Bookmarks: Backstreet Boys

What's the appeal of the Backstreet Boy cruises? Torie Bosch - who once ran a BSB fanfic site - went on to find out. Turns out, when you cross into international waters, for some people it wipes out the passage of time. The whole thing is on Buzzfeed:

Normally, being in line like this for such a long time, without my iPhone, would feel hopelessly awkward — I’m a terrible conversationalist even with old friends. Which is one of the reasons the Backstreet Boys became so core to my life: It gave me something to talk about with people (online, at least, where I spent most of my time). Every person here delights in sharing her BSB story. They compare notes about recent concerts, about their most pivotal experience — and about the judgment they face from others. Everyone — whether in their twenties or fifties — has been asked condescendingly, “Aren’t you a little old for this?” Sometimes they scoff with pride: Heather, a British woman in her late fifties who now lives in Canada, pooh-poohed, “People expect me to be sitting with my hair in curlers and knitting at my age. Ain’t gonna happen.” Sometimes, it’s said softly and wistfully, like when a woman discusses how scornful her grown kids were when she told them she was going on the cruise.

New Kids On The Dock

James P emails to alert me to the forthcoming New Kids On The Block cruise liner gig:

The band seem quite defensive, saying "this is not a step back" and that a cruise ship concert is "not a cheesy thing". The cruise leaves Florida for the Bahamas in mid-May, and is open to all fans of songs heavily reliant on the word 'Oh'.

James somewhat cruelly suggests this is the band following the Jane McDonald career path. That's well unfair, seeing as Jane started on the ships and then came ashore, while the New Kids used to be quite famous and are now cast adrift.