This Craigslist ad made me feel so old, but also, I have NEVER been this young:
We are all in our late 20’s – early 30’s here in NYC to live it up, take advantage of the sweet neighborhood, and have as much fun as possible while still managing to make it to work on time!
We all play in bands, love live music, and entertain guests on a regular basis along with the occasional open jam session at random hours of the night. We don’t often smoke “cigarettes” but if you want to in your room, go right ahead. Must have active social life… if you are the type of person whose main source of entertainment is sitting at home, watching Netflix on your laptop, this apartment is definitely not for you.The neighborhood is loud, people in the building make a ton of noise, once in while, you may even want to pop in some ear-plugs… but we love it here!! There is a drum-kit in the common room along with guitars & amplifiers, where we jam out on a regular basis, create art, and engage in stimulating conversations with other tenants in the building. If this is something you would enjoy, please join us!
I am really enraptured by Master of None, and this is cool beans too:
These days, Indian people, real Indian people, pop up way more in film and television, but fake Indians are still around more than you think. I loved “The Social Network,” but I have a hard time understanding why the Indian-American Harvard student Divya Narendra was played by Max Minghella, a half-Chinese, half-Italian British actor. More recently, “The Martian” was based on a novel with an Indian character named Venkat Kapoor, who in the film became Vincent, a character portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a British actor of Nigerian origin. (The Indian actor Irrfan Khan was reportedly in talks to take the role, but couldn’t because of a scheduling conflict.)
My efforts to get responses from people who made these decisions were unsuccessful. But I don’t want to judge them before knowing the full story, especially because I know that both films made at least some attempts to pursue Indian actors. I auditioned for “The Social Network,” and I was horrible. I tried to improvise and make the role funny. I was a young actor who didn’t understand what he was doing. I was also asked to audition for a part in “The Martian” (not Kapoor), but I skimmed the script and — no offense — it seemed like a boring movie about a white guy stuck on Mars for two hours who gets fired up about plants, so it didn’t seem worth taking a break from my own projects. (I’ve heard the film is fantastic.) So, I know the filmmakers made an effort to cast Indian actors, but how hard did they try?
I was reading this and LOVING it when I realized one of the authors was my old prof John Stauffer, who is a Genius and a Cool Dude:
It may seem strange, if not implausible, to assert that a black man and former slave wrote more extensively on photography, and sat for his portrait more frequently, than any of his American peers. But he did. We know this because Douglass penned four separate talks on photography (“Lecture on Pictures,” “Life Pictures,” “Age of Pictures,” and “Pictures and Progress”), whereas Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Boston physician and writer who is generally considered the most prolific Civil-War era photo critic, penned only three. We have also identified, after years of research, 160 separate photographs of Douglass, as defined by distinct poses rather than multiple copies of the same negative. By contrast, scholars have identified 155 separate photographs of George Custer, 128 of Red Cloud, 127 of Walt Whitman, and 126 of Abraham Lincoln. Ulysses S. Grant is a contender, but no one has published the corpus of Grant photographs; one eminent scholar (Harold Holzer) has estimated 150 separate photographs of Grant. Although there are some 850 total portraits of William “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his Wild West Show, and 650 of Mark Twain, no one has analyzed how many of these are distinct poses, or photographs as opposed to engravings, lithographs, and other non-photographic media. Moreover, Cody and Twain were a generation younger, and many if not most of their portraits were taken after 1900, when the Eastman Kodak snapshot had transformed the medium, bringing photography “within reach of every human being who desires to preserve a record of what he sees,” as Kodak declared. In the world, the only contemporaries who surpass Douglass are the British Royal Family: there are 676 separate photographs of Princess Alexandra, 655 of the Prince of Wales, 593 of Ellen Terry, 428 of Queen Victoria, and 366 of William Gladstone.
Mallory is never happier and more invigorated than when emailed by rubes:
I am missing NYC a lot this week, which I have not felt in a while, and when I miss NYC, I read a lot of things about restaurants. If you are in the East Village in your jammies, please Seamless yourself one of these places for lunch or dinner, and think of me. Then tell me about it in the comments tomorrow.
This is a very good “book that changed your life” list, and also, this is a personal fav of mine:
MARGARET EBY author of South Toward Home, features & essays editor at HelloGiggles
Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey To The End of Taste is one of the books that I wish I could pass out at street corners, or airdrop on parts of the country. It’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever read about Celine Dion, taste, and “reasonable people carting around cultural assumptions that make them assholes to millions of strangers.” It made me reassess those assumptions, and, honestly? Listen to Celine Dion again for the first time in a decade.
A really fun deep dive into wandering around LA while following Raymond Chandler’s directions. Also, I love LA.
Sansa’s breeder, on Sansa at five weeks:
1. She watches me as if she is willing me with her mind to pet her or acknowledge her. (It works!) haha. 2. She has learned to not take crap from anyone and she now fights back when she’s being picked on unnecessarily. Awesome! 3. Her ears are going up already! She’s the cutest little ball of fur and I love, love, love her! She loves to just snuggle up close and will stare into your eyes the whole time. It’s the sweetest thing ever!She looks like a gremlin, though… haha! The tiniest little thing compared to her siblings, but she has really learned to hold her own. I’m so proud of her.
Well, they found out about GayScam.
I guess we can all go home now, y’all. Secret’s out.
And I haven’t even made my money back on all these toasters I bought to sell at GayScam parties 🙁
An imam told my friend once that there was ‘a gay conspiracy to destroy the family’. Funny, because same friend (I think) was in a band called The Stay At Home Dads and the Islams, named after overhearing someone say ‘you know it’s the stay at home dads and the Islams ruining this country’. Gay Scam is only one small part of a much bigger picture.
(also hi to anyone reading this who knows me personally and can definitely identify who I am from that, my mask of anonymity has been torn asunder) (I’m pretty sure there’s only ever been one band called The Stay At Home Dads and the Islams)
This is the best band name I have ever heard.
The fact they only ever released one EP is an absolute scandal.
I would have thought we could come up with a better name that GayScam, to be quite honest. Still, it’s been a good run.
I love how much it looks like some weird 80s military program when you type it out with the weird capitalization.
GayScam: in 1978 an elite covert unit was betrayed by their superiors for being too gay. Now, sworn to protect a government that cannot acknowledge or support them, the forces of GayScam fight ceaselessly against COBRA.
i would watch this movie.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire…the Gay Team.
The Gay Scheme and the Homo Plot are still on, though, right?
Just small corners of The Gay Agenda.
But The Gay Agenda may still be safe? He didn’t mention it so maybe he doesn’t know about that! Abort Scam, carry on Agenda!
(My wife-to-be and I are planning our wedding using Slack because we are giant nerds and I was able to secure thegayagenda.slack.com and every time I update anything I laugh.)
Slack is the greatest and you and your wife-to-be are AMAZING nerds for using it!
I am obviously a square for asking, but how many fucking people live in that apartment?
Just everyone you would never want to live with ever.
Thank god they are all in there and maybe won’t come out and bug the rest of us.
Since they’ve thoughtfully provided the location of the apartment, we could just get some bricks and cement, and turn that “maybe” into a “definitely”.
Who’s up for a day trip?
4 of my broworkers are planning to all get an apartment together in a couple months, and I’ve told them they need to inform me of the address as soon as they sign the lease, so I can make sure to stay at least two city blocks away from the building at all times. I love them all individually, but holy god, the thought of them living together…
Back in the early nineties, I was looking for a sublet in Park Slope (this was back when you could afford to live in Park Slope on a starting librarian’s salary), and someone advertised a room in an apartment. The ad sounded a bit twee (not anywhere near this one, but still), but I decided to check it out. When I got there, I found out that not only were the other people interested in the room there, but that the current inhabitants of the apartment were holding a sort of open audition for the room, to make sure that the successful applicant fit in with their groovy creative gestalt. We (the applicants) endured it, then as we left, just kind of looked at each other, murmuring, “Man, I just want a fuckin’ room.” (From My Authentic New York Experience, chapter XVI.)
