You know you are getting old when:

[Fading Fast]

I get the feeling that some kids growing up watching television believe that life
has a beginning, a middle and an ending with the solution at the end
of a half hour just like in the TV shows.
They feel jaded when they realize this is not the real world.
I'm talking about kids in lower income who have not prepared themselves for finding a
good or skilled job after finishing school.
Sadly not all school systems are the same.
They ask me how I became a news cameraman. I tell them it took time,
working part time at various jobs and finding out what was needed to
become a cameraman.
I see them all the time at the public tennis courts.
I have many old spare tennis rackets which they appreciate and enjoy.
I try to give them hope.

This is sad as we all know that, with very rare exception, success / building skills / growing in a career / having a personal relationship of value that lasts / etc. requires hard work over long periods with a willingness and ability to overcome setbacks and disappointments. There are no 30-minute-sitcoms answers in real life.

Sure, we also all know the one-off example of easy success that came to someone, but for the rest of us, success comes from a combination of luck, work, effort, opportunity, perseverance, etc. If kids are absorbing a different lesson from TV and giving up hope because of that - then that is very disappointing. My upbringing was not easy, but I had no / none / not one illusion that success would be easy or even the least bit guaranteed even if I did all the "right" things. TV was just a fake world of entertainment - I got that early and maybe am guilty of assuming, incorrectly, that most people do as well.

 

[GHT]

My God would color destroy that movie. But that movie should never be remade - it is a product of its time and Welles and Cotton and should just be left alone. The frenetic pace of modern "espionage thrillers" would kill everything that makes that movie special.

Much the same can be said about the French movie, La Cage aux Folles. Remaking it in English and calling it The Birdcage was an insult. You don't need to speak French to enjoy La Cage aux Folles, so much is nuance, gesture and body language. The original was brilliant, it really should have been left alone.

 

[KY Gentleman]

He says he will never go back to such a craphole.

I once asked a server in a lounge why they kept the place so dark. He said it was cheaper for management to keep it dark than repair all the holes in the walls.
I never went back to that place again.

 

[Fading Fast]

Much the same can be said about the French movie, La Cage aux Folles. Remaking it in English and calling it The Birdcage was an insult. You don't need to speak French to enjoy La Cage aux Folles, so much is nuance, gesture and body language. The original was brilliant, it really should have been left alone.

Same thing can be said about "Sabrina," the original B&W help ground what is basically a fluff-ball of a movie (that plus incredibly talented acting); whereas, the remake was a mess for a hundred reasons - with being in color just one of the bigger ones.

 

[3fingers]

Same thing can be said about "Sabrina," the original B&W help ground what is basically a fluff-ball of a movie (that plus incredibly talented acting); whereas, the remake was a mess for a hundred reasons - with being in color just one of the bigger ones.

I have refused to watch the new Sabrina. I try to avoid things that I know will only raise my annoyance level.

 

[Fading Fast]

I have refused to watch the new Sabrina. I try to avoid things that I know will only raise my annoyance level.

You matured ahead of me. I now employ your methodology.

 

[tonyb]

The time passes no matter what we do with it. I've found that my levels of annoyance and frustration increase in almost directly inverse proportion to my mindfulness of that.

There's more things wanting a person's attention than s/he could ever pay any mind at all.

 

[3fingers]

You matured ahead of me

My wife might disagree on any notion of my advanced maturity.

 

[Zombie_61]

...TV was just a fake world of entertainment - I got that early and maybe am guilty of assuming, incorrectly, that most people do as well.

I also realized at an early age that television and movies often bore a resemblance to real life, but were still nothing more than entertainment and should never be taken too seriously. But then, I had the advantage of having a dad who went to work every day to earn the money that would maintain our lifestyle, and a mom who performed all of the typical "stay at home" motherly/housewifely duties, so I was able to easily compare the similarities and differences. I learned as I grew older that some people weren't so fortunate, and that some used television as a way to "escape" their real-life situation(s).

