Grace Lavery / Joseph Lavery & Daniel M. Lavery / Mallory Ortberg - "Straight with extra steps" couple trooning out to avoid "dwindling into mere heterosexuality"

[Haram-Habibi]

Move into a new neighborhood, immediately start being condescending and/or gross.

That always works well.

 

[OttoWest]

Why is Joe not playing?

Spoiler

fat

 

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

Move into a new neighborhood, immediately start being condescending and/or gross.

It reminds me about how the Tranch became instantly hostile with the locals - good times!

Now, I don't think The Throuple will take it to that level, but both Joe and Mallory will probably put everyone off with their attitude.

 

[Diana Moon Glampers]

Noise cancelling headphones (or my preference, range earmuffs) are great if you have a colicky baby. Not because you can shut out the noise, and you wouldn't want to. Just to take the edge off while you're holding and burping and singing to someone who is going to scream at their absolute maximum volume until they're good and tired of it.

You take them off when the baby is making curious and normal-level noises. I've never seen any new parent recommend hearing protection to stop hearing the baby when it makes nice sounds. The whole reason they're a new parent protip is that the wailing of babies drives some parents to despair or anger, and it can mean the difference between being able to keep comforting the baby or feeling like you need to leave them in a crib and walk away and shut the door just to get a couple minutes without being next to the sound.

 

[Mayhem]

I cannot believe they spent all of their money on designer bullshit and now have to limp out of NYC to Lily’s house in Michigan.

Oh wait, yes I can, since we all said it would happen…

@AirdropShitposts do you have any insight on Michigan State itself? I‘ve seen the U of M campus and it’s gorgeous, and the U of M generally has the reputation of being a very good regional school, but I honestly don’t know anything about Michigan State.

 

[Pluciferous]

@AirdropShitposts do you have any insight on Michigan State itself? I‘ve seen the U of M campus and it’s gorgeous, and the U of M generally has the reputation of being a very good regional school, but I honestly don’t know anything about Michigan State.

Before being named Michigan State University, it was the Agricultural College of Michigan.

Disgraced gymnastics coach Larry Nassar was based out of Michigan State, so perhaps these two creeps will fit in better than you think.

 

[AMHOLIO]

With Joe I at lest know it’s bait. He would smear himself in shit to offend you with the smell. But Mallory... girl what are you doing?

After a certain point we have to put down the notion that she is preteneding and fully embrace that yes, she is just like that naturally. Sad.

Move into a new neighborhood, immediately start being condescending and/or gross.

That always works well.

Maybe it does to get people in lower circles to want to cling to you for having knowledge they don't have in urban hip leftists college areas, but not to most other human circles.

Now, I don't think The Throuple will take it to that level, but both Joe and Mallory will probably put everyone off with their attitude.

And they won't ever suspect it could have been their own words and attitudes that put others off.

 

[Friend of Dorothy Parker]

"Minnesota nice" (which really applies to the whole upper midwest) is just a polite way of saying most of the people there are like this:

View attachment 6058019

They are "nice" but seething, and also too passive to take action when necessary. Thus their capital being the first example made by the rapefugees and the Floydists.

They got this from the Scandinavians.

Not really. It's more like they just don't let you know when you've offended them, then undermine you, shun you, or hold a grudge forever. You'll never know exactly what you did. You will still be semi-cheerfully greeted, exchange pleasantries or not quite connect. But you will pay.

 

[Friend of Dorothy Parker]

I cannot believe they spent all of their money on designer bullshit and now have to limp out of NYC to Lily’s house in Michigan.

Oh wait, yes I can, since we all said it would happen…

@AirdropShitposts do you have any insight on Michigan State itself? I‘ve seen the U of M campus and it’s gorgeous, and the U of M generally has the reputation of being a very good regional school, but I honestly don’t know anything about Michigan State.

(The University of Michigan is not really a "very good regional school." It's ranked 21 in the nation and #3 among the "public ivies."

Michigan State is not so well regarded, but good (#60). More of a real regional school academically, with a high acceptance rate and a tuition differential between in-state and out-of-state tuition looking like $30k/year ($15k vs $45k), if what I just read is correct. But there are > 50k students, so huge. Its grad education program is apparently ranked #1 (for 30 straight years), and the undergrad b-school is like tops for supply chain management.* It has wider recognition bc of football as well.

* one of those things that no child ever heard of, much less aspired to do (but is actually critical)

But tbh I could see them finding a crowd around any college campuses. At least Joe will, all of them half his age, probably.

The gang plays sports.

Why does Mal look half the size in the last pic as in the first two? And does lily EVER take off that top? As for Joe...what a useless lump. Even unathletic, awkward British men will bop around a tennis court (possibly in black socks, but still).

Noise cancelling headphones (or my preference, range earmuffs) are great if you have a colicky baby. Not because you can shut out the noise, and you wouldn't want to. Just to take the edge off while you're holding and burping and singing to someone who is going to scream at their absolute maximum volume until they're good and tired of it.

