Gen Y- I'm routing for you. Really.

via LT Nixon:

Unfortunately, most kids are satisfied being spoon-fed mainstream culture from the likes of American Idol and posting their boring pics on Facebook from the abstinence concert they got to "rock out" to during their summer break. That is, of course, if these poor kids even get to have a summer as their parents whisk them from college prep courses to cross-town playdates at the age of 8.

To add to his post that doesn't need adding to: I'm not the Nostrawekus I once thought. With the advent of technologies like the web, MP3's, Napster, et cetera,... I naively believed that being able to connect with similar interested funsters anywhere in the whirled (intentional alternative spelling) would unlock creative potentialities that would expand the arts in ways not seen since the Italians painted cathedral ceilings. I knew big business was pushing back by destroying small record labels and making big $ motion pictures where content takes a back seat to spizzzeshul effects, but I never anticipated even the 'lil stuff' in life would be effected. Yummy delis have been replaced with Panera Bread. Small coffee shops are Starbucks and another Starbucks. Blockbuster/Netflix chooses which shittty movies we can choose from and throws in a few John Waters films to show they're 'really where it's at'. Hell, even my nearest city of Tampa has had their social scene of independently owned bars upended by having a slew of publicly traded bars and restaurants take away their weak-minded patrons so they can all listen to the same songs at the same named bar in 20 other cities.

The Gen Yers have, through no fault of their own, been treated like lab rats since birth. They, and their parents, have been marketed to since their 'Gavin' or 'Kaitlin' (I hate Gen Y names) popped out of their momma's bellies in 1989 or so (annoying book plug here: read Consumed by Ben Barber). The LT asks today's parents to let their kiddies breath for themselves sometime and what I've witnessed from my peers that are parents, he is right. Sadly, the "security moms and dads" today are GenXers that have somehow came to the fucked up conclusion that we're the last generation that can be trusted with independence. Maybe the over protectiveness by us Xers can somehow be attributed to us not spending much time with our folks due to divorce or both parents having to work, but hell, I'm a dumbass blogger with no research to back up my intuition.

I don't doubt there are creative youngins', it's just that they have an overwhelming task of beating back the most structured marking mechanism we've ever seen. Good luck to them. Even though I've went from being a young bitter man to an older one, I still don't wish to prove my point of Gen X awesomeness by being creativity's last stand generation.

Ohhh the poor baby babyboomers

There is currently an advertisement on Daily Kos that has this child hero pictured below the words "Up yours, Baby Boomers!" The add then goes on to talk of the debt the generation before mine will be leaving as a parting gift. This, of course, annoyed the resident boomers and one went on to write a dairy asking Markos to remove the add from his site.

Now, I know some of you are going to blame me for the plague, political upheavel that devastated the economy, health care benefits and ozone layer. Get over it. I did my bit for humor in the face of the Black Death. I will be remembered long after that kid in the sweater turns into a thirty-something with uncorrected personality traits (thank you Robin Hitchcock). For the love of Holy Jaysus -- get that kid off my courtyard!

When are they gonna learn that everyone else hates the boomers? Their parents hate them, their kids hate them. Once their great #'s start to shrink due to 'attrition' GenX and Y are gonna pounce and rewrite the history books to show they're the most self-absorbed, zero accomplished pieces of rodent vomit to have lived under the American Flag. In the words of Motley Crue "don't go away mad, just go away".

Yeah, I can be classified as a hypocrite

Being a narcissistic blogger that partially justifies his existence by whining on the net, this may sound weird but why the hell does Gen Y find their lives so important by sharing their moments and their children's moments for all to see?

Overall, Gen Y is a lot more tapped into social media than Gen X. 149 of Gen Y moms surveyed have their own blog, and 160 said they read others' blogs. Comparatively, only 71 Gen X women reported having a blog, and only 86 read the blogs of others. 148 Gen Y moms have an online profile somewhere compared to only 78 of Gen X moms, and 154 Gen Y-ers create and share videos online while 96 of the Gen X group do so.

The text messagers are overtaking us

Soon all Xers will be forced to speak "the stupid"- i.e. OMG, LMAO, Paris Hilton OMFG, et cetera. . .

The entry of the techno-savvy Gen Ys is getting far more notice than the smaller, quieter absorption of Gen X, the demographic group sandwiched between the boomers and Gen Y.

Glad I'm not alone

Atrios seems to suffer from my same affliction- Athazagoraphobia (fear of being forgotten). I mean, fuck, we've had to have been the most flexible generation evvvaahhh. I went from having shelves full of Motorhead and Iron Maiden albums to an MP3 player I can conceal between 2 maxed out credit cards.

