"an ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure"

* Slate's Dana Stevens gives us all permission to watch Breaking Bonaduce (I haven't yet, but I will now):

"If there's a more dramatically compelling show than Breaking Bonaduce currently on television, I don't want to know about it. No, seriously, I don't."

And now for the pretension:

* Nobody cared 20 years ago, nobody cared 10 years ago, and nobody even knows what you're talking about now. Uh...seriously...Nantucket pants? Huh? You're an old lady writing about how it's so unfair than just anyone can buy Brooks Brothers now when it used to only be for special people like you? And you really think that's okay? It's like the indie-rock-snob aesthetic applied to Ralph Lauren polo shirts, which would be awesome if it was satire, but instead it's completely dead serious. This reminded me of the random guy who showed up at my birthday party and started bragging about how he went to Hotchkiss. I kept saying "Hodgkins? What's that?" even though I knew it was a prep school. The moral is: if we all pretend to have no idea what pretentious people are talking about, maybe someday they'll shut up and get personalities. It's like complaining that your favorite vintage shirt is now available in sizes small, medium and large at Urban Outfitters, only worse. No. Body. Cares.

Anyway: