Matt Heath: Not complaining about not complaining

With this Pink Path Matt Heath feels like he's getting value for money. It's like it was built just for him. You can't complain about that. Photo/File

Opinion

Last week I wrote a column about baby boomers' penchant for complaining about younger generations.

Unsurprisingly I received mixed reviews from over-60s. Gripes came by mail, email, landline and around the dinner table (love you, Dad).

Here's one from a Herne Bay resident: "Complaining isn't just a baby boomer thing, there are whingers of all generations, for example you've written an entire article whining about baby boomers whining."

I thought this was a good point so this week, to right that wrong, I'll be positive.

Hopefully, by not complaining, I can show boomers another way.

Today I'll be not complaining about Auckland's pink bike track, my brand new PS4 virtual reality headset and the movies Logan and Kong: Skull Island.

I reckon a round of inter-generational positivity might just quell some of the boomer down age rage.

The Pink Track, the Light Path, the Nelson Street Cycleway: whatever you call it, is great.

Sure there has been some unhappiness over its cost. I know it had to close down for a re-pinking, but boy is it futuristic.

I ride that Utopian overpass to work every morning. The lights are so bright and blue. The pinks so pink. The convenience so convenient. You feel like you're on a Tron Light Cycle. Like you're in a Battlestar Galactica launch tunnel.

We pay massive rates for our Auckland homes and sometimes it feels like we don't get much respect for it. Like when the AT people called me in a rage because it wants to cut down the beautiful pohutukawa I planted on my berm.

But with this Pink Path I feel like I'm getting value for my money. It's like it was built just for me. You can't complain about that.

Remember the first time you played Sonic the Hedgehog on your Sega Mega Drive or Uncharted on PS3?

Well, be prepared to have your mind blown again by virtual reality.

I just bought a PS4 VR set. It completely covers your face, immersing you in a surround-sound 3D world.

The Star Wars Battlefront VR DLC (downloadable content) is awe-inspiring. The start screen alone features a giant AT-AT stomping around like you're there under it. That's before the mission to attack a Star Destroyer even begins.

So you're in an X-wing, flying through an asteroid belt. When you look down you're wearing the pilot's flight suit in the cockpit experiencing real vertigo. You can't complain about that.

Then there's watching your parents get murdered in an alley as a little Bruce Wayne in Batman VR. Horrifying. You feel the need for vengeance as strongly as the Dark Knight himself does. You are him.

It's also fun to bare your buttocks in a friend's face when they have the headset on. They have no idea. They can't see or hear anything from the real world. You can't complain about that.

There's been a lot of talk lately about the writing, production and star power of TV eclipsing what's on the big screen. The likes of Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Westworld and Michael Bolton's Big Sexy Valentine's Day Special are near-perfect but there are some quality movies out there, too.

Go see Logan and Kong: Skull Island. Logan is the gritty, heart-wrenching superhero flick you've been waiting for. Skull Island is the big budget monster flick of your dreams. A giant monkey movie in which the promised beast turns up straight away rather than the hour and fifteen Sir Peter had us waiting. You can't complain about that.

Baby boomers whinge a lot. Especially when you write an article complaining about their complaining. But in the end New Zealanders of all ages have their gripes. Every now and then you have to acknowledge the positives.

As Ferris Bueller once said: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

Hopefully the positivity I have shown around things like Pricey Pink Paths, Virtual Reality headsets, ultra-violent superheroes and giant monkeys will clear things up with the boomers.

Maybe our generations aren't so different after all and you can't complain about that.

I also like all the new flash Dr Seuss-style playgrounds around Auckland with the trashed roofs.