Thinking About History & Things People Say
I'm watching a charming British movie, Kinky Shoes. I find these movies and they sound good. This one certainly did not look like anything else I've seen, but then, neither are Blow Dry, The Full Monty, Bridget Jones' Diary, and Calendar Girls. These are all wonderful movies and not so predictable as are American movies. (I will note that Bridget Jones' Diary appears to be an American made movie, but it is not. It did make a splash here, with American actress Renee Zelleweger, who did an excellent job in this movie and reprised the roll in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.)
The shoe company, which originally made mens shoes, was founded in 1895. Must have been a good year. I was in the loo, reading about the making of t-shirts, and there was a reference to James Dean wearing a skin-tight tee in Rebel Without a Cause, and I was thinking that I had a thing for James Dean many years ago. And people would say to me, "Oh, James Dean was before your time." So was Marlon Brando and (mostly) Paul Newman. (I remember well both Paul and Marlon, but they were much older for my lifetime. And Marlon Brando, who was HOT, HOT, HOT in the 1940s, 1950s, was FAT, FAT, FAT in the later years. I mostly recall him as Calel, Superman's father (played by Christopher Reeves, not the original Superman).
So what if something was "before my time"? I know a lot about the American Revolutionary and Civil wars, and those were not only before my time, but centuries (Revolutionary War) and a century (American Civil War) before I was around. Should I know nothing of those? They are history - but so are the actors named above. I never understand when people say that. And they say it all the time.
Maybe I read a lot more than most - which I do - so I understand most older references. But people consistently underestimate my understanding of older references by my age (and often people think I'm younger than I look, so they have a tendency to think I don't understand references to the late 60s/early 70s).
I find people can be so disappointing that way. But then, maybe I exceed the stupidity that I usually feel about myself by knowing references like that. I don't know current events, but at least I know something. Maybe I feel better because I know more than others think.
I don't know.
There is a lot of disjointed thinking in this post because I'm not outlining all the thoughts fully, but I know what I'm thinking. I suppose that is all that matters.
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Greg