Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/11/01/hammacher-schlemmer-is-selling.html
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2 Likes
Blood sweat might be a deal breaker for me.
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At least they aren’t selling a real hippopotamus.
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From the Marble Machine Orchestra one:
Each machine is custom built and may vary from picture.
Translation: “For enough money we will build you a crappy rip-off of Wintergatan’s Marble Machine, without giving him any credit for the idea or the design.”
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Does the Mini Monster Truck come with the terrible photoshop job? Because for that amount of money, I’d also want horrific fake shadows to follow my kid around.
(I’d give them the Doctor Who Episode “Silence In The Library” to watch first. The spoilt little brat deserves to be terrified.)
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But notice that it mentions nothing about comfort. That hippo shape appeals to me. I just don’t think it’s a great place to sit.
Yeah, if I have to be in the belly of the beast, I’m going to want to be as comfortable as possible.
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Well, that’s literally photo of Martin Molin from Wintergatan operating the machine. He (and the group) is from Sweden too, so it is very likely that this is an offer to build a replica (the original is non-functional) either by the original crew or they have commissioned someone to do it based on the original plans (they are for sale on Wintergatan’s web site).
I think it would be rather unlikely if this was a an unauthorized rip-off made in Sweden, using even his photo - and not getting the pants sued off already.
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For that kind of money I’d like a comfortable sofa.
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I was wondering where I could shop for all the Russian oligarchs and Gulf state princes in my life.
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For that price I assume it IS a real hippopotamus.
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All I could think looking at this list is that the target audience for Hammacher is definitely “people who fly first class with such regularity that they become bored enough to make 6-figure impulse buys just to pass the time.”
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First class?! Please, that’s for the peons. Private jet or GTFO. Also, it isn’t only about money; you also need to have a chronic good taste deficit.
All that said, Hammacher Schlemmer is a very interesting company.
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I got a pop-up $10 off coupon! That makes it affordable. /s
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Honestly it might not be incredibly difficult to just make one if someone just had to have a very kitschy sofa. Buy one of those fiberglass animals you see for sale at some places, cut it up, build some supports inside, reinforce it with concrete or something else, and add cushions.
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Do private jets even have seatback pocket magazines/catalogs? Or do oligarchs just shout out random imaginary product descriptions out of muscle memory from when they slumming in first class whilst cutting their oligarchic teeth, and H/S just knows their taste and produces their whims…
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They got their start with SkyMall, before working their way up to to pricier H/S.
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What in the clinical fuck
Do they mean it is based on the non-Wright-related Passivhaus standard? Or that it is based on actual Wright homes, which (like most Modernist-era housing) have notoriously bad environmental performance? Only, the residence pictured doesn’t evoke Wright at all as far as I can tell. I guess the Peterson cottage and Taliesin West_sort of_ have that kind of monopitch cantilevered eaves, but it reads to me more as generic Neutra-influenced fifties suburb, and the drip-enhancing edge detail is in the style we call incompétent.
Also why is it on wheels
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I’d be careful sitting on that - he looks hungry.
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You know, I considered that, but at the same time, they’re neck deep in Marble Machine X right now. Also, those stills are just pulled from the original Marble Machine video, so it’s not like someone couldn’t just plop them up there (and the video is just the original with H-S bumpers added). The “made in Sweden” part is a bit of a hope spot.
I guess if they’re going to use the plans from the original, they might be able to subcontract it. Still, if I were Wintergatan and I were licensing this to H-S, I’d want my band’s name to appear in the copy.
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