The older I get the less engaged I am with, or in pop culture. I’m not sure if this is just a “thing” or if I am too busy or what. I feel like it is just because there is only so much room in my brain and so many hours in the day to keep up.
I’m currently watching Season 7 of Dexter. I want to start Orange is the New Black. I want to see Transparent, even though one of the producers said some transphobic crap about Bruce Jenner. I could make a list of all the television series I want to binge watch, but I’m not a binge watchers. (I’m not really good at sitting still for long periods of time.) I want to find out how to watch the next season of VEEP without subscribing to HBO. I had to watch back to back episodes of Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder as I missed the first two episodes of the mid-season. I want to get rid of cable, but I was worried about missing my Daily Show. Not anymore. We watched his Tuesday night show on demand last night and I wept. Yeah. I admit it. I love that man.
But I work with college students. Every day. They are so up on everything pop culture. I feel mixed about how much I should know about their world and how little time I have to know it. I want to do more yoga.
Music is another piece of that puzzle. I flipped through some pictures of the artists at the Grammy’s the other night and there were many I did not know. Whenever I am in the car with a younger person, like Kendra, my 26-year-old staffer, I ask who the artist is singing the songs I know.
I have a list of books I want to read. Three people have given me The Secret History of Wonder Woman. I just finished two books on my trip to Denver, Amy Poehler’s Yes Please and a book called The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion, who is a man. That probably isn’t surprising to most folks, but I tend to read books by women in an attempt to make up for all the male writers I was required to read in high school and college. Some have said that is a sexist position to take, but I feel as if I am just providing balance where my education did not. And, I’m 46 and can read whatever I want.
Then there’s the movies. I have an actor/director friend who I think might see every movie that comes out. Seriously. He overwhelms me with how many movies he sees. He also doesn’t own a house, yet. This movie machine may slow down once he has to fix an ice dam on his roof. The last movie we rented was The Interview. That was probably two to three weeks ago. I have not seen any of the movies nominated for Oscars.
I love to go to theatre. But carving out the time to do that on top of all the other media demands in my life is a challenge. I have seen three live shows in 2015. Two were plays and one was a musical performance. Is that enough? Is it too little? Is it average? I can only judge by my peers attendance, which varies, although I am by far, not the best theatre goer in the group. Like my movie going friend, I have theatre friends who go see everything, which is a challenge in Rhode Island, where there is even a bit of over saturation in the theatre world.
I think it has become increasingly difficult in this media saturated culture to keep up with news, movies, television, music and social media. And to do all this while exercising at least 30 minutes a day, drinking 8 glasses of water, getting 7-8 hours of sleep, and eating healthy is impossible. Look at this excellent graphic of the media saturation during the Super Bowl.
So what’s a gal to do? The answer is not clear to me at all. For now, I will go to work, come home, cook dinner and watch an episode of the last season of Parks & Recreation, because it’s Tuesday.
The Feminist Critic 