starryskydream

[starryskydream]

simulacra for bootlickers

FYI, this post is a little more NSFW than usual with the language.

Usually I think McMansions are kind of funny. Sometimes, I even like them. If I didn't like them at least a little bit, I don't think I'd be running this blog for a solid eight years and counting. Some McMansions are so strange and so fascinating in their architectural languages (it's never just one language) that they test the boundaries of what residential architecture can do on an individual and often ad hoc level. Others so cogently and often whimsically express various cultural fascinations and deeply entrenched American ideas of what prosperity looks like (read: neuroticisms), that, as a sociological text they remain unrivaled.

But some (many!) McMansions are, to put it bluntly, evil. And it is these McMansions that reveal the ugly truth beneath the ugly architecture: that the McMansion is a manifestation of power and wealth meant to communicate that power and wealth to others as explicitly as possible, and that it does so in a country besieged by brutal and inescapable income inequality. In our present political moment characterized by extreme and deliberate cruelty, fear, and baleful destruction of all that is pro-social in nature (and nature itself), I figured it was my duty to show my readers a house that embodies these sentiments, one we can all use to assuage some of our perceived powerlessness by way of mocking the shit out of it.

There are a lot of fake White Houses in the US. Most of them can be found in or around the area of McLean, Virginia, the ground zero of DC blob sickos whose job it is to mete out the ratio of lethality and economy for weapons manufacturers. This one, however, is in Indiana, outside of Evansville. It was built at the apex of theme park mindset in architecture (1997) and is on the market for $4.9 million dollars. However, don't be fooled by this opening exterior shot. It takes literal drone footage to show how unhinged this house actually is. In reality, the White House facade is akin to the light dangling from an anglerfish, luring the unsuspecting victim in...

Completely NORMAL amount of money at play here!

There are some images historians (if there are any left) will look back upon and say, such a phenomenon truly would not be possible without an abundance of cheap oil and derivative products. Fortunately, in the immanent post-neoliberal chobani yogurt solarpunk utopia, this house will be converted into a half ruin garden (though this will take some time with all the plastic) half public spa complex. A better world is possible, but only if we imagine it.

Pro tip: there's a way of saying "wow it's so big" that can land as the most devastating insult in the rhetorical lexicon.

I'll be real, the armchair thing is a new one for me, too.

(Rise and grindset voice): Inside you are two lions. Both of them are hungry for prosperity and success. Let's get this bread, king.

Not to do gender here, but compared to the rest of the house, this is a "my wife got her way" room if there ever was one.

Fixer Upper was basically 9/11 for "architectural foam trappings" and "color." Look what they took from you...

Honestly, what a great juxtaposition. This is what that book The Machine in the Garden was all about. (No it's not.)

Half of this post tbh:

Well, that's it for this extremely upbeat and positive McMansion Hell post in this extremely positive and upbeat time we are living in. Join us soon for the concluding part 2 of the Neuschwanstein Castle series, especially if you like beautiful, psychosexually crippled swan boys (real and fictional) and kitsch theory.

If you like this post and want more like it, support McMansion Hell on Patreon for as little as $1/month for access to great bonus content including a discord server, extra posts, and livestreams. (Don't worry! This doesn't adjust for inflation! Now's the perfect time to join!)

Not into recurring payments? Try the tip jar! McMansion Hell stocks, much like mortgage-backed securities only ever go up!!

[starryskydream]

[starryskydream]

[starryskydream]

[starryskydream]

[starryskydream]

An idea triggers a thought

A thought triggers a feeling

A feeling can make you create a plan

A successful plan requires habits

Habits require commitment

Commitment creates a lifestyle

New Lifestyle = CHANGE.

[starryskydream]

Where attention goes, energy flows

[starryskydream]

BRING IT BACK!

I miss a good ol' fashioned crystal version of my favourite consoles.

What do you think?

[starryskydream]

Urban Animism and Watersheds (Part 2)

Everyone lives in a watershed, which just means where the water goes from where you are. It makes it’s way through waterways into bodies of water and into oceans and into aquifers. You can look up your watershed online and find out a wealth of information about the health of your waterways and your local watershed.

