You Know You're Getting Old When. . ..

I remember a time lo, probably some 36 years ago, or thereabouts, that I sat on a curb somewhere in Orange County after a visit to Disneyland with Lens Speaks, Malcolm Moran, now a well known sports writer and professor, and my cousin Angela, awaiting some help after Len's rented car had a bit of a glitch. And I had with me a fresh new People Magazine with a cover story about the latest James Bond movie, starring Roger Moore.  I had followed Roger Moore from the time he did the short lived series Ivanhoe, through The Saint, and The Persuaders. He was one of a series of actors and actresses whose work I enjoyed and about whom I enjoyed reading in the celebrity press. 

There were still some of the real old timers around then, like Jack Lemmon, or Lauren Bacall, or I think even Laurence Olivier was still alive then, Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton, Liz Taylor.  Even Bette Davis and maybe Paul Henried, who'd shared a sexy cigarette scene in "Now, Voyager". Oh, Jimmy Stewart. Roger Moore was kind of a second generation star in this crowd of stars.

Year by year, they have passed away. And what has replaced them?  The Nicky Minaj types, the Kardashian, and the like.  Sensuality used to be presented by implication. Now it is literally, well, thrust upon us.

I used to hate the fact that my dad knew nothing about my generation's interests. He didn't know anyone on the entertainment shows. I mean, he thought I was an idiot for watching "The Monkees" on NBC. He was proud of his ignorance of all things post 1967.  I thought, "Well, he's old. He's still interested in Pérez Prado, and the Tango, and the Big Bands.. We are a different generation."

I still buy People and Entertainment and in order not to be completely out of the loop and become my father, in essence, I still watch programs I used to love like Access Hollywood, or Entertainment Tonight, but I know something has changed. Is it me? Am I just old now?  I cannot believe, like my parents could not before me, what passes for public consumption..

There she is, in the picture above, Jennifer Lopez, Jenny from the Block, a Catholic school girl, no less, over 40 herself.  I decided not to post the photos of her with her booty hanging out, but I think that is what did it for me, the "Yup I don't get it, I must be getting old" jumping the shark moment, the dueling shaking booty's of Jennifer and Nicky. 

Maybe when I was ogling Roger, whose movies had him discretely under the sheets with the latest Bond girl, I should have realized that we were on the slippery slope to the full Monty in every movie, in every photo, in every description, in everything, but I didn't expect this level of how do I say it in my old age, this level of visual debauchery to which every generation is now subjected on a daily basis.

I was laughing the other day when some parents were upset that a middle school had a book called "Rabbit is Rich" by John Updike which some enterprising kid discovered had sexual content. For the life of me I cannot understand why they would be upset.. Every billboard has something sexual on it in one way or the other. Network television has sex and violence as their primary ingredients. Middle schooners have required sex education in classes, whether their parents want it or not. Cut the proverbial crap, folks. The only thing free about this society is the availability of sex and violence, but mostly sex.

My dad used to say, "I don't belong in this world.". I know I must be getting old, because I find myself on the edge of saying the same thing.

Maybe our parents' generation was right when they were horrified at the shaking of Elvis pelvis.  It was a precursor to a world that looks depressingly like the set in "Blade Runner". 

I remember suddenly another moment. I was about fifteen and I was in a theatre watching Joel Grey, in full makeup, especially the ruby red lipstick, singing "Cabaret" in the movie of the same name to an audience that looked hard, and sleazy, and violent. The movie was depicting Germany in just pre-Nazi days, from a book written by Christopher Isherwood (Berlin Stories). 

I felt so depressed and even a little afraid as I watched the scene. But I could leave the movie behind me, all the sleaze and hopelessness it depicted. 

It's hard to leave the ugliness of Jennifer's booty behind, because it represents a cultural phenomenon. Nothing is left to the imagination. 

Maybe it's better if I do take myself out of the loop. I know I'm getting old because I find myself in despair of the society in which I live, and hope that I won't live to see its worst, its predictable worst, for mankind just never learns from its prior mistakes. As long as man thinks he is the measure of all things he will always destroy himself. 

But then what do I know?  I know.  I'm getting old.

Maybe I'll watch an old movie tonight.