Badmovies.org Forum

This is a thread for small observations you make that call to attention something that is larger than you first thought.

I was watching a Looney Tunes Golden Collection disc today, and I heard one of the commentators bring up the Iraq war.

It made me realize two things simultaneously. The current popular movie watching technology, DVD, has been around for over a decade. All the stuff we now take for granted, director's commentary, deleted scenes, etc., has now been around long enough for us to not even notice it anymore. My teenage years were spent with VHS, which had none of that, and I'm aware that there are many on this board who remember when even VHS was a revolution.

The other more sobering observation was that the Iraq conflict is now almost ten years old. That Looney Tunes disc was released in 2003 or so. We've been living with the Iraq situation for longer than I've really noticed.

I don't mean to bring this up in any sort of political way; I'm not arguing any agendas here. I'm just saying this small observation really brought it all home for me when I least expected it.

So, Iraq war aside, are there any small observations you've made that really struck you? Maybe something that illustrated how old you really are, or just how much the world has changed?

Last aside, it amused me to find those Looney Tunes were all made in the '40s through '60s. I thought they were all new when I was a kid.

We've been watching this TV show, Earth 2, while eating supper.  It's a short lived sci-fi show from 1994-5.  I was bored the other day so I looked up the actors on IMDb, see what else they've been in, how their careers are going, that sort of thing.  There's a girl on the show, J. Madison Wright, who was 11 when it was made.  She seemed like a pretty good child actor, really played her part well.  Then I see she died 5 years ago.  Had some weird heart problem, actually had a heart transplant (the guy who played her father on the show did some fundraising to help out with her medical expenses), and was apparently doing just fine for several years after that.  Then she got married and a couple of days later had a heart attack and that was it.

That's always pretty sobering.  You think you're going along just fine, then some one-in-a-million thing goes wrong with your body and it's all over.

Yes, and that's a sobering thought. We have developed a war culture. Kids growing up now don't know that we actually exist as a peaceful nation from time to time.

I recognize the need for defense. I think our country needs to focus on defense and less on intervention. That's my opinion, and I know others will differ with it. That's fine. But it is very depressing when you think that our whole culture is growing to accept a war economy, which we will be paying for for many generations to come.

But the most depressing part is what our involvement has brought home to roost. For all of our intervention in supposed defense of the U.S., our culture is changing here. It's the simple theory of cultural blowback, one of the simplest concepts around. We saw it with Korea and Vietnam, and now we're seeing it with the middle east. I have nothing against people of other cultures, but every time we go over to a foreign nation, to a culture so vastly different, and in many ways contrary, to our Western ways, and invade it, we invite that culture here. It happens over and over, and we're seeing it now.

Look, I know that some here think the wars in the middle east are justified, right, necessary, etc. I don't. The cost is too high and the resulting change in culture here is just not worth it. That's my opinion. I know some may scoff at the comparison sometimes made of the current U.S. to the fall of Rome, but I don't think the comparison is ridiculous. Rome was so busy overextending itself with foreign expansion that it just plain collapsed. That wasn't the only factor, certainly, but some of the others, like political corruption and the influence of contrary cultures, are happening as well.

But what do I know?

War is nothing new.
This country has been at war since it's inception 24/7.
We all know the big wars-but the War of 1812,the war (actually the genocide) against the Indian Nations,the Spainish American War,all the little covert wars the CIA wages indirectly-Nicuragua,El Salvador,Iraq,Iran,Isreal-we are a killing nation.
Not to say we're alone on this-but we didn't become this powerful by being nice.

Sorry for not keeping alive threads I started.

When I graduated high school, 1996, and was being actively pursued by the military, we were still nominally a peace-time nation. Knowing what I know now, I would gladly sign for the armed services. I didn't do it then, because I was the angry counter-cultural kid. Post 9/11, we're still not officially at war, but I don't think there's anybody who would deny the concept that we are in the middle of a hot war.

Not a shot at the armed services, I respect all who've served more every day, even if I don't agree with their leaders.

On a more personal sobering observation, I recently started running again. I always loved running, but I stopped doing it because I was lazy.

So I started running again. And I'll go out and run for about an hour. The thing is, after I spend that hour running, I will literally not be able to run for at least another day after that. I want to run, don't get me wrong, I look forward the strenuous effort. But my legs will not cooperate. I literally can not run again until my legs heal themselves.

