At least we look appetizing January 14, 2010 1:35 PM   Subscribe


Eh. The Lifehacker one made me laugh though.
posted by Joe Beese at 1:46 PM on January 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


They were much too positive for Hipster Runoff, and probably This Recording. The latter currently opens with an article entitled "Disney's 10 Hottest Guys" (direct link for posterity, and mildly NSFW, due to beefcake shots of Disney characters).

Goddamnit, now I'm angry that HR still exists, and hasn't caught fire from it's own hipster snark on hipsterisms.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:49 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


That's the best description of Jezebel I've ever read.
posted by oinopaponton at 1:53 PM on January 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


Also: that tumblr site assumes everyone is viewing the internet on a large screen projector or some other screen with an absurd resolution. Otherwise, it is a artsy attempt at making commentary on three blind men and an elephant. Or just craptastic design.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:55 PM on January 14, 2010


I admit I'm in the dark here, culinarily - why is a bento box an apt description for MeFi?
posted by deern the headlice at 1:55 PM on January 14, 2010


kottke - Chicken McNugget Value Meal.

awesome.
posted by shmegegge at 1:57 PM on January 14, 2010


oh my god filthylightthief someoen is out there blogging about stuff you dont like in an annoying way
posted by beefetish at 1:58 PM on January 14, 2010


Hipster Runoff: self-justification masquerading as critique.
posted by anazgnos at 2:03 PM on January 14, 2010


Great, now I'm hungry for japanse food but I have fish already that I have to eat tonight.

I guess I'll just have to garnish it with MetaFilter to get a little bit of the flavor.
posted by Kattullus at 2:09 PM on January 14, 2010


Don't use too much Metafilter on that. I find that if you use too much filter, it ends up all sour and bitter.
posted by qvantamon at 2:11 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


I admit I'm in the dark here, culinarily - why is a bento box an apt description for MeFi?

Bento boxes typically contain a variety of discreet/compartmentalized items, so my guess is it's referring to the various sub-sites and/or threads, but you know, there's a lot of content on metafilter, so it's a really big bento box.
posted by Kimberly at 2:23 PM on January 14, 2010


oh my god filthylightthief someoen is out there blogging about stuff you dont like in an annoying way

And that makes me furious! Behold my fury!

I love the internet.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:26 PM on January 14, 2010 [3 favorites]


LOVE THIS!
posted by Lynsey at 2:26 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


I had never seen Hipster Runoff before. Now that I have, I would like to unsee it thankyouverymuch.
posted by JeffK at 2:29 PM on January 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


Now I want a Metafilter lunchbox (and an AskMe thermos).

That would be cool. Someone should make that so I can buy it.
posted by quin at 2:35 PM on January 14, 2010 [8 favorites]


HOW DARE YOU HOLD A DIFFERING OPINION FILTHY

seriously though it makes me feel like a coked-up youngin how much mefi hates hipsters! they are whimsical art students with disposable income, people! they will be the boring internet us of tomorrow! hell cobrasnake and shit have been around forever, they are the boring internet us of today.
posted by beefetish at 2:36 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Hipster Runoff Causes Trendy Red Tide, Coastal Economies Ruined.
posted by boo_radley at 2:38 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Man, do I agree about HTMLGiant. Except the "good" part.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:40 PM on January 14, 2010


For food comparisons, I think Hipster Runoff is like a gigantic double chocolate cake which is sold in an organic health food store. The packaging consists of a lot of faux-naive, faux-insecure questions, like "Do U think this 'chocolate' is 'authentic' and 'real' enough? I'm trying 2 avoid 'processed foods'. Need to count cals 2 stay 'relevant' on the 'alt-dating scene'"
posted by naju at 2:45 PM on January 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


This list just made me really hungry :U
posted by Juicy Avenger at 2:47 PM on January 14, 2010


(and an AskMe thermos)

It tells you that you're an alcoholic and should see a therapist.
posted by applemeat at 2:54 PM on January 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


MetaFilter lunchboxes are invisible.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:04 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Now that's just nitpicking.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:17 PM on January 14, 2010


My complaint against Hipster Runoff is that it's all faux-something, and nothing seems honest or sincere. I don't have an issue with hipsters in general, it's those who strive to be the uber-hipster, the most insincere, which I imagine Hipster Runoff is the king. But this NYTimes 'article' 'inspired by' the 'genre shirt' claims that the site "ridicules bohemian culture with hilarious precision." Maybe I'm taking it 2 'srsly' bro.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:31 PM on January 14, 2010


I don't know about the Doritos but I would like to know where he buys his salsa.
posted by y2karl at 4:10 PM on January 14, 2010


filthy. i think some of hipsterrunoff's articles, particularly the one on animal collective and "my job/career does not align with my personal brand", are pretty funny and a little biting and also profoundly bizarre, like the dude is a SomethingAwful goon except instead of having a hateboner for nerd culture he has a hateboner for hipsters. i am basically the target audience for people being deranged on the internet so i dig it for sad IRC troll reasons.....
posted by beefetish at 4:36 PM on January 14, 2010


Hipster Runoff: self-justification masquerading as critique.

