Hate-Reading Wirecutter in the Nascent Era of AI Slop
I love the feeling of being recommended to, rather than recommended at. So-called “AI” is making that harder than ever.
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This aggressively hideous $200 coat rack has been living rent-free in my head for years, ever since the moment I saw it in a Wirecutter roundup of doorway-decluttering products. I’m in a forever fight with my narrow entryway, and here was Wirecutter landing in my inbox and promising a selection of “simultaneously beautiful and functional” solutions. Now, is this coat rack functional? I am willing to take Wirecutter’s word for it, and at an eye-popping price, I certainly hope it performs. But beautiful? I mean, “eye of the beholder” and all that, but this coat rack looks like an errant part that might have fallen off of or out of an airplane–possibly both.
Still, you can’t please everyone all the time, particularly when it comes to something as subjective as the aesthetics of personal style and home decor. I think the Eames Hang-It-All, also recommended, looks less whimsical and more like “it smells like half-regurgitated animal crackers and diaper cream,” which puts me at odds with probably the world’s entire population of fancy design experts. Are they wrong? Am I? Nobody knows! That’s art, baby.