Gen X and Middle Aged
Posted on January 18, 2011 | By ImmatureOld | No Comments
Joe Barcello likes to think he's more handsome than the gentlemen is this picture!
I have hair in my ears. This shocks and appalls me. I also can’t touch my toes anymore and I have an arthritic thumb that can predict rainfall. How did this happen? I have the brain of a teenager but the body of well…my Dad. Actually I’m a little fatter than him now.
What kind of time warp was I in that I now find myself middle aged? Proper middle aged by the way. I’m 38. I find few things more annoying than a 64 year old Baby Boomer claiming to be “middle aged.” Really? Hey Pops do you plan on living to 128? I don’t so. I don’t care how much fish oil you take and what kind of erectile dysfunction medication you’re on. In my eyes you have one foot in the grave. Better make the best of your final 20 years (if you’re lucky). All I ask is that you embrace the fact that you want that Porsche to compensate for your baldness and not because of some stage of life you’re going through.
I guess in my mind I thought I’d be more evolved by now. Somehow more “grown up.” Sure I like some classical music and I can formulate an opinion on the corporate bailouts and the Social Security crisis. But I also still play video games and listen to old school rap. Does that make me interesting or conflicted? I’m not sure. For now I’ll just keep plucking ear hairs and playing Rock Band on the Wii with my kids.
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Joe Barcello is a self-employed city guy opts to quit his job, move to the country and stay home with the kids while his wife pays the bills. Check out his own hysterical blog entitled Immature and Old.
My Favorite Song is an Aging Hippie-Holdover Classic!
Posted on August 28, 2010 | By Robert LaFrance | 3 Comments
This rant was inspired by a song. It’s a lovely little ditty and I’d like to play it for you now.
That’s right – it’s Dan Fogerlberg’s “Longer Than.” This optimistic ballad was released late in 1979 and gained most of its insane popularity in 1980 and is now my all time favorite song. A favorite song that I never need to hear again. In fact, I’d rather puncture my eardrums with porcupine spines than listen to that drivel. So, I hear you asking yourself, “with all that great music that The Slacker Factor has brought me, how could THIS possibly be his favorite song?” Well, I will tell you.
“Longer Than” gives me hope. Not because of its poignant lyrical content, its dreamy melody, or delicately sung vocal. Nope, in fact those things make me want to reach into the early 80s and pull Dan Fogelberg’s tonsils out through his nose. I love it for this reluctant hope that it offers. Hope that if this boat load of crap can reach a peak position of #2 on the Singles Chart in this god forsaken country, then actual quality music might stand a fighting chance.
But, what I really can’t believe is that back in the early 80s, people heard this song for the first time and said to themselves “Wow, what a fantastic little ditty, I can’t wait to hear several more times an hour on my favorite Adult Contemporary radio station.” Or worse, that those aging hippie holdover baby boomers thought that this was a cutting edge new sound for a new decade and warranted critical acclaim and a place in the rock and roll history books alongside Richard Marx and Bryan Adams. Why else would it have catapulted his album called Phoenix to platinum status? There can be no other logical explanation.
