Pokémon seems to be one for me. The recent Ash Ketchum thread aside most people who know me are surprised I have little or more accurately no knowledge base about Pokemon. I had a Game Boy during the starting era of Pokémon games and I liked RPGs dating back to the NES era. I was more into PS1 era RPGs when Pokémon was becoming a thing in high school and seemingly totally missed the bandwagon.
In a more modern sense I guess Twitter would be something I don't understand. I've never had an account despite almost everyone else I know having one. The service didn't sound interesting to me given the gist I tend to get from users is that it is highly politically charged or is the den of stuff like NUMTOT group think. Similarly, I'm not sure if I have an educated guess as to what Reddit is supposed to be other than a forum.
I'll also add Elon Musk to this. The guy apparently is a a hot button topic in the road community and simultaneously a non-entity in my day-to-day life.
Pretty good cultural example! Pokémon kind of sailed under a lot of folks near my age, but my kids got into it for a little while a few years back (2016 or so, because their cousins were into it). So if you'd asked me who Ash Ketchum was before that, I probably would thought he was a prominent cricket blogger. I'd never heard it until a movie came out in what...2001?
For a while there, I was killing time in airports catching them on Pokémon GO because the kids wanted some interesting specimens and I liked that it posted the city/town you caught it. I bumped into an (older) colleague at the Pittsburgh airport and asked him "what's going on?", showed his phone "...uh, catching monsters with my phone" and we had a good laugh.
The biggest music hits and pop culture stars of the late 1990s and 2000s.`
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on December 18, 2022, 10:07:45 PM
The biggest music hits and pop culture stars of the late 1990s and 2000s.`
That I can relate to as well. New music basically stopped for me somewhere during the early 1990s.
As a 48 year old white male from Indiana, I should be intimately familiar with QAnon, anti-vax, and stolen election conspiracy theories but I'm not.
The NFL
All the social media apps, like Snap Chat or TikTok.
Quote from: kirbykart on December 19, 2022, 08:09:53 PM
All the social media apps, like Snap Chat or TikTok.
Given that you were too young to create an account on either one just a year ago, I don't think it's a problem. On the other hand, I'm 23, and I'm not familiar with them or with Instagram or Facebook.
Quote from: 1 on December 19, 2022, 08:11:22 PM
Quote from: kirbykart on December 19, 2022, 08:09:53 PM
All the social media apps, like Snap Chat or TikTok.
Given that you were too young to create an account on either one just a year ago, I don't think it's a problem. On the other hand, I'm 23, and I'm not familiar with them or with Instagram or Facebook.
Facebook is more popular with people > 30.
Quote from: kirbykart on December 19, 2022, 08:09:53 PM
All the social media apps, like Snap Chat or TikTok.
TikTok is poison. I probably (definitely) spend too much time on YouTube, but at least there's plenty of decent, genuinely entertaining content to be found there. It's much easier to bypass the nonsense because you actually have to click on a video to watch it, whereas on TikTok, simply scrolling off of one video will bring you immediately to the next. And once the video starts, you tell yourself you might as well watch the whole thing, even if it's terrible, because it's only a few extra seconds of your life. That's how 5 seconds turns into 15, turns into 30, turns into a minute, turns into an hour of completely wasted time. TikTok is a time suck designed to do nothing but keep you scrolling. It's not supposed to be meaningful content, because if it was, you wouldn't scroll as much.
Snapchat is fine when used in moderation, but like all social media, it will hook you if you let it.
Quote from: thspfc on December 19, 2022, 10:07:20 PM
Quote from: kirbykart on December 19, 2022, 08:09:53 PM
All the social media apps, like Snap Chat or TikTok.
TikTok is poison. I probably (definitely) spend too much time on YouTube, but at least there's plenty of decent, genuinely entertaining content to be found there. It's much easier to bypass the nonsense because you actually have to click on a video to watch it, whereas on TikTok, simply scrolling off of one video will bring you immediately to the next.
The idea behind TikTok seems to be
"hey, remember channel surfing?" I don't have TikTok (the amount of data collected on you is alarming) but it seems Instagram has copied it, once you've caught up with your feed. Interestingly, my kids have no interest in TikTok, but I said the same thing about Facebook about 15 years ago.
Quote from: kirbykart on December 19, 2022, 08:09:53 PM
All the social media apps, like Snap Chat or TikTok.
Me too. Especially Instagram.
Quote from: formulanone on December 18, 2022, 09:33:39 PM
Pretty good cultural example! Pokémon kind of sailed under a lot of folks near my age, but my kids got into it for a little while a few years back (2016 or so, because their cousins were into it). So if you'd asked me who Ash Ketchum was before that, I probably would thought he was a prominent cricket blogger. I'd never heard it until a movie came out in what...2001?
For a while there, I was killing time in airports catching them on Pokémon GO because the kids wanted some interesting specimens and I liked that it posted the city/town you caught it. I bumped into an (older) colleague at the Pittsburgh airport and asked him "what's going on?", showed his phone "...uh, catching monsters with my phone" and we had a good laugh.
My friend has some sort of watch-looking-doohickey that communicates with his phone, playing GO.
Apparently, a lot of really weird monsters hang out around radio towers.
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on December 19, 2022, 09:38:06 PM
Quote from: 1 on December 19, 2022, 08:11:22 PM
Quote from: kirbykart on December 19, 2022, 08:09:53 PM
All the social media apps, like Snap Chat or TikTok.
