hipsters, unite!

Call yourself a hipster or not, I am sure that you’ve partaken in some sort of fashion, beer, music, what-have-you. We’ve all done it. It’s hard not to when you see it everywhere. This is a good attempt at decoding some of this nonsense.

When we see hipsters everywhere we know them, and can pick our their type. There’s no need to pick them out of a crowd, for they are the crowd. I’ve had many conversations about who and where they’ve come from and what we can compare them to in our past. Because, let’s face it. That’s what we do. We look at something in our lives and take a look at history and try to explain it through something familiar to us. It’s how we function, usually.

At first you could say they are comparative to the hippie. But the hippie fought for something right? Peace…..free love….weed. They were fighting for something then, being constructive and demanding. It wasn’t something everyone else made fun of. It was envied and thought of as new. Then I thought, maybe they could be like the Beats- people who have an intellectualism going for themselves. Then I remembered that hipsters aren’t too intellectual and just wear a same brand of strange clothes like the beats did. Then this article (see above link) was presented to me, and it makes perfect sense.

“An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the “hipster” – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.”

When you see another Christmas sweater, or go into Urban Outfitters thinking it’s going to be a good choice (when it’s not) or when you move to Brooklyn to take photos with your fish eye and go see Best Coast, think again. What’s really going on here?

Tagged with:
 

eww

Here is another reason to hate, or just contemplate, Lady Gaga. I know she’s well educated- Tisch school at NYU and all- but that doesn’t make me like her more. My sister loves her as does my brother-in-law. That makes me hate her even more because they are two of the smartest people I know. I don’t get the fad. But when I saw this article this AM on one of the greatest blogs, I figured I’d share it. I’ve never seen the telephone video. I’ve had it described to me and almost reenacted by said sister, but I have no desire to watch it.

Many artists of the past have changes their appearances just for shock value, and for stranger reasons (ahhem Michael Jackson- its almost the one year anny. of his death-weird!) but that doesn’t make her more like great artists of the past. Or does it? I mean Madonna did it. (Maybe in future decades Gaga will bring us religion crazes too?) I know Lady Gaga can make a great pop song that ya’ll enjoy while dancing in whatever club you go dancing in- but her crazy behavior should make you think a little more than usual, right? I don’t get the face hiding and the Kermit the Frog dress and I don’t get that crazy look in her eye. Maybe someone can explain it one day.

Until then, whose in??

Tagged with:
 

I saw Conan O’Brien in Atlantic City with my dad. Everyone seems to be talking about Reggie Watts, his opening act, but I’m not sure why. All he does is curse. Granted he is a wonderful voice chameleon, but there was no content in his act. Sure he plays (or played?) with Soulive but that doesn’t make him great. I had never seen Conan’s Walker Texas Ranger clip reel thing-y. I’ve also never seen my dad laugh as hard as when Haley Joel Osment told some old folks that he has AIDS. Conan was incredibly funny as was his writer Damon Cole who did stand up. But I wish O’Brien wouldn’t complain, they DID give him $32 Million Dollars. Some people have things to say about it. They also said this. I look forward to the TBS show coming soon (fall?) because I like Conan, but I do agree, he needs new material.

I have one on my fridge. 10 bucks!

Everyone should be outraged at the new Sex and the City movie. In addition to the fact that Sarah Jessica Parker is still not remotely attractive, its full of let downs. I saw the first one- it was decent (and always on HBO, just like I presume the second will be) but I can’t bring myself to spend over two hours watching this movie. Absurdities are going on! Abu Dhabi is a city where women can’t show their faces because of shame, meanwhile these four already rich women go there, no doubt to help promote Western to Eastern commerce (meanwhile it was shot in Morocco), and flaunt their bodies. They should be spending their $10 million costume budget to build a school for women or a hospital for rape victims. I’m sure you have not heard of this book. My mother and sister Kyle are both reading it. The stories mom shares with me are disturbing- even to a true crime and devout nonfiction reader. People say that it wouldn’t be famous just for Sheryl WuDunn’s name. Nicholas Kristof (the awesome NYTimes columnist and WuDunn’s partner) helped it get to where it is now. Let me just rant a bit…. Women are still being killed every day and murdered and raped, in our own country (I don’t want to even talk about the rest of the world.) All it takes is that fact my mother taught me when I was in junior high school: 1 in 4 women in their life will be raped. Lesson: BE FUCKING SAFE. Okay, I’m done.

see what i mean....

