Things that are just bafflingly expensive

Same here - I really need some new glasses (thread has had me glued to it) and glassesdirect was looking the best option until punchable face.

unfortunately for this fine sounding fellow i'd probably rather go blind than ever venture forth into camden again.

(seriously tho thnx i will check him out!)

Blue jeans. There are work-arounds, fortunately -- you can buy second-hand, or hit smartbargains.com, or things like that. But just walking into the Levi's store cold and paying full retail can make your head feel all swimmy. "Did I really just spend $120 on fucking denim?"

Jesus christ people, sound guys that are cool and good at what they do are the salt of the fucking EARTH as far as i'm concerned.

also, if it's so damn "easy" why are there so few competent ones.

the ones that really know how to do things correctly and know the room make an incredible difference.

also, dudes that know how to manage a 3-4 band bill, keep things running right, ensure that bands get on and off on time....doing the Lord's Work.

^100 percent real talk.

I don't think I've ever spent that much on jeans. Of course I just buy all my jeans at the Gap, there they are $40 to $50 max. Of course they are never going to be as nice as Steve Shasta endorsed jeans.

the contention that "anyone can learn a soundguy's job in 30 minutes" is total nonsense.

M@tt OTM basically

also, maybe this is a US/UK thing but lots of times it doesn't pay well at all.

The solitary pair of jeans that will fit me via smartbargains.com Daaamn, no thanks.

NB I don't pay over $30 for jeans and it shows.

Small venue soundguys in my experience tend to get paid about exactly as much as I'd expect for a job that requires a certain level of technical expertise and involves them being somewhere for up to maybe seven hours, in the evening

I've been curious how James Jeans would fit me. Different brands tend to have signature fits. Levi's are very straight, Express have a bit of butt sag but are v comfy, and H&M jeans display mad package.

American Eagle have a nice middle-of-the-road fit: not too baggy, not too tight. I have some Banana Republic "straight-leg" jeans that my wife calls my "Euro-trash" jeans - not quite Ramones-album-cover level, but still a bit cozy.

mozzarella sticks!

I buy Shasta-friendly-ish jeans. Currently wearing raw Levi Vintage Collection based on jeans from 1937. They are way roomier than anything I've worn recently.

But LVC and good Japanese denim makes some sense to me - they are made on old looms, of quality denim, by people making a reasonable wage (if only in comparison to where Levi's are produced). And if I only buy one pair of jeans to wear for a year (or two), that's not unreasonable for $200 imo.

I can't justify expensive jeans because my waist size changes so frequently. If I knew I was going to stay the same size, $200 might be more feasible.

I have never worn anything besides Levi's and probably never will

think this was the thread where I complained about glasses prices and people went "oh you should buy them online", so

broke my glasses Sunday night, ordered some online (cz I can get by without for a few days), got panicked last night that they weren't going to turn up by Saturday when I have booked to go to things that I would quite like to be able to see, went to Vision Express

so of course my ordered glasses turned up this a.m. and now I have some £220 glasses and some £22-including-postage glasses, and the former are a little more hip and stylish (though I am completely the opposite of a hip and stylish person so really they just look kind of incongruous) but I cannot say they are 10x better at anything

in other words, pretty pleased w/buying cheap glasses online except for the not getting a dispatch email which might have saved me £200, but nobody to blame except my own worrying for that

I am looking at glasses right now. There's a pair I like but they're $$$. I'm not opposed to spending the money on them, but keep thinking there's a better pair out there (and only want to do this once every 5-10 years, if that). I'm finding it hard to find frames that I see online to try on in person, especially fancy brands.

The Viceroy got some glasses (and some rx sunglasses) from the place mentioned upthread, zenni optical, and he's super happy with them. They look good, too. He'd never had prescription sunglasses before, so it was funny walking out with him into the epic New Mexico sunshine: "I can finally see things!"

out-of-print CDs

Soup

In respect to the glasses discussion here - Tesco do free eye tests! Who knew? Not me.

xp yeah, soup IS really expensive at like delis and grocery stores and shit--what is up with that??

I suppose it's reckoned if you're buying soup it's because you need something quick and convenient that doesn't take any cooking and will be willing to pay for it?

Right, but it seems more expensive than other prepared foods of similar substance.

How much is a can of Heinz or something these days, like 70p maybe? I think that's basically reasonable for something that will form the majority of a meal, you've gotta expect being too lazy to cook properly to come w/ a price imo

bread. seriously. wtf I pay over $5 for a loaf of bread now.

cashews wtf

Cashews are mental expensive, aye.

WHY ARE CASHEW NUTS SO EXPENSIVE?

Because so much of the work of processing the nuts has to be done by hand. The process goes like this:(6)

* The fruit falls off the tree.
* People pick up the fruit and twist off the nut.
* People put the nut in water for soaking.
* People lay out the nuts to be sun dried.
* People crack open every single nut individually. They use a machine that is powered by their hands and feet.
* People pick out the nut from the shell by hand.
* People remove the red skin from the nut with a knife.
* People grade the nuts into one of 22 grades.

fuck them for being so tasty imo

My cousin brought some cashews back from Brazil, and they were like 2x the size of cashews sold in U.S. stores. I am pretty sure if you eat those, you get a 1-up.

i had no idea that cashews were such a labor-intensive thing. really.

Something to do with the toxicity of the removed parts. If all that work wasn't done, cashews would kill you.

Bastard nuts.

final proof of Gods non-existance.

Macadamias also expensive to produce. Also they are in danger of going extinct in teh wild :(

lovely poison nuts ... so tasty :D

i recently paid a lot of money. for concert tickets. i still feel kind of gross.

rly hoped that was gonna be 'silicon enema bulbs'

The absurdly expensive Magner's cider has been surpassed in UK pubs by Crabbe's Ginger Beer, which must cost about 10 pence a pint to make (carbonated water + alcohol + ginger flavouring?) and sells for about £4.

Pubs that sell nuts not in packets. I will happily be paid peanuts if they are from you.

Because so much of the work of processing the peanuts has to be done by hand. The process goes like this:(6)

* The packet is plucked off the cardboard dispenser with a lady in a swimsuit on it.
* Bartender picks up the pack and tears open the packet.
* People put the nuts into a vending machine with a turny dial, where you put 50p in.
* People lay out in the sun, waiting for the need to get the peanuts.
* People vote on whos turn it is to go to the bar, make ribald jokes about wallets and moths and so on. They use a machine called an iphone to run an app. That is powered by their hands and feet. Except not the feet.
* Person gets the beers in, then returns with a 50p. Turns dial, gets nuts.
* People remove the less sweaty nuts from the hand of the person with a knife.
* People grade the nuts into one of 22 grades.
* I sigh, and then....

crabbe's is v nice tho

My season ticket this morning. Half an hour on the train to London - £305 a month.

- anything to do with cars ffs

25 mins on the train to London = £344 from where I'm living.

*sigh*

I did not like Crabbie's alcoholic ginger beer the one time I tried it (costs so much I'm not buying another... well, not until I'm a bit tipsy) and its current success makes me sad, as I have been known to drink yr normal ginger beer with or without vodka in pubs and was beginning to see more pubs offering it, but now everywhere just stocks that instead

bbq tipple of choice tbh

Jesus, those train prices :(