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Hipstercrite Life

Austin, Film, Hipstercrite Life, Pop Culture

Does SXSW Give You Anxiety?!

Does SXSW give you ragin’ anxiety like it does for me?

I have something to clear off my flat chest.

After all this talk of blogging about SXSW- I can’t do it.

You know why?

Because I’ve already fizzled out.

My little motor has died and I already buried it in the backyard along with the feral cats of East Austin.

I don’t care enough about the hottest app, movie, party or show and scrambling back to regurgitate it all to you. I pretended like I cared a lot, but I’m realizing I don’t. Maybe that makes me a bad blogger, journalist or social media whore, but so be it.

When you live in Austin and work in or around the creative industries, you feel as though you’re supposed to squeeze SXSW by the nuts and get every last drop out of ’em. As a writer, screenwriter and social media nerd, it would be silly for me not to take full advantage of the festival, right? To go on 3 hours sleep every night, be drunk most of the time and trying to nudge my way into the hottest parties, (more…)

March 12, 2012 by
Austin, Hipstercrite Life, Music, Pop Culture, Writing

The Other 2012 SXSW Parties You Should Attend

You see, I could give a crap about RSVPing to all the hot SXSW parties this year and standing in line for hours on end in my only pair of stylish shoes that I pull out once or twice a year because they give me knee pains and being crammed into a small area with hundreds of drunk scenesters that step on my said only pair of stylish shoes which forces me to go all Hulk-like on everyone and tell them to “BACK THE FUCK ON UP!”, but in reality I actually won’t, so I become a shell of a person, completely despondent to all that is around me.

Instead, I’m checking out the other parties. The parties that I know won’t be overcrowded, or if they are, at least I can learn a thing or two about a cool new app, business venture or meet some neat-o folks.

Check out this list of parties if you’re hoping not to get your pinky toes murdered.

Who: The Warby Parker Citzen’s Circus
When: March 12-14th starting at 1PM
Where: French Legation Museum
Why: Cause who doesn’t want to hobnob with this (more…)

March 7, 2012 by
Fashion/Design, Hipstercrite Life

A Photo of a Young Woman’s Life Waiting to Happen

Working on some SXSW stuff for the blog today, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this photo of my grandmother as a teenager.

Right now it sits on my desktop and every hour or so, I pull it up to take a look at it. She’s so young, so happy.

My grandmother is 85 years old and her partner is in the hospital. His Alzheimer’s is starting to take over.

When I talked to my grandmother yesterday, she spoke like a woman who has nothing to look forward to. When I told her she should move to a warmer climate, she balked, “I’m at the end of my life.” When I told her that she should go out and spend time with friends, she said, “They’re all dead.” When I asked her if she will continue seeing Lionel every day at the hospital, she stated, “Yes, until one day he will forget me.”

Needless to say, it was the most uplifting conversation I’ve had in a long time.

Looking at this picture also makes me cry.

I wonder if this young woman fulfilled all her dreams.

March 6, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

Right Before You Forget Who Everyone Is

I’ve debated whether or not to write this post out of privacy of the person its about.

Due to the delicate subject matter, I will keep the less dignifying moments- and there are a lot of them- out of the story. However, I’m still going to talk about the matter at hand because the matter is very real and very prominent in my life and in the lives of so many others.

Alzheimer’s is an ugly disease. It is a repugnant and bitter illness that has its way with the host- stealing memories, stirring up unwelcome emotions, breaking down the body- until one day it leaves nothing but a shell.

Lionel is at the point where he’s fighting the invasion tooth and nail. He’s been committed to the hospital where he’s gone in an out of lucidity. He knows who we all are, but he often forgets the details of his life. One thing he is certain about? He doesn’t want to be at the hospital.

The sad realization is- this is the tipping point of Lionel’s true descent.

He will not be going home.

He (more…)

March 5, 2012 by
20-Something, Austin, Hipstercrite Life, Pop Culture, Travel

I’ve Angered Some People in Detroit

The weirdest thing happened the other day. The piece I wrote about what the next hipster cities will be was read by more than 45 people and my mother. In fact, in some of the towns I mentioned in the post, the article got passed around like a cheerleader in a frat house (sorry to any of you who were cheerleaders. I’m not sorry if you were in a frat).

