Old and Out of It

The Grammys were last week and remind me I am clueless about popular culture. There is a singer named Pink and a Lady GaGa that I gather you either love or hate. I heard something about Ringo Starr reading the nominees for an award and apparently Elton John is still banging around in weird glasses but otherwise, it's a whole new generation with a whole new apocalyptic, slutty look.

This "left behind" state actually began for me when I started graduate school while working full-time. I didn't have time for anything but classes and papers and work for four years. I later became aware that my mother-in-law, at the time, was very worried about a health issue and I was completely oblivious to it. I've always felt bad about that, but really, I don't think it's unreasonable to think a man will keep up with health threats to his own mother. Do I have to do everything?

So, I blinked and Rap had gone mainstream, Grunge had become fashionable, and the standby response had become "Whatever" with "Google it" a close second. And I was just done to death with television. When I left my marriage and moved to my own apartment, one of my goals was to live my life in such a way that I would never see another Will & Grace rerun again. So far, I've been successful.

Music and TV have just gotten completely away from me, and I hang by a frayed thread to movies. The good news is we've seen Julie and Julia, Invictus and Young Victoria in the theatre recently and it really doesn't bother me to wait to get them from Netflix. The bad news is they're getting ready to announce the nominees for this year's Oscars and I still haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire.

Blindside and Up in the Air are still here and Crazyheart opens this weekend. Maybe we'll go a little crazy and see all of them back to back.