Given that you were too young to create an account on either one just a year ago, I don't think it's a problem. On the other hand, I'm 23, and I'm not familiar with them or with Instagram or Facebook.
Facebook is more popular with people > 30.
I'll be 50 next year and I've never used Facebook. When it first rolled out, it was pitched as a way to get back in touch with, or stay in touch with, your high school friends, and I wondered why I would want to do that. Then as it became more ubiquitous I just never saw the point.
I just made a phone call and I got a busy signal. I found myself wondering how many people age 30 or below would not know what that sound means.
(Prior to this I don't remember when the last time I got a busy signal was. This call was to the butcher shop we use–in view of the weather forecast, we wanted to pick up our Christmas order a day earlier. Maybe other people had the same idea. I tried again a few minutes later and got through.)
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 20, 2022, 11:23:35 AM
I just made a phone call and I got a busy signal. I found myself wondering how many people age 30 or below would not know what that sound means.
Fairly common when calling a business.
But, for people under 18, who rarely ever call a business...
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 11:32:41 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 20, 2022, 11:23:35 AM
I just made a phone call and I got a busy signal. I found myself wondering how many people age 30 or below would not know what that sound means.
Fairly common when calling a business.
I don't get busy signals around here. I've called local restaurants to ask if they're open, and they typically answer after a short delay, or if they're closed, don't answer at all. Chains, both restaurants (e.g. Texas Roadhouse) and non-restaurants (e.g. Walgreens) will have their automated "press 1" routine, as do UMass Lowell and the hospital I go to.
Hmm. Yeah, every so often I get a busy signal when calling a business. It just means they're on with another caller.
On a related note, I recently learned that there has been recent traction toward changing the ASL sign for "telephone" away from one that has nothing to do with how the younger generation uses a phone. I'm pretty sure, for example, that none of my sons has ever picked up a telephone receiver and talked into it. And my eldest son, who is the only one with his own cell phone, probably only actually holds the thing up to his ear when my wife and I are out running errands and have to call him for some reason; other than that, there's no such thing as "picking up" the phone to him.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 11:44:49 AM
On a related note, I recently learned that there has been recent traction toward changing the ASL sign for "telephone" away from one that has nothing to do with how the younger generation uses a phone. I'm pretty sure, for example, that none of my sons has ever picked up a telephone receiver and talked into it. And my eldest son, who is the only one with his own cell phone, probably only actually holds the thing up to his ear when my wife and I are out running errands and have to call him for some reason; other than that, there's no such thing as "picking up" the phone to him.
ASL is quirky like that; I recall the sign for woman implied the wearing of a bonnet. Like a
one horse open sleigh, how often does one encounter a bonnet outside of advertising?
There's attempts to make changes and add new words/signs, but that's way out of my wheelhouse. I have to imagine that the most commonly-used signs will remain for a very long time, but it's far easier to change or modify new signs from new words or terms, so as long as there isn't too much overlap with an existing sign that would cause confusion (or embarrassment).
Quote from: formulanone on December 20, 2022, 01:50:56 PM
Like a one horse open sleigh, how often does one encounter a bonnet outside of advertising?
All the time in this area, as a matter of fact. There's a fairly large Mennonite population in this area, so I see ladies in bonnets probably 20% of the times I go to a large store–with that percentage being higher the farther away from downtown the store is. For example, if I go to three or four different stores near 21st & Greenwich Rd, then I'm all but guaranteed to see at least one bonnet.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 02:01:52 PM
Quote from: formulanone on December 20, 2022, 01:50:56 PM
Like a one horse open sleigh, how often does one encounter a bonnet outside of advertising?
All the time in this area, as a matter of fact. There's a fairly large Mennonite population in this area, so I see ladies in bonnets probably 20% of the times I go to a large store–with that percentage being higher the farther away from downtown the store is. For example, if I go to three or four different stores near 21st & Greenwich Rd, then I'm all but guaranteed to see at least one bonnet.
Ooh, fair enough.
In fact, I shouldn't be surprised if the number of bonnets I've seen while living in Wichita is greater than the number of hijab I've seen here. In both cases, I couldn't even count on two hands the number I see in a given year.
Despite my status as a member of Gen Z, I don't really have a care in the world about:
- Rap music
- Pop music
- Anime
- Twitch streaming
- TV shows/Netflix/movies
- Snapchat
- The NBA
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 18, 2022, 09:20:40 PMPokémon seems to be one for me. The recent Ash Ketchum thread aside most people who know me are surprised I have little or more accurately no knowledge base about Pokemon. I had a Game Boy during the starting era of Pokémon games and I liked RPGs dating back to the NES era. I was more into PS1 era RPGs when Pokémon was becoming a thing in high school and seemingly totally missed the bandwagon.
All I really know about Pokémon is that the current version has to do with people going to parks and other public places with their phones to chase rare creatures.
I can also guarantee you know more about electronic games of whatever kind than I do. I don't have any game apps on mobile devices, I move the preloaded Windows games out of sight whenever I get a new computer, and I live in a house that has precisely zero video game consoles.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 18, 2022, 09:20:40 PMIn a more modern sense I guess Twitter would be something I don't understand. I've never had an account despite almost everyone else I know having one. The service didn't sound interesting to me given the gist I tend to get from users is that it is highly politically charged or is the den of stuff like NUMTOT group think. Similarly, I'm not sure if I have an educated guess as to what Reddit is supposed to be other than a forum.
