MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 19: "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads and too many songs about my failed marriage

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Well, after my suicide attempt, I obviously went to therapy. Trying to fix myself and my marriage.

But it was actually in couples therapy, that I realized that I didn't like or respect the woman I was married to. And I also realized that she wasn't willing to put much effort into our marriage. I was doing everything.

But because of our daughter, I tried to keep it working for a couple of years. Eventually, I figured out that both my daughter and I would happier if I left her mother.

And I was right!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist about realizing my marriage was over including Talking Heads' "Once In A Lifetime":



Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:
http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 18: "When It's Cold" and "Into The Blue" by Moby and other songs that describe how I felt suicidal

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

I'm not proud of this fact, but I did try to kill myself once. And it wasn't a cry for help. No note. Went where it was hard to find me. The only reason I'm still alive is because I didn't take enough pills or vomited up too much of them.

Why did I try to kill myself? Even a decade later, it's to explain completely.

I mean, I obviously wasn't thinking straight.

But basically, it boiled down to this.

I was took pride in being a good husband and a good dad. And I failed on that when I cheated on my wife.

Secondly, my wife was threatening to go back to Africa with our daughter. I was transgender and Africa is very traditional. I knew I could have trouble getting custody and visitation rights there.

And thirdly, my wife outed my transgenderism to my family and friends.

So, in my crazed, depressed state of mind, I didn't see much reason to live. I failed as a father and husband. I was losing my wife. Thought I might never see my daughter again.

I was an idiot. More than a decade later, I'm happily divorced from that awful woman. I have custody of my daughter. And my daughter and I only get a few texts from her mother every few months. And I, with the help of a great therapist, decided my transgenderism was just something I went through to cope, deal, and come to terms with my feminine side.

Morale of the story: Suicide bad! Don't do it!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing

A playlist about my suicide attempt including Moby's "When It's Cold" and "Into The Blue":

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 17: "Take Me To The River" by Talking Heads and other tunes about my marriage falling apart.

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Well, I stated before, I entered into a marriage that I should have never should have entered.

And it reached a head when my wife went to visit her African home for six months.

I ended up exploring my transgender issues and cheated on my wife.

She wasn't pleased when she found out.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist of songs about my marriage falling apart including "Take Me To The River":

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE- 50 For My 50th Day 16: "Sweet Child O Mine" by Metalchi and 2 other versions

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

What can I say? I like this song, and I love this version, and it reminds me of my daughter too!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



This version plus the versions by Guns N Roses and Sheryl Crow.

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

POLITICS - Area Teen Quickly Running Out Of Chances To Be First OpenlyGay Anything

PEORIA, IL—Citing the increased visibility of gay athletes, politicians, and officials, area teen and homosexual Alex Zaragoza, 15, told reporters today that he is worried about running out of opportunities to become the first openly gay member of any professional field or social group. 

">http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-teen-quickly-running-out-of-chances-to-be-fir,33521/

ENTERTAINMENT - Why Violent Femmes' Classic Debut Still Seems So Young, 30 Years Later

And this is why, 30 years later, this is still my all-time favorite album!

Their debut represents more than just the height of the band's commercial success. Although virtually ignored upon its release, the album has since been regarded as emblematic of the teenage experience, youthful frustration pinned and preserved.

Part of the reason the album endures is the music itself: simply constructed songs with sticky melodies, sung by a young man with a conversational delivery and a voice like a fire-truck siren, backed by frenzied bass playing and primal, intuitive drumming. The performances are burning things, alternately spare and spacious, then suddenly taut and rigid and nervous. Things never fall apart, but they continually threaten to. The lyrics are gutting and funny, too: sordid but somehow pleasant teenage confessionals penned by an actual teenager. Even when the words temporarily slip into inanity, the off-kilter vocal performance lifts them, twists them, and lends them an extra edge of weirdness that pushes them back into the personal. "Blister in the Sun," the Femmes' bip-boppin' ode to drugs, "big hands," and nocturnal emissions, is clearly the single of the bunch, but nearly every track is powerful, deranged, and yes, likeable.

http://m.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/04/why-violent-femmes-classic-debut-still-seems-so-young-30-years-later/274991/

ENTERTAINMENT - The Violent Femmes self-titled debut album at 30

It was 1983. And a co-worker/friend/fellow alternative music fan brought over this crazy new album that he said I just had to hear and make a tape of. Otherwise, everything else here is the same for me!

http://www.theawl.com/2013/04/the-violent-femmes-the-violent-femmes-30

HUMOR - I need to find my wife's!

