I don't object to anyone preferring healthful food, but since the SNAP eligibility rules have been tightened up some may become less picky.
A young man I know has one year left on a chemical engineering degree. He sent out close to 200 resumes to companies asking for an unpaid summer internship. He got not one offer. If only he were not so white and male maybe he'd have better luck. Anyway, he's at work in the forests of Western NC, cleaning up the hurricane mess.
I'm all for healthy eating, and live by it, but when someone is offered a free steak n tater dinner and they turn it down because they are a pescapescatarian (only eat fish that eat other fish) and start lecturing everyone in sight about it, I draw the line. I've sat with people eating literal grass to survive.
As for the fellow with the chemical engineering degree, has he tried the global market, or just the home-based one? Has he considered applying his skills in novel ways? Without knowing the full details, my initial impulse is to see a marketing and PR problem. As the Joker said in a Christopher Nolan film, back when that meant something, "If you're good at something, never do it for free."
Thanks. I reported what was heard from his mother, through my wife, then to me. I had my own thoughts about what the young man should try, but no direct connection with him nor much insight into his job search method or willingness to relocate. Shot-gunning resumes is normally not a great way to find a job. I hope he does better after he graduates next year, but you're right; he'll likely have to cast a net beyond the NC area. Maybe that was the problem.
A chemical engineer might have better luck in the oil patch, or especially in "developing" countries. Working abroad for a couple of years is a great resume stuffer, as well as an enriching cultural experience.
Where I've been successful is figuring out novel ways to use my skills in businesses that never knew they needed me. With the right pitch, they'll make a hole for you if they see the value.
Best of luck to him in any case. With a year yet to go, there's still plenty of time to panic. Better to a laser sight than a bead. One shot, one kill.
Thanks. The man lived at least half his life in Dubai, with his parents. They moved back to NC about three years ago, when he started college. While in Dubai he also gained some Africa experience working on a development project there, for whatever that's worth.
The oil biz may be a good place for him. Another may be packaged food manufacturing, as that stuff all seems to be loaded with chemicals, and new products are constantly being introduced. In that area he may have scruples which will have to be set aside.
I imagine he has some facility with Arabic at this point. That's a huge advantage. Language skills are at a premium in the business world. Mine have always gotten me moved to the top of the pile.
In the food industry, finding and perfecting indigenous preservation techniques is gold. Here in Indonesia, wrapping things in banana leaves and cooking in bamboo tubes are worth examining for industrial use. That's where all the big discoveries come from.
In any case, he should follow his heart. Do what he loves to do and the rest will follow. A job just pays the bills in the meantime.
Thanks. Yeah, he knows some Arabic and he plays the piano pretty well also. Maybe, as per Rod Stewart, he'll find a rock and roll band that needs a helping hand!
I like that expression. I'll have to file it away. So true, too. In Texas, we used to say, "I was looking for a job when I found this one." Takes a minute to figure out, but the message is profound. Sometimes we have to wait till the ideal job comes along, but we gotta live in the meantime and be ready to jump.
I honestly don't recognize society anymore. We lost the thread somewhere along the way.
Oh, don't stop there. Keep going into the grunge/garage band era of the 90s. That's when real rock was resurrected. Once you hit the 2000s, though, all hope is lost. Kurt Cobain was a genius, and there's some great gems from that period. The Zoomers may also be reviving good rock if they don't lose it in the next couple of years. To everything turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn. And a time for ever purpose under heaven.
You clearly have good taste. If I can nudge you out of your doldrums, push yourself to listen to Nirvana and Peal Jam, particularly the 1991-1995 years. Nine Inch Nails did some great stuff, and Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" is even more powerful than the original. If nothing else, dig into the TexRock band Bare Naked Ladies. Before you go to bed every night, end the day with Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hotrod".
The Pretenders were great until Honeyman Scott died in 82. They lost their mojo after that. They became more of a guest star band backing up Hynde. Nothing against her at all, but the soup never came together post 82.
People tend to calcify their musical tastes around the age of 30, and I think they miss a lot of great work after that. Not to say everything is good. Pop is what it is, and there are some movements that just never click with me, and certainly everything in the last 20 years is pretty much rubbish. Music is an essential elixir of youth, though, and should be nurtured.