You take them off when the baby is making curious and normal-level noises. I've never seen any new parent recommend hearing protection to stop hearing the baby when it makes nice sounds. The whole reason they're a new parent protip is that the wailing of babies drives some parents to despair or anger, and it can mean the difference between being able to keep comforting the baby or feeling like you need to leave them in a crib and walk away and shut the door just to get a couple minutes without being next to the sound.

There is no way on earth I'd have worn earplugs or headphones when my kids were little. What you described with the colicky one makes reasonable, practical sense, but I could not have done it. (Hell, 20+ years later, I still don't even include their numbers when I put my phone on sleep mode. If they need me, they get me.)

And - MALLORY - I'd never have the crassness to make a "lightly amusing" point of it in the damn New York Times - you know that's what they always say about writing corporate memos/communications and such: if you wouldn't want to see it on the front page of the New York Times, don't say it. Also applies to quirky male humorists or whatever she describes as, who are actually writing something for the NYT. She continues to have zero sense of how poorly her perception of interpersonal things will land.

 

[dedspeaker]

For someone so obviously playing up to the glamour of the NYC freelance writer lifestyle why are they so bad at it ? I know you have to fake the authenticity as well but this is like watching people in their forties who are still fully committed to the goth life.
But a goth can always just dress normally for a job interview. Guess once you’ve done this to yourself what else is there but to keep going?


With Joe I at lest know it’s bait. He would smear himself in shit to offend you with the smell. But Mallory... girl what are you doing?

Grace and/or Daniel aren't needed in the NYC media world when you have Andrea Long Chu farting around. ALC is a funnier and better writer than either one of them (though maybe more full of shit) and wisely leans into AGP angle with reckless abandon while Grace seems to still pussyfoot around it. Also, and this might not make any sense, but Daniel's sense of humor seems like it never moved past 2016 "Im with Her, Bro" humor while the all the other media people have since transitioned to having a Chapo-lite humor.

 

[AirdropShitposts]

@AirdropShitposts do you have any insight on Michigan State itself? I‘ve seen the U of M campus and it’s gorgeous, and the U of M generally has the reputation of being a very good regional school, but I honestly don’t know anything about Michigan State.

As Friend of Dorothy Parker noted, MSU is basically overall #2 to U of M but is superior in some areas. It's a top public university, giant in size and students, gets lots of research stuff. You can think of it pretty similar to many of its sports rivals in the Big Ten, An Ohio State or Penn State in terms of being a giant but pretty good public university that has some standout departments.

In the fields I'm familiar with, MSU's not like an Ivy League or anything but you can generally assume someone's background is at least above average if not pretty good just because they come from MSU. I wouldn't say this for many state or State universities, but the ones that are in the Big Ten are pretty good, the others you probably want to look closer at what the person actually studied and researched. Obviously I would always advise doing that if you can but just rule of thumb I would probably expect someone from MSU to be familiar with whatever. This is changing, like the Texas public universities were pretty bad in a lot of fields for a while but just from the sheer amount of students they've gotten so much money to throw around that things have improved massively in recent decades.

In some areas a school like Michigan State can find that balance of professors who are good but not real life weirdos only academic weirdos.

All of this is said relative to academia, not:

 

[FarmerKhourtney]

Three adults to take care of one tiny baby, and yet they still need earplugs ? Fucking LOL

 

[Diana Moon Glampers]

Its grad education program is apparently ranked #1 (for 30 straight years),

No. It's had a top ranking in a subscore of education, "elementary and secondary teacher education."

The top graduate schools in education are Teacher's College at Columbia and Peabody at Vanderbilt. Other schools get into the top rankings sometimes but those are very consistent. MSU isn't in the top 10 for education overall (though University of Michigan is #3 this year in the USNWR rankings).

 

[Friend of Dorothy Parker]

No. It's had a top ranking in a subscore of education, "elementary and secondary teacher education."

The top graduate schools in education are Teacher's College at Columbia and Peabody at Vanderbilt. Other schools get into the top rankings sometimes but those are very consistent. MSU isn't in the top 10 for education overall (though University of Michigan is #3 this year in the USNWR rankings).

Oh, interesting. I did see that and a few other subscores ranked tops, but I did not appreciate the distinction btw those and overall. I see it's #21 overall. Sorry MSU!

 

[Bookwork]

I wish to shoehorn in the concept of land-grant universities, one of which is MSU.

While southern obstructionists were absent from Congress during the Civil War, advocates for improving America's shitty education infrastructure passed the first of a series of bills that gave states land they could convey to nascent colleges. The colleges could sell the land to farmers to get money to build themselves into stable institutions, many of which became research universities.

Worked very well. Cornell, MIT, Auburn, Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn State, Clemson, and Purdue are among the 100+ universities created that way in the following decades.

The universities didn't necessarily sell all the land they received, chosing to keep some for their campuses and for future sales to raise funds. One clue that you're at a land-grant university is often a sprawling campus, something I'm seeing mentioned about MSU and other universities. Often a land-grant college will have the state's name in it, like Michigan State U and UMich do. No guarantees - UPenn is private and not land-grant while Penn State is public and land-grant with a honking big campus compared with UPenn's.

Anyway, that's why MSU is bigly, The end.

