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

$10000 worth of anything for writing your bullshit post-millennial life down on paper is bigger than anything needs to be

these kids are so unprepared by their parents for life, and then their parents hire them publicists for their blogs about how unprepared they are for life

― Will Chave (Hurting 2), Thursday, July 26, 2012 12:18 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

boom

that reminded me A LOT of the part in tiny furniture where Lena Dunham works as a day hostess for like a week and then is all "OOOOHHHMYGOD I JUST REALIZED THAT THIS ISN'T WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE!!!!"

the sandwich shop thing, xp

damn i must have some idiotic book idea just waiting to be harvested in my sporadically functioning brain

Kevin Rowland: Yeah… Well I thought a little joke might be a good idea, Just to sort of, I d’know, kick off the proceedings, as it were, y’know.

Billy Adams: Oh yeah!

K: What d’you think?

B: Yeah, go on!

K: Good idea?

Helen O’Hara: Does anybody know one?

K: Yeah… You ever hear the one about the em, y’know the middle class idiots who, who sort of spend all their time analysing their own emotions and writing bullshit poetry, y’know, that we’re supposed to read…

(Some snorts of laughter)

As if we’re fucking interested…

(more laughter)

B: That’s a good one!

K: You like that one, yeh?

B: Where’d you hear that one?

K: errrm…

B: Did you make it up yourself?

K: No, no, it’s a true story, that one.

(Shouts of disbelief)

K: Honestly it’s true! I didn’t make it up!

(Laughter)

no one is talking about that this article was written by someone named Penelope Green

morbs can we start some tumblrs of your ideas except pretend theyre written by 20 somethings, we can use pictures of max and iatee maybe

sounds like some JT Leroy shit

exactly what i was thinking! serendipity! its a sign

in classic quiddities fashion this story also appears to be about the sister of the vampire weekend singer.

its the foer brothers all over again

the blog is terrible but from a "i'm gonna get a book and tv pilot deal" it's fucking perfect, so i have trouble finding myself hating

what's with this part of the article where the writer spends four paragraphs acting like "fuck" is some egregious curse word or something

jordan this is not a thing that is difficult to hate

i don't have any trouble hating but i'm having a lot of trouble working up the energy to try to be funny about it

the tumblr blows, the nyt profile blows, the fact of its existence blows

see that's why she makes the big money, a real work ethic

i really don't identify with this 20s life crisis shit AT ALL which is why i find both 'girls' and this blog to be incredibly, monumentally embarrassing (altho i like lena dunham when i see her outside the framework of the show). like, kill my generation type shit. granted i'm not a girl so maybe that's part of why i can't align w/ so much of this stuff but, this theatrical exaggeration of minimal life stresses is truly just the worst.

this blog is so pitch perfect for that kind of audience tho that i find myself deep shame undercut slightly by being impressed

oh man the parents almost made it thru the article w/o just completely embarrassing themselves but

“Yes, I would have loved to renovate our kitchen,” she added

cool how everyone has their generational role down

that quote would be perfect for the 50-something version of the daughter's blog

*stars*YES*stars*
*squiggles*I would have*squiggles*
*hearts*LOVED*hearts*
*lines*to renovate our*lines*
*spatula*KITCHEN*spatula*
*squiggles*BUT*squiggles*
*money symbols*our daughter's RENT*money symbols*
*"I <3 NY" shirt*in the EAST VILLAGE is*"I <3 NY" shirt*
*money symbols*$1,200*money symbols*
*calendar*a MONTH*calendar*

He has met her parents.

i am realizing that the tumblr of the 80s was pinbacks

Her first thought was to make it a zine, but the cost of photocopying was beyond her means

gen x grunge people were just as embarrassing.

^ those are basically vampire weekend lyrics, they even rhyme
xpost

the last cool gen was the feathered hair camaro keep on truckin' gen. then it all went to hell.

the cost of photocopying was beyond her means

work a shitty clerical job with access to a copier, hey free copies

now THIS is how you end a new york times article:

Now that she has steady work, and her housing is taken care of (her new rent is $500 and she can pay it on her own), she should be feeling less anxious, right?