I know. I kept hearing my father and uncles as I wrote this, grousing about the young'uns. Hard to believe we had so much responsibility at such young ages. It seems to me the latest crop can barely function even after high school. I was answering phones, taking orders, scheduling deliveries, doing inventory, even handing the occasional walk-in entirely alone for days at a time. No one ever questioned whether I was capable of it or responsible enough to handle it. It was just expected.
Well golly gee Mr. Farside, I do believe that you have identified one of civilizations basic problems. That being these younger generations have gotten so far removed from the concept of actual work, that it is something they really don't understand. I got my first real job at 13-14 years old. Stock clerking at an appliance store after school and all day Saturday. Prior to that, I would mow lawns. shovel snow, collect newspapers on trash night (with my dad)--anything to earn a little pocket money. Had to give that weekly pay envelope to my Mom unopened, and she would decide how much I actually got to keep out of it. Started at $ .65 an hour and when I left for college about 4 years later I was raking it in at $1.25/hr. Still have a copy of my very first W-2--yes all the appropriate government demanded withholding was withheld. Continued working all sorts of jobs through those 4 years of college, got the degree, and drafted at the same time. I did try working the professional route after Nam (soils geologist for an engineering company) but there was something with the war baggage that got between me ant a career, so at the ripe old age of 24 or so, I became a laborer on a masonry crew (a job usually reserved for the just graduated highschool kid), stuck with it, learned a good trade, started my own stone-working business and spent the next 40 years or so breathing stone dust on an almost daily basis. As you mentioned, never a paid vacation, usually worked most "holidays".. and sometimes the kids were eating mostly peanut butter. But all three girls got college degrees, and good jobs, so I must have done something right.
I can attest to the fact that this unwillingness to work, or probably a lack of instilling a work ethic goes back a ways. On example that has stayed with me since the 80's when I was still working crews. Told a young laborer that I wanted him to move some scaffolding frames and boards from the side of the house they were on to the other side where they would be needed soon. Hours later, nothing had been moved, and the young man was just sitting there smoking a cigarette. When I reminded him of the job I had given him to do, his response was "you meant TODAY??" A couple of other guys on the crew overheard, and "TODAY" became the jobsite rallying cry. That boy didn't stay around much longer. Sorry to be so long winded--you piece just reminded me of that.
Your comments are better than my rants. Might have to give you a job. :)
Yes, you Nam boys got short shrift. The draft ended before I graduated high school, so I dodged that bullet (and the puns roll on).
I've seen plenty of your young man. Stage work means going to work at midnight, unloading containers full of heavy gear, setting it all up and troubleshooting, then getting a nap until we did everything in reverse after the show. There were plenty of folks who obviously though show biz was glamorous, and they never got called out a second time.
My oldest boy had the lawn concession in the neighborhood. The middle boy did dog grooming. The daughter had a lemonade and cookie stand and made more money than the boys. They all had plenty of folding money, even after Dad took tax, title and license, and Mom filled the larder.
I admit, though, that I was a bit envious of my friends who had weekends free.
Yeah. It's too bad because American manufacturing is starting to come back. Hamilton economics and the American system. Not Friedman economics and Britain's "Free Trade" scam system. They have much to look forward to if they would just get off the retarded socialism trip. The schools need to be cleaned out. They're weaponizing the kids on purpose. The little bastards are set up to prosper but are too stupid, lazy and lost to understand what is transpiring. And the longer they wait to accustom their bodies to that repetitive 40+ hr grind, the harder it gets.
Socialism is on the nose. They've been taught that there's a system that gives them everything they want for free. Just tick this box in the voting booth. That siren song is leading them onto the rocks. They don't know enough history and economics to realize the fundamental flaw is that someone has to pay for it, and robbing millionaires and billionaires won't pay for everyone's ride.
I would recommend homeschooling, but at this point, I don't think Mom and Dad know anything worth teaching, either.
A damn fine article, RFS! I found myself nodding my head, primarily because my upbringing was much the same as yours, multiple jobs and all, and I've seen far too many young uns layin' on the couch complaining about not being able to find a job simply because they want to start at the top, even tho' they don't have the skill set -- or they believe themselves too good to do manual labor. I have a nephew who is perpetally unemployed, and it aggravates me to no end when he offers up a multitude of excuses as to why he can't find a job, or hold one those times he does manage to con his way into one.
