Happy 4/20! Prepare to have your 'mellow' harshed

Happy 4/20 everyone! Can you smell the Hippies?

As a reformed Hippy myself, I have great insight on their world and feel obligated to critique the culture.

What a strange holiday April 20th is. On 4/20 you are supposed to break the law with all of your friends, but as far as I can tell there is no real reason to do it. There is a lot of speculation about where the date's importance comes from, but no one really knows and I don't think anyone really cares. Wikipedia claims that the date and time originated with some high schoolers who would smoke after getting out of detention at 4:20 every day, but I've heard plenty of other ones involving Hitler's birthday and other even more outlandish origins.

Do Hippies really even need an excuse to smoke some grass? No, no they don't. As protest I am making a point of not smoking grass and telling anyone who asks me to that this is a dumb holiday. 4/20 is similar to Christmas and Easter, maybe it meant something to someone at some point, but now its just a reason for misguided idealists to embrace consumerism. While you may not want to hear this, dealing drugs is a business just like the Frito-Lay Corporation, the company that sells Funyuns and other such popular stoner snacks. Way to break the mold, kids.

The Ugly Caterpillar

This is my final project from last quarter, in case you can't read the title it is called "The Ugly Caterpillar." It is an adaptation of the story, "The Ugly Duckline." It is a puppet animation with loads of fun mats in it. I hope you like it and I will take questions from y'all.

Hipsterism: A study (post-mortem?)

IRL, People often ask what I mean when I talk about hipsterism.
First, a definition via Wikipedia:

"In the late 1990s and during the 2000s, the 1940s slang term hipster was used to describe young, urban middle class and upper class adults with interests in non-mainstream fashion and culture, particularly alternative music, independent rock, independent film, magazines like Vice and Clash, websites like Pitchfork Media, and organic, vegan, or locally-grown food.[1] In some contexts, hipsters are also referred to as scenesters.[2]

It is difficult to give a precise definition of a hipster, because hipster culture is a "mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior[s]."[3] One commentator argues that "hipsterism fetishizes the authentic" elements of all of the "fringe movements of the postwar era—Beat, hippie, punk, even grunge," and draws on the "cultural stores of every unmelted ethnicity" and "gay style", and "regurgitates it with a winking inauthenticity" and a sense of irony.[4]"


Now that we all understand what a hipster is, one would logically ask, "why?" Hipsterism is the result of the times. It is spawned largely out of the suburban boredom common in today's middle class young people. They want to be socially active, but have tasted the fruits of consumerism and want to have the good life as well. Essentially, they all want to be Andy Warhol.

Hipsterism is an absurdist, post-modern movement. (Whether or not this is recognized by its subscribers) Irony, the sole principle shared by all hipsters, is a disempowering force. After Duchamp's urinal, hipsterism strives to question societal norms. A hipster's irony questions what is classy and what isn't, what is beautiful and what isn't, what is pleasing to listen to and what is crap.

Hipsterism doesn't deserve the criticism it deserves. Hipster culture is saturated with 'posers' who don't subscribe to the philosophical aspects of hipsterism. These 'posers' create an awful image for the scene as a whole. It is important to recognize that posers exist in every counterculture. Hipster culture is an easier target than most. Like the other absurdist movements of the past century, hipsterism is not appreciated by the masses because it is largely misunderstood. Most hipsters are just thought of as pretentious consumer whores while their works are meant to make a difference.

Maybe you all can hate the hipster movement a little less now that you know more about it. Now, I have a question for you: Is hipsterism dead?