Teenage Kicks

[batbat]

We watched 10 Things I Hate About You last night; one of those films that just happens to be on and which you become unavoidably sucked into, like a televisual mind-flayer. Actually, I loved it. It could hardly fail being based on such foolproof material - it would be difficult not to make a good high-school reworking of The Taming of the Shrew,

Comments

[alsoname]

What a great entry. I've been thinking about this issue a lot these days

[batbat]

It worries me more that people aren't willing to tell people like that to, frankly, shut the fuck up. I'm still naive enough to think that society as a whole is responsible for the behaviour of its members, so I tend to tell people who are being obnoxious on cellphones to keep the noise down - unless they're much bigger than me

[alsoname]

Once I was at a crowded zoo and two guys had a lit cigarette. (They were holding it up to the glass, behind which an orangutan was sitting, so that it would look like the ape was smoking the cigarette.) People were whispering to each other, "Is someone smoking? They're not allowed to do that!" But no one DID anything about it. Finally I walked right up to them and said, "HEY, CUT IT OUT!" They ignored me, but right after I broke the ice other people started to say, "Yeah, you can't smoke here!"

Later I saw these two guys walking down the path and speaking German, so it's possible that they didn't understand what people were saying to them (not too likely, though). And also they come from a more smoker-friendly culture and might not have realized what a huge transgression their actions were in California.

It was irritating that *I* had to be the one to speak up. I HATE confrontation and I've always had trouble asserting myself. There are lots of people who are just the opposite, who LOVE getting in little fights, where were they?!

[minniedent]

I agree, great entry. You've had me reminiscing about mix tapes, recording music videos I liked from MTV on video cassettes and coming up with new and intricate ways to fold notes I'd hand to friends in class. We would fold them into heart shapes, envelopes, clovers, ninja stars. We'd make them really colorful on the inside using markers, pencils, and things we cut out of magazines.

I still have all of them. Can't say that about text messages.

[batbat]

See, that's one thing boys never do - sending notes to each other. My friends and I mainly spent our creativity in finding ways to hit each other really hard without being noticed by the teacher.

the old old man post

[the23]

living in an area teeming with students i have pondered such matters quite a lot. the wife thought i was grandstanding at the pub the other night by announcing that these students don't remember thatcher as pm, but the thought of memorable life beginning after thatch is an alien one to me. she was a permanent fixture until acne

Re: the old old man post

[batbat]

I don't have a mobile either. I did in Japan because mobiles truly are ubiquitous there - people mostly don't even bother with landlines any more. (And you could send emails, surf the net, and do other nifty PDA-type things with cellphones in Japan long before you could in the UK.) When I came back to Britain I got one, but after a few months I had problems with Orange's reception and just decided, "fuck it."

At no point since have I ever felt, "I want or need a mobile." In fact, I love not being able to be contacted. It's like a weight being lifted off your shoulders - when you're out of the house, you're doing what you're doing and you aren't going to be interrupted without any notice by a phone call, email or text.

Re: the old old man post

[matttt]

I have two mobiles, one for work use and one for personal use. When I don't want to be contacted I switch them off.