I just can’t get behind the unbelted swing dress unless one has a totally straight figure or the dress doesn’t get significantly wider at the bottom. I’m a similar size to the girl in the picture but probably with bigger boobs and I bet she looks pretty funny straight on from the front. I always feel like I’m wearing…

Three young people were cut down by a freak accident while pursuing their passion, but at least you found a way to feel superior to them.

I’m guessing you make this kind of comment often on the Internet. How is it working out for you? Have you convinced the world to adopt your thrill-adverse philosophy yet?

Google “tragedy definition” and your edgy question will find a boring answer.

Yup. People get caught up in the stuff that’s in the media but is only a tiny bit of what she talks about. And you’re right, the overall purpose isn’t for people to live in pared down minimalism with 2 pants and 4 books, it’s to only have things you need and like, to appreciate and take good care of what you do have…

Whenever people take umbrage with the whole “spark joy” thing, it makes me think about how my plunger sparks all kinds of joy when my toilet’s clogged, and my fire extinguisher sparks joy because it will hopefully lessen my chances of dying in a fire. Not dying in a fire sparks a lot of joy.

When my husband won’t stop snoring at night, I often whisper at his face, “I’m going to murder you.” Sometimes I go into more detail, like explaining that I am going to smother him with a pillow or that I’ll go dump his body. I am almost never serious. 

My takeaway from those first two episodes (after which I stopped watching) was, “Do these husbands spark joy?”

I actually like Kondo and have used her method. I use a simplified series of questions:

I don’t like Karlie Kloss; I don’t think she has the charisma needed to host the show. But I do like Christian Siriano (and I adore Tim Gunn). He mentors in a different, blunter way than Tim. Tim’s takes were more cerebral, Christian’s are more visceral. (I couldn’t stand him when he was on the show, but he was only…

“What if he gave me a virus somehow?” she asked, worriedly.

I did ask, just out of general curiosity, if Beights is a baseball fan. Turns out he is! 

I find it annoying how people can extrapolate context and meanings from all sorts of things without additional prompting, but the Kondo “spark joy” makes folks suddenly 100% literal and pedantic.

No, a practical thing doesn’t make your knees weak, but in Kondo-land, “spark joy” isn’t just what makes you grin from ear…

Having read the book, I feel that the whole “spark joy” thing overshadowed the actual message of her book and the root of her method, which is just to be more conscious of what you own. Her storage methods center around arranging things so that you can see and access everything without having to move anything around…

The spark joy thing is definitely not well understood. In her books it’s explained a lot better but also I think it’s going to mean something slightly different from person to person.

a friend of his named Travis Shaw.

There’s one unintended, ironic effect of Marie Kondo’s show and it has nothing to do with getting rid of shit: I now understand why 70% of married women initiate divorces.

The whole Marie Kondo book-gate nonsense was so fucking stupid and the result of people taking an internet headline and running with it, without bothering to actually do read anything. And I see it keeps getting perpetuated by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

Yeah. I worked as a movie theater usher as my first job and had to call the police on a guy jerking during a movie. With families in the theater. There was a police cruiser on patrol just 5 minutes away but the guy bolted right before they showed up. They caught him about 20 minutes later, jerking it in a convenience…

Two things I’ll add for thrifting: I buy wooden frames for my artwork. I’ll sand and repaint them to work them into the design of the art it’s framing so it becomes part of the piece. About the rabbit fur and other fur coats (I hate the fur industry too) that can redeem them somewhat (no one at thrift stores are…