Hipsters

Now the term hipster is a somewhat common term for us. Its been around for decades and it has changed its meaning dozens of times over but in its core the hipster is someone who is intrenched in counter culture. Anything that he or she or the group deems as "mainstream" is to be shunned and mocked. If they do partake in mainstream media it is only to be done ironically to show how silly they deem something. They are encouraged to abide my an underground culture untouched by the mainstream corporations

It is funny that now hipster is a very accepted mainstream culture and people do it to seem cooler. Many people who claim to be hipsters do it superficially and are on many mainstream cites like Tumblr or something like that. Even though it is a mainstream culture it is still somewhat looked down upon, when people think of hipsters now of days they think of individuals who are arrogant, think themselves better than other people and somewhat annoying. They always knew about that band before they went mainstream, or this little coffee shop that was so cool before people found out about it or proudly exclaim how they exclusively shop at thrift shops and the Salvation Army.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Bx1s8Nus8 Neutral Milk Hotel
         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVo9aG3ZQU4 Grizzly Bear

Now music that truly represents hipsters is kinda hard to find because if it was really underground it would probably be recorded on cassette tapes or something but these bands I found give off the same kind of vibe I imagine that hipsters identify with, they have crazy classifications like Psychedelic Folk, Synth Psychedelic Pop and even just Hipster. Now I actually really like both of these bands but I feel they might be under the classification of hipster indie, but you can buy them on Itunes so that kinda ruins it.    

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http://www.fashion-pins.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/hipster-fashion-men-summer41-hipster-menswear-styles---the-definition-of-rad-from-musician-gt42vp8k.jpg

Hipster clothing I think is supposed to evoke the idea that the person dosent care about what they have on or that the clothes are second and and from a thrift shop. Its kind of ironic that there are dozens of outlet stores that sell these kinds of clothes and more likely then not that where modern day hipsters buy from so that $3 shirt actually cost $20. Beards are a must as well as just mustaches that are twirled up. I like having a beard so Im not shaving anytime soon and I think the twirled mustache is because its a 19th century thing.

All in all hipsters are defined by the time they live in, to my knowledge this is the current day hipster. All about irony, indie stuff and old retro things, what hipster might be in 10 or 20 years I have no idea but they have their own established music, fashion and entertainment.

Palo Alto

The collection of stories called "Palo Alto" were in contrast to "Colorless" fairly unmoving. While both did show general apathy and reflection in their main characters Murakami did it in a more compelling and thoughtful way then James Franco. With Murakami's book the main character while depressed and somewhat apathetic was still somewhat likable, he had gone thru things that many people at Ringling might have, he used some dream-like sequences that could have been real or just the character's neurosis. While in Palo Alto its just shitty high school kids and their shitty high school problems to be quite honest. Some of them do bad things or have band things happen to them but there is no conclusion or consequences to these they just happen and end.

Murakami uses plain and simple writing to describe interesting subject matter, the dream sequences are very cool and surreal and the journey to find out what happened to his former friends and to discover what his color is, is a very enjoyable subject to experience. It gives the reading some incentive to keep on with the story.

But with Franco's novel the stories are not only written simply which is fine, the subject matter is so blah and uninteresting it was hard for me to want to read more of these stories. As where Murakami has dashes of surrealism and wonder to make the reader question whats the rules of the world and whats happening, Franco has very dry and stale stories that sound like a college freshmen telling people stories of their high school.      

Colorless

For the discussion in class about the novel Colorless we touched upon some important themes in terms of what we individually thought about this world's ethos and features. Most of us were in agreement about the world's features, it was much like the world we currently live in today. There is plenty of drudgery surrrounding the events that happen to the main character and even the main character himself is wrapped up in the apathy. This lifelessness that surrounds the character in the beginning shows the apparent ethos of the novel. It is a central theme of the character trying to find himself or as they say get his own color due to him being the only one in his former friend group without a representative color to speak of. And from what I read the hook is him finding out his former friends in search of what his color is.

Even though many found it mundane and kind of boring I actually found the drudgery of everyday life intersting. Its pretty relatable to me, I dont go on wild adventures with larger then life things and people in it. I feel I'm an ordinary guy living out his life and to me "Colorless" seemed like the life and perspective of a guy when bad things have happened. Its him doing self analyzation and the reader getting to experience this change first hand.