Old man yells at cloud or...

[Saito2 5619]

...get off my lawn! Take your pick, but this post is about aging. Its a common theme (but not exclusive) amongst folks as they age that things were "better back in the day." There's tons of info on the hows and whys some people have that mindset. The problem is, that mindset is creeping into my own head. Of course I'll always love vintage Tamiya more and cling to my 540 brushed motors and Nimh batteries but I'm not I'm not dumb enough to believe everything in our hobby was better in the original golden age. MSCs are "quaint' but ESCs are better. Charging overnight for 5-7 minutes of fun the next day was, well, not so much fun. The BBX looks very cool despite my better half killing the vibe with "don't you have enough already?" She's probably right but when has this hobby made sense.

Its other forms of entertainment that's beginning to have myself questioning if I'm slipping a bit. I don't listen to music past 1999 or so except in rare occasions. But, on the other hand, I love music well before my time. The music industry doesn't fit my sensibilities of looking for a group I dig and then searching out their back catalog. There seems to be TOO much music available now and its here today and gone tomorrow. Probably perfect for those raised on smart phones and prone to shorter attention spans but not for the person who likes to savor stuff. I'd be stupid to think good music isn't being made now, its just finding it and hoping it doesn't disappear.

I like movies. I'm also a comic book geek. When the Marvel movies really kicked into gear with Iron Man in '08, it was great. Now its tiring. Perhaps its formulaic or the fact its taken over as a "safe" bet for studios, but I've gone back to reading my old comics rather than eagerly gobbling up each new show Disney/Marvel puts out. Star Wars is getting much the same way. I still love to original trilogy but it feels like Disney is going to beat every dollar out of that IP it can. It feels that nothing can be self-contained and quality is beginning to suffer. Is everything new bad compared to the original trilogy? No, of course not. The Mandalorian was great IMO. Good story telling is good story telling.

So, I don't know. Am I just becoming more discerning in my age or am I just getting old and foolishly think everything was better back in the day because I was too? Or its depression related to mid-life crisis. Either way, I don't like the way that cloud is menacing me...

[Willy iine 16854]

I can't really say as I'm not about to croak yet, but the last 5 years I have noticed accelerated change in what feels natural to me.  

Like I never really liked VW Beetles.. but for some reason something clicked inside and man, I love them now.  Also the 1000 TCR.. I would've never bought such RC car in my youth, but man do they look sweet now.  

I can't speak for mid-life crisis..   I don't know what that is.   I'm still a kid inside (my wife says my age is 1:10 scale too ) yet basically did everything I wanted to do and see in my life.  I also experienced a lot of negativity as well so I am a bit tired now.  If I died today, I would die mostly in content with some mixed feelings.

[SlideWRX 673]

2 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I like movies. I'm also a comic book geek. When the Marvel movies really kicked into gear with Iron Man in '08, it was great. Now its tiring. Perhaps its formulaic or the fact its taken over as a "safe" bet for studios, but I've gone back to reading my old comics rather than eagerly gobbling up each new show Disney/Marvel puts out. Star Wars is getting much the same way.

So, I don't know. Am I just becoming more discerning in my age or am I just getting old and foolishly think everything was better back in the day because I was too?

The more recent Marvel & Starwars has definitely been hit or miss, with a lot of miss.  Both are trying to pull too many characters in to make big hits, mostly just to make a big hit, not to have a good movie/show.  I feel the opposite way with the transformer movies - they made the live action ones just to make money, but the last one I think is the best(although not a high bar to hit...)

After you have seen many movies/shows, the same stories keep showing up.  It was better back in the day because you didn't know how bad it was.

[Kowalski86 1560]

You're becoming more discerning, which is good. There's nothing wrong with being picky about your entertainment.

I guess I'd be on the "younger" side here but I'm very picky about what I watch or listen to. I have no desire to be a part of my generations moronic "outrage" movement, where anytime that a change is made to an existing IP everyone gets upset, talks and talks about it, then watches it anyway.

They can complain about movie adaptation A not being faithful to Anime B all they want, I'll just go have some fun and watch an episode of Speed Racer.

