Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Weeks 6 and 7: Hipster



The term hipster can be described very specifically, a quick google search might give you a definition like this one: 
The hipster subculture typically consists of white millennials living in urban areas.The subculture has been described as a "mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior" and is broadly associated with indie and alternative music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility (including vintage and thrift store-bought clothes), generally progressive political views, organic and artisanal foods, and alternative lifestyles. Hipsters are typically described as affluent or middle class young Bohemians who reside in gentrifying neighborhoods.

For as much as people want to argue that “hipster” is a solely millennial counter culture if you look a little harder you can actually find that groups of people with the same alternative views within their modern society can actually be dated back to a lot of groups of creative people in the 1940’s. The term “hipster” (regardless of it’s similarities to its predecessors in definition) is used quite liberally in our vocabulary and that’s what makes it unique. I find that very interesting because in a world of easy access to most knowledge with the click of a button or a swipe of a screen and an exposure to almost everything in pop culture it’s becoming harder to pinpoint a counter culture, to be able to define it because almost everyone is part of that “counter culture” by default, everyones in the loop. It’s funny that hipster is often used as an insult because…it really doesn’t make sense, how can you make fun of someone for liking something else? Your labeling someone as the opposite of you because you don't share the same interests but in turn it makes you their own negative hipster. Quite funny.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Week 5: Thoughts on Palo Alto


I read most of Palo Alto by James Franco and watched the Gia Coppola film and…it was …interesting. Flawed? yes. Poorly written? Yes, at times but for the most part I related to the stories. Growing up right here in Sarasota, Fl especially through high school I’ve met more than a couple of equivalent people that are written about in Franco’s book. Yes for as much as you don't want to believe it these people exist. Drunk, pill popping, cigarette smoking, privileged white children that hate their parents exist. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a plethora of them so to me what was more interesting than reading the book and watching the movie was hearing my classmates response to the content. Not on the quality of the book…yes it was bad…we know, but the debate on weather the characters in the book were believable or not. Yes they are real.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Week 3: Writing New Mythologies



Like I’ve said before I’m very wary with Fantasy novels and prefer to read fiction primarily the ones that end within one book. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin actually surprised me though although a bit complicated with all its characters…who all have ridiculously long and “foreign” names it managed to keep me interested. The beginning was great but after a while I started losing interest, let me tell you why:

There was a lot of talking in this book, which makes sense it’s in first person after all and for the most part Jemisin wrote beautifully. She did a great job at describing her character and immense world and did a great job at selling the realism of her world but saturated the narrative with dialogue... that's basically all there was. For a book whose title suggests a vast and epic scope, the entire narrative for the most part takes place within a single area. We are constantly told how decadent and twisted the inhabitants of the castle Sky are, but we see very little evidence of that. We are also told constantly how powerful and alien the gods are compared to the “humans,” but in the actuality they don't really differ much, maybe its a harken back to Greek and Roman mythology but I don’t know that kind of upset me a bit. I did enjoy the main character Yeine, she was not your typical heroine. This all seems very critical, but I did really enjoy the first couple of chapters in the book I just tired of it after a while.