LivingSocial (via YouTube)For the City Paper’s end-of-2011 issue, I looked at SocialStudiesDC, the culture and lifestyle blog run by the Washington-based deal-of-the-day company LivingSocial. When they’re not cross-promoting company sales or running calendar picks, the writers behind SocialStudiesDC enjoy being cheeky about the city they live and work in. Why, just this morning they asked me if I knew whether Adrian Parsons was wearing any clothes at his recent photo shoot for this week’s City Paper cover story:
. @adrian_parsons …are you nude in this @wcp photo shoot? @brfreed bit.ly/AmTqJa
— SocialStudiesDC (@SocialStudiesDC) January 19, 2012
Also today, SocialStudiesDC launched a new YouTube video, adorably titled “Shit DC Says,” in which a well-coiffed 20-something works his way through a catalogue of oft-said expressions we’ve probably featured at one point or another in our “Overheard in D.C.” feature. (Seriously, guys, thanks for reading!)
To be fair, there are a few good lines:
- But what do you do, or-ig-i-nal-ly?
- I’ve never dated a Republican.
- José Andrés owns this, right?
- They have a great brunch.
- Eckington is basically the next Bloomingdale.
- Navy Yard is like the new Eckington.
- Fucking Caps!
- You know who I saw at Target? Ian Mackey
- Seriously, who do I have to blow around here to get a Fugazi reunion
- You want to check out that new place on H Street [NE]?
OK, it’s all well and cute, but as several people have noted, the monochromatic flavor of the video could just as easily have a more specific name:
Oh boy. RT @IMGoph: @mindymoretti it actually should be “shit white people in DC say”
— Elahe Izadi (@ElaheIzadi) January 19, 2012
It’s obviously a satire, but the whole thing feels a little too forced. Stylistically, the whole thing feels like a laundered version of one of those Portlandia sketches in which Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein rifle through all the quirky things they love about their adopted hometown.
Besides, the blog Stuff White People Like hasn’t been updated in a long, long time. As Armisen’s heavily pierced, fixie-riding, orange-goateed activist on Portlandia would say, “Listing stuff [insert group] likes is so over!”