Lately been watching "The Avengers" with family, the old super spy British TV show. In the episode "Love All" the idea of an AI that writes romance novels was demonstrated, and I couldn't help but think that's how some modern entertainment is written.

I do believe that writing used to be better, but back in the 50's-70's you had some real tough guys at work. You had people who endured the Great Depression and WWII, people with a real perspective on life that you won't likely get from my generation.

But of course, you also have the ever escalating budgets/profits, so everything has to be more digestible.

As far as RC goes, to be honest, if we were still at weak NiMHs, slow chargers, and finicky MSCs I may not have gotten into it that much, or I would've gone Nitro.

[Twinfan 603]

I'm with you 100% Saito2, are we in fact the same person???  

I'm middle-aged and feel it's just part of getting older.  I don't have enthusiasm for anything like I've had in the past, and getting excited about something is a rare occurence.  It mostly centres around track days in my 1:1 car which I do around half a dozen times a year which are a real buzz.  Otherwise nostalgia is huge for me, I really enjoy reminiscing and smiling to myself about the older times.

To cope with the cloud as you describe it, I'm trying to go with the flow and take each day as it comes.  I'm also much more into nature than I've ever been and enjoy the simple things in life - listening to bird calls over a coffee in the garden, talking a walk through the woods or along the coast etc.  It's quite therapeutic  

[Badcrumble 3871]

Thanks @Saito2. This got me thinking. I got back into comics in 2020 and I have observed that

a) I can re-read my old 1980s Transformers (the UK stories - I'm a Furman fan), Charley's War and Dragon's Claws and still think they are the best thing ever

b) I only enjoy modern comics if they are T+ rated

So the nostalgia must be really strong on the old stuff.

Music is similar. Like you, I go back to my music collection on my iPod (my Classic is in my car, linked by USB, I have one of the last ever Touch for when I'm walking about) rather than listen to new stuff. Mainly because I found that I didn't use a streaming service enough to warrant a subscription.

It is a shame because it means I don't listen to much new music but a lot of my favourite acts are still recording and releasing music so I'll have enough to keep me going.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the music you listened to as a teenager forms the strongest bond as it is when your brain fuses (pathways become fixed) so when you hear it again the emotions come flooding back  - the nostalgia hit.

I think it applies to other stuff too...

[Twinfan 603]

I think it's very true about the music, Badcrumble.  I don't like anything other than the styles I listened to in my teens.  That stuff sticks.

See also hobbies and interests.......

[Saito2 5619]

9 hours ago, SlideWRX said:

The more recent Marvel & Starwars has definitely been hit or miss, with a lot of miss.  Both are trying to pull too many characters in to make big hits, mostly just to make a big hit, not to have a good movie/show.  I feel the opposite way with the transformer movies - they made the live action ones just to make money, but the last one I think is the best(although not a high bar to hit...)

I agree. I'm a big G1 fan and those movies are getting better now that Michael Bay (whom I shall hit with a folding chair should I meet him, j/k) is gone. He is an auteur, but I simply dislike both his style and approach.

7 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

. I have no desire to be a part of my generations moronic "outrage" movement, where anytime that a change is made to an existing IP everyone gets upset, talks and talks about it, then watches it anyway.

I hate that. I don't feel being slavish to the original is more important than a good story. I don't like change just for change's sake, but if it results in a good narrative, go for it.  I felt Star Wars was going somewhere with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, perhaps subverting expectations only to to see them walk it all back with The Rise of Skywalker. A shame.

2 hours ago, Twinfan said:

Otherwise nostalgia is huge for me, I really enjoy reminiscing and smiling to myself about the older times.

Same here except when I get heavily depressed.

2 hours ago, Twinfan said:

To cope with the cloud as you describe it, I'm trying to go with the flow and take each day as it comes.  I'm also much more into nature than I've ever been and enjoy the simple things in life - listening to bird calls over a coffee in the garden, talking a walk through the woods or along the coast etc.  It's quite therapeutic  

You know, it may be hot out now, but I sit out back of our factory in blessed solitude for lunch. I just sit and watch the smaller birds and crows bicker or the squirrels bopping about. Its good for the mind.

