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Fashion/Design, Pop Culture

The Photography of WeeGee: Are Crime Scene Photos Art?

The other day, Flavorwire, one of my favorite pop culture sites, posted a most anticipated art exhibits of 2012 list. In it, they mentioned a photographer I never heard of: WeeGee, or Arthur Fellig.

WeeGee was a press photographer in the 30s and 40’s who documented life and death in New York City. He never shied from photo-taking at crime scenes and made sure to get the most dramatic photos possible (even if it meant staging the photo, as seen with ‘The Fashionable People’ three photos down). According to Wikipedia, WeeGee carried a dark room in his trunk and worked out of nightclubs to ensure his promptness.

WeeGee’s gritty photography quickly earned him acclaim and in the mid 40’s, his work was shown at MOMA, and he released his first book of photography. Later on,  he even was honored by the great acting talents of Joe Pesci, who loosely played WeeGee in the film The Public Eye.

What do you think of WeeGee’s work? Do you think it’s exploitative or do you find it an important (more…)

January 11, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

When Your Boyfriend Wants to Go to Space

There is a very real issue challenging my relationship with my boyfriend and that issue is space.

Not in like that my boyfriend needs his alone time and distance, but more like he wants to go to outer space.

It’s an issue in our relationship because I don’t want him to go to space, but I also live by the rule not to tell your partner what to do.

My boyfriend really wants to go to space and why should I deprive him of that?

However, when I think of him in astronaut regalia being catapulted into the great abyss in a spaceship, it makes me curl up into a ball.

The topic of space makes me resort back into a little girl and ask through tears, “Why boyfriend? Why do you want to go to space?”

Now how is my boyfriend going to space? Well, he’s not. At least not yet.

No, he’s not one of those rich assholes who bought themselves a ticket on Richard Branson’s 70’s-looking love ship. He’s applying to become an astronaut. NASA has an open call for astronauts.

Yep.

My boyfriend (more…)

January 10, 2012 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

This is Life at 28

I always knew that 28 was going to be a pivotal age for me.

When I still worked in Hollywood, 25 would be the age that the ball really started rolling career-wise, and 28 would be the age that I, for the lack of a lesser cheesy phrase, “made the big time”. I wasn’t sure what “making the big time” exactly entailed, but I knew it involved financial freedom and a certain amount of career notoriety that would prevent me from drinking at home alone and writing emo music lyrics on my mirror in marker.

Of course I never accounted for the fact that I would soon view my career path as repugnant as a public restroom on Venice Beach.

Well, both 25 and 28 were important ages, but not in the ways that I imagined they would be. At 25 I left the film business and moved to Austin and at 28 I left working 9-5 and went freelance. I also fell in love with an amazing person. I also started growing this cool Rogue-esque white patch in the front of my hair.

I’m halfway through my 28th year and (more…)

January 9, 2012 by
Music

I’d Gladly Stare at a Poster of a Shirtless Meatloaf

Indie-ignorant and proud: What it looks like to love the musical eras of yesteryear

01.06.12 | 04:00 pm

I have no idea what new music is out there right now. I have the freakin’ pen-name “Hipstercrite,” and I have no idea what people my age are listening to.

I am no hipster, I’m an old lady.

Cherishing my Time-Life 1950’s compilations on tape is what I do best. Loving Meatloaf is what I do even better. I still long for the days when I would wistfully stare at a poster of a shirtless Elton John (don’t ask). I’d probably stare at a poster of a shirtless Meatloaf and enjoy that too. I still have my Stevie Nicks costumes.

I even called Callin’ Oates; when my boyfriend got sick of hearing Daryl Hall crooning from my speaker phone, I was reduced to getting my fix of H2O in the car.

It’s Free Week in Austin, and you know what I’m doing right now instead of catching awesome local acts? Writing this post about how I’m indie ignorant.

I’d love to be in the know (more…)

January 7, 2012 by
Film

When Your Movie is On Netflix

I mentioned awhile back that my boyfriend is a  filmmaker. In the summer of 2011, we wrote a screenplay called Loves Her Gun and shot it in September. We’re working on the edits now. It’s really weird watching footage of something you created. It’s like giving birth…for hours and hours. It’s both bowel-emptying exciting and downright terrifying.

This film is the second one my boyfriend has directed. His first film is an animated love story that takes place on Mars. The film is called MARS. My boyfriend’s last name is Marslett. Needless to say, the word “Mars” is a common word in our vocabulary. The film stars Mark Duplass (“The League”, Cyrus), Kinky Friedman, James Kochalka and Howe Gelb. MARS just premiered on Netflix Instant last week and it’s been in the top 20 most downloaded films for the past eight days.

