Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Nineties Compilation

Hey all!
Eventhough we aren't active anymore on the blog we couldn't deny you this awesome video! We're sure that all the Dutch 90's kids will remember the following:


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Thank You & Goodbye

As we have announced last week, we will no longer continue with the 90’s Trends blog, as well as the Facebook page and Twitter account. This is truly a sad announcement for us, because we would like to continue blogging about the 90’s. We have completed this part of the Business Information Technology (BIT) course that we are both following at Tilburg University, now it is time for us to focus on the next task we need to do in order to successfully complete the course. We had a great time blogging about the awesome nineties and it didn’t feel obligatory to us, we genuinely enjoyed researching all the 90’s topics we discussed and writing about it. We would take like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to this blog in any way. We want to thank our loyal visitors who have read this blog, our followers on this blog, our followers on Twitter and the people that liked our Facebook page. Also a special thanks to everyone that gave us inspiration on specific topics and commented on our posts. This is goodbye for us now, we hoped you have enjoyed every last bit of our 90’s Trends blog. Never stop reliving the nineties!

With Love,

Emma & Ester

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Movies: List

This will be our last movie post and today we will give you the top 50 of the highest grossing movies of the 90’s

Rank
Film
Year
Worldwide Gross
Studio
1.
$1,843,201,268
2.
$924,317,558
3.
$914,691,118
4.
$817,400,891
5.
$783,841,776
6.
$677,387,716
7.
$672,806,292
8.
$618,638,999
9.
$589,390,539
10.
$553,709,788
11.
$519,398,546
12.
$505,702,588
13.
$504,050,219
14.
$494,471,524
15.
$481,840,909
16.
$476,684,675
17.
$205,040,086
18.
$441,286,195
19.
$352,927,224
20.
$191,796,233
21.
$184,208,848
22.
$184,031,112
23.
$183,875,760
24.
$181,410,615
25.
$180,981,856
26.
$178,406,268
27.
$176,484,651
28.
$173,585,516
29.
$172,956,409
30.
$172,071,312
31.
$171,479,930
32.
$171,091,819
33.
$165,493,908
34.
$163,479,795
35.
$162,831,698
36.
$162,798,565
37.
$161,491,646
38.
$158,348,367
39.
$155,385,488
40.
$153,952,592
41.
$152,257,509
42.
$148,478,011
43.
$146,282,411
44.
$145,863,363
45.
$144,833,357
46.
$144,731,527
47.
$144,156,605
48.
$141,579,773
49.
$141,340,178
50.
$141,186,864

Friday, April 6, 2012

Movies: Late 90's

Today we will discuss the movies from 1997 up to 1999.

The top grossing movies of 1997 is Titanic ($1,843,201,268), making it the highest grossing film in history. On Sunday, February 22, 1998, Titanic reached a $400 million domestic gross in a record time of 66 days. On Thursday, March 26, 1998 after 98 days in release, Titanic reached $500 million domestically, becoming the first film in history to cross the half-billion-dollar domestic milestone. On Thursday, August 27, 1998 Titanic reached $600 million domestically becoming the most successful box office film in history (until Avatar broke this record in 2010).
Some movie events were:
·         The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.
·         Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
·         The Lost World: Jurassic Park grosses a record $90,161,880 on Memorial Weekend.
·         As of November 7, 2008, forty-one films released in 1997 have grossed more than $100 million, reaching blockbuster status

The top grossing film of 1998 was Armageddon ($553,709,788). Some other successful movies that were released in that year are: Saving Private Ryan, Godzilla, There’s Something About Mary and A Bug’s Life. There weren’t any notable events in this year.

The highest grossing movie of 1999 was Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace ($924,317,558).
Some events this year were:
·         April 17 - Star Wars fans begin lining up at cinemas in Westwood and Hollywood to buy tickets for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
·         November 24 - Toy Story 2, a sequel to the 1995 film Toy Story, is released in theaters across the United States, and becomes an even bigger hit than the original. The film is released in the United Kingdom in February 2000.
The year 1999 in film has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep Canvas-pioneering Tarzan, Best Picture-winner American Beauty, critically acclaimed animated works The Iron Giant, Toy Story 2 and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's breakout film Being John Malkovich, M. Night Shyamalan's breakout hit The Sixth Sense, the controversial Fight Club, Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and the first installment of George Lucas's Star Wars prequel trilogy were released this year.



This was all for the movies that were released during the late 90’s, next time we will provide a top 50 of highest grossing 90’s movies.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Movies: Mid 90's

Today we will discuss the movies from 1994 to 1996 and other related aspects.

The top grosser worldwide in 1994 was The Lion King ($768,625,889), which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time. Domestically in North America, it was slightly overtaken by Forrest Gump, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and a second consecutive Academy Award for Best Actor for Tom Hanks.
There were also several popular action films, including Speed and True Lies. In the comedy realm, there was The Mask and Four Weddings and a Funeral, the latter of which shocked Forrest Gump to win the BAFTA award for Best Film. 1994 also featured the watershed Quentin Tarantino film and Palme d'Or winner, Pulp Fiction. Although a box office disappointment when originally released, 1994's The Shawshank Redemption, based on a Stephen King short story, would eventually become regarded as one of the films considered the greatest ever. Additionally, Hoop Dreams, a documentary that follows the story of two African-American high school students in Chicago and their dream of becoming professional basketball players, received high critical and popular acclaim and is generally considered one of the best documentary films ever made. In Blackburn, England, the discovery of approximately 800 well-preserved nitrate negatives shot by the British film pioneers Mitchell and Kenyon, active from 1897 to 1913 but previously known for only a handful of surviving titles, became a major contribution to early cinema.
 