I just don't have time for lazy -- and don't want it around me, not after what I had to do to make a livin' in my youth.
Ah yes, the old Want to Start in the Executive Suite syndrome. No mail rooms for the precious ones. I don't get it. I feel guilty if I take an afternoon nap. I certainly can't imagine retiring. That sounds awful to me, even if I had a beefy IRA and juicy pension.
Part of the problem is parenting, but a significant part is also easy credit. The young'uns don't have to save up for anything, so they don't save and invest, and become addicted to instant gratification, blowing their cash on useless crap. By the time they're 30, they are up to their eyeballs in high-interest debt with no savings. Frankly, in that position I'd be hard-pressed to work, too, though it's the lack of thrift and work ethic that got them there.
Or in my case, avaricious ex-wives. Always the optimist.
Great story. My husband learned to drive a ranch truck while still a child. Our kids learned on a golf cart at a private island. Thankful at least our youngest grandkid will learn on a ranch truck again.
Hello Tiny! Long time no hear. Seems a lot of us of an age learned to drive with farm equipment. Great to hear the grandchild will complete the circle. I did my driving classes at Sears to get my license. The instructor would only allow me to drive on the freeway. :) I was the only one who accelerated on the entry ramp.
And you get unstuck with ranch stuff, too. :) The ranch gear also teaches you to maintain your machines, since your life depends on them. As Benedict says in Chapter 31 or his Rule for Monasteries:
“Let him look upon all the vessels and all the goods of the monastery as though they were the consecrated vessels of the altar.”
Both of them have had significant impacts on my view of history and civilization. The greater influence is Mark Twain, who noted, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." Personally, I have my Slinky Theory: history is like a stretched-out Slinky. Viewed from the side, it's a linear sine wave. Viewed from either end, it's a continuous circle.
What a metaphor, I can see/feel it; round and round we go, forward toward eternity, living and loving the ups/downs, occasionally understanding that we are moving forward.
Hey Pops! Thank you very much for the kind and generous tip. You've literally made my day.
Madonna?! No wonder I've never seen it. I haven't followed Adriano's career. I'll have to look up his filmography, though he's got some mighty shoes to fill. The remake I was thinking of was "Seven Days and Nights," or something like that, with Ford and Heche. I didn't believe either one of them, and not just because they phoned in the performances.
Your old man yells at clouds rant is good. I agree in principle on your point about work, adding value and entrepreneurship. That ethic is largely why we're getting our asses handed to us on the global stage in many areas.
I'll only ask you to resolve your dislike of content creators with your career in Hollywood and marketing. Is it for you or I to stand in judgement as to what constitutes value in a diverse and specialized economy?
Is anything artistic really valuable when held against what I'll rhetorically call "real" work? That being effort put forth to achieve basics of shelter, food and protection? Beyond the essential is anything else truly valuable?
If someone is willing to give you the fruits of their work, be that directly in barter for raw material or highly abstracted in money and currency does that by definition give it value?
The fact that you and I see Youtube videos as a pointless hustle is just, like, our opinion, man.
I do wish there was greater cultural value placed on the true producers like farmers and plumbers who do a great deal more heavy lifting to maintain the thin veneer of society from descending into chaos but deriding someone who recognizes a way to make some money isn't how to do that.
Like, you know, you learned to operate a Ford 2000 but I notice you don't still live in Texas and keep that 125 acres productive with cotton, corn or cattle. Neither do I. I let my older brother pick up the keys to grandpa's IH 544 when I went off to Lincoln for the cushy office life (although truth told being a civil engineer keeps outside plenty, I don't consider it the same thing).
Touche! Your points are valid and I have little defense to offer, other than to note that I left Hollywood after six months. It was a toxic place. Most of the movies I worked on were shot in Texas, and I didn't even get screen credit because I was non-union. Didn't change the sheer tonnage I schlepped. It was a decent paycheck in any case.
I don't really resent someone making a buck pumping out content, only that the content has no production value, is little more than self-debasement with stupid people tricks, and often involves very little creativity beyond a "clicky" title.
Maybe I just resent having to work most of my lifer. I certainly wish I had today's digital toolbox back then. Dropping $250,000 for a cuts-only A-B roll station so I could pay $300/hour in the online suite to polish up the piece was a bit prohibitive for an indie producer. Deep down, I resent the young'uns who have the huge amount of processing power at their fingertips, and choose to suck soap balls for clicks. Art is valuable, content is not.
Leonardo da Vinci had wealthy patrons--might call that a job--he picked up plenty of gig work, and many of his ideas never made it to the development stage, but I wouldn't call even his notes "content".
At a certain level, mental work and physical work are the same thing. Screaming at a phone on a live stream to the planet because the company stopped providing free bran muffins is not work, and has no value beyond the initial 24-hour ad cycle.
Marketing and advertising have their place. I've produced a lot of ads and market research for entrepreneurs looking to get their products out there. And from an M&A viewpoint, it doesn't matter how you get the eyeballs, only that you can qualify and quantify them. I can't say everything I've ever done had value, but I balance that with having produced dozens of videos training surgeons on the latest instruments and procedures, and the public on how to avoid surgeons in the first place. I would say that has value.
I don't object to anyone preferring healthful food, but since the SNAP eligibility rules have been tightened up some may become less picky.
A young man I know has one year left on a chemical engineering degree. He sent out close to 200 resumes to companies asking for an unpaid summer internship. He got not one offer. If only he were not so white and male maybe he'd have better luck. Anyway, he's at work in the forests of Western NC, cleaning up the hurricane mess.
I'm all for healthy eating, and live by it, but when someone is offered a free steak n tater dinner and they turn it down because they are a pescapescatarian (only eat fish that eat other fish) and start lecturing everyone in sight about it, I draw the line. I've sat with people eating literal grass to survive.
As for the fellow with the chemical engineering degree, has he tried the global market, or just the home-based one? Has he considered applying his skills in novel ways? Without knowing the full details, my initial impulse is to see a marketing and PR problem. As the Joker said in a Christopher Nolan film, back when that meant something, "If you're good at something, never do it for free."
Thanks. I reported what was heard from his mother, through my wife, then to me. I had my own thoughts about what the young man should try, but no direct connection with him nor much insight into his job search method or willingness to relocate. Shot-gunning resumes is normally not a great way to find a job. I hope he does better after he graduates next year, but you're right; he'll likely have to cast a net beyond the NC area. Maybe that was the problem.
A chemical engineer might have better luck in the oil patch, or especially in "developing" countries. Working abroad for a couple of years is a great resume stuffer, as well as an enriching cultural experience.
Where I've been successful is figuring out novel ways to use my skills in businesses that never knew they needed me. With the right pitch, they'll make a hole for you if they see the value.
Best of luck to him in any case. With a year yet to go, there's still plenty of time to panic. Better to a laser sight than a bead. One shot, one kill.
Thanks. The man lived at least half his life in Dubai, with his parents. They moved back to NC about three years ago, when he started college. While in Dubai he also gained some Africa experience working on a development project there, for whatever that's worth.
The oil biz may be a good place for him. Another may be packaged food manufacturing, as that stuff all seems to be loaded with chemicals, and new products are constantly being introduced. In that area he may have scruples which will have to be set aside.
I imagine he has some facility with Arabic at this point. That's a huge advantage. Language skills are at a premium in the business world. Mine have always gotten me moved to the top of the pile.
In the food industry, finding and perfecting indigenous preservation techniques is gold. Here in Indonesia, wrapping things in banana leaves and cooking in bamboo tubes are worth examining for industrial use. That's where all the big discoveries come from.
In any case, he should follow his heart. Do what he loves to do and the rest will follow. A job just pays the bills in the meantime.
Thanks. Yeah, he knows some Arabic and he plays the piano pretty well also. Maybe, as per Rod Stewart, he'll find a rock and roll band that needs a helping hand!
This reminds me of growing up in Spencer, Iowa, in the fifties.
One of my father's favorite sayings was, "Root hog or die."
That sounds to our ears now like a hard way of looking at things but it was how everybody felt.