Wrong. What’s terrifying her these days, she said, is driving on the freeway.

technically the van halen generation were baby boomers but they were way cooler than prototypical boomers.

i can't read this blog i'd have to open the whole damn thread...probably not worth it?

and i can't look at the nyt thing because i don't know how to do the free trick for nyt stories and i don't want to pay for it monthly. i'm disenfranchised.

have you considered work at a sandwich shop? benefits are excellent

...He has met her parents.

scott the trick is to remove everything after '.html.' in the url, if you want to get slight fancier/faster you can copy the bookmarklet on this page http://marklets.com/NYTClean.aspx into yr bookmark bar and then click on it when the nyt firewall comes up

yay, i did it. thanks. now i can stick it to the man. is the profile thing in today's paper?

okay found that too.

weird how there's that single paragraph about median rents and median incomes in nyc as if this article is a sociologically relevant case study

did one of you guys write this comment:

"OK, I see (at least) two things going on with this article's publication in the Times. First, there's a certain type of parent - and this type of parent devotedly reads the Times - who is desperate, desperate, desperate to "relate" to their kids and what's "going on in their lives". This article is for them. (It's also for the 50-somethings who talk about how "Girls"is seminal TV - wait, what?)

The other thing going on is the old-school Times used to have a huge group of young "creatives" to write about - journalists, authors, book editors/publishers, screenwriters, TV writers, advertising people - who used to really kind of matter in NYC. A Times profile of said person could "make" them; they could dine off it for years. Unfortunately for them, this class of people simply don't hold the influence they used to. But a lot of them now have kids who hoped to follow in their footsteps as "artists" and the parents are doing their best to see that it happens - by whatever means necessary. The result is an Emma Koenig Times profile.

But life's not so much old-boy network anymore and there's a big eclectic world out there which is much less easily impressed by so-called style-setters. I can't say it's been all good - I think the culture has been dumbed-down when there's no vibrant, creative New York on view. But if Ms. Koenig and the other hopelessly wannabe kids profiled in Style (and Books and Movies) over the past few years are the best NYC has to offer...well, bring on Wyoming!"

did one of you guys write this comment:

"Ah,he trials & travails of a cute upper middle class white girl.

It's almost mind boggling how the upper classes are not only super fascinated with themselves, but are utterly unaware how no one else is. The worst is their complete lack of humility & consciousness of their good fortune.

They are beyond fortunate to have the college education, the connections, health, good looks, and parents who can afford $1200/month in rent for them (even if they nobly did not renovate their kitchen). But do they EVER acknowledge their privileged status? No. Instead, they whine about their lives in what is supposed to be a joking 'funny' fashion, and talk endlessly & emptily about sex, themselves & themselves.

I would SO much more prefer to see features on people who are overcoming actual struggles, real ones, or working to improve our planet-- and, if they do get help from their parents, who are modest about it and acknowledge it. And I don't mean simply being allowed to stay rent free in a home.

Let's have a series of articles on say, oh, a 24 year soldier who is devoting her life to our country, or a 24 year old who becomes a nun, or a 24 year old who volunteers for Peace Corps, or the 24 year old who just plain works hard in underpaid jobs & tries to support their family.

But I guess that's not about the white upper middle classes & it actually has substance & purpose, so it's not interesting to the white upper middle classes"

23 is the new 10.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7c10wEfdy1qjm1zlo1_400.jpg
Fuck-buddy?

friend w/benefits is the term, a fuck buddy youre only buddies w/in fucking not life

a fwiw girl its not the term or lack there of causing the problem

have you ever thought about how many head/heartaches that are caused by the lack of an agreed term (universally, at least)? i'll bet you that it's a lot

also what exactly do you think the purpose of a label is

"FRIEND"
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"?"
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"GIRLFRIEND"

"RLFRIEND"

"I just want to be on the same page" she said choking back tears