It’s interesting making a movie. Well, it’s interesting creating anything. There are always going to be lovers and haters. The reviews on Geoff’s film are mixed. Either (more…)

January 5, 2012 by
Austin

In Memory of Esme Barrera

source

In the wee hours of New Year’s Day, a young woman was murdered in Austin. She had walked five blocks from a large New Year’s Eve party at the 29th Street Ballroom to her house located just north of the University of Texas campus, a neighborhood people typically feel safe in. She was killed in her home. She was the second woman to be attacked in that neighborhood that night and not the last. The other two women got away and based off of one’s description, the police and the community have an idea of who they’re looking for, but, unfortunately, still no leads.

The young woman’s name was Esme Barrera. I did not know her, though many of my friends and acquaintances did. She was a teacher’s aid at a local elementary school, a mentor at Girls Rock Camp Austin and worked at a highly respected music store here in Austin called Waterloo Records. Friends say that she was an avid music lover, fun lover and all-round special person. Words like “light”, “infectious”, “warm” and “positive” (more…)

January 4, 2012 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

Welcoming the End of the Quarter Life Crisis

2012 marks the last year of my twenties.

Previously, saying that made me collapse into a fit of inconsolable defeat. Once, on the phone with my father about my car being paid off when I’m 30, I fell to the floor during the middle of the conversation. All it took was me saying, “Well, when I’m 30…” and my brain processed that as someone taking a bat to the back of my knees. My father heard heaving gasps on the other line and waited for my two minute bawl fest to conclude before daring to continue the topic at hand.

I never thought I’d make it past 29. Not because I have a craving for horse tranquilizers or a death wish obsession with Kurt Cobain, but because it seemed nearly impossible to imagine a life past that. My brain simply would shut down when thinking about my 30s. Or maybe, much like the Mayans, my internal calendar simply stops on 2012. Being an only child of divorce, I never planned out my future to include things like marriage and children, so a life after 30 seemed (more…)

January 3, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

Big Sky, Big Country

As a freelancer, taking a vacation when you’re supposed to is kind of terrifying, but I gave in to the fact that there wouldn’t be much work to do over the holidays and tried to enjoy my time off. I managed to succeed! Though I was unable to go home to visit my family, I spent the holidays with my boyfriend and his wonderful family. I have a trip planned home at the end of January ($200 round-trip ticket to Upstate New York on Southwest!), so I’ll definitely get some family time in soon and Grandma can stop using here Jewish guilt powers to make me feel bad about it.

Though Texas is a big ass state, one of the beauties of it is its proximity to other cool areas. Along with my boyfriend’s cousin and her boyfriend, we snuck over to Santa Fe for a few days last week. Driving through the American Southwest is one of the most cathartic trips one can experience. I’ve driven alone and with friends or family through the Southwest countless times now and I always love it. Living in cities for (more…)

January 2, 2012 by
Austin, Hipstercrite Life

I Wasn’t Born in Texas, But I Got Here at an Average Speed

Oh man, did it feel good to stay away from the computer this weekend!
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and that most of you are still on break and not at work reading this post.
Wanted to share with you last Friday’s CultureMap post. It meant a lot to me. It’s about the the generous and familial culture in Texas and how inspiring and comforting it is.
I hope I don’t offend any of my fellow Upstate New Yorkers here. I think you’ll get what I mean…

I Wasn’t Born in Texas, But I Got Here at an Average Speed

I’m a Yankee. Born and raised in the armpit of the Rust Belt. In the land of fallen big box giants, frost-bitten morale and Wonder Bread tans.

I have not lived in the North in over seven years, but one can never really change where they’re from, right? Where you were born is in your blood. Always.
The fact that I’m a Yankee is not something I advertise, but it’s difficult to hide when you develop instant heartburn just looking at Polvo’s salsa. The sweat on your (more…)

December 26, 2011 by
Pop Culture

Super Last Minute Hipster Holiday Gift Guide

If you’re anything like me, you wait ’til the last minute for everything. That means you haven’t gotten anything for anyone for Christmas yet.

That makes me sound like an ungrateful brat, but the truth is, I’m poor. And lazy. However, I did send out my X-mas cards already so I’m golden in the eyes of the elderly ones in my family.

But what about you’re uber-hip peers? What do you get them last minute?

Let’s pretend it’s not 5 days before Christmas and let’s pretend that you have ample time to order holidays gifts online. Or that you have a butt load of money to pay for super fast shipping. Here are some gift suggestions for the hipster friends or the hipster friends who claim they’re not hipsters in your life.

Who doesn’t need a Dolly Parton faux black velvet poster? Who? WHO?! TELL ME! I don’t even care much for Dolly Parton but she looks smokin’ in this poster. Print by artist Kii Arens, $40 at La La Land Posters.

Did you know that Talking Heads has a new doc out? Did (more…)

December 21, 2011 by