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 15: "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder and other songs that make me think of my daughter

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

What can I say? The greatest day of my life, and I'm sure my wife won't be upset with me saying this, is when my daughter was born. (The day I married my current wife is a close #2!)

She can be annoying and frustrating, but I love her independent spirit and undeterred will to be herself.

And through all the up and downs in my life, she was the light that kept me going and gave me purpose.

So these songs are in honor of her.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlists of songs that make me think of my daughter including "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder:

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 14: "Ever Fallen In Love" by The Buzzcocks and other songs that describe my first marriage

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

There's no two ways around it. The first marriage was a big, huge mistake. The only good thing to come out of it was my daughter.

It was the outcome of my psychological issue and my romanticism. I was desperate to have someone and prove that I was worthy of having someone.

So I got engaged to someone the first night I met her.

Then I broke up with her five years later!

Then I met my second wife a couple of months after that. Married her four months later.

Yeah, I had issues.

And if I had gotten to know here better, I would have realized what a mistake it was.

Instead I fooled myself, and as I slowly learned my mistake, I blamed myself and tried harder to make something that never should have happen work.

Eventually, ten years later, I learned my mistake. But more on that later

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist of songs about how I felt in my first marriage including The Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love":

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 13: "African Convention" by Miriam Makeba and other African political songs

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

I'm sorry about you can't live in Africa, especially next door to apartheid-era South Africa, and not feel policitical or get a sense of the politics going on in Africa.

As I told a fellow Peace Corps volunteer, "When I arrived in southern Africa, Nelson Mandela was a prisoner. Now as I leave, he's president!" His response: "Then I guess our work is done!"

These songs reflect those tumultuous political times in 1980s Africa and southern Africa.

To be honest, I'm not sorry at all about being political!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist of political songs about South Africa including "African Convention":

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

HUMOR - Great motivation speech!

Georgia Tech Sophomore Nick Selby gave incoming freshmen 10 tips for success. This is the epic ending that is going viral. This speech was given at Georgia Tech Convocation on August 18, 2013.

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 12: "Serengeti Long Walk" by Stewart Copeland and songs that remind what I thought about traveling Africa

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

I was never actually at The Serengeti Plains, but this song captures some of the thoughts and feelings I had as I hitchhiked through The Kalahari Desert, rode horseback through a national park in Zimbabwe, rode through Namibia, among other places.

See these natural spectacles certainly puts you in a philosophical frame of mind. And these songs reflect that.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist of songs including "Serengeti Long Walk" that show what was going through my mind as I traveled Africa :

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 11: "Boy In The Bubble" by Paul Simon and other tunes that remind me of my time in Africa

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Well, when I first started this 50 days of music for my 50th birthday, I claimed that these would all be songs that have special meaning to me.

Unfortunately, for this African segment, I'm kinda breaking that rule. I love a lot of African music, but most of it doesn't exactly speak to this white, middle class, midwestern American. Plus, most of it is in languages I don't understand whatsoever. So though I love many African tunes, I can't say they have a "special meaning" to me.

But I did spend 6 1/2 years living in Africa. And it did have a profound effect on me, the way I look at myself as well as the way I look at the world. You have to be pretty self-absorbed not to be affected by living in a completely different culture for so long!

So if these don't exactly speak of my life, they do reflect some of the thoughts, experience, and feelings that my African experience brought me.

I picked Paul Simon's 'Boy In The Bubble" as the first tune for a number of reasons. One, it reflects some of the chaotic feeling that I had living in a strange culture, and one that was next door to apartheid-era South Africa. Two, backing up Paul Simon is a band from the village where I first taught, Tau Ea Matsekha! Three, this album came out just before I left for southern Africa, and was a huge hit and played many times at our Peace Corps parties!

So enjoy a taste of Africa!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist of tunes that remind me of Africa including "Boy In The Bubble":

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - My Dog!

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 10: "Kiss Off" and "Add It Up" by The Violent Femmes and other angry. lonely tunes

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Okay, this is the last post about being a sad, lonely nerd.

But the truth isn't I wasn't always sad! Sometimes, I got angry!

Thought life was totally unfair! Wanted to know why life treated me this way. Later, I realized a lot of it had to do more with how I was living life than how life was treating me.

But if any album caught how I was feeling at that time, it was The Violent Femmes' self-titled debut album.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing

A playlist of angry nerd songs including "Kiss Off" and "Add It Up":



Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:
http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day Day 09: "So Lonely" by The Police and other songs of a first love!

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

This post is about one of my first loves! The Police!

No, not the peacekeeping institution in our towns, but the band!

