A thank you letter. (from me)
72Hello Meh.com community,
mediocrelabs community?
meh.com community,
community (sixseasonsandamovie),
In the eighth grade, I was looking for a pair of beats headphones because I was so incredibly convinced that it would make me cool. At some point during my perusing and cruising, I ran into this strange strange website. I fell in love with it instantly. I can’t tell you why, and I wasn’t even really involved with it that much at the time. But I would come back every day without having bought anything at all to hit the meh button. It’s still wild to me that I’ve made 52 posts on this website and made maybe a total of 8 purchases. I have a lot of things to apologize for, but also a lot of things to thank this community for.
I should start by properly introducing myself. Hi, I’m Amrut. I’m 19 years old (I’ve definitely lied about my age before here, although there was no need to) and a sophomore majoring in Film and Television at NYU and I’m still an absolute shithead I promise you. This website was an escape for me. I loved how intimate it felt, and you guys have truly done so much for me. The people here are absolutely fantastic (f00l, in particular, left a big impression on me but there’s an exhaustive list of characters from the time I was active here who still make lots of noise). The first time someone checked me was on this website, the first time someone made me feel truly accepted was on this website, and though my time here was short and quite odd (profanity-filled, too) it left such an impression on me that I still visit the site a few times a week just to see the goings-on.
I think it speaks volumes that a company is responsible for one of the earliest intimate relationships I had with a community, but I’m dead serious when I say that meh.com is something special. One leg-end isn’t going to make or break the community, there’s plenty of them to go around. The gags you guys have, the connection to one another, and the love for such a wondrous daily deal website in the middle of it all have captured me for 6 (or 7? bad at math art major) years now. I still keep my pin from Irk, I slept on the pillow timmyboy1 sent me for so long and got it so dirty that my mom had to literally get rid of it while I was away from home just so she wouldn’t face my complaining about her removal of it. The drum kit that I bought on here is what I made my first song with (I already played guitar, the kit was just the push is all). It’s hard to characterize my observing for the last few years as just standing by and idly watching because I’ve felt as if I’m still involved in the community, even though I’ve been so quiet for so long that most people have likely forgotten about me. This is my thank you to you all, and though I probably owe you a better one I don’t think I can go another day without expressing my gratitude. You guys made this leg end a full leg.
Thank you.
- 19 comments, 51 replies
- Comment
Meh sold drum kits???
@RiotDemon
https://meh.com/forum/topics/ion-audio-illuminated-electronic-drum-kit?category
@carl669 a full year before I joined. No wonder I don’t remember.
@RiotDemon Many great videos came of it.
@Collin1000 you know… I’ve seen a bunch of the Chad videos and I guess I never thought about where the drum kit came from.
@RiotDemon It says a lot about Meh (and I suppose about RiotDemon) that the first response to @legendornothing’s long and heartfelt post was about the fucking drum kits.
@legendornothing @ThunderChicken I don’t work for meh so my opinions are usually my own.
@legendornothing @RiotDemon @ThunderChicken
I’m hoping that your opinions are always your own.
Or are you an actor?
Or are you possessed?
If so, I would be interested to know what sort of being managed to gain possession of you.
: )
(Not asking about your publicly expressed thoughts here; I understand there are times when we speak for our employees/co-workers/contractors, or are diplomatic because a situation warrants it)
@RiotDemon I was speaking of Meh as a community, not a company. I hope my comment was seen for the good-natured humor I intended.
@ThunderChicken I honestly wasn’t sure. I’m weird so sometimes it’s hard for me to tell.
@RiotDemon On the Interweb it can be hard to tell. As to being weird, you are in good company. Or I should say, you are in good community.
@Collin1000 @RiotDemon Back when people worked at meh. And when videos were made.
so… leg-full? maybe whole-leg? i don’t know.
anyway… in the spirit of profanity, welcome fucking back!
@carl669 fuck yeah! love this shit
Good to hear from you.
Hope you love NYU. Are you in a dorm?
Or did you actually find affordable housing nearby? (I assume this last is impossible.)
NYU has a damn in film school. I hope you are taking advantage of the op to see some of the little known and wonderful films shown at museums and culture societies around NY every day.
Or maybe, in the streaming era, that’s something no one needs to be in NYC or LA to do anymore.
