The Museum of Weird Consumer Culture collects the most banal, grotesque, ironic, twisted and perverse creations of the capitalistic marketplace.
20 sq. ft. and a Credit Card
While I found all of James Kunstler’s article on Peak Suburbia interesting, the thing that struck me the most was the following graph, taken (by Mr. Kunstler) from the pages of Shopping Centers Today, the house organ of the International Council of Shopping Centers, dedicated to serving the global retail industry.
I had intuited over [...]
Farmers Markets Cheaper Than Supermarkets?
There has been a little flood recently of items concerning the costs of shopping at farmers markets instead of supermarkets. Meg Hourihan points to some conclusions from a business-statistics class at Seattle University. Meanwhile, over at Becks & Posh, Sam has come to the same conclusion.
For my part, even ignoring the cost/value of known provenance, [...]
What’s In Cool Whip?
What’s In Cool Whip?
Nothing! Now With Less Anything!
Nothing! Now With Less Anything!
The Banality of our Surroundings
The Banality of our Surroundings
Fast Food Advertisements v. Reality
Fast Food Advertisements v. Reality
We Are All Marie Antoinette Now
We Are All Marie Antoinette Now
Corn & Lighter Fluid McNuggets
Corn & Lighter Fluid McNuggets
Barcode Tattoos
Barcode Tattoos
Gizmodo Is Stupid & So Are You, Says Founder
Gizmodo Is Stupid & So Are You, Says Founder
Indians says VD just about Western Shopping
Indians say Valentines just about Western Shopping
Not So Rational Actors After All
New York Times Science writer John Tierney writes about how there are interesting patterns of brain activity that can predict whether or not you will spend money on something or not, leading scientists to develop the Tightwad-Spendthrift scale.
It seems that neither tightwads nor spendthrifts fit what economists have lazily described as “rational actors”. It seems [...]
The Satisficer’s Manifesto
Modern life is organized around economic principles and the current dominant principle is consumerism; in which the act of accumulating, not the object, is supposed to create satisfaction, and is based on the assumption that one can (and should) have the best of everything.
The End Of The Industrial Revolution
The last 200 years have driven centralization and changed the human experience in ways that conflict with human nature and evolution. It is now possible to reestablish a more balanced, decentralized lifestyle.
Happy Mother’s Day
Here are a few groovy things I have found recently whilst trolling the web for kindred souls:
The Cult Of Speed Rule Book.
The Importance of the British Tea Break.
Tom Evans’ Consumerism Hall of Shame. While you’re there, get him to send you a bumper sticker.
Enjoy while I go make call my mother…
“Real Simple” Magazine
I find it quite amusing that a magazine with a tag line such as this:
Life, Made Easier
is sixty percent blatant advertisements and forty percent barely disguised advertising. In the interest of truth in advertising, I think they should change their tag line to:
How To Buy Crap You Don’t Need, On Credit
Logos
Logos are the heraldry of the new feudalism. The serfs and commoners advertise their loyaties, badge themselves vassals, and happily pay for the priviledge of wearing their chosen master’s livery. They create micro-social orders based on the perceived cost and power of their purchased logo-status, by their customer affiliations. They are happy to hear themselves [...]
Naomi Wolf is a Nutjob
Perhaps it comes as no suprise to many of you, but Naomi Wolf is not exactly a world-class critical thinker. A couple of years ago, she displayed her enormous talent for confusing the symbol with the thing in an op-ed piece for Exile, a “Moscow-based alternative newspaper”.
In this ill-reasoned paean to greed and stupidity, she [...]
The War Against Stuff
When you make an effort to minimize the amount of stuff you have, it is amazing how big 950 square feet can be…
These are the ramblings of 