Final post...for now

So, my three best posts are as follows:


Hip in the city
This blog asks "What was the role of 'the city' within the history of hip? This is answered by me with the help of Bruce "The Doctor" Springsteen. Great stuff!


Portland Hip chic
This was a free blog, I believe, and it deals with my encounter with hipsters in Portland. Thinking back to this trip makes me nauseous but as a result, a lot of good things came out of it! 


The Blues
This was the beginning of it all! The beginning of class but also the beginning of 'Hip.' This post speaks for itself.




What makes them "my best?"


Honestly, I would considered these blogs to be some of my best writing because I actually cared about the topic. Hip in the city meant a lot to me because I was listening to Bruce Springsteen and trying to do my homework when out of nowhere I had this epiphany! He was singin' about everything I was thinking and I associated that with the city. Also, if you watch the live music video, it illustrates hip beautifully. 


Portland Hip chic was fun to write, partly because I got to take out my animosity for Portland in my blog assignment. I think my sense of humor is like my favorite wine: dark and dry. So this was fun to write but also therapeutic. 


The Blues is very dear to me because without blues music, living would be impossible. I wish we would have spent more time talking about the blues because I feel that most hip ideas really do stem from early blues artists. 


Ideas on American popular culture...


I've really enjoyed this course on two levels, it has been like a pop. culture history class, as well as a writing class. We have had some interesting discussions in class and I'm walking away with great notes that will hopefully help me in the future. Some of my ideas have changed from the beginning of this course, but if anything they have been reinforced. My views of hip have been expanded upon and my ideas about what a 'hipster' is, have been reiterated. Exploring hip figures such as Walt Whitman and Ernest Hemingway, helped me see hip in a different light, a more ambiguous one too.  Whitman challenged orthodoxy through his poetry and ideas and I can't think of a 'hipper' figure. I would like to expand my knowledge of Whitman's work in the future because I think his passion for writing is incredible. When we read Hemingway's The Killers, I couldn't initially see how the story could be considered hip. After our discussion about time and identity, it really opened my eyes to the form of literary analysis. I re-read the story and loved it because of the confusion it creates, but also the way it dares to be different. I could say that I learned what 'hip' is, but I'm not sure if that was the point. If you take hip out of the equation, then I learned the love and theft of America, the compact version. 


Strengths and Weaknesses?


Overall, I feel good about my participation in class and what I got out of the class itself. I'm still dissatisfied with my performance as a writer and was hoping to have improved. I feel that I lack clarity and struggle with making well developed ideas. The writing assignments were good practice and I appreciate the flexibility. As for strengths, I'm highly passionate and have the will to write, which is why I took the class. I don't think that I've established a style of writing yet, or if you ever do?  


Grade?


Good question....


I've trained myself to not think about grades anymore. I just make sure that I show up and do my best, which is relative. I have shown up for the entire semester, minus a couple sick days, and I've tried to do my best. Personally, this has been an extremely hard semester for me because my home/work life is attempting to kill me (I've already notified authorities). So with that in mind, I feel like I did the best I could do at this moment in time, the perplexing present. In a way, this class has been my only outlet and I'm really going to miss it. If there is a grade attached to it, it probably looks like an A or B? If I was grading the class, I would give it an A, because it has been the most inventive class I've taken.


Sincerely, Waterface.
 (Witney Ryan)

Annotated Bibliography

Erickson, Steve. “Neil Young On a Good Day.” New York Times-Sunday Magazine. July 2000. Web.

This source will help me provide examples of Neil’s character, and I will then relate that to how Neil is hip. The article talks about all the idiosyncrasies Neil has and also how he can be a trickster figure. For example, Neil fired his Buffalo Springfield manager only to ask him to secretly manage his solo career.

 Kent, Nick. “I Will Survive.” MOJO Vol. 1: Issue 4. 96+ Print.

This Mojo article tells of Neil’s journey into older age and how he has had to deal with ambiguity within the music business. The article asks the question, “ Does a 60-year-old still have any place in the wild frontier? Whatever the answer is, Neil will do the opposite.

Leland, John. Hip: The History. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.

