The Mantry, I declare you to be the worst

[Gfonk04]

Stop listening to the Decemberists.

Hahaha, I have no idea who that is. Are they one of those Amish bands with 50 people in it? Including one guy who just plays a two-string wooden banjo or something? And a woman who speaks two lines in a conversational tone once during the bridge of each song?

If so, their name stinks. They should be something like Old Papa Millard's Good Time Family Band and Medecine Tonic.

I don't think Panera is a lifestyle. If you re- read my first post, you'll find me defending Walmart, though I also disapprove of it being a lifestyle. Maybe moreso than a Panera lifestyle (trademark).

Now, In-n-Out Burger, that's a lifestyle. It evokes a simpler time, when the local hamburglar would wake with the dawn........

[The_Admiral]

You're thinking of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.

Maybe all this is just the natural conclusion of people who listened to the Decemberists a lot eight years ago. They've come of age.

[Gfonk04]

You're thinking of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.

Maybe all this is just the natural conclusion of people who listened to the Decemberists a lot eight years ago. They've come of age.

That's pretty much exactly what I envisioned. But with more beards. I bet they're reading "The Mantry's Olde Timey Cooking Book, Mandolin Sheet Music, and Mail Order Catalogue of Hand Preserved Boysenberry Jams, V-neck T-shirts, and Moustache Waxes."

Get over yourselves, hipsters. Just go to the grocery store and stop trying so hard. There are no prizes for being the most genuine or whatever it is you're after.

[The_Admiral]

What can't be overlooked in this is that a lot of this seems to be what has happened when "hipsterism" as understood to mean fashionable bohemian-bourgeois consumption (smh) has trickled down from the coasts to the heartland, with kids from strong Christian u.-m.-c. upbringings looking to distinguish themselves as sophisticated and culturally ambitious without divorcing themselves from the value systems they grew up in, to partake in a counterculture that defines itself not by opposing conservative/traditional social norms so much as doubling down on them: "we're supposed to get married and have kids? Then we're really gonna get married and have kids! I'm gonna marry the hell out of this girl and we'll go camping and do arts and crafts and stuff!"

[Gfonk04]

What can't be overlooked in this is that a lot of this seems to be what has happened when "hipsterism" as understood to mean fashionable bohemian-bourgeois consumption (smh) has trickled down from the coasts to the heartland, with kids from strong Christian u.-m.-c. upbringings looking to distinguish themselves as sophisticated and culturally ambitious without divorcing themselves from the value systems they grew up in, to partake in a counterculture that defines itself not by opposing conservative/traditional social norms so much as doubling down on them: "we're supposed to get married and have kids? Then we're really gonna get married and have kids! I'm gonna marry the hell out of this girl and we'll go camping and do arts and crafts and stuff!"

So. Many. Big. Words.

I just find the whole "culture" to be terribly affected. My brother went to a wedding that included face paint and a sword swallower or something. I mean, what?!?!

That's how I feel about the Mantry (time to bring this thing full circle). It's all just an appeal to image for the sake of image. Vacuous, affected, faux genuine. Whoever brought up local farmers markets and stuff is right. Go there if local mom-n-pops are your thing. But I don't want to see your Instagram photos of the crate full of pluots you browsed. You don't win points for being fake authentic.

As for me, if I want awesome garlic stuffed olives or fresh cherries, I'll hit the market on Thursday. If I want frozen P.F. Chang's skillet meals for two, I'll try Save Mart. I don't care if you know about either one.

PS- I love arts and crafts with my kids. But I'm not much of a camper. And they're going to want to do arts and crafts in about 6.5 hours. So, good night, admiral, sir.

[rainmaker17]

What can't be overlooked in this is that a lot of this seems to be what has happened when "hipsterism" as understood to mean fashionable bohemian-bourgeois consumption (smh) has trickled down from the coasts to the heartland, with kids from strong Christian u.-m.-c. upbringings looking to distinguish themselves as sophisticated and culturally ambitious without divorcing themselves from the value systems they grew up in, to partake in a counterculture that defines itself not by opposing conservative/traditional social norms so much as doubling down on them: "we're supposed to get married and have kids? Then we're really gonna get married and have kids! I'm gonna marry the hell out of this girl and we'll go camping and do arts and crafts and stuff!"

Mumford & Sons has back to back dates at Austin's new Amphitheater (both nearly sold out.). I had no idea who these guys were until I heard a sample on iTunes..I thought is was a bad Blue October cover band, and Blue October is terrible.

Dexy's Midnight Runners would've smoked these guys.

