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I know. But I don’t think it is that. It seems like another driving force besides fame. It is this weird self-voyeristic thing that seems to appeal to a generation of people who are used to seeing everything on a screen, including themselves. I mean, in my generation, if I saw a video of myself just hanging out at a party or something, it was completely weird.

You just didn’t see movies of yourself, and when you did, it didn’t look like you. That isn’t how it is now.

As for the celebrity thing, last year I walked by the television as my wife was watching (I don’t watch except for some sports) and there was a woman on screen being filmed. I thought she was kind of attractive with dark hair and dark eyes, but what was odd to me was the way she was the focus of what they were showing. It wasn’t like an interview or a documentary, it was some reality show. It caught my eye, and I watched for about 30 seconds, and asked my wife “Who is that woman with the dark hair?”

She turns and looks at me, rolls her eyes and says “It’s Kim Kardashian”. She knows I relish playing the stereotype of someone out of touch with popular culture, and it is entirely true I mostly am out of cultural touch for going on about twenty years.

About 20 years, I stopped absorbing current popular culture (for the most part) and began expanding my interests in music, movies, and literature by looking back in time. Listening to more jazz, big band, and classical. Watching movies I had never seen, my favorite now is “The Best Years of Their Lives” (which got Best Picture in 1946) and reading books like “Witness” and stuff like Grant’s Memoirs.

And some things are odd-I went to a college graduation a few weeks ago, and while it is true that some things are timeless, there are things that are different...the thing that stuck out to me was...the decoration of their mortar boards. I had never seen that before, and while the strict traditionalist in me scoffed at it, there was another part of it that fascinated me. I wanted to see a collage of a picture of every mortar board. I found myself craning my neck the whole time to see what was on them.

Point is...I knew full well how out of touch with much of current culture I was, which wasn’t a shock at all, just interesting.

I was always someone who advocated (and still do professionally) for technology, was an early adopter of stuff. First person with a CD player..digital camera, iPhone, PC, etc. but funny I was the last person I knew to get a cell phone. Heck, my parents had cell phones before I did, and they have both passed on.

But now, when I drive by a crowd of people, and everyone has their head tilted down gazing at a screen they hold in their hand...I feel like I was wrong. I guess that is just what getting older does.

I know it is why I look at this stuff and it seems insane, because...there was a time when it would be insane, and I stopped being the frog in the water that is heating up. (culturally speaking, that is)