Things that make you go "hmmmmmmmmm"

Girlchild is off at NYC with my mom, dad and dad's girlfriend. They are at a live taping of This American Life, an NPR show that Bridget loves. Owen asked if he was going too. When I said no, he said "Whew!". So we had an only child tonight. Man, only children are so much easier. Especially this one ;-)

Lots of thinking today. All sparked by MDC, a board I all but left for awhile there! There are some cool people there and some jerks (just like any board). But in general, MDC is making me realize what I'm not.

For awhile I've been feeling not quite as crunchy as I used to think I was. Today I think it was just confirmed. First the hubby and I talked about Grand Theft Auto. No, it's not a game we own and no, I don't think I'd want my (relatively young) kids playing it, but really, what's the big deal? I don't buy into the whole thing about video games making kids violent. As I said on a thread on MDC today, when I was a teen, it was heavy metal music that was the fall guy (and Dungeons & Dragons! How could I forget that?). Now it's video games. Well, to take it further, in the 50's it was rock n' roll. In the 20's (?) it was Jazz. Every generation thinks they are the best and longs for the good old days while looking at the young'uns and moaning about how awful they are, how disrespectful they are and how their past-times (music/literature/dress, etc) are not as good as the previous generations. It's nothing new.

Long story short, I do not believe that video games make people into homicidal maniacs. Or D&D, or heavy metal music, or rock, or jazz or whatever else anyone can come up with. I just can't get on board with that.

On the same vein there was a thread on MDC about an article on the front page of the site. Burger King is selling Ironman toys. Apparently this is a problem because violent toys cause children to kill their parents, or, um, something like that (I may be paraphrasing ;-) So I get home from walking to the library and Owen and his Dad are watching some very cool previews from Ironman and Owen is asking to see the movie. I did remind him that he doesn't like loud movies and this is going to be loud, so we'll probably rent it instead (he said "oh yeah" - he really does hate loud movies in theaters like that). Robert and I are going to see it this weekend for our anniversary (you should have seen the happy look on my husband's face when I said it looked like a great movie and I'd like to see it, LOL!). So yeah, we are going to preview it. It is PG-13, so we'll see why it got that rating and talk to Owen about it, but just from seeing the clips, yeah, I'd let him see that.

So I guess I need to go burn my crunchy granola card. Especially since we got a dryer this Christmas and OMGILOVEMYDRYERSOMUCH!!!!

Ok, I don't mean to make fun of the people who do believe all that (except D&D - if you still think D&D turns people evil I'm going to be forced to mock you horribly, k?). I just don't see it, that's all.

And one other thing. Someone on MDC started a thread about tv from our childhood and who we saw ourselves partnered with. I'm not sure it's what she really meant, but I listed all the guys I thought were cool or crushworthy and came to a realization. They were all adventurous. Spaceship captains, detectives, paranormal crime fighters - all guys having really cool adventures. I wanted to be right in there adventuring with them. I still do. What happened? Ok, that isn't supposed to be as pathetic as it sounds, but still, as much as I like my life, I do sometimes wonder if there isn't . . . more (please pardon my mid-life crisis!)

It just seems like today the natural family living site is really making me think about things. Not in the way they intend, I'm sure. But it sure has made me think.