File this in the "No shit" folder

From the hockey crazed folks to our North (that's Canada for all of us American schooled fools):

EDMONTON - Employers are missing the mark when it comes to recruiting and keeping their younger workers, suggests a new survey released today by Edmonton-based David Aplin Recruiting.

Generation X and Generation Y employees most want opportunities for advancement and performance-based bonuses and raises.

Instead, their employers offer incentives like support for local charities and a casual dress code. Neither incentive made employees' top-10 list.

Honor Our Influences - RIP George Carlin

George Carlin had one of the most venomous tongues in stand-up comedy history. Boundaries were for kids, he cut through the nonsense of society more than anyone for 3 decades and left the audience feeling more knowledgeable than they even were entertained.

His wit, sarcasm and intolerance for bullshit were more X than any of us born in the 60's / 70's could hope to emulate.

I know you didn't believe in god, George, so I'm not gonna make any dumbass comment about you loitering around the pearly gates.

Like everything else it ended with a whimper

After the Smashing Pumpkins ended in 2000, Billy Corgan helped put together the band Zwan. They may have succeeded in outgunning the Pumpkins. Or maybe it's because Paz Lenchantin (a serious hottie) played bass that I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt? Really though, this may have been the most underrated album of this unremarkable decade.

Random Reflection

It was 80's night at the Tampa Bay Rays game tonight and many in the crowd cheapened an already cheap decade. The only thing I didn't see was leg warmers on a has-been chick trying to hide her fatty calves. After witnessing the debacle, I've decided the only 'fashion' trend I miss is girls with a ponytail pulled sideways. In my eyes, as a high schooler in the 80's (and 1/2 of 1990), this made even the ugly girls worth talking to.

Working til I'm 90

From Motley Fool:

If older Americans are in trouble when it comes to their retirement planning, Generation X is in big trouble, because:

Pensions have become things of the past.

The Social Security system is failing.

Debt, debt, and more debt.

Heavy Metal Rankings

Yahoo compiled a list of the 25 Best Heavy Metal bands. Normally I hate these fuckin' things, but 'they had me at Slayer coming in at #11'. So far, this is the only publication I've ever seen that have given Slayer their due.

They also listed the 25 worst Hair Metal bands. I lived through this era, and there isn't much on this list that I argue except for Skid Row clocking in at #2.

So here's a big fuck off to Yahoo-



One more thing- enough goddamn Led Zep. They're as much a bluegrass band as they were Metal.

Hoisting the Black Flag

Black Flag played an immeasurable part in shaping my musical preference.

Not only would they entertain you, the lead singer (Henry Rollins) would administer the beatings your estranged father never gave you:



The band members were always willing to give interviews to stupid middle schoolers that 'thought' they were in control:



They're songs lay the perfect ambiance for going mad:

Dividing and Conquering Us

From MediaPost:

Proximity Worldwide, a global direct and relationship marketing network that is part of BBDO Worldwide, has divided Generation X into three groups: the first suggests characters from a Richard Linklater film about slackers; the second wouldn't be caught dead watching that film unless their fashion sense depended on it and it was available for viewing on HD; and the third is too busy force-feeding their kids Mandarin lessons and piano to take time out for a flick.

Off Topic Tuesday

I'm back to a place with a computer! And more importantly so is LT Nixon.

Congrats, Junior

We knew 20 years ago, when he was 19 and skinny, that an achievement of this magnitude was possible. The signs were everywhere. Ken Griffey Jr. was the son of a major leaguer, he was from Stan Musial's hometown, Donora, Pa., he says he never struck out in a high school game and he was the Seattle Mariners' No. 1 pick in the June 1987 draft.

It came from Brazil

Dumb ass quiz that I took

"Are you a true Gen Xer?"

Before this quiz spits out the results it asks for your name and E-mail address. Just make some shit up. Or, better yet, give out the E-mail address to a boomer you can't stand (that'll be any boomer you know).

Predictably, this is what the quiz said bout me, and was wrong on one account since I'm a big corporation sellout:

True Gen Xer

A loose Gen X definition includes all those born between the years 1965 and 1977. Your claim to fame is witnessing the birth of the computer and MTV. You watched your parents get emotional over the death of Elvis and John Lennon. You also watched them become workaholic yuppies scrapping over corporate ladders to achieve the American dream. But perhaps you bore the brunt of it - a latch key for after-school companionship, and possibly even a broken home. That might be why so many Gen Xers dissed corporate America, choosing to be loyal to themselves rather than the company. They fought for freedom in the workplace to be independent and creative, and a few of them threw in the whole linen closet of towels and created giant dot-com companies. Of course, none of these Gen X characteristics might apply to you personally, but it might help you to understand the culture of your peers.