The top grossing film of 1995 was Die Hard with a Vengeance ($366,101,666), which was the third movie in the popular Die Hard film series starring Bruce Willis.
Some notable film events were:

  • March 13 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.
  •  November 17 - After a six-year hiatus, the James Bond film series resumes with the successful GoldenEye.
  • November 22 - Toy Story is released debuting at the #1 and remaining on the film charts for 18 weeks, marking the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
The highest grossing movie of 1996 was Independence Day ($817,400,891), starring Will Smith. Some other major releases in this year were: Major releases this year included Swingers, Fargo, Trainspotting, The Rock, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna. A funny fact is that in 1996 James Cameron officially begins writing the future blockbuster and highest grossing film of all time; Avatar.

Next time we will discuss the movies of the late 90’s!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Movies: Early 90’s

We have a sad announcement; this will unfortunately be our last week of blogging.  We have had a great time blogging about all sorts of topics from the nineties and we will end it by blogging about movies from the nineties. Today we will discuss well-known movies from 1990 until 1993.

The biggest grossing film worldwide of 1990 was Ghost ($505,702,588) and it featured Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Some significant movie events in 1990 were:
·         CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall (1990).
·         The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2.
·         The use of real-time computer graphics or "digital puppetry" to create a character in a motion picture is performed, in RoboCop 2.
·         November 16 - Disney's first ever animated sequel, The Rescuers Down Under, is released.
·         Universal Pictures celebrated its 75th anniversary with a new logo.

The biggest grossing movie of 1991was Terminator 2: Judgment Day ($519,843,345) that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and was directed by James Cameron. Two significant movie events in 1991 were:
·         Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.
·         November 22 - Walt Disney Pictures releases Beauty and the Beast which is the first animated film in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

The top grossing movie in 1992 was Disney’s Aladdin ($504,050,219), which had a budget of $28 million. Number 4 in the top (Basic Instinct) was directed by the Dutch Paul Verhoeven, and included the (in)famous interrogation scene.  

The top grossing film of 1993 was Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park ($914,691,118). It was the highest grossing film ever made (at the time) and brought in way more money than its runner up Mrs. Doubtfire ($441,286,195). Some significant movie events of 1993 were:
·         The film Jurassic Park, a dinosaur epic with massive special effects, breaks box-office records by becoming the highest-grossing film ever made (at the time).
·         Family romance film Sleepless in Seattle revives the genre of the Courtship of Eddie's Father, with an extensive soundtrack of oldies music.
·         March 31 - Actor Brandon Lee is accidentally killed during the filming of The Crow.
·         Actress Kim Basinger files for bankruptcy after a California judge orders her to pay $7.4 million for refusing to honor a verbal contract to star in the film Boxing Helena. As a result, Basinger loses the town that she purchased in 1989, Braselton, Georgia, to her partner in the deal, the pension fund of Chicago-based Ameritech.
·         May 28 - Produced by Hollywood Pictures, Super Mario Bros. opens, marking the first video game film released, starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi.


Next time we will discuss movies from the mid-nineties!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Computer Games: Construction


This will already be our last post about nineties computer games, and this time we will talk about some games that involve some sort of construction in it and that were released in the 90’s.

Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games and the gameplay revolves around two main game modes; random map and campaign. The games were developed by Ensemble Studios and were published by Microsoft Studios. The first Age of Empires came out in 1997 and since then seven titles and three spin-offs have been released. The other Age of Empire games that came out in the 90’s are The Rise of Rome (1998) and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999). The games in the series focus on historical events throughout time. Age of Empires (original game) covers the events between the Stone Age and the Classical Period in Europe and Asia. Its expansion, The Rise of Rome, follows the formation and rise of the Roman Empire. Age of Empires II follows Europe and Asia through the Middle Ages. The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success, selling over 20 million copies. The popularity and quality of the games has earned Ensemble Studios a strong reputation in real-time strategy gaming. Critics have credited part of the success of the series to its historical theme and fair play; the artificial intelligence players fight with less "cheating" than in many of the series' competitors.


Another well-known series of “construction” games is the Sim-series. These games were developed by Maxis and published by Maxis and Electronic Arts. The first Sim game was SimCity, released in 1989, this game was followed by a numerous amount of other games released in the 90’s and later decades (see the timeline), including the immense popular The Sims video games.  
The Sim games are city-building simulation games, in which the player has to build a city (you don’t say?) without any specific goals to achieve. The player also had to face disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes and attacks by monsters. SimCity still proves to be popular and therefore a new SimCity is expected to be released in 2013.

This marks the ending of our Computers Games week, but next week we will be back with movies from the nineties!