. . .being of an older generation.

In case you're worried about what's going to become of the younger generation, it's going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation. -- Roger Allen

Recently I've been thinking a bit about being a member of an "older" generation. Then semi-suddenly two incidents brought it all home and gave me sufficient fodder for a blog post. 

First came a friend's fascination with the TV sit-com Two and a Half Men in which Charlie Sheen plays an alcoholic whore monger. Yes, I know the show is technically about two brothers sharing a house with a ten year old son; but all of the storylines and dialog have to do with Charlie Sheen being an alcoholic defiler while mirth and merriment ensue all around.

Now you have got to know that this show has caused screams of protest from those who find its content unfit for broadcast television. The rebuttal to those cries of moral degeneracy has been steady top ten ratings for the show since it began. So I watched half a dozen episodes. OK, I laughed a lot more than I cringed, but then I don't have any kids who might see it. Clearly lots of young, unknown wanna be starlets are getting much needed guest shots and showing as much skin as prime time allows. When I did feel a bit uncomfortable about the content, it was the writing not the visuals but then again I am still a guy, which means hot, young bimbos playing hot, young bimbos are at least visually satisfying. With each verbal indelicacy I reminded myself that I am of an "older" generation and I remembered what our elders thought of us during the 60s & 70s. Besides I did laugh. 

Then last week Charlie was big news for going into rehab again, bigger news it seems than a conflagration in Egypt and adjoining parts of the middle east. Charlie in rehab again, the show on hiatus again, the show about an alcoholic whore monger, and you thought South Park was irreverent. Well enough of banal television, I will not be watching future episodes once Charlie is dried out, but do allow your kids to watch the boob tube without restrictions, after all it's better than finding out the local meth dealer peddles his wares in the public library; but that's another story.

Part two of this story comes to us via facebook. I saw a post from a old high school friend about the death of another high school classmate' again the theme of being part of a older generation. I dropped her a note, the old friend not the dead old friend, and reminded her of an incident we were involved in back now 46 years ago. She responded and told me a few details which I had not known and then she added: "It just seems life is not fair to everyone, I find it hard to believe Deborah has been gone nearly 20 years."

What? Gone twenty years? Deborah was my high school girlfriend, most of my adolescent 'firsts' involved her but wait, she has been dead for nearly two decades? My mind just didn't wrap itself around that one, my brain just kept spitting out that factoid - it simply did not compute. I hadn't seen her in over 40 years, heard not a word of news but still - "gone twenty years" . . .

I need a break, maybe catch The Big Chill on the oldies network before I head out to the seniors discount buffet at the local tribal casino, then maybe a few rousing rounds of bingo.

Imported From Detroit (I)

I admit it, I watch the Super Bowl for the commercials; I just am not a sports fan anymore. Unfortunately, since the recession the super ads haven't been that super. No one wants to spend the big bucks make those great ads like they used to. All the way back to the 1984 Apple MacIntosh ad, super sunday has been the place to make big announcments, remember during the dot com boom when over half the ads were for companies you never heard of and didn't know what they did even after you viewed the commercial. 


But this year not so much, a few CG animations that were interesting, a bunch of trailers for summer blockbuster wanna-be movies and then came the Detroit ad - "Imported from Detroit" - if you didn't see it go here. If there is such a thing as a great ad, this is it. You may have already run across it, the Chrysler ad with Eminem. It really is a two minute piece of art or at least an ode to Detroit. And it sets out the basics of the larger critique of fate of the city that is Detroit.

The reason I bring it up is because I too am imported from Detroit. I was born there and for the first 25 years of my life, Detroit was the large metropolitan area that filled the niches for what big cities do. Sure I had Ann Arbor for lots of things, but Detroit was the big city and many of my relatives lived there, holidays were celebrated there and when family stories were told they all happened in Detroit.

For nearly a year I have off and on had a curiosity with the current state of the city and yes it is a bit of a morbid fascination. I have collected some stories, some pictures and some memories I have had them queued up in the draft folder. The super bowl piece brought it all out into the open. Time to write about Detroit.

I probably have three or four posts worth of Detroit material, but we start with the Eminem/Crysler ad, it really is a masterpiece. Please take a look and I will continue with this in a few days after a bit more reflection on the place of my birth.

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Art: Joe Louis' Fist sculpture from downtown Detroit
Video link: youtube.com has been removing some links to the ad, I will attempt to keep an alternative link open here