Personal

Mobile-dating

Some people count the rings running through the trunk of a tree. Others use sophisticated carbon-dating techniques.

Sadly neither of these techniques can be used on movies. You need something more subtle.

Vegging out on My Best Friend's Wedding tonight reveals the answer: mobile-phone dating. We see Julia Roberts in the opening scene - at least we think it's her; the lower half of her face is obscured by the flip-open microphone from her absurdly bulky mobile. No doubt about it; this is the mid-nineties.

Back then we probably thought they were cool. Goodness knows what ten years will do to my mobile. But in the 80s we thought fluorescent socks were sophisticated, and thankfully society's found some collective forgiveness.