I love running, but my body will not let me do it. That's sobering.

As another sobering observation, I work with the public in customer service as my job as a library employee. I was talking with an elderly lady who was telling me that she just gets so frustrated at not being able to do things anymore. I went with my go-to punchline, "Say what will you about growing old, it's better than the alternative." The alternative, of course, is death. She immediately countered with, "I'm not so sure about that."

The idea that death may be preferable to senescence, that's sobering.

That's a biggie.  Sad to say I know what she speaks of, all too well, and I agree.

Some of that, I guess, has to do with your expectations of the afterlife.
I believe in heaven, and I believe I am going there, so death is robbed of some of its sting for me. 

However, that being said, I don't want to go there just yet!

Why not? My understanding of the concept, from when I was a Christian, is that this time on Earth is the closest to Hell as one who is bound for Heaven will ever get, and conversely, the closest to Heaven that one who is bound for Hell will ever get. If I believed that I was destined to go somewhere that was far better than where I am, I would be welcoming it with open arms.

Because along with the hope/expectation of heaven, God gave people a love of life here and a sense of purpose that few people completely fulfill. Until I know my purpose here is fulfilled, I won't be ready for heaven, no matter how glorious it may be. The fear of death is removed, but the desire for death is not given in its place.

While I don't believe it personally, that's an acceptable explanation. Thank you.

Good explanation, Def!
While I love the thought of looking on the face of God, I also want to see the faces of my grandchildren.  I want to get my PhD.  I want to find a perfect Folsom point.  I want to see the Gothic Cathedrals of France, and the Sistine Chapel in Rome.  I want to play ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM!
  Eternity will be plenty long to enjoy heaven.  I figure I have 30 - 40 years left on earth, if I'm fortunate, and I want to make the most of them!  Then, when I am old and full of years, I'll lay down this life and embrace glory!

Of course, all that being said, if I get taken out by a chunk of frozen waste from a jetliner's lavatory this afternoon, life has been fun already!

Death isn't scary.  The idea of being old, helpless, senile, and laying on a bed in a nursing home in my own filth certainly is.

Yes. That scares the crap out of me as well. The whole aspect of being alive but not in control on my faculties is what scares me the most.

I don't really disagree with your overall sentiment, RC. However, the difference here is that this is an ongoing war with no forseeable closure, that is going on 10 years. WWII: 4 years. WWI: 4 years. Civil War: 4 years. War of 1812: 3 years.

Vietnam is the only exception, and that one shares similarity to the current situation, at least in terms of ambiguity of purpose.

I'm just saying it's sobering, that's all. Some seem to think it's not a big deal.

Over the past few years, I have really noticed how quickly the years have passed (and are passing) by.  I have vivid memories of mundane things (like nights out with my friends) that seem like they occured 5 or 6 years ago.  But when I really think about them I realize they occurred 20 or more years ago.  I have a group of friends that I consider to be my "new" friends . . . yet I met them around 1990 when I was in my late 20s.  Even my teenage years don't feel like they were very long ago . . . but 3 decades has passed since then.  I'll be 50 years old in 2014, but I don't feel anywhere near 50.  I still enjoy playing games, reading comic books, and generally acting like a kid.  The years have really been whipping past me . . . a decade goes by like the snap of a finger.  Very sobering stuff.

I know EXACTLY how you feel, Burgo!  I'm 47,  yet some days I feel like I am right out of high school.

Everything was fine in the Horror Movies Universe before the internet. People respected and loved the classics, at least in my large circle of friends and people I knew.
I was welcomed to "reality" once I went online. I wasn't aware that

Halloween (1978) ... sucks.
The Shining (1980) ... is a joke.
The Exorcist (1973) ... is boring.
Dawn of the Dead (1978) ... is cheesy.
Jaws (1975) ... isn't a horror movie.

Talk about sobering observations ...

Well, if you would like a silver lining, at least they are vivid memories, because the converse would be that you don't remember them.

What I find interested, not sobering, is that there is an entirely different kind of senior citizen coming in the next 10-20 years. I myself am 43, not too far behind you Burgo, and when I think of people in our general age range, I just don't see the typical senior citizen in the making. I wouldn't call it immaturity per se, but look at our interests compared to what the interests of our current seniors must have been at our age. I'm not really into comic books, but I am into bad movies and most my friends are younger than me. Odd, because when I was young I hung out with older people. It seems I've never really related to people my own age, but that's another matter. It's going to be a challenge for marketing people when people like us start entering retirement. That is, if retirement is even an option, and there's a sobering thought for you.