I have a Twitter account, though I have been all but inactive since 2016. The things you mention are part of Twitter but not all of it. It really is a question of who you follow. The ones I picked that I thought were the most valuable were ones I had come across organically and who inspired me to go beyond the here-and-now implications and think more deeply about whatever was under discussion. I ultimately left not because I thought the platform was somehow evil or beyond redemption, but rather because it takes a significant amount of curation to get the signal-to-noise ratio to a level I personally consider acceptable, and I no longer wanted the responsibility.
I've had an account on Reddit for years and have actually been fairly active over the past few months. I'm edging away from it now, however, because I don't really like who I am on it. You get a karma rating and it is thoroughly gamified--there is virtually no screen where your karma is not displayed and updated almost in real time. You are less likely to get karma points when people don't see your comments, which creates an incentive to sort each subreddit with newest posts first so you can get a take (however hot it may be) in ASAP. If you do this with a really popular subreddit like r/AmItheAsshole, the rush is the same that a person predisposed to gambling addiction feels when he or she visits a casino in person and has his or her first big win at a table.
This said, archived discussions on Reddit also function as a useful information bank, a bit like StackExchange does with tech questions. I picked up the hack that gave me restored access to Transports Québec construction drawings through a Reddit comment thread. And if you have really unusual or off-the-wall questions, such as what the day-to-day is like for a private investigator, or where teenagers go in your city these days when they want to fool around without adult supervision, Reddit has places to ask.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 18, 2022, 09:20:40 PMI'll also add Elon Musk to this. The guy apparently is a a hot button topic in the road community and simultaneously a non-entity in my day-to-day life.
Elon Musk is a hot-button issue in the world in general, not just the roads world, and that is because Twitter has become fundamental to how the news is reported these days. Of the four online media sources I follow regularly, he gets little coverage in the Wichita
Eagle because of its local focus, but
Slate, the Washington
Post, and the
Guardian have had one story or another on him for months now.
If I'm understanding everyone correctly regarding Elon Musk there is a Charles Foster Kane/William Randolph Hearst thing going on with him and Twitter?
Actors and actresses.
Telling me who starred in a movie will not help me figure out what the title is.
Quote
All I really know about Pokémon is that the current version has to do with people going to parks and other public places with their phones to chase rare creatures.
That's a spin-off game. It's one of many, but certainly the most popular one. The newest main-series Pokemon game generally follows the same formula as the older ones, but expanded on the open-world format experimented with in a couple different games, including its predecessor, over the past few years.
I have a huge gap when it comes to cultural events from 1975-1985. The first five years I was living a rather vagabond life, living off temp jobs, and didn't have access to a television. The latter five years I was in the Navy, including a year each on Midway and Diego Garcia and two years in Spain (which I called the Mississippi of Europe at the time). I'm still finding out things that were big news events back then. I had a huge culture shock after my enlistment, especially when it came to cable with channels like MTV and ESPN.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 04:24:41 PM
Actors and actresses.
Telling me who starred in a movie will not help me figure out what the title is.
yep
The only reason I heard of a Kevin Bacon was that people were talking about the 6 degrees game.
I have to think about this, because the OP implied the question about "cultural items your age demographic should have knowledge of but you don't" (straight from the topic title).
I don't give a damn about comic book movies. Not my thing. I'll watch one or two of them in a series but will appreciate it for what it is ... LCD mass-market opium.
If you're 60 and don't give a fluck about SnapChat or Gram or whatever, then God love you. I'm not that far behind you. But you need to be able to tune in to what your kids and grandkids are posting. (And in a few places where you're lucky, your wife)
Quote from: Road Hog on December 20, 2022, 06:42:32 PM
I don't give a damn about comic book movies. Not my thing.
Oooh, good one! Me too.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 07:07:12 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on December 20, 2022, 06:42:32 PM
I don't give a damn about comic book movies. Not my thing.
Oooh, good one! Me too.
When I was a kid I was big into reading comics. Half of my interest in modern comic movies is actually seeing if I can predict what story is being paid homage to.
When I was in high school I didn't know or care about what music was on the radio at the time or what kinds of mobile technology were in, however things have shifted and I'm more on top of it now.
Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. The trifecta of "popular franchise with quirky millennials" and I haven't seen a bit of any of them. My fiancée plans to change that in the near future.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 20, 2022, 07:11:43 PM
When I was a kid I was big into reading comics. Half of my interest in modern comic movies is actually seeing if I can predict what story is being paid homage to.
I was into reading comics. But it was Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, and Garfield.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 04:24:41 PM
Actors and actresses.
Telling me who starred in a movie will not help me figure out what the title is.
It's fun watching Saturday Night Live for me now, because pretty much every episode, I'm hearing about the host and musical guest for the first time. Not only that, I'm usually also hearing about the host's show/movie for the first time, and for a while there, I was also hearing about the streaming service/obscure cable channel it was on for the first time.
It's never like, "I'm sure you all know me from my hit three-letter-network sitcom..." anymore.
Quote from: Takumi on December 20, 2022, 07:45:38 PM
Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. The trifecta of "popular franchise with quirky millennials" and I haven't seen a bit of any of them. My fiancée plans to change that in the near future.