23 minutes ago, Badcrumble said:

I'm sure I read somewhere that the music you listened to as a teenager forms the strongest bond as it is when your brain fuses (pathways become fixed) so when you hear it again the emotions come flooding back  - the nostalgia hit.

I think it applies to other stuff too...

I think that's the gist of what I'm poking at. I know it to be true so I don't want to fall completely prey to it. Hopefully I'm just becoming more discerning like @Kowalski86 suggested. I liked Furman's TF stuff in the US Marvel run too btw.

[Kowalski86 1560]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

You know, it may be hot out now, but I sit out back of our factory in blessed solitude for lunch. I just sit and watch the smaller birds and crows bicker or the squirrels bopping about. Its good for the mind.

Perhaps you should pick up bird feeding, we do that at my house and it's always entertaining watching the animals run about our yard.

[Gebbly 501]

I think there is probably good and bad quality in any generation. There were some shocking films when I was a kid but they are only vague memories whereas I count myself as very lucky to have grown up with the original star wars trilogy. I think, for me, the problem with re-using an IP is I would rather see something completely new. If an IP has an existing lore then fit in with it. If someone wants to do something completely different thats great. Just dont tie it to a pre-existing IP, come up with a new setting. But too often hollywood starts by looking for a pre-existing fan base. One of my favourite shows of the last few decades has been Firefly. If that had been produced today it would probably have been reworked to be a spin off of Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica or goodness knows what else. But because it was completely new it was fascinating seeing a whole new universe.

With music I still love the music I liked when I started listening but I love finding new things too. In the last few years I have been getting into Country, Folk, Bluegrass and sea shanties. Meanwhile I still stick on AC/DC or Poison in the car. The problem I have with music these days is that there is so much of it it just gets harder to find the things I like in amongst all the stuff I dislike. These days I tend to hear something in the background of a film or maybe a tv show theme and then find who did it and search out their stuff. Recent discoveries have included Kongos, Imagine Dragons and Greta Van Fleet.

The RC hobby is an odd one for me. I started getting back into it for nostalgia reasons. However, if thats all it was and nothing had changed I probably would have got a single car and left it at that. But because it has moved on there are lots of opportunities for me to learn new things and try different builds that I hadnt seen before. All the new developments and new skills to learn are keeping me interested. I am on my second build with a 3rd waiting in the queue and ideas for another 1 or 2 I would like to try sometime later.

[Tamiyastef 1408]

I'm convinced I'll always remain to be a kid. If you loose contact with your inner child all fun is sucked out of life at high speed IMO. The mirror and my doctor tells me I'm not really a kid anymore but as long as I can convince my mind of the opposite I'm fine 

I listen and have always listened to a great variety of music. Classis, folk, hard rock, rock, pop, country, punk, new wave, new beat, house, dance, native, whatever. Old and new. Some I like, some I don't. I'm not the kind of guy that "likes" something just because it is a certain style or because my friends like it, that's not how I work. That is however how society seems to work at the moment. Modern music (and movies, comics, etc...) seems to be developed with the likes (read money) in mind and not out of creative necessity as I feel it was more the case in the past. That's probably just my age speaking 

@Saito2 Hey wait, that cloud is menacing you too?

[smirk-racing 203]

On 9/12/2023 at 2:57 PM, Willy iine said:

(my wife says my age is 1:10 scale too ) 

Wow - that is just brilliant. Love it.

[Gebbly 501]

I heard a great quote recently which seems particularly relevant to this community. George Bernard Shaw said

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

I couldn't agree more

 

[Gebbly 501]

On 9/12/2023 at 10:57 PM, Willy iine said:

my wife says my age is 1:10 scale too 

Oh I'm definitely stealing that

[Tamiyastef 1408]

13 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

I couldn't agree more

Me too. The same guy said "Youth is wasted on the young" I think I like him 

[Jonny Retro 12]

I loved seeing all the Supermans in the cinema as a kid, but I jumped off the Superhero bandwagon with Superman Returns  - I have so many problems with that movie, not least all the Superman as Jeebus allegories and Louis Lane as a weak-willed poltroon - “Ooh, a pen!”, please.