I will use Leland as a reference point for hip, mainly using ideas about the trickster figure and identity. Leland claims that there is a mythology built around personal identity and I will use Neil Young as the example. Neil has many pseudonyms that allow him to try on different personas.

McDonough, Jimmy. Shakey; Neil Young’s Biography. New York: Anchor Books, 2002. Print.

Neil Young’s biography will serve as a reference point of Neil’s career and I will highlight the hippest points as well as why he will remain hip in the future. There are countless stories about how Neil likes to provoke his audience, which is a trickster move.

Simmons, Sylvie. “Be there, be there now, be in it.” MOJO Feb. 2011: 74-90. Print.

This article has many examples of Neil’s influence on past and future generations. There is a small interview with Young that gives insight into how Neil works. I plan to reference quotes from people who have been influenced by Young.

 Sweetig, Adam. “Expecting To Fly.” Uncut July 2003: 36-66. Print.

This article has great examples of Neil’s attitude in general. He wasn’t in the business to make money; it was always about the music. The main point I will use is that Neil was environmentally conscious, even in the 70’s, and used his status to raise a bigger awareness.

Women Who Rock!

On the topic of women’s role in the history of ‘hip,’ I believe women are the driving force or momentum behind the scenes. Now I have no claim to feminism by any means, in fact I would consider myself more “one of the guys” type of girl, but it is strange that John Leland omits many important female icons in Hip: The History.

           

            The puzzle piece I’m having trouble with is the way Leland keeps referring to hip as more of a feminine movement, but then goes on to discuss the dominance of males in society.  I guess this is just another contradiction of hip. This idea is leaning more towards misogynistic because it places women in the home as domestic mothers, and men on the road, living their dreams.

            

“ For many women, especially those with children, the price of this adventure is too high. Instead of reinventing themselves on the road, they have reinvented the home and the parameters of hip within it” (Leland 243).

There is not a right or wrong side here; there are just many versions of the truth. Some women may be perfectly happy being a housewife/mother and others may want to live from one adventure to another, I don’t think that makes them less hip than their male counterpart.

Needless to say, (this is where I say it anyways), there are many female faces within the history of pop culture and I think Leland chose to leave them out. Why? Maybe he wasn’t comfortable with the subject, then again maybe his wife made him add the chapter on ladies?  Who Knows?

Hip remains a matter of opinion and it really is up to the researcher on defining what is hip, who is hip, and why it matters. 

Here is just a short list of women who were left out of this book (or didn’t get enough coverage): Emily Dickinson, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth  Hurley, Cyndi Lauper, The Staples Sisters, The Supremes, Tina Turner, Wanda Jackson, Alanis Morissette, Joan Baez, Carole King, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Rosa Parks, and so so many more. 

                    

                                                                   

Vinyl gets its groove back!

      So for the final essay I am collecting information on old trends, one of them being the vinyl record. The invention of vinyl records revolutionized the way people listened to music, as well as made artists popular. Before records, people just listened to live music or the radio, but being able to purchase records gave freedom to the listener. You could walk into a record store and look through rows of vinyl, each album cover was like a work of art.
      Vinyl eventually fell victim to newer technology like cassette tapes and compact discs, but many people argue that the sound of the record was never topped. Recently vinyl societies have popped up all over the place, even here in Blaz`e, Idaho. We have Record Store day, April 15th, and a newly founded Vinyl Society. 
I have to wonder if this falls into the hipster category though?

It's a fine line between hip and just plain foolishness, and if your doing it for the right reasons, than what does it matter?
It takes dedication to listen to vinyl in a world of instant mp3 gratification. A true vinyl lover recognizes the beauty in each tiny groove of the pressed material.
    
Vinyl sales seem to be on the rise again and new records are being released in vinyl box sets! This is music to the ears for collectors and anyone who appreciates the art.

Here's a short article about the recent trend:
http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2010/august/137521/Vinyl-records-are-coming-back-into-style

Kartoons are for Kids, oK?