I'm fairly well convinced this is why the so-called "reality" shows are so popular. "Jeez, those people have more money than God, and they're even more screwed up than I am!" It makes them feel better about their own lives, and that money won't solve all of your problems. On the other hand, just once I'd like to have enough money to find out for myself.

 

[2jakes]

I'm fairly well convinced this is why the so-called "reality" shows are so popular. "Jeez, those people have more money than God, and they're even more screwed up than I am!" It makes them feel better about their own lives, and that money won't solve all of your problems. On the other hand, just once I'd like to have enough money to find out for myself.

I worked in Beverly Hills for the “rich & famous” for about a year.
It’s true that money won’t solve all the problems.

The only difference as I saw it was they were living in places that were very nice
and comfortable while they suffered. If that makes any sense!

 

[tonyb]

I worked in Beverly Hills for the “rich & famous” for about a year.
It’s true that money won’t solve all the problems.

The only difference as I saw it was they were living in places that were very nice
and comfortable while they suffered. If that makes any sense!

Money has a HUGE effect on one's overall sense of well-being when there isn't enough of it. By that I mean not enough scratch to keep a roof over one's head and food in one's belly and wheels under one's rump.

When the basics are met, when you got a decent health plan and enough scratch to pay the bills and still got a couple nickels to rub together on the last day of the month, more money mostly gets you better versions of what you already have. In other words, going from a hand-to-mouth existence, from just barely getting by on, say, 30 grand a year (multiply that by at least 1.5 if that person lives in a major city), to double that, typically has a much greater impact on personal satisfaction than going from $150K to $500K.

A fellow I counted among my best friends made the big cash-out in January of last year. Lung cancer did it. A couple three years prior he and his lovely missus came into lotsa dough -- millions in all. They both kept on working, even though he was certainly of an age when retirement would seem a reasonable proposition. The only thing to get retired was their remaining debt -- the mortgage, primarily. I mention this because while this old pal of mine was happy for the money, of course, he came into it at a time when he knew what it was and wasn't good for.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I also realized at an early age that television and movies often bore a resemblance to real life, but were still nothing more than entertainment and should never be taken too seriously. But then, I had the advantage of having a dad who went to work every day to earn the money that would maintain our lifestyle, and a mom who performed all of the typical "stay at home" motherly/housewifely duties, so I was able to easily compare the similarities and differences. I learned as I grew older that some people weren't so fortunate, and that some used television as a way to "escape" their real-life situation(s).

I'm fairly well convinced this is why the so-called "reality" shows are so popular. "Jeez, those people have more money than God, and they're even more screwed up than I am!" It makes them feel better about their own lives, and that money won't solve all of your problems. On the other hand, just once I'd like to have enough money to find out for myself.

It's always good to remember that *all* art is propaganda in one form or another, and this is especially true of any and all forms of mass art and mass media. It's either used to sell you an idea or a mindset -- or distract you from something you aren't supposed to notice -- or sometimes both. Nothing that has ever aired on television has ever been there just to entertain you, educate you, or inform you. There is always, *always* an ulterior motive. Occasionally it's benign, but more often it is not, and you can usually discover the ultimate purpose of what you're watching by simply following the money.

 

[GHT]

On the other hand, just once I'd like to have enough money to find out for myself.

As I have said before, in some other thread: Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you an MGB V8.

 

[GHT]

It's always good to remember that *all* art is propaganda in one form or another, and this is especially true of any and all forms of mass art and mass media. It's either used to sell you an idea or a mindset -- or distract you from something you aren't supposed to notice -- or sometimes both. Nothing that has ever aired on television has ever been there just to entertain you, educate you, or inform you. There is always, *always* an ulterior motive. Occasionally it's benign, but more often it is not, and you can usually discover the ultimate purpose of what you're watching by simply following the money.

Our BBC would probably argue against what you say, not being in the lap of advertisers, furthermore, the BBC likes to think that it is all encompassing and fair minded, especially to the marginalised. Be that by race, creed, religion or sexual orientation. But before you buy a one way ticket Lizzie, check out the BBC's pay structure. The ladies have had a raw deal, for example, (no names, but,) popular young female broadcaster's salary: £150,000. Male counterpart, £600.000. Don't take my word for it, just Google something like: "Gender pay gap at the BBC."

