Hipster

In a West Coast paper that appears to be some sort of independent rag, The LA Weekly, hipster flogging and discussion continued into 2013.  The lamenting about hipsters has extended long after the emergence of the satirical Robert Lanham publication in 2003 (above, centre). This means that at least one decade of writing on the subject of hipsters has elapsed. A video about "hipsters" vs. "chavs" has also emerged in the context of a giant "Battle of the Stereotypes." 

In all sincerity, before The Hipster Handbook, there was The Yuppie Handbook (1984), (below). This original emerged with the '80s market changes and the ramifications to the class system. For the older reader, the obvious parallel to the hipster movement is the hippie movement. The parallel being in terms of a section of the population, typically youth, that shuns or rejects the traditional culture in favor of a youth culture. 

The hipster is, loosely, defined in popular culture as a social prude with tendencies to make cameos in the media, launching obscure cannonballs of mawkish snobbery. See the clip from PBS (herm) for clips-within-clips of SNL broadcasts, etc. However, the writer appears to conflate hipsters with nerds, the nerd-proud, and can be attributed the creation of the Hipster Alarm. He discusses the hipster in relation to cultural capital, accrediting theorist and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu with the creation of the word. As with all items that can be vaguely described as "the fashion," the association between the symbolism of material goods, knowledge of style, and the fetishization of such concepts into consumer products. 

Lanham defines a hipster in his little textbook on the topic as "one who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool." He continues to suggested a preferred slang term, the word "deck," but it is unclear as to whether this word survived or was immediately subsumed by another euphemism for cool shortly after publication. 

I thought this phenomenon, being away from the United States, imploded for various reasons. I will list the following reasons: gentrification wars, self-implosion, commercialization piquing in destruction of spontaneous followings, co-opting by the dominant culture, and the emergence of the hive mentality. 

Exhibit A (see below). Hipsters, or young people attending colleges in inner cities, tend to have it a bit difficult living circumstances. They are prone to being viewed as some sort of invasive species. They lack the social resources or knowledge of the local culture to be accepted within an order that has been arranged as such within small communities. The social structure of the small community is a hierarchy based upon birth; small communities exist within metropolises. These collectives have their own local culture different from the standard dialect. 

Hipsters are shuttered from small communities on the basis of, basically, not being born in a place and being viewed as an outsider depleting the resources of said location. If this is an area that experiences tourism, the hipster is maligned as a tourist or foreign presence. The hipster may or may not experience discrimination caused by rising house prices in conjunction with migrational waves. 

Exhibit B. The hipster is portrayed in independent media in an acerbic way. The hipster is typically classified so hatefully due to a self-depreciating style. The hipster is constantly attempting to preserve the culture by purifying it by means of banishing outsiders from copying. The hipster bemoans the writer for codifying hipster law as the hipster must work harder to evolve stylistically. On the contrary, the outsider praises the writer for identifying hipster coterie and making it easier to copy. The true haters of the hipster, the most conventional of social conservatives (social conservatives without appreciation for style [or lacking the recognition of style as style]) battle the hipster administratively and/ or politically. This type of social conservative has established a longstanding career of creating policies designed as governance to control the population in accordance with being financially responsible as a nation. Here, socially conservative refers to fiscally reserved, which is in contradiction to the particular type of promulgation of culture that the hipster partakes in. 

Exhibit C. It was long bet upon that the hipster's lifecycle would be short-lived due to its subsequent economic imprisonment as the hipster movement is a visual movement associated with trends and talking pieces more than ideology. The high cost of the goods equates it with slavery in the mind of the artist. 

However, since the cycle of hipsterdom continues, I will catalogue the new material and the commentary. The paper reported that the hipster remained unpopular with the majority of the population. It appears there was a poll that surveyed attitudes on hipsters. The best question on the poll was, "Nearly half (46 percent) of stateside voters agreed that hipsters "soullessly appropriate cultural tropes from the past for their own ironic amusement." The commentary is also worth reading as it is laden with definitions of the term. Several definitions of hipster emerge on the LA forum, but they have not been quoted at length. 

Jason London Reneges Sneezing, LiLohan Slams A Very Berrie Smoothie (Without! Socks!)

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In this city in Southern China, I read a poorly edited book of modern Chinese fiction, Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused. I correct the text with a pen, out of stringent habit. Maybe, the writers did not permit their text to be edited. Some of these stories have been turned into films, such as Raise the Red Lantern. 

The first time I heard the name Herodotus was in a song written by These New Puritans, a UK group. Listening to music by a group called Wall, now. Anyway, Herodotus was a historian and storyteller. The responses to his work in his life typically encompass other recorded comments that range from disbelief to incredulousness. 

