I'm a what?

[trinityvixen]

In all seriousness, yesterday, one of our post-docs, S, said I was a hipster. He said that I had told him as much. Buh-whaaaaat? Obviously, there is no way I would ever, ever say that, even as a joke. Today, in talking about it again, two other people gave him the O.o face as well, including A, whose response was pretty goddamned vehement. S maintains that he used to hang out with hipsters in Cincinnati, so he knows from hipsters. I came up with many defenses against my supposed inclusion into hipster-dom, but probably the best was this exchange.

S: "So what are hipsters like, if not like you?"
Me: "Let me put it in terms of movies: hipsters like movies in languages nobody speaks. I liked Thor."

This caused another post-doc to splutter loudly at his desk and set off a round of discussion about why or why not Thor was a good movie. At least I'm not defending myself against being a hipster any more!!!

Also, this reminded me that I needed to pre-order Captain America. Which I have. Come to me, sweet, sweet Blu Ray!!

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Well, you are bracingly sarcastic...

There are hipsters in Cincinnati? Bwuh? I don't think that should be a yardstick.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I could see, perhaps, my sarcasm not translating, but this is ridiculous.

I was, as you were, surprised to hear that Cincinnati has hipsters. I guess that's where all the Ohioans who don't want to live in Cleveland hang out?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

It is especially odd as I would say the defining characteristic of hipsterism is maintaining an ironic distance from everything. And the defining characteristic of geekism is becoming overly emotionally invested in things. So. It's not exactly like the spheres overlap.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Do you drink Pabst? Shop at American Apparel? Wear trucker hats and skinny jeans? And while you liked Thor, did you like it ironically?

If the answer to most of those is "no" you're probably OK.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Do you ride a fixed gear bike? Do you can your own preserves and make labels from upcycled garbage you stole from your neighbor's trash? Do you have a moustache tattoo on your finger so you can hold it under your nose? Have you ever stopped liking a band because more than five other people in the world liked it?

I agree, I think you're safe.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

I think your Hip-Dar is better tuned than mine.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

BWAH HA HA, you guys kill me. I mean that completely unironically, too!

(Which I used as an example--I am wearing my Care Bears shirt today. A hipster might wear the same shirt, but a hipster wouldn't start singing the song from the second Care Bears movie whenever she wore it...)

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I have a guilty addiction to Regretsy.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Why the *heck* did I have to go Google that? It's like a train-wreck by the side of the road...

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Sorry.

Also, some of it's most definitely not safe for work. Because some of the things people put on Etsy are just astonishingly inappropriate.

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

I was concerned the other day, wearing my skinny jeans (because I am tiny) and drinking my PBR (because it's $2 less than the other beer, dammit) that I might be turning into a hipster. Then I realized that I am way too sincere in liking things to ever be a hipster. Hooray!

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

I don't think skinny jeans are hipster for women anymore -- too many wear them! -- but sincere or not, you may want to go easy on the Pabst...

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Have you ever created an extensive online profile of yourself explaining why you're just not interested in creating extensive online profiles of yourself? Do you own an obscure foreign musical instrument that you can't play but have so you can explain to the unwashed who ask that it's not about the instrument, it's about the appreciation for an unappreciated culture? Have you ever pretended to be poor when not actually poor to win an argument?

Yeah, I'm not seeing it.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Dang it, I meant to tack this one on to Jethrien's.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I was trying to explain, in terms of music, what hipsters like versus what I like, and the other post-doc said, "Wait, I thought hipsters didn't like anything." True that.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Hipster "likes" are like *actual* vampires - when exposed to sunlight, they crumble and blow away as if they were never there.

[jlc.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain: I've got a couple of more recent acquaintances that are for some reason convinced that I'm a hipster. It confuses me greatly.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Well, you smoke crazy cigarettes and wear black. Isn't that halfway there?

[jlc.livejournal.com]

So my goth tendencies give me hipster points? :'(

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Can you post these in the office to educate them? http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6288896/if-superheroes-were-hipsters

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I saw a similar sort of post on Project Rooftop. (http://www.tencentticker.com/projectrooftop/2011/07/05/pr-redesign-ferd-pobletes-hipster-heroes/) Of course, that is art, not humor, not really, but I thought I should link to Project Rooftop regardless because it's a fun art blog.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+hipster

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I have got to start using that more.