I was asked to read the Harry Potter books by my then-girlfriend, and I suggest you start practicing pretending you enjoyed them now.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 07:07:12 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on December 20, 2022, 06:42:32 PM
I don't give a damn about comic book movies. Not my thing.
Oooh, good one! Me too.
I skipped these in the theaters for years, but found they're great for killing time on 3-4 hour flights. My son got into the Marvel franchise out of curiosity, so we've been watching one a week for the last two months.
They're good dumb fun, but a few like
Black Panther actually deal with tough questions; where right and wrong is ambiguous and not a bunch of absolute tropes, so you think about that after the movie's over...to me, those are some of the best types of movies.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 11:32:41 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 20, 2022, 11:23:35 AM
I just made a phone call and I got a busy signal. I found myself wondering how many people age 30 or below would not know what that sound means.
Fairly common when calling a business.
But, for people under 18, who rarely ever call a business...
In the same vein - in the landline days, seems like most people set their answering machines to answer at ring #6. Most cells go to VM after what .. 4? so no one leaves messages.
We get: "The line is busy. For 95 cents, we'll keep trying, and call you back when we get through".
And what i realize, is that I'm just too damned old to be relevant to anything anymore.
Quote from: Takumi on December 20, 2022, 07:45:38 PM
Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. The trifecta of "popular franchise with quirky millennials" and I haven't seen a bit of any of them. My fiancée plans to change that in the near future.
I only know anything about Harry Potter thanks to my kids reading the the books and and then wanting to watch the movies. I don't really reference them much but after wearing progressive bifocal lenses for three weeks (and subsequently giving up on them), I felt like Professor Moody. If you asked me to comprehend and explain how things happened the way they did I'd probably give you a blank stare.
I read the Fire and Ice series of books (well, five of them) and caught up with the TV episodes later on. Since then I haven't had much interest in any other series because I just don't have the enthusiasm and interest in them. So if someone makes a reference to Breaking Bad or Walking Dead, et al I'll have to look it up.
My wife likes the
Drive to Survive series more than I do...I kind of nodded off after season three because the amount of editing and hearing 95% of the drivers drop f-bombs is getting predictable. Other than listen to Gunther Steiner and some interesting viewpoints, I feel like I've taken on the aspect of correcting a lot of what gets said.
So I'll watch TV and movies with the kids, and that's usually enough entertainment.
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 04:24:41 PM
Actors and actresses.
Telling me who starred in a movie will not help me figure out what the title is.
I've almost always been bad at this, with a few exceptions. If someone told me to pick out a famous actor or actress from a police line-up, there's a 90% chance they'd be set free.
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on December 21, 2022, 10:51:09 AM
And what i realize, is that I'm just too damned old to be relevant to anything anymore.
I think this was the best part about turning 40. Society places no impetus for you to know popular stuff after a certain point. For example, other then being closely involved in the recording industry, there's no reason to know anything about the lives of this minute's pop music happenings. And so forth...so you can just go your own way and feel free to fly one's freak flag.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on December 21, 2022, 10:00:47 AM
Quote from: kphoger on December 20, 2022, 04:24:41 PM
Actors and actresses.
Telling me who starred in a movie will not help me figure out what the title is.
It's fun watching Saturday Night Live for me now, because pretty much every episode, I'm hearing about the host and musical guest for the first time. Not only that, I'm usually also hearing about the host's show/movie for the first time, and for a while there, I was also hearing about the streaming service/obscure cable channel it was on for the first time.
It's never like, "I'm sure you all know me from my hit three-letter-network sitcom..." anymore.
This is exactly what I'm talking about when I said I have little knowledge of many events from 1975-85. That was the early golden years of SNL with the original cast and then the Eddy Murphy-Billy Crystal years. I got back just in time for the disastrous Season 11 (https://www.avclub.com/younger-sexier-inherently-doomed-case-file-25-satur-1798233763). I may have seen a half dozen SNL episodes of the early years and mostly know only the highlights like the Julia Child Bass-o-matic.
A post yesterday reminded me of this one: Red Hat. I was once a wizard at Unix, but never migrated over to Linux. (I'm barely proficient at Microsoft Windows for that matter and have zero experience with Apple products. Fortunately, I still remember most of the Windows hotkeys, so I can still fool the best of them).
Quote from: Dirt Roads on December 21, 2022, 01:27:56 PM
A post yesterday reminded me of this one: Red Hat. I was once a wizard at Unix, but never migrated over to Linux. (I'm barely proficient at Microsoft Windows for that matter and have zero experience with Apple products. Fortunately, I still remember most of the Windows hotkeys, so I can still fool the best of them).
You should give it a try sometime when you're feeling bored. X11 actually works these days!
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 21, 2022, 10:11:13 AM
Quote from: Takumi on December 20, 2022, 07:45:38 PM
Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. The trifecta of "popular franchise with quirky millennials" and I haven't seen a bit of any of them. My fiancée plans to change that in the near future.
I was asked to read the Harry Potter books by my then-girlfriend, and I suggest you start practicing pretending you enjoyed them now.
From our conversations about it, I think just the movies will suffice.
Like many others, mine is social media, which is surprising for my age. I have accounts on Reddit and Facebook, but I don't use either much. There are also certain video games many of my friends play, but I don't get their appeal. Overwatch and Valorant are big ones. In the knowledge vein, there isn't much. I try to keep up with my knowledge of current trends, but I often don't enjoy them.
