Posted on July 30, 2009
The Rise Of The Brand-Name Beatnik
(Click here for part two of this essay, “Concerning the hipster situation”)
UPDATE: Why do you people like this essay so much? It’s quickly becoming my most popular post, with several hundred people reading it each day. I don’t understand that. It rambles and takes forever to get to the point. And I’m not even sure what my point actually was, now that I think about it. Can someone explain the appeal?
I rail against hipsters in this one, but I really don’t hate hipster kids. As one commenter pointed out, all kids are hipsters in one way or another. I think what irked me about this group of kiddos was that they were just vapid and stupid. But then again, that’s all kids. Heck, that’s most adults I know.
Maybe I was just in a cranky mood, but I’ll always be annoyed at people who appropriate cultural icons without having experienced them, or at least having some understanding of what they’re going on about. My problem with hipsters isn’t general. I don’t loathe every kid in vintage clothes and ironic t-shirts. I only hate the ones I hate.
Just don’t ask me to explain why. I don’t think I know, but there’s some truth to be found in the words of someone much funnier than myself…
“One way to tell if your Frank Sinatra hat isn’t working for you is if you’re not Frank Sinatra.”
Words to live by, hipster kids. Words to live by. Read More
Posted on July 29, 2009
iJango Scam
I’m posting this a little early today, but it’s important. My sister called me last night to ask me about something called iJingo – The Center Of The Online Universe. Apparently, a family member has bought into this new venture and told her about the amazing opportunity she could have to get in on the ground level of the next Google. I was interested to hear what she had to say, being as I hadn’t heard anything about this “next big thing” before her call. Sadly, once she started describing it to me, I instantly recognized the ugly stain of a multilevel marketing / pyramid scheme / ponzi scheme. Read More
Posted on July 23, 2009
Purple Is The New Red. And Blue.
I have a love/hate relationship with zealotry. On the one hand, watching fist-shaking hardliners trying to resolve cognitive dissonance by flopping about like a spilled bowl of goldfish is funny as hell. On the other hand, the world wouldn’t be in quite so miserable a state if people would just stop clinging to blocky, ill-defined ideologies handed down to them through the talking head punditry of an ever-devolving media. I despise both left-wingers and right-wingers alike, and for the same reason: choosing sides is stupid. The world isn’t cut and divided into equal parts Conservative or Liberal, and all of the issues facing a nation can’t be contained within the bullshit, ticky-tacky structures of either party. Joining the card-carrying and waterheaded ranks of either the Democrats or the Republicans simply dissolves critical thought and excuses mindless adoption of whatever mushbrained, poorly conceived policies either side may be peddling at any given time. As with sports, party loyalty has nothing to do with the players on the field, or the outcome of the game. All it does is provide a sense of belonging for the non-participants, by dividing them into two groups, each united together out of a mutual hatred for the other side. And, all the while, the game plays on without them. Read More
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