How old?!

Yesterday, I saw this headline on the BBC News website: Coolio Performs Gangsta’s Paradise for Students.  Aww, how nice! I thought to myself (along with “Wow, Coo

Coolio, bac in the day… (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

lio! There’s a blast from the past!). I clicked on the article and smiled to mayself as I read about how he had taken the students to the supermarket before cooking a meal for them, but my smile faded when I got to this line: “The 50-year-old hip-hop star had been performing at Macs Bar in Preston when he met the students and offered to cook them a meal.”  Coolio is 50?? What? How? Okay, 50 isn’t actually all that old (my mother is 50 and I don’t see her as old), but in my mind, the stars of my childhood are frozen at the age they were then. It’s only when the facts are forcibly thrust in my face that I remember famous people are subject to the passing of time just as much as any of us. Gangsta’s Paradise came out in 18 years ago(!!) in 1995, so it’s logical that Coolio would be in his 50s by now, but still… I suddenly feel old!

Here are some other celebrities who are surprisingly old (well, surprising to me anyway…):

• Seth Green is 39 (born 8 February 1974) – But he’s Oz from Buffy. Oz can’t be coming up to 40!
• Ralph Macchio is 50 (born 4 November 1962) – The Karate Kid is turning 51 next month? What?!
• Sean Connery is 83 (born 25 August 1930) – Wait… Sean Connery is nearly as old as my grandma?!
• Cyndi Lauper is 60 (born 22 June 1953) – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun was like my childhood anthem. How can its singer by 60?!
• Robin Williams is 62 (born 21 July 1951) – Peter Pan is 62?!
• Steven Tyler is 65 (born 26 March 1948) – I know Aerosmith have been around for a while and it’s kind of logical that its members would be getting on a bit, but for some reason it never occurred to me that Steven Tyler would be in his late 60s by now!
• Mike Myers is 50 (born 25 May 1963) – Also, the first Austin Powers film came out 16 years ago!!
• Michael Caine is 80 (born 14 March 1933) – If you’d asked me to guess how old he is now, I would never have said 80!
• Mel Gibson is 57 (born 3 January 1956) – For some reason, I always picture Mel Gibson as young-ish (like in his 40s). I’m having trouble thinking of him as being only a couple of years from 60!
• Julie Andrews is 78 (born 1 October 1935) – Let’s all just take a miniute to get our heads around the fact that Mary Poppins is nearly 80! Does not compute…

OK, enough. I don’t want to depress myself 😉 But do feel free to add more in the comments.

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Naming my daughter Daffodil

Reading BBC news during my lunch break today I discovered that Nicole Kidman has given birth to a baby girl. They’ve named her Sunday Rose. Not really surprising… it’s just another silly name in a long line of ridiulous celebrity baby names. What I wonder though is how come they’re allowed to get away with it? In Germany, when you go to register your child you have to prove that the name you’ve chosen is a) actually a name and b) fits the gender of your baby, so no calling baby boys Rebecca of girls David. If the name you’ve chosen can be used for either gender (think Robin and Jamie) you have to add a middle name that shows the actual gender of the child. So Ashley Jamie wouldn’t be allowed as neither name is gender specific. No random words (windy) or names of objects (table) are to be used as names. Obviously you can still end up with silly sounding names, either because parents pick something from another country that they have no idea how to pronounce (so Janine becomes something like Schaninuh) or because they combine two completely different names into a double name – a classic example from a German website is “Chastity-Claire”. But at least German children, even celebrity ones, are given names that are, in fact, names. Why do we not have this rule in England? How can people get away with naming their kids Asia (a country, not a name!) or Apple (fruit last time I checked)? Yes, I know all about freedom of opinion and not limiting people with too many rules, but honestly… would you want to be named Sunday Rose??

If I have a duaghter I think I’ll name her Daffodil. Maybe that way she’ll become famous one day! (Please note, this is a JOKE! I would never give a child a stupid name like Daffodil).