I think that is a good and responsible thing to do and is important to your practice as a way of being intentional about your place in the system of water and life. However, like the tap, it is difficult to have a personal relationship with your community of beings if you’re just looking at maps on the internet, or at least it is for me.

I want to build empathy with the water and it’s community and in order to do that I need to experience it. So, let’s follow the water.

Depending on where you live, this may be more or less difficult but in the beginning, it’s pretty easy. Find a rain spout or a place where an outdoor faucted drips or where an apartment sprinklers leak and follow that water.

I’ve talked before about how to use weeds to read the landscape and this is a great place to use that skill.

In a low corner of my yard, I found this spot of dollar weed, pony’s foot, and other water-loving weeds against a fence. I followed these weeds down to the curb of my house.

Here right on the curb, my water runoff is nurturing a little population of algae on the cement as it seeps down into the street.

Of course, then it goes into the storm drain. It looks like the end of a story, but this is just where things start to get interesting. Here is where you might need to use a map to find out the direction of the storm drain flow. Generally, it will move downhill, so a topo map and Google Earth can help you follow the approximate direction to a ditch, culvert, or creek.

I’ve lived here about 20 years, so I already know where the outflow is. I found out because as a youth, I would shoot fireworks into these pipes that run under the neighborhood and when I walked home the smoke would rise from the gutters.

There is a lot of activity here. There are fish and some turtles in the water. There’s also a lot of algae, probably helped by fertilizer runoff.

Now the shots are not quite as close because this isn’t as near to my house. This is a park that is also retention to heavy rains. For normal drainage and to follow our water, we can just walk down and see where it goes.

I don’t know that this water is healthy, but it’s alive. The audio is garbage, but I want you to hear the insects and the distant birds. This is their water now.

The water here is nurturing a strange little habitat on the edge of the soccer field. Several turtles disappeared when I walked up. Native and naturalized semi-aquatic plants are trying to carve out space on the banks, but this pond shrinks and grows day by day, so it is difficult for any of them to take hold.

And here is the other side, where the water flows into a drainage ditch. Our neighbors are here, a couple of ducks and a heron. There are slightly larger fish in the water here, as well, which also feeds our neighbors. So I ask myself, as a member of this community and as a neighbor, am I being a good steward of the water as it is on a journey to these neighbors?

Well… There’s certainly room for improvement…

Here is where I had to get in the car and follow the drainage ditch to a larger waterway because there is no right of way where the drainage winds through private property. These smaller waterways are not monitored for their health, so I want to find out what it’s like when they reach a larger body. I used Google Earth to find where I could meet the water again from a public area.

Here I found the area where they reach a larger, named creek. Now my water is no longer Chicot-Evangaline Gulf Coast Aquifer water. Now it has changed to Mary’s Creek. These White Ibises feed along the waterways and we see them more and more in urban and suburban communities as the coast regions become more salty.

So now I see, my responsibility to the water extends to them. These, too, are my water neighbors.

This is my last location, where Mary’s Creek runs into the retention of a bird sanctuary. Here the water is monitored and I can just step inside the complex and ask how the water is. The answer is, it needs improvement, but it’s better than it has been in generations. Otters are returning to the creeks, which haven’t been seen in decades. They’ve built nesting sites and they see thousands of migratory birds here every season.

When I walk down to the little peninsula they’ve built for observations, I see neo-tropical cormorants, whistling ducks, a single white pelican, and coots, all roosting, fishing, swimming, My responsibility extends to them as well, in a direct and followable line from a cup of coffee I dump in my yard, all the way here.

It goes further. This creek will join a bayou, which goes to the bay, which goes to the Gulf of Mexico. This spring that gulf will heat and that water will rise with that moisture and move across this land and rain again, some of that rain will trickle down into the aquifer and it will be pumped up and start all over again. Everyone is downstream. Even me.

If where you live, you receive water from surface water sources, this system may be even more direct than that, so we have to ask ourselves. do we believe that the water is a being? Do we believe the algae and the plants and the fish and the insects and the ducks and the herons deserve respect and that they are our neighbors? Do we believe that we are in community with them, that they are our family? If we do, are we being loyal to them? Are we being good neighbors to them?