           The only thing appropriate for kids in these old cartoons was the distracting music. After watching the old Betty Boop cartoon, I can see why it was banned from television. I’m not sure what year it was made, but really that should be no excuse. Even if the creators thought they were being ‘cute’ or ‘witty’ and trying to poke fun at stereotypes, these are the reasons why racism has lasted for too long. The cartoon’s host Betty Boop is a caricature version of a young, hip, Jewish women who exploits babies for their natural talents.  Russian babies, Chinese babies, White babies, and Black babies, any baby goes. So when the Black babies come out on the stage, they are chained together and crying, and in order to stop their crying, they are given a watermelon. Then in the audience, a Black baby starts to cry and what does the mother give it, you guessed it, a watermelon. These stereotypes and caricatures were maybe meant to be funny, but really they are just reinforcing the fact that racism was popular. There is nothing funny about this, at all!

I sincerely hope that children were not allowed to watch these parades of indignity, but judging by how many people still have racist opinions, I’m sure they were.

            The only love in this cartoon is the love for hatred and spreading racist views. John Leland says, “Without the Africans, there is no hip”(18), so why are African Americans viewed so negatively? If that is hip, then I don’t want to ever be hip. There is just something so disturbing about this cartoon and I’m not sure if it’s the weird babies, the racism, or the fact that Betty Boop doesn’t have a neck? Either way, at least someone had enough sense to ban the horrific nightmare that should have remained a delusion in someone’s head.

Feeling Kind Of Low...

I will say, I am finally at my wit's end and officially pulling my hair out while crying and eating Ben and Jerry's and telling myself I'm fat! Yes folks, it is mid-term week, other wise known as the turning point in the semester. Not only is school overly stressful right now, my life has turned into a Greek creation myth - filled with chaos and drama - and frankly I just don't care anymore.

So while I was procrastinating, my newly found art, I came across this:

Anyways, I thought this girl was pretty damn funny, so then I did a google search for Ce Lo Green's version, and to be honest, I didn't know who the guy was - because I live under a rock apparently, and I guess he is considered one of the best male singers in America? Crazy!

After watching the original video, I couldn't help thinking about John Leland's definition of hip, and "The bridge between black/white, high/low cultures, rich/poor" (Leland)

This Music video is the essence of that definition.

Ce Lo mixes modern African American culture with the stereotypical white culture of the 50's - like Grease - where the jocks and cheerleaders hang out at the local diner, black framed glasses are popular, Letterman jacket's and so on....but this video is totally hip because Ce Lo meshes the two cultures together and hooks the audience with a catching melody and trust me, I CAN NOT GET THIS SONG OUT OF MY HEAD!

Bam who? zled...

After watching Spike Lee’s film Bamboozled, I find myself very reluctant to name a trickster. With feelings of ambiguity towards the film’s message against racism, I’m still confused which is worse, racism or terrorism?

The main character, Pierre Delacroix, comes off as a trickster in the beginning because he refuses to be labeled as a stereotype, or to even be classified. His power is language and knowledge, but the misuse of knowledge eventually gets him killed. Trying to get fired, he invents a modern day minstrel show with the assumption that it won’t ever make it to television. When the show becomes a hit, Delacroix becomes blurred by society and losses touch with the message.

In the beginning of the film, Delacroix makes it crystal clear that he has a serious problem with the use of the “N” word; especially when whites use it. His father, a popular black comedian, seems to have no problem using the word. So it seems like the verdict is that it is acceptable to use it if you are black? Once Delacroix gives in to using the word in his show, he seems to lose perspective of what he believes in. He losses his true identity, and forgets that he created this in order to get fired.

The TRUE Trickster then is……Spike Lee.

Lee has created a film in which the audience doesn’t know what is allowed to be funny. There is a blend of stereotypes that seem to undermine the rules of the culture, which is what John Leland attributes to trickster figures. Lee also uses his wit to poke fun at the stereotypes of each culture, making disturbingly funny and disgusting gestures simultaneously. 

Spike Lee, The Trickster, did his research in order to use it to his advantage. I think overall, the message is positive in a weird Spike Lee kind of way. There is no room for racism in our society, because it has taken us so long to overcome it. After watching this film, I was extremely depressed and couldn’t even put it into words now. All I can say is ‘Wow.’

