On Hipsters…
I notice something today. That is, when kids go into second hand bookstores lookin’ all Zoe Dechannel or however the fuck you spell that poser’s name, they’re proud of it- they feel good about knowing the difference between Culture and Kulture- Wittgenstein and Vittgenstein or whatever. Now, these douchey kids and me- we studied the same things- albeit differently. Personally, I knew the journey was a pointless one- Shoot, I had a sister call me the other day with some hipster kid asking me about where the best university to take English Lit was- I told the kid that was a paradox- there is no place- because, first, it’s subjective, and second, it’s ivory tower make dickhead laureates money bullshit- oh, and that you won’t have a job 5 years down the road- but back to the bookstore thing. When I spent my summers going into bookstores looking for first editions, 3rd printings of ‘raise high the roof beam carpenters’ and reading Chekhov in my living room until I had to go to work to sling yogurt or whatever, I was in constant shame. My mom told me to stop reading because it made me cynical and depressed. She was right. I’m still ashamed of it- of myself. My wanderings through academia were a tough attempt at absolving my guilt- and it didn’t really work- though it made me a little more patient and allowed me to develop the patience to endure the careless mistakes of my past until I manage to fix everything. But when I see hipster kids with airplane haircuts stolen from the 90s Chinese of Hong Kong Dramas, thick framed shit glasses, striped shirts, whatever, go into bookstores like they’re the shit because they walk out with Jayne Eyre or whatever, I know they’re just little consumer bitches- I assume they don’t really know literature, nor the struggles of pursuing it- if so, they wouldn’t be able to shop at H&M- they’d be preparing for a future of vast poverty and boheme starvation (cool, right?). Here’s the rub though- it’s a bunch of cultural capital- but how many of them know about Bourdieau anyway? Not important. Jokes on them. Point is, now- thank the consumer gods- you can feel good about going into second hand bookstores. Maybe the intentions are totally insincere and lack integrity and it’s changing for a reason of pure irony- but it’s change, right? Will it lead to something better? Or fizzle out in a couple more years when this terrible fad ends? Or manifest itself into another carnation or pretension? Hopefully, the trend of consumer experience will overtake cultural capital very soon. It’s off to a slow start- it’s been happening since 2008, when this hipster thing began- two interesting divergences have been happening in an interesting paradigm shift. Hmm. I wonder? Anyway, I still can’t stand to look at my bookshelf. So many books- so much culture. So much fucking shame.
-l
sometimes i think older men are secretly jealous of my complacent lazy 27 year old life. all pissy because they were dumb enough to be duped by marriage and the belief that they should have a family or else be viewed as a societal failures. Or that they should have ‘man jobs.’ Quite frankly, I’m tired of their misdirected discipline.
They should either read some Foucault, or some Klaus Theweleit.Huh? right buddies? A little Male Fantasies for ya.
Rummaging through my things in the spare room at my grandmother’s today I came across the first and, coincidentally, last book my father ever bought me. It was 54 dollars. My mom says the reason I stopped believing in God was because at the age of 12 I’d ask for things like this, know all the stories in religious mythology and read books like Dante’s Inferno when I should have been doing shit like playing baseball. She also remembers me briefly wearing rosemary in my belt because I believed it kept the devil away. She was really hoping though that I’d become a priest, and then a businessman, and then a doctor- not a dude who studied pornography. Sorry mom.
The Fungus of Immortality
- DR: Luigi, what do you want out of life?
- ME: To find the fungus of immortality, learn kung fu and turn to stone.
- DR: Alright.
- ME: The Chinese believe that the deer is the only being on earth that knows its location.
i wouldn’t call a fitness instructer with fake breasts a guru.
that doesn’t seem very truth seeking.