[starryskydream]

This video has really interesting points about underconsumption as a trend, like the mental health aspect of being just one click away from a shiny new thing, and how it needs the choice to be a trend as not being able to buy something because of circumstances is still frowned upon. Also there was commentary about how we have replaced communities by consumerism that I haven't really thought about but now that it has been pointed out I can't unsee.

[starryskydream]

Underconsumption core and minimalism, decluttering and simple living 🥀🖤

8 questions to help you embrace the underconsumption core trend

1. Do I already own something similar to the item I’m considering buying?

2. Why am I buying this item?

3. Can I repurpose or upcycle something I already own to fit my current needs and/or style?

4. Will I get good use out of this item for the long term?

5. Could I rent this item instead of buying it?

6. Could I buy this item second-hand instead of new?

7. Will this purchase benefit my mental health (by adding joy to my life or making life easier in some way) or be detrimental to my mental health (by adding clutter or causing financial strain)?

8. Can I simply do without this item?

Read the full article: Simple Lionheart Life

[starryskydream]

Listen, I promise you, you do not need a 15 step shower routine to be clean, moisturised, smell good and treat whatever skin issues you have.

This is all you need:

1. Soap/shower gel/shower oil, depending on your skin needs and skin type, don't forget that.

2. Natural sponge/shower cloth/silicone brush.

Many options out there, try to not go for loofahs or sponges because they really harbour bacteria like nothing else. Silicone is great, natural sponges are amazing and exfoliate so good without hurting. If you can't afford that, little cotton towels are great. Anything that gives a lather, that's what cleans you 😉

3. Scalp exfoliant is great before shower. Buy a cheap salicylic acid toner, put a nozzle on it and there you have it. All over your scalp, 15 minutes before shower. You're welcome.

4. If you have an oily scalp, a clarifying shampoo is great. Shampoo once, then follow with a shampoo for whatever needs you have.

5. Conditioner, if you need it, personal choice in my opinion.

6. Hair mask, once a month, if you need it.

7. Hair oil, as much or as little as your hair needs, on damp hair, mid to ends.

7. Body lotion/cream/butter/oil depending on your skin type and needs. Nothing fancy or expensive, just something that works for you.

Water down there, very delicate soap on the outside, if you feel you need it.

8. Deodorant or even better, dab a cotton round in glycolic acid and dab on your armpits. Kills the bacteria, exfoliates and brightens.

You only need the basics and only what works for you. Everything else is just for fun, really.

.

[starryskydream]

the key for getting past my overconsumption habits has been to love the things I have literally to pieces.

I don’t need more. I need to pour a little unnecessary love into these specific things that I already have.

[starryskydream]

My opinion doesn’t matter, but like. I’ve seen so many things that are like “overconsumption core” or “underconsumption core” and yeah overconsumption isn’t good. But you are allowed to consume. Obviously with like nuance to this, like. If you want a Stanley mug then get one, you just don’t need 10, the goal was to use those instead of single use plastics so if you buy 10 and throw half out after a year, that isn’t great. But like. You’re allowed to buy new shoes. Or cute clothes, it just has to come with the foresight and understanding that they should be more than a one wear item.

You should be buying things with intention and thought, to be used for a long time.

Anyway the entire point is that you can and should consume but as a thoughtful and intentional consumer that is prepared to carefully consider what they need and want within their life.

[starryskydream]

a palestine sunbird

zios, terfs, racists, etc. fuck off

made in 2024

go check out operation olive branch’s spreadsheet of gofundmes for Palestinian people trying to seek refuge from the ongoing genocide

[starryskydream]

It is so disingenuous when supermarkets have "grown by: Farmer X" on their packaging because it's like, I'll be looking at a pack of strawberries grown by farmer x and he'll actually be the managing director of a fruit farm that employs 2,000 people as pickers!

[starryskydream]

Boomers cry about ordering at a kiosk meanwhile this is how their parents ate