In fact, I once had a job reading magazines — pre- law school, post- art school — and we used to crack each other up all the time mostly just reading items that were intended to be taken seriously by were just begging to be declared ridiculous. But "The Hater’s Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog" got me laughing so hysterically that it pained me to continue to the next item. And yet I continued.
The only thing that's made me laugh more in the last couple months is the best of "Damn You Auto-Correct."
I mean... that... and this other thing I can't tell you about.
November 17, 2012
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29 comments:
Rimming Sugar! YuMMMM!
We used to get the same kind of laughs reading the phone logs of the customer service people.
One reason why I never give a waitress or salesclerk a hard time.
Very funny. It would be just as funny without all the scatological language, though. Then I could link it for my dear ones to read.
The top comment on the hating on WS page is, "Everyone go to your nearest Williams-Sonoma store and grab every catalog (do they call it a catalogue?) they have. Carry at least one around at all times, so the next time any person starts talking about repealing Obamacare and how the government has no place telling rich people how to spend their money, just hand them one of these."
Perfect example of how to take something funny and make it tedious.
For a good time, check out an Archie McPhee catalog. Now there's an outfit that doesn't take itself seriously.
http://www.mcphee.com/shop/
Love you too Baby.
You are my favorite commenter.
It's such a shame that you get deleted all the time.
What Mr. Williams didn't know about conspicuous consumption, Mr. Sonoma did.
Mary Beth said...
Perfect example of how to take something funny and make it tedious.
My thought exactly when I read that comment. I resisted the urge to retort that rich Republicans don't buy that crap, rich Democrats do.
Mark B - sometimes scatalogical language is called for.
Even the best goddamn biscuit in the world isn't $72 better than a Popeye's biscuit. Unless that biscuit can make you teleport.
And what kills me is that there are clearly people out there who have shitloads of money and NO cooking skills who order this shit. Who are these people? How are there so many of them that Williams-Sonoma can sustain its business model? Are we all just racking up massive biscuit debts that will soon break the economy???
And, Mary Beth - like in the Great Depression, hard times make the average people more resentful of conspicuous consumption by the rich and seeing conspicuous consumption - by insistance of the rich that higher taxes will destroy their basic necessities of life.
(And that almost 12 years into tax cuts with no jobs created, the stupid Republican story that the "Jobs Creators" of the rich were just getting set to create tens of millions of new jobs. And returning to Clinton, Nixon, JFK, Eisenhower level of taxation will "DESTROY THE ECONOMY")
Mark B - sometimes scatalogical language is called for.
Even the best goddamn biscuit in the world isn't $72 better than a Popeye's biscuit. Unless that biscuit can make you teleport.
And what kills me is that there are clearly people out there who have shitloads of money and NO cooking skills who order this shit. Who are these people? How are there so many of them that Williams-Sonoma can sustain its business model? Are we all just racking up massive biscuit debts that will soon break the economy???
And, Mary Beth - like in the Great Depression, hard times make the average people more resentful of conspicuous consumption by the rich and seeing conspicuous consumption - by insistance of the rich that higher taxes will destroy their basic necessities of life.
(And that almost 12 years into tax cuts with no jobs created, the stupid Republican story that the "Jobs Creators" of the rich were just getting set to create tens of millions of new jobs. And returning to Clinton, Nixon, JFK, Eisenhower level of taxation will "DESTROY THE ECONOMY")
Tyrone Slothrop said...
Mary Beth said...
Perfect example of how to take something funny and make it tedious.
My thought exactly when I read that comment. I resisted the urge to retort that rich Republicans don't buy that crap, rich Democrats do.
====================
Very true, and that is why people in the middle will be happy seeing wealthy liberals and progressive Jews, pampered celebs and super rich jocks - that were ordering a range-fed organic chicken poached in a 160 dollar bottle of Dom Perignon.....
Reconsidering that....
Along with wealthy Texas oilmen, Republican land speculators in Florida, etc.
"Down with the rich" gets very tedious. We're now into our fifth year of that refrain and it's exceedingly tedious.
"Down with the rich" gets very tedious. We're now into our fifth year of that refrain and it's exceedingly tedious.
For some inexplicable reason, I get a Williams-Sonoma catalog in the mail every few months. It cracks me up, especially finding crap for ten times what you'd pay for the exact same item at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
As one comment pointed out, the error is assuming rich people buy this crap. For the most part, they don't; they save their money. Instead, the middle and upper middle class buys this shit for appearances.
(Years ago there was a show about a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. He bought a huge house because his anorexic wife wanted it, then proceeded to spend $100,000 remodeling the kitchen. During one argument in said kitchen just as the remodel started, he blurted out "but, you don't even cook." The Williams-Sonoma catalog is also made people like her.)
This is funny, too.
Ugly Rooms for the Beautiful People
The more you read, the funnier it gets, with a few laugh out loud gems sprinkled throughout.
Anyone who mail orders a chicken coop should have a guardian appointed.
This was wonderful. Thanks.
Ah, the imagery! I had a hard time getting past the combination of "bukkake " and "mail slot".
@kcom. That stuff is from the same time period when I had my magazine reading job. That is exactly the material we died laughing over.
If I'm going to buy anything made by a Trappist monk it, is going to be triple ale. A bottle or two of that each day and the vows of silence and chastity are no problem to observe.
If I'm going to buy anything made by a Trappist monk it, is going to be triple ale. A bottle or two of that each day and the vows of silence and chastity are no problem to observe.
Channel surfing recently, I happened onto a DIY type show where a woman bought a small house in a pricey neighborhood, then hired an architect to tear it down and custom-build her a multi-bedroom behemoth on the lot. He was supposedly 'the best architect in town'.
Her words to him were: "If you're not sure, think 'Pottery Barn'.
Wow. Millions of dollars for soccer mom chic.
I mean... that... and this other thing I can't tell you about.
Oh, go ahead. You can tell us. We can keep secrets.
I know this kind of humor is too easy to do.
So it's a guilty pleasure?
Somehow "formulaic" came to mean "crappy" just as "beta male" came to mean "loser."
I went to a CLE the other day. Death penalty update.
Some of the presenters were these guys who traverse the country defending some of the most heinous people on Earth.
They are astonishingly good at what they do. Absolutely and admirably dedicated to their cause, they selflessly educate other lawyers how to do what they do.
They teach the formula.
I fail to see the problem.
Ms. Althouse:
This is fan mail.
I have read your blog daily since 2004.
This is my first comment.
I think Drew Magary is the perfect internet writer. Everyone who wants more readers should study him.
Start with his 2007 thanksgiving column, which I still rememeber reading on the train.
His best gift is that he makes it seem easy.
About 30 years ago, I got a series of 3 "Items From Our Catalog"s, which parodied the L.L.Bean catalog. Dang they were funny!
Commented on the site:
Everyone go to your nearest Williams-Sonoma store and grab every catalog (do they call it a catalogue?) they have. Carry at least one around at all times, so the next time any person starts talking about repealing Obamacare and how the government has no place telling rich people how to spend their money, just hand them one of these.
I WANT to like people, really I do. But they make it so damn hard. What a self righteous a**hole.
The only people who should be telling you how to spend your money are your investment advisor and your mother. Or your spouse. And that's only because you can't fire the last two.
The government is neither. They work for us, not the other way around and can simply butt the hell out. Their record on wise spending certainly doesn't recommend them as an advisor, let alone a dictator.
Haiku and other metered poems by request in exchange for a $1 donation to help me with my absolutely obscene and insurmountable student loans!
http://foryouhaiku.blogspot.com/
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