Aging Pop Culture: Does popular culture have a sell-by date?

Recently I feel like I've travelled back in a time machine. The Harry Potter craze has taken hold (did it ever really go away?), Pokemon is popular again, and I've been reading The Princess Diaries books. Looking at clothes in shops currently, I could quite easily put together an outfit that my mum would have worn when I was a kid. This whole 90/00s feel has been around for a while - I remember a few years ago actually debating whether to buy a pair of jelly shoes (I thankfully didn't waste my money).

Popular culture seems to be so fond of nostalgia. Already the "millennial" generation (urgh, still kind of hate that phrase) seems to spend a lot of time looking back at memories from their past, in a way that makes us seem like old grandparents in their armchairs talking about the Blitz. But I wonder, does pop culture have a sell by date? At what point does it stop being trendy and start becoming dated?

The Naked Choir: The Sons of Pitches

I might be a little bit biased on this one (one of my besties is a SoP wag; am under strict instructions to share share share), but last night The Sons of Pitches killed it!

I am quite partial to a bit of Kate Bush, so last week's Wuthering Heights was right up my street. However considering that 'MMMBop in 10 Genres' was arranged and recorded in just one week (including the video), mad props to SoP!

I'm not usually one for Gareth Malone tv shows, but I really have loved this series. Pitch Perfect much?

Nadiya: Queen of the Bake Off

So if you're British you'll of course know that The Great British Bake Off final was last night. And my favourite contestant, Nadiya, won!

But there was something Nadiya said that struck me quite hard:

"I am never, ever going to put boundaries on myself ever again. I'm never going to say 'I can't do it.'

I'm never going to say, 'maybe.'

I'm never going to say 'I don't think I can.'

I can and I will."

I know this is a show about baking, and I know it sounds silly, but her words are important. As someone with trouble managing her anxiety, I'm always saying "I can't do it" (often whilst crying down the phone to my mum/boyfriend). But through all the sobbing and doubting myself, I have it in me to accomplish what I set out to do. Yeah, my quest isn't to win a baking competition, but I still need to believe in myself. I need to believe that I can do things on my own without panicking. I'm not going to go out tomorrow and go into town alone then get a long distance train somewhere, but that doesn't mean I never will. There is no maybe; I will be able to do it.

And that's why we have to listen to Nadiya's words.

You can do it, you can and you will.