Works Cited

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. If Black English Isn’t A Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? July 29,1979. Web. March 14, 2011.
~ This short essay talks about the evolving of Black English through the African Diaspora. Baldwin asks the question that language plays and how it ultimately reveals the speaker. We discover why language is so critical to our identity. The theme of identity is a common one throughout my essay.

Bamboozled. Dir. Spike Lee. Perf. Damon Wayans, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Savion   Glover. New Line Cinema. 2000. DVD.
~The film Bamboozled, by director Spike Lee is a challenge to the status quo. In an attempt to get fired from a major T.V. network career, the main character Dela decides to bring back the minstrel show. After the audience makes it a hit, Dela has a whole other set of problems. This film challenges ideas of racism and identity. I believe I can also tie this film to ideas of the trickster and also the role of language.

Leland, John. Hip: The History. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.
~This will be the main foundation for the definition of hip. Leland uses multiple examples of hip and makes a case for each of the sources I will be using. I plan to examine each source further and relate them to the "shape hip takes."

‘‘The Killers,’ Ernest Hemingway: Interpretation.’’ In Understanding Fiction, edited by Cleanth Brooks, Jr. and Robert Penn Warren. Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1943, pp. 306—25.
~This is a Hemingway classic short story that challenges the idea of identity and time. This can been thought of in a hip light due to the break from orthodoxy and challenges the constraints of time. The concept that arises a huge epiphany is when we discover that the time inside is different from the time outside. This concept pokes at the rational construction of reality; and that is hip!

The hour that doesn't exist!

          I don't know about anyone else, but I am beginning to show signs of DHS (Defining Hip Syndrome).
Symptoms are: Increased cynicism, lack of motivation towards time related tasks, the nagging belief that everyone is a hipster, and various minor physical reactions to jazz music. 


In a brief attempt to repair my sanity, or what is left, I have decided to separate myself from these superfluous thoughts.


On to other topics, What happens to the the hour between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. during the upcoming time change?
Hypothetically we are supposed to set out clocks forward around 2 in the morning, thus becoming 3 a.m. right?
So the hour from 2 a.m to 3 a.m is a mystery. 
We don't actually find that hour until fall back, which occurs seven months later. So that mystery hour is just floating around space, probably chillin' with Tupac and Elvis. 


Where ever it goes, I am just relieved that it eventually comes back. Time, like energy, is relative and cannot be subtracted - it is neither created or destroyed; It re-shapes itself.


It was Albert Einstein who said, 
"The only reason for time, is so that everything doesn't happen at once."


Einstein, most famously know for his Theory of Relativity, understood that the faster an object was moving, the faster time moved relative to the stationary object. Since none of us can actually travel at the speed of light yet, this may be difficult to test. I'll just take Al's word for it!

Trickster Me This?

Talking about the Trickster this week has really given me a run for my money; I seem to be at a loss of ammo.

I don’t know why but for some reason when I think current trickster, a picture of Hugh Laurie comes to mind…

He plays Dr. House on the television show House, in which he is a complete smart ass but also happens to be a brilliant doctor. Each show usually ends with House saving someone’s life but only at the expense of making the other characters feel inadequate. House, like most Tricksters, uses his knowledge to fix situations that could potentially make him look bad. After all, it is just fiction.

As for a real live Trickster, that’s a tough one. Normally I would say Lady GaGa, but she has been my answer for everything lately, so I’m pondering this one…

I feel like there are numerous political figures that could be classified as a Trickster, it seems to be their area of expertise.

Take President Obama for example, he had to use his ‘wit and ingenuity’ to win the presidency, and he is constantly having to dodge stereotypes by the mass public but he does it in a smooth operator kind of way that allows you to think he is part trickster. His power is his language and I think he uses that to his advantage; most politicians are this way.

Another current Trickster – Johnny Depp?

Johnny Depp has had a longtime successful acting career, but how did he get started?

He actually avoided mainstream movies to do what he wanted, which were smaller roles and quirkier films, like Benny and Joon. He was looked at as a rebel for giving Hollywood the middle finger and still becoming one of today’s most popular actor. I think in this regard he defies classification. He has done everything from being a musician to making cartoons and still has time to be a family man. I think Johnny gets the last laugh here because he has crafted his stage to fit his lifestyle. 