Let's just hope the world doesn't go the way of Logan's Run when we get older although there are elements now that suggests it's heading that way...

I'd prefer that to "The Dark Crystal" with the Baby Boomers playing the part of Skeksis and us younger types being the Gelflings.  I need my preciously bodily fluids.

My sobering thought is that I will be 52 years old when Garrett turns 18.  That is not going to be good for my blood pressure.

Oh I hear that. Not to one-up you, but I will be 58 when my oldest son turns 18. Yes, I started quite late. I think about that because he is quite strong already and might be able to overpower me in just a few years. Shudder. Then I think about those people who have kids even later than that, like Elvis Costello, whose wife gave birth to twin boys with him in his 50's. Yikes. I think I heard somewhere that Sylvester Stallone's dad had a kid in his 60's or 70's. That's just crazy.

Halloween (1978) ... sucks.
Eh, it doesn't "suck" but it's not all that great.

The Shining (1980) ... is a joke.
I'll agree with that.  And it's not even a very good joke.

The Exorcist (1973) ... is boring.
No, it's funny!

Dawn of the Dead (1978) ... is cheesy.
The gray grease paint used for most of the zombies is pretty cheesey, but the movie overall is excellent.

Jaws (1975) ... isn't a horror movie.
It damn well is.  On one hand, you've got the visceral horror of a huge shark eating people.  On the other hand, you've got the more mundane horror of an entire town facing financial ruin and poverty.

Hmm maybe things go the way of Zardoz and red diapers will become all the fashion.... :buggedout: :bouncegiggle:

Fred Olen Ray mentioned during our interview that his youngest son is just one year older than his granddaughter.  He was 52 or 53 when we did the interview, so I'm guessing he will be dealing with a teenager in his 60s.

I recently realized that I am now 9 years out of high school.  I remember a conversation I had with an uncle of mine.  It happened in June of '02, when I graduated high school.  He basically said "Enjoy your summer now, and enjoy the next three years or so.  Once you're 21 and you're done with college and/or have a real job, time flies by at an incredible rate.  Next thing you know, you're pushing 40, have a wife, kids, a home, overweight, losing your hair, and you wish you could come back to this moment now."  He was right.  Granted, I'm gonna be 28 soon, not 40.  But the past ten years have flown by so much.  It seemed like I was just graduating.  I woke up today, realized that half my friends have kids, they've graduated college, have great jobs, wives, houses, are in the armed forces, and I'm a perpetual 18 year old, living at home, playing PlayStation and watching old MST34 episodes. :buggedout:

Another thing: I have a horrible relationship with my father.  To the point that I don't even acknowledge him and went from about 5 to 18 without talking to him, then went from 18 to 25 without talking to him.  I talked to him once two years ago and not since.  In fact, I barely talked to him after he had a heart attack.  Mostly cause he is an alcoholic and I never know if I'm getting "him" or if I'm getting the drunk him.  Yet, seeing how he's turned out and growing up vowing to not be like that, I've slowly turned to alcohol and drugs.  Apparently, I can put em down just as well as him.  And that p**ses me off. :hatred:

What scares me/something I kind of observed, is that people of my generation seem more afraid of living than we are afraid of dying.  I was born in '84, which, depending on whom you ask, is the very very end of that Gen-X thing, or the very beginning of Gen-Y. 

All I know is, I've done a lot of stuff that should've killed me, and none of that scared me.  But, looking ahead, and seeing where we've been going as a country and knowing that I have another good 50-70 years ahead of me, I'm scared out of my mind. 

I think some of us try and cling on to our youth for as long as we can. I'm not so sure that's entirely a bad thing as long as one does it mostly in private. In public, I wonder whether such behaviour might not limit job opportunities and the like (not that it should) just because well after all most places are going to be looking for no-nonsense grown-ups who know what they're doing and been around and will get to work and not be distracted by whatever...anyways here I am ramblin' on. I too frequently play Playstation. I've been watching wrestling and monster and superhero movies/TV shows/Cartoons since I was a kid. Read comic books up until my adult years and probably still would if they weren't so expensive and I actually had any room left given my DVD addiction. Ramblin' on some more here. Sorry about that.