The article predicts that Chattanooga, Tennessee, Asheville, North Carolina, Burlington, Vermont, Detroit, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland will be the next hipster cities.

My article did not sit well with everyone and even prompted a few humorous articles in Detroit in where I’m lambasted for making fun of a city I’ve never been to (it’s true…though like the hipsters I mentioned in the post, I would love to go to Detroit to see all the delicious ruin porn). One article titled “Dear People Who Don’t Know Anything About Detroit, Your Jokes Are Dumb“, I particularly liked. Even Curbed Detroit (more…)

February 24, 2012 by
20-Something, Austin, Hipstercrite Life, Travel

What Are the New Hipsters Cities to Move To?

Sometimes it feels like there is no place more hipster-plentiful than Austin, Texas. The city has become the poster child of what young creatives and entrepreneurs are discharging into this world. When you look up the word ‘Austin’ in the thesaurus, the words, ‘old-timey facial hair,’ ‘your grandmother’s eyewear,’ ‘college degree in food carting,’ ‘bee hive hoarding’ and ‘Which Wich eating‘ appear. It’s true that there is no escaping the fauxhemian gorilla-whale that is running amok in our city.

But are other cities unscathed by the beast? Smaller, up-and-coming cities that are like how Austin was before ‘we’ showed up? Cities that hipsters can flock to now that other, older hipsters have crimped their style of being on the forefront of a burgeoning scene? The answer is yes.

Are other cities unscathed by the beast? Smaller, up-and-coming cities that are like how Austin was before ‘we’ showed up?

Forget Austin, forget Brooklyn, forget Portland, forget Silver Lake. What are the (more…)

February 22, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

Creative Block or Fodder? When Life’s Challenges Affect Your Writing

Ah, writer’s block.

You never know when it’s going to hit.

The current writer’s block that reared its ugly head last week after a homeless man tried getting into my house while I was taking a shower, was actually a long time coming.

I wish I could pin it entirely on the homeless man, but in reality, he’s maybe only 50% of the blockage traveling through my creative vein right now.

The homeless man has preoccupied my thoughts.

Though he is not a danger, at least I keep telling myself, his presence has recharged any already existing fear I’ve had living on the eastside. With my fear comes the frustration that I should not live in fear in this neighborhood I love so dearly. I try to remind myself that living in a big city comes with its “character”, but within the past year, I’ve seen more sketchy shit than I have in my entire life. When I lived in Los Angeles I was shielded from the grit and grime because I lived in an apartment. In Austin, I live in a house and I’ve never (more…)

February 21, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

When Life Gives You Lemons, Glue Chest Hair to Yourself

Due to an unfortunate circumstance that has preoccupied my mind these past few days (oddly it involves a deranged homeless man), I have tremendously challenging writer’s block. Last night I wrote about 100 poorly crafted words in six hours.

In the meantime, while I regain my focus, please enjoy this photo of a typical Sunday afternoon for me.

Actually, this is my Ryan Gosling character in one of our SXSW bumpers. How it looks like Ryan Gosling, I have no idea. Also, I can’t act my way out of a paper bag.

February 20, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

You Are Not a Good Writer: A Lesson in Being Critiqued

So, this weekend I got my first, “you’re not a good writer” comment.

KA-POW!

Straight into the nuts.

Sheeeeeeeiiiit that stung like a whoopee cushion exploding against your bare ass after you stuck it in your underwear.

I pouted like a little bitch about it for the next two hours. I looked to my boyfriend for child-like affirmation and even took to trusty ol’ Twitter to share my lament. Who the hell needs a psychiatrist when you have social media to tell you exactly what you want to hear?

I already emo’d about the negative comments I’ve received lately in another blog post, and you were all nice enough to write sweet comments to make me less butt hurt. I’m not writing this to fish any additional saccharine from you. I’m writing about this now because this is the first time someone has attacked my writing capabilities, and in that I realize it will be the first of many times that happens.

Because I’m fairly new to this whole freelance writing thing, I’m like a child being (more…)

February 15, 2012 by