In this strange little meh community, the usual reqs, I suppose, are to be at least somewhat intelligent and somewhat interesting and a normally decent human being.
And hopefully not a manipulator or user.
Afaik you qualified on all reqs. I used to look forward to your rare and odd communiques.
You were always interesting. Bet you still are.
Hope you are well Hope you are fascinated by school and by your fellow students.
Hope you hang out here some.
@f00l very sorry for barreling through these 1. Love NYU, it’s absolutely fantastic but they cost an arm and a leg end 2. I’m in an apartment, it’s competitive with local pricing and really nice but still way too expensive. I love Tisch, the film program here is amazing and they have a program I wanna go down (want to be produce TV and be an actor). I’ve been really active while I’m here, I think the N.Y. State of mind is the real thing and it rubs off quickly. Not a manipulator or user! I do have ADHD but otherwise quite normal. Thank you for all the kind words. I think I’m gonna stick around for a really long while, I’ll speak up a little more though haha
@legendornothing
I know you’re not a manipulator or a user.
No worries there.
Points re NYC
When you have the time: hop a subway or bus and go somewhere in Manhattan a ND fucking walk.
Walk around.
Manhattan is astonishing. Central Park is awesome. Harlem is fascinating. Just do this.
Also it helps keep you in shape.
There are a few enormous cities in the world that are amazing for walking. NYC. London. Paris. Rome. Chicago except in winter. SF.
So walk and see and experience and learn.
Don’t go to iffy neighborhoods alone tho. Esp at 3am or something.
I did, but you don’t pls; don’t be that much a stupid innocent.
Manhattan and NYC at large are among the great world cities for food.
Insofar as the pandemic and your budget and dietary customs allow, explore this.
There is plenty of cheap great food, just ask your fellow students, and normally avoid famous places.
Esp try the Villages, E and W; the kosher neighborhoods; little Italy, since you’re right there already; Chinatown; hispanic and Caribbean places; Russian and eastern European; street places; festivals; and French if you can find an affordable place.
Is there still a hole in the wall falafel place on Bleeker? Or someplace right by Washington Sq?
Unless you have diabetes or metabolic illness or dietary restrictions, at least once go eat one if the astonishing desserts at Serendipity 3.
It’s kinda a place for sumptuous stuff for kids, and also for adults who wanna be a kid or a day. Everyone should get a shot at eating there once.
Assuming it’s still as it was. My experience was a long time ago.
NYC is full of the most fascinating mix of people in the world. Creative, original, full of energy. So go meet them when you have time.
Avoid the clubbing life (if it exists during a pandemic?) except v rarely. It can be a great energy-blowout time, but eats up lots of money and drunken hours and gives little back that can be used later.
Meet everyone in your industry you have time to try to meet. Try for good qual connections and internships. The right connections can mean everything for your opportunities later.
The museums and culture societies show (or used to show) films everyday.
Are there still daily changing themed film screenings in pay theaters? Like the Thalia? If so, don’t waste this.
[I once went to a 3D film festival in the Village at one of these places where I saw Warhol’s Frankenstein, a 3 Stooges film (marvelous), and Hitchcock’s Dial “M” For Murder.]
Sometimes I saw artsy fartsy stuff from EU at these. Breathless, Jules and Jim, Marienbad, The Rules of the Game, Antonioni, La Dolce Vita, etc. Solaris (Russkie version) And Satyajit Ray. And Kurosawa. A bunch of stuff I don’t remember or barely remember.
Now there would be a bunch more of gorgeous and less well known Asian stuff and other cultural-origin stuff also going on.
It’s always better on the big screen, and all the big museums and French or Japan or whatall societies etc used to to do this, so, if they still are doing this, go!
All these foreign greats created many of the visual languages/cues that American directors (famously Spielberg and Lucas and Coppola and Scorcese) mixed up with US film and TV visual tropes to such great effect in their blockbusters.
There will be way too much going on for anyone to worry about trying to get it all. But this can be one of the best times of your life.
You might try writing.
Script or screenplay or short story or whatever. Even if you don’t ever show it to anyone and don’t intend to be a writer, the attempt at writing will teach you so very much about screenplays and how they work or fail to work.
And about the relationship of the stuff on the page to the finished material.