I had a lot of bands I enjoyed and probably loved, Devo, The Sex Pistols, Talking Heads. But they were all bands introduced to me by someone else, probably my older brother for the most part.

The Police was a band I discovered on my own!

And back in 1979 before they sold out and tried to be commercial. I hadn't heard anything like them before. The weird mix of punk, reggae, jazz, and world music.

And the lyrics! How could I not relate to songs with titles like "So Lonely", "Next To You", "Hole In My Life", and "Truth Hits Everybody"?!

I felt like Sting got exactly where I was coming from! Later, I would learn that Stewart Copeland would probably relate to me more! But at this time, I felt a strong musical connection!

Their later albums didn't do as much for me. But their first album, and even the second, will always hold a special place in my heart!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist of Police songs I related to including "So Lonely":

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 08 - "The Other Way" by Weezer and more songs about how I was a lonely nerd

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Being a big nerd, I wasn't exactly what you would call a ladies man. I was much too shy to even approach a girl if I liked her. And couldn't even think that a girl might find me worthwhile.

Yeah, I had self-esteem issues...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing



A playlist about being a lonely nerd including "The Other Way":

Click the link below to listen to my monstrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

MY LIFE - What every dad wants to overhear his daughter say to her boyfriend

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 07: "Temptation" by New Order and other songs about being a hopeless romantic

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Pretty much ever since my hormones have kicked in, and maybe even before, I have been a big hopeless romantic. And, quite frankly, it sucks.

I'd fall for girls at the drop of a hat. And in high school and even the start of college, I'd fall for girls I shouldn't have fallen for. If I had dated them, I'm sure I'd have found them boring and shallow.

But even when I started going for the right girls, I jumped into the relationship too quickly and take it too seriously too fast. I got engaged to one woman the day I met her. We broke up five years later. I married my ex-wife four months after meeting her.

Eventually, I learned to use my brain as well as my heart. My brain playing the tough interrogator. "Oh, really? What makes her so wonderful?" "Really? What do you have in common?" "You sure that you're listening to your heart and not that guy below the waist?"

It also helped that in therapy, I learned why I was rushing into relationships!

So finally, after the hard work of keeping my romanticism in check and not letting it overrun me, I got a wonderful wife! But that's another story!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing

A playlist of songs about being a romantic including "Temptation":

Click the link below to listen to my montrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

HUMOR - Presidential pun

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 06: "Teenage Wildlife" by David Bowie and more songs about how I felt in high school

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Warning: The post for the next couple of weeks will be dark and get darker. I had some issues in my life. But like any good story, our hero has to go through his trials and tribulations before he triumphs. I triumped I have.

This song I felt captured a lot of the problems I had in high school as a big nerd. I love this song so much, it actually inspired me to write a short story back in the days when I dreamed of being a writer (before I realized how much freaking work that took!).

And with the school shootings and such that have happened, I think this song resonates even more today.

So even though I already did the whole high school thing yesterday, I wanted to include this song too!

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing

A playlist including "Teenage Wildlife":

HUMOR - Iowa State Fair humor

http://www.dmcityview.com/duffy/2013/08/14/8211/

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 05: "Caught In The Crowd" by Kate Miller-Heidke and other songs that describe my school days

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

Warning: The post for the next couple of weeks will be dark and get darker. I had some issues in my life. But like any good story, our hero has to go through his trials and tribulations before he triumphs. I triumphed I have.

In school, I was a big, shy, quiet nerd. Know it's hard to believe. The quiet, shy part obviously, not the nerd part!

So this song really touches me. It actually made me teary-eyed the first time I heard it. But the sad thing is that I was on both sides of this story and did the same thing.

But I don't regret my nerd past. It wasn't always fun, but a number of good things came out. I realized that it's okay, and actually a lot of fun, to get excited about stuff, even stuff other people don't get! And it taught me to sympathesize and appreciate society's rejects and underdogs.

So I wear my nerd badge proudly!

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing




A playlist featuring "Caught In The Crowd" and other songs that I feel captured my experience during my school days.

Click the link below to listen to my montrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:
http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

HUMOR - Riotous, Chanting Iowa State Fair Crowd Gathers For Annual Deep-Frying Of Virgin

DES MOINES, IA—Capping off the Iowa State Fair’s opening weekend with a much-beloved tradition, throngs of cheering fairgoers gathered in the Midway Sunday evening to witness the annual deep-frying of a virgin. “There’s something for everybody here at the fair, but the frying of the pure one is always a highlight,” said Iowa State Fair marketing director Lori Chappell, the crowd roaring as the dazed teenager was led to a platform where she was stripped nude, hog-tied, covered in butter and flour batter, and then dipped in a vat of boiling cooking oil.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/riotous-chanting-iowa-state-fair-crowd-gathers-for,33483/

MY LIFE - 50 For My 50th Day 04: "Our House" by Madness and a tunes that describes my childhood!