 

[A Sentient Cloud]

MSU also has a top-ranked veterinary program. When my dog had cancer I drove her a couple hours to MSU for treatment.

Let's share the insane opening, where we learn that family values are under attack by queers (but that's a good thing!).


The review is positive, but ends by trying to nicely say that Joe's writing is garbled and then linking to the THROUPLE article as proof that he should have written a better book.

Jim and Pam aren't together at this point in the series, the boyfriend in question is Roy (David Denman). So not only is it dumbfuck read of the scene, neither Joe nor the reviewer could be bothered to *watch an episode of The Office* before writing about it. They didn't even need to do that, here's the scene in question. Roy appears in the first 30 seconds.

 

[Trianon]

Jim and Pam aren't together at this point in the series, the boyfriend in question is Roy (David Denman). So not only is it dumbfuck read of the scene, neither Joe nor the reviewer could be bothered to *watch an episode of The Office* before writing about it. They didn't even need to do that, here's the scene in question. Roy appears in the first 30 seconds.

Oh God, that slipped by me. It's been a while since I've seen that episode, but Joe proudly states in the introduction that he hasn't watched most of the shows in their entirety: "I haven’t even watched every episode of every show I mention here, though I’ve watched all the episodes of the shows I discuss in any detail."

I don't want to Tor the book, but if anyone wants to Ctrl+F "Roy" in it, that would be interesting. Because in literally the next episode, Pam and Roy break up after he screams at her. He returns in the NEXT episode and attacks Jim with pepper spray. None of those elements are played for laughs. Roy is not a queer element disrupting the workplace or the romantic will-they; he is a heterosexual whose inadequacies were revealed when Pam realized her boss valued her art more than her boyfriend, and that gives her enough confidence to break it off soon after. We could say the queering of the workplace relationship between boss and employee, with Michael caring about someone he's not professionally, romantically, or filially obligated to care about, is what shatters her stagnant heterosexual relationship. That's a far better reading than what Joe's trying.

Gil and Roy are both emotionally stunted dipshits, is the point. I just love how Joe doesn't trust any of this, dismisses the central theme as sentimentality that has no worth, and then latches onto the characters with no redeeming features.

"Queering" is not just creating a cute found family, it's intentional demoralization to pretend beautiful things are ugly and vice versa, because it's the only way theorists can exert power.

 

[A Sentient Cloud]

Oh God, that slipped by me. It's been a while since I've seen that episode, but Joe proudly states in the introduction that he hasn't watched most of the shows in their entirety: "I haven’t even watched every episode of every show I mention here, though I’ve watched all the episodes of the shows I discuss in any detail."

It's been probably a decade since I watched that episode and I was never even a huge Office fan, I stopped watching regularly after the first few seasons. But anyone even remotely familiar with the show would most likely realize that it'd be out of character for Jim to not care about Pam's interests, whereas that was a major issue in her relationship with Roy. Reading that excerpt I immediately went and checked the clip to make sure I wasn't misremembering, it sounded that wrong.

It just shows Joe's (and, frankly, his editor's) massive laziness, in a field of scholarship that already isn't demanding a huge amount of intellectual scrutiny.

 

[AirdropShitposts]

More specifically, Jim's with Karen at the time after both move to Stanton from Stamford when that branch closes. A few episodes prior he reveals to Karen his feelings for Pam so he definitely couldn't go to her art show. And in the prior episode to the art show one, Pam goes back to Roy and gives him a second chance because of her reaction to Phyllis getting married after Pam had called hers off over Jim. It had been previously established that Roy doesn't care about Pam's art and blows off many things she wants for things he wants instead. Most notably, Roy spent their wedding money on Jet Skis, in the episode after this one where Roy reveals they had to sell them at a loss and blows off Pam to get drunk which eventually leads to the bar trashing and attack on Jim.

Joe perhaps was under the impression that such a popular with normies show doesn't have overarching plots and character development that's relevant to what happens.

It's more broadly hilarious that anyone could think Michael Scott was the father figure of The Office.

 

[monstrous bubo]

Jim and Pam aren't together at this point in the series, the boyfriend in question is Roy (David Denman). So not only is it dumbfuck read of the scene, neither Joe nor the reviewer could be bothered to *watch an episode of The Office* before writing about it. They didn't even need to do that, here's the scene in question. Roy appears in the first 30 seconds.

Oh God, that slipped by me. It's been a while since I've seen that episode, but Joe proudly states in the introduction that he hasn't watched most of the shows in their entirety: "I haven’t even watched every episode of every show I mention here, though I’ve watched all the episodes of the shows I discuss in any detail."

I have accessed a copy of Closures. The art show does not actually feature in the book, so the goof is the reviewer’s, not Joe’s. I think I will read it, because of excellent passages like this:

It is not going too far to suggest that Dwight Schrute’s body symptomatizes the contradictory relation between proletarian and bourgeois under neoliberalism, in which the worker is forced not merely to specialize (to become ever less a person and ever more a part of a person) but to recite the corporate garbage, sing the corporate anthems, and manifest the corporate affects whose logic has been designed not to illuminate the worker’s condition but to annihilate everything but that condition.

Tell Angela that.