Hip in Portland-No Thank You!

I have walked through the valley of Hipster and I have seen their wrath!

The city of Portland has taken “hipster” to a whole other dimension, and that’s putting it nice.

I recently took a trip to Portland, OR. to see a true living legend, Eric Clapton – who helped to create ‘hip’ through his various widespread tribute recordings of early blues musicians like Robert Johnson and also his own knack for the guitar, but I wasn’t prepared for the series of strange events that followed.

I arrived at my hotel The Jupiter, just before the rain began its evening pour. All seemed well until I got to my hotel room. I was told that this was one of the ‘hippest’ hotels in Portland, and the brightly packaged condom and earplugs on my nightstand, should have told me everything I needed to know.  Under normal circumstances, this would not have bothered me, but on this trip I happened to be traveling with my Father, awkward is right.

“I thought it was a three star hotel, sorry dad.”

In fact, the Jupiter was just an old Travel Lodge that had been DIY’ed to resemble a modern art boutique. 

“Look, if I wanted to stay up all night getting trashed and listening to indie pop, I would have stayed in Boise.”

I was under the impression I had booked a classy night stay, unless pink condoms are your idea of classy - I apologize.

Also on my nightstand was a guide to Portland, “this should be fun!”

Oh wait, it was actually just a list of things that you have to do to be considered ‘hip’ in Portland, for serious. Apparently it is no longer hip to use an umbrella during Portland’s monsoon season, throw it away!. Also, not hip, being nice to strangers or in my case, out-of-towners. Also on the list was:"Join a food co-op, get thrown off the max, get a haircut drunk, grow a half-beard, hate California and quit a yoga class.”

Only to name a few, there are 100 of them…. “Oh, now I get why everyone is so rude, they are angry, hung-over, pretentious and soaked?”

So basically this is what “hip” looks like in Portland:

Ironically clothed assholes that also look like they could be homeless, but play in a local band and won’t say thank you if you do them a favor.

I noticed that the dress code for the hipsters seemed to be easily recognizable. Guys: Messy hair, business jacket, retro pants and shoes with no laces. (Some of the guy’s just straight up looked like Charles Manson). Gals: Some sort of artistic sexy-fit shirt that barely covers the hinny, spandex, faux leather boots, usually no make-up, and messy hair.

All the hipsters would stand in the rain, smoking their cigs, with no umbrella!

Remember, umbrellas are so not hip.

 

The ‘hippest’ things about the Jupiter were the chalkboard doors! In fact, if the maid likes your artwork, it could appear on the Jupiter’s blog! Think of the potential!

I realize I may sound a wee-bit cynical, maybe it’s because I haven’t had the chance yet to “join an ironic/drunk sport,” my bad.

Get over yourself Portland, you’ll never be New York, and it’s ok because you will always have the other side of the river.

Source: Finder: Willamette Week’s Guide To Portland. 2010-2011.”100 things you must do to be a Portlander.” Portland, OR.

Ain't No BEAT Without It...

The Beat idea of Perfection from Imperfection...sounds like the Western version of Japanese Wabi-Sabi.


Wabi-Sabi~ Is the Japanese belief that there is beauty in imperfection. "This idea accepts the natural cycle of growth, decay and death." So essentially, it is all around us-all the time!
(Source: What is Wabi-Sabi? ; http://nobleharbor.com/tea/chado/WhatIsWabi-Sabi.htm)


So....If the Beat generation was cultivating this idea of the eternal present, and the acceptance of flaws instead of virtues, isn't that the ultimate way to live? 


Life is imperfect! Sometimes we are addicts, or dead-beats, consumers, sinners, liars, cheats, guilty of not living to our full potentials...I could keep going...


What was the question?


Maybe, the aesthetic of the beats' just grew from the conformity of the Industrial Revolution? They felt repressed and controlled by time - like their lives were a punch card? 


Maybe, the beats' were just representing the legacy of poets and artists that had sacrificed before them - like Whitman or Pollock?


John Leland says, hip has a ..."fetish for failure and self-destruction"(155).

                                                                       Jack Kerouac


                         Maybe this is why we lost so many poets and artists at such a young age?  