I actually hated the Animal Collective piece, which till today was the only thing I read on there. But I looked around a bit and found myself laughing aloud at this piece on child predator glasses.
posted by grobstein at 5:12 PM on January 14, 2010


But we lost out to reddit on fimoculous.

Seriously. Would you swap cookies with someone you met on reddit. Well I would, but I am easy. I bet you wouldn't.
posted by shothotbot at 5:18 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


In case you didn't make the connection, the pictures-as-blog-entries site linked to by the main post is written by none other than raisindebt who was centrally featured on one of the early Metafilter Music podcasts (with an interview and a couple songs).

I'm a big fan.

The best of his long essays (largely on pop-culture and literature, and I can't find my favorite to link to -- probably one on David Foster Wallace) on his other site, Songs About Buildings and Food, are worth checking out, if nothing else for what they're trying to do with the form.

(I'm pretty sure my favorite was this post I was thinking about. Skimming through, it covers -- among many other things -- David Foster Wallace's death, playing a little online video game with ESL students in Korea, "Crank Dat" videos on You Tube, and divergent reactions to Eat, Pray, Love. It also includes a video of a teenage girl whose adoration of Miranda July's story collection is pretty infectious even though part of you probably remembers not liking that book as much as you may have hoped. I remember liking this all enough that I'm going to link to it a second time with asterisks at the end*****.)

As for the new pictures-as-blog-entries site, I'm partial to this entry. I also like this one about going to the dentist.
posted by nobody at 5:51 PM on January 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


(and an AskMe thermos)

The classic Stanley thermos (excuse me 'vacuum bottle') is pretty close to AskMe green, actually.
posted by jedicus at 6:36 PM on January 14, 2010


why is a bento box an apt description for MeFi?

Because its not pinku (thats Japanese for pink) or any girl color.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:01 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


I once knew "Carles," the guy who does Hipster Runoff, and he's as big of a lameass douche in real life as you would expect. He's a total creepy dick and I tell everyone I know who reads Hipster Runoff as many terrible stories about him as I can remember.
posted by ishotjr at 7:34 PM on January 14, 2010


Oh and Carles used to wear actual old people orthopedic shoes in real life... Talk about hipster.
posted by ishotjr at 7:36 PM on January 14, 2010


well go on.
posted by boo_radley at 7:37 PM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


This Carles?
posted by tellurian at 8:02 PM on January 14, 2010


Why did someone tell me about hipster runoff? I was happier in my ignorance.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:18 PM on January 14, 2010


Yes, let's hear some terrible stories.
posted by naju at 8:31 PM on January 14, 2010


Twitter - A box of Crackerjacks without a prize in it.

False. The prize is Shit My Dad Says.
posted by A dead Quaker at 9:13 PM on January 14, 2010 [3 favorites]


oinopaponton: That's the best description of Jezebel I've ever read.

Yup. If I ever need to explain to someone why Jezebel manages to amuse, disappoint, and enrage me all at once, the salad analogy will be very handy.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:02 PM on January 14, 2010


If only I was one of those people who made crazy elaborate bento boxes I would make one for this thread with pancakes and cameras and portobello mushrooms and longboats and hamburgers and vikings and pepsi blue and a plate of beans and post it in this thread and get ten thousand favorites and then I would finally be able to truly love myself.
posted by nanojath at 11:18 PM on January 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


Because its not pinku (thats Japanese for pink) or any girl color.

It is, however, of 2 or more kotoba (thats japanese for 2 compartments) and not in the slightest chibi (small) sized.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:53 AM on January 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Please to add blue lunchable box to store.
posted by ninazer0 at 2:11 AM on January 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Hey, cool, I wrote this! Some of the descriptions were definitely meant as insults (Gawker) or as half insults (This Recording) or as (stupid) jokes (most of the entries), but I loooovvvveee metafilter and that particular comparison was only out of love.

Hipster Runoff is a really an acquired taste (pardon the pun). I can understand why a lot of people don't like it, and I can understand why at first glance it might literally seem like the worst thing on the Internet, but my personal recommendation would be to give it a real chance. I think in terms of medium-specific literary writing being done on the Internet, it's really one of the best things out there; whoever Carles is (and honestly, that's just mean), he's not just a hipster but he's also not just satirizing hipsters or snarking, either view is really reductive in terms of what he actually does. There is real vulnerability and beauty and truth in what he writes and the fact that he would reject all those terms or put them in ironic quotation marks is a limitation of his voice, sure, a limitation that frustrates me at times, but it's the fact that that voice is so limited that makes it poetry, otherwise it'd just be anybody else's blog. He and Tao Lin (who some people believe is part of the "Carles" entity) may be annoying sometimes, even to me, but they're providing this new, original way of making the Internet into literature, and I think that's important.