And it didn't stop any of us from having fun, when there was time for that.
I like that expression. I'll have to file it away. So true, too. In Texas, we used to say, "I was looking for a job when I found this one." Takes a minute to figure out, but the message is profound. Sometimes we have to wait till the ideal job comes along, but we gotta live in the meantime and be ready to jump.
I honestly don't recognize society anymore. We lost the thread somewhere along the way.
I lost the thread sometime in the eighties, when the music stopped being worth listening to.
Oh, don't stop there. Keep going into the grunge/garage band era of the 90s. That's when real rock was resurrected. Once you hit the 2000s, though, all hope is lost. Kurt Cobain was a genius, and there's some great gems from that period. The Zoomers may also be reviving good rock if they don't lose it in the next couple of years. To everything turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn. And a time for ever purpose under heaven.
I stopped paying attention after the Pretenders.
Chrissie Hynde was the last great rock star for me. John Mellencamp was good for a while.
You clearly have good taste. If I can nudge you out of your doldrums, push yourself to listen to Nirvana and Peal Jam, particularly the 1991-1995 years. Nine Inch Nails did some great stuff, and Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" is even more powerful than the original. If nothing else, dig into the TexRock band Bare Naked Ladies. Before you go to bed every night, end the day with Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hotrod".
The Pretenders were great until Honeyman Scott died in 82. They lost their mojo after that. They became more of a guest star band backing up Hynde. Nothing against her at all, but the soup never came together post 82.
People tend to calcify their musical tastes around the age of 30, and I think they miss a lot of great work after that. Not to say everything is good. Pop is what it is, and there are some movements that just never click with me, and certainly everything in the last 20 years is pretty much rubbish. Music is an essential elixir of youth, though, and should be nurtured.
My husband was bucking haybales as a kid in Montana. I was babysitting at 9.
Yeah...it's a strange world out there now. Never thought I'd hear myself say that I'm glad to be the age I am.
I know. I kept hearing my father and uncles as I wrote this, grousing about the young'uns. Hard to believe we had so much responsibility at such young ages. It seems to me the latest crop can barely function even after high school. I was answering phones, taking orders, scheduling deliveries, doing inventory, even handing the occasional walk-in entirely alone for days at a time. No one ever questioned whether I was capable of it or responsible enough to handle it. It was just expected.
Can't say I miss bucking hay, though.
Yep, just EXPECTED. And, it wasn't considered child slave labor, either.
Heck...that's why farm and ranch folks have kids, right??!!
Ha! Lots of kids, in case you lose one in the reaper. In fact, hard working kids was the old Social Security system.
Well golly gee Mr. Farside, I do believe that you have identified one of civilizations basic problems. That being these younger generations have gotten so far removed from the concept of actual work, that it is something they really don't understand. I got my first real job at 13-14 years old. Stock clerking at an appliance store after school and all day Saturday. Prior to that, I would mow lawns. shovel snow, collect newspapers on trash night (with my dad)--anything to earn a little pocket money. Had to give that weekly pay envelope to my Mom unopened, and she would decide how much I actually got to keep out of it. Started at $ .65 an hour and when I left for college about 4 years later I was raking it in at $1.25/hr. Still have a copy of my very first W-2--yes all the appropriate government demanded withholding was withheld. Continued working all sorts of jobs through those 4 years of college, got the degree, and drafted at the same time. I did try working the professional route after Nam (soils geologist for an engineering company) but there was something with the war baggage that got between me ant a career, so at the ripe old age of 24 or so, I became a laborer on a masonry crew (a job usually reserved for the just graduated highschool kid), stuck with it, learned a good trade, started my own stone-working business and spent the next 40 years or so breathing stone dust on an almost daily basis. As you mentioned, never a paid vacation, usually worked most "holidays".. and sometimes the kids were eating mostly peanut butter. But all three girls got college degrees, and good jobs, so I must have done something right.
