The general decline in standards today

[vintageTink]

In that case, you are right. Fake food like that costs a lot of money---go figure. :doh:

I made stew a few times last year, and I figured the cost was about $.50 per bowl.

It also depends on the neighborhood -- there are areas where you'll be hard pressed to actually find an affordable grocery store, but fast-food joints are everywhere. There's a working-class neighborhood in Boston that was up in arms recently because Whole Foods came along and bought out a local market that had served the area for decades -- and replaced it with its usual carrot-stick-up-the-backside high-end/high-priced approach. They didn't care a bit that the locals couldn't afford to shop there, or that they'd displaced the only store in the neighborhood where they *could* afford to shop. All they cared about was pleasing the preening gentrifiers who are steadily pushing out those locals.

I live now in a tiny town. They will never have a national chain store here; everything is mom and pop. The closest walmart is an hour away.
We plan our grocery shopping for when we go off the hill.

I loved MXC. It always left me with a profound gratitude that I wasn't the one eating mud.

Yup! I'll have to dig out my DVDs now.

 

[Pinhead]

From a marketing standpoint, that makes no sense. You move a store into an areas where the demographics won't support it?! Sounds ridiculous but then again, we are talking about Hippie Foods. :doh: The Hippies here can't get a Trader Joe's because TJ says the demographics won't support it. Good!

The closest city to me has that problem. They call it a "food desert". All of the local grocers left a generation ago. You can either catch two buses, there and back, to the nearest store...

or, eat at McFuds, which is at the end of either block.

A recent news story told of the new grocery store that was built in the "old" neighborhood after they demolished the old arena.

The "food desert" scenario is not that far fetched.

Still, I wonder how long this new grocery store will last.

 

[Stray Cat]

Ugh, H&M. Ugly clothes that are the exact same thing as everyone else is wearing. I prefer to make my own if possible.

You said it right.
You get in H&M and, rest assured, you'll come out looking like whole lot of folks - it's a fashion "copy&paste".

H&M: From the same folks that brought you Ikea.

:nod:

 

[herringbonekid]

Man, you have hit it on the head. No matter what country it is, there are fools who have no idea how to act in a given situation. Adults walk around dressed like their rat kids and act just like them too. :doh: You can't expect them to teach their rat kids how to act when they have no idea themselves.:doh:

actually JP, by 'infantilisation of adulthood' i was referring more to the way adults are pandered to like children by the media:

-the babyish way commercials address adults on once-serious topics like finance.
-websites that are all bright colours and rounded shapes.
-tv shows or live music events where the hosts constantly do the "is every body having a nice time !!!" thing.
-cars that look like big toys.
-interiors which resemble adult play pens.
-social media terminology; 'like' 'friend' etc.
-anything that starts with 'i' or 'my'.

 

[Edward]

I'm always floored by the people who will turn their nose up at a freshly prepared egg mcmuffin but will not hesitate to spend twice as much for the starbucks pre-packaged version that gets popped in the microwave.
In defense of the 'bucks I will say, I drink my coffee straight black and theirs is head and shoulders above McD's.
Also my wife worked there years ago, and very few other companies offer decent, much less any, insurance and retirement benefits to part-time employees. I don't know if it is still policy, but late 90s-early 2000s S-bux would help cover the costs of adopting a child for employees who chose to do so, and as a parent of some adopted kids I can tell you - it ain't cheap!

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

I don't think it can be that great now... when they were told they might have to pay some tax in the UK (their accounting departmrnt is arranged to have zero profit in the uk, so none is paid), they threatened to cover the biill by cutting pay and conditions for their workforce here.

Lizzie and Feraud,

i'm equally embarrassed by any country (my own) that adopts the bombastic 'woo hoo, is everybody having a good time !!!' approach to practically any event.
it's all symptomatic of the infantilisation of adulthood... which would be top of my list of topics for this thread.

It's particularly hateful when it's some chinless wonder telling us that "the whole country is behind" Team GB/the Olympics/ Jubilee/ whatever bread and circuses nonsense is currently going on. Actually, there are a couple of very significant infantalising influences that are a blight on culture here, and sport is one of the most insidious.

H&M: From the same folks that brought you Ikea.

Meh. People love to sneer at Ikea, but I have quite a few things from them that are more solid and traditionsl than anywhere else I could have afforded. They have the crap people like to laugh at too, for buttons, and it's there because folk want it. They're the PRC of furniture retail.

