Stuff you hate (aka: the new f. you thread)

[Bryan]

And of course there is nothing surprising about the fact that cyclists in general are no less selfish on the road than everyone else -- it's just amazing to me that their relative vulnerability doesn't check their behavior a bit.

Yes! I agree strongly. I understand that when you're travelling by muscle power it sucks to come to a full stop and then have to start up again... but maybe you could slow down a bit at intersections? And defer to pedestrians who don't know you're about to blow through the intersection? Come on, guys.

And wear a helmet.

[Andy]

The fixed gear craze has hit the hipsters in OKC. I live seeing someone with tats and skinny jeans on an ill-fitting track bike.

[Paul DePhiladelphia]

The fixed gear craze has hit the hipsters in OKC. I live seeing someone with tats and skinny jeans on an ill-fitting track bike.

Almost got hit the other day by a fixed gear jerk and he stopped just in time but his Pig-Pen-esque orb of dirt got all over me. This can be said about all worthless subcultures but don't the know they all look the same?

[Stupornaut]

The great thing about hipsters is that they don't stand for anything and simply recycle previous era's aesthetics, which makes Real Countercultural Types hilariously self-righteous and super-angry over some ritualistic "lifestyle" trappings ("dude I had to order tapes out of 'zines and made my own MDC shirt, you didn't LIVE THE LIFE, poser"). But it does a good job in skipping the whole getting co-opted/selling out your principles stage, since it's already a co-optation without principles to sell out aside from maybe "old stuff is weird" and "deliberate tackiness is hilarious". Its disillusionment and casual rejection of norms is built-in, which just confuses the hell out of people because it's to hedonistic ends instead of your traditional rebellious or destructive ones