There seems to be a sense of romance attached to being           immortalized through the myth of destruction!

Who are the modern 'beats'?

This is a tough question because just like hip is constantly re-defining itself, so is imperfection! 

In recent pop culture, it feels like we have moved past the beauty of flaws and back to the traditional idea of a perfect product, in my opinion. When you download 50 songs in 60 seconds for 99 cents, do you really care how they got there? In their remastered condition with zero static? 

I like my broken needle because the flaws of the album live there~

So...Here is a top 5 list of current hip makers

(whether they know it or not):

Jack White

Lady GaGa

Clint Eastwood

Zooey Deschanel

Chuck Palahniuk

~ Explanations for the Top 5 will be posted at a later date, Thank You.

We are what we hate...

So in today's modern society, where communication mostly involves electricity(she thinks as she types), do we even need F2F communication anymore? Has conversation fallen to the wayside, just like common courtesy and student loans? 


I was given a cell phone when I was 17 years old, for emergency use only. When I turned 18, I had to pay for said phone. 
My parents were always firm believers in not making cell phones a part of our everyday life.
As a result, I rarely check my cell phone or even know where it is. If there happens to be an emergency, I will reach for it like it is my lifesaver.


The other night when I was supposed to be visiting my parents, they were both slouched over in their seats, with both hands on their cell phones, texting! If there is a problem now, they will just text me. So if there ever is an emergency, I will be the last person to know. Thanks a lot! 


This must be another one of those, "do as I say, not as I do" moments, like smoking.


This is an epidemic problem that needs to be examined. 

Now, twitter me this? How egotistical do you have to be, to actually think people care about what you are doing at 2 a.m. at Walmart?

I may be cynical today, but I still won't have a keyboard on my phone tomorrow.

Everything is cheaper than it looks....

Ladies and Gentlemen, Los Angeles....

So when we think of pulp fiction stories and film noir, L.A. comes to mind for two reasons:

#1 – A new genre needs a new location. New York was already happenin’ and L.A. was just getting started.

#2 – L.A. had a certain mystique and mystery surrounding it, partly due to the film industry and partly because of the myth. “Hollywood, where dreams come true”.

Now John Leland has a great point too:

“The [west] coast was a place to contemplate the failure of the open road. Playing against the popular image of California as a land of sunshine and opportunity, pulp writers recast the state as a dark, violent place where the outcasts, drifters and grifters dug in after they ran out of room to run”.

~ So if life on the road was a symbol of masculine freedom, than by the time you reached California, it’s almost as if the road had changed these men into mysterious, dark figures.

~ Identity is out the window. No one really knows who’s who, because people can reinvent themselves by the hour.

I’m Just Shooting From The Hip Now,

There are  3  things that need to be discussed here –

HOW DOES HEMINGWAY= HIP?

If this were an algebraic expression, it may appear something like this:

 He + Id(t)* K= H

Where He= Hemingway, Id= Identity, t= Time, K= Knowledge, and H= Hip!

"Well, why do you think you're not my Facebook friend"? ~ Earnest

Now, how do all of these “things” relate to each other in a way that is comprehensive?

Let’s do this using Hemingway’s short story, “The Killers,” as an example:

Identity

>There is never a true sense of anyone’s identity or character. In fact, the story is purposefully confusing so that the reader can’t seem to figure out who’s who. Now, the one character in the story that is a constant is Sam. Ironically enough, Sam is the only black man. So is identity attached to our appearance?

Time

>Even the time of day is disoriented in this story! The clock is “twenty minutes fast” no one knows what the actual time is! Time becomes irrelevant. All that matters is what is happening right now! This is a very "hip" concept. Without a past or a future, you can be anything you want to!

Knowledge

>Now there are a lot of wise guy jabs at George, like calling him a “pretty bright boy,” but we don’t actually know anything about him. Also, the two gangsta’s make references to underground knowledge, for example one asks, “I mean, you got anything to drink?” This leads me to think that something else could be going on….

The circular motion in The Killers, reminds me more of a Gertrude Stein poem Stein poem is a Gertrude Stein poem is The Killers is The Killers is a Gertrude Stein poem The Killers?