As my 30th birthday is quickly approaching, it has become undeniable to me that I am becoming what I said I’d never be, out of touch. In my late teens and early 20’s I always said I’ll never get sick of the newest songs on the radio, I’d never hate the coolest new movies, I’d never watch the grown up shows and stick with the youthful casts on the popular shows etc. etc. etc. Well guess what. I can’t stand any of that stuff anymore. I got old, how did this happen. I even think about getting heartburn before I eat. Maybe I should ask for some Pepto Bismol for my birthday.
Over the course of my life I went from a Fisher Price cassette player, to a ghetto blaster with cd and cassette, then a disman, car stereo with subwoofers, minidisc player, then an mp3 player. Now I have an iPod that I take with me everywhere. Something I could never have imagined when I was young. And even though I still have a lot of new music on it, it’s not the popular stuff. I’m so out of touch with popular music, when I watch music award shows I have to google the performers. I keep confusing Bruno Mars with Pluto Nash (the movie with Eddie Murphy). I’ve been introduced to so many new acts in my lifetime that eventually I just quit looking at them. When watching these awards shows I notice that some of the bands I loved growing up are still sitting in the crowd and possibly are up for an award. It comforts me that maybe I’m not so out of touch. Then reality sets in and they get a lifetime achievement award. I realized when they referred to the Red Hot Chili Peppers as “classic rock” on the radio, that I really am getting older. My favorite DJ is now 48 years old, The Fresh Prince has kids who are now famous, and U2 can get seniors discounts at the grocery store. And I’ve only talked about music so far.
My first video game was Madden 92, now I play Madden 11. My second was Street Fighter II, now I play SF 4. Some things never change. Ive been asked why I can play football games even though I haven’t always watched actual football on tv. My only answer is that it’s no different from scoring perfect on every Guitar Hero song and not being able to play bah bah black sheep on a real guitar. It’s just fun to play. The progress these franchises have made is mind blowing, but the fun factor has not. I had just as much fun playing 16bit Madden where I used the same three plays to destroy the other team as I do playing it now in 128bit, 1080p, or whatever it is now, I lost track somewhere between Nintendo 64 and PS3. I thank god for game franchises like those because without them, I wouldn’t be a gamer anymore. Call Of Duty doesn’t appeal to me, give me Duke Nukem 3D. Warcraft isn’t my thing, give me a character sheet, some dice, and a dungeon master. I’m old school. I’ll still buy the new Madden when it comes out, but it’s because I’ve lived through that game for 20 years.
I wanna be like Mario. The older he gets, the better he looks.
Movies sure have changed over the years. My favorite trilogy recently had a younger brother trilogy, and it crapped all over him. A perfect example of how CGI has been abused by film makers. Not all film makers, but a select few should have their special effects privileges revoked. I’ll be the first to admit that some of the movies I loved as a kid were lame. But the level of lameness in some of today’s blockbusters is crazy. But don’t take my word for it, I’m an out of touch adult. I loved the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Now I hear they plan to “honor” it by making another one. This time they are from space, and maybe just resemble turtles, but not actually turtles. Congrats Michael Bay, you just killed my hopes and dreams.
What I learned writing this is that music is constantly evolving, video games are constantly improving, and movies are being recycled at an alarming rate. And most importantly, my age means nothing as long as I can still enjoy my outdated CDs, my cartridge games, and my VHS movies.
All pictures from google pictures.