Anyways what surprises me most I think is how far away things have moved from what we thought was cool as kids and even sadder and more surprising is how far away from ethics and respect things have moved. Morals and ethics and having respect for those older and wiser was instilled in me from a young age but now so many seem to let their kids run wild, do and say whatever they want/please.  Yeah I'm ramblin' some more. And then we have this system that wants workers but mostly doesn't want to take a chance on training newcomers so most kids have to move away and get work experience and then come back home. And it seems the more dreamer you are, the more youth oriented you are in your mindset, the less success you have. And there's this startling lack of creativity in so much we see nowadays, such a blaissez (not sure I spelled that right) blandness. So many talented writers and creative people I've met in real life and online struggle daily just to get by while others have things handed to them because of whatever - inheritance, knowhow, kissing up, whatever. More ramblin' now.

With regards to alcoholism, there are theories out there that it may be hereditary. Not sure that's true but just throwing that out there. I think I read somewhere that's why C.M. Punk choose the straight edge lifestyle so as to not end up like his father.

I certainly respect anyone who does and says what they want. I say a lot of stuff with no regard to whom it upsets. Yet, I am mindful of elders and show a bit of respect. I worked in a nursing home, and had a lot of fun with them.

I did read that alcoholism is hereditary. Don't know how true it is. But, seeing that both my grandfathers, my father, a couple aunts, and some uncles went through it, seems to be an inherited trait. Or just a learned trait. Hmmm...

I've noticed several times in my life when persons caved and became hypocrites.  

I realize still that I'm naive.  

I'm a baby. 

Which is good to be aware of about one's self but never, ever, to count as a negative quality.

I have little faith in humanity. People, human beings, are horrible. Many of the 'greats' were horrible people, many of them leading or even coercing less horrible people to become more and more horrible, and for horrible reasons. People try and justify the actions of horrible people by pointing out the good that they've done, but isn't that what we all should be doing anyways? Many of those horrible people only do good in order to try and offset some of the horrible things they've done, sometimes the good they've done is not very big or very good, just vigorously PR'd. Why are so few actually doing anything good, and even fewer of them doing it simply because it's the right thing to do?

Agreed. Often the doing of the good thing is to give their bad things palatability.

It's because the future looks pretty grim.

A sobering observation is noticing you're both out of beer and broke!
 :cheers:

I was posting on the thread "Best movies since you were born" ...and I realized that Kennedy was still President,Karloff was still making movies, Bela had only been dead 6 years, many films were still being made in black and white,TV was all black and white. The Beatles,the Rolling Stones-who they? Music was played on AM radios and record players. Comic books were 10 cents. A computer like I am typing on was science fiction. Cell phones with pictures-Dick Tracy had one.

I'll be 50 in 2012.  heavy sigh :bluesad:

Sadly, it's true.

And, for me that thought occured during my second period Business class in high school, around 9:00AM, on a chilly September morning in 2001. :bluesad:

The future is unseen but still full of potential. It will most likely be what we make it, for better or worse assuming the alien overlords having overtaken us all by that time   :wink:

Everyday to me things seem to move closer and closer to many dystopian sci-fi films - a world of people addicted to machines and technology, a world of educated fools as my grandfather would call them....

True, but 'WE' is not individuals, but rather the entire human race. A person alone does not have that kind of control these days. Unfortunately, the WE you speak of is pretty F-ing misguided, if guided at all.

I used to believe the same as you did, Indy.  But events that have transpired lately have left me bereft and empty and without purpose.  Everything I've ever believed has been shattered.  I have no clue where I go from here.  How do you deal with the world when your whole belief system is gone?

My sobering thought is that love is just a scam.

Nobody wants a close and loving relationship any more, they just seem to be out for themselves.  Everyone is so afraid of being hurt or having something taken away from them if they share their lives with someone else.

A complete rethink of my belief system is in order here.  I have to completely change the way I approach the world. 

So I will lose a few more kgs and then I'm going out on the weekends to pick up some hot random guy, give him a good seeing to and then come back to my peaceful single life.

It's going to take a lot of courage on my part, but it's a lot better than crying into my coffee every night.

That's a pretty sobering thought.

Bees-Please-PLEASE do not give up on love.
My first wife was insane.
My second wife-bless her soul-is dead.
Love doesn't come easy. It's a chance thing. You don't find it. It finds you.
Don't give up,sweetie.

