I bought a kindle. It's your fault....

memSomerville

Ok, you and Albert Brooks.

This may not seem Knot-related, but hang with me for a few....

So in the book thread the other day we were discussing e-readers, and it gave me just the final push I needed to decide. And then I saw Albert Brooks on The Daily Show. I lurve him. (He's number 6 on the list after Clooney, I suppose...) . I would form a cult around his movie Defending Your Life if I could figure out how.

Anyway, he has this new book called 2030. In the book there are a couple of major premises. 1) Cancer has been cured, and people begin to live incredibly long healthy lives. 2) Point 1 pisses off all the younger folks--with some legitimate reason.

I remain stunned at how well Albert called our reality-TV existence in 1979 with the movie Real Life. (Yes, it was made well before many of the brides on The Knot were born.) And I thought: maybe he's got the track on the year 2030.

Must. Have. Book.

So I bought a kindle and was able to download the book 2 days later.

I'm reading it--and I think it's great. I think he's right. There's a dynamic already in place with the kids today who are really getting screwed out of the "American Dream". College loans, car payments, no health insurance...all of it. In 2030, it is amplified. And there's a major antagonism between "the Olds" and the youngstahs.

I came back to TK tonight, and looked over the Chit Chat thread. Seems a youngstah has taken offense at our "youngstahs" thread we started near the beginning of this board. This has ignited new discussion in our old thread if you want to have a look.

2030 is here. And I started it....Sigh. And all I was saying was that I felt bad for the pressure they were under. Alas.

But I do love the kindle. Thanks for the push gals

Lisa50

Trouble maker. 

memSomerville

Lisa50: You're not the first to call me that--Ha!

Today in my course on how to shelter animals in disaster situations, I asked them what their plans were for the Rapture next week. I got pretty much the same response!

tenofcups4me

I don't have a kindle, but Defending Your Life is one of my all-time favorite movies. So few people seem to know it that I'm always surprised when someone mentions it!

memSomerville

Yeah, tenofcups4me, it's such a secret gem. But--Jon Stewart loved it too--check out the interview here:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-may-11-2011/exclusive---albert-brooks-extended-interview-pt--1

I love it when people I consider serious and credible thinkers like the same things I do....You included

tenofcups4me

Thanks for the link Mem (and the compliment ). I just watched it -- love both those guys! There's also a part II of the interview, which I thought was even more interesting. And I've put the book on my list to buy! Let us know what you think when you're done, ok?

maglinpa

Oh my goodness.  I just found the thread...WOW!!  I just can not believe that someone used the "Cee U Next Tuesday" word and considerd themselves to be mature.  My head is still spinning.  I will confess that even when I text I still spell everything out and get a little peeved when I notice after send that the phone either self-corrected to a wrong word or I mistyped.

I am happy for your new purchase.  Yes, please do let us know how the book is.

maglinpa

I know, right?  I can honestly say that at 18--I did not know crap.  Maybe, it is because I got a relatively average score on my ACT?  And then, when I went straight to college, I was even more clueless.  But boy-oh-boy did I Iearn.  Of curse, I guess I learned because I felt that I could skip a class or two or not read the assignment and still do well on the test.  Yeah--not so much.  So, I learned rather quickly that I was not Miss Smarty Pants.  My mother used to tell me all the time that she was not going to tell me I could not do something--because I was no longer under her roof--but she would "suggest" that I not do it.  Every time I went ahead and did it--yet another learning experience.  The things I Iearned from the suggestions of others.  Priceless.  Sometimes you may not heed their advice, but always learn from it.  Exits left off of soap box.

shytownkelly

Some one please explain to me why people dredge up old threads? 

That was just completely ridiculous. 

but I do love that my daughter is turning 15 tomorrow is way more mature than that "twatwaffle".

awesome.