 

[Zombie_61]

As I have said before, in some other thread: Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you an MGB V8.

It can also pay off your mortgage and get you and your loved ones decent health care, not to mention keeping you fed and clothed. It's appalling to me that here in the U.S., allegedly the richest country in the world, there are so many people who work themselves nearly to death and still can't afford these simple basics of life.

I figure this is the reason I'll never have any actual money to speak of--because I'd spend it responsibly and not on a bunch of useless crap like mansions, or $100,000 sports cars, or private jets, or anything like that. Instead I'd use it to take care of the people I care about, spend more time with them wherever they happen to live, and maybe travel to see more of this planet we live on first-hand before I kick the bucket. Other than that, I'd just like to have enough money so I'd never have to worry about not having enough money.

 

[tonyb]

As I have said before, in some other thread: Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you an MGB V8.

And that'll make you at least momentarily happy.

As extravagances go, an MGB V8 is a relatively modest one.

It was a couple decades ago that I first heard it said that the right cars were getting snapped up by the wrong people, which was to say that guys with soft hands and pockets full of dough were buying those collectible cars already restored and were driving up the prices for everyone else.

I own oodles of stuff that no honest person would call necessities. But very little of it has much in the way of economic value. It's just interesting old stuff that has much more value -- intangible as that value might be -- as a curated collection (of sorts) than the sum of its value in dollars and cents. It's fun to see what this stuff might sell for now, but I have no intention of doing that so it's just an academic exercise.

 

[tonyb]

It can also pay off your mortgage and get you and your loved ones decent health care, not to mention keeping you fed and clothed. It's appalling to me that here in the U.S., allegedly the richest country in the world, there are so many people who work themselves nearly to death and still can't afford these simple basics of life.

I figure this is the reason I'll never have any actual money to speak of--because I'd spend it responsibly and not on a bunch of useless crap like mansions, or $100,000 sports cars, or private jets, or anything like that. Instead I'd use it to take care of the people I care about, spend more time with them wherever they happen to live, and maybe travel to see more of this planet we live on first-hand before I kick the bucket. Other than that, I'd just like to have enough money so I'd never have to worry about not having enough money.

Pretty well says it.

You sound like a person who knows he can't take it with him when he croaks.

 

[Zombie_61]

Pretty well says it.

You sound like a person who knows he can't take it with him when he croaks.

"Last night the wife said, 'Poor boy, when you're dead you won't take nothing with you but your soul.'"
John Lennon - "The Ballad of John and Yoko"

Not only can't I take it with me, but my wife and I never had children so I/we don't really have anyone to leave it to. Besides, I'm fairly pragmatic when it comes to the subject of death; more specifically my own. The two most common beliefs are, a) that we simply die and our existence ends, and b) that there is some form of afterlife and that what we call a "soul" leaves the body when it dies and returns to that afterlife. Either way, once this body dies I'll have no use for any of this Earthly stuff and certainly won't care about it or what happens to it. But as long as I'm here, it would sure be nice to have enough of that evil green stuff stashed away so that I wouldn't have to concern myself with whether or not I have enough of it to live out my remaining days in even a modest amount of comfort.

 

[GHT]

"Last night the wife said, 'Poor boy, when you're dead you won't take nothing with you but your soul.'"
John Lennon - "The Ballad of John and Yoko"

A brilliant greeting card once caught my attention. It depicted an overweight corporate looking guy, descending the stairs to Hell. He's carrying a huge great wicker basket stuffed full of bundles of cash. At the foot of the steps the Devil greets him and says: "Congratulations, you are the first ever to bring it all with you. Now what are you going to do with it?"

 

[2jakes]

Obviously, we are merely caretakers
of our prized possesions.

I've mentioned before about leaving messages on my vehicles for those in
the future who will claim them.

But in the back of my mind, thoughts
of someone pitching a sled into the fire
and the whisper of "Rosebud".....
comes to mind.