I am a grumpy old man

I've realized that the majority of things I blog about make me sound like a grumpy old man, including my rant on cotton...however, does anyone not hear Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" and think that it is really, truly the end this time? Here is just one part:

There's a hickey or a bruise
Pictures of last night
Ended up online
I'm screwed
Oh well
It's a black top blur
But I'm pretty sure it ruled

So, those are the lyrics, and then the music video is a dorky school-aged girl who becomes cool when she parties with Rebecca Black. Now obviously if you party with Rebecca Black you are cool, but seriously, hey teenage girl, guess what...get blackout drunk and do whatever and you'll be cool, otherwise you'll be a dork. That is the lesson. I don't know, do kids just listen and not really absorb or care about the words? I can tell you that when I listened to that "New Age Girl" song back in the day I used to BELT out "SHE DON'T EAT MEAT BUT SHE SURE LIKE THE BONE" and thought nothing of it. It was a mix of not really caring what the words said and not really getting it, but still...are there are less innuendos in these pop songs now? Thinking back, I do remember K7's "Come Baby Come" was one of my favorites, but that is just because I like baseball...you know...."two balls and a bat, the pitcher wears a hat...sliding into home base trying to hit a home run swing batta batta batta batta batta SWING!" Sounds like good clean fun to me. I'm going to preempt my kids' listening to bad music by downloading some 69 Boyz "Tootsie Roll." How can a song about chocolate candy be bad?

Where's Kevin Arnold?

Everything is in reruns so Trav and I were flipping through channels and guess what we found...The Wonder Years! This is what the episode was about:

Kevin's high school basketball team is doing great because of the star player, Bobby. But uh oh, look who's out celebrating instead of studying for his test...you guessed it, Kevin! So, he gets a "D" on his test. Kevin's parents decide to let him go to the games, but Kevin's dad decides to tag along to the championship. Kevin is all embarrassed and gets mad when his Dad isn't optimistic about the star player...basically Kevin thinks his dad is just a Debbie Downer who thinks he's always right...and Kevin's team (the Knights, by the way) loses. Kevin tries to console the star player, who blows him off. Kevin and his dad go for coffee afterward and Kevin realizes that his dad isn't the hard gruff guy he thinks he is because..."it's not easy being a hero." And, that's just what Kevin's dad is...his hero.

Guess what...Kevin didn't slip Winnie a rufie and sexually assault her behind the bleachers. There weren't any jokes about Paul not being able to get it up and Winnie even made a sports comment and was taken seriously. I'm not saying tv shouldn't deal with real issues...but a sitcom doesn't need a teacher talking about her sexual prowess (I'm talking to you, Glee) to be entertaining. Seriously...people, why aren't shows like this on tv anymore? Now we are watching Three-and-a-half Men and fricken Jersey Shore. I'm not judging...I do it too, but you can bet I'm going to start DVR-ing Wonder Years and Doogie Howser reruns and my kids are going to watch those when they are older. For now I'll have to find some copies of David the Gnome and Today's Special. However, as I post this I realize that my generation watched these shows and we are the ones who have come up with some of the crap that is on today....so, I guess the answer is that our kids should be watching...dang-it, what did our grandparents watch...oh wait, nothing because tv wasn't invented and they were out milking cows and calling out "Extra Extra" on the street corners (as in selling papers...get it?).

So, what did I learn from watching The Wonder Years tonight, besides the fact that Fred Savage's voice never really changed? The only way my kids are going to turn out better than the kids in my generation is to become Amish. Time to start working on that electric fireplace...