I think about how anacoluthons are stylish in contemporary writing. Briefly, Goldblatt on Chinese literature's eras, "'scar literature' gave way in the late 1970s and early 1980s to 'introspective writing' and 'root-seeking literature,' both of which would have fit nicely into Mao's plans to keep the socialist pot boiling" (7). Goldblatt engages with speculation on the likes and dislikes of Mao. The sound of fireworks erupts on the streets. 

It is always cloudy here, like I imagine in Seattle or like the Bay Area. The difference, I'm supposing, is that the clouds do not burn off like the smog in San Francisco. Near bus stops, no cruciverbalists, but people play card games and a game with pieces similar to Dominos™. Here, mobile phones are used by a smaller portion of the populace. There are carts selling everything from handwarmers to pears larger than American ones. Classicists drink Coke™ at bars and mention tradition. 

Topically, that's the city.

The Mailer-Daemon Is Sad

I'm also sorry my reply wasn't sent.

Alas, the Mailer-Daemon sassed about my unsent mail and proceeded to snark.

Watch out, Mailer-Daemon. That's my Grandma you're talking about.

10ish Summer Beauty Item Watch

Above: A not-so-frightening cedar bag.

1. Ask anyone who has ever been to a summer music festival without sunscreen. You sit for long hours sifting between stages and baking under the sun. Since not everyone has or wants to tan indoors before attending, nor do they have the foresight to apply gooey sunblock juice. Products for treating sun-kissed skin include aloe, cocoa butter, Brazil Nut Body Butter (The Body Shop ®]).

2. A solid notebook. Pantone ®, Moleskinnes ®.

3. A budget. Grab the aforementioned nice notebook and pencil out the figures. Draw lines through 7s. After a summer of restraint, you'll thank yourself in the cold of winter.

4. Cedar bags. These dissuade errant moths from fluttering into your closets. The bags protect delicate wools from being eating by the spindly creatures. Avoid a latent-health-scare-sized moth panic altogether with the bags.

5. A beer that's a little weird. A friend and I recently debated about one particular Michigan brand, Short's Brew. He said that all the lines were a little weird. Though this blog doesn't normally highlight it, weird is good. To say something is only weird is easy enough when one is not familiar with their conversational partner and struggles to find a common language.

Weird is the kind of word that people attribute to items they can't unilaterally classify. It suggests a block in the mind, a lack of openness to literary definition or refinement. Weird and the refinement of the weird, the quirky, gives you edge. Edge, here, applied to liquidation. My beer of summer has peppercorn in it: a spicy, orange-y blend. 

6. Lady-like clothing. Something white, something nautical, and something straw for the summer fashion season. BCBG stripes, loose Free People shorts or dresses.

7. Vintage paperbacks about bawdy people in New England. If you can't route up any of those, then read The Awakening for a quick beach trip. Or, tread through some Proust if you have a long journey. One of the sectionals of in Remembrance of Times Past. Both of these novels feature passages about people vacationing in harbor towns. Candice Bushnell covers it topically in Four Blondes.

8. Shell necklaces, sunglasses, items that remind one of the Earth manifested.

9. Tonic water and toner. An icepack.

10. Shoes. Mint green shoes or Fly London wedges. Something with a little heel without looking like the former Spice Girls.

GASLAND: The Dangers of Hydraulic Fracking Footage

GASLAND: The Dangers of Hydraulic Fracking Footage

By Jennifer Sussex

The gas industry has often played an active role in American consumer consciousness, whether it is from documentaries like GASLAND or popular culture items like Hydraulic brand jeans. Names associated with gas-related practices are beginning to show up in the consumer industries. Levis and the image of the miner have been put on the backburner in lieu of a heated environmental debate. Since viewers at the Sundance festival left the first screening of GASLAND, a large portion of the country has been enveloped over the debate about hydraulic fracturing.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of injecting fluid into the ground to shake up deposits of shale rocks. Traditional fracking typically occurs when an oil well begins drying up and more extreme techniques are used to retrieve materials. Breaking up rocks below the surface releases the gas, but the chemicals used in fracking solutions are hazardous. Fracking chemicals turn into industrial waste and much of it stays in the ground, but some could pollute groundwater.

The complicated drilling process came under critique when corporations tried to make lucrative deals with farmers in Pennsylvania.  The corporations have their workers extract valuable mineral deposits from the land through the complex drilling process. While the locals enjoyed the prosperity of out-of-town executives visiting their lands, GASLAND filmmaker Josh Fox and others began researching fracking. Fox examined the actions of the companies when they offered his family about $4,750 to drill on their land. Many towns cited problems with their water after the companies had drilled on the property.

