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Why is everything so ugly?

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Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#162
There's a stupid article like this every decade where the writer thinks he's being edgy when he's actually just regurgitating the same shit spewed by regular people every 10 years. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but really stupid people who write articles like this think their eyes are the center of the universe.

Take a look at this from over a decade ago: https://www.vice.com/en/article/5gynqq/what-v11n11

Part of the article laments how the shape of cars have turned into "cough drops" and "globular tears". Clever but I can also write a edgy article about how idiots in the past designed cars as if they were hideous boxes and the concept of a curve was too advanced for their square minds to comprehend.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#163
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millennials in America apparently actually like the monotone look; it’s not just the resale thing. The process of making the house more bland for resale used to be called ‘beige-ing‘ by realtors (estate agents?) in the US; it’s not new, but it wasn’t always white and gray.

Pretty sure it’s embraced by Millenials. Kids toys and room decorations used to be vivid bright colors, and now they are a sea of beige highlighted with very faint pastal colors if they have color at all. https://www.crateandbarrel.com/kids/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/hot-new-baby-gear-is-sad-beige-...

Personal theory (being a Millennial that likes it): The walls shouldn't draw attention and this is a great way to do it, giving more focus to what's actually in the room. First image does this well.

But then that second one is just bad. Like product makers don't understand the goal, thinking we actively like the color instead of de-emphasizing the walls, and we're stuck with it.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#164
post #130
post #127

Well, I for one don't think everything is ugly. Apple devices and stores look clean and elegant to me. Tesla vehicles feel and look simple and beautiful to me. If given a choice, I'd rather live in new buildings with bright, light-filled interiors than in old buildings with darker, mustier interiors. I could provide more examples of things I don't think are ugly. The main point is this: Beauty is in the eye of the be…

> Tesla vehicles look beautiful to me. As you say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder—but, seriously, the Cybertruck as a thing of beauty? (This is from someone who actually liked the boxy car designs of old.)

Cybertruck fan here, I wouldn't describe it as either ugly or beautiful. It is bold and different, and utterly unlike anything else out there, much the same way modern architecture was 70 years ago and modern art 100+ years ago. I find this very appealing.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#165

> After New York replaced the sodium-vapor lights in the city’s 250,000 streetlamps with shiny new LEDs in 2017, the experience of walking through the city at night transformed, almost . . . overnight. Forgiving, romantic, shadowy orange gave way to cold, all-seeing bluish white. Before the late 1970s, NYC was illuminated at night by pinkish-white incandescent bulbs. When the yellow monstrosities were rolled out peop…

> Now this dude is nostalgic for them?

No, they really were better for sleep.

With the orange-ish sodium lights, I could go to sleep with their light still coming through the bedroom window. The amber glow was reminiscent of the glow of fire.

The harsh blue light now tells my brain it's daytime. I had to buy blackout curtains to be able to fall asleep.

It's the same principle as using the amber-hued Night Mode on your phone in the evening.

I never experienced the pinkish-white, but the transition from orange to blue has been horrible for sleep. Nighttime lighting around homes should be amber, not blue. (Contrast with highways where you do want people to stay awake, so blue makes sense.)

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#166
post #157
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the Cybertruck looks great to me. Is it different? Yes. But ugly? Not in my view. Have you seen it in person?

> Have you seen it in person? I have not. I can't imagine it improving that much in person, but who knows? Anyway, whether I think it's ugly, in person or from afar, is not the issue; I was surprised that someone found it beautiful (which is different from just not being ugly), but I certainly don't mean to argue the point.

I find it beautiful as well, but beauty for me transcends the visual and into the conceptual / historical.

It’s interesting, unique, strange and therefore beautiful.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#167
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millennials in America apparently actually like the monotone look; it’s not just the resale thing. The process of making the house more bland for resale used to be called ‘beige-ing‘ by realtors (estate agents?) in the US; it’s not new, but it wasn’t always white and gray.

Not sure where you're getting this. Zero of my millenial friends like this look -- and we represent a wide range of the millenial years.

> Not sure where you're getting this.

No, it is (or was) definitely a trend. Google "millennial gray" -- it's so common it became a meme.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#168
post #157
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the Cybertruck looks great to me. Is it different? Yes. But ugly? Not in my view. Have you seen it in person?

> Have you seen it in person? I have not. I can't imagine it improving that much in person, but who knows? Anyway, whether I think it's ugly, in person or from afar, is not the issue; I was surprised that someone found it beautiful (which is different from just not being ugly), but I certainly don't mean to argue the point.

[deleted]

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#169

I just wanted to echo the gray frustration here. I went to buy vinyl flooring (I can't afford hardwood) and the sheer amount of inexplicably "grey wood" planks was staggering. Why! Like, it's as if some alien only saw wood in an episode of I Love Lucy and wanted to replicate it.

After a flood, I bought pine? colored Luxury Vinyl Plank at my wife's insistence. Previously we had dark engineered bamboo which looked good but it constantly scratched (chairs and dogs) which really bothered her and I was always worried about water getting on it. I was against the vinyl just because it was vinyl. I was wrong. This stuff is awesome. Looks great, close to water proof short of a flood and pretty much no scratches in a year plus of being down. It was not that much cheaper though vs engineered wood but a good deal less expensive than hardwood.

Re: Why is everything so ugly?

#170
post #136
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tesla vehicles look beautiful to me. As you say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder—but, seriously, the Cybertruck as a thing of beauty? (This is from someone who actually liked the boxy car designs of old.)

Yes, the Cybertruck looks great to me. Is it different? Yes. But ugly? Not in my view. Have you seen it in person?

I had the opposite experience. I thought pictures on the internet looked neat because it was unique. In person it causes an almost physical reaction in me because I found it so hideous.
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