Quote from: Takumi on December 21, 2022, 10:20:27 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 21, 2022, 10:11:13 AM
Quote from: Takumi on December 20, 2022, 07:45:38 PM
Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. The trifecta of "popular franchise with quirky millennials" and I haven't seen a bit of any of them. My fiancée plans to change that in the near future.
I was asked to read the Harry Potter books by my then-girlfriend, and I suggest you start practicing pretending you enjoyed them now.
From our conversations about it, I think just the movies will suffice.
I never had to see the movies since she hates them.
I rather enjoyed the Harry Potter books despite being older than the target demographic. My mother was an English teacher and read them because she wanted to know about these books all her students were reading; she, in turn, told me she thought I'd enjoy them, so I read the first three on a trip to Europe in 2007 (which also explains why my set of them is an odd mix of American and European releases after I bought book two in Denmark and book three at Heathrow). When we passed through Heathrow on the way home, the final book had just been released. Seemingly 75% of the people in the British Airways business class lounge were reading it.
It was interesting how closely the movies adhered to the books, but I understand JK Rowling was particularly insistent on that because the books were aimed primarily at kids and they notice changes to the story.
As a diehard Cubs fan, I never cared about the White Sox; in fact, I didn't take notice of the South Siders until their World Series season of 2005.
Quote from: Henry on December 22, 2022, 10:55:36 AM
As a diehard Cubs fan, I never cared about the White Sox; in fact, I didn't take notice of the South Siders until their World Series season of 2005.
That's OK; nearly all of the sports media forgot about the Sox eleven years later, with all of their "first World Series to be played in Chicago since 1945/first time the World Series trophy came to Chicago since 1908" crap.
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 03:36:22 AM
Quote from: Takumi on December 21, 2022, 10:20:27 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 21, 2022, 10:11:13 AM
Quote from: Takumi on December 20, 2022, 07:45:38 PM
Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. The trifecta of "popular franchise with quirky millennials" and I haven't seen a bit of any of them. My fiancée plans to change that in the near future.
I was asked to read the Harry Potter books by my then-girlfriend, and I suggest you start practicing pretending you enjoyed them now.
From our conversations about it, I think just the movies will suffice.
I never had to see the movies since she hates them.
Weird. I enjoyed both the books and the movies. Some book plot elements were omitted from the movies but they don't change the essential nature of the story much like Jackson's changes didn't change the feeling of Lord of the Rings (and Jackson changes far more than the various HP directors). You will miss a few things like Hermione's attempts to improve the lives of the house elves, the Rita Skeeter is yet another unregistered animagus, and Winky, the house-elf with a butterbeer drinking problem. But the movies are entertaining and features great performances from a who's who of British actors like Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton, and especially the late Alan Rickman as Snape. The first two movies are really children's movies but every subsequent movie becomes more adult much like the main trio of Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
Quote from: skluth on December 22, 2022, 11:33:36 AM
.... The first two movies are really children's movies but every subsequent movie becomes more adult much like the main trio of Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
That very much reflects the way the books evolved as well, becoming longer, more complicated, and considerably darker. I believe Rowling noted that in her view that also reflected how her primary audience (which began with younger kids) were growing up and thus required more complex installments–she more or less said the series evolved and grew with its audience. I could certainly see that as I read the books, and as you say it's quite obvious in the movies.
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 22, 2022, 11:36:09 AMI believe Rowling noted that in her view that also reflected how her primary audience (which began with younger kids) were growing up and thus required more complex installments–she more or less said the series evolved and grew with its audience.
That is the sense I got while reading them.
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 01:38:44 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 01:35:10 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 01:16:26 PM
Channeling your inner SPUI?
Had to be said. Like when you say to an Episcopalian Jedi "May the Force be with you" and they respond "And also with you."
Why did it have to be said?
[...]
In the interest of board harmony, I've edited the initial comment I made, along with subsequent replies.
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 02:40:14 PM
In the interest of board harmony, I've edited the initial comment I made, along with subsequent replies.
In that spirit, I have now edited mine as well.
Transphobes do not deserve respect. Racists do not deserve respect.
Rowling is both.
Human beings deserve respect. Even racist transphobes. It's boorish to act otherwise.
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 02:54:17 PM
Human beings deserve respect. Even racist transphobes. It's boorish to act otherwise.
I think the word "respect" is the one that has a lot of nebulous meaning.
I feel everyone acquires it by default, but they can also lose it with reprehensible manners. Especially by fighting pointless and distracting battles.
Quote from: formulanone on December 22, 2022, 03:11:55 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 02:54:17 PM
Human beings deserve respect. Even racist transphobes. It's boorish to act otherwise.
I think the word "respect" is the one that has a lot of nebulous meaning.
I feel everyone acquires it by default, but they can also lose it with reprehensible manners. Especially by fighting pointless and distracting battles.
No wonder there's so little respect on the AARoads forum.
Quote from: GaryV on December 22, 2022, 03:14:24 PM
Quote from: formulanone on December 22, 2022, 03:11:55 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 02:54:17 PM
Human beings deserve respect. Even racist transphobes. It's boorish to act otherwise.
I think the word "respect" is the one that has a lot of nebulous meaning.
I feel everyone acquires it by default, but they can also lose it with reprehensible manners. Especially by fighting pointless and distracting battles.
No wonder there's so little respect on the AARoads forum.