Further evidence revealed that methane and other heavy metals were kicked back into the water systems. In general, the individuals in these towns realized that there were widespread issues with their water; the water became highly flammable and unleashed carcinogens. The government should have established programs to the side effects of this problem before the companies were allowed to draft the related legal agreements. As of 2010 and as a result of Fox as well as other environmentally aware groups, the government has decided to conduct testing on the consequences of fracking.

From a public health perspective, this is one of the largest battles that the environmentally conscious must face into today’s age. Fracking is frightening because there was a lack of available resources on the problem. Few geologists had researched the practice. At the whims of corporations, the method was established in many states before it was properly tested. This created a dissonance between the public awareness of the event, despite the fact that this group was strongly and negatively impacted by the changes.

A pro-fracking film called FrackNation was subsequently released in February of 2012. This film generated $22K in funding from public crowdsourcing. Industry supporters buried Fox’s endeavors in a barrage of backlash by providing funding for this film. However, Fox’s inquiry into fracking reveals that the financial gains for the region are less important than the health concerns the residents face. Still, resentment is high with individuals in related areas who would have benefited from the companies favored the industry. The tinge of bitterness against Fox now runs through the community. According to Spin magazine, some of his property has been destroyed since the movie premiered.

According to the LA Times, Matt Damon will star in a Phelim McAller anti-fracking movie due to begin production and inspire more regulation later this month. The EPA and other organizations will undoubtedly be motivated to regulate the industry in conjunction with the Congress. The information disseminated by industry experts will reflect the contention and support the reform of this practice. The collaboration of activists, experts, and politically aware organizations must remember this instance and use it to seek renewable energy alternatives. 

Copyright 2012 The Radio Paper 

Overview of the Financial Markets for Wall St. Cheat Sheat

On the floor of the stock exchange, Standard & Poor's 400-stock index dipped from an April high into a June slump towards 9.9 percent. KBW Bank Index and other big players (Bank of America, Apple and Boeing) also sank in the latest onslaught of stocks. On the bright side of fiscal news, all the sidewalk hawking for gold liquidation has paid off and the Newmont Mining stock rose 6.7 percent. Activity on the NYSE has increased and is actually 24 percent above the previous, three-month average. However, the style remains to compare the unemployment slump or any type of crisis to the European Crisis as the budding summer continues.

Other systemic, undercurrents of ill illease impact the startup business community, wherein, participants have already unearthed a motley of problems. In mid-May, an article surfaced on Forbes, "4 Unintended Consequences of the JOBS Act for the Startup Community," which outlined problems with a previously popular bill. The JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) was designed to allow for Startups to finance themselves through crowdfunding. Crowdfunding allows them to generate capital incurred for their expenses from the public. This happens in lieu of angel or venture capital investors, which means that the startups still do not have access to sole mahatma. In the past, people in a trade have been capable of enriching these young companies through donations or investments. Angel investors or the startup companies that appreciate the risk of the investment are perhaps reflected in the unemployment stats (stats of those not employed with startups, nor staffing such a company). This fiscally conservative gesture might merely reflect the expansion phase of these corporations' business cycles. 

Washington Post reporter Hayley Tsukayama referred to a spectacularly different fate of a startup, that of Facebook, as "the bellwether moment for Web 2.0." Hopefully, the decline of Facebook's stock from $42 to $29.63 is not actually prescient of an entire phenomenon of the new dot-com firms throwing in the towel before going IPO. If such a phenomenon is possible, Tsukayama indeed outlines the possibility of other companies following suit. However, it seems that the State of California remains the most disappointed that it might not receive the tax revenue. The plunge, as picked up by Bloomberg, portends that some young participants in the stock market are more distrustful of stocks.

If investors continue as, Bloomberg purports, to withdraw from mutual funds for the sixth straight year in a row, then this is proof that elements of the financial crisis - distrust, a disavowal to participate in public markets, questions of the regulations of said markets, etc. - is clearly presages the 2008 crisis (which some report as the 2008-2009 crisis). Similar tech companies have reported violative slumps in the marketplace. Inflated estimates of potential user growth were slashed by the banks underwriting the details. All of these circumstances, including Facebook stockholders experiencing technical difficulties while accessing these stocks, have conflated into Zuckerberg's present-above-average-being-perceived-as-below-average-slump. A drop in stock to $29.63 is still higher than the typical, projected sales as one Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP employee reported.