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Hipstercrite Life, Pop Culture

Halloween Costumes Were Better When Moms Made Them

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year because growing up my mother made it so damn special. My Mom is a really creative and imaginative woman and in the confines of her small town life, Halloween was the one time of year she could really let loose. Our house was always decorated with DIY spiders, witches, ghosts, paper-mache dead trees, orange twinkle lights wrapped in cobwebs and carved-out jack o’lanterns. The best part of Halloween was my mother’s amazing gift at constructing costumes. Everything was always made from scratch. She went balls to the wall when it came to my Halloween costume. She made sure that I beat every child’s tiny ass when it came to costume contests. Every Halloween I looked forward to what my mother would dream up for me and walk through the halls of my elementary school feeling like one sassy bitch.

Then I turned 13 and was on my way to junior high. Mom told me I was too old to have her make me Halloween costumes and I became depressed. I wasn’t mentally (more…)

October 26, 2011 by
Film, Pop Culture, Writing

CSI- Legoland

You’ve seen the Youtube hit Mario, right? RIGHT?! Like who hasn’t? When it premiered at SXSW 2011 it blew up the Youtube like cray-cray. Who doesn’t love a dramatization of the life and loves of an Italian-American plumber? Well, the director behind Mario is back with another delightful gem. Local director and Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” honoree Joe Nicolosibrings us CSI: Legoland.

Check it out!

*Warning- This video contains graphic images of Legos being decapitated. Viewer discretion is advised.

October 21, 2011 by
Film, Hipstercrite Life, Music, Pop Culture

Songs About Los Angeles

Last night I saw the movie Drive starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman and Los Angeles. A lot of buzz has been going around about this simple, yet visually and auditorily delicious film. The Michael Mann-esque qualities, Ryan Gosling’s subtle performance, the 80’s font, and moody electronic music make for a wonderful, nostalgic ride. Besides the ridiculously long shots on Ryan Gosling’s beautiful face, what made this film particularly engaging is the ominous soundtrack composed by Cliff Martinez and featuring music by Kavinsky, Lovefoxxx, Desire, College, Riz Ortolani, and Chromatics.

“Drive” is an appropriate verb for songs reminiscent of Los Angeles. Any song that reminds me of that city, also reminds me of late nights driving through Hollywood towards the beach, the blur of lights in the background, the windows down and the warm wind holding me firmly into the passenger seat. It reminds me of trips through the city to nowhere in particular, (more…)

October 19, 2011 by
Film, Music, Pop Culture

The Driver Says…

“It’s time for Hipster Halloween Costume ideas again, you guys!”

If you’re not sure what hipstery Halloween costume you’ll be wearing this year, check out my post over at CultureMap for some ideas…

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Halloween is just around the bend. For us hipsters, this is the cherished time of year where we can emulate our heroes or be ironic without people looking at us like we’re huge assholes.

But it’s also a challenging time. More than any other time of the year, we want to be different, irreverent. We have to out-do our peers. We can’t just walk into one of those big box Halloween stores and buy some cheap-o costume, nooo. We have to sit and think for days on what will be the most unique, most stylish, most mother f’ing hip costume Austin will ever see. We scavenge the vintage shops for just the right items. We spend hours putting our costume together nearly exploding from anticipation. Halloween arrives and we make our grand debut at a friend’s East Side party sporting our jean (more…)

October 14, 2011 by
Film, Pop Culture

She’s Got Steve Buscemi Eyes

As little girls we dreamt about sparkles and unicorns and prom night and meeting Prince Charming and beautiful weddings and looking like Steve Buscemi.

Did you know that? Did you know that most girls would kill for Steve Buscemi eyes?

Well, ladies, make your dreams come true with the Steve Buscemeyes Facebook app.

Let me tell you, it’s an instant self-esteem booster.

I was lucky enough to get myself Buscemized as a young child.

*Disclaimer- sorry if this app was big, like, 4 months ago.

October 14, 2011 by
20-Something, Pop Culture

Occupy Wall Street: The Youth Perspective Gives Mixed Messages

Watching the Occupy Wall Street movement unfold has been both fascinating and educational. It has created stimulating conversation and really challenged young Americans to think about how we feel about our Government, our economy, our financial institutions and how we make and manage our money.