Makes sense. Every battle on the forum is pointless. :biggrin:
I use the original definition of respect, which is "to consider worthy of high regard" according to Merriam-Webster. This is the "respect must be earned" meaning rather than the "be respectful to everyone" meaning.
But that doesn't mean I agree with others' uses of it either.
Quote from: Bruce on December 22, 2022, 02:51:06 PM
Transphobes do not deserve respect. Racists do not deserve respect.
Rowling is both.
Stating biological women are harmed by letting men compete against them in women's sports is not transphobia. In fact, support of the opposite is considered misogyny to many more people. I don't even know about her alleged racism, but a quick google search found nothing a reasonable person would be considering racist.
Claiming a human doesn't deserve respect because you have a rather extreme view of things is a tad puzzling. Maybe you just hate women or something, I don't know. I still respect you despite those possibilities.
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 03:19:51 PM
Quote from: GaryV on December 22, 2022, 03:14:24 PM
Quote from: formulanone on December 22, 2022, 03:11:55 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 02:54:17 PM
Human beings deserve respect. Even racist transphobes. It's boorish to act otherwise.
I think the word "respect" is the one that has a lot of nebulous meaning.
I feel everyone acquires it by default, but they can also lose it with reprehensible manners. Especially by fighting pointless and distracting battles.
No wonder there's so little respect on the AARoads forum.
Makes sense. Every battle on the forum is pointless. :biggrin:
Maybe in the grand scheme of things of universe, but primarily the quibbles, banter, and battles here are Mostly Harmless.
I think approximately zero are out to publicly destroy others' livelihoods and shed blood with their insistent grasp of patent nonsense.
Well, there went the thread.
abefroman329: I really appreciate you trying.
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 03:26:27 PM
Well, there went the thread.
abefroman329: I really appreciate you trying.
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 04:20:45 PM
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
Should have known it would end up being my fault. :awesomeface:
Quote from: Bruce on December 22, 2022, 02:51:06 PM
Transphobes do not deserve respect. Racists do not deserve respect.
Rowling is both.
Rowling deserves respect for writing a good series of books that were a massive hit. Not many authors manage to write something that becomes anywhere remotely close to that popular–and, in today's world where kids are often perceived as less interested in reading than they were in the past, that's nothing to sneeze at.
As for the other issues, you're certainly entitled to use whatever criteria you choose in deciding whether to respect someone, but the rest of us are entitled to use whatever criteria we choose, and we don't have to use the same ones you do.
I straight up do not understand or agree with "human beings deserve respect". Human beings deserve human rights and dignity. They deserve food, water, shelter, a fair trial if they do something illegal, and all the nice things in the Bill of Rights. They do not deserve respect, however, until they do something proving themselves worthy of it.
I don't respect anyone the first time I meet them. I give everyone an opportunity to change that. Sometimes they do. Often, they don't. Sometimes people will gain my respect and then lose it later on.
With free speech, people have the right to say anything they want. They do not have the right to make everyone like or respect them if they use their right to free speech to say something stupid or insulting.
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 22, 2022, 05:46:52 PM
Rowling deserves respect for writing a good series of books that were a massive hit. Not many authors manage to write something that becomes anywhere remotely close to that popular–and, in today's world where kids are often perceived as less interested in reading than they were in the past, that's nothing to sneeze at.
In my internal accounting: That gets her 100 RespectPoints™. Her conduct since then gets her —500 RespectPoints™. That puts her 400 points in the hole. I don't respect her.
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 04:20:45 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 03:26:27 PM
Well, there went the thread.
abefroman329: I really appreciate you trying.
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
All but 1000? :poke:
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 04:53:10 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 04:20:45 PM
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
Should have known it would end up being my fault. :awesomeface:
Really it's my fault for bringing the franchise up in the first place. But someone else probably would have eventually.
Quote from: Takumi on December 22, 2022, 06:15:40 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 04:53:10 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 04:20:45 PM
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
Should have known it would end up being my fault. :awesomeface:
Really it's my fault for bringing the franchise up in the first place. But someone else probably would have eventually.
Really it's my fault for creating the thread when you think about it.
Quote from: ran4sh on December 22, 2022, 03:20:23 PM
I use the original definition of respect, which is "to consider worthy of high regard" according to Merriam-Webster. This is the "respect must be earned" meaning rather than the "be respectful to everyone" meaning.
But that doesn't mean I agree with others' uses of it either.
I was curious, and according to the OED, the original meaning of respect was to "look back." Next oldest is the meaning of "aspect."
Curiously, the OED doesn't seem to take a stand on whether respect, with respect (ha ha) to the definitions you give, requires being earned or not:
a. Deferential regard or esteem felt or shown towards a person, thing, or quality.
b. The condition or state of being esteemed, honoured, or highly thought of.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 22, 2022, 06:18:41 PM
Quote from: Takumi on December 22, 2022, 06:15:40 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 04:53:10 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 04:20:45 PM
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
Should have known it would end up being my fault. :awesomeface:
Really it's my fault for bringing the franchise up in the first place. But someone else probably would have eventually.
Really it's my fault for creating the thread when you think about it.
Really it's Alex and Andy's fault for creating the forum in the first place.
Quote from: Takumi on December 22, 2022, 06:15:40 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 04:53:10 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 04:20:45 PM
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
Should have known it would end up being my fault. :awesomeface:
Really it's my fault for bringing the franchise up in the first place. But someone else probably would have eventually.
