With the dogs days of August upon us, it’s hard to turn on the news or surf the internet without seeing the ubiquitous five rings of the Beijing Olympics. Everyone’s excited about up-and-comers like Michael Phelps and…well, Michael Phelps seems to be getting all the attention. But over at the New York Times’ Play Magazine, there’s a a multimedia feature called After the Games, which tells the stories of the Michael Phelpses of bygone days: you know, Mark Spitz, Bruce Jenner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and other favorites of yesteryear. Don’t the athletes from the past always seem kind of magical when compared to the current crop? For this reason, we have to admit that a small part of us hopes Mark Spitz holds on to the gold-medal record that Michael Phelps is, once again, gunning to break. Watch out for the opening ceremony this Friday night.
Online dating services say women of a certain age want the white-haired gent, as long as he’s not too old. Women age 50 and older almost always tell eHarmony.com that they want a younger man — 10, 15 years younger, sometimes more. And on Match.com, a 50-year-old woman is typically seeking a man who is 48.
The problem?
Gender equality in the search for younger partners is creating a mating gap in gray love. A 70-year-old woman is looking for a 66-year-old man. The 65-year-old man is looking for the 54-year-old woman. And a 56-year-old woman is looking for a man who is 46! How does anybody hook up in later life with these wide differences in what men and women want?
But hook up people do. (As we know from past posts, boomers enjoy sex!) It seems like age equity is just one more hurtle on the path to finding a spouse…or a dinner date. At times like these, we should remember The Marriage Benefit author Mark O’Connell’s advice, and ask ourselves, WWMOD? On The Today Show this week, Mark cautioned against going into relationships with unrealistic expectations. Takeaway for cougars? Maybe staying married is a better option than running off with a 19-year-old.
For some boomers, Woodstock was the seminal event of the ’60s, a moment of counterculture crystallization. (For others, it may have just been something their parents grumbled about around the dinner table.) Whether it’s through first-hand memories or second-hand nostalgia, Woodstock remains a subject of widespread fascination, so it makes perfect sense that a museum dedicated to the festival is finally opening its doors this summer. As wowOwow notes, the three-gallery museum is located at the actual site of the 1969 festival, in Upstate New York’s Bethel Woods. Do you think the museum will become a Cooperstown-like mecca for lovers of ’60s music and culture, or will reliving the time the old-fashioned way–through the music itself–always be best?
If you were keeping up with TVLand’s She’s Got the Look, this is old news to you, but if not, spoiler alert: the results are in and Tanya, a 45-year-old mother of five, took home the prize. Over on the Television Without Pity message boards, one poster had this to say about the series overall:
It was NICE to see a reality show of mature women, making healthy breakfasts in a relatively clean kitchen, going to their rooms to avoid conflict, keeping their shirts on, not abusing alcohol or covering my screen with cigarette smoke, (or jumping into a hot tub or shower together, or bawling and bitching on the phone to their boyfriends), generally encouraging each other without some evil agenda and acting like normal adults on a reality show. The obvious comparison is the ANTM, that freakshow of post-adolescent trauma, but really, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen contestants so genuine or at least courteous with each other, especially as the final eliminations approached.
The She’s Got the Look ladies seemed to be able to stay away from the classic reality show traps of boozing and hot-tubbing, and good for them! TVLand is already gearing up for next season with a casting call. Do you think you have what it takes? Apply here.
The finale of She’s Got the Look, TVLand’s answer to America’s Next Top Model, airs tonight at 10. The show chronicles the search for the next great 35+ supermodel, and with the finalists’ ages clocking in at 37, 40, 45, and 50, there isn’t a Lily Cole (b. 1988) among the bunch.
But do we honestly believe that a fashion industry that prizes youth is going to embrace a 40-year-old supermodel? A few magazine covers and commercials, sure, but it’s hard to imagine a full-fledged baby boomer walking down the runway at Fashion Week. Still, maybe it’s more fun to watch our peers compete than it is to watch Tyra’s teens and twentysomethings pose and preen.
If you’ve been keeping up with the tabloids (or The New York Times) this week, you’ve no doubt seen that a few prominent boomer marriages have hit the skids: Madonna is rumored to have had an “affair of the heart” with baseball player Alex Rodriguez, and meanwhile Christie Brinkley’s divorce trial continues to make headlines. At 49 (Her Madgesty) and 54 (Brinkley), both of these ladies have mastered How Not to Look Old, but perhaps they could use some advice from another Springboard author? In The Marriage Benefit, marriage therapist (and instructor of psychology at Harvard) Mark O’Connell argues that saving a marriage is almost always worth it. What advice would he offer Madonna, Brinkley, and their husbands? He might point to the seventh resolution in his book: Forgive and give thanks. O’Connell recommends that partners acknowledge their disappointments with each other without assuming that either person deserves more of the blame for the situation.
Do you think it’s possible for Guy Ritchie to forgive Madonna for her alleged adultry? Should Christie Brinkley have given Peter Cook another chance? Are celebrity marriages worth saving? Let us know what you think, and if you’re looking for more marriage tips, check out The Marriage Benefit.
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With the dogs days of August upon us, it’s hard to turn on the news or surf the internet without seeing the ubiquitous five rings of the Beijing Olympics. Everyone’s excited about up-and-comers like Michael Phelps and…well, Michael Phelps seems to be getting all the attention. But over at the New York Times’ Play Magazine, there’s a a multimedia feature called After the Games, which tells the stories of the Michael Phelpses of bygone days: you know, Mark Spitz, Bruce Jenner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and other favorites of yesteryear. Don’t the athletes from the past always seem kind of magical when compared to the current crop? For this reason, we have to admit that a small part of us hopes Mark Spitz holds on to the gold-medal record that Michael Phelps is, once again, gunning to break. Watch out for the opening ceremony this Friday night.
