the hipster

By now everyone should have heard of the term hipster. The term has been revived as of late depicting a crowd of older teens to twenty somethings that have interests in non-mainstream fashion, organic locally grown foods and indie rock/film. Their general unkept appearence and "don't care" attitude make them easy targets for the rest of society since they are quite different and often referred to as punks, homos, hippies and other negative slang. To conform to the hipster mold, I refer you to the following:

Normally you can find these clothes in thrift stores, posh little shops or on park benches once the hobos fall asleep. Urban Outfitters and American Apparel seemed to fuel the hipster rebirth with their cheap hoodies, plaid tightness, t-shirts and ladies jeans. This revolution seems to be short lived as AA has debt issues, sales declines and general unpopularity with consumers in the respective demographic. In today's day and age, if you wear tight plaid and plastic shades, does that make you a hipster?

I was recently told of my hipster affiliations which caught me completly off guard. In my mind I am not the "iconic hipster" that everyone relates to:

I have to admit there are some simalarities with what I wear and how I act to that of the hipster; but I am not

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     TTT        HHH     HHH   AAA     AAA        TTT          ^^^^

by any means.


Ok, so it's a fact that I've been wearing a lot of the same clothes since high school and most of those shirts were my dad's when he was twenty something. Over that many years my overall style has not changed; I like snappy shirts, button-up shirts, plaid, stripes, whatever.

Is it possible to transform into complete hardcore, full-on hipster with the inclusion of a few simple fashion items?

I drink cheap beer whenever I can which makes sense cause that way I can buy more! I already have the same music/film tastes. I am not overly concerned with my hair or Sidney Crosby stubble cause 99% of the time I can't see my own head. If I look scruffy I usually get "when was the last time you shaved, a month ago?" Bottom line is, I'm me. Overall, I'm not the most balanced individual, most of you would agree...

Ok Go came to town for what was a hipsterday parade the other week and I totally wanted to match the other hardcore hipsters.

So after this idea is implanted in my brain, real life kicks in and I find myself in Vancouver for a stretch; a perfect oppertunity to gather core hipster wear. What better time to try on a new skin that when you are in a foreign place...?

I traveled across the country with nothing. This meant that I would be forced to wear my skinny jeans while hanging out with my friends for Wu-tangsgiving; ya, thing is, I'm also gangsta.


Once I had acquired said items, I immediately put them on. Let Operation hardcore hipster begin. I did all the stuff that I would normally do over the next couple days, just more hipsterish than usual. Haha... hipster doing stuff... sorta an inherent contradiction.

This trip was amazing but started out with a whole bunch of suck since my camera decided to break. Being an engineer, I felt that I had the ability to correct whatever was wrong with my camera, so I took my point and shoot apart. How hard can it be to fix a stuck lens? As the camera was effectively unusable. I figured that I couldn't break it any more; so I did just that.
Once I couldn't break it any further I gave up and brought the pieces to a camera place. Turns out there was a fucking sandworm in the gears.

Giving up on stuff, like taking apart a camera. Totally hipster.

So ya, I took Frankensteined camera to get fixed fixed. In the meantime, I took my new toy out on an urban photo shoot of dreary downtown; like a hipster would.


I imagined that the people who were at work on this particular Friday thought nothing of this vagrant taking pictures who obviously doesn't have a job and spends his time documenting what it would be like to have a job. To be honest, dressing like this actually helped with this activity. I simply didn't care what others thought, all ambitions went away as I took shots where normally I would not have.

What do you think, myspace profile worthy?

The primary reason for the trip out west was mountain biking. I got to ride down some sweet runs in completely different terrain than the last time I rode in Whistler. This time we convoyed up the mountain where I got to sit in the back of some sweet trucks!

Secondary reason for the trip was Wu-tangsgiving; A gangsta meal of ghetto proportions. We actually stayed in the nicest place ever and had a really awesome family dinner... but the 36 Chambers was a playin' and there were shirts. Now, how awesome is that?


The entire time that I was lounging on the Sunshine Coast my costume provided me with all sorts of benefits I needed to adapt with the climate. If it was cold outside, I just put on the warm flannel and felt insta-cottagey. The jeans were tight and black so in the sun my legs were always warm. The toque provided instant warmth and was small enough to pack in my riding bag so at the bottom of the hill I didn't have to freeze my ass off waiting for the truck to show. Seriously, hipster was the way to dress this time of year, talk about weather versatility!

So what's the problem with hipsters again? They wear comfy clothes, they drink inexpensive beer... ummm, they don't need to wash their hair because of their extensive toque collections.


So really, I think there is nothing wrong with being hipster. I'm hipster. My friends are hipster. That's right, chances are that if we hang out, you've got some in you.


Now lets all sit back and relish in more internet hipster research!


Local hipsters at work! I've been there and the place is awesome. Aunt Olives is awesome too. Go to here:





Based off a Death From Above 1979 album, this remix... and this dude who is absolutely hypnotic:





Lastly, I don't know where this is, but I want to go to there. Check out all the rad hipsters having fun in almost crawlspace sized rooms:

For more pics of this awesomeness, check out The Shop under Parts & Labour Facebook page (click any picture above to get there).