Yesterday, I turned on my computer and saw the horrifying news; Backstreet’s back, alright.

Yes you read correctly, the Backstreet Boys, that ’90s blast from the past has gotten back together (sans one member). Following one of the most successful runs down Boy Band Lane, the group, like so many others, broke up and attempted to take on solo careers. With limited success, might I add.

This disturbing development is just one example of how the world of entertainment has finally reached where the sidewalk ends.

Any minute now, I’m expecting the Spice Girls to announce their reunion tour.

Breathy chick bands cover the Beatles while sluty pop stars commit musical blasphemy against the Rolling Stones.

Unfortunately, music is not the only corner of the entertainment industry that has resorted to recycling it’s old dogs with even older tricks.

The gross majority of this summer’s blockbusters were sequels, trilogies, parts of a series or remakes.

Disney has resorted to turning its theme park rides into multi-million dollar films.

Even T.V. is filled with spin-offs attempting to squeeze one more drop out of what is, more often than not, a bone-dry barrel.

But I would not want to sell a few exceptions short. In the face of sometimes downright ridiculous attempts, many of these do exceedingly well. The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, inspired by an ancient theme park ride, shattered box office records. The ride has since been revamped. 3:10 to Yuma, a remake from 1957, is currently having a good run in theatres. It’s being called the best western since Unforgiven.

Anymore, the practice of recycling themes, stories, songs and characters seems more popular than the creation of new ones. Sadly, many of these attempts are nowhere close to being as successful as Pirates of the Carribbean.

However, there are a few classic holdovers that have managed to survive the past 30 years.

The Rolling Stones still rock. They aren’t back again – they never left. They’re old enough to be the grandparents of teeny-bop boy band singers and they extended their final tour for almost two years. College students wear T-shirts with the famous tongue logo and so do their parents.

If anything, watching the Back-street Boys attempt their comeback will be amusing, but Mick Jagger is still the original rock star.