I lived in what sounds like a similar kind of space like five years ago (less the impromptu jam session style and more the impromptu graffiti battle style) and I was never quite sure how many people lived in my building at any time, or who lived in my apartment, for that matter.
It was…. not my wisest apartment choice.
If it is important to you to know how many people live in your apartment or who they are, you are not a good candidate for this apartment.
And the room for rent is 11×6?! It is SIX FEET WIDE. I could touch both walls at the same time!
(I have never lived in NYC, and I know this is probably more of a thing there? But no.)
That’s not a room, that’s a walk-in closet. For $1325 per month. And you need to pay two rents up front! No one who has that kind of money would live in this kind of room, not even if it’s in NYC! ….right?
I mean, I’ve lived in a walk-in closet before, but at least I did NOT pay an entire month’s income for the privilege.
I have a feeling maybe it’s just a few rooms split into space for multiple people – basically just a glorified dorm? Or maybe not all the people pictured live there?? I have so many questions.
Once when apartment hunting in Queens my roommates and I were presented with a PANTRY that was being advertised as half a bedroom, so really anything is possible in the NYC rental market.
obvs you get the room and all those kids are living in your walls, like rats that can open doors
I like how they have 87 photos of their cool partying ways (plus the kitchen and bathroom) but not a single photo of the room for rent.
My first thought was “interesting that there’s no pictures of this 70 square feet room….” Probably because the floor is covered in musical instruments and pizza paddles (is pizza paddle the right word I literally had to google ‘pizza wooden board thing’)
I am a lurker in general, but that Craiglist ad has moved me to pop my head up to express my horror. Can that be real? Are they trolling us? It’s HORRIFYING. There are so many of them! How frequently do they have their group picture taken? Do they always wear bikinis? It’s like the four-person Brooklyn apartment of this horrible, doucey, self-satisfied man-child I dated in my 20s, like, exponentiated itself and spawned all over the East Village. Make it stop.
I believe we share an ex! Sisters!
there is no way that bathroom has ever been that clean since they moved in
It’s even WORSE than the house I used to live in- we called it the Revolving Door Commune for Itinerant Artists, and it was crazy. Never knew for sure who/how many people lived there, sometimes people would leave out all their cooking trash (ie a FULL FISH CORPSE and blood dripping down the counter, whyyyy), once someone staying in the living room brought home a kitten (I’m allergic! also it was the least safe-for-animals house ever!), etc etc. I could only handle it cause I was real young and real broke.
Although I did meet some awesome people in that house who are lifelong friends. Also, my room was a leeettle bigger than that and my rent was 400/month in Astoria, so it was definitely a better deal. I can’t imagine paying that much to live that way. *shudders*
Excuse me while I refer to everyone who angers me as “bitch-ass puppies” from now on
Omg that Craigslist ad. Do all those people live there? If not wanting to live in a 24/7 youth hostel with a guy who ends his Craigslist posts with “peace” is old, then I don’t wanna be young.
I have always liked sleep more than fun, I think.
Judging by that ad, I was born 46.
I sublet a place to two of those guys once and it was three too many.
Mallory, thank you for being so upfront about the Gay Scam.
I didn’t think it was possible to be even more excited for Mallory as Prudie than I already was. It is possible. It is happening/
the Charn reference!
Buzzfeed has been doing a series of articles on HBCU’s and I thought this one by Hannah Giorgis was especially good. “What Happens When You Don’t Want To Be A Man At An All-Male HBCU” http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahgiorgis/there-is-a-…
oh man I love that because there are nonbinaries and trans* individuals at my women’s college and the Office of Diversity is working to remove the “women” label from things. For example, our athletic department t-shirts used to read “Smart Women Sweat”, but not all of our athletes identify as female so we got that changed.
I also read about restaurants when I miss New York. I’m glad I’m not the only one. Eater is sometimes my best friend/worst enemy.
GayScam has been exposed?! I need to tell my Queer Studies professor!
I woke up early today (to register for classes for the spring ahhh) and I actually went to breakfast with my squad. Someone said “let me be straight with you” and we all burst out laughing because not a single one of us is straight. My sexual preference right now is “really in love with my girlfriend as well as waiting til marriage”
I came out to my catholic school friend who said “I’ll still love you even if I dont agree with your choice”
choice
CHOICE
*vents toastily*
Next time tell your friend “Likewise.”
This is the friend who deleted Sam Smith from her library because of his “lifestyle choices”.
I disagreed with that choice but I still love her.
You’re a better person than I am.
I’m sorry I murdered everyone in the apartment, but I really hate jamming out in the living room.
When the cops call, I’ll tell them you were here with me, watching Miss Fisher on netflix.
Much appreciated, friend.
It makes for a really compelling case that we should eat our young. If Jonathan Swift was writing A Modest Proposal in 2015 and used this as evidence, his essay would lose its satirical force. “You make a good point, Jon.” –everyone not currently a resident at 200 East 2nd Street.
“What can I say, officer? Someone said ‘drum circle’ and I just saw red.”
“Oh, dude. Hold on, I’ve got a roll of paper towels in the cruiser.”
I’m with you on that Craigslist ad, I was never that young either. I remember confounding a few elementary school teachers by carrying a grudge about the removal of nap time for several grades and listing one of my favorite hobbies as “sleeping.”
I too was never young. I can never relate when people reminisce about partying all all night and going straight to work the next morning and frame it as “you can do that when you’re young”. Nope, not me – I was the 20-year old whose constitution buckled under alcohol/drugs, and always needed a solid 8 hours *minimum*.
Me too! 8 hours has always been my minimum and friends who can casually go with less like it’s no big and have waaaay more active social lives because of it leave me often feeling confused and tired by proxy.
Same! Certain friends seem confused that I go to bed when I’m tired and that I can’t just “power through.” No thanks!
That sounds horrible. Why do that when you can sleep? (The only times I have stayed up all night and had to do things the following day were academic work-related all-nighters caused in part by depression and procrastination, and I hated them.)
In Freshers’ Week at university, I was shocked and horrified to learn that the big disco event at the end of the week started at 10pm. 10! That’s bedtime, not going-out time!
My people!
At age 5, I was annoyed with kids in my kindergarten class for listening to “baby music.” At age 7, I couldn’t understand why kids my age would have any interest in going to Disney World. Disney was for LITTLE KIDS.
So uh, yeah. I relate to that.
On a similar note (but one that may be a sign that I’m only getting younger), my husband and I have both realized that we relate to the teens in Empire Records more as thirtysomethings than we did as teens. As teens, we were both (independently) like “YOU CAN’T DO THAT. THERE ARE RULES. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU ARE GOING TO GET IN TROUBLE” and now we’re like “YEAH, YOU GO, KIDS. FIGHT THE MAN!”
I was very annoyed when we would watch videos at school and the other children would all be laughing at what was clearly patronising nonsense. Aged about 7, I was extremely disapproving of our headteacher’s wife who said something about how “a mummy fish and a daddy fish get married and have little baby fishes”. “I think you mean “a male and female fish mate and have baby fish.””
It is amazing I wasn’t smothered as a child, really.
Oh god, so many movies give me palpitations because of that instinct – “Don’t go in there! You’re not allowed! What if you GET IN TROUBLE!” This is the fear that I struggle with in gothic literature and films too – screw the eldritch horror, I’m worried the governess is about to get fired.
I got told off at primary school for trying to stay in the library at break time and read (standing up, because it wasn’t the sort of library you could sit and read in) rather than going outside to play. But reading is more fun than social interaction!
You’ve just reminded me of the fact that in elementary school me and two other girls would sneak into the library during recess time to check out books. We were wild!
I was wilder! My friend and I used to stay in at recess and tidy the teacher’s desk!
I asked if I could spend playtime picking up rubbish and tidying up the flowerbeds.
I used to hide (not often, but occasionally) in my classroom behind the door and read during recess. Usually I did this if I was reading a particularly good book and did not want to take the extra few minutes to get dressed and go outside because I would have to put the book down. One such book that comes to mind is Holes.
I read Holes as an adult (I suspect I am older than you) and cried like a fucking BABY.
But as a kid I was socially awkward and frequently hid during recess in order to read as well.
My nephew attended a kindergarten prep program over the summer that had yoga time instead of nap time. I like yoga but given the choice a nap wins every time.
I’m in my late twenties and I felt tired just reading that advert.
The moment that may best define my entire life: in 3rd or 4th grade, we had some free time in the class schedule. The teacher asked what we wanted to do and I immediately raised my hand to suggest that we extend quiet reading time. Everyone groaned and one kid shouted “Don’t listen to her, she HATES FUN!” Damn right I do.
BITCH-ASS PUPPIES!!! Also, GayScam! No space!
That apartment sounds like my actual nightmare- and I have a relatively decent social life. Who would want to live with what appears to be 20+ people playing drums/guitars into the wee hours every freaking night????
(also don’t forget the Odyssey read through by the Almeida Theater is tomorrow and I’m gonna have to miss most of it but it’s all gonna be livestreamed so you should waaaatch)
“Odyssey read through by the Almeida Theater” sounds intriguing! But I’ll be seeing the Coriolanus encore broadcast tomorrow, because Hiddleston > Homer and also possibly wrong timezone. Will the livestream be saved somewhere…?
Yes, it likely will! They currently have the entirety of their Iliad read through on their website in several videos, so I imagine they’ll do the same with The Odyssey.
Current NYC apartment hunters: has it really gotten so bad that $1325 for 70 square feet is considered acceptable? I say this as someone who’s lived in the same Midtown East apartment for three years.
This almost made me cry.
For the East Village? Actually…yeah, probably. Especially for a doorman/elevator building with a gym, which this looks like it is.
Yeah, and laundry in the building is kind of a coup. Still don’t know if it’s a 70 square foot coup.
I can kiiiind of understand it if the common spaces are as large as they are implied to be? But then again, said common spaces will almost certainly be filled with people “jamming” at any and all times of the day, so…
God, I pay $1450 for a proper one-bedroom! I think it’s somewhere between 350-400 sq-ft, and it’s in Astoria, and I truly think I got a deal. But I live by myself, FINALLY, and am able to entertain myself by sitting on the sofa watching Netflix to my heart’s content and without guilt or roommate-shaming.
Unless you live in One 57 (or whatever that billionaire’s monstrosity of a building’s address is), $1325 for 70 sq-ft is an absolute monstrosity.
Agreed. I pay only a few hundred more than that for a one-bedroom too. (Not anywhere near the East Village, though.)
$1350 for 70 square feet backstage of ten billion skater bros playing Wonderwall!
We finished Master of None last night and overall I really enjoyed it. The argument he has with Rachel in “Ladies and Gentlemen” is probably one of the best scenes of television I’ve watched in forever. It’s nice to finally have a show with a single dude in the city that isn’t a straight white cis-dude moaning about his privilege problems (I’m looking at you, Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, the list goes on).
I have conflicting thoughts. There are episodes I really liked – “Ladies and Gentlemen”, for example, or the one with Rachel’s grandmother, also “Nashville”. Oh, and “Indians on TV” was pretty good as well. But “Mornings” was just so boring – maybe it’s because I’m not in a romantic relationship, but I really thought about skipping this episode. I get that it’s important for the “Finale” setup but still – not funny, boring.
And Dev is so annoying – I couldn’t be friends with that guy, let alone be in a relationship. He strikes me as someone who cannot be serious for just a moment, how would you even have a serious conversation with him? Maybe that’s why I enjoyed “Old People” so much, because the episode’s focus was, for once, not on Dev.
I also wanted to see more of Denise and Brian.
Also, someone on Tumblr mentioned that the show seemed antiblack to them? Can anyone enlighten me on this thought?
Hmm, I did not pick up on that but would be very interested to hear more details of that analysis.
Yeah, unfortunately they didn’t elaborate on this thought – it was more, “It seems antiblack to me, so I’m not watching it.” And I don’t have a Tumblr myself and didn’t want to ask anonymously.
Huh! I am also super curious about this.
I think it was because of the episode “Indians on TV” where Dev talks about how Black people can just now have 2 leads and not have it be a “black tv show” and that Asians would have to wait for a while. Some people felt that it was pitting people against each other.
Which to me seemed absurd because the show is smart enough to make Dev have a bit of a blindspot about race, how he keeps calling the movie the “Black Virus” movie. Having the characters be #problematic about race doesn’t mean the show itself is anti black.
Some also felt that the black women were stereotypical? Maybe the agent’s character was, but Denise is rad as hell.
I love Denise.
Thanks for your explanation. I agree with you, having characters who are in any way problematic doesn’t mean the show itself has this problem. I guess one could argue that this behaviour has to be called out/acknowledged in any way to make up for this… It’s the same with books – a racist character doesn’t mean the author is racist. And I think this is the point of any form of fiction: Showing how people act and react, how life is lived – and problematic behaviour isn’t always called out in real life.
And I just posted a link in the new Link Roundup to a site where they sort of talk about Master of None but thought I’d reply here as well 🙂
How much of Master of None is painfully awkward? I watched half of the first episode, got to the scene where he’s asking women in line to escort the little girl he’s looking after to the bathroom, and turned it off. I have a pretty low tolerance for that kind of thing. I could never get into Louie for the same reason. But everyone is really into MoN and I generally like Aziz Ansari, so I’m wondering if I should try again.
I also have a very low tolerance for that kind of humor (cannot STAND Curb Your Enthusiasm!) and I did ok with MoN. The difference, I think, is actually that with other shows like Louie or Curb Your Enthusiasm, the source of the awkwardness is generally the main character being a jerk and/or blowing someone else’s action out of proportion, whereas with MoN, it’s USUALLY the other people being awkward (often racist). Dev is a little awkward but he also has enough Aziz Ansari charm to smooth things over. YMMV!
For what it’s worth, my husband and I both felt kind of “meh” about the first episode, but we’re now 6 episodes in, and we adore it. The second and fourth episodes (“Parents” and “Indians on TV”) have been my favorites so far.
In terms of the awkwardness, though, that doesn’t ever fully go away, I think? But I feel like there’s definitely a sense of naturalism to the show as a whole that feeds into that awkwardness — people don’t always have exactly the right words at exactly the right time, you know? And Dev’s parents are played by Aziz Ansari’s actual parents, who aren’t exactly seasoned actors, and I’ve seen some people say that there’s a stilted quality to their acting that awkwards things up, but for me, I think their very parental flavor of awkwardness is hilarious and charming.
Also, I spent most of the first episode thinking that those children are monsters and wondering who in god’s name is raising them, and that’s as someone who loves children, looks forward to having my own, and has spent a good portion of my adult life with a side gig as a baby-sitter for children ranging in age from 7 months to 8 years old, so.
