Octopus Overlords

Last year was great for us. Among the best ever. This year has a lot to live up to and I don't like the portents that I can see. May your 2025 not suck!

2024 was a good year, but the Skinypupy household is definitely battening down the hatches for some anticipated turbulence in 2025.

Here’s hoping for positive outcomes for all OO’ers in ‘25!

It was a good year for gaming.

Happy new year!

I had a great year for media consumption - 385 movies watched, 64 books read. But those numbers were due to self-imposed challenges. In 2025 I'm taking a break from any kind of "fun" challenge and focusing on self-improvement. Primarily losing weight and a sharper focus on work and family.

Happy new year kids!

Here's wishing everyone a Happy or at least Tolerable New Year!

We're now a quarter of the way into the century! As someone that was working and in lots of meetings about what might happen on Y2K, I can't believe how much has changed.

May we all have the juice to last another quarter century.

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 4:25 pm We're now a quarter of the way into the century! As someone that was working and in lots of meetings about what might happen on Y2K, I can't believe how much has changed.

I can't believe how much hasn't.

Also very true - same with spots where we've gone backwards. But alas, that's likely best left for other places.

Oh hey, it's time for a drink!

I saw a video where someone was talking about how the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s had their own easily identifiable styles and haircuts, but if you watch reruns of The Office from 20 years ago it looks like it could have been filmed yesterday except for the size of the computer monitors.

It weirdly seems like tech is the only thing changing, while people and styles are remaining somewhat static.

YellowKing wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 5:33 pm I saw a video where someone was talking about how the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s had their own easily identifiable styles and haircuts, but if you watch reruns of The Office from 20 years ago it looks like it could have been filmed yesterday except for the size of the computer monitors.

It weirdly seems like tech is the only thing changing, while people and styles are remaining somewhat static.

It's probably true that a lot of changes have been cultural and invisible.

In the 1980s and well into the 1990s, for example, if you were a mainstream straight person who knew gay people, you thought of them as different even if you considered yourself "tolerant." Now it barely registers when a co-worker or new acquaintance is gay. (If you had told 20-year-old me in 1989 that one of my sons would come out as gay at 16, I would have expected it to be a crisis rather than just my kid growing up.)

Racial and multicultural attitudes have changed a lot as well. A movie with a mixed-race cast in the 1980s was still almost certain to have the non-white characters as supporting roles or sidekicks (or comic relief). A non-white leading man in a mixed-race movie was rare into the 1990s unless the movie was specifically about themes of race or identity.

Religion, too. In the US, rates of religious observance have plummeted to a degree that strong religious identity has become almost inherently political. And "religion" as a cultural category now means more than "Christian or Jewish." Today I think nothing of seeing a woman in a hijab on the bus or the sidewalk, while 30 years ago it would have seemed weird or at least exotic.

Decade styles also become a kind of exaggerated visual shorthand.

Historically, probably more people in the 1960s wore less "60's-looking" styles than we think, and likewise for the ensuing decades. Most people tend to dress the way they were expected to dress when they came of age as adults, and then adapt only minimally to fashion changes.

Probably the bigger change is the huge shift from formal to more casual work-dress styles. The most outdated thing about The Office is that all the men still wear ties at a very relaxed local work-by-phone environment. I don't think that would have been the case even in 2000.

Happy New Year to anyone who is still around to read this.

I still wear shirts from the '90s and nobody bats an eye. Pretty sure the last new button-down shirt I bought was in 2003. 'Course, nobody expects an old man to dress sharp, or notices me at all for that matter.

Kraken wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 10:17 pm I still wear shirts from the '90s and nobody bats an eye. Pretty sure the last new button-down shirt I bought was in 2003. 'Course, nobody expects an old man to dress sharp, or notices me at all for that matter.

In the 90’s I wore button down shirts and Dockers. In my last job (retired in 2021) I wore Levi’s and often t-shirts.

I recently found a 100% cotton button down shit in my closet that I used to wear to work. Now it is more comfortable with age and is my favorite shirt.

Jaymann wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 4:21 am I recently found a 100% cotton button down shit in my closet that I used to wear to work. Now it is more comfortable with age and is my favorite shirt.

Happy New Year!

Last year, and this year, I am going through a phase where I am purging many of my 10-20 year old shirts, and getting new ones. Hope I'm not making a mistake....

Lassr wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 10:34 am

Jaymann wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 4:21 am I recently found a 100% cotton button down shit in my closet that I used to wear to work. Now it is more comfortable with age and is my favorite shirt.

Happy New Year!

Last year, and this year, I am going through a phase where I am purging many of my 10-20 year old shirts, and getting new ones. Hope I'm not making a mistake....

Last night, I threw away 10 of my old metal band shirts to make room for some new non-Metal shirts my kids got me for Christmas.

I feel like that’s a sign that I must be maturing or something.

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 4:25 pm We're now a quarter of the way into the century! As someone that was working and in lots of meetings about what might happen on Y2K, I can't believe how much has changed.

And not for the better.

gbasden wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2025 11:39 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 4:25 pm We're now a quarter of the way into the century! As someone that was working and in lots of meetings about what might happen on Y2K, I can't believe how much has changed.

And not for the better.

Change usually isn't.

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 1:24 pm Last night, I threw away 10 of my old metal band shirts to make room for some new non-Metal shirts my kids got me for Christmas.

I feel like that’s a sign that I must be maturing or something.

Wear that Taylor Swift shirt with pride, man.

Did we have the annual Airing of Grievances last month for the Christmas holiday season? Cause I've got some real issues with some of you people.

hepcat wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2025 5:21 pm Did we have the annual Airing of Grievances last month for the Christmas holiday season? Cause I've got some real issues with some of you people.

Let's do this. I'm ready to move on to the Feats of Strength.

I love that Jerry Stiller (god rest his soul) has found eternal appreciation for that.