Neither of these works for me--I am the older sibling (except when I'm not), so I'm not in any position to rib about being old. On the other hand, I am not so far over 40 to have any claim to being wise and knowledgeable. So instead, I've decided to amass a bunch of things that are good about 40--the age, the time, the number itself. Here's a first draft:
- Life Begins at Forty--a movie from 1935 starring Will Rogers, and apparently the source of the phrase
- 40 Licks--a great compilation of Rolling Stones hits
- WD-40--Nuff said
- American Top 40--not the Ryan Seacrest version, but the classic with Casey Kasem
- 40-cent stamp--not yet!
- Psalm 40
- 40 year old single malt Scotch
- 40 watt lightbulbs
- Element 40--Zirconium. All the bling without the ching!
- Route 40--the original cross-county highway from Atlantic City to San Francisco
- Code of Federal Regulation 40--establishing the Environmental Protection Agency
- 2 Apple iPods =40 GB (Didn't there used to be a 40 GB version? Or am I just getting too old to remember?)
- -40--the point where Celsius and Fahrenheit match up
- 40 Days and 40 Nights--especially if you are a Josh Hartnett fan
- 40 days of Lent--kicked off by Mardi Gras, closed off with chocolate Easter bunnies!
Television shows that premiered 40 years ago:
- Green Acres
- Hogan's Heros
- I Dream of Jeannie
- Lost in Space
- Dean Martin Show
Number 1 television show of 40 years ago: Bonanza
Other things introduced 40 years ago:
- Moore's Law--about the rate of doubling of computing power was first noted in 1965 (In 1954, a transistor cost $5.52: in 2004, you can buy a billion of them for a dollar!)
- Office cubicles--a blessing and a curse
- Rollings Stones released "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
- Ground troops first sent into Viet Nam
- Astroturf
- Diet Pepsi
- St. Louis Gateway Arch
- Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe At Any Speed"
- Sylvia Plath's "Ariel"
First human being to walk in space (Aleksei Leonov) and first American to walk in space (Edward White)
Gen X starts in 1965--earlier than that one is technically a Baby Boomer.
Minnesota Twins lose the World Series to LA Dodgers
1965 Awards:
Grammys
- Record of the Year: "Girl from Ipanema" Stan Getz and Strud Gilberto
- Song of the Year: "Hello Dolly" (Thus proving that the Grammys are hopelessly unhip--"Satisfaction" beaten out by "Hello Dolly"? Something is seriously wrong there!)
Oscars
- Best Picture--The Sound of Music
Nobel Peace Prize--UNICEF
Deaths in 1965 (the end of the older era--anyone born the same year these people died is definitely of a newer era):
- Winston Churchill
- Edward R. Murrow
- Malcolm X
- Nat King Cole
- TS Eliot
- Adlai Stevenson
Actually, it seems like these people retain relative currency. How often do you hear Edward R. Murrow invoked in any discussion of today's news culture? Only every time. TS Eliot wrote the book for the incredibly long-running Broadway musical "Cats."
Current celebrities who are 40 but don't act all that mature:
- Kristin Davis
- Sarah Jessica Parker
- Brooke Shields
- Adam Sandler
- Ben Stiller
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Steven Cojocaru
So, celebrate 40, you fabulous people--after all, isn't 40 the new 20?
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