The first ep I was kinda like, ehh, if this is all going to be about your friends having kids/getting married, I’m not the right demographic, but the second ep hooked me right away. There were definitely moments where the humor was… unexpected, I guess? If I had to give the style of the show a name, I would call it funny mumblecore.
I just watched the first two episodes and I want to like it but… does anyone else think the acting is a bit stiff? Not from his parents (bless) but from Aziz himself? I’m going to keep watching because I hear it gets better after episode 4 and I will have serious internet discussion FOMO if I don’t. Worth it?
I found the acting kinda stiff overall (with the exception of Rachel, who is great), but the writing is good enough that I was willing to overlook it.
It has solidly reaffirmed my belief that H. Jon Benjamin is pretty much an American treasure.
You are absolutely right! My husband and I were trying to figure out how we could invite him over sometime because he just seems like such a joy.
I am trying not to binge watch but it’s hard. Favorite episode so far: 2, with the parents, Dev, and Phil going out for Chinese food. Loved the Taiwanese chicken story.
Senator Claire McCaskill provides a list of things we no longer need male opinions on.
I love her, and might just add makeup to the list of topics men can STFU about
Never thought I’d say Fuck Yeah Missouri, but Fuck Yeah Missouri!
“….and ethics in gaming journalism.”
Love her.
The cherry on top of that for me was the google ad running over it:
that’s AMAZING.
That hatemailer has been at it awhile: https://www.google.com/search?q=infosri%40juno.co…
On clicking that link, my immediate response in my head was ‘Hol-eee shit’ in the voice of that guy from Boston on that video where he sees a giant fish.
JAY, OH MY GAWD JAY, LOOK AT THIS FAHCKIN ASSHOLE JAY
IT’S A FAHCKIN WHEEEEEEL.
Oh wow, I had never seen this and it’s my new favorite thing. “A baby fuckin’ WHEEL!”
“if you are the type of person whose main source of entertainment is sitting at home, watching Netflix on your laptop, this apartment is definitely not for you.”
MMMKAY BYEEEEEEEE
yuuuuuuup
What if I like to watch Netflix on my TV? Is that even worse, since I like to do that in my living room while nobody plays the drums?
TV Netflix >>>> Laptop Netflix
Netflix on TV is what I dream about… and had! but my Wiimotes stopped syncing with the Wii, so no more Netflix on the TV.
I use my Xbox 360, so I can use the controller. Or I can just shout commands at the TV, and it listens! Mostly. Apparently my sqeaky feeeemale voice doesn’t register well with the Kinect, so my brother has to yell at it sometimes for it to work.
But have you tried it while people *are* playing drums? And otherwise jamming? Maybe it’s better that way. Could be.
I actually have upstairs neighbors who like to play the drums sometimes and it hasn’t worked out, but maybe that’s because they’re not in sync with the show like with Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz.
This type of sentiment is depressingly common in New York apartment listings. “I want you to subsidize my rent, but never be home so I can pretend I live alone.” Auuuggghh
That is exactly what I want, but I do not think it is a reasonable thing to ask.
I totally considered posting that. I mean, in Boston, but. I had a whole ad worked out (alas, cannot find original text):
“I have friends. I have family. I don’t want to get to know you, but I can’t get a damn single out here without pawning a kidney. You keep to your space, I’ll keep to mine, and we’ll nod when we pass in the kitchen. Sometimes I’ll come home at 3 AM, or not at all, and that’s none of your business. You’re not my mother, and it’s none of her business either. I will totally pay more than my share of the rent if you have a SO/job/etc that takes you out of town a lot.”
Fortunately reached current agreement with my parents. I think it was a reasonable ad, but I doubt it’d have gotten many responses.
I’m not in Boston, and I’m married now, but that sounds perfect to me. I’ve only ever lived with friends as roommates and it’s a fucking nightmare. Cordial strangers who clean up after themselves and mind their own business sound like bliss compared to the dumpster fires I lived with.
Having tried the cordial strangers approach, it’s totally great, especially if they don’t mind the chores you hate. I have lived a charmed life, basically, on the roommate front. I would go so far as to recommend swapping roommates every two years just to make sure no one gets too familiar. (Marriage seems to be working out well so far as an alternative, though :P)
I have lived like this and can confirm it is glorious. My coworkers thought it was super weird though so I am glad to find others who think like I do! (long story short: had a job with children, got lice, was wondering who I could get to do the nit combing, roommates not an option because we are not that close, coworkers thought it was strange to not be friends/want to be friends with the people you live with).
I fell into that sort of relationship with my first roommate in NYC. I left for work before she woke up. I was asleep before she came home most nights. We knew each other and were friends-ish, but when living together we mostly saw each other when we were out at the same event.
were i in a position to do so, i would enjoy spite-living there. i can be comfortable in small spaces and tune out noise, and i would love to be the stoic cave troll who watches netflix in my little closet and resists all attempts to engage.
i fully suppoert this position. i could get a hotplate thereby negating my need to use the kitchen facilities. this leaves only the bathroom sitution. hmm. i shall wear GIANT HEADPHONS to thwart attepmts at interaction as i traverse what i hope is a mercifully short hallway between troll hole and restroom.
“We all play in bands, love live music, and entertain guests on a regular basis along with the occasional open jam session at random hours of the night.”
Oh hello, Ninth Circle of Hell.
It is snowing in Utah. Meanwhile, here in Germany are rougly 15° Celsius.
Also, is this an invitation to talk about Master of None? Because I really want to but thought I’d wait until Friday.
As a Dutch resident I have appreciated the warmer and sunnier November/October, sure, but I don’t trust it and am a little relieved that it’s been rainy the past couple of days.
I’m with you – it’s actually kind of scary that it is this warm in November. But at the moment I’m enjoying it since I have a cold and cold weather would be extra terrible.
Don’t be mean to GayScam person, they’re emailing from a Juno address, so they’re obviously from the early 90s before gays existed.
Seriously Juno is still a thing? Who knew?
It’s Remembrance Day in Canada.
I’m headed out to the cenotaph in a bit, where I will grind my teeth at the vacuous patriotism amd think of my grandparents and the failed mission in Rwanda and how decade after decade we still tell the old lie
Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html
I am never ever ever going to get over the fact that RD is not a stat in Ontario. It slays me. I’m traveling today so I wouldn’t be able to go to anything anyway, but….it kills me.
I don’t get it off in Alberta, even though it’s a stat, which is even weirder than me.
I could take it as a vacation day, and I did the first few years I was at this job, but I didn’t this year.
My workplace gives it off, (and Aboriginal Day in June), and I feel like the least I can do is show up at a service.
Thanks for that link, I did not know that site existed! It’s a fitting poem to read during the 11:00 silence.
My grandfather was a soldier in WWI. I never knew him, he died before I was born, and his family says he never talked about his war years. I wonder how it changed him, because how could it not? A young man, a fisherman and trapper from an isolated northern community, recruited to fight other young men in a far foreign land, the friend he enlisted with killed just a month before the war ended.
I think of them today, and all those like them who put their regular lives on hold to go to war, and those who still volunteer for a job that puts their lives at risk.
When my great -grandfather enlisted in WWI, he learned that his name, which he had always thought was Firstname Middlename was actually (legally) the reverse. Everyone called him by a shortened version of his last name though, so for work he kept going by the same thing.
Have you read Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden? It’s a harrowing read, but so good.
Yes, and absolutely agree on the harrowing-but-good description.
“I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.”
-Siegfried Sassoon
Oh, that one is new to me, thank you.
Thanks beachlass, that’s one of my favourite anti-war poems, brilliantly read here:
Dulce et Decorum est read by Christopher Eccleston
Thank you. I prefer it to In Flanders Fields, myself.
