The problem with movies like this is that same problem that "wholesome" shows like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons had. People think that if they eschew technology they will lead simpler, happier lives. Dream on!
What's wrong with kids today (nothing bad)
on
Stamps of the 80s
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· Score: 1
I thought this was timely. I read it every time I get hassled on the train by a bunch of teenagers.
Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that year's incoming freshmen. Here is this year's list:
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1982.
They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and probably did not know he had ever been shot.
They were pre pubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
There has been only one Pope.
They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold War.
They have never feared a nuclear war. (oh man, I had such a bad case of nuclear anxiety as a kid!)
They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
Tianamen Square means nothing to them.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.
The expression you sound like a broken record means nothing to them.
They have never owned a record player. (I have two!)
They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Pong.
They may have never heard of an 8 track.
The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
They have always had an answering machine.
Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black-and-white TV. They have always had cable. (yikes, fond memories of our giant RCA!)
There has always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.
They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
They were born the year that Walkman was introduced by Sony.
Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
They have never seen Larry Bird play.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WW1, WW2 and the Civil War.
They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
They never heard: "Where's the beef?", "I'd walked a mile for a Camel", or "de plane, de plane".
They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.
The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was.
Michael Jackson has always been white.
Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.
oh my god! you remember those? they were banned at my school.:-) every now and then you'd find one stuck to the inside of a desk:-) I still have all my My Little Ponies tho...
:-) hey, I prefer to save the trees myself! I don't really care if a letter comes on paper or email...I'll respond faster to email but slower to paper.
ROFL!!! I hate to say it, but from a lot of the posts, some people seem to be wishing that. Don't know what made me write it...just a Freudian slip I guess!
Mistah Katz, do you feel you are a new journalist? I've noticed there's a certain strength in your writing that would make you an heir to Tom Wolfe. I particularly noticed this in your story, "Geeks" in Rolling Stone awhile back. I liked how you were a fly on the wall rather than a fly in the ointment...and in the last few paragraphs subtlely introduced yourself into the story when one of the kids says he doesn't think he has three plates. That was a very masterful piece.
I don't care too much when you write about current topics, but prefer it when you are observing. I would compare the Geeks article to something like "Charlie Simpson's Apocolypse" by Joe Eszterhas (yeah, you read that right! He wrote excellent articles before he became a smut-o-rama screenwriter)
Me too. They are hilarious and remind me of my friends in high school:-) The one more recent episode where they were at a security convention was a bomb. Overall, I'm pretty disappointed with last year's shows and I knew it would happen - the writing would go in weird directions like Twin Peaks. Man, I loved that show, but it got too weird even for me at the end.
That is totally true, let me give another example. I loved Atari 2600 when I was kid (who didn't) and I have two emus for it. I downloaded all my favourite games and I was happy to know that I actually remembered how to play them a good 10, 12 years after the fact.
But, I downloaded a ton of games that I never had but always wanted - but was not able to find manuals for them all online. Now I am a bit confused as to some of the games...what the blinking blob means or why x happens when my little guy picks up item y. So I have sadly given up on some games that looked cool, but I'll be durned if I know how to play. Given too that a lot of the early games lacked "begin" or "end" screens.
I've also read about Finnish scientists who are trying to come up with signs to last at least 500 years in a language/medium that people will understand in the future, or perceive as a danger sign. Our yellow anad black shield will probably have as much meaning to people in the future as Venus figurines do to people now.
--Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it.-- --Gene Spafford--
The idea that the ALA is bad is such a bunch of BS. They are the only organization to come out with a bill of reader's rights. If you cannot read, you cannot grow. If you cannot read, you cannot know. If you cannot read, you remain ignorant. Why should someone tell YOU what you should and shouldn't read?
No other country bans more books than the US. In some states textbooks can be removed if they are considered communist. Peter Rabbit gets banned because the bunnies are too bourguoise. Goosebumps gets tossed because it's "evil and satanic". In fact, "witchcraft" is the number one reason why books are banned. Sick, sad world. If you are not vigilant in protecting your freedom to read, others will take it from you.
*g* come to Alberta, you easties! We're falling apart more than you can imagine. We left one doctor, disgusted after he mixed up my dad's and brother's charts. He told my brother he had high blood pressure (!) and that an incidence of flu might have been a brain tumor.
To keep it OT, I really enjoyed reading Woz's answers! He's always been a hero of mine:-)
That reminds me of a book I read...I believe it was called @ Large but I can't remember now...anyway, they caught this kid who spent so much time inside and on the computer that the authors described him as having "an incredible monitor tan". He also grew his fingernails long, etc...good book too...I'm pretty sure @ Large is the title.
*g* I have an Apple 2e emulator on my PC too. All my friends say "WHY???". I have a logo program and an Aztec game. I still remember logo, and it seems so long ago. *shrug*. I also have an Atari 2600 emu and a ton of games I never had as a kid. Our box bit the dust a long time ago. Honestly, I never thot I would play Joust or Phoenix again. I love the old games. Yes, I realize they were dippy and extremely low tech, but they are still fun.