It's a pathetic culture we live in when EVERY. SINGLE. MENTION. of her name online will unavoidably devolve into a discussion about her views on this issue.
So, to get us off this track . . . who here like Bill Cosby's standup routines?
Quote from: Takumi on December 22, 2022, 06:31:47 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 22, 2022, 06:18:41 PM
Quote from: Takumi on December 22, 2022, 06:15:40 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 04:53:10 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 04:20:45 PM
I blame you for not just deleting all of your posts.
Should have known it would end up being my fault. :awesomeface:
Really it's my fault for bringing the franchise up in the first place. But someone else probably would have eventually.
Really it's my fault for creating the thread when you think about it.
Really it's Alex and Andy's fault for creating the forum in the first place.
Let's roundup Tim Berners-Lee for trial while we're at it.
No, let's dig up Jean Paul Sarte for a summons, because without Being and Nothingness, we can't have the basic binary operations that make up computing.
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 06:48:45 PM
It's a pathetic culture we live in when EVERY. SINGLE. MENTION. of her name online will unavoidably devolve into a discussion about her views on this issue.
I mean, the last book in the main Harry Potter series was released fifteen years ago. There are forum members here that have lived their entire lives since she wrote it. On the other hand, she probably last wrote about her views a couple of weeks ago, if not more recently. Is it any wonder that people see her name and associate her with her more recent writing?
Regarding Bill Cosby, by all accounts he is a very nasty man. But his classic comedy bits remain hilarious, especially the one about parents ("I thought my name was Jesus Christ" and "I love it when your mother gets so angry she forgets your name").
I can't stomach listening to Bill Cosby anymore. For my generation, we went from watching him do Picture Pages on Captain Kangaroo to The Electric Company to Fat Albert and then onto The Cosby Show. On top of that, a couple of his kids attended schools in the same district as mine when I was growing up. His reveal as a rapist was a tremendous betrayal.
I can separate Cosby's artistic work from his personal life, which means I can detest the things he's done and yet still bust a gut listening to Chicken Heart. Likewise, I still like watching Mario Batali on old episodes of Iron Chef America, notwithstanding the sexual misconduct allegations.
More to the point, I'm perfectly happy to have a conversation about either person without once bringing up his "dark side". Why is nobody able to do the same for Rowling (or Chick-fil-A, for that matter)?
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 08:32:39 PM
I can separate Cosby's artistic work from his personal life, which means I can detest the things he's done and yet still bust a gut listening to Chicken Heart. Likewise, I still like watching Mario Batali on old episodes of Iron Chef America, notwithstanding the sexual misconduct allegations.
More to the point, I'm perfectly happy to have a conversation about either person without once bringing up his "dark side". Why is nobody able to do the same for Rowling (or Chick-fil-A, for that matter)?
My expectations for humanity are pretty low to begin with, especially with total strangers. That being the case when some celebrity does something bad, horrible or criminal it doesn't tend to phase me all that much. I don't know these famous people, they could all be pieces of crap for all I know. I don't get why finding out someone was a total POS would have any substantial factor if I enjoyed a particular piece of media past tense or not? It's not like famous people are trying to come to my house to convert me to beliefs or get me to join in on their criminal acts.
With Chick-fil-A the biggest issue I have is the mob of people I have to weed through to get food. There are just as good if not better fast food options that don't require I wade through a sea of humanity.
Likewise, people get bent out of shape with sports when someone cheats. I get it to an extent if your team was on the other side of cheating. That said, things like the steroid scandal in baseball is something almost everyone has taken this weird moralistic high ground on. I enjoyed the product back then despite having a pretty good inkling everyone was juicing. Why would that affect my enjoyment now?
And to clarify, if someone I knew did something like Bill Cosby I would cut them out of my life. I much rather focus on what happens around me versus some non-entity with no actual tangible effect on me or those around me. In fact, I did actually cut my Dad out of my life over the criminal behaviors (mostly grand larceny and fraud) he chose to engage in.
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 08:32:39 PM
I can separate Cosby's artistic work from his personal life, which means I can detest the things he's done and yet still bust a gut listening to Chicken Heart. Likewise, I still like watching Mario Batali on old episodes of Iron Chef America, notwithstanding the sexual misconduct allegations.
More to the point, I'm perfectly happy to have a conversation about either person without once bringing up his "dark side". Why is nobody able to do the same for Rowling (or Chick-fil-A, for that matter)?
Comparing a rapist to JK Rowling's and Chick-Fil-A's ineloquence or intolerance is a false equivalence.
Either way, I'm able to enjoy the products that all of them produce or have produced, whether or not I agree with their behavior or beliefs. And I don't feel the need to talk about their behavior or beliefs every time their names are mentioned.
I read the Harry Potter books and enjoyed them, though I wouldn't count myself as a fan (that, to me, implies a higher level of enthusiasm and commitment to the franchise). For that matter, I grew up on The Cosby Show, and the long list of Weinstein Company films (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Weinstein_Company_films) includes many I have seen and liked. Talent, ability, and the capacity to create works whose beauty endures or that speak truth about the human condition do not necessarily come with surface niceness, let alone decency or a commitment to living ethically. Frankly, it's a pleasant surprise when a given creator unites all of these qualities.
