Tag: #millennials

  • Sally Rooney is Publishing a Book in September

    My Google newsfeed gave me five stories, right now, about Sally Rooney publishing a new book this September.

    I’m not trying to get all algorithm conspiracy on you, but I think something is up.

  • Gen X: Still a Bunch of Losers

    And I feel completely justified in saying that because I am Gen X, and we are a bunch of losers.

    On SNL this weekend, they had a sketch called “Millennial Millions,” and the clip is below…

    This is a subject matter that I have hit on before, which is that Baby Boomers are ruining everything for everyone, making life way more difficult than they had it.

    Anyway, the part that made me really sit up and laugh was at the 3:15 make when Kenan Thompson as the host laughs at a contestant, then adds, “I’m Gen X. I just sit on the sidelines and watch the world burn.” And there we have it; Nothing better encapsulates my generation than that statement.

    The first person that I know who threw all this shade at us was my friend, and artist Erin Orr, also Gen X, who made this point about three years ago. Her logic to us was more along the lines that Gen X should be moving into the political forefront, as we should be established in careers, earning real money, have families, and the first wave of us just hit 50. In 15 years, retirement will begin to set in. With all of this happening in our generational lives, where are we? Why aren’t we demanding to be on the political scene to have our concerns heard? It’s like we can’t shake our loser persona, and the rest of the world has just moved on to the next group.

    That’s why I’m not real surprised that this story happened, and Gen X got left out again.

  • What is New is Old Again: Mary Poppins and Nostalgia

    Every family has their own Christmas traditions. In my family, it was going to see a movie on Christmas Eve. The reason for this, my Dad recently told me, was to kill time as kids and Christmas Eve are a dangerous test of patience for the exciting morning to come. As I now have a kid of my own, I have continued the tradition. This year we took our kid to see the new Mary Poppins.

    My daughter loved it. She is familiar with the original and loved the new one. For us the parents, it was enjoyable, and there are a few heart string moments in it. All in all, it killed two hours for us, created a wonderful family memory, and was worth the price of the ticket.

    As we drove home, there was something that didn’t sit right with me. It was the same feeling I had after watching “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and “Star Trek Into Darkness.” They all were a new reconfiguration of the old that was clearly trying to hit the same points of the original.

    There are lots of ways of looking at this, but I think the economics of making movies comes into play. Such as, you can’t make anything too new with old characters because it might turn off the audience, so you have to keep the familiar present to guarantee the return on investment. You don’t need people to love the movie, just not hate it to the point of openly complaining.

    But most importantly, there is the nostalgia factor. These movies, such as the ones named above, are being made for an audience (Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials) who grew up with these movies, and the goal is clearly to try to recreate that felling all over again. My gut tells me this is a futile effort, as nothing can take you back to the time, as it is a feeling, and is specific to each individual.

    It does bother me that there aren’t new stories being created that capture kids’ imaginations. That inspire them explore and go out and create their own stories.

    I would prefer inspiration rather than nostalgic imitation.

  • Stupid Boomers

    I am not a Millennial… I’m Gen X, and for that, I accept that I am just the middle child of all this generational stuff between Boomers and my younger siblings, the aforementioned Millennials. But if I may stick up for the younger group, there is one thing that Boomers have been saying for a while about Millennials that is, well, just sort of stupid.

    Whenever I hear a Boomer get on the high horse of pointing out what is wrong with the kids today, they hit on the laundry list that all old people use when the complain about younger people; too self-absorbed, don’t value hard work, don’t care about the important things… Now, the favorite one I hear all the time goes along the lines of, “…and they all got participation trophies, and were told they were special, so they don’t know how to deal with hardship.”

    Hey, you dumb shit Boomer, who the hell do you think was handing out those trophies? Your stupid generation came up with the idea of participation trophies. It wasn’t a bunch of five year olds at the final game of their soccer season going, “We really should ask our parents to hand out something that includes all of us, not just the winners.” No, it was you Boomers sitting around, not wanting to feel bad that some kids will lose. Now, all these years later, you have begun to regret that decision, and you have started blaming your kids.

    Maybe our grandparents were right about our parents; they don’t care about the important things.