Like most Canadian school children of my cohort (baby boomer), I have completely memorized In Flanders Fields, due to repeated exposure. The principal would read it over the PA every Remembrance Day. An older friend of mine had children in high school in the 70s. In one kid’s class, they were asked to bring in poems for RD. After conferring with his mother, he brought Dulce et Decorum, and was disciplined for it. Musn’t disrupt the dominant narrative.
I took my Great War And Modern History course from a professor who had a particularly sardonic approach to everything and he was the BEST person ever to read Wilfred Owen out loud. I can still hear the dripping disdain with which he delivered those last two lines.
a) Do those Craigslist people have neighbors? I weep for them.
b) I posted this in the link roundup yesterday, and two toasties responded swiftly and magically, so I am posting again:
I need your help with a cause I suspect will be near and dear to many of you. I site direct for a program called Let’s Get Ready, and we offer free SAT and college prep to underserved high school students. Most of my students are refugees, and all of them speak English as a second language. Let’s Get Ready gives us very limited funding (read: $250/semester), and it’s up to me to fundraise to cover the bulk of our costs. I’m running a crowdrise fundraiser to cover the cost of a college visit and calculators for our students. We only have a goal of $1000, so even tiny donations would mean a lot. If you want to know more about Let’s Get Ready, this is our website: letsgetready.org
Here’s the link to the fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/letsgetreadyportland1
Thanks, toasties – I’m so grateful to be part of an online community as caring and supportive as this one!
Update: FOUR magical toasties have donated! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Even as someone who just the other day told their partner, “I wish we had friends we could hang out and jam with,” that apartment would 100% lead to me murdering someone.
It does remind me of a venue I went to in Baltimore once, the Floristree. It was a large floor of an old warehouse, and each corner had a bedroom, and in the common area was the stage, and off to the side the kitchen. But, the only other tenant were art gallerys, so fewer people to wake up with amps. How does someone living in the east village play drums at all hours of the day?
As an introvert who almost (or did??) have a bad breakdown just sharing a dorm one with one other person, it is fascinating to me that other people enjoy this.
I just found out that I’m probably having my third boy, and I’m more than a little heartbroken at the thought that I might never have a daughter. Whatever, that’s another discussion (yes I love my sons endlessly and will love this one, yes I’m very grateful, but ALSO I’m disappointed and pissed off and holding these feelings at once it’s messing me up and yes I have booked a therapy appointment and also I’d love your thoughts on adoption and PGD because if there is a next time I’m not fucking around).
Anyway my point is, would an adorable female puppy fill the daughterless void in my heart, even for a little while? What say you, dog people?
You have my sympathies (empathies? mutual brain wave-athies?) I shed many tears when I realized that I would never never have a girl child (secondary infertility followed by a catastrophic uterine rupture kiboshed more biological kiddos and finances and emotional unpreparedness kiboshes adoption)
I have two boys here (neither trans) and they are the dearest, fiercest creatures whom I adore…but…but…I am so close with my sister and my mom and have always loved women and the company of women. To have another person in the house who would, by dint of biology, just “get it” would be so special. I fill the void by maintaining a close relationship with my nieces and collecting college girls from our church group that we help with to feed and indoctrinate into my specific brand of feminist Jesus loving. I recommend alternative girl mentorship connection where you can!
It’s not the same and most people make no secret of finding those of us who do have a gender preference a bit distasteful, so its a double whammy of awful. You’re not alone! All the hugs and beverage of choice for you!
I went to see a psychiatrist for some pregnancy-related anxiety, and when I said, “I’m having a boy,” I unexpectedly burst right into tears. And what she said, and what I found useful, is that she sees lots of patients who are working through Big Feels about the sex/gender of their unborn babies. You and I are not alone, not bad parents, and not outliers for having feelings about this, and then judging ourselves for those feelings.
I’m excited to have a son-child, but I also think about the relationship I have with my mother—an oldest daughter of an oldest daughter, and a mother to me, her oldest daughter—and there’s a hot tight part of me that wants/ed to have a relationship like that with some daughter of my own someday.
So, you know: I am over here, validating the hell out of your feelings today.
I’m so torn … my dog-loving side wants to say ALWAYS GET A PUPPY BECAUSE PUPPY, but my responsible-parent side says noooo only masochists get a puppy when there’s a baby on the way. 🙂
I don’t have any real advice on the gender stuff, just validation that it can be a lot more fraught than expected. I am thinking about a third kid someday, but am a little intimidated at the thought that it could be a boy, not because I’m against having a boy but because my husband has some daddy issues and definitely is less comfortable with the idea of raising a son (worried he’d reprise that relationship). Also, you’re gonna have to update on how this three-kids thing goes, I know very few people who’ve had more than two and I just can’t decide if a third is absolutely necessary or the worst idea ever!
You’re not alone. A family member cried when she found out she was having a third boy (unless child turns out to be trans). Already had two. An uncle had three girls, and died just before his first, male, grandchild was born. There’s a lot of feels around gender and sex in parenting. I hope for a daughter myself, and I’m not even close to a solid childbearing plan or arrangement yet but I have already talked myself down on multiple occasions about if I had a boy. For me personally I have the idea that I would understand a daughter better, and there’s all this personal and cultural stuff about being a woman that we could share. In my immediate family we take separate “boys” and “girls” trips about once a year, and that kind of thing is nice sometimes.
Of course family is family and you love your children, but it’s not weird or bad to feel like you do about your child’s sex (as long as we keep in mind we don’t really know a child’s gender identity until they can show or tell us, which it sounds like you are!).
Oops sorry I didn’t address your actual point. Not a dog person over here, so I’m no help with that.
I think its perfectly fine to have feelings about your children’s gender; you’re human! (You are human right? If not I apologies for not acknowledging your non-human status…)
Any big life change comes with emotions, and I think that emotions around things you’ve been planning for/thinking about for a long time that then become definite and real come with a lot of strong emotions!
I’m no where near having children, but I do think about it a lot, and I vary pretty regularly between imagining having a girl or a boy. I like to tell myself stories about myself in the future, and sometimes I refer to my future child as him and sometimes it her. Sometimes there’s only one child, sometimes there’s 2; I don’t know if I’d ever go for 3 children, but I imagine if that decision became definite then I’d have a lot of feelings.
Re: puppy, I think you’d be mental to get a puppy* with two kids and a baby! However, there is almost definitely a lovely older shelter dog who loves kids out there who’s dreaming about her forever home! (Although maybe wait until the baby comes and grows to be a bit more sturdy before bringing a new dog into the family? I’m super pro animals and small children, but tiny babies dogs worry me a bit)
*This is partly informed by my opinion that puppies are a bit shit really and far more work than their cuteness is worth, old dogs forever!!
Oh man, I think it is totally normal for you to have a lot of feels related to the birth gender of your kids! There’s a lot tied up in how we think of what we do with our sons and daughters, and even in now when we have a better understanding of the gender spectrum, it’s difficult to get rid of those ideals.
My dad always wanted a son, but he ended up with two daughters. Now, he would never ever trade us for any son in the world, but when we visit my godparents and he gets to sit down and talk soccer and ~boy things~ in depth with his godson, you can tell there’s something he misses about never having had a boy. So, it’s okay to have those feels and treasure your sons, and find a goddaughter or niece(s) to love and pamper if that’s what they’re into.
We’ve had three dogs in our family, and while he loved our first dog (a boy), our second (a girl) is his little princess. He loves the current boy pup too, but you can tell Piper imprinted on him. Go figure.
I’m with selma. Puppies are too much work. And female dogs don’t always read “female” in the ways you want for filling a daughterless void. Some breeds have greater aggression in the females, for example. Talk with a veterinarian and do a little online research into breed traits.
