Happy Twenty-Ten, Blogosphere

We didn't quite make our goal (616 posts in 2009, double from the 308 in 2008), despite Grainne's valiant New Year's Eve marathon posting of Young Werner Herzog, his Bulgarious political party narration & other videos. I propose we don't attempt 1232 posts in 2010 - where will it end!? I've been down with a stomach flu all week, but still made it out for Balkan dancing with Brass Menazeri at Berkeley's Ashkenaz, after a roast goose dinner with a dozen good friends. Waking up feeling healthier than the last year is a good omen for the new decade.

And yes it is the New Decade. The first century started at Year One. The second century started at year 100. The first century was only 99 years, because there was no year Zero. This was a solution to the obnoxious 2000/2001 problem, a solution posed by an autistic child (according to Stephen Jay Gould), & the more I think about it, the more I think it's the only right way.

It's also the Tweens, the Obama era, the end of the Naughty Aughties, & an optimistic time for the players of the world. Also for the haters thereof.

The Naughties End - The Tweens Begin

While there's a raging debate about what to call this decade - the New York Times solicited catchy tags from readers here - has anyone noticed that the next decade will also pose a problem: teenage years don't start until 2013. So I heartily welcome the Tweens, which, according to my research into preteenism, begin at 10. A portmanteau, the wikipedia tells us "Tween is an American neologism and marketing term for preteen. A blend of between and teen, tween in this context is generally considered to cover the age range from eight to twelve years." So, by different definitions, we're either hot in the middle of the Tweens, transitioning into them, or drunk on Tween eve - whatever the rate of this decade's preadolescence. It's true that the Obama era, in all effect, came on in 2008, & eras don't always line up perfectly with even numbers. (The twentieth century, for instance, didn't really get started until The Rite of Spring & World War I, & end until September 2001 or November 2008 depending on your political leanings.)

Back to the 2000's, I was just remarking to Miss Anna Greenberg that "It says a lot for our culture that we've been living thru it for ten years & haven't really started to call it anything. How can half a billion English speakers just tiptoe around the issue for ten years!" She responded: "how can we call it something when it hasn't ended yet!" That's true, but it's an issue that's periodically come up in the periodicals. I've always favored the naughties, or the naughty-aughties. (This year would be called "Two-naughty-aughty-nine" or "Two-naughty-naughty-nine," as I say in the MC Pseudo-Dionysius song Hillelujah.) We'll see what sticks, or if people will just eternally say "that decade".

UPDATE: I say, in celebration of the breaking dawn of the Tweens, celebrate by going out to see New Dawn! It's hard to predict the future, but easy to say with certainty that the tweens are characterized by Twilight, Twitter, Obama, tea parties, Glee, & of course itwaslost artists & writers. L'Chaim! Наздравици!

(The art at the top is classic Olaf Mary college-era whales-standing-up, two-naughty-aughty-four.)