By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
What the band U2 means to you at 50.
A portrait of human philosophical maturation and wisdom.
In my late 20s and early 30s, I listened over and over to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” I wasn’t sure what the song was about. It had a great sound and the lyrics sounded very deep.
So I listened to the song frequently because it made me feel smart and depressed about the right philosophical questions in life. (Always better than being depressed about the wrong philosophical questions in life).
At 50, it’s still a great song. And I enjoy listening to it.
But I have an entirely different perspective on it when I just heard it again tonight for the fist time in a while.
I thought to myself, “I found what I was looking for but can’t remember why I started looking for it in the first place and now don’t know what to do with it now that I’ve found it.”
Followed by, “Dang it! Where did I put it? Now I can’t find it again. Oh well. Who cares. Maybe a bird will eat it.”
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Nov 13, 2012 at 5:00 PM ET
As in any election, there were some predicted results (Obama re-elected, Nate Silver fan clubs popping up), some lovely surprises (20 women in the senate, legalized pot and gay marriage), and some disappointed losers (including every senatorial candidate who mentioned rape . . . who’d’ve thunk?) I know some people feel the saddest for Florida, which ended up not even mattering this year. But my sympathy vote goes to Karl Rove. Whatever you think of him, he has to be a fundraising genius to have gotten $300 million from his donors, but of all the candidates he supported, not a single one was elected. I mean, I disagreed with him on almost every issue, but I never wished this much pain on the man. Not only did Donald Trump publicly shame him via tweet (I don’t know what part of that was more humiliating!), but now he’s even a joke on The Simpsons. What’s Rove supposed to do now? I seriously doubt he has much of a future as a political fundraiser, and after his election night meltdown on Fox News, his punditry career may be shot.
So while Rove sorts out his options, he can use this song as his soundtrack . . . (And after this last political song, I will be turning my musical attention to more general current events, the upcoming holidays, and the latest pop culture silliness that gives me an intellectual excuse to buy People Magazine.)
Whew! After all that worrying, there were no fights over vote counts, no major machine meltdowns, no hanging chads, and nothing to do for the legions of lawyers on deck for both parties. It’s a little like the aftermath of Y2K, when the world didn’t end and nothing bad happened other than a few hangovers. Of course there were plenty of positive newsworthy stories, from the increase in women in the senate, to patient voters who cheerfully waited out long lines, to the bipartisan bromance of Governor Christie and President Obama. But perhaps the biggest winner of all was Nate Silver, the NY Times “538” blogger, sabermetrician (look it up, I had to) and expert on psephology (ditto) whose mathematical polling analysis proved 100% accurate, making all his critics look foolish and illogical. Plus his calm analysis throughout the campaign made him a refreshing Dr. Spock in a sea of emotional hotheads.
I referred to him as the heretofore unsung star, because after this video he’ll no longer be unsung. This may be the first fan song he’s received, but I doubt it will be the last.
It’s been an incredibly divided election season, but seeing new BFFs President Obama and Governor Christie has inspired me to be more bipartisan.
Those of us in solidly red or blue states may disagree vehemently about our choice of candidate, but there’s one huge thing we have in common. We feel left out of all the rallies, speeches, door-to-door canvassing and incessant ads lavished on the few states whose votes will actually affect the presidential race.
I mean, sure, my vote matters on local races and propositions, but it’s not the same. Those of us in states like California or Texas never get called by pollsters or visited by campaign workers – meanwhile voters in a few crucial states are complaining about all the attention, like a gorgeous celebrity complaining about how hard it is to keep her weight up because she forgets to eat. But instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to let my inner musical theatre geek pay tribute to perhaps the most pivotal swing state of all . . . .
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Nov 1, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
A couple months ago I took my awesomely cool and stupendously hip daughter on a father – daughter weekend.
She had a choice of a modestly priced event in a reasonably nearby city.