But an adult dog of mixed breed is almost always a good addition to a family. You want to make that addition now or after your third baby is sleeping through the night. Each new addition deserves your focus. And you deserve to sleep at night.
I’ve been thinking about this. We had our first child (a boy) through IVF and are now preparing to defrost an embryo and pop another bun into the oven. In theory we could test the embryos and only put in a girl one. My mom, who has 3 grandsons and no granddaughters, has offered to pay for it, but i can’t do it because I can’t accept the idea of myself as someone who cares about gender that much.
I know i’ll be bummed if I have 2 boys and no girls (2 is max for us). My sister is my best friend and my relationships with women in my life are super important. I’m preparing to console myself by thinking about all the things about having a daughter that terrify me and that I would worry about less with sons (constant fear of sexual assault / eating disorder / how unbelievably mean young girls can be).
Part of that apartment seems to be in Black Rock City, and there’s a shout-out to “Hott Carl’s Pizza” (ew ew ew) and it costs $1325 for 70 square feet, and there are no pictures of the actual bedroom in question, and the landlord’s name is Haffro, and is this real life?
I mean, I know the Toronto rental market is bonkers, but this place is on the moon.
Black Rock City
points!
(a la At Midnight)
that desert photo made my heart sink. OF COURSE these tiny garbage people were there.
Seeing as how I lamented on Twitter what to do last night as an extrovert living by myself because there was nobody around…I might actually like that apartment??? No, even I don’t think I could handle that many drum circles.
OMG, living on my own was the worst thing ever. I didn’t even know how much I hated it until I started living with other people and felt suddenly so much more relaxed at home and really looked forward to it every night. Roommates for life, man.
Extrovert fist-bump! I cannot live alone. The stints I’ve done of a few days of it here and there are enough to tell me that.
Except now I live with just my boyfriend and I am spoiled. We need to look at moving into a place with roommates for financial reasons and both of us keep putting it off because it’s so nice to just be the two of us.
I live in the East Village and so many of those places are my Seamless regulars. Il Bagatto is so bomb. And now I’m psyched to add to the list!
That said, if I ever see those Avenue B Craigslist bros, I might trip them on purpose.
Is it bad that I am tempted to start emailing Mallory offensive emails so that I can receive her brilliant and scathing replies?
have also considered this.
I had the same thought,
…damnit. For one brief, shining moment, I had it all.
Speaking of book lists, Austin Kleon made up NaNoReadMo for people who love fiction but would rather read it than write it. http://tumblr.austinkleon.com
Oh! Now it’s its own thing! http://nanoreadmo.org
Frederick Douglass is very elegant and extremely satisfied. He has a great many photographs, and his own personal happiness, to prove it.
ima write my own craigslist ad
Wanted – roommates: Does this describe you?
Your idea of a party is three people watching North and South, while trying to outdo each other in saying “Miss Hale” as intensely as possible. The three people have made tea and scones for this occasion.
A “jam session” brings to mind people making jam. How nice, will some of them please make strawberry?
Headphones are a gift from the universe.
Drums are very cool in marching bands, and on tv, and at the bottom of the ocean.
Creativity is great. It is possible to be creative and also do the dishes after you use them.
When can I move in? I’ll bring strawberry jam as a housewarming gift.
I WILL BE YOUR ROOMMATE. CHOOSE ME.
#notalljamsessions
Were we talking of the color of fruit?
i see The Toast Commune has finally been built 😀
may i contribute?
* do you generally prefer the company of cats to the company of people?
* are you content to speak in the hushed tones of a library expect for the occasional uproarious cackle at The Misfortunes of Men?
* speaking of libraries: how many books do you own and how many of those books were written by women?
I’ve never seen North and South, but watching TV in a small group while eating themed snacks and doing goofy voices is my ideal party.
Will cats be accepted? And how many? This is a critical point.
MISS HALE *stares at you with the intensity of a thousand sons, but refuses to speak any more* *your corset strings spontaneously snap while my cravat unties itself*
YES I will make you as many scones as you desire.
I think I love you and would very much enjoy living in this hypothetical place.
Gonna steal some of this to paste into my own housing ad, thank you.
Yes thank you. I’m assuming my obsessive sock knitting and Hamilton listening won’t be a problem.
One day there will be a Toastie retirement home and it will feature all of us embroidering misandrist sayings for our Etsy shops and watching Netflix with themed snacks.
The following is your Wednesday morning LMM appreciation comment. Frankly, I’m not sure whether to be embarrassed or not….?
Eeeeeehh what a cute picture!!
Can anyone help me understand why I have fangirl feelings that I thought were dead? I haven’t felt this way about anything since Rent, and am now (ostensibly) a grown-ass married woman who probably shouldn’t be crushing so hard on a married man-genius holding his baby daughter and having all the Feels about a musical, fer chrissakes. But I do! And I can’t help it! And I enjoy it! And feel a little guilty! But not as guilty as I feel I should? I’m going to go buy a binder and some gel pens just so I can start doodling!
I watched 60 minutes for this man! And then I went online to watch additional 60 minutes content, even though it meant using the CBS player.
It’s beyond sensible.
I just laughed so loud I think the neighbors heard me.
Nope, can’t help. I haven’t felt like this since I was maybe 14. And even then… Urgh. It’s NUTS.
And he says good night every night on Twitter.
Sorry, that’s not helping.
Oh, and it’s his baby son, Sebastian. Named partly after the crab from Little Mermaid.
HAMILTON is the RENT of the next generation of musical theater nerds.
Oh man, there’s a generation after me.
Speaking as an Adult Fangirl: I know many other Adult Fangirls. People with professional jobs and families! Who own their houses! Some of whom are past menopause! And I see them at conventions where we stay up too late, sometimes drinking, sometimes in cosplay. Or on tumblr where we tag photos with all caps misspelled-on-purpose comments.
There is no expiration date on being a fangirl. I don’t know if that’s reassuring or not, lol
GOOD GOD, he’s doing all this with a NEWBORN???
SNOOOOOW!
Glad it’s not down here yet but it looks really nice!
I need snow. NEEEED it. Nicole’s picture nearly made me weep with envy.
Hello Toasties!
Can anyone give me advice on what universities are considered ‘good’ in North America and/or Canada? I’m a student in the Uk currently applying for PhDs and I’ve been told that there’s more of a market for my subject in the US.
I’m studying theology in relation to queer theory/gender theory/bdsm. Where would be a good place for that?
Trying to figure this out is giving me a headache! How come there are 10000++++++ universities over there?
US News & World Report is one of the standards for university ranking here — http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com…
They don’t seem to list theology programs specifically, but the overall rankings will give you a good idea of which ones have fancy reputations over here.
With a speciality like that, though, I suspect you’d be better off giving much less emphasis to factors like the school’s overall fame, and much more emphasis to finding an advisor who has a lot to teach you. Whose work do you mention as ‘the kind of thing you want to do’? Who would you want to pepper with questions if you met them in real life? Whose work do you cite a lot in your papers? Is there anyone you’d describe as a ‘research crush’? Find where they teach! Then look at the rankings.
Best of luck with the search!
^^^THIS
Yes, this is what I was thinking too! Some of the best advice I got before I applied to grad schools was to think about which scholars were doing work I gravitated to and felt inspired by and to use that as a guide in deciding where to apply. And for what it’s worth, that was the case even for someone with, at the time, a relatively run-of-the-mill set of scholarly interests. In other words, I probably could have found someone to work with lots of places, but finding people whose critical methodologies and key questions resonated with me wound up being so helpful as I progressed through grad school!
Thanks for your advice! I’m going to hunker down and have a wee research to see who is about in the states for this kind of thing. 🙂
Are you looking at Catholic or Protestant theology? The theologians I’ve known have studied in the Catholic tradition, and for that Boston College would probably be your best bet with your interests. (Somewhere like Notre Dame would be far too conservative.) You’d want to minor in gender studies or sexuality studies etc, but even so the job market’s pretty terrible. That’s not to say don’t do it, just go in with your eyes open.
Also, look at who writes the academic books you like best, and if those places have graduate programs and what they look like
And if you go Catholic, go Jesuit. It’s your best chance of making it out of there without being Opus Dei-ied.
Ugh I know the job market is so bad. My supervisor is trying to put me off, although I suspect it’s a tactic to see how much I really want to do it. Thanks for your help 🙂
I do this! Professionally as a professor, I mean. It depends what angles you’re interested in. Harvard, Yale, Graduate Theological Union, Vanderbilt, Iliff/Denver, Drew are the most obvious places that come to mind. Do you have an MA? Most US programs require one before admission to the PhD. Not all programs offer funding, so if you’re not independently wealthy some will be out of the question.
Hello! Yes I’m studying for my MTh now! Is that the equivalent of an MA in the states? Anyhow, I have an undergrad and I’m doing a one year post grad before PhD.
I have practically no wealth to speak of so I’ll need to do more research into the funding process over there. It’s so exciting that you’re a queer theologian! I hope to be a queer theologian one day :). What are your fav topics?
Maclean’s does the most widely used Canadian university rankings. They appear to have the rankings and related content here.
For theology schools associated with major universities in Canada, the only ones I know are the Toronto School of Theology (associated with the University of Toronto) and the Vancouver School of Theology (associated with the University of British Columbia). But it’s not something I’ve looked into a lot, so I could be missing some, and I’m sure there are many smaller theology schools that I know nothing about. Wikipedia has a list of theology schools in the US and Canada that are accredited by some association, so that might be helpful?
Thanks for you help 🙂
From Telk, who lurks around here sometimes—
“UMinn has a pretty strong gender studies dept
Berkeley of course
best to ask on GradCafe”
Thanks, I’ll look into that!
Hi Maxpotato! I used to work in admissions in a phd program in the States. A few things to remember:
1. PhD programs typically run at least 5 years in the US (as opposed to the standard 3 in UK).
2. An offer of admission without funding is really not an offer
3. Finally, as others have said, gravitate to the professor/theologian you would most like to work with, whose research you’re passionate about. That should guide where you apply (and when you apply/visit, make sure that they’re interested/able to take on another advisee).
Hello Kate, thanks for your help – this is really good to know. Just trying to get my head around all of the options in the US. This is pretty obvious, but it’s so big in comparison to the Uk.
Harvard Divinity hands down. Very different than getting into/being at Harvard College, also.
Seconded.
Also look at where the people who do this stuff *got* their PhDs. There are thousands of universities, but most major departments hire PhDs from a very tiny percentage of those institutions.
Thanks for your help 🙂
Canadian theology schools tend to be affiliated with denominations. Not all of them will have doctoral programmes. Are you looking at a Doctor of Divinity? Or a PhD?
I’m looking for a PhD. It does seem like a lot of uni’s over there are religious in a way that isn’t the case here. Note: I am religious, but I’m not sure how comfortable I’d feel studying at a religious university?
So you might be looking instead for a Religious Studies department, rather than a theology school. And you might want to have a look at the denominational culture of a school – for instance, the United Church of Canada is pretty LGBT friendly, has been ordaining out ministers for 25+ years and currently has a lesbian head of the church.
Theology schools, at least in theory, are training people for ministry; and it sounds like you are in a more academic stream.
That Craigslist ad reminds me of a notice I saw on a bulletin board at the University of Montana once, which went something like “Two chill dudes, in a chill apartment, looking for a chill roommate.” And at the bottom: “420 Friendly.” YOU DON’T SAY.
Ok ok when my sister was looking for an apartment cause she was moving out to go to college, my parents were helping her find one and were reading some ad and got to that part and were like “420 friendly? What does that mean?”
And it turns out they legit did not know what 420 friendly, or 420 in general meant. How did they live through the 60’s?????
I think the 420 thing started after the 60’s? I like how no one can figure out where it comes from, either. It just… is.
Or the endless craigslist ads I’ve seen looking for attractive female roommate, please don’t tell the landlord we’re subletting, the room is actually a closet, 420 friendly. $1000/mo. Do those ads actually work?
“Let’s Talk about Love: a Journey to the End of Taste” IS a lovely book. Hey, it made me realize what a dickhead I am sometimes. Co-signing any and all recommendations!
Sansa sounds like the best and cutest of puppies.
Also, more puppy pictures, anyone?
Violet
Klaus
tell me more! What breed? how old? Can I snorgle them?
They’re Old English Sheepdogs, about 6 weeks old, and they are eminently snorgleable. They are so damn fun right now! Super cuddly and playful. They turn into giant dumb loveable monsters when they get big (our adults are all around 90 pounds and have to be right in front of you any time you walk anywhere). They are basically the best!
THOSE ARE OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG PUPPIES!! BRING TO MEEEEE.
*grabby hands, incoherent flailing, &c.*
They are the best puppies of all time!
Very fine dogs!
I know you may not realize it, but Violet is desperate to live in a studio in Seattle with a lightly grumpy and self-absorbed cat. They will match (he’s a tuxedo) so it’s clearly meant to be. She will never leave my side, so don’t worry. She’ll be safe. I’ll just wait outside for her arrival, kthx.
where is Sunny?????????????????
We only had two puppies, so no Sunny. Although we do have a horse named Sunny, oddly enough 🙂
haha, it felt like a cliffhanger. Scrolling down: Violet, Klaus…
…..
…..
…..
😀 (too bad it’s too late to edit with a photo of horse Sunny!)
Any Jadis reference is a good one.
…baudelaire?
Don’t know if this was a reply to the puppy pictures, but they were named after the Baudelaires. (We had some bad luck leading up to this litter. Luckily, the puppies themselves have avoided a series of unfortunate events so far!)
GayScam? You mean all that gay sex my friends were having was a part of a con? That seems like a lot of work for not very much scamming…
I’m a bit annoyed right now because for once I have actual work to do but I’m missing a brilliant Link Round-up.
Ugh choices!
Must have active social life… if you are the type of person whose main source of entertainment is sitting at home, watching Netflix on your laptop, this apartment is definitely not for you.
I watch Netflix on an actual television. Does that rule me out? (I mean, I would very much like to be ruled out; that apartment sounds like my idea of hell. The residents may be older than me in years, but I have never been as young as them in spirit.)
I do too! Thanks to my sweet, beautiful PS3. It really is the superior way to Netflix.
When I was in my dissolate youth, I moved into a place known as House of Madness. It was a farmhouse on the outskirts of a booming suburb, with technically four bedrooms but at least six people paying rent– one had removed the closet doors from the other bedrooms while the occupants were out and used them to turn a sewing nook into a bedroom, and one person lived in a dry-docked sailboat in the front yard. The front door didn’t lock, the upstairs bathroom was one you used once at a party and then never again, and it had three feet of standing water in the basement at all times. My roommates, while I lived there, spun fire in the living room, put on punk shows (I had to talk them out of hosting Leftover Crack), had regular 10pm industrial band practice sessions, and dabbled in crustpunk over the summer (after coming home from hopping trains and sharing a sleeping bag with a guy with scabies). That sounds frighteningly similar, yet much more preferable to that craigslist ad.
oh man, in late-high-school/early-uni I was friends with a group of vaguely hippie vaguely punky musician free-spirit creative-types who had a house that I SWEAR was about to collapse at all times. and there were 10 people or more living there, more or less, you never knew exactly. ditto the non-locking door. and it was insane. in retrospect, no wonder my parents were horrified…but 16-year-old me thought the whole thing was soooo romantic.
I’m sure we seemed romantic but it’s also the kind of place where a random punk eats your unopened oreos and offers a bottle of dumpster-dived olive oil as a trade.
Re: an item in yesterday’s Link Roundup, after a stressful, high-pain day, last night I tried to get Netflix to work on the Chromebook (it tends to be unhappy if I’m too far from the router), and it kindly enabled me to watch New in Town. One of my favorite oft-played bits on a radio show I loved in Ukiah turns out to have been John Mulaney on Ice-T, and I had no idea. Also, the opening and closing credits were the honest to God best thing ever.
Anyone else care to ship Lin-Manuel Miranda & Megan Amram over here with me?
https://twitter.com/meganamram/status/66429080973…
Hey Nicole, am I wrong in thinking you live in one of the watershed canyons? If you do, would you mind describing what the permit process for dogs is like?
Most definitely! I am at the mouth of Little Cottonwood, so I am not allowed to walk my dog north of my house, or take her on the trailhead literally two minutes’ walk away. I can walk my dog along the side of the road to the south, or drive her to a park. But I am allowed to own her and register her at my address.
If you are IN the canyon, a limited number of permits are available to allow you to own a dog, but if you do NOT have a permit, they will bust you in MINUTES. They successfully ticketed a family who got into a car accident in my canyon, during which time the confused dog briefly escaped the car.
Wow! It never occurred to me that water-scarce canyon country would have such regulations on doggy outdoor habits, but it makes sense. Meanwhile here is Chicago, hundreds of dogs spend the entire summer frolicking in our water source, Lake Michigan.
The only roommate situation I would be willing to consider would be a person ready to mutually pretend we live in two adjacent studios that share common space.
I misread “GayScam” as “GayScarn,” where “Scarn” is the titan-ravaged world of the now-defunct Scarred Lands RPG setting for D&D 3rd edition. I spent a good half-minute trying to recall if I ever picked up on that subtext. Praised be Gay Nemorga, Judge of the Gay Dead.
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one to read it as Scarn! The name nags at me for some reason – maybe it’s a land in one of the fantasy novels or series I’ve consumed over the years? I know that was Michael Scott’s spy alter ego’s name, too, but I don’t think that’s it…
Well, there was a collection of short stories based on the game setting, as well as a trilogy of novels penned by the nigh-omnipresent Richard Lee Byers. I thought the novels were pretty good as gamer fiction goes. Of course as soon as I got into it, the game setting folded up and died, which was a shame as I thought it had a lot of potential. Alas, it had the misfortune to attract the attention of my basilisk gaze. I also killed the Second Edition World of Darkness by looking at it. Lo, I am become Death, destroyer of splatbooks.
Gonna have to read that article about my man Frederick Douglass, but it’s not surprising there would be a lot of pictures of him because he was very handsome (he also lived in Rochester, home of Eastman Kodak, but he had moved to DC by the time the company was founded).
Other open thread thoughts – you have snow, here in DC I haven’t even had to wear my winter coat yet (other people are out there in scarves and winter coats and I’m just rocking my hoodie. My concession to the cooler weather is that I am wearing shoes and socks).
I would NOPE right the fuck out of that living situation. I didn’t even like it when my roommates played Rock Band on weeknights (on the hardwood floor. above my basement bedroom).
That CL ad nearly made my throat close up from anxiety.
I have never been so happy to be a hermit who owns her own home.
The Frederick Douglass piece was so interesting. The importance of photography, particularly in mass media, to progressive social change had never occurred to me. And only the Royal Family had more portraits done than he did in the 19th century! And I feel like I only ever see the same picture of him everywhere. And that photographic technology was born the year after he escaped from slavery (so 1839)… I just don’t think of it as being that old. It gives you perspective. And it said 90% of photographs in the first 50 years of the technology were portraits? Because of course. I wonder if that is still the case, or something close. (I was just this morning signing up for a photo sharing site.) Because we love looking as people and seeing what people are doing. Sharing photos is like telling stories.
*end run-on paragraph*
And it said 90% of photographs in the first 50 years of the technology were portraits?
Something something “selfies promote narcissism” something something “kids these days”.
In MY day we sat for oil painters like civilized people!
I love that the breeder let you know her ears were going up. We adopted a Australian Shepherd mix puppy almost 11 years ago and my dad asked him everyday for the first year when his ears were going to stand up. They never did and are quite small for his size. When I scratch them I tell him he has itty-bitty ears and a great big head.
Reminds me of Thurber: “Q. My police dog has taken to acting very strange, on account of my father coming home from work every night for the past two years and saying to him, ‘If you’re a police dog, where’s your badge?,’ after which he laughs (my father).”
I would rather re-do Ranger school as a fortysomething than live in that Craigslist house.
My last apartment–or more precisely, the downstairs tenant and her veeeery loud post-midnight “social life”–really made me embrace my cranky spinsterhood. After banging on the door during the first bout of overly-loud-sex-inadequately-covered-by-overly-loud-Katie-Perry didn’t work, I just started calling the cops at the drop of a hat. 11:05 on a weeknight and you start with the moaning? Better make it a quickie, cupcake, or learn to enjoy coitus interruptus.
P.S.: You know, there are classes in both sexual fulfillment and, failing that, *acting*.
She later had a fight with the SO wherein she screamed–like, travelled-through-two-floors screaming–“You *lied* to me! About EVERYTHING!”
And I was like yeah, sweetheart, but if he did it in an indoor voice, I’m Team Him.
Ohhhh, the screaming fights. In my first apartment there was a couple who had loud, ridiculous sex at 3am on a pretty regular basis. I usually missed that, as I have been blessed with the ability to sleep through a middle-of-the-night drum circle while sleeping in a crowded field at a slight angle so I repeatedly slid down to the bottom of the tent (yes, this is from experience, why do you ask?), but the night they broke up is etched into the memory of everybody in our building. He got home at about 3, as usual, and she began SCREAMING at him about how could he keep being SO INCONSIDERATE and did he realise people had WORK and JOBS and needed SLEEP to do them well? I didn’t even share a wall with these people and she woke me up. I was solidly on Team Dude, if only because I couldn’t hear a word he said.
Why don’t we have snow in the valley yet?!?
Should I forward that craigslist ad to Dirtbag Ethics Professor? Sounds like his kind of folks. They can have vegan jam sessions and then go graffiti and loiter like the rebels they are.
Vegan jam could be delicious, though.
Hmmm. Very true. Let’s switch that to pretentious jam sessions and call it a day.
I’m going to go to the gym for the first time in … forever, maybe. I love running outside but it gets too cold and wet for me, and my stupid little town has a 24-hr gym so I’m going to go try it out. I’m a little worried about Gym Dudes, though. Do I just wear my biggest baggiest tshirt and try to look invisible, and then glare at them and tell them to shut up if they try to talk to me?
Wear whatever the heck you want AND glare at them and tell them to shut up!
possibly before they even speak
Ooh, good point
Would buy a T-shirt with THE HARVEST, THE HARVEST on it.
Mallory I’m going to start sending you anonymous crank emails just to get replies like that
say hello to your new roomie
“In the world, the only contemporaries who surpass Douglass are the British Royal Family: there are 676 separate photographs of Princess Alexandra, 655 of the Prince of Wales, 593 of Ellen Terry, 428 of Queen Victoria, and 366 of William Gladstone.”
Um…Ellen Terry and William Gladstone, while British and famous, were not part of the British Royal Family.
aw, the craigslist ad was pulled before i got around to reading it.
Same. 🙁