I can attest to the fact that this unwillingness to work, or probably a lack of instilling a work ethic goes back a ways. On example that has stayed with me since the 80's when I was still working crews. Told a young laborer that I wanted him to move some scaffolding frames and boards from the side of the house they were on to the other side where they would be needed soon. Hours later, nothing had been moved, and the young man was just sitting there smoking a cigarette. When I reminded him of the job I had given him to do, his response was "you meant TODAY??" A couple of other guys on the crew overheard, and "TODAY" became the jobsite rallying cry. That boy didn't stay around much longer. Sorry to be so long winded--you piece just reminded me of that.
Your comments are better than my rants. Might have to give you a job. :)
Yes, you Nam boys got short shrift. The draft ended before I graduated high school, so I dodged that bullet (and the puns roll on).
I've seen plenty of your young man. Stage work means going to work at midnight, unloading containers full of heavy gear, setting it all up and troubleshooting, then getting a nap until we did everything in reverse after the show. There were plenty of folks who obviously though show biz was glamorous, and they never got called out a second time.
My oldest boy had the lawn concession in the neighborhood. The middle boy did dog grooming. The daughter had a lemonade and cookie stand and made more money than the boys. They all had plenty of folding money, even after Dad took tax, title and license, and Mom filled the larder.
I admit, though, that I was a bit envious of my friends who had weekends free.
Yeah. It's too bad because American manufacturing is starting to come back. Hamilton economics and the American system. Not Friedman economics and Britain's "Free Trade" scam system. They have much to look forward to if they would just get off the retarded socialism trip. The schools need to be cleaned out. They're weaponizing the kids on purpose. The little bastards are set up to prosper but are too stupid, lazy and lost to understand what is transpiring. And the longer they wait to accustom their bodies to that repetitive 40+ hr grind, the harder it gets.
Socialism is on the nose. They've been taught that there's a system that gives them everything they want for free. Just tick this box in the voting booth. That siren song is leading them onto the rocks. They don't know enough history and economics to realize the fundamental flaw is that someone has to pay for it, and robbing millionaires and billionaires won't pay for everyone's ride.
I would recommend homeschooling, but at this point, I don't think Mom and Dad know anything worth teaching, either.
No. They don't. The parents are barking clapping seals as well.
The Tholian Web is nearly closed, and soon there won't be enough mental horsepower to operate an alarm clock.
A damn fine article, RFS! I found myself nodding my head, primarily because my upbringing was much the same as yours, multiple jobs and all, and I've seen far too many young uns layin' on the couch complaining about not being able to find a job simply because they want to start at the top, even tho' they don't have the skill set -- or they believe themselves too good to do manual labor. I have a nephew who is perpetally unemployed, and it aggravates me to no end when he offers up a multitude of excuses as to why he can't find a job, or hold one those times he does manage to con his way into one.
I just don't have time for lazy -- and don't want it around me, not after what I had to do to make a livin' in my youth.
Ah yes, the old Want to Start in the Executive Suite syndrome. No mail rooms for the precious ones. I don't get it. I feel guilty if I take an afternoon nap. I certainly can't imagine retiring. That sounds awful to me, even if I had a beefy IRA and juicy pension.
Part of the problem is parenting, but a significant part is also easy credit. The young'uns don't have to save up for anything, so they don't save and invest, and become addicted to instant gratification, blowing their cash on useless crap. By the time they're 30, they are up to their eyeballs in high-interest debt with no savings. Frankly, in that position I'd be hard-pressed to work, too, though it's the lack of thrift and work ethic that got them there.
Or in my case, avaricious ex-wives. Always the optimist.
Thanks for reading and commentiung!
Great story. My husband learned to drive a ranch truck while still a child. Our kids learned on a golf cart at a private island. Thankful at least our youngest grandkid will learn on a ranch truck again.
Hello Tiny! Long time no hear. Seems a lot of us of an age learned to drive with farm equipment. Great to hear the grandchild will complete the circle. I did my driving classes at Sears to get my license. The instructor would only allow me to drive on the freeway. :) I was the only one who accelerated on the entry ramp.
There’s aLOT to learn besides just the drivers handbook rules & you learn that from driving ranch stuff!
And you get unstuck with ranch stuff, too. :) The ranch gear also teaches you to maintain your machines, since your life depends on them. As Benedict says in Chapter 31 or his Rule for Monasteries:
“Let him look upon all the vessels and all the goods of the monastery as though they were the consecrated vessels of the altar.”