Her choice? Lollapalooza in Chicago How could I say no? I mean, Anthony Kiedis and I are practically soul-mates. We are both about 50 years old, both like the RHCP , think Flea is cool and many, many other similarities too.
There were no other father – daughter couples we could ask to take a good picture of us. So this is as good as I could get.
Was it fun?
It was a disastrous blast.
Maggie is always game and willing to find the possibilities amidst the most unusual circumstances—like hanging with pop at an outdoor rock concert trying to replicate Woodstock with thousands of muddy, sloshed 17-24 year olds. And a 14 and 49 year old.
Oh, I got to see Anthony Kiedas, albeit from several hundred feet away.
I don’t think he saw me, but knowing my soul-mate was alive and well and jammin’ with Flea, made me smile. ; )
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Oct 30, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
I’m the proud owner of a uterus, and I’d like to be in charge of it. Period. (And yes, really bad pun intended.)
No matter how many positions Romney takes on female reproductive rights (and he’s taken more positions than are in the Kama Sutra), we have to look at his party platform and his choice of running mate, not to mention his unwillingness to withdraw his endorsement from candidates like Richard Mourdock. You know it’s bad when Romney comes across as a moderate, because he actually would allow an abortion exception in cases of rape . . . excuse me?
And as for the pundits and online commentators who wonder why so many women are ‘quibbling about irrelevant subjects like women’s stuff instead of the economy’? Even the best economy doesn’t matter to a woman who can’t control her own body, on top of the fact that the GOP also doesn’t believe that women deserve pay equity, or insurance coverage of birth control – and those ARE economic issues, by the way. (Plus anyone who was alive before Roe v. Wade might recall that making abortions illegal doesn’t end them, it just makes them more dangerous. I’m with Bill Clinton in hoping abortions will be safe, legal, and rare.)
Add in all of Romney’s mis-statements and condescension to 47%ers, like my mom who’s on social security and depends on Medicare, on top of his refusal to release tax returns, his belief that millionaires should pay a lower tax rate than I do, and his plan to return to the same unregulated, ‘trickle-down economics’ that caused the recession in the first place, his reliance on Bush-Cheney-era neocon hawks, oh, and did I mention his latest lie about Jeep moving to China, even running an ad after Chrysler explicitly refuted that story?)
Fortunately, before I start ranting too much, I’ll take a break and launch into song!
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Oct 23, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
For those readers who are either over 30 or don’t have teenagers who can explain it to us, internet memes are concepts or images that spread quickly online. While memes can include random humor (LOL Cats) or celebrity references (the Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” series), they’ve also started to pop up in politics. (Google ‘Big Bird’ or ‘You Didn’t Build That’ and you’ll get the general idea.)
The most recent meme to catch on like wildfire was “Binders Full Of Women”, from a comment made by Governor Romney in the 2nd Presidential Debate – even if you didn’t watch the debate, even if you had no interest in it, you’ve probably heard about this one, which inspired dozens of Facebook groups (with thousands of fans) before the debate was even over. Part of what gave this unfortunate turn of phrase such legs was that it had all the aspects of a great meme – vast public exposure, a simple, clear visual image, and a huge variety of humorous interpretations.
Next came the backlash, commentators complaining that people were making a mountain out of a molehill, or accusing Obama voters of focusing on picky word choices rather than the real issues. But I believe part of why the image caught on so quickly was that it wasn’t just a verbal gaffe, it was emblematic of why Romney has such trouble connecting with women:
– His positions are vague (the anecdote about ‘they brought us binders of women’ was what he told instead of answering a direct question about whether he’d support the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act)
– He’s patronizing (trying to impress us with how hard he worked to actually find some qualified women, as if he’d never met one in all his years in business?)
– He likes to bend the truth (turns out he didn’t actually go out and ask women’s groups, the groups came to him with resumes)
At any rate, it’s hard to resist an on-fire meme, so here’s this week’s song!
In my late 20s and early 30s, I listened over and over to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” I wasn’t sure what the song was about. It had a great sound and the lyrics sounded very deep.