You said it right.
You get in H&M and, rest assured, you'll come out looking like whole lot of folks - it's a fashion "copy&paste".


:nod:

Same as any other fashion retailer.

actually JP, by 'infantilisation of adulthood' i was referring more to the way adults are pandered to like children by the media:

-the babyish way commercials address adults on once-serious topics like finance.
-websites that are all bright colours and rounded shapes.
-tv shows or live music events where the hosts constantly do the "is every body having a nice time !!!" thing.
-cars that look like big toys.
-interiors which resemble adult play pens.
-social media terminology; 'like' 'friend' etc.
-anything that starts with 'i' or 'my'.

And Bruce Forscythe. And Simon Cowell, and all the other evils who perpetuate such things.

 

[herringbonekid]

Actually, there are a couple of very significant infantalising influences that are a blight on culture here, and sport is one of the most insidious.

it's not even sport as such, but the presentation of it. the most bombastic cricket ever used to get was the smack of leather on willow and some polite hand claps.
now there's a sexed up version (don't ask me what it's called) with huge illuminated screens, pumping music and the crowd whipped up into a screaming frenzy... in England, in a cricket ground !

 

[dh66]

actually JP, by 'infantilisation of adulthood' i was referring more to the way adults are pandered to like children by the media:

-the babyish way commercials address adults on once-serious topics like finance.
-websites that are all bright colours and rounded shapes.
-tv shows or live music events where the hosts constantly do the "is every body having a nice time !!!" thing.
-cars that look like big toys.
-interiors which resemble adult play pens.
-social media terminology; 'like' 'friend' etc.
-anything that starts with 'i' or 'my'.

"Think about how stupid the average person is. Then realize that half of people are stupider than that."
- George Carlin

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[LizzieMaine]

-anything that starts with 'i' or 'my'.

Can't * STAND * this. It's false empowerment, the idea that you're making a bold, individualistic "choice" by using their product. "My Essentials." "My Preferences." "My Seething Barely-Suppressed Anger At The Crass Use Of Psychological Manipulation By Marketers In Every Facet Of Modern Life."

 

[LizzieMaine]

it's not even sport as such, but the presentation of it. the most bombastic cricket ever used to get was the smack of leather on willow and some polite hand claps.
now there's a sexed up version (don't ask me what it's called) with huge illuminated screens, pumping music and the crowd whipped up into a screaming frenzy... in England, in a cricket ground !

When I used to go to baseball games as a child the scoreboard was a big metal panel sunk into the outfield wall where dusty little men inside would hang numbers out slots. The only music you heard was from a Hammond organ, which played the national anthem -- in less than a minute, with no flourishes and no Whitnified vocals -- and excerpts from show tunes in the breaks between innings. There were no flashing lights, no exhortations to cheer, no "wave," no exhibitionist fans trying to get on the "crowd-cam", no fake excitement of any kind. The cheering you heard was honest and sincere, as was the booing.

We still have the scoreboard with the dusty little men in it, but it's considered a "quaint curio of the past" and is supplemented by a ridiculous gigantic TV screen thing mounted behind the bleachers. The organ is hardly ever used, and obnoxious rock music is blasted over the speakers instead at every possible moment. Half the fans are there just to get drunk and spill their stinking lukewarm beer on the heads of the other half.

I still follow the game because it's as much a part of me as my religion -- we're raised that way here -- but the experience is nothing like it used to be. On the rare occasions when I go in person I try to sit in some remote section of the right-field grandstand, far away from the pink-hats and the bandwagon jumpers and the cellphone-yappers. And I never, ever participate in "the Wave."

 

[Gregg Axley]

Especially if "my" is in front of "go to."

I agree with the infantilisation of adulthood in commercials.
One that drives me nuts is a commercial for the Toyota commercial for the Camry with a "real" couple.
The guy says "it has things that guys like including rims and the sleekness to the body, and the Bluetooth and navigation that she likes."
Really?
So you can't work the Bluetooth or navigation? Why did you get it then?
Oh yeah, when I look for a car with great rims and body sleekness, Camry comes to mind immediately.
Probably has a "man cave" too.
Yet on the woman's side, she will have trouble with that "little dirt line that won't come up with mopping, thank goodness there is Swiffer that eliminates the dirt line." How did she ever get along without it? And why couldn't she just wipe up the dirt line with a paper towel like millions of housewives before her? Or is she not capable of doing things without SC Johnson, Dow, or other large corporations?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yet on the woman's side, she will have trouble with that "little dirt line that won't come up with mopping, thank goodness there is Swiffer that eliminates the dirt line." How did she ever get along without it? And why couldn't she just wipe up the dirt line with a paper towel like millions of housewives before her? Or is she not capable of doing things without SC Johnson, Dow, or other large corporations?

