Shroom King
kiwifarms.net
Flashlights have an actual purpose, and it is always fun to see questions like this:
Infected Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!
- Thread starter Spez
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We're mostly back to 100%. Expect more disruptions that will cause sister service outages for the forseeable future.
Flashlights have an actual purpose, and it is always fun to see questions like this:
Consumerist-toks
squishsquishbishhh
Roxie· 3-24
Had to re-organize the plush collection for the 13th time this month#squishmallows #squishmallow #squishmallowhunting #squishtok #plushies #pokemon
Aww - Baby Ariel
squishsquishbishhh
Roxie
Just my daily dose of serotoninsad girls will understand #squishmallows #squishmallowhunting #squishmallowcollection #squishmallowcheck
Spongebob - Dante9k
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox, and PC 10/26/21! #marvel #SummerofGaming
original sound -Chishikuzan
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deermeat
kiwifarms.net
I used to be like this, man. Not really brand-heavy but I would look at these aesthetic consumer videos and tried to mimic that "feeling". I had some cool ass things but it didn't matter because nothing felt like how it was shown on other's pages. I wanted more. And more. Even though I had no space.
Then I realized "oh hey, I have a fucking problem".
Jeff Yeager wrote some great books about this mindset and how to save money while spending it on things that will actually make you happy. He's pretty eccentric but that's what makes him so entertaining, he's not your average serious "financial" guide.
These people usually have no personality and feel like the things they own make up for it all. That and they cling onto certain brands in order to escape the isolation individuality normally comes with. After all, why try to be your own thing when you can cling onto materialistic groups that all share the same interest?
Probably because they use filters. You can do a lot to change a feeling of a room, but cheap toys and plebbit-tier aesthetic. So much fairy lights there, and it looks tacky and cheap.
I have this thing that I'm not sure how to really talk about or describe, so if someone knows what I'm talking about and has any reading suggestions or a direction to point me, please let me know.
It's something akin or related to the concept of simulacra, but the thing I don't know how to talk about is the specific feeling those things invoke; like something "doesn't count".
I struggle to define it, but I can provide examples of it.
I struggle to define it, but I can provide examples of it.
- A wedding in a local park with decorations are all from a dollar store/big-box store like a children's birthday party
- Plastic pots painted to look like they're made of ceramic
- A church in a strip mall
- Those luxury-brand restaurants from earlier
- Exotic vacations photos where everything is cropped just so to make it look like something extends beyond the frame, but nope, all you see of whatever "it" is is within that area
Thread content as payment for my tangent above:
watchvenn
VENN · 5d ago
By beach games, this is what you meant…right?#gamer #girlgamer #nintendo #marioworld
turtlebeach
Turtle Beach · 3d ago
New Xbox/Bethesda games >> my wallet#e32021 #haloinfinte #seaofthieves #forzahorizon #redfall #psychonauts2 #microsoft #xbox #bethesdagamestudios
Maybe describe how the thing looks like? Don't even know what simulacra is
It's an idea from sociologist Jean Baudrillard. You can read his writeup on it online (Simulacra and Simulations) but the TL;DR is there's this concept called "hyperreality" which is about the generation of shit that isn't actually real, and how that not-real shit ends up replacing reality and/or gaining its own existence.
When he originally wrote about all of this we didn't have things like the internet, so it was hard to provide concrete examples, but now we can summarize the entire concept surprisingly well with dumb memes:
When he originally wrote about all of this we didn't have things like the internet, so it was hard to provide concrete examples, but now we can summarize the entire concept surprisingly well with dumb memes:
First example that always comes to mind for me is "Disney Food". The stuff that's created just so you can take that photo for Instagram or make that TikTok video, then you toss the rest in the garbage, eat it out of guilt for spending money, or just hoover it up because you're an undiscerning hamplanet who lost the ability to properly taste sugar during the Bush administration.
The following are all from the official Disney Parks account:
Maybe uncanny valley or just that it looks out of place?
I get what you're talking about but I don't really know anything beyond all the simulacra stuff you've already posted, which was very interesting by the way. I have heard people talk about "fake" cities like Las Vegas or Dubai in this way, or tourist traps. Las Vegas doesn't bother me but the other examples you provided and theme parks do.
It's because all of these places, these things, they're generated purely to sate human vices rather than made over time through the buildup of culture. If you reject places like Vegas, Disney, then you are able to discern between actual reality and the manufactured one. I'd say I would agree with Vingle about the uncanny valley effect, but it's not entirely that. You know that these places are trying to sell you on an experience. They're made to look perfect, be perfect, stimulate you constantly with sights and sounds. More grounded places tend to not move at such a pace as these areas full of tourists coming in for a short while and then they're gone, as well.
I feel the same feeling of alienation in some shopping centers, especially in the larger one with several galleries, corridors, food courts, etc.
surely the uncanny valley factor and the overstimulation affect our perception, but I would go even further by saying that the discomfort comes from the fact that these are fundamentally unnatural places. they are communities without a community, designed to aggregate as many people as possible without, however, real contact between them.
The real annoying consoomer boutique bluray posting is still a month away, a product of the July B&N 50% Criterion sale, but it's still unfortunately common to see posts like this where the person doesn't even bother showing the actual films they bought (it's listed somewhere in the comments) and rather flex the big $$$ amount.
Surprisingly, it's been met with some actual negative response considering it's being posted on r/boutiquebluray where big hauls are commonly posted and praised.