It’s the 50th anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. (Truman Capote’s best friend. Some say he wrote it….I love a good unknown fact.) I was supposed to read it, according to Mrs. Stass’ 9th grade English class, but never finished it. I just watched the movie. We all know the conversation about it in Almost Famous in the opening scenes (I should really re-watch that movie. It’s been almost six months- too long.) I’m a chapter in. My dad had a Borders coupon and I now have a beautiful hardback copy of it. One of many summer projects: tackle fiction and novels. Only the good ones: Catcher in the Rye (something I’ve never been able to get through, I just could never stand it) and The Great Gatsby. Read it in 10th grade with no appreciation. Other goals: get down to the bottom of high school teachers assigning books for shit-head high school kids who have no concept of time, history, culture and have no appreciation for the literature forced on them.

Comedy Central bought syndication rights to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Monday nights, for two hours-I think. Hilarity ensues. Also, I FINALLY read Russell Brand’s memoir, My Booky Wook. It took me probably no more than a day. Who’s in? I know, he’s a strange bird. But he’s been through a lot. Brand can actually write and I’ve always been fascinated by him.

Most: it’s Ithaca Festival. If you’re here, let’s stuff our faces. If not- shame. I got all excited to see Jon Hilton play bass in his band on the commons last night with Kelley, only to find out he’s in CA doing god knows what. Unknown hits from the Birds and b-side Beatles songs would be better with the self-deprecating Hilton. Either way I still knew all the words while straight Ithaca-festers followed Terkel’s advice, my favorite line of the day, “Take off…or tighten up your Tevas!” Ladies and Gentlemen, that is EXACTLY what happened. I wish I had a photo.

Tagged with:
 

it’s a bagel day.

First of all. Thank you notdrugs for inspiring me to fall in love with THE BLACK KEYS. They are smart, rock really hard and like all things weird in my life, they are two incredibly sexy men. They’re playing Philadelphia July 30th. Who’s in?

Also there is a lot going on. We graduated. The oil spill is destroying our planet and not helping the fact that something is terribly wrong with the world, physically (I suppose emotionally too.) Add on all the hurricanes and abnormalities. I’ve been saying that something is not right with the world for a long time. This just proves it.

And if you weren’t nervous about the new military planes developed that can track footprints from the sky and tell you their origin, try this on for size.

The world makes me sick. Pay attention, because I know that you aren’t. A lot of wrong and weird is happening: oil, the number one MLB pick is 17 (he can’t even buy cigarettes yet!) meanwhile M.I.A. is being featured in the Sunday New York Times Magazine. James Cameron offered (and was turned down) help for filming the deep sea atrocity going on in the gulf. But in the end, my least favorite thing about the world is plain and simple- Obama promised us he would end the war and he hasn’t yet.

Drunk Girls, I realized, is more than you think. James Murphy has something to say. Drunk Girls know that love is an astronaut/It comes back, but it’s never the same. I never heard them before this record, but I like it. Sometimes if you pay attention there’s more to life than, well, life. Also, if you haven’t started doing this yet, I recommend it.

The Saturday night before graduation my sisters, brother-in-law, co-brother-in-law, Morgan and myself made it out to Korova (which yes, is moving down State Street to avoid the college crowd, but is not moving until August.) My brother-in-law’s life long best friend arrived and greeted me in saying “welcome to unemployment!” So far it’s been nice. I’ve been on three job interviews in three days in three very different cities. I am unemployed yes, so I should find more time to do this here blog.

