Artisinal Denim
May 23, 2013 2:50 PM   Subscribe

Park Slope Family Circus: Old Family Circus panels combined with jokes poking fun at denizens of Park Slope, Brooklyn.
posted by mathowie (62 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
Usually these one-joke sites get old really quick, but going through the archives, damn, these are really well-written jabs at Park Slope trends.
posted by mathowie at 2:50 PM on May 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


Just what the Internet needs more of: jabs at Park Slope trendies.
posted by notyou at 2:56 PM on May 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I wanted this to be lazy swipes at Brooklyn's Most Graduate Degree Filled neighborhood but man these are ....exact. Very finely observed.
posted by The Whelk at 3:01 PM on May 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I only get about half of these but I think that I feel better about myself not knowing more.
posted by octothorpe at 3:03 PM on May 23, 2013 [2 favorites]




Totally from the mouths of proto-hipster-babies.
posted by sammyo at 3:06 PM on May 23, 2013


The Diva Cup one made me snort.
posted by sweetkid at 3:07 PM on May 23, 2013 [6 favorites]


Oh man, this one.

Having never been to Park Slope (I live in Seattle), I find the majority of these amazing.
posted by lattiboy at 3:07 PM on May 23, 2013


This could be Durham.
posted by 41swans at 3:09 PM on May 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I think it's funnier because the medium and message are so dated.

This would have been only mildly amusing in 2005.
posted by 2bucksplus at 3:09 PM on May 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


People keep saying "hipster" but aren't these more like bobos?
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:10 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is great; the DivaCup and lululemon references in particular.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:11 PM on May 23, 2013


Somewhere in like 08 the word Hipster got applied to middle-class parents when I distinctly remember it meant "coked up hedonists in basements" when I encountered it in 01.

But yeah, Park Slope -> NYC middle class with kids and a graduate degree.
posted by The Whelk at 3:13 PM on May 23, 2013 [4 favorites]


What the hell happened to Brooklyn since I left??
posted by blurker at 3:13 PM on May 23, 2013


Some of these hit disturbingly close to home.
posted by brain_drain at 3:13 PM on May 23, 2013


Usually these one-joke sites get old really quick, but going through the archives, damn, these are really well-written jabs at Park Slope trends.

Give it some time. The archives only go back three days.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:17 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I still think of hipsters as thrift store clothed 20ish urbanites with knitted hats that would embarrass Jayne and are somehow ALL going to be DJing at this party on Fri.
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:17 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I applaud them for making The Family Circus funny. I didn't think it was possible!
posted by Elly Vortex at 3:18 PM on May 23, 2013 [4 favorites]


He needs to do one about how bike lanes are ruining the historical character of this street lined with Lexus SUVs.
posted by Fnarf at 3:19 PM on May 23, 2013 [10 favorites]


Somewhere in like 08 the word Hipster got applied to middle-class parents when I distinctly remember it meant "coked up hedonists in basements" when I encountered it in 01.

Coked-up hedonism went mainstream.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 3:21 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Hipsters are into vaccine denialism now?
posted by Apocryphon at 3:34 PM on May 23, 2013




Except Williamburg hasn't really been that in...a while? It's pretty much the cheaper, less baby-filled and domestic Park Slope.
posted by The Whelk at 3:59 PM on May 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


Except Williamburg hasn't really been that in...a while?

But Whelk, it's 2003. The past ten years have been just a dream. In exactly 45 seconds, you are going to wake up, and you will have a ticket stub for Finding Nemo in your back pocket.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:04 PM on May 23, 2013 [6 favorites]


Except Williamburg hasn't really been that in...a while?

BikesnobNYC, my source for the best Brooklyn-related mockery, was talking just yesterday about all the Williamsburgites who moved there two whole years ago complaining bitterly about how all the new people are ruining everything.
"The people who actually live on this block don't go to these places. I don't go to the Wythe, I don't go to Output," said Wythe Avenue resident Kate, 26, who declined to give her last name but said she'd lived on the stretch for the past two years and was dismayed by the changes.
posted by Fnarf at 4:04 PM on May 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I still miss Blackbird, that was a great coffee shop/bar.

I was thinking recently how almost everyplace I used to perform in is now Long Gone.
posted by The Whelk at 4:08 PM on May 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


Considering I may have actually said this at one point... hmmm.
posted by yeti at 4:36 PM on May 23, 2013


I, uh... I said this the other day.