As for J.K. Rowling specifically, I find her anti-trans interventions perplexing as to both motivation and purpose. I gather that she entered the fray on Twitter on behalf of women academics who had been denied employment on grounds of being TERFs. Given that her first husband (who is Portuguese) has apparently said in public that he did not beat her enough, I suspect she is a survivor of marital rape, so I don't see it as surprising that she might have a hangup about men seeking access to women's spaces. But why use one's platform to take out these fears on trans people, who are themselves at elevated risk of sexual assault?
My opinion on JK Rowling: You can't agree with everyone on everything. The one disagreement most of these people have with JK Rowling, including me, is not enough to boycott. I don't boycott everyone who I don't share 100% of beliefs with. There are some other people and companies who I disagree with most or all of their beliefs; JK Rowling is not one of them.
I think there should also be room for people or companies to change their behavior. Chick-fil-A did change their donations regarding opposing same-sex marriage due to the backlash.
Also raised the question of how many companies are out there making questionable donations that we never hear about...
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 18, 2022, 09:20:40 PM
Pokémon seems to be one for me. The recent Ash Ketchum thread aside most people who know me are surprised I have little or more accurately no knowledge base about Pokemon. I had a Game Boy during the starting era of Pokémon games and I liked RPGs dating back to the NES era. I was more into PS1 era RPGs when Pokémon was becoming a thing in high school and seemingly totally missed the bandwagon.
In a more modern sense I guess Twitter would be something I don't understand. I've never had an account despite almost everyone else I know having one. The service didn't sound interesting to me given the gist I tend to get from users is that it is highly politically charged or is the den of stuff like NUMTOT group think. Similarly, I'm not sure if I have an educated guess as to what Reddit is supposed to be other than a forum.
I'll also add Elon Musk to this. The guy apparently is a a hot button topic in the road community and simultaneously a non-entity in my day-to-day life.
Same boat as you since I was born in the 1980's and Japanese Anime was a huge deal from the 1990's-2000's in the United States.
In a modern sense Twitter and Instagram I know it's a huge deal for certain people but I do not have an account with these outlets even though everyone around me does. For political type people they use Twitter, for Hollywood celebrities and Sports stars it is Instagram where I hear these things.
Quote from: kphoger on December 22, 2022, 02:50:36 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 22, 2022, 02:40:14 PM
In the interest of board harmony, I've edited the initial comment I made, along with subsequent replies.
In that spirit, I have now edited mine as well.
I'm actually sad about that. I wasn't totally sure about the seriousness level of your reply, but it didn't even matter. Had you not edited it out, it was probably going to make its way into "Your Favorite Forum Quotes" via yours truly.
And I don't even have an opinion on the matter. I know nothing about JK Rowling or the Harry Potter series (how's that for coming full-circle to answer the actual thread question?).
The HP books and movies are excellent. I realize the author is a "c word". But I'm old enough to remember when segregated schools and drinking fountains were legal and the only LGBT representation in any media was Liberace. I'm also old enough to have many of my heroes reveal their flaws from Bill Cosby to Woody Allen to Kevin Spacey to pretty much every rock singer who sang about sex with minors like Robert Plant and Mick Jagger.
I still listen to Michael Jackson and still think Phil Spector is the greatest music producer of the 60s. I doubt I could watch Manhattan today but I still love Sleeper and Bananas. I'll watch Cosby reruns and compartmentalize his personal life away for the viewing. These are my opinions and if you disagree, well - last I heard it's still a free country and a lot more free than Russians and Chinese have experienced in their entire lives.
I'm not sure exactly what cultural items a 61-year-old married straight male with a master's degree from a small rural Appalachian county should have knowledge of. Country music, maybe? I will profess ignorance on that one, because I'm mostly a metal fan. Disco was big when I was a teen and later in college, and rap/hip-hop was in its infancy, but I care for neither style.
I saw the first three "Star Wars" movies when they came out, but haven't really watched them since to speak of, so I miss a lot of references that come from those movies. And I haven't seen any of the movies that have been released since those first three.
Quote from: hbelkins on December 23, 2022, 07:03:23 PM
I saw the first three "Star Wars" movies when they came out, but haven't really watched them since to speak of, so I miss a lot of references that come from those movies. And I haven't seen any of the movies that have been released since those first three.
Oh, so you might be the only person left on the planet that remembers exactly how the first three original Star Wars movies played out, before George Lucas reconfigured them for television? I have a few memories of those different scenes, but they've been conveniently erased by rewatching the newer versions (of Episodes IV through VI) too many times.
Quote from: skluth on December 23, 2022, 06:00:34 PMI doubt I could watch Manhattan today but I still love Sleeper and Bananas.
Love and Death and
Annie Hall are still ok to watch as well. Luckily everything Woody Allen directed after
Hannah and Her Sisters was terrible.
Speaking of LGBTQ representation, the gay couple and their gay robot butler in
Sleeper, oy.
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 24, 2022, 08:23:49 AM
Quote from: skluth on December 23, 2022, 06:00:34 PMI doubt I could watch Manhattan today but I still love Sleeper and Bananas.
Love and Death and Annie Hall are still ok to watch as well. Luckily everything Woody Allen directed after Hannah and Her Sisters was terrible.
Speaking of LGBTQ representation, the gay couple and their gay robot butler in Sleeper, oy.
Woody Allen still has his defenders out there (i.e., "She wasn't technically his daughter..."). He still has an ick factor with me, though.
But, unlike the total revulsion I have when seeinng or hearing Bill Cosby now, I can still watch his good movies (e.g., Crimes and Misdemeanors).