How one film project destroys excellent source material and makes poisonous hash or it;
How another project takes so-so source material and creates a masterpiece.
It’s kinda evergizing to think I kinda know someone who’s a student in Manhattan now.
: )
POPSOCKETS! ROAD ROCKETS! SONNY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
@f00l @legendornothing Wow. Great advice for anyone with some time to spend in NYC.
@f00l @legendornothing You forgot Tarantino in your director’s list, otherwise nicely said.
Boston was, for me a similarly great walking city.
@legendornothing @PhysAssist
For walking, Boston/Cambridge/surrounding areas, Baltimore, Philly, and DC are also great walking cities. You need a certain density amd history and some great sidewalks.
Re Tarantino: he wasn’t yet directing films that made it into theaters when I lived in Manhattan.
[In an apt that went for $250/month!
Those days are gone forever. : ( ]
There were tons of other arty or obscure or foreign films and directors also.
Manhattan was a paradise for unknown or hard-to-see films at a time before home video.
Film reviewers would could illuminate - such as Kael and Sarris - were commonly discussed celebs around Manhattan then.
I first saw The Seven Samurai in a completely unheated building, during a week where the top temp was I think under 10F.
I just really really wanted to see it. The theater owner didn’t charge anyone, due to no heat. And people came!
And I paid for that viewing with a case of the flu, in the days before I’d heard of flu shots.
(You get really really cold sitting absolutely still for 3 hours when it’s 7F.)
Was also a paradise for live music.
Who was best? Hard to say. So much … and mostly semi-affordable even for students.
Maybe Ornette Coleman? The Clash? Wilson Pickett? Some jazz or blues group of whom I’ve lost the memory?
Smd tons of free or super cheap classical music.
There was art gallery exhibit openings every day. Food was served at openings. I knew a few people whose food budgets consisted of daily subway fare to various gallery-rich neighborhoods. The gallery people tolerated it, afaik, as long as thess hungry visitors weren’t greedy or rude, dressed arty, and talked either like an art/obsessed or super-educated person.
Good times. : )
@legendornothing @PhysAssist
Damned edit window 5 min limit.
: )
Another thing that great cities for walking need is decent mass transportation system, often combined within impossible traffic and even worse parking in central areas. So that people don’t just take a car.
Park of having a great city for walking is having people out walking as part of normal daily life. The streets and sidewalks develop out to be good and interesting for people out walking, if there are lots if people walking.
Most US cities just aren’t designed that way. There are small “good walking area” enclaves in many cities, but v few in most cities seem to normally walk to get stuff done as part of daily life.
Auto-access cities develop differently. No or little street life and no enough for pedestrians to encounter and everything too far apart.
I used to love just going for walks in Manhattan.
@f00l Responding to both comments asynchronously, oh yeah, the buses from here (Flixbus in particular, which sells tickets for direct buses to all those cities with pretty solid amenities for 1-5 dollars) are absolutely fantastic. I loved Boston when I went to visit some friends out at Harvard and Tufts, particularly Medford. Breath of fresh air from the concrete jungle. 250 dollars a month for an apartment sounds insane to me (2400 for a 2bed). Also I’m in iffy neighborhoods all the time! My skateboard takes me all over Manhattan, and especially with the couple films I got to work on before COVID hit, I was in Flushing and Brooklyn and all kinds of beautiful areas in NYC, it blows my mind how much there is to see here. Also in regards to the hole in the wall place–– Mamoun’s? Manousheh? I love em both, but they might not be what you’re talking about. Also I love John Cusack, don’t know why I didn’t get out to Serendipity before they temporarily closed for the pandemic. As far as film goes, I solemnly swear to network with everyone and anyone I can. I’m aspiring to be a producer and actor actually (here’s a film I acted/did some minor producing work in last year ). I did an internship from last October until March as an audio engineer at a recording studio on Times Square and met all types of crazy characters and artists, and some right now that I’m having the very strange experience of watching blow up. Clubbing doesn’t exist here, but I have found ways to meet people in film still in concentrated and intimate gatherings. It’s really tough trying to see movies here because you have to make a day out of it, the theaters in NY are still closed but we can go out to CT or NJ since they’re in the tri-state where theaters are open. I saw tenet recently, but I haven’t been seeing many indie movies on the silver screen. I wish I had movie experiences like your Seven Samurai one, and I better start having them once things open up a lil. I’ve been making lots of music too since I do want to continue to produce and sing/rap while I make film (but more on the side) but I definitely want to never stop writing. Something about writing a script is invigorating. I love art a lot, and so many kinds of it, so I’ll let you know as I slowly go down the list of things you’ve left me to explore, they’re truly great suggestions. It always makes me really happy hearing from someone who loves the city and had so many experiences with it––gets me thinking about how many I’ve yet to make and how much time I have to rule the world. Thanks for all the advice and kind words, it truly means so so so much (and it’s really kinda surreal to see your username next to the comment responding to me since it’s been so long).
@legendornothing
Yeah the arthouse/museum/cultural society might be toast until covid is really controlled.
And the restaurant and live music small venue scene as well. Probably all closed down. : (
I don’t remember the name of the falafel place anymore. It was right off Washington sq to the west, no seating, you ate on benches in the square. It was great.
On Halloween if you are on the loose and the weather is decent walk around the village. Especially W Village. The outfits are quite a scene.
I think you should still be able to get street food. Right?
Read up on the history if the city a little in snippets. You will better understand how things got to be what it us, and the significance of various landmarks.
Canal Street is so named because it was once a canal.
Wall Street marks where there was a wooden wall. Inside the wall (to the south) was the fledgling Dutch/English colony. Beyond the wall (north) were some farms and a lot if wilderness.
The Hudson River us a fjord. A riverbed carved by a glacier.
Manhattan Island is all really dense granite under the soil or concrete and under the many underground layers.
The granite is so heavy/dense that when they dig down 5=10 floors in order to build the foundation, basements, and undergirding for a skyscraper, the granite they remove weighs more than the eventual 100 floor skyscraper will. Everytime they build a new tall building, supposedly Manhattan rises slightly (as measured by geological instruments) because the granite they remove to Jersey is so heavy.
Manhattan Island us usually 5=10F degrees warmer than Brooklyn or Queens or the Bronx or Jersey on the worse winter days. The infrastructure going way up into the air and way underground and the dense human activity carry and hold a lot of heat.
You will be glad about this when real winter hits.
I’m glad you are so much into writing and working. That’s the other side of education.
We need the books snd theory and classrooms. And the broad perspectives. We also need to get jnto it, whatever it is. Those work ops and internships are as valuable as gold if you get good ones.
Forgive my typing. I truly hate this keyboard. All I got handy tho. Errors upon errirs!
: ).
@f00l @legendornothing
Hmmm so if they fill all (aka wall to wall) of Manhattan with sky scrapers then global warming won’t flood it? Oh and they will then sink NJ with the rocks and send the flooding there. Right?
Hey, we haven’t forgotten you and we never will. And keep on stopping by and saying “hi” every once in a while. Someone will always be here to say “hi” back to you.
/giphy hi
@Barney god i love you guys so much, will do
@legendornothing Love you too, legend.
We all knew you were lying about your age and didn’t care. Nice to hear from you!
/giphy hi
@sammydog01 I figured
That is a really great letter, and really great of you to post it!
I gotta say, as I was reading it, I was getting anxious that it was going to end with some tragic reason why you wouldn’t be able to come back. But nope - it’s simply a happy feel good letter. The best kind of all!
@shahnm HAHAHAHA thank you!
@shahnm I had the exact same thought.
@legendornothing I take full responsibility for your current feelings of shitheadedness. I really cant take blame for the rest.
@kykazaa much much appreciated it was quite the burden to bear
@legendornothing - You may as well drop the ‘ornothing’ as you are now officially a ‘legend.’ Nice to hear from you!
@cinoclav
I thought he was a LegEnd.
Now confused.
/giphy confused
@cinoclav @f00l I thought a LegEnd was a foot.
@cinoclav @mehcuda67
/giphy technicality
@cinoclav @f00l @mehcuda67 Nah technically it would be a toe, not a foot. Or maybe if you are thinking about what it ends at that would be the ankle joint bones.
@cinoclav @f00l @Kidsandliz @mehcuda67 I would consider the leg end to be the ankle. Cause past that it’s the foot. But that’s just my opinion.
@legendornothing I came to meh long after your escape, but I can see you are a very cool and mehworthy person and I hope you will not be so scarce in the future. I know college is a busy time both academically and socially, but please drop in when you can.
@ThunderChicken lol. How many of the woot survivors were introduced in college when it started and were stalking wootoffs in class. And labs. Via laptops cause phones in 2004 were meh?
But yes classes first.
@ThunderChicken @unksol
The many wonderful, and many less wonderful (but quite fascinating), temptations of being in NYC and in college at the same time are enough to make any person with even the tiniest amount of curiosity and energy wish they had 100 lives or more to spend on each day.
There’s just so much in offer.
I hope our excellent @LegEndOrNothing will go for as many good experiences as one can, and still get a little sleep and not flunk out, along the way.
@f00l @ThunderChicken @unksol No worries I have great wholesome experiences and get lots of sleep! I’m a real big boy now, I can make time for some mediocre activities
Welcome back. You sound like someone I’d like to hang out with…
@chienfou I’m pretty free after this pandemic ends I’m sure we can both find some time
Dude! This is a great place, I know… I sadly have been busy with a lot of stuff that kept me away. The engagement that the staff did/videos kept me coming back sooner, but It’s all good! Good luck with college, and this pandemic too will pass… maybe like a kidney stone, but it’ll pass.
Wow, I love this shit! I remember the leg-end stirring up trouble. And yes, we did all know that you were just a kid out doing some trolling. And look at you now! You’re the same age as my youngest, and it’s truly amazing to watch what a few years can do for maturity. Thanks for coming back and continuing your story; I truly feel a strange level of satisfaction from this. I guess it’s just the mom in me.
@pitamuffin
they are so cute when they learn to fly…
I meh and this community so much. I have been quiet too, popping up every now and then. But I have to say, the mehrathons and product descriptions and forum discussions have helped me through some times that would have been way less enjoyable without meh Thanks legend for this post!! all of yall.
But did you ever get your Beats headphones? If so, did they make you cool? (If not, don’t be sad, they honestly aren’t that great, especially for the price.)
@Bretterson They did not make me cool! They made me more pronouncedly uncool, I wore them around my neck when I went to school, and then some of my friends clowned me for it and I never wore them to school again. I loved those headphones though, still sad my sister broke them
Dropping out and coming back, being an asshole, popping in randomly, checking out mysteriously, saying “fuckity fuck fucking fuck” for no fuckity fucking reason—these are just things we do here.
Lovely post. Thanks for helping make the community what it is.
/giphy one of us
/giphy cheers
@joelmw well… That’s not strictly true. We say “fuckity fuck fucking fuck” for a very fuckity fuck good fucking reason.
Got to keep @carl669 alive and counting.
@joelmw @unksol ah… a fresh burst of fucks to add towards my immortality.
@carl669 @joelmw I slacked off. Should have been “Got to fucking keep fucking @carl669 fucking alive and fucking counting fucks”
I fucking sincerely fucking apologise to the fucking community for not fucking giving every fucking available fuck.
@carl669 @joelmw @unksol
Maybe you live forever and have a vault big enough to keep the fucks in if you do so.
I think this is the guy to thank or blame, depending on your POV :
@cfg83 This is most definitely the guy
Aww you sound like such a good egg, legend!
@moonhat this is a very very good compliment thank you kindly
“The first time someone checked me was on this website” … I, sincerely, hope that isn’t calling me out because of this topic … I really was trying to help!! https://meh.com/forum/topics/anger
@mikibell
We know you’re awesome.
And you know you’re awesome.
: )
POPSOCKETS! SPA KITS! POLLY POCKETS! AWESOME!
@mikibell Oh lord no it was sage advice, thank you! I’m pretty sure it earned me some goodwill with my mom. More was referencing the general humoring of my eccentricity and also how the community helped me to reign it in a bit
@legendornothing @mikibell
/giphy WELCOME BACK
@mikibell @sammydog01 Thank you!!! hehe
I’m 70 years old and just found this delightful community/website and can honestly say that I suspect that I will most definitely and positively shall in the unforeseen yet foreseeable future come to the conclusion built over countless yet finite years of wandering on the interweb that…oh…meh!
@hap46st an absolutely sublime perspective if I do say so myself