First episode of Marie Kondo.
The Media Studies student inside me really set off an alarm in my head. Does anyone else see a strong element of Asian fetishism going on within the popularity of her book/show?
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I made the mistake of watching the pilot of Being Human before starting the series proper
The problem with watching pilots is â if you liked those versions of the characters, and that version of their world â TOO BAD, because youâll never see them again
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I havenât seen the show, but the book, no. In fact, I got a few smiles from when Kondo turned that on its head by talking about some of the clutter issues her clients had, or her own struggles with clutter when she was a kid.
One of my favourite parts was on clothes decluttering. She had a client with two radically different aspects to her wardrobe: fancy slinky cocktail wear and comfy practical athletic clothes like sweat pants and hoodies. When they finished bagging the first round of non-joy items, all the fancy dresses were gone. Kondo said âare you sure youâre comfortable with the choices?â and the woman explained the cocktail/club wear were hand-me-downs from her older sister, while the comfy clothes sheâd bought for herself.
I found the family dynamic points very relatable overall. Thereâs a whole chapter on how to deal with your family when you declutter stuff theyâve given you.
The version of the book I read was a straight translation of her Japanese book to English, so it includes things like reminding people Shinto temple amulets were only supposed to be kept for one year, and that there was no point keeping them after that.
None of that struck me as fetish-y. I had a good giggle over a lot of the book.
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i get excited just thinking about all the kids who are seeing her as their first Doctor. : )
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Ooh yeah.
âMommy! Did you know the Doctor used to be a boy? So weird.â
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I honestly have never liked Dr. Who, but Iâm squeeing so hard over this pic. 
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PUNISHER SEASON 2
Also hoping Endeavour season 6 and The Tick season 2 start someday soonâŚ
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Try the American version of Being Human, see what you think.
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Perhaps the feel of cultural fetishism was stronger in the show, and localized to just this couple/client. I was cringing every time they were on.
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Iâm sure Iâll watch it eventually. When I read the book, Kondo didnât speak English and all interviews were done via an interpreter. Iâm assuming she learned English if sheâs now doing the TV show.
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Nope!
She rolls with her interpreter.
The cut-aways to her segments about specific techniques are done via subtitles.
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i havenât seen the show (Kondo-mania drives me crazy), but fwiw the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast this week talks about it, and they dwell on the topic of potential cultural fetishism for a bit â but then ended up deciding that itâs not a factor in her popularity because she is quick to establish a commonality with the people sheâs helping, and also sheâs so clearly aware of how sheâs seen and how she brands herself. sheâs not âotheredâ that way. (but then again i havenât seen it, so i canât really say for sure thatâs how it comes off to me)
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This makes me happy.
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Ditto.
I have my own feelings about some of the stuff she espouses- her 30 books thing especially sets my teeth on edge. But the show is kinda interesting- she treats the process as one of self discovery and healing, and not one of punitive condemnation. The people she helps seem genuinely improved by the process- and they often have/keep large-ish collections as well.
I had thought it might be like that horrid Hoarders show, but it isnât. Itâs better than that.
Iâm still keeping my books, though. Every. Single. One.
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I love books. The uproar over Kondoâs remarks on books annoys me.
Like you said, people get to keep their collections. You collect books. You get to keep them.
The â30 booksâ remarks are for people who, sure, own books, but theyâre not exactly book lovers. Yet they have hundreds of the things.
I now have to 3 full bookshelves. I used to have 4. The fourth bookshelfâs worth of books were stuff I didnât even like, or horribly out of date text books I never used.
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Yay! I get to keep my dust!
More seriously, I have a room in my house set aside as a library (slash occasional guest room). My books are going nowhere.
But then, I donât really have a clutter problem, and when I do, itâs more of a ânot putting things awayâ problem than a ânot throwing things outâ problem.
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And racism in the criticsm. Yup.
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Yup. People are deliberately misinterpreting her.
Even âsparks joyâ gets misinterpreted. No, your frying pan doesnât literally make you happy, but you might be fairly miserable if you didnât have it. And is there a reason you have six nearly identical frying pans, two of them warped?
Or, thanking the item for its service. It seems corny to me, but for someone else that may provide the psychological closure they need to get rid of Aunt Maryâs fugly lamp that they were mostly holding onto out of guilt.
Another trick I heard for clothes was to hang everything in your closet flipped around from the way you normally do (or hook the hangers over the rod backwards) then as you wear, wash and re-hang them put them in the right way. Anything left backwards after about a year (to account for seasonal shifts) can go (with a rare exception for something that has extreme emotional attachment). For drawers, store things inside-out, initially.
If something works for you, great. If it doesnât, find something that does, or get comfortable with clutter.
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north by northwest.
Leonard: Itâs an old Gestapo trick. Shoot one of your own people to show that youâre not one of them. Theyâve just freshened it up a bit with blank cartridges.
rather exacting cinematography. Tightly Plotted. Nice to see a young Martin Landau.
a most problematic film, though.
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When ever Iâm sad, Iâll either watch a video with Big Boi from Outkast talking about his love for Kate Bush⌠or this picture.
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