Millennial Man Rediscovers 2008 Photos—No One Prepared for What They Show

Newsweek

16 hours ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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A man has gone viral for showcasing his teenage years when he had first discovered the powers of Photoshop.
Calvin Bremer, 36, from St. Louis, Missouri, was in his late teens in 2008, when Myspace, Lady Gaga and emo fashion ruled the teenage online world. And when he found Photoshop, which allowed him to edit his own selfies, he told Newsweek that he was "having the time of my life."
"I always had a fascination with art and creating things," Bremer said, and with the photo-editing software "my imagination could do anything, so I taught myself graphic design before I even went to college for it."
For years, Bremer had kept the photos he created—and when he stumbled upon Reddit sub u/blunderyears, in which people share embarrassing photos of their childhood or teenage selves, he knew he had the perfect thing to post.
In a post shared on June 11, which racked up more than 71,000 upvotes, Bremer shared a series of photographs, the first showing his teenage self sharing a kiss with pop star Britney Spears.
From left: Calvin Bremer uses Photoshop to kiss Britney Spears and show his love for Lady Gaga.
From left: Calvin Bremer uses Photoshop to kiss Britney Spears and show his love for Lady Gaga.
Reddit u/gucci-milk
The next, a topless Bremer with fake tattoos on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Other edited snaps show him posing with the lyrics to Lady Gaga's classic song "Poker Face" decorating the background, wearing Pikachu merchandise, and playing a guitar—which he admitted in a caption he does not "even know how to play."
Reddit users loved it, with one calling it "such a flashback," and another praising it as "quality blunder material."
"I bet your Myspace page was awesome, though," one commented, as another added: "This is some of the best late 2000s cringe I've ever seen. This is some blunder years."
And as one person put it: "It's a testament to just how cringey we millennials were that the amount of quality content on this subreddit seems to be neverending."
From left: Bremer appears on the front cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine, and pretends to play the guitar.
From left: Bremer appears on the front cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine, and pretends to play the guitar.
Reddit u/gucci-milk
Bremen said that he never imagined his post would have the reaction it did. "It made me smile seeing everyone cringe, laugh, and relate in unison. The days of Myspace and millennials running the internet is truly funny to look back on!"
Launched in 2003, social-media network Myspace peaked in 2008 with 115 million users. However, it was soon overtaken by Facebook in terms of unique visitors, according to data from Statista, and was unable to recover.
And as for whether his early adoption of Photoshop helped his career, Bremer said that his job role is "not fully graphic design-based, but I still use Photoshop and other Adobe programs a lot in my job."
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