like a Saturday marathon. watched some dvds I think, read on twop & tried to piece together what was when (the girls' boyfriends, mainly). the show was in its 5th season, I guess, but I wasn't current. oh yeah then mom taped some for me. I watched the last couple episodes of season 5 in Florida, at the house we stayed in for the wedding.
and I remember heading home from work to try to see the season opener where Luke says yes to Lorelai's marriage proposal. so, to keep straight: that was the beginning of the 6th season. *not* this past fall, but the fall before. fall 2005. up til then I worked Tues nites, but at that point I was free to watch the show week to week. so that was the 6th season, Palladino laast year, fans unhappy, Rory staying with grandparents, Luke finding out about daughter April. then this year was the final & non-Palladino 7th season. ok.

so, in sum:
up through high school, sort of normally aware of pop culture. cosby show & family ties while overseas. then 90210. I was busy active, I wasn't watching much tv.
summer1995-summer2004 no tv, out of the loop.
with occasional exceptions where I encountered tv as this strange thing. I do remember trying out tv, watching an episode of Buffy, while in Seattle w Jaime 2001-2002) I was sitting on her futon in the bedroom. her tv did not get much reception, she had it for movies.
fall 2002 moved to chicago.
summer 2004 got tv. watched some, not regularly? ~BostonLegal was in season 1. GilmoreGirls was in season 5.
summer 2005 got int in the www, distinctly.
fall 2006 got int in tv - the new fall schedule, reading reviews & forums on the web.

so. Now What?