Yay us!

They're retreading some of our favorite bands:

Now is the time for members of Generation X to rejoice, remember and reflect. Hipsters who currently are mulling over the anxiety-provoking prospect of a 25th high school reunion can take solace in the fact that several pioneering rock acts who made their mark in the early ’80s are on the road in 2008. It’s a silver-anniversary season for anyone, male or female, who wore black fingernail polish in 1983.

Honor Our Influences

It's hard to envision REM, The Cure, or any shoe gazer bands had Joy Division never sprung from Manchester, England.

NAACP's New President

Congrats Benjamin Todd Jealous

Saturdays were for eating cereal and watching cartoons

Falling stock prices = good news for Xers (really)

From Gen X Finance:

If you were planning to buy a new car soon and you were reading in the papers that car prices were headed downward, would you see that as a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it works the same way with stocks. Investors in their 20s and 30s will be putting a lot of money into stocks in coming years. They will end up better off if prices come down than they will if prices go up.

More 'professional' election analysis

This Business Week writer doesn't have a clear understanding of Gen X's small contribution to the United States' population and has morphed Gen Y into us. Regardless, thanks for the unearned credit.

Lesson #3- Gen X is more powerful and imporant than the Boomer generation. Hard as it may be to accept for the dominant and dominating demographic, the boomers, it's influence in society is waning. The even larger (by a smidgen) Gen X generation, with its own net-centric ways of organizing and communicating, is starting to take control of US society. The message to politicians and managers alike is simple: Don't play old King Canute and stand on the shore telling the tide not to come in. The Gen X tide is inevitable and overwhelming.

Boomer power fading?

From UPI:

Obama at age 46 shows many of the traits of the so-called Generation X cohort from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s that followed the boomers. The Gen X-ers were raised in the boomers' shadow and generally resented them even while echoing many of their most selfish and self-obsessed preferences, public policies and personal consumer spending habits. Obama owes his success in large part to his appeal both to idealistic aging boomers and to young millennial generation Americans in their 20s.

I have my own theory on when Gen X actually began and I'll soon do a post on it with my typical lazy research.

Driving Lessons from Geggy Tah

This song always made me inexplicably happy

BWAHAHAHAHA

Last week I linked to an observant anti-boomer article by Meghan Daum of the LA Times. And then the boomer hate mail came in....

Meghan, you need a good trip. We have an extra ticket to the sold-out Crosby, Stills, and Nash Concert next month under the stars in Santa Barbara. No one will care that you're too young. I realize that it's not disco, but the music tries to compensate with harmony, meaningful lyrics, and social relevance.

Ms. Daum would probably castigate me for fitting the profile by suggesting this, but maybe she needs to take a pill and calm down regarding this particular issue.

About Meghan Daum's anti-boomer blast: After reading it, I still don't know why we touch such a nerve. Speaking of which, she has some. Oh, and was the review of the book about Carole King, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell deliberately placed two pages away? If so, right on.

Great job, Meghan! Don't back down from this pack of has-been, self-righteous pricks.

SL8R

At 36 years old* Kelly Slater is still on top of the surfing world. His accomplishments on the short board are the equivalent of Babe Ruth, Secretariat, and any trendy football player of the decade the sports pundits like to pump up. Kelly has WON 3 of the first 4 contests this season and is so far ahead in points he can literally show up on PCP the rest of the year and still capture his 9th World Title.

What's most amazing is he is from Florida which has perhaps the worst, most inconsistent waves in the known surf world. Believe me, I know, I live in FLA. The waves are so bad I've resorted to catch boat waves.

GenXster Books

Since we're the last generation to read books, and not just listen to them on iPods, there is some books that may be of interest to you's peoples.

No wonder they hated us as kiddies

A Brief Chronology of the Evil-Child Movie Era

1964 Children of the Damned
1968 Rosemary's Baby
1973 The Exorcist
1974 It's Alive!
1976 Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
1976 The Omen
1976 Carrie
1977 Exorcist II: The Heretic
1978 Damien-Omen II
1978 The Children
1980 Halloween
1981 The Final Conflict
1981 Halloween II
1984 Firestarter
1984 Children of the Corn

(Source - 13th Gen, Neil Howe and Bill Strauss)


I now have no regrets for egging cars, starting fires or vandalizing my schools. Hell, the adults should have expected it rather than becoming angry.