What? We drink a lot of fizzy water.
posted by brundlefly at 5:03 PM on May 23, 2013


I was reading these out loud to my kids and my graduate degree, who thought they were mildly humorous. They expected more lesbian and Food Co-op jokes.
posted by etc. at 5:07 PM on May 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


*sits in Queens laughing ass off*
posted by jonmc at 5:16 PM on May 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


Oh just you wait, Astoria can't be home to house-sharing artists, single professionals, working class families and hirsute homosexuals for long. you're next! YOU'RE NEXT!
posted by The Whelk at 5:18 PM on May 23, 2013


Anyone recall the site of reader-submitted Family Circus captions? Many LOLs. I fear it has been nuked from high orbit by a copyright lawyer battle cruiser.
posted by docgonzo at 6:55 PM on May 23, 2013


Google dysfunctional family circus
posted by The Whelk at 6:56 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


"I just shit my pants" still works better for Family Circus.
posted by NoMich at 6:59 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Astoria can't be home to house-sharing artists, single professionals, working class families and hirsute homosexuals for long. you're next! YOU'RE NEXT!

Ugh Astoria has changed so much since me & my graduate degree in heterosexuality moved in 2 weeks ago.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:09 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


The poop holds the PBR wher it is?
posted by jferg at 7:11 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Uncle Roy!
posted by The Whelk at 7:43 PM on May 23, 2013


They expected more lesbian and Food Co-op jokes.

Oh man they missed a huge opportunity with that panel of Dolly brandishing a rotten banana.
posted by Sara C. at 7:54 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]




250 for a touch up is pretty good.

(combs locks of golden hair to hide the roots)
posted by The Whelk at 8:53 PM on May 23, 2013


Shit Park Slope Parents Say yt
posted by brain_drain at 10:58 PM on May 23 [+] [!]


haha i LOVE that pink brownstone @1:28. love it love it love it!
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 9:08 PM on May 23, 2013


Until I know the creator's opinion on whether the Food Co-op should stock hummus from Israel, I refuse to read his site.
posted by Falconetti at 9:17 PM on May 23, 2013 [4 favorites]


(It was recently painted over/removed/restored/whatever you do with a painted brownstone. The woman who owned it died, new owners, see upthread if you want an idea of the level of outrage about how, Boy, The Neighborhood Has Really Changed. Seriously I remember multiple articles in the local press lamenting this -- and proposing that the new owners should be COMPELLED to keep it pink -- when it happened.)

I miss hating Park Slope people so much. Also the constant access to free home appliances (and books).
posted by Sara C. at 9:19 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ok, when did the Divacup and its ilk become a hipster thing? I always thought of it as an environmentalist hippie thing. I think I even have an ancient Keeper (the latex rubber predecessor to the Divacup) languishing in the back of my medicine cabinet. I also remember being extremely confused, as a child, as to why we were bringing bags TO the store. Don't they give you bags?

(My lawn. Get off it.)
posted by mollymayhem at 9:25 PM on May 23, 2013


It's not a hipster thing, those people no longer exist, they had overdoses in like 05 or realized they they really wanted to live in L.A, the word has bizarrely migrated to lefty environmentalist middle class parents, the kind that live in Park Slope.
posted by The Whelk at 9:47 PM on May 23, 2013


I speak with the wisdom of someone who was chased around a stage by a naked woman at Southpaw back when it had just opened and it was a brand new and highly suspect part of this glossy new brooklyn thing. I mean they had dressing rooms. I never had a dressing room before. I was lucky for an alleyway.
posted by The Whelk at 9:51 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ok, when did the Divacup and its ilk become a hipster thing? I always thought of it as an environmentalist hippie thing.

OK, another breakdown for the uninformed:

BUSHWICK: hipsters
WILLIAMSBURG: insufferable people who have too much money and no other identifying subcultural traits (not Williamsburg-ist)
GREENPOINT: HBO series
FORT GREENE: HBO series (yes this is confusing, try living in one and dating someone in the other)
RED HOOK: Ikea

PARK SLOPE: wealthy ultra-educated vaguely environmentalist/granola/crunchy parents. The elite alternative pre-school set.

The Family Circus thing and the "Shit Park Slope People Say" thing are both SPOT ON for that particular neighborhood.
posted by Sara C. at 10:00 PM on May 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I like to think the question of if you raise you kids in Park Slope or The Upper West Side falls on your generic age and who your parents knew.
posted by The Whelk at 10:06 PM on May 23, 2013


Or, you know, which dotcom crash did you make your money in.
posted by The Whelk at 10:07 PM on May 23, 2013 [4 favorites]


I mean, if want the version of where are the hip young people? The hip young people are LYING LOW. They know what happens if things get too nice around here and they want to keep their apartments. Go into the city for that, they're not gonna shit where they eat.
posted by The Whelk at 10:19 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also the US can't and doesn't support anything like a youth culture cause...demographics and money.
posted by The Whelk at 10:22 PM on May 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


PARK SLOPE: wealthy ultra-educated vaguely environmentalist/granola/crunchy parents

Environmentalist as lifestyle rather than conviction, though? A few symbolic acts that in no real compromise the upper middle class lifestyle you deserve.
posted by MartinWisse at 4:20 AM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


I suppose? I mean I'm sure there are people in the Slope who take it very seriously and think that their choices make a real impact. People living that lifestyle can often be really earnest about it. Also, I'm pretty sure there are, like, eco policy wonks and environmental lawyers and conservationist college professors living in Park Slope, and one assumes that environmentalism is honestly very important to them.

That said, with a few exceptions most of these folks are happy to live a bougie upper middle class Whole Foods existence, where things like using canvas bags at the grocery are the extent of their commitment to the planet. They're not willing to actually give up any creature comforts for the sake of the environment.

But yeah, divacups and fair trade and the heath food co-op is absolutely a Park Slope thing. It's not really about "hipsters".
posted by Sara C. at 7:24 AM on May 24, 2013


I know maybe 30+ people that live in Park Slope and none of them fit the stereotype at all, except maybe one. Its funny to trash Park Slope because there definitely are annoying people that vaguely fit Sara C's description that live there, but lets not get carried away. "Park Slope" has become more of a signifier for that type of people rather than an actual phyiscal location. I lived there for years and now live on the far outskirts where it is slightly more affordable.
posted by Falconetti at 7:49 AM on May 24, 2013


i actually learned about diva cups not from living in park slope but by seeing instead cups years ago next to a box of tampons in the feminine product aisle at a regular grocery store. what a great invention! later on instead cups disappeared off the shelves i heard about diva cups online and voila i haven't used a tampon since. it's not just about using a product that saves the environment but it sure as hell beats throwing down money on tampons every month. it also beats the worry of when there's no trash to be found whether or not you're going to clog the toilet by flushing the bloody thing.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 8:21 AM on May 24, 2013


There is a definite difference between two similar sets of people in Park Slope and it does kind of fall on the line that MartinWisse describes: people who do various things because they were raised to believe that way and/or it's habit, and people who do various things because it's the lifestyle they want to portray. The latter are sort of insufferable and tend to end up being mocked as the standard mindset of the area, mostly because they're so vocal about what wonderful people they are for doing these various things.


I mean I'm sure there are people in the Slope who take it very seriously and think that their choices make a real impact. People living that lifestyle can often be really earnest about it. Also, I'm pretty sure there are, like, eco policy wonks and environmental lawyers and conservationist college professors living in Park Slope, and one assumes that environmentalism is honestly very important to them.

One of my oldest friends was born at home in her parent's Park Slope brownstone, to people exactly like you describe, and she is nowhere near as insufferable as the "lifestyle" people, simply because she doesn't expect recognition for her choices. And this is a girl who at age 7-8 was arguing with my mom about surrendering passively to patriarchal oppression because my mother refused to confront and/or sanction me over the fact that almost all my stuffed animals had male names.
posted by elizardbits at 8:29 AM on May 24, 2013 [2 favorites]


how long before the family circus estate shuts this down? if this is allowed to exist, i want the Cthulhu family circus back.
posted by asfuller at 8:53 AM on May 24, 2013


They're not willing to actually give up any creature comforts for the sake of the environment.

I think a telling example of this attitude is that there is a block on 8th st. (I think between 7th and 8th Aves.) that bills itself as the "Greenest Block in Brooklyn" (probably because it won some contest or something), when really the greenest block in brooklyn is one of those abandoned blocks out in the Far Rockaways because nobody actually lives there.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 9:14 AM on May 24, 2013


A little background.
posted by billyfleetwood at 9:27 AM on May 24, 2013


Greenest in that context means, like, lots of greenery. It's a gardening competition, not an eco-friendly thing.

"Greenest Block In Brooklyn" is sort of like a hip/urban version of the Neighborhood Association Garden Society.
posted by Sara C. at 9:47 AM on May 24, 2013


Ah, well, in that case, it's awesome! I always thought it was a little incongruous to see those signs next to huge piles of trash by the curb.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:11 AM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


Hate to break it to you, this describes people outside of your NY bubble. Also, artisinal whatever sales makes one rich? I always thought artsinal businesses were something of a niche that maybe caters to those well-off.
posted by melt away at 3:54 AM on May 26, 2013


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