I totally agree. Given all the things that WebTV doesn't do, and it's a heck of a lot, you are better off buying a sub-$1000 PC. I visited developer.webtv.net and was just *astounded*. But I guess there are some couch potatoes out there who just have to surf the net and the tube at the same time.
No, of all the things that I've had go wrong, this was the only one. I ordered something from the Sears Wishbook online. My mom has had a Sears card for a good 40 years, but the bastards don't ship to Canada. So I had the item sent to a friend of mine in the US. He wasn't able to pick it up in time and it got sent back to the warehouse. Now...I never got an email stating that it had been returned...there wasn't any info on the site with what to do if the item gets returned, or an email saying my account had been credited...so I had to PHONE and get it sent somewhere else...however, the info on my account on the website didn't reflect the new order...so I am just hoping that the thing gets to my friend...
So in the end, it wasn't the site's fault, rather a lack of planning by the people runnin it.
I agree. I trained as a library technician during 1995-1997. I took classes, like above, in how to properly form a search query in a ton of different databases and on the net. I was a good little user and remember my Boolean and broading and shortening my search terms. Back then I would find all sorts of obscure pages with Webcrawler. These days I usually have to try three or four different engines before I can find what I need. Nope, nothing's changed, it's always been that way. The only thing I notice is what search engines have too many outdated links, I never use Webcrawler or Excite anymore. Not even Yahoo, that's the total pits.
I agree, altho you would have to know a lot about religion to get some of the jokes...and it's true that in the past the Catholic Church has bemoaned it's apparently declining membership:-) Hey, ya gotta love Buddy Christ!! And there were other dogmas in there too...like that Mary never died, or had any other kids than Jesus. It was a great movie, tho the ending was a bit lame...I actually felt bad when Loki died. It certainly wasn't a religion bashing movie...best movie I've seen in a while.
sorry it's in the old page format, but ah well...OTOH, there is a really good Disney story in an old book called "Mass Mediated Culture". It was unfortunately stolen from the SAIT library...I would loved to have xeroxed that one. Disney is so obsessed with everything being perfect that everything must be monitored. No sex in the bushes, no litter. It's more Big Brother than anything. I would never go there. I view Disney as an elitist company now - just check out their treatment of Winnie the Pooh. There's "Classic Pooh" for the high-noses with a higher price tag and "modern Pooh" which you can find at any K-Mart or Wal-Mart. Sad.
There was a review of two books about it on Salon a couple of months ago that was very thought-provoking. What makes Celebration any different than Levittown? Man, it's too frightening when individuals give up their power to a corporation (even if it is Disney) or abandon their innner cities for the blandness and conformity of planned communities and suburbs.
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They sold out long ago to Disney man!
The problem with movies like this is that same problem that "wholesome" shows like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons had. People think that if they eschew technology they will lead simpler, happier lives. Dream on!
Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin
puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset
of that year's incoming freshmen. Here is this year's list:
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were
born in 1982.
They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and probably did not
know he had ever been shot.
They were pre pubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
There has been only one Pope.
They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember
the Cold War.
They have never feared a nuclear war.
(oh man, I had such a bad case of nuclear anxiety as a kid!)
They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
Tianamen Square means nothing to them.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.
The expression you sound like a broken record means nothing to them.
They have never owned a record player.
(I have two!)
They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Pong.
They may have never heard of an 8 track.
The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
They have always had an answering machine.
Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they
seen a black-and-white TV.
They have always had cable.
(yikes, fond memories of our giant RCA!)
There has always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.
They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
They were born the year that Walkman was introduced by Sony.
Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
They have never seen Larry Bird play.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WW1, WW2 and the Civil War.
They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
They never heard: "Where's the beef?", "I'd walked a mile for a Camel", or
"de plane, de plane".
They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.
The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was.
Michael Jackson has always been white.
Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.
McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
There has always been MTV.
They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.
Pass this on to the other old fogies.
oh my god! you remember those? they were banned at my school. :-) every now and then you'd find one stuck to the inside of a desk :-) I still have all my My Little Ponies tho...
:-) hey, I prefer to save the trees myself! I don't really care if a letter comes on paper or email...I'll respond faster to email but slower to paper.
ROFL!!! I hate to say it, but from a lot of the posts, some people seem to be wishing that. Don't know what made me write it...just a Freudian slip I guess!
I particularly noticed this in your story, "Geeks" in Rolling Stone awhile back. I liked how you were a fly on the wall rather than a fly in the ointment...and in the last few paragraphs subtlely introduced yourself into the story when one of the kids says he doesn't think he has three plates. That was a very masterful piece.
I don't care too much when you write about current topics, but prefer it when you are observing. I would compare the Geeks article to something like
"Charlie Simpson's Apocolypse" by Joe Eszterhas (yeah, you read that right! He wrote excellent articles before he became a smut-o-rama screenwriter)
Me too. They are hilarious and remind me of my friends in high school :-) The one more recent episode where they were at a security convention was a bomb. Overall, I'm pretty disappointed with last year's shows and I knew it would happen - the writing would go in weird directions like Twin Peaks. Man, I loved that show, but it got too weird even for me at the end.
:-) LOL I went to SAIT. I work downtown now :-) At one time I thought about going to the UofC to be an archeologist, but alas...:-)
what if the paint shop goes out of business?
LOL unlike religions, businesses go bust very fast!
That is totally true, let me give another example. I loved Atari 2600 when I was kid (who didn't) and I have two emus for it. I downloaded all my favourite games and I was happy to know that I actually remembered how to play them a good 10, 12 years after the fact.
But, I downloaded a ton of games that I never had but always wanted - but was not able to find manuals for them all online. Now I am a bit confused as to some of the games...what the blinking blob means or why x happens when my little guy picks up item y. So I have sadly given up on some games that looked cool, but I'll be durned if I know how to play. Given too that a lot of the early games lacked "begin" or "end" screens.
I've also read about Finnish scientists who are trying to come up with signs to last at least 500 years in a language/medium that people will understand in the future, or perceive as a danger sign. Our yellow anad black shield will probably have as much meaning to people in the future as Venus figurines do to people now.
--Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea --
massive, difficult to redirect, awe inspiring, entertaining, and a
source of mind boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it.--
--Gene Spafford--
No other country bans more books than the US. In some states textbooks can be removed if they are considered communist. Peter Rabbit gets banned because the bunnies are too bourguoise. Goosebumps gets tossed because it's "evil and satanic". In fact, "witchcraft" is the number one reason why books are banned. Sick, sad world. If you are not vigilant in protecting your freedom to read, others will take it from you.
To keep it OT, I really enjoyed reading Woz's answers! He's always been a hero of mine
That reminds me of a book I read...I believe it was called @ Large but I can't remember now...anyway, they caught this kid who spent so much time inside and on the computer that the authors described him as having "an incredible monitor tan". He also grew his fingernails long, etc...good book too...I'm pretty sure @ Large is the title.
*g* I have an Apple 2e emulator on my PC too. All my friends say "WHY???". I have a logo program and an Aztec game. I still remember logo, and it seems so long ago. *shrug*. I also have an Atari 2600 emu and a ton of games I never had as a kid. Our box bit the dust a long time ago. Honestly, I never thot I would play Joust or Phoenix again. I love the old games. Yes, I realize they were dippy and extremely low tech, but they are still fun.
Hip Parents are always cool :-) I swear my mom is the only mom I know that liked watching Kids in the Hall with her kids :-)
I totally agree. Given all the things that WebTV doesn't do, and it's a heck of a lot, you are better off buying a sub-$1000 PC. I visited developer.webtv.net and was just *astounded*. But I guess there are some couch potatoes out there who just have to surf the net and the tube at the same time.
LOL LOL I wouldn't be surprised if Geller crawled out from obscurity looking like that one day!
ROFL!! hehehehe, it's a little orange beastie with a moustache, I don't see any physical resemblance at all :-) He's a fraud and a weirdo.
So in the end, it wasn't the site's fault, rather a lack of planning by the people runnin it.
I agree. I trained as a library technician during 1995-1997. I took classes, like above, in how to properly form a search query in a ton of different databases and on the net. I was a good little user and remember my Boolean and broading and shortening my search terms. Back then I would find all sorts of obscure pages with Webcrawler. These days I usually have to try three or four different engines before I can find what I need. Nope, nothing's changed, it's always been that way. The only thing I notice is what search engines have too many outdated links, I never use Webcrawler or Excite anymore. Not even Yahoo, that's the total pits.
I agree, altho you would have to know a lot about religion to get some of the jokes...and it's true that in the past the Catholic Church has bemoaned it's apparently declining membership :-) Hey, ya gotta love Buddy Christ!! And there were other dogmas in there too...like that Mary never died, or had any other kids than Jesus. It was a great movie, tho the ending was a bit lame...I actually felt bad when Loki died. It certainly wasn't a religion bashing movie...best movie I've seen in a while.
http://www.tekknowledge.com/gonzo/articles/other/d isneyland.html
sorry it's in the old page format, but ah well...OTOH, there is a really good Disney story in an old book called "Mass Mediated Culture". It was unfortunately stolen from the SAIT library...I would loved to have xeroxed that one. Disney is so obsessed with everything being perfect that everything must be monitored. No sex in the bushes, no litter. It's more Big Brother than anything. I would never go there. I view Disney as an elitist company now - just check out their treatment of Winnie the Pooh. There's "Classic Pooh" for the high-noses with a higher price tag and "modern Pooh" which you can find at any K-Mart or Wal-Mart. Sad.
There was a review of two books about it on Salon a couple of months ago that was very thought-provoking. What makes Celebration any different than Levittown? Man, it's too frightening when individuals give up their power to a corporation (even if it is Disney) or abandon their innner cities for the blandness and conformity of planned communities and suburbs.