Surprisingly, it's been met with some actual negative response considering it's being posted on r/boutiquebluray where big hauls are commonly posted and praised.
Jimjamflimflam
kiwifarms.net
It all feels fake. Everything is fake to make one big illusion.
Take the metaphysics pill and reject the illusionary world.
It's hard to talk about at times because it can make one sound like an elitist asshole but it's really not it. It's a dissatisfaction with the fakeness of everything
I posted earlier in this thread about waking up to my consumerism habits.
Take the metaphysics pill and reject the illusionary world.
It's hard to talk about at times because it can make one sound like an elitist asshole but it's really not it. It's a dissatisfaction with the fakeness of everything
I posted earlier in this thread about waking up to my consumerism habits.
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I think the concept you're looking for is simply "authenticity". That pot wasn't made on a potter's wheel and fired in a kiln - it's manufactured, not authentic. Those branded cafés aren't authentic cuisine, they're a manufactured and branded experience (unlike, for example, that little family-run restaurant in a small town in Italy that's not very expensive, where all the locals eat, and serves the freshest gnocchi you've ever tasted.) The tourist traps aren't authentic cultural exchange. The theme park isn't an authentic experience of an exotic location. The church in the strip mall doesn't give you the authentic and awe-inspiring experience of walking into a cathedral - it feels shallow and uninspiring, maybe even consumerist, like you're shopping for god along with your deli meats. They're all manufactured, artificial, flattened, superficial, knockoffs, and thin experiences - poor substitutes for the real thing.
Mepsi Pax
kiwifarms.net
Funny what a difference a decade makes here. The old heads in 2012 couldn't even conceive of using LEDs to feeb your grow along. Nowadays, LED is king shit, and I'd theorize that you could get an "OK" growth rate for sprouts if you had enough battery-operated LEDs. Flashlights wouldn't be the best choice, it'd make more sense to use car batteries wired to higher output LED, but still.
Flashlights are good (not bad) but being a lightfag is definitely consoomer format shit. Flashlights are tools, it serves absolutely no purpose to have a bunch of them as an individual. You have a long-life one, an all-around, and a bitchin' high power motherfucker (pretty cool actually), and that's about it. Anything beyond that is just clutter. As gay as it is for these guys to wave the things around with other weirdos I do have fond memories of bringing a huge quadruple D-cell maglite with me to festival raves. You can tape a water bottle onto the end, put a few drops of dye in, and voila! High power portable rave lantern with manual strobe mode.
There was an essay that was going around a few years ago that coined the term "premium mediocre." (Archive) It isn't an exact match for what you're talking about, but it's not a totally dissimilar thing. Here's a brief excerpt that introduces the concept.
I have that same feeling too. You have large gatherings of people who don’t know each other showing off “look at my new expensive purse” when they think its some social status thing or something. I may not be rich or poor, but when I see a car, wither its a Mercedes, Lamborgini, Tesla, Toyoda, Honda, or a GAZ truck I just think that: If its a car, and it works and get me places, I dont care about anything else. Recently I had someone tell me that I’m wrong for thinking that all cars are just cars and serve a purpose. They claimed that back when they are young, they were ashamed to drive an old beat up car, while their friends drive newer cars.
When you ask everyone what is their dream car, They would ask Camero, Mustang, Lamborghini; I want a tank, or some ex-military vehicle like a Humvee.
Shit, "premium mediocre" really does get close to it. This is the closest I've seen.
This bit from the "Avocado Toast Paradox" section really brought it home for me.
Thanks, man!
You have a very good point for most of this, but a factor that gets to me and is why I have a hard time talking about it is that it's this step beyond just a lack of authenticity (or maybe less a "step beyond" than a "step to the side" or something.) Going back to the simulacrum thing, there is this a sublimation or replacement of the "real version" with these things; an unspoken "This is what you get, take it or leave it."
With the Disney restaurants[1], for example, that's it. That plastic "wonderland" is what you get. There is no "real" version of anything at those parks. Instead it's this weird half-creature between a fast-casual restaurant and a theme park attraction. I don't get the feeling I mentioned earlier when I see something like "The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast"[2], however, because that's clear about what it is; a ride with some cool animatronics and illusions.
With the Disney restaurants[1], for example, that's it. That plastic "wonderland" is what you get. There is no "real" version of anything at those parks. Instead it's this weird half-creature between a fast-casual restaurant and a theme park attraction. I don't get the feeling I mentioned earlier when I see something like "The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast"[2], however, because that's clear about what it is; a ride with some cool animatronics and illusions.
Thread content from the above
1. "Be Our Guest" Restaurant
General thread content: Having a cohesive "aesthetic" and lots of things that fit that aesthetic is an aspirational goal and a sign of wealth and class. Let's see what that looks like on TikTok.
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If #1 wasn't the same person as #3, I'd have said that just going for the "aesthetic" and having a reasonable amount of games for the switch isn't really consoomer behavior as much as an obsession with the theme, but then they had to come back in clip 3 with early onset consumption behavior plastered all over their room. The collection of anime figures is not a good sign, for sure. #2 is not as bad (as cluttered) but the amount of boots they're starting to acquire especially knowing how expensive they probably all are is concerning. This kind of nonsense is what is being normalized in gen zed's minds.
When people have Original Joycons it tells me something about them. They really only play docked or they don't play as much as they advertise. Those thing break so fast and there are numerous alternatives out there. My favorite are the gamecube joycons for like 40 bucks.
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