I'm so glad ridiculous media sexism is a thing of the past. "We've Come So Far."

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

When I used to go to baseball games as a child the scoreboard was a big metal panel sunk into the outfield wall where dusty little men inside would hang numbers out slots. The only music you heard was from a Hammond organ, which played the national anthem -- in less than a minute, with no flourishes and no Whitnified vocals -- and excerpts from show tunes in the breaks between innings. There were no flashing lights, no exhortations to cheer, no "wave," no exhibitionist fans trying to get on the "crowd-cam", no fake excitement of any kind. The cheering you heard was honest and sincere, as was the booing.

We still have the scoreboard with the dusty little men in it, but it's considered a "quaint curio of the past" and is supplemented by a ridiculous gigantic TV screen thing mounted behind the bleachers. The organ is hardly ever used, and obnoxious rock music is blasted over the speakers instead at every possible moment. Half the fans are there just to get drunk and spill their stinking lukewarm beer on the heads of the other half.

I still follow the game because it's as much a part of me as my religion -- we're raised that way here -- but the experience is nothing like it used to be. On the rare occasions when I go in person I try to sit in some remote section of the right-field grandstand, far away from the pink-hats and the bandwagon jumpers and the cellphone-yappers. And I never, ever participate in "the Wave."

And you could actually SEE the game from even the cheapest seats.

 

[Harp]

I still follow the game because it's as much a part of me as my religion -- we're raised that way here --

absolvo, pax vobiscum Red Sox fan.
fftopic: The late Mike Royko, Chicago Sun Times columnist was fond of telling the tale of his time in Korea
when Ted Williams flew his flack damaged fighter to his airbase. The entire garrison kept vigil on the airfield praying
for "the slugger".

...Theo's got a plan for the Cubs...

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Meh. People love to sneer at Ikea, but I have quite a few things from them that are more solid and traditionsl than anywhere else I could have afforded. They have the crap people like to laugh at too, for buttons, and it's there because folk want it. They're the PRC of furniture retail.

The only thing I ever bought at Ikea was some shelving for my dealer space at the antiques mall and Ikea just happened to be the nearest place.

 

[Feraud]

Probably has a "man cave" too.

I eagerly await the collapse of every "man cave" with whatever "bro-mances" are occurring inside...

 

[scottyrocks]

I don't like the way commercials, and heck, a lot of TV shows, make parents, particularly fathers, out to be bumbling idiots, and the kids are smart-alecky little Einsteins. It's just another symptom of why people have been growing up recently with the 'my poopoo don't stink' mentality. They are fed the message that as children, they know better than the adults around them.

Of course, given the quality of what I see as parents most days, this is often true, but we don't need it encouraged, that's for sure.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I eagerly await the collapse of every "man cave" with whatever "bro-mances" are occurring inside...

If I get the money to move, I'll have a den or library.
I have a den now, with a fireplace, wood paneling (okay I'd love it to be real oak but I'll take what I can get), 4 recliners, and "my" chair which is a Stickley Leopold's with an Ottoman (dern thing keeps nagging me to convert...whatever).
It's not a man cave though, and never will be.

I'd like to continue this discussion with many shows on tv depicting the man as dumb. Now I know in the early days of television it was the woman that was helpless. But honestly, as a society we've moved on and I think both sexes are equally smart. To depict one weaker than the other is just silly and unnecessary in my opinion.

Scotty you posted as I was typing, same idea though. That's too funny.

 

[vintageTink]

Misandry just irks me to no end!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Now I know in the early days of television it was the woman that was helpless.

Two words: Alice Kramden. Two more words: Molly Goldberg.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Two words: Alice Kramden. Two more words: Molly Goldberg.

June Cleaver was what I had in mind.
Lucy was another one.
Yes Alice ran the household, but I've never heard of the other woman.