Pay attention already
. What else could you possibly be doing?

Tagged with:
 

life, other rules & readings

When its time to slow down. Wait, when is it time to slow down? Is the the fact that we are the multi-task generation? Or is the the fact that we are so multi-task that almost everyone I know can’t do two things at once? We’ve lost focus of the real things important in our lives like face to face friendships (why I don’t have Facebook/didn’t let it take over my life). People are on adderall, whether or not its prescribed to them. More and more young children, as publications tell us, are being ‘over-parented’ and controlled beyond belief. (What will our kids be like??) You know them and I know them, the people around campus who use it to get their work done, get the A. It really freaks me out. We’ve lost celebs to prescription drugs because the people close to them never did anything about it (Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, maybbbbe Brittany Murphy? and more…) I know this all sounds like a drastic comparison, but if we don’t ever look at it or ignore crazy things happening they might just continue to happen.

Our society is focused on instant news and information. The reason the Tonight Show was tanking in the first place is the fact that by the time we get to 11:35p to hear the day’s jokes- so much has been said that it’s old news. It’s no one’s fault (well, maybe Jay Leno’s).  Our constant age-of-anxiety lives are too much to handle. Life is progressing forward and we are all in a hurry to do whatever it is that is constantly stressing us out. We are in a hurry to do things that sometimes don’t even matter or contribute. I want to give you some advice from piecing things together, specifically from GOOD.

Here is something grand. I recommend everyone just slow down and read it. Also, if you need a good read here’s another.

Tagged with:
 

Bacon, Thanks to the Internet

I spend a lot of time on the Internet. Hopefully, as a reader of this esteemed online publication, you do too, on this site. Most of my cyber meanderings arbitrarily take me to random images, some with funny captions, others, with cats. Sometimes, themes emerge, and subjects just pop out. Cats, like I said, are one of them. But another less cute and much more delicious subject is bacon.

Here’s a creative, humorous bacon image…

The use of a hand dryer at a rest stop disproved this sign

There’s a beer brewed with bacon. Pouring it in here would be meat-gasmic!

Don't Mind If I Do!

With this new product, bacon bits could be a thing of the past:

Vegetarian-Safe!

The Internet has also lead me to some cocktails made with bacon. The “meatini,” “bacon, not stirred.”

If you look hard enough, you’ll be able to find bacon-bras out there in cyberland. I’d like to put a picture up, but we’re trying to keep things SFW here at thacant.

What’s important to remember about bacon, is that it’s always there for you, offering solace comparable only to beer and screaming oneself to sleep. Here’s a closing picture that really sums it up:

prty plz

Tagged with:
 

y’all need to read this.

popup

click the pic

Tagged with:
 

127248Moral panics, miseducation and government oppression. That is what this makes me think of.

Sorry I have not posted in so long. I feel as though schoolwork has taken a serious toll on my life. That and being a loner.  I haven’t even been reading any news or blogs- its kind of freaking me out. Hey, please call me anytime anyone. Lets chill, and drink coffee and make salads.

Tagged with:
 

1109Maira4dClick here.

And as always I don’t feel the need to explain myself for posting op-ed pieces. This one struck me. I have written about this myself (ironically for academic reasons) and come to realize retrospectively (even though I am only 21) that my emotional education means more to me than my academic one ever will. I mean, I know that I don’t take academia too seriously – like I should- but I still know that its important. And we are all going to put the pedal to the metal and make it through this last semester of college. But our emotional education, as David Brooks tells us, continues with us forever. And with our children (some day.) Have you ever thought about this? Its quite fascinating.

Tagged with:
 

what are you thankful for?

popup“…nearly 53 billion land animals are slaughtered every year for human consumption.”

This is not me trying to make anyone feel guilty for enjoying their Thanksgiving. And this is not me trying to encourage you to do something that you don’t want to do. This is me bringing up a subject that I find interesting and is becoming news more and more each day. Also, I love the op-ed page.

Tagged with: