One more thing

[siercia]

I found myself wondering just when it was that I became completely uncool.

I mean, I've always (well as an adult) embraced my dorky side that likes to geek out over random stuff that bores most people.

But I was realizing today that I have almost no interest in anything "cool" anymore. I don't follow 90% of music, movies, tv, books (well, books a little). I just have no interest in almost anything that can be found in our pop culture anymore. It's not even like I'm making a choice to opt out; there's just a complete lack of interest in making the effort.

When did I become so lame?

Comments

[humanbeatbox.livejournal.com]

Actually, you probably stayed the same - the 90% of music, movies, tv and books became lame.

Heh

[siercia]

I bet my parents would argue with that - I mean 80's hair metal didn't have a lot to recommend it, but that didn't stop me from being obsessed.

But yeah, enough of the new stuff is so lame, and so in your face that I've just tuned out the chatter entirely. Unfortunately, that often means the few good things don't make it into my consciousness either.

[kaasirpent]

Actually, I was thinking that the NEW cool is to eschew so-called "pop" culture in favor of the real thing. :)

[siercia]

While I do agree with you, I think it's only "cool" if you do it in a conscious snobbish kind of way. Like, the 35 yr old, midwestern suburban soccer mom (which I am NOT) who has no idea who or what X, Y, or Z is is NOT cool, but the hipster who knows who they are and sneers at X, Y, or Z as being pap / fake / bubble gum is cool.

Know what I mean? I'm not eschewing it, I don't care one way or the other.

[kaasirpent]

Having NEVER been cool (at any age), I can't imagine why it matters, actually. But yeah, I see what you mean. :)

[siercia]

I don't think it matters. I think it just still means I'm not cool =)

[skreeky]

I dunno. There's been quite a bit of press the last couple of years regarding how hip the fiber arts are becoming - all the college kids learning to knit and quilt. You may be hipper than you think.

[siercia]

Many of the fiber arts, particularly knitting, are becoming wildly popular, and that is WONDERFUL! I love that there's lots of people to connect with and geek out with, and I love that the increased interest has led to a incredible increase in the kinds of fibers and yarns that are available as well.

But when the fad dies down, and the college kids aren't doing it anymore? I'll still be there, plugging along =)

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

You did not became lame.

You have developed taste, and no longer consume junk culture as the de facto "cool."

You are True Cool. True Cool is being who you are with no regard for what anyone else thinks. True Cool is telling the rest of the culture to shove off. True Cool is BEING the rebel, not acting like other rebels you've seen on TV.

Hee

[siercia]

I'm hardly a rebel. I'm just doing my own thing my own way. I care what the people who are important to me think; partly because I know they're not going to be judging me on surface crud that doesn't matter.

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

We change, and our beloved show and books and authors change and fade away. Some things no longer are as important in our lives as they once were (take a pick: drinking, parties, movies, music, whatever) and other things have replaced them (kids, purpose-in-life). Some (good books, good movies) may remain the same, but being grounded in our particular generation, it's harder to relate to the latest Mandy Moore movie than say, Better Off Dead (which will kick Moore's ass anyday).

I want my two DOLLARS!

[siercia]

Yeah, that's exactly it. Where I used to have hours of free time to follow inane rock bands and teen movies etc. now I have, you know, a job and a child and a house. Increasingly, I feel like a fool even when I am interested in something "hip", like I'll look like the worst kind of poser. who wants to be seen as the 30 something who "thinks she's cool" when she's completely not, right?

I imagine it doesn't help that as a culture, hip and cool are seen as almost exclusively the perview of the young. We old folks get the more quality stuff, but we seemingly inevitably get looked down on by the hip people.

Re: I want my two DOLLARS!

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

But were they all inane? Lynda Barry (100 Demons - excllent book) wrote a panel once about how there's a certain point in our lives (teens- early twenties) where music holds such powerful sway, expresses things we haven't figured out how to say yet, immerses us in a common language for the heartache and topsy-turvy world of growing up. Sung literature - and some of it very beautiful. But then, you grow older, and somehow things change.

Some of it ("..feel like a fool") is that we have more invested in what other people think. It's harder to just do whatever because we're ever more tightly bound in social webs. If you're too "hip", maybe older friends think you're pretentious, and younger kids think you're a poser. It takes a lot of courage to get to the point where you're okay with keeping hobbies or following music/authors/whatever that are meaningful to you -- even if they're ones that your friends have turned away from.

Sometimes I ponder the sea-changes in myself and wonder what the me of 10 years ago would think of me now. Or what the me of 10 years hence might think, looking back.