The book of Ecclesiastes said it well: "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun" (Eccles. 1:9).

Stopped at a traffic light the other day, I noticed two Mini’s stopped in front of me. One a classic 1960’s model, and the other a 2006 Mini Cooper S. I always thought the original Mini to be a rather cute little car. Nothing special, but it had something. The new Mini has managed to make that old car look awful, even though there are distinct similarities. The designers of the new Mini managed to recreate a car that looks like the original, but at the same time, looks completely new. It’s sexy now, but it’s ruined the look of the old one! In contrast the New VW Beetle manages to take the classic look of the original beetle, follow the same curves and lines, and stand as a car in its own right without destroying the look of the original beetle.

When MG released new cars in the late 90’s they did so based on the popularity of the classic MG’s and didn’t try to copy the original vehicles in any way. (The holding company is currently in administration!) The brand was re-introduced to try and recapture the popularity of the original MG’s from 30 years before. These new MG’s are nice looking cars, but there’s something about the beetle and the mini’s strong ties to the original that give them that little bit extra. There is something comforting about classic lines in new cars. Every concept car designed these days seems to have stronger and stronger links back to older vehicles.

Sitting at the next traffic light, the radio is blaring out Madonna’s “Hung Up”, which samples Abba’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme”. In fact her entire album is a recreation of the 70’s disco sound. Has she run out of ideas here? Singers have always covered old songs. We like the familiarity of those songs. It might just be an age thing but I find it hilarious whenever I hear an original version of a song on the radio and someone says something about this being a terrible cover of the Destiny’s Child song!

A “Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” now out on DVD” poster lines the sides of a bus stop on the side of the road. Another one of many movie remakes out at the moment. We’ve recently seen remakes of “The Amityville Horror”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “The Pink Panther”, “War of the Worlds” and more and we can expect to see updated versions of  “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, “Chips”, “Clash of the Titans”, “Dallas”, “Knight Rider”, “Miami Vice”, “Revenge of the Nerds”, . To be fair not all of these were movies. We’re making movies about TV shows of old. We’re making movies about old comics. Batman Begins was released last year. Superman has returned, it’s not a remake, but another reinvention of an old character. Where are the original ideas?

Occasionally we don’t even both to remake things, we just re-release them. Think Spielbergs ET’s 20^th anniversary. A whole new audience got to see ET on the big screen for the first time. George Lucas re-released Starwars (with minor adjustments) on the big screen before releasing the prequels. There’s even talk of them screening the Back to the Future trilogy on the big screen for it’s 25^th anniversary in 2010. There’s pretty much talk of reinventing just about everything from the 80’s (were the 80’s that great?). Bill Murray has repeatedly turned down offers to star in Ghostbusters III, and rumours are now that Ben Stiller will replace Murray in the role with the original cast members. We wait in eager anticipation for Ghostbusters in Hell. Even Indiana Jones is due back on the big screen in the next few years with Harrison Ford once again playing the role of Indy.

Remakes of movies, songs, cars, buildings, artwork and styles have always happened. We have such good sources of information these days, that it’s difficult to not to the past for inspiration for ideas. What’s disturbing is the speed with which things are covered or remade these days. Songs can be barely off the charts before a remake is suddenly climbing those charts. We don’t always call them remakes – sometimes we remix the original.

The other night on TV I caught a KFC advert. Young boy decides he’s leaving home, but stays for one last meal when he sees that his folks have bought KFC. He even stays for dessert. They’re remaking adverts? I remember a very similar advert in the 80’s. Who am I kidding it was practically the same advert, only the décor had changed. This one was no better than the original (from what I can remember)!

We’re in an endless cycles of repetitive behaviour, cloning ideas from the past for marketing to new audiences, or the same audiences who appreciate the nostalgia of the ideas. We all walk around now with iPods dangling from our belts. Who remembers when Walkmans were as popular? Retro fashion comes and goes. One minute the most fashionable clothing is 70’s retro. Then it’s 80’s. I’ve even heard the term 90’s retro being through around. Wasn’t that like just a few years ago?

From fashion to décor, movies to music, cars, toys, tv shows and hairstyles we’re constantly reinventing or rerunning the past. Whether we’re doing a remake, a reinvention, an adaptation or just a re-release, we can’t seem to escape the past. But why? Are we running out of ‘new’ ideas or are we simply just re-exposing ourselves to the same old thing because those concepts worked in the past?

Automatic gearshifts, cruise control, power steering - we have it now. It should make things easier, but ironically despite our evolution we, as the human race, have not evolved behind the wheel of the automobile. We're still terrible drivers. I'm sure you witness it daily... we're still driving into each other... regularly!

Not a day goes by that I don’t see someone navigating the road - poorly I might add - while trying to do a second activity. Most notably that activity is chattering on a mobile phone, but most disgruntling to me are those that attempt to eat while driving. It saddens me when I peer in my rear-view mirror and spy a fellow motorist trying to gorge a burger - usually in between gear change two and three. I really fail to understand it, because eating is such an obvious distraction from driving. People are dying regularly in car accidents and we still seem to be confident to take the gamble of controlling a body of metal at 160km/h while tucking into a bag of French fries. If the driver were meant to eat, the steering wheel would come equipped with a built-in plate that would flip down to catch the crumbs!

Also, it must take the skill of a mighty individual to eat a burger with one hand - I would know after being granted small hands and require both of them to prevent hot lettuce and mayonnaise from dripping onto my lap. It also seems that we forget that driving is a two handed activity – that’s why you fail your drivers test if you decide to slap one arm out the window to tap out the beat of your favourite song on the side panelling. If an emergency happens you don’t want a greasy chicken pie to be the reason you couldn’t turn the wheel that extra few degrees.

Something else I have noticed about contemporary drive-snacking is the decline in eating as a social activity. Eating is something you should take you time with, savour it, taste it, enjoy it – it’s one of the few pleasures left in a busy world. Don’t cram your face in the 5 minutes you have between getting from the doctor’s office to the meeting in the conference centre across town. Take the extra fifteen minutes to sit down, relax and enjoy the selected nourishment you have either prepared or purchased (and that also goes to all those folks who eat hunched over their keyboards at the office!). The world is not going to come to an end, plus (despite me having no medical qualification) I am quite darn sure it is healthier to eat slower and let your food actually digest instead of treating your throat like a sausage maker. A midday meal also gives you the opportunity to socialise. By sitting down (in a restaurant or a park, it matters not where) you have the opportunity to indulge in a conversation, to enjoy the company of a loved one, or to broaden your horizons – if only for 10 minutes.

My point is that we don’t drive well to begin with, yet still feel we can juggle activities while behind the wheel.  I won’t even begin with smoking (how desperate are you for a cigarette that you are puffing away in an enclosed, almost airtight space?) I would also make a comment about drinking beverages, but the convenience of the cup holders shuts me up. For heavens sake, one of the main selling features of a new car are the air bags, crumple zones and strength of the seat belts! The fact that we need all those features shows that we still have a long way to go.

Unfortunately, I know in my nagging soul it won’t change, but I thought I would at least give it a bash because I don’t see anyone making any robot cars…