craftsmanship, consumerism, virtue, privilege, and quality

those watches are really good looking though imo

you look like a man who would appreciate those watches, treeship

https://www.facebook.com/QuiltedNorthern/videos/1074861349222581/?fref=nf

these artisanal joke videos are definitely getting old, but are always kinda funny too.

That one is funnier than a lot of them tbh.

some of those shinola watches are nice, some look a lot like fossil watches, which I hate

you mean the company where shinola's boss man used to work? :)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-12/this-25-year-old-is-turning-a-profit-selling-pencils

apparently she had $80k lying aruond to invest in pencils at the age of 25 lmao

Artists still use pencils and are pretty particular about them.

But they likely buy them at art stores.

art stores get it all confused, they think it's about the art, when it's really about the pencils

"Demand is sometimes more than Weaver and her staff of four (all millennials) can manage, she says. "

http://www2.iaapa.org/industry/funworld/2015/jan/features/millennials/images/techsavvy.gif

increasingly accepting that my 1981 birthdate might accurately tag me as millennial

I get that many people have a reason for liking pencils of various sorts, or even fetishizing them, I just don't understand the concept of needing, in the 21st century, to buy them from a pencil store. I don't even think there were specialized pencil stores in the 19th century.

i have made dozens of dollars selling boxes of old pencils on ebay

so, like, $36?

Recently, I was talking to a friend of mine, a visual artist with a keen interest in fashion, about some issues that are close to the ones raised in this thread. I pulled up the NYT piece about the Best Made axes, which he hadn't heard of, thinking it would be good for a laugh... but my plan utterly backfired, as he thought the axes were awesome & well-designed, and said he would love to carry one around as part of an "urban lumberjack" look (v_v)

excellent

the long-standing local art store here closed its doors a few years back, leaving a pretty big hole in the art supply market. i'm sure people would like the pencil store, but they really just keep getting enthused any time there's a rumor dick blick is going to open a shop in town

I remember seeing an article about that pencil shop when it first opened and thinking "This is the dumbest thing ever -- oh fuck, it will probably succeed."

xp that the one downtown, mh? that was indeed a bummer. i loved going there when i was a kid to… look at the pencils

"the art store", it was near downtown, then later moved to a suburb when a bank bought the property, then nothing

talking about des moines, btw

Pearl on canal closed a few years ago iirc, if that's what you're referring to.

oh, lol nm

It seems like art supplies are for some reason a thing that buyers still want to engage with in person more than other products. That's my impression from the artist I am married to, anyway.

it's like holding a knife (sometimes, because it is a knife): you don't wanna buy that shit over the internet, you gotta hold it and test it out

the balance and whatnot

yeah I can see that, same thing is true with p much any musical instrument related thing, including guitar picks and drumsticks.

I clicked on that and was relieved to find it was about someone actually physically selling actual pencils, rather than that only-half-joking pencil-sharpening thing that was a hit a while back.

In reductio ad absurdum terms, the next place to go with pencils is having a service where someone will artisanally blow the sawdust off your pencil after it has been artisanally sharpened.

Artisanally blowing the eraser dust off the page where you have just erased something? That will be extra.

Joking aside I am totally okay with stores of the future becoming showplaces where you go to feel and hold stuff, which you then have delivered next day from a centralized warehouse. Having inventory for nonperishables is so 19th century.

someone told me years ago that the artist who does the comic strip Mutts was so into vintage stuff that he was using this vintage ink that had been discontinued decades ago. he found a big old stock of it. and he got really sick from the ink. i have no verification of that though. but i thought i'd share that. probably the same ink that herriman used to do krazy kat or something. ahead of the hipster curve.

If he had died for vintageness / authenticity in the tools of his craft, I'd call him silly. (While, inwardly, grudgingly admitting that it was rather badass.)

i was watching an episode of the excellent Booze Traveler show on Netflix and he was in south africa where this guy makes this ancient recipe booze (the bushmen used to LOVE this stuff) using baby bees and if you drink too much it can paralyze you and all i could picture was some beardo scribbling notes in brooklyn while watching that.

temporary paralysis.

Fuck off does being born before 1985 cover u for millennial status

"this guy makes this ancient recipe booze (the bushmen used to LOVE this stuff) using baby bees and if you drink too much it can paralyze you"

New meaning for "buzzkill."

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-fo-0528-salt-straw-20160523-snap-story.html

"Tyler Malek finds inspiration for ice cream flavors in a variety of sources, including the Oregon Symphony orchestra. "They came to our Portland kitchen last year and played, and we translated the music into flavors. I saw the musical notes and they read like a recipe,” says Malek. “One was a Bach piece. The way the flavors would transform and melt in your mouth for 1 1/2 minutes follows a particular 1 1/2-minute piece of music.”

hahahaha what

Salt & Straw really is quite excellent.

Have you tried the Shostakovich?

salt and straw is good

http://laist.com/2016/05/27/fermentation_salt_n_straw_sqirl.php#photo-1

Chef's Table on Netflix maybe belongs here. So boring and overwrought, just super dull turning food into thinkpiece bullshit.

Dear god yes I hate everyone associated with it.

I hate food.

And everything else at the moment. Probably a fleeting mood.

^ I think you and food need to get away somewhere quiet for a while and work things out xp

ingredients as diverse as berries, chocolate and his grandmother’s almond brittle, as well as more unconventional flavorings such as sea urchin and fermented carrots.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/dining/cast-iron-skillet-finex-field-company.html

the not-yet-settled Field Company all got initial funding on Kickstarter from hundreds of small backers, who eventually receive pans in return for their sponsorship.

The Field Company, run by Chris and Stephen Muscarella (neither of whom is trained in metallurgy, casting or cooking), raised more than $1.6 million

The Finex 10-inch skillet sells for $165; the Borough Furnace equivalent for $280; the Field skillet for about $100.

Why would anyone pay nearly $300 for a modern “artisanal” cast-iron skillet when a perfectly functional equivalent, made in South Pittsburg, Tenn., by the venerable Lodge company, costs $16 at Walmart?

The answer lies in the craftsmanship of the past. The cast-iron pots — skillets, spiders (which sit in the embers of a fire) and Dutch ovens — made in the United States from the 18th century through the first half of the 20th, were different from today’s: lighter, thinner and with a smoother cooking surface.