quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a rolling new york times thread

Yeah, saw that. It's basically the equivalent of "It rained yesterday" as a news story.

huh? that's not a quiddities article, it's actually a pretty good article.

subways are packed during the weekend *because* the ruling class are taking them again (among others)

Not on the nytimes per se, but a classic quiddities piece from the nyt makes the cut: http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/07/13/great_recession_elitism_slideshow

that slideshow linked to this article which is kind of amazing

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html

did we ever talk about it?

I guess it is kind of tongue in cheek

People at every income level have a funny way of finding "necessities" that happen to just stretch whatever income they have to the limit, at which point they say "gosh, this isn't really much money after all!"

yeah it's keeping up w/ the jones all the way to the top

People at every income level have a funny way of finding "necessities" that happen to just stretch whatever income they have to the limit, at which point they say "gosh, this isn't really much money after all!"

If I'm not paying attention, I do this! It's annoying!

Yeah, I mean as much as I don't want to be too forgiving of such people, it is a very human tendency. Of course I also tend to think that people who reach that level of wealth tend to be more rapacious and entitled less self-aware in that regard (because those traits are part of what enabled them to reach their level of wealth). But I certainly catch myself doing it sometimes -- even if it's only the arbitrary commute distance that I find unacceptable or the arbitrary square footage I think an apartment has to have or whatever. There are also certain things that I'm only coming to understand as I get ready to enter a real profession -- e.g. dry-cleaning becomes a "necessity," and long working hours do make it a lot harder to do some things for yourself.

Jenny OTM

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/growing-up-then-going-home/

these kids are pretty lucky they get to live at home

I’ve been living here for a while now, and you know what? It’s not bad. This apartment has it all. Zabar’s chocolate croissants for breakfast and a seemingly unlimited supply of Pellegrino. The laundry is fresh, the bathtubs are pristine and there’s even a treadmill and a TV with HBO. My parents must have worked thousands of unpaid internships to pay for all this! How can I complain?

My parents must have worked thousands of unpaid internships to pay for all this!

I like this line. dude is self-aware, at least.

Self-awareness is often presented as a mitigating virtue on this thread but I think it often makes these pieces even more infuriating.

Then during dinner, she said, “I would never have dreamed of going home after college. It’s amazing that this is a palatable option for you.” I apologized profusely for not hating her and Dad more.

Fuck that guy, i'm trading him off my team on madden as soon as i get home.

guys guys guys we've got a new winner:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/garden/playhouses-childs-play-grown-up-cash.html

jesus christ that's a long article

I think of it as bling for the yard,” said Ms. Schiller, 40.

Some people might consider it “obnoxious” for a child to have a playhouse that costs more and has more amenities than some real houses, she conceded. But she sees it as an extension of the family home. “My daughter loves it,” she said. “And it’s certainly a conversation piece.”

oh my god those pictures oh my god

“I wanted another reason for the grandkids to come over,” said Mr. Burnham, 64. “Also, I wanted to be able to go up there on Sunday morning and read The New York Times Magazine.”

cant wait until a demon starts living inside that playhouse tbh

also lol tracer otm three pages about luxury tree forts is... something.

how much would you have to change for this to be an onion article

the names?

i am actually going to say that this is a candidate for 'kind of lol but mostly sad'

youd probably have to make the playhouses less expensive tbh. otoh: the Houston home of John Schiller, an oil company executive, and his wife, Kristi, a Playboy model turned blogger is p onion-y already

don't forget the daughter named sinclair, to give it the whiff of truth

I lmao'd at that whole thing

Upstairs is a sitting area with a child-size sofa and chairs for watching DVDs on the 32-inch flat-screen TV.

so I guess in child terms this is a 100" plasma huh

just picturing a fat middle aged guy in a 10 gallon hat and his wife a dozen years younger all like "my little girl needs her own goddamn mini house" before firing a pistol in the air

while typing up a blog post

she's*

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/rich-texan-the-simpsons.jpg

kristi with an i need to tell you about my botox blog

"honey does communist president have one m or two?"

“Childhood is a precious and finite thing,” Ms. Butler said. “And a special playhouse is not the sort of thing you can put off until the economy gets better.”

http://occasionallyfunny.blogspot.com/

just

cannot

be

real

k I'm p ready for a class war now

http://i.imgur.com/zFau7.png

guys i am not going to lie: a little of my bile re. this is motivated by the fact that i will never live in a $248,000 treehouse.

you'd think that a family that could afford a 248k treehouse would be able to upgrade a bit from blogspot

no joke i would love a rad treehouse to sleep in during the summer and to have vision quests in, no stupid kids allowed

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/07/20/garden/20110721-PLAYHOUSE-slide-RBYU/20110721-PLAYHOUSE-slide-RBYU-slide.jpg

so they spent 250000 to get something that looks...like every other public playground in the united states

the contractor is laughing his ass off in a money pit somewhere

well it has ac xp

well most playgrounds dont have a flatscreen and dvd player in them so

what kind of poor-ass playgrounds do you go to, i mean

tbqh i dont really hang around any playgrounds!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/fashion/women-enjoy-the-cool-comfort-of-summer-dresses.html?scp=2&sq=dresses&st=cse