Premature nostalgia: Why nothing is more ‘now’ than six years ago

MANILA, Philippines - It all came roaring back to me, 600 x 400 pixels at a time: The Total Request Live photo booth pictures.

As luck would have it, an enterprising netizen was able to retrieve the photos from MTV’s old site and upload it on the gossip community. And as the Oh No They Didn’t page loaded on my laptop—and as I shielded my daily dose of gossip from inquiring co-workers—I realized: the mid-2000s are in again. Also: Huh?

A decade’s renaissance is a common occurence in pop culture. Between Best Decade Ever-type shows on channels like VH1, decade-nostalgia has always been a thing. But perhaps, it’s never been this fast.

As technology makes everything in life faster and faster, as life becomes a by-the-minute grind, nostalgia comes for us faster too. How else do you explain the inexplicable and sudden love for Veronica Mars in 2013?

Years after the cult hit was cancelled, it’s suddenly gotten a boost of support from a formerly quiet fanbase, raising enough dough for a movie and garnering a whole lot of “BEST SHOW EVER” and “OMG I MISS THIS SHOW” tweets. Never mind that the show was brilliant but flawed. The years have made it perfect.

Kristen Bell’s vehicle isn’t the only one, of course. From Vanessa Hudgens to the Bling Ring, it seems nothing is more “now” than six years ago.

The good

High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens makes James Franco suck on her pistol in Spring Breakers. Your move, Zac Efron.

Hollywood’s Bling Ring, the gang of mid-2000s kids who stole from celebrities like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, gets the Sofia Coppola treatment.

Can you wait six years between albums and expect to top the charts? No... Unless you’re Justin Timberlake.

Remember Wentworth Miller? The guy from Prison Break and the guy Mariah Carey pined for in her Emancipation of Mimi videos? He’s back—but not in the way you’d expect. As screenwriter for art house hit Stoker, Miller gives Nicole Kidman a plot to die for.

After a sad-sexy turn on Mad Men, Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore for Stars Hollow denizens) just booked a new Fox sitcom.

The bad

Fall Out Boy makes a comeback with an awesome album cover and a hit single. Why so close to “THE BAD”? Because they’re Fall Out Boy.

The ugly

To punctuate an era of increasingly erratic behavior, former teen queen Amanda Bynes recently uploaded some selfies of hers online, showing off her new cheek piercings.

Roswell’s Shiri Appleby had a small arc on the second season of Girls. The ugly? It climaxed with Adam jizzing all over her.