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

I grew up in a house where my parents had 4 kids in 6 years, and then one more 9 years later! Yeah... And my parents also raised us to be very individualistic and independent! Which sometimes bit them in the ass, but overall was a good thing! To put things more clearly, I'll quote a friend, "I don't blame your mom for being the way she was. Not only did she have to raise five kids! She had to raise YOU five!"

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing

 

Playlist with "Our House" and other tunes:

Click the link below to listen to my montrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

ENTERTAINMENT - 50 For My 50th Day 03: "Happy Happy Birthday" by Arrogant Worms and other birthday tunes

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing

Click the link below to listen to my montrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

ENTERTAINMENT - 50 For My 50th Day 02 - "Happy Birthday" by Weird Al Yankovic plus my favorite tunes about birthdays

For an explanation of "50 For My 50th", go here - http://oldermusicgeek.blogspot.com/2013/08/entertainment-50-for-my-50th-50-days-of.html

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing

Click the link below to listen to my montrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

ENTERTAINMENT - 50 for my 50th Day 01: 50 Days Of Music For My 50th Birthday

Howdy all!

Yours truly is turning 50! And to celebrate, I thought I would present 50 days of music.

This will NOT be favorite tunes. Instead, it will be tunes that have special meaning to me. Ones that represent something from my life, maybe a certain time, maybe just they way I felt at one time, or maybe a little something I've learned in my first 50 years of living. So think of this as sort of an autobiography done in song, just other people's songs, since I couldn't write a tune if my life depended on it!

On each post, I'll have usually one main song that I'll probably say a few words about why it means something to me. Then I'll usually also have a few more tunes on the same theme.

So the first three days is just celebratory tunes. Then there will be tunes representing different times of my life. And the final one will be way-of-life type songs.

Well, that's about it! So let's get this party started!

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn2SencrSL_0ujzefX_Bfc_j-KJhKJzSUTDJi3CiQs8/edit?usp=sharing





Click the link below to listen to my montrosity of a playlist, OlderMusicGeek's 50th B-Day, on Spotify:
http://open.spotify.com/user/127676752/playlist/1bRKV8LHJIL3JQih1ZSq76

ENTERTAINMENT - You Know What “Pandering” Is in Superhero Comics? 75 Years of Straight White Dudes as the Default

Can we talk about the idea of “pandering” in Superhero comics? I’ve see the world tossed around a lot in the free wheeling world of internet commenting and I gotta say if I see it one more time, I’m going to punch as wall.

Marvel creates a set of comics with female leads? PANDERING!

Green Lantern and Batwoman are gay? PANDERING!

Characters of color getting their own comics? PANDERING!

Transgender characters in Demon Knights or Batgirl? Pandering!

It seems that anytime anything but a straight white male character is introduced there’s a certain part of the internet that balls up their little hands and screams “PANDERING!”

Because you know, why would comics reflect anything but the little bubble that surrounds their little world.

Lately I’ve seen the term pandering turned towards the comics community on Tumblr. Bleeding, channing and cbr’ing and stamping their feet that some comic creators and publishers are choosing to pay attention to NOT THEM!

http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/58001028889/you-know-what-pandering-is-in-superhero-comics-75

If you see this, you're invited! (But would appreciate it if you did NOT repost it! Thanks!)

HUMOR - God promised men that good and obedient wives

Yg

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/nsviewcard/MjAxMi01YWY5MDNjM2U1NjIwNzc1

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY - Happy 50th Birthday, Cassettes!

The trusty audio cassette was introduced to the world in August of 1963

By Lily Rothman

In August of 1963, the world met a new piece of technology that would go on to change the history of music: the audio cassette tape. That means that this month marks the 50th anniversary of the cassette.

As cassette inventor Lou Ottens, now 87, tells TIME, it was “a sensation” from day one.

This week’s issue of TIME takes a look at that illustrious history—and how the cassette is still influencing the world today.

Yes: today. Though cassettes may seem like their time has passed, they shaped the music we listen to and their adherents still stand strong, whether they’re working on collections of thousands of rare cassettes or just hoarding their old mix tapes for nostalgia’s sake.

To read the full story about the legacy of the cassette tape, click here.

ENTERTAINMENT - I should be in this group!