Young Ladies of Quality

Ready the pitchforks.

Heather — Sun, 30 May 2010 00:24:38 +0000

What will it take for us to go all Gaston after the Beast on these fools?

Fun With Craigslist: Twitter feed features LA’s missed connections

Heather — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:42:09 +0000

I feel so cool. I just discovered this Twitter feed dedicated to highlighting Los Angeles’s missed connections. (W for M.)

Is there a M for W version I should be aware of?

Friday Morning Wind-Down

Courtney — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:36:46 +0000

If you are anything like me, you played 5 games of beer pong last night and are pretty unfit for anything other than maybe sitting upright right now. If you are nothing like me, your life must be boring. REGARDLESS, I have a cure for the Friday morning “why isn’t it Friday afternoon yet”s (which is like the “Mondays,” but a little more insidious). The Notorious xx. Granted, this is pretty old news in the internet world, but enjoy it anyway. It’s almost lunchtime! (Pro-tip: The download link from the original blog has been removed, so if you want it, get it now, before New York Magazine also gets a take-down notice.)

Never has being a baller been so soothing.

I wouldn’t mind hanging out in LA with Elisabeth Moss

Heather — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:55:24 +0000

Usually the “My LA Weekend” feature in the LA Times fills me with a seething rage (yeah, awesome, secret society at Disneyland, you know Anaheim’s not even in the same COUNTY as Los Angeles, right?) but Elisabeth Moss’s favorite weekend is actually pretty awesome-sounding.

Zero Babies: because wouldn’t you rather be the fun aunt?

Heather — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:49:29 +0000

This condom ad makes me happy because this is something I directly thing about. I love my niece. She’s fun. I like to buy toys for her. Currently on my shelf I have a Dora the Explorer necklace and a mini kit of glitter nail polish for her. I do not want a child.

via copyranter

PSA: Do you have a bunch of gunky nail polish? Want something sparkly and new?

Heather — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:15:39 +0000

Zoya’s Earth Day nail polish exchange is for you, my friend. Starting today, April 22nd, until June 30, you can send in a minimum 6 bottles of yucky old polish and for the price of $3.50 per bottle (shipping), Zoya will send you on a per bottle basis, a brand new Zoya polish.

So you can trade in 6 old colors (bye-bye, practically empty Sally Hansen strengthener, Wet n Wild base and top coat, nasty LA Colors polish I got for $.50 and never wore) and get 6 new colors (hello Zoya Charla, Ivanka, Mimi, Posh, Harlow and Kiki!)

An open letter to Gray Powell,

Heather — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:42:00 +0000

I’d like to go out with you. I lose my phone all the time (or step on it, or spill sugar free Red Bull on it, or drop it out of my pocket while running to catch a bus and watching it shatter into a million pieces) so I feel like we have a lot in common.

I’ll buy you a beer.

The short lifespan of a pot-el pot-topia.

Heather — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:40:32 +0000

In case you missed this gem of a story, some people with pot-infused lollipop dreams were renovating a hotel in Koreatown to be a haven for potheads. But then, very quickly, their dreams went up in a puff of smoke.

National Treasure 3 is Totally In Development

Erin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:54:47 +0000

One of my favorite celebrity crazypants, Nic Cage, apparently bought a pyramid for his final resting place.

Undercover Boss: Putting Band-Aids on Bullet Holes

Courtney — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 07:11:14 +0000

Unlike most people, who (I assume) spend Sunday nights relaxing and getting ready for work the next day, I spend mine becoming needlessly outraged about mindless TV trying to sell itself as something else. And then I wonder why I am exhausted on Monday morning. BUT ANYWAY. I tweeted about finding Undercover Boss problematic, and then this happened. If you don’t know about this show, well, good for you. You’re probably a productive member of society.

Erin: i would like a southie boston boy to be my friend
(watching the departed)
Sent at 10:01 PM on Sunday
me: hahaha
Erin: p.s. i agree with you on undercover boss
me: unfortunately, most are more like boston rob than leo dicaprio.
and yes, can we talk about undercover boss?
Erin: absolutely
me: because i was simultaneously heartwarmed and infuriated tonight.
i mean, i am not going to argue with people helping others in need, because the more good karma in the world, the better.
but these bosses are just NOT SEEING how their company policies are hurting their employees.
like, yeah, they help a few. but what about the thousands they don’t.
?
and then people who watch the show are like oh yeah, that roto rooter guy is so nice.
when really, nothing has changed.
these people still have the same problems and worries and rules.
Sent at 10:05 PM on Sunday
Erin: it is troubling that there is no “3 months later shit is the same and everything still sucks” segment
it is like intervention – yay they went to recovery oh btw they relapsed and no one has seen this person in 4 months, whoops
me: yeah. it’s just asking the people who watch to forget about these people and pretend everything is suddenly okay in that corporate structure. which, no.
human struggles as feel good stories.
everything has a happy ending with careful editing.
Erin: it is like chick flicks
me: yeah but with real people.
and real societal problems.
are we supposed to think it’s okay that ceos etc are so divorced from the corporate structures that THEY’VE CREATED that we need a show about them sucking at the other jobs in their corporations?
Sent at 10:09 PM on Sunday
Erin: that is the exact thing that makes me want to scream
because i find it so appalling
you can see it in every company
me: yes. i think it is disgusting, having been a peon.
and watching this show, i just remember all the stupid policies that made me want to scream.
Erin: fuck man, as a middle manager type myself
it makes me want to beat people to bloody pulps
because you can see how it becomes a game
which isnt productive in the grand scheme of things
me: did you watch tonight’s episode?
Erin: no
i watch it on hulu
well, cbs via hulu
me: oh well there is a part where the “best technician” in this one area (roto-rooter) tells a lady that he will do a $1200 job for $500 because she is old and has dr. bills etc etc and it needs to be done.
and the boss says how at first he was a little annoyed or whatever by that, but then he remembered that this guy works on comission.
commission.
so it’s really out of his own pocket, and he just wanted to do it to help another human being.
like that was shocking to him.
Erin: !!!!!!
me: and i was like, well, conceivably, this guy has been giving out discounts for a while, when necessary, and you haven’t noticed.
so what harm does it do you? and what right do you have to be squeamish about that?
and then there is this part where he is on the phone with his wife and she’s just complementing him and he’s describing all the people that he’s met and it’s like they’re zoo animals or something to him.
it’s very icky, sometimes.
and his wife is like ah yes he sounds nice or whatever.
blah blah blah divorced from humanity.
Sent at 10:18 PM on Sunday
Erin: bleh
so i think it is probably difficult, as someone that has to run the company to stay relevant
and i wonder how to do it
me: i understand that. but it always seems like these people have forgotten that OTHER PEOPLE are doing all of this stuff that they mandate.
and also this is why all businesses should be much smaller and more localized etc etc hippie.
Erin: i always have and always will prefer the small business
Sent at 10:23 PM on Sunday
Erin: i dont ever want to be so divorced from my employees that i dont realize what their lives are like
me: yeah. and i don’t ever want to set up or contribute to a system so rigid that employees can’t be helped when they need to be.
Erin: i dont know how it is possible to run an effective business that way
also i would suffocate in that environment
me: yes. as most people would.
Erin: it already bothers me soooo
well, let’s start a business
specifically a bar
me: down.

Also infuriating: Gchat. Both of these things are going on the list of societal ills that I will complain about instead of rectify. But really, does anybody else find Undercover Boss UNSPEAKABLY APPALLING, or do Erin and I just think too much? (And if you say that we think too much, know that I will think less of you, because that is impossible. Think more.)