What’s this? The hot asphalt of hell:
My mother-in-law and daughter enjoy shopping. I do not. Oh, I don’t object to poking through a bargain bin at Big Lots, seeking vintage cocktail sets at thrift stores or purchasing all manner of goods online.
But a mall is my idea of hell — the cavernous, echoing temples of consumerism and excess represent everything that is loathsome about this civilization. And in Florida in July, the sea of asphalt surrounding the mall is hotter than the fucking sun.
Please feel free to discuss whatever.
henqiguai
What’s this? No comments? What, everybody busy burning in hell?!?
WereBear
I used to live on Long Island. And I didn’t like malls then!
dmsilev
Yeah, shopping for the sake of shopping never appealed to me. I’m more for the “surgical strike” approach: I am going out to purchase items X, Y, and Z, which entails visiting stores A, B, and C, and that’s it.
Germy Shoemangler
Went to a mall in Plattsburgh ny. Worst thing was each store was blasting loud music. So if you sat in one of the mall benches to rest your feet, you’d hear three different bad songs blasting at you discordantly.
the subliminal message? “Move along, shopper. Buy, or get the fuck out.”
WereBear
You also go to this big place and wander around punishing your feet on hard surfaces, and for me at least, the chances of me getting something I really want are between slim and none.
scav
@henqiguai: Garden, Parking Lot,
Garden, Parking Lot, Garden, Parking Lot of Mall, Garden!!
TaMara (BHF)
Since I can’t seem to find a house, I’ve been busy upgrading my home office with a standing desk, laptop stand and wireless keyboard. All done online. Clothes are my only exception for darkening the doors of a mall.
Speaking of things I bought online, I bought this coffee maker last year and this summer have perfected its iced coffee function. I made cold brewed once (thanks to a BJ commenter) I will NEVER do that again. This suits me just fine.
Pogonip
I don’t like malls either. No shopping carts! Fifty zillion square feet of space to carry your stuff through, instead of pushing it along in a shopping cart.
I like Dollar Tree but not Dollar General.
FridayNext
I’m up and down with shopping as an activity. But I don’t care for malls. Luckily there are still lots of stores that aren’t in malls. I have no hard data, but I suspect most stores in the USA aren’t in malls at all. IN fact, by most reports the shopping mall has been in decline for more than a decade. So I am curious why we still talk as if shopping=shopping mall.
JPL
Fifteen percent of the vote in and NO takes a big lead, in Greece. This is definitely, not good news for Angela.
Sparrow, if you are around, what are you sensing on the mood.
TaMara (BHF)
Oh and Wonkette baby pictures are awdorable. ->> ->>
Michael Bersin
Asphalt parking lot in Southern Arizona in July. Not to be negotiated barefoot.
An old Summer joke in Arizona: An old timer who had lead a less than stellar life passed away in July. He was sent to Hell. He came back to get a blanket.
Arm The Homeless
Picked up a Nexus Player on Thursday. It took a few hours to unlock, root, and download Kodi (formerly XBMC). At this point, between Netflix, Sling TV, and the plethora of VOD options through Kodi, we were able to drop Comcast cable, increase our Internet speed to 75Mbps, and save $40 a month.
Most importantly, the SO loves the interface and has been power watching Project Runway Australia since Friday. $70 well spent I say.
Big ole hound
Malls are hell. Bad loud music, roving packs of obnoxious teenagers and way overpriced “made in China” crap. The only thing worse is any Walmart which is it’s own mall.
Pogonip
Once I bought ice trays at Dollar General. Filled them. Froze them. When I twisted them to get cubes out, the trays snapped in half. I’ll never go back there.
Arm The Homeless
@Pogonip:
The best ice trays I have ever used came from Bed, Bath & Beyond and are silicone
I knew I was old when I spent an hour choosing ice trays and the idea of comfy socks is the highlight of my day
srv
Just one day from the 4th, and you’re already hating on America.
The austerity of anti-consumerism is a feature amongst Obots.
Real Americans use metal ice trays.
Cain
An apropos song for song for you. Enjoy. The good part is in the middle, but look up the lyrics.
opiejeanne
@scav: yeah. Tough choice, although the mall does have AC and we don’t; I haven’t set foot in an enclosed mall since Christmas, unless you count a trip to the outlet mall to buy marked down Tommy Bahama shirts and shorts. (Surprisingly reasonable). That was in Feb.
It’s still tolerable here, just before 11am, so we will hang tough and not go to the mall. For AC there’s always the movie theater.
opiejeanne
@Michael Bersin: must have been from Yuma.
dm
@dmsilev:
I hate malls. When I do have to go to one, I use the same strategy as you. Actually, I hate shopping, period.