 

Being British made it a lot easier to avoid the genre, I moved on from the Beano (via Action and Eagle) to Star Lord, 2000AD and Viz - Judge Dredd, Slaine, Johnny Alpha and so on – our comic book heroes were deeply flawed, at best.

 

Even so, it was difficult to avoid it all. What’s that movie where two superheroes fight and completely destroy a city without consequences or caring if anyone’s PTSD got triggered? Oh yeah, that was most of them.

 

 

 

Star Wars, after seeing the first one in the cinema aged 5 &  it being an all consuming party of my childhood, right up to the final bars of the closing credits at the end of ROTJ (it felt like the end of an era, and maybe it should have been), I really wanted to love all, the new stuff … I put up with so much, but Solo was the straw that broke the dromedary.

 

It felt so much like a cynical tickbox exercise to separate us from yet more money – explain away his superior piloting skill, have him leave Corellia, have him leave Imperial service, meet Chewbacca, who then pulls someone’s arms off, throw in some unnecessary woo-woo about the apocalyptically powerful fuel source that lets ships leave gravity wells & then go up to 150 light years per hour (I did the maths once, it’s not just about crossing interstellar space in narrative friendly way), oh and better throw in some other guff so it looks there’s a plot…

 

My problem is that street punk to cannon fodder, he gave up _nothing_ to become a smuggler. I’d have liked to see it as a trilogy:

 

Act 1: we find out Solo’s real name, that he’s from an incredibly wealthy, privileged background and absolutely believes in the inferiority of all non-human species, and that the Empire is a force for good, bringing peace and order to an otherwise chaotic galaxy. After graduating sort of imperial flight academy (during which there are some shenanigans to lighten the mood a little, like flying a freighter upside down over the parade ground & blowing off the Commandant’s toupee), he enters service. After doing something incredibly heroic and foolhardy, he earns the bloodstripe on his trousers, and is hauled off to be court martialled …

 

Act 2:  Solo gets demoted & moved to some backwater where Wookies are used as slave labour. After turning a blind eye to the abuses and/or trying to do the right thing, he comes across an underground Wookie baiting/fighting ring, he sets the Wookies free, killing several imperials. Fade to black as Solo, bloodied, breathing heavily in a mussed imperial uniform is surrounded by angry Wookies and armless human bodies …

 

Act 3: Chewbacca and Solo go on some wacky adventures, some for profit & some for the greater good (in the manner of Brian Daley’s “Han Solo and the …” novels: like saving the day by shooting first, spacing slavers, smuggling weapons to backwater rebellions, etc), culminating in finding the Millenium Falcon in Lando Calrissian’s yard …

 

In many ways, I’m still 11 too

 

 

 

To get my rant back on a RC track, I think we’re so much better off now than in the past. Sure, there’s probably too much choice and a lot of ways to make the wrong choice, but in general, modern radio gear is far less likely to cause a crash, ESC are cheap and so much less likely to cause a fire, you can easily get the correct paint, buying proper bearings is now a minor extra rather than being a luxury I just couldn’t afford – and more than that, I can afford to have more than one RC car.

 

BITD it was a case of getting your parents to combine birthday and past + forthcoming Christmas presents, plus ploughing in every penny you could scrimp, save or earn to get the cheapest “deal” price (low-capacity battery & wall wart slow charger) on the car that was at least one step lower than the one you really wanted – and that was it, barring the occasional upgrade for the next three years or so …

[Wooders28 4375]

(Oh dear, soapbox out...🫣🤣) 

I didn't think I was old, until I started having to d̶e̶a̶l̶ work with the new apprentices in work....

These people, where born in 2005, or the other week in my head, and don't know a world without YouTube, stream TV or seemingly ,accountability....

Don't know everyone's view on a cashless society, but these people not only don't use cash ,but don't use cards either!, if they can't pay by tapping their phones, they're not interested.