[andrewharrington]

What can't be overlooked in this is that a lot of this seems to be what has happened when "hipsterism" as understood to mean fashionable bohemian-bourgeois consumption (smh) has trickled down from the coasts to the heartland, with kids from strong Christian u.-m.-c. upbringings looking to distinguish themselves as sophisticated and culturally ambitious without divorcing themselves from the value systems they grew up in, to partake in a counterculture that defines itself not by opposing conservative/traditional social norms so much as doubling down on them: "we're supposed to get married and have kids? Then we're really gonna get married and have kids! I'm gonna marry the hell out of this girl and we'll go camping and do arts and crafts and stuff!"

So. Many. Big. Words.

I just find the whole "culture" to be terribly affected. My brother went to a wedding that included face paint and a sword swallower or something. I mean, what?!?!

That's how I feel about the Mantry (time to bring this thing full circle). It's all just an appeal to image for the sake of image. Vacuous, affected, faux genuine. Whoever brought up local farmers markets and stuff is right. Go there if local mom-n-pops are your thing. But I don't want to see your Instagram photos of the crate full of pluots you browsed. You don't win points for being fake authentic.

As for me, if I want awesome garlic stuffed olives or fresh cherries, I'll hit the market on Thursday. If I want frozen P.F. Chang's skillet meals for two, I'll try Save Mart. I don't care if you know about either one.

PS- I love arts and crafts with my kids. But I'm not much of a camper. And they're going to want to do arts and crafts in about 6.5 hours. So, good night, admiral, sir.

I suppose I just don't understand why it's "fake authentic" by nature. Sure, there are always going to be people who do things just because they think it's "cool" or because their friends do it (as it is with all fashions that jump into a higher level of mainstream), but is it the activities themselves or is it just the type of people who make up the majority of this "culture" that are turning you guys off? Would it be different if it was mostly grandpas and seniors Instagramming the bicycles and cooking the fried Twinkies with basil marmalade reduction sauce?

I'm someone, for example, who tries very hard to avoid buying anything that's made in a country without respectable labor laws (or specifically in a contracted factory where the employees make next to zilch). Where does that rate on the genuine meter? My point is, I don't think you can just lump everything into a nice, little prepackaged tube of judgment. Just because someone makes or eats strange food, listens to music you're not familiar with or rides a fixed-gear bicycle doesn't make him or her a hipster douchebag.

[Gfonk04]

I suppose I just don't understand why it's "fake authentic" by nature. Sure, there are always going to be people who do things just because they think it's "cool" or because their friends do it (as it is with all fashions that jump into a higher level of mainstream), but is it the activities themselves or is it just the type of people who make up the majority of this "culture" that are turning you guys off? Would it be different if it was mostly grandpas and seniors Instagramming the bicycles and cooking the fried Twinkies with basil marmalade reduction sauce?

I'm someone, for example, who tries very hard to avoid buying anything that's made in a country without respectable labor laws (or specifically in a contracted factory where the employees make next to zilch). Where does that rate on the genuine meter? My point is, I don't think you can just lump everything into a nice, little prepackaged tube of judgment. Just because someone makes or eats strange food, listens to music you're not familiar with or rides a fixed-gear bicycle doesn't make him or her a hipster douchebag.

Dude, I'm all about live and let live. If people live according to their convictions, that's awesome. It's mostly the "edgy counter culture, I was in to this first" as a mark of distinction in and of itself that's so obnoxious. I have a sister-in-law who is a vegetarian and is in to composting, that's cool, she does it because she cares, not because she's trying to make a statement about how much she cares. It's the difference between doing stuff as a means to an end and doing stuff as an end unto itself, if that makes sense.

Not everyone who grows and waxes and handlebar mustache is a douchebag, but a lot of them are because they're trying to prove how cool they are with their out-there handlebar mustaches and indie records on vinyl.

That doesn't just apply to hipsters, but it is what this thread has turned into. You could say the same about any subculture from redneck to academic to hip hop subcultures.

[The_Admiral]

I'm someone, for example, who tries very hard to avoid buying anything that's made in a country without respectable labor laws (or specifically in a contracted factory where the employees make next to zilch). Where does that rate on the genuine meter? My point is, I don't think you can just lump everything into a nice, little prepackaged tube of judgment. Just because someone makes or eats strange food, listens to music you're not familiar with or rides a fixed-gear bicycle doesn't make him or her a hipster douchebag.

I agree with this, as I listen to non-mainstream music and enjoy eating adventurously. However, I don't define myself as belonging to any sort of consumerist subculture, and I don't think anyone who knows me would define me as belonging to any consumerist subculture. It's just stuff I like. It's not who I am. For too many people, it is who they are. To cross Karl Marx with Groucho Marx, I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member and subsequently make me signify my membership through the public acquisition of largely inconsequential luxury consumer goods.

[NJTank]

I am going to make these on Memorial Day

[The_Admiral]

Okay, try not to die.

[Sodboy13]

I'll settle for "try not to eat the toothpicks".