"Also: that tumblr site assumes everyone is viewing the internet on a large screen projector or some other screen with an absurd resolution. Otherwise, it is a artsy attempt at making commentary on three blind men and an elephant. Or just craptastic design."

The blog I posted this is on is an experiment in doing a large-format, handwritten/printed/scanned blog. My friend Emily wrote a really good description of what I'm trying to do that I will just paste here out of laziness:

"Another manifestation of what the Internet can do/ recent obsession is the Firmuhment tumblr. This is an example of someone who is using Tumblr “wrong” (while still being, or at least pretending to be, caught up in its addicting popularity-contest aspects) but actually using the blog form completely right — counterintuitively, in this case, by refusing to participate in the conventions (linking out, linkability, dashboard-feedability) we now expect of blogs..."

Sorry if the screen resolution is off for you, I am really not much of a tech person, I am just kind of faking my way through that. Anyway, what I'm trying to do is something different and unique -- I can see how it comes off as twee or hipstery at first, but I think if you actually really read some of my stuff, you would see that that's not what I'm going for at all. Maybe you'll still hate it, which is fine, of course, but I think it's more than what you're making it out to be.

"they are whimsical art students with disposable income, people" -- I am not an art student (and have no artistic training, which should be obvious to anyone who sees my "paintings") and I have no disposable income and I am way too depressed to be whimsical! I would love it if any of those things about me were true, though.

(also, thank you, nobody! You are like the best, nicest person ever!)

(also, since I never post here, I never thanked cortex for sidebarring my Christmas song. thanks!)
posted by raisindebt at 4:59 AM on January 15, 2010 [9 favorites]


Raisind: youre awsome and so is carles. Fuck the haterz.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:37 AM on January 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


found myself laughing aloud at this piece on child predator glasses.

So that's what they're called. Christ, I hate them. I hated them in the '70s when they were practically the only style of frames available and I had to wear them to school and my hatred for them still burns oh so very brightly thirty years later.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:45 AM on January 15, 2010


Raisindebt: the original typology is hilarious.

i think some of hipsterrunoff's articles, particularly the one on animal collective and "my job/career does not align with my personal brand", are pretty funny

I went into that second piece with an open mind, and in the interest of diplomacy I will say that The Zagat Guide to Overweening Delusional Entitlement is not a literary style I would have thought up on my own, so bravo Carles.
posted by kittyprecious at 5:55 AM on January 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


but with a dressing that tastes kind of weird and bitter

It's probably umeboshi plum.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:01 AM on January 15, 2010


I believe that in the military the term is "birth control glasses", for their effect on one's ability to, well.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:37 AM on January 15, 2010


Kattullus: "Great, now I'm hungry for japanse food but I have fish already that I have to eat tonight.

I just was just reminded that I had this page bookmarked. I'm now very, very hungry.

That would make for a nice game - which one of those would represent MeFi best? Unfortunately there seems to be no simple plate of beans...
posted by PontifexPrimus at 8:19 AM on January 15, 2010


I don't read Hipster Runoff but I did hear two of his "blog radio" shows on XM back when it came free with my car for a couple months. He totally got me.

At first, I was confused why this guy was talking so emotionlessly, he sounded autistic. He would give these passionless, confusing stories and anecdotes, which then lead to him playing some random indie track which I usually liked. I finally realized it was all a put on when he gave a passionless explanation of how no one understands how deep he is and that's why he puts his headphones on and so here is a song about putting on headphones because no one understands you. I wish I could remember some of the exact things he said. Anyways it was hilarious and a quite interesting and unexpected use of the medium.
posted by haveanicesummer at 8:49 AM on January 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


AskMe lunchbox tells you whether you can eat that.
posted by The Bellman at 10:16 AM on January 15, 2010


Me bear–bear eat plane tires?
posted by Mister_A at 12:14 PM on January 15, 2010


The great thing about reading the internet is that if you shut your eyes, everyone goes quiet...
posted by i_cola at 6:55 AM on January 16, 2010


The current OED is 22,000 pages in 20 volumes, measuring (according to Amazon) 30.1" x 25.2" x 22", giving it a volume of about 9.65 cubic feet, weighing in at 145.5 lbs.
posted by steef at 12:52 PM on January 16, 2010


That is roughly equivalent (in weight and, arguably, utility) to a cube of iridium 5 + 5/8 inches on a side.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:12 PM on January 16, 2010


Yea, count me in for a MeFi lunchbox and AskMe thermos. Cash money bitches.
posted by Lizc at 10:02 PM on January 16, 2010


I'll take the iridium cube.
posted by Mister_A at 5:49 AM on January 17, 2010


fucking_A!
posted by infini at 12:57 PM on January 17, 2010


Thank you, raisindebt. I feel like your comment should be an FPP. I've been looking for literature on the internet for a long time, and while I may not yet have come around to Hipster Runoff's style, Firmuhment and your description of what you're trying to do there feels right now like the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time. Diving back in now.
posted by kaspen at 2:41 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


« Older Money Money Money   |   "Skip to menu" link borked? Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments