In praise of Sarah Miller (at Hodinkee)

Two weeks ago I stated that "I found that Sarah Miller to be one of the few tolerable things left" over there.

She appears to be a normal person who doesn't take herself too seriously. She doesn't seem to have a field coat and vintage Land Rover or even a Leica. She probably wears socks. And I haven't caught her doing any "tee hee, I'm a girl doing man stuff" self-congratulatory foolishness. 

I have no idea how she got involved with that place, which tends to read like a parody of pretentious fantasyland "finer things" experts.

@msugarman and @ChronoGuy have opinions too.

I think purely as a writer she blows me away and makes me feel inferior when I look at my own writing. On top of that I am a big fan of her take on watches, it comes from a place that has never been tainted by watch Instagram or forums. Plus she is simply good people.

I am happy to see others enjoy her writing too.

I’ve been considering starting a Kickstarter for garlic press casebacks. 😂 She’s great. 🤙

She's great. I'm going to go back and read her journey in order. Thanks for the link! 

She's kept me into Hodinkee. Now if they could just do away with those awful Alegria-style illustrations. 

I’m more of a Youtube watch information guy than reader. However, I just read her article on the Zodiac Seawolf and enjoyed it. I’ll be reading a few more of her articles thanks for sharing.

I tried to read the article and it gave me the impression that it was the story of a supplicant recounting how he went to meet a fabled guru in its distant refuge, and how he was enlightened while he rested at its feet and gathered the pearls of wisdom the sage deigned to dispense and how he was feasted and fed and gifted many boons before leaving back to his home country.

I read the same kind of drivel in snobbish lifestyle and wine magazines while waiting for a root canal operation. 

Sarah’s humor and writing is great, big fan here too. Her articles and Brandon Menancio’s WOTW videos are a weekly indulgence. 

Oh yes! I also love Brandon’s videos. He brings such joy regardless of the price-point of what he’s wearing. And I love spotting all the locations around LA that he shoots at. 

I’ve already said my piece about Sarah Miller - suffice to say I’m not one of her fans.

OK - I said I wasn't going to say any more on this, but I just read another piece from Sarah Miller that was indicative of her pretentious excrement (excerpted from HODINKEE):

TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf Special Edition [Sarah Miller]

I hate car racing. I hate cars. I hate that there's Gulf logo on this. And yet, I love it, for the colors and for the arrangement of all the different shapes inside that big chunky square. I love the two small white boxes framed in blue and orange with their teeny orange hands and how they match the big orange chronograph seconds hand. The indices, white slant-topped rectangles sitting on top of little white circles, look like Mies van der Rohe skyscrapers riding Segways.

My wrist is way too small for this watch. I'd only like this watch on the sort of person who would wear it, someone with whom I'd have nothing in common, someone who quit racing cars then went on an ayahuasca journey to find themselves. This watch looks like their journey around night seven or eight, the night they had their "I'm going to business school" epiphany. But I know an icon when I see one, and I love this watch, even though it is very silly.

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If you enjoy reading the above, then more power to you. For me, I find this offensive and the kind of writing I would expect from an entitled East Coast (yes - Massachusetts) Ivy League (yes - Amherst College) Liberal virtue signaling her disdain for all things male and for anything that looks and smells like capitalism (though that's how she pays her bills).

I just can't stomach this bile and this is one of the least offensive of her writing samples.

OK - I've got that off my chest. Now I will shut up again and be positive.

I hate political opining too, but this seems like candor as opposed to some wanker pretending to GAF about 1960's auto racing (which, seriously, almost nobody does). 

But I do get the feeling that there was a first draft that went like "what a giant ugly mess!" and the Dinkee crew bounced it back with blue penciling telling her to crank up the fawning and it took a couple iterations to get to this compromise. So I agree but for different reasons, I think.

I still prefer that over some dweeb rehashing some Walter Mitty tripe about how they can smell the fumes of McQueen sweat and Porsche oil burning or whatever fantasist hooey. She may not be your cup of tea, but she's somewhat real unlike these other phonies.

I like her writing, and I look to her to cover the emotions of watch-loving rather than the specs. Still waiting to hear what she chose as her grail; she promised to reveal this in January but tick-tock: no update yet 🙁