Elderism #74

“I’m older; I have a great love of the English parlance. I can’t stand dipshit, tattooed, lacquered, varnished, depilatoried younger people talking their stupid shit, stage-sighing, saying “It’s like, I’m like, whatever,” and talking in horrible clichés, rolling their eyes when they disapprove of something.”

– 62 year-old crime novelist James Ellroy in an interview with Keith Phillips in “The Onion’s” culture-centric sibling, “A.V. Club.” The author of L.A. Confidential proudly admits to “unplugging” himself from current culture with the hopes of steering clear of “vile misogynistic horror films, white-trash reality-TV shows, neck-biting fucked-up vampire flicks, and stoned-out teenage-boy pratfall comedies” that “pander” to what is apparently one big “Real World” casting call of a generation.

But Ellroy doesn’t spend all of his time complaining; he’s much more “party” than “pooper” these days. In the rest of the article he speaks about his recently-released second memoir, how he was “conjoined” with author Erika Schickel, and how he’s starring in an upcoming television series with his sidekick Barko, a womanizing, drug-dealing, badge-wearing, computer-animated bull terrier.

“It’s a gas,” says Ellroy.