There are two pieces of writing that have come out of  Occupy Wall Street that have really made me stop for a moment. They both were reportedly written by young people (one is confirmed) and they are preaching exact opposite views. One middle-class student proudly claims they are not part of the 99%, the other is a famous musician having difficulty making ends meet. Both are thought-provoking opinions but I feel miss the point of Occupy Wall Street entirely.

The first piece was written by musician JD Samson for Huffington Post and is titled “I Love My Job, But it Made Me Poorer.” Samson explains how she came from a middle class background and was fortunate enough to achieve the American (more…)

October 13, 2011 by
Pop Culture

Who Was Fred Shuttlesworth and Why He’s As Important as Steve Jobs

The same day that Steve Jobs passed away, a Civil Rights icon died as well. Fred Shuttlesworth, a pastor, a freedom rider, and overall badass, died at the age of 89 in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday.

Though his passing received some play, it was largely overshadowed by the technology icon’s death. I really shouldn’t be surprised, but it saddened me nonetheless. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know who Fred Shuttlesworth was before he passed away and I’ve always been interested in the Civil Rights movement. Fred Shuttlesworth was there right alongside Martin Luther King Jr., stood up against the KKK, and survived multiple attempts on his life, but his story is mostly left out of the history books.

On Wednesday the majority of Facebook updates were aimed towards one man- Steve Jobs. Many people felt as though they lost a family member. There is no doubt that Steve Jobs has greatly influenced modern culture- many of our lives revolve around the products he’s designed. But (more…)

October 7, 2011 by
Film, Pop Culture

Beginners’ Guide to Graphic Novels pt. 1

My boyfriend is an animator which means his bookcases are filled with animator stuff.
One day I was bored and pulled down his copy of Persepolis.
I thought graphic novels were for kids and nerds, so I wasn’t expecting much from it.
Boy, was I a dumbass.

By the second page I was sucked into the book like James Spader into the Stargate. I was transfixed. A heartbreaking coming-of-age tale set during a time of historical significance had this history nerd gobbling up every word.   For those of you not familiar with Persepolis (and live a sad, sheltered life like I do), it is the autobiography of Marjane Satrapi, a young woman growing up in Iran in the 1970’s. The book takes us through her childhood, which intersects with the Iranian Revolution, her escape to Europe as a teenager, and then back to Iran as a twenty-something and the dramatic changes within her country.

Satrapi writes of a life that was once simple and carefree, how women didn’t have the adhere to strict Islamic (more…)

October 6, 2011 by
Film, Pop Culture

Arrested Development Is Back! It’s Time to Celebrate with Fan Fiction!

I don’t know about you,  but I blue myself when news surfaced that Arrested Development was coming back with a movie and 10 television episodes in 2013.  Arrested Development is probably my favorite TV show. At one point X-files was, but I’ve come to discover that X-files doesn’t necessarily stand the test of time as well as AD does. The music and secondary actors were kind of cheesy on X-files. NOTHING ABOUT ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT IS CHEESY.

Now that the show is back, I’ve been fantasizing about what the Bluths have been doing all this time. I used to be really good at fan fiction writing as a teenager. Coming up with stories about Mulder and Scully doing it helped me get through puberty.

I’m going to see if I still have the fan fic chops.

The show has been off the air for five years and Michael Cera and Alia Shawcat are noticeably not fat-faced anymore. However, I freaking hate when shows or movies come back in real time. Can’t everyone just stay all Simpsons-like? Do we really (more…)

October 5, 2011 by
Hipstercrite Life, Pop Culture

I Wanted to be a Narcissistic Middle-Aged Jewish Man as a Kid: How to Become Woody Allen

The other evening I watched Woody Allen’s Annie Hall and Manhattan for the first time in a long time. While watching the film, I was reminded of how badly I wanted to be a middle-aged narcissistic Jewish male as a child. Forget being the Little Mermaid or Rainbow Brite, I wanted to be a freakin’ horn-rimmed balding and big-nosed kvetch.

It should have been disconcerting to my mother that a young girl from Upstate New York would want to mold her future personality traits after someone such as Woody Allen. However, considering I had a penchant for dressing up as other short, but less narcissistic Jewish men- most notably 2 out of 5 of the Marx Brothers and Rod Serling- I guess it should have come as no surprise.

I recalled the other evening the precise feeling I had when I first watched those films. It was as if the light bulb had finally been turned on. Here were these people who lived in New York City, were unapologetically self-aware, vocally insecure, and flailed their arms around (more…)

September 14, 2011 by