Ageism

I don't feel that I'm as targeted by ageism as others my age. I'm polite, dress nicely, and generally act mature. Thus I am not bothered.

Of course, there are those moments.

On Friday night, I had my grad trip. We went to Canada's Wonderland with thousands of other teenagers for a night of fun.

It started with a line of hundreds of school buses. The parking lot must have looked like a colony of mustard yellow ants from the air.

The first sort of checkpoint came at the edge of the parking lot. A security guard came on the bus and barked orders at us. Not even a hello, or even a breath it seemed as she went into "I'm not gonna yell, I've already been through 600 buses, so listen up", and then continued with a spiel about how we are not to have drugs, alcohol, weapons, etc.

Next, when the bus had parked, a cop came on board to repeat the speech (albeit in a much nicer tone). He then searched our bags before we were allowed off the bus.

All this before the regular park security which also includes a bag search. Not to mention the policemen they hired to patrol the park.

We had paid $40 to be treated like criminals. Had it been "Seniors Night" or perhaps "Advertising Industry Night" instead of "Grad Night", the extra security wouldn't have been in place.

Blatant ageism, right?

The smell of weed wafted through Wonderland like perfume at Sephora.

And certainly in greater amounts than any other time I've been to Wonderland on regular days.

Hm.

Teenagers often complain about being followed around in stores. A bit of googling found me this:

55% of adult shoplifters started in their teens Source

1 in 4 teens admits to shoplifting before age 16 Source

Before you go ahead and say "so that means 75% of shoplifters are adults, ha!", the 2006 Statistics Canada census says that 10-19 year olds only make up 13.1% of the population Source

So, whats this all mean?

To quote SLC Punk!: "What was the point? Final summation? None."

Now for some actual content

I got the name "Something Vague" because I was listening to a Bright Eyes song of the same name when I made my blog. But also because I only have a vague idea of what I'm even going to be writing about.

Today I have a theatre review and a advertising related complaint. Complaint first.

I was on the bus on my jolly way to work when my eyes landed on a billboard for beer.

The copy read: "Smooth as a 1970s pimp".

Seriously.

The beer industry's portrayal of women already angers me, but advocating pimping directly advocates abusing women (i.e. selling their bodies for personal profit). I was fairly disgusted. I dealt with half naked ladies with no faces and voices, but I think they crossed a line.

I didn't manage to catch the beer brand, so I'll try and get that next time I bus past. They're in for it.


In other news, I saw Better Living at The Factory Theatre in Toronto.

First off, the theatre itself is lovely. Its in an old mansion on Bathurst, tucked away behind a courtyard. Its a small theatre, but the size of the seats in proximity to the stage was perfect. You're right up close and at eye level. I'm explaining it horribly, so just take my word for it.

The show was excellent. Better Living is a dark comedy about a whacky family whose lives are turned upside down by the return of their father.

The casting was excellent. The Q&A afterwards made me think everyone was typecast, because you'd swear it was their characters talking. Remember that episode of Little Mosque On The Prairie where the white guy converts to Islam and annoys everyone? He's in it.

And the set was fantastic! Being a small theatre, its not like they can have those big fancy movable sets you'd see at a broadway production, but the set they had was very detailed and despite being static always gave me something to look at.

Go see it and support The Factory, they're evidently doing good stuff.


I also was Bright Eyes the other day at Massey Hall. First, holy shit does music sound amazing in Massey Hall! The show was fabulous and Conor had his usual drunken stories, and who doesn't love those?

Hello, vanity blog!

I suppose I'll be writing about books and movies and things that amuse me.
Starting tomorrow.

Earn your MBA degree online today.