Arm The Homeless
@srv:
Aluminum trays, to be exact. Keeps Obama and the NSA from corrupting my Gin & Tonics.
opiejeanne
@srv: LOL! I’m surprised you didn’t say Real Americans have ice makers in their refrigerators.
satby
Take them thrifting Betty! I dress better now than I ever did since I started buying clothes at thrift stores.
And the thrill of the (bloodless) hunt is a bonus.
Edited to add: I was a retail store manager for years when I was in my twenties and early 30s, and the trauma of life at the mall during Christmas season has never left me. I go to malls about once every 5 years.
Arm The Homeless
@opiejeanne:
Real Americans fill their trays with water from an unregulated well behind their house.
Although, every freezer is simply another knife in the back of job creating Ice-mongers.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I haven’t been to a mall this decade. And I think only twice in the last. The mister shares my aversion. I will go across the street from the local megamall – to its predecessor – to shop TJ Maxx.
You’re a good sport Betty.
SiubhanDuinne
Seems a guy in Maine got drunk and tried to launch a rocket firework from the top of his head yesterday.
Hoax? The Onion? I thought so too, but it’s from the trustworthy Grauniad.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/05/maine-firework-kills-man-head
Tree With Water
Bill Curry at Salon.com hits the nail on the head today with a simple sentence. Referring to last week’s Obamacare vote, he writes: “Only men as frivolous as Alito, Thomas and Scalia could fail to see it truly was a frivolous case”.
SiubhanDuinne
As for malls: I occasionally have reason to be in a mall, but I never “go to” the mall. The guy who cuts my hair works in a salon which is located in a mall; and the best, if not the only, stamp dealer in metro Atlanta has his shop in a different mall — so I set foot in them only when I’m feeling shaggy or philatelic. Oh, and I go to some of the Fathom cinema productions — Bolshoi and Royal Ballet, Stratford Festival plays, and the like — just because the most convenient theatre (in a mall) is miles and miles closer to me than any of the other participating theaters (not in malls).
But no shopping, or window shopping, or browsing, or cruising, or any of that.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I don’t mind malls, but I rarely buy clothes there, so maybe that’s why. I tend to wander around and look at stuff at Target or the Apple Store.
I do try to avoid the mall for August and September (the hottest months of the year) just because it’s stupid crowded and there’s no chairs left to sit down and people watch.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I worked in a mall for 4 years. A swanky one with a Tiffany, etc. and moving sidewalks. That was more like purgatory. The public space was nice but no matter how they try to make you feel comfortable the place is just a machine for shucking dollars off of you.
opiejeanne
@Arm The Homeless: haha!
My grandmother saved many little items from her life and one of them is a ticket booklet for the iceman. The instructions on how to leave one are contradictory, not valid if removed from booklet by the consumer, but do remove one to leave for the iceman if you aren’t home.
Ruckus
@Germy Shoemangler:
Ralphs supermarkets have this really bad pop music endless loop of about 6 songs interrupted by commercials for the store. Nickleback would be ten times better. Think about that. It just about drives me batty being in there for a few minutes, how could anyone work there without getting violent is beyond me.
Tree With Water
More good words from Bill Curry at Salon.com: “..It was an amazing week. America shed bigotry even while mourning its victims. We saw a glimpse of a possible new politics. The country and the Court said loud racism and homophobia are no longer traditional or Christian values. A Republican Party that trafficked in bigotry and looked suddenly cornered. Many of its most easily identified leaders—Scalia, Trump, Cruz, Huckabee, Walker, Santorum, the list goes on—acting like infants, gave the lie to the whole enterprise. Still picking fights with their chosen cast of villains– terrorists, immigrants, gays, liberals, Obama—they saw the list of their foes suddenly lengthen to include Walmart, Univision, NBC, the Pope, the Supreme Court, the Constitution, the union and the rule of law. It was the future itself and it was circling them like a shark..”.
As one who hopes to live to see the GOP shattered (although I might already have), those words make my heart soar like an eagle… an American eagle.
The Pale Scot
This time of year I only go out at night, except for the under the building Publix parking lot, an early effort to do laps at the pool, or an emergency booze run. (Wine should be chilled by 6pm)
Pogonip
@Arm The Homeless: I’ll be going right by a BB & B next weekend, thanks for the tip!
Pogonip
@srv: I would too if I could get them!
Eric Nny
@Germy Shoemangler: Frankly that’s Plattsburgh’s motto.
yodecat
Betty,
Us kids survived Austin summers by staying outside and staying wet. The only “A/C” we had was a swamp cooler in the middle of the house, housed in a closet-like room and “cool” air was circulated through the house through ducts. Made hot air merely warm at about 90% humidity.
Yee-haw! The good old days.