Okay, RC.  For you, I'll give it a go.  Trying again couldn't possibly be any worse than giving up.

Honestly, the thought of giving up makes me deathly afraid.  I don't want to be afraid of something that's supposed to be good for me.

Not that you CAN'T go out and get with a random guy. If you do, please be safe and have fun.

I've been a one-woman man my whole life. I'm 43 years old and I am proud to say that I've never cheated on anybody I've ever been with. Finding love and that one person has been a goal my whole life. It took a while, and I went through periods where my faith and my trust were almost completely shattered. I've made reasonable choices that didn't work out, horrible choices where I should have known better, and bad choices with good intentions. I'm sure you have probably experienced all of these at one time or another. I have no advice to give per se, only some small bit of empathy, and also to perhaps let you know that men exist who don't only think of themselves, hard as that may be to imagine.

My pet theory on the passage of time is that the more new experiences you have, the slower time becomes.

The first eighteen or so years of your life, everything is new. When you're a kid, everything is something you've never experienced before. You show up to school, you make friends and lose friends with alarming regularity; for the first time love urges you to take its guidance. Maybe you have a job.

Think about how long it took you to get from thirteen to seventeen.

Eventually you get some sort of job or not, you find a way to eke out a living, and that's what you do. You meet someone to love, and now its no longer young love, but a family. It might change from time to time, but not by much, nothing new. And this is your goal.

If you're lucky, you get to take a vacation somewhere every once in a while. On that vacation, you are doing things you don't usually do. Two weeks stretch out, two weeks which would have flown by if you were at home. New experiences.

These days, I think the only passage of time I experience is the kids my friends have, I have none of my own. You know time has passed because the kid who you still think of as a baby is now entering middle school.

And now you're living life.

That's roughly how I've been feeling, myself.  Frankly, I've been hurt a couple times in the past.  And, as I've gotten older, and things have happened recently, I've just given up any hope, and have been somewhat content to just sit in and watch tv.  I had some hope of changing last year.  I just can't. 

But, listen to RC. 

I think a very important realization is that truth remains true, regardless of what we believe.  The greatest sin of post-modernism is its relentless insistence that we all shape our own truth, and all truths are therefore relative and equivalent.  I abide with Plato, with Christ, and the Apostle Paul - Truth is eternal and undying.  It is not shaped by what I believe, but I am shaped by my perception of Truth.

So I still believe in God, even when I don't understand everything about Him.
I still believe in love, because it is what sustains me every day.
And I still hold on to a stubborn optimism  most of the time, because I do believe that, in the end, there is a Master Plan - and a master planner!

Love is still there, KB, and you will find it.  Or it will find you.
Who knows?

Maybe you and RC will find each other!!!

My work colleague has a similar theory, but it's more to do with just time in general: the older you get the shorter the years are as an overall average of your life.  When you're 16 you've had less time, so a year seems longer, when you're 60 a year is a smaller percentage of your overall 'life' and therefore seems to be quicker.

Can't say I argue with either theory, since it's August already and I still feel like it's May.

Well, at your advanced age :wink: you should be aware of the fact that "marketing people" don't give a rat's ass about the older people... won't they be in for a shock when the majority of people are seniors!!!  :buggedout:

I think the veneration of them is too extreme at times, but hearing that a thousand WWII vets die a day is sobering...  I remember when the fiftieth anniversary of V-Day happened and the youngest vets were under 70.  It's a barometer of past time for me.

Also, working with people born in the 90s.  Bleh.

 :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: Welcome to my world...

It's horrible when you meet someone born in the 90's


 :bluesad:

Its like being slapped in the face with the age stick...

Ha.

I work in a place with a few kids who were born in the '90s, around '92/'93.  Mind you, I don't feel I'm old, as I was born in '84.  So, I'm not much older than them.  However, they referred to the Spice Girls as RETRO. :buggedout:

I remember being 13 when the Girls hit. 

These kids were reminiscing about "Classic" Nickelodeon, like "Early SpongeBob, Drake and Josh, and Kenan and Kel."  I looked at them and was just like, "First off, you were 3 when Kenan and Kel was on the air.  Secondly, early SpongeBob is NOT 'classic.'"  Classic Nick had You Can't Do That On Television and Clarissa Explains it All. :lookingup: