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

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

head/heartaches

How about "we're seeing each other" or "we're dating"?

it's kind of mind-boggling, I met a 17-year-old living in Taipei with his parents who started a summer educational program for students in rural Taiwan when he was 14 and is now running it with a staff of high schoolers and college kids; comparing him to VW's sister who just got a book deal by being sad and underemployed is kind of disheartening

assumed linear progression from 'friend' to 'girlfriend'

^the real problem

it's kind of mind-boggling, I met a 17-year-old living in Taipei with his parents who started a summer educational program for students in rural Taiwan when he was 14 and is now running it with a staff of high schoolers and college kids; comparing him to VW's sister who just got a book deal by being sad and underemployed is kind of disheartening

― keeping things contextual (DJP), Thursday, July 26, 2012 4:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The first generation works their fingers to the bone making things, the next generation goes to college and innovates new ideas, the third generation... snowboards and takes improv classes. --jack donaghy

http://toons.artie.com/alphabet/punctuation/arg-qmark-50-trans.gif

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m670nmXDim1qjm1zlo1_400.jpg

kind of want some ukelele band to use this as their album cover so she could be their ray pettibon

a nitpick, but I think self-destruct messages usually come with a stronger word than "caution."

if i can be serious for a moment: her tumblr is so so so bad

like i'm just actually looking at it now and it's terrible

there's
NSFW

then there's
NSFL (Life)

it's so... whiny

everything on the tumblr could be from a "dead inside" line of Hallmark cards

loool

btw fuck all you haters...*sniff*
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4r80xGKkW1qjm1zlo1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2um6gHQvM1qjm1zlo1_1280.jpg

Yeah, stay strong! I know you're going through the hardest thing anyone could possibly imagine right now, but

ok wait I get it it's basically chicken soup for the soul. I mean I actually get it, like that's why it's going to be a book and people might buy it.

why do i hate people who have these thoughts so much

oh well i have to fuckin' hang in there!!!

xxxp - my mom told me I should come up with an idea to put on Kickstarter today lol

YES, THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE ARE RESENTING, YOUR GOOD FORTUNE. YOUR COMPLETELY COINCIDENTAL, NOT NEPOTISTIC AT ALL, ENTIRELY EARNED BY THE SWEAT OF YOUR CREAMY BROW GOOD FORTUNE.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxz1367Wrw1qjm1zlo1_1280.jpg

Does it ever occur to people like this that being actually genuinely viciously self-critical generally means not putting every thought you ever have on a tumblr?

I imagine that talking to her is a soul-sucking experience.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0-FntHquGzg/TghkTiNBALI/AAAAAAAAASM/3xGsCbtgB_k/s1600/cat+hanging+from+a+tree+branch.jpg
fuckin' hang in there!!!

mixed feelings about kickstarter?

reading this girl's tumblr and listening to shostakovich string quartets at the same time is making me feel like a raging psychopath

@thebl0w
I'm sure there is someone who hates me as much as I hate these clueless Brooklyn parents who turn their children into little assholes.
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"i don't think anyone could ever criticize me more severely than the way i viciously criticize myself" is a shitty rip of a lena dunham line also. just fwiw.

i've never wanted to flip over a fucking table so bad as i do right now after skimming this girl's tumblr

and i mean, i read kimgeecomics.com for MONTHS

i had a tumblr like this once except it was PRIVATE and it was called A JOURNAL and I WAS THIRTEEN

Girls is basically doing to Brooklyn what Sex and the City did to Manhattan, isn't it

btw I'm tumblrilliterate, how do I see the actual responses of people and not just "x reblogged this"

xps no "i don't think anyone could ever criticize me more severely than the way i viciously criticize myself” is just like a standard cliche that’s been around forever. but not phrased as well.

I'm not sure I could criticize you more severely than you viciously criticize yourself, but I'd sure like to try.

"i don't think anyone could ever criticize me more severely than the way i viciously criticize myself" is a shitty rip of a lena dunham line also. just fwiw.

it is also a generational koan that's been around for years

i was livejournaling that shit in 2004 and even i knew it wasn't original (*~h8 'girls'~*)

I feel a similar way about this as I did when I first read Dave Eggers. "Dude, everything's been done and I suck, so how about I make art about how I suck." No fuck you. You actually do suck. Get out of my mindspace.

"no one could be more critical of me than myself" like damn girl, believe me, this is not the mark of precocious self-awareness you think it is. learn a little self-compassion and you'll feel better.

tbf Dave Eggers is a very charitable reference point vis a vis her tumblr