Then there's the matter of ordering a Take away! I'm not sure about anyone else, but I physically like to look at a menu, then write down a list, of what the shift wants to order (Saturday nightshift thing) to them, it was like I'd pulled out a quill and some parchment! BUT BUT BUT there's an app!!! 🤦‍♂️

Then I do seemingly the unfathomable, I phone up, actually speak to a real human to place an order!! And just to add to the confusion, say I'll go and.....collect it 😱!! (Mainly as I had them as a spare body, so could give them the phone incase of a breakdown (mechanical, not physical...) ) . Turn up at the local Take Away (who are cash only on a walk in, which added more fun ,as the young team then wanted my bank details, to transfer money into my account...🤦‍♂️) actually chat to the vendor ,how are you? Etc , and come away with free dips, and a couple free cans of juice! , don't get that box to tick on an app!! 💪

 

This young fellow, has also just passed his driving test, nothing unusual there, but didn't get the normal (in the UK) driving test, he passed it in an Automatic, which means he can ONLY drive an auto, this blows my mind 🤯, as in my head ,autos are used by the old, by disabled people, people who's left leg hurts in traffic etc! (Que discussion on, but all the fast cars are autos (Grandad boxes as I call them), Lamborghini made a manual option, and no one bought it, so autos must be better....Urm no, only people of a certain age have the cash to buy/insure said vehicle, and all their left legs hurt in traffic....) 

 

Music- I'll stick the radio on....Oh no no no, he'll Bluetooth his phone to a boom box, and live stream music from his playlist. (I'm just joining the ,download music to a memory stick/card revolution, although still CD's on my HiFi serperates at home, and yes the speakers have...speaker wires...🙄, not paying ££££ a month...), This is all well and good, but you don't hear NEW music, nothing grows on you, that track you need to hear a dozen times before you start feet tapping! Something that, in reflection, I've actually migrated to my kids, in the car we now listen to the local radio station ,mostly, as I've realised they wouldn't have any music nostalgia (?) in later life, listening to my choice of music now.

 

Films, I think the term,' just because you can ,doesn't mean you should' , is ruining films. It's like they don't need to worry about a decent story line/plot, just overdose on CGI ,and job done...Pretty similar with video games, of all the super realistic console games we've got, my kids love 'minecraft' ,which has the graphics of a ZX Spectrum 🤷‍♂️.

 

In the past, UK companies like 'Mechano' used to purposely give you wrong instructions, to make you think, to make you more ,involved (?) , I think Schumacher still follow this tradition,  if you've ever built one!!..... Now, if the information doesn't lead you by the hand, then I can't do it, but it's not my fault , it's the instructions fault...

 

I think this 'social' media (oh the irony), is slowly ruining basic human thought processes. I had to do basic physics experiments the other week, bearing in mind, they're training to be a mechanical engineer (blowing air into the bottom of a clear bottle of water noting shape of the bubbles, throwing water into the air , explaining 'shot towers' etc) to show the c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶ boy why planets are a sphere....

We're doomed if this is 'progress' .....

 

 

[Kowalski86 1560]

5 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

I think this 'social' media (oh the irony), is slowly ruining basic human thought processes. I had to do basic physics experiments the other week, bearing in mind, they're training to be a mechanical engineer (blowing air into the bottom of a clear bottle of water noting shape of the bubbles, throwing water into the air , explaining 'shot towers' etc) to show the c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶ boy why planets are a sphere....

We're doomed if this is 'progress' .....

I can't help but think that social media is having an adverse effect on "real" social skills. Let alone peoples mental health, just gives people more unimportant gossip to get mad and argue over.

I used to use a social media app often at one point, I recall one RC group that had a seemingly non-stop argument about a war going on at the time (and not about drones or anything RC related).

Then of course there's the tribe wars, suspicions about particular members, gossip, just a whole bunch of "clutter" that distracts you from the real world.

[ADRay1000 50]

my old man response to the original set of things cited as evidence of feeling old is “movies and music aren’t made for or marketed to old geezers like us anyway”…

except Tamiya rereleases. They are absolutely meant for us old guys.