Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Conspicuous consumption comes out of the closet

Posted by Mickey Z on 11/29 at 05:02 AM

  1. thanks for the birthday greetings everybody, I had a lovely day. A friend told me yesterday I shared it with Bruce Lee but turns out his was day before yesterday.

    Posted by owen  on  from schmarcelona 11/29  at  10:08 AM

  2. America’s Closets:

    An interesting link:

    http://tinyurl.com/yl2g6q

    (And Zelikow has resigned)

    Posted by Robert B. Livingston  on  from San Francisco, California 11/29  at  10:09 AM

  3. Hey everyone, and belated good wishes to Michele and Owen.
    I’ll soon be on the jobhunt with James, ‘Chad’ (’Steve’s’ brother) has decided not to budget for freelancers next year, so out I go. Shit job, well paid. I have mixed feelings...but at least I won’t be able to afford so much useless crap. I ran out of closet-space ages ago, they’re full of LEGO and transforming robots with silly names.

    “cent” - I’ll be down to my last…

    Posted by Mew  on  from london 11/29  at  10:34 AM

  4. You do know who Steve is, right? First name Morgan, last name, whatever… it’s a quarterly proofreading, etc. thing, so maybe they’ll need me back next time. Things are up in the air til then. But man, don’t front on the Legos. The major export of Denmark, where my dad was from.

    Congratualations on being included in that anthology, Mickey and Happy Birthday, Owen.

    Posted by James  on  from Hell's Kitchen 11/29  at  10:57 AM

  5. Yeah, I knew who Steve was… my current employer just seems like a Chad. Flashy, slimy, big shiny teeth...*
    Anyway, they’re holding out the possibility of free-lance writing on an ad hoc basis. So I doubt I’ll be on the streets.

    * apologies to any nice chad’s out there.

    Posted by Mew  on  from london 11/29  at  11:06 AM

  6. Hello Expendables. It is yet another abnormally warm late November day here.

    Owen: Besides Bruce Lee, Jimi Hendrix was also born on Nov. 27. So you’re in a good vibe at Nov. 28.

    Robert: Appropriate closet link...thanks.

    Mew: Sorry to hear about your impending financial woes. As a fellow freelancer, I can empathize. I’m on the verge of a bad $$$ spell myself.

    James: How was your interview yesterday?

    Posted by Mickey Z.  on  from Astoria 11/29  at  11:16 AM

  7. I’ll just have to wait and see with yesterday’s interview and a bunch of things.

    A nice Chad? Well I guess that Steve wasn’t so bad, and it was fun to work across the street from the Fox New studios. But frustating that I was blocked from commenting here.

    Captcha says: married-- umm…

    Posted by James  on  from Hell's Kitchen 11/29  at  11:41 AM

  8. the weather: On December 1, ‘81, the mercury touched 60 in MA, and it made the news. I recall the weather as highly transient, preceded and followed by cold. For me, one of the nails in the climate coffin was early January ‘01, when it reached 53 at half past midnight (also in MA). I was at work that night and walked outside in the breezy strangeness.

    closets: Talk of closet-like furniture brings to mind Inspector Clouseau and Kato duelling in their apartment. (I’ll take a chifforobe full of Far Eastern weapons any day of the week!) The limits of human perception will produce a climax like that famous scene: the phone rings, Kato pauses to answer, and gets clocked on the head. “Nevermind,” the cockroaches and viruses will say to us, “I’ll get it.”

    I think more people are giving Christmas a pass, but not nearly enough. The argument that it’s “for the kids” is dangerous, as it can spread the infection. “Mommy, Santa brought me brightly-wrapped boxes of consumer madness!”

    Posted by Zenprole  on  from Urth 11/29  at  12:47 PM

  9. Good day everyone.

    Mickey with all those comments on the article about the various closets in various homes I think you could write an anthology on closet space.  Absolutely right, though, and the same goes for garages...can’t think of there being many homes in the 50’s being built with 4 car garages. 

    The trend on Black Friday seems to be fewer people shopping, but they’re spending more money.  Isn’t it nice that the many are making up for the even few who try to make a positive change??

    Zenprole you gave me a laugh bringing up Kato...good for a laugh no matter the mood.

    Mew - good luck on finding a new job - it’s a peculiar balance to make with shit job/good pay, and always relative - rarely fun. 

    James I hadn’t realised that Steve was only a quarterly visit...good luck with your search too.

    Posted by Amelopsis  on  from Canada 11/29  at  01:28 PM

  10. Hello Empress and Zenprole.

    Posted by Mickey Z.  on  from Astoria 11/29  at  03:20 PM

  11. Steve’s just another typical guy… commitment issues… ech.

    Speaking of which, Friday’s the end of NaNovember, so time to put a call out to you know who.

    Posted by James  on  from Hell's Kitchen 11/29  at  03:50 PM

  12. James #11: I do know that Mudge finished his 50,000-word novel (as did I). However, I’m not expecting him to return here as much as in the past. Just a guess...but that’s my impression.

    Posted by Mickey Z.  on  from Astoria 11/29  at  04:04 PM

  13. Yeah, mine too. Lot of things going on in general with everyone.

    Posted by James  on  from Hell's Kitchen 11/29  at  04:10 PM

  14. I like that Voltaire quote, Mickey!  How did you know that he is my favourite philosopher?  There is a German saying:  “When it comes to money, friendship stops” or words along those lines.

    Another hot day coming up in Daylesford - 90F yet again and hardly any rain in sight.  We are in the grip of the worst drought for decades.

    ‘Guten Tag/Nachmittag/Abend’ to Owen, Robert B. Livingston, Mew (the traffic is hellish, the public transport is creaking and everything is hideously expensive:  this must be London - but such a dynamic city!), James, Zenprole and Amelopsis aus Australien

    Posted by Helga Fremlin  on  from Daylesford, Australia 11/29  at  06:23 PM

  15. The Pink Panther movies are always good for a laugh. My fave is “Strikes Again” from 1976.

    Media News: The December Harper’s has “The Progressive Case For Guns” by contributing editor Garret Keizer. It’s way too sensible to appear there, and I can’t wait to read the responses.
    The Nov 20 Time has Ten Questions w/Gore Vidal:
    http://tinyurl.com/yc3mbn

    Nothing new to report on the police riot at UCLA...I think it’s primarily a lawsuit now. Will keep an i on it.

    Posted by Zenprole  on  from Urth 11/29  at  06:36 PM

  16. Oh, and Mr and Mrs Helga are largely giving X-mas a pass this year - hooray! 


    And #6, Mickey:  we are also on the verge of a bad $$$ spell but are still going to Canberra, our national capital, on Sunday.  It will be cheap - it will also be our last holiday for a very, very long time.

    Ciao expendables

    Posted by Helga Fremlin  on  from Daylesford, Australia 11/29  at  06:39 PM

  17. Hello Helga.

    Thanks for the Vidal link, Zen. I typically like what he has to say but I don’t like glib answers like this:

    Q: What do you think of gay marriage?
    Vidal: Since heterosexual marriage is such a disaster, why on earth would anybody want to imitate it?

    Of course I agree in principle but, in our insane society, gay marriage has to be as much about economic security as it is about love.

    Posted by Mickey Z.  on  from Astoria 11/29  at  07:03 PM

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