Strauss-Howe/Arnold Toynbee - just saying!
Both of them have had significant impacts on my view of history and civilization. The greater influence is Mark Twain, who noted, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." Personally, I have my Slinky Theory: history is like a stretched-out Slinky. Viewed from the side, it's a linear sine wave. Viewed from either end, it's a continuous circle.
What a metaphor, I can see/feel it; round and round we go, forward toward eternity, living and loving the ups/downs, occasionally understanding that we are moving forward.
You know, I think you have the makings of a hit song there. Polish it up and find an agent!
Might work better as a nursery rhyme; closer to my element.
I'm hearing a Bob Dylan/Tom Petty / Tom Waits vibe.
The remake was even worse. It was Madonna and Adriano Giannini, definitely his father's son, given his looks.
Hey Pops! Thank you very much for the kind and generous tip. You've literally made my day.
Madonna?! No wonder I've never seen it. I haven't followed Adriano's career. I'll have to look up his filmography, though he's got some mighty shoes to fill. The remake I was thinking of was "Seven Days and Nights," or something like that, with Ford and Heche. I didn't believe either one of them, and not just because they phoned in the performances.
Your old man yells at clouds rant is good. I agree in principle on your point about work, adding value and entrepreneurship. That ethic is largely why we're getting our asses handed to us on the global stage in many areas.
I'll only ask you to resolve your dislike of content creators with your career in Hollywood and marketing. Is it for you or I to stand in judgement as to what constitutes value in a diverse and specialized economy?
Is anything artistic really valuable when held against what I'll rhetorically call "real" work? That being effort put forth to achieve basics of shelter, food and protection? Beyond the essential is anything else truly valuable?
If someone is willing to give you the fruits of their work, be that directly in barter for raw material or highly abstracted in money and currency does that by definition give it value?
The fact that you and I see Youtube videos as a pointless hustle is just, like, our opinion, man.
I do wish there was greater cultural value placed on the true producers like farmers and plumbers who do a great deal more heavy lifting to maintain the thin veneer of society from descending into chaos but deriding someone who recognizes a way to make some money isn't how to do that.
Like, you know, you learned to operate a Ford 2000 but I notice you don't still live in Texas and keep that 125 acres productive with cotton, corn or cattle. Neither do I. I let my older brother pick up the keys to grandpa's IH 544 when I went off to Lincoln for the cushy office life (although truth told being a civil engineer keeps outside plenty, I don't consider it the same thing).
Ah, the IH 544. Now there's a machine.
Touche! Your points are valid and I have little defense to offer, other than to note that I left Hollywood after six months. It was a toxic place. Most of the movies I worked on were shot in Texas, and I didn't even get screen credit because I was non-union. Didn't change the sheer tonnage I schlepped. It was a decent paycheck in any case.
I don't really resent someone making a buck pumping out content, only that the content has no production value, is little more than self-debasement with stupid people tricks, and often involves very little creativity beyond a "clicky" title.
Maybe I just resent having to work most of my lifer. I certainly wish I had today's digital toolbox back then. Dropping $250,000 for a cuts-only A-B roll station so I could pay $300/hour in the online suite to polish up the piece was a bit prohibitive for an indie producer. Deep down, I resent the young'uns who have the huge amount of processing power at their fingertips, and choose to suck soap balls for clicks. Art is valuable, content is not.
Leonardo da Vinci had wealthy patrons--might call that a job--he picked up plenty of gig work, and many of his ideas never made it to the development stage, but I wouldn't call even his notes "content".
At a certain level, mental work and physical work are the same thing. Screaming at a phone on a live stream to the planet because the company stopped providing free bran muffins is not work, and has no value beyond the initial 24-hour ad cycle.
Marketing and advertising have their place. I've produced a lot of ads and market research for entrepreneurs looking to get their products out there. And from an M&A viewpoint, it doesn't matter how you get the eyeballs, only that you can qualify and quantify them. I can't say everything I've ever done had value, but I balance that with having produced dozens of videos training surgeons on the latest instruments and procedures, and the public on how to avoid surgeons in the first place. I would say that has value.
The height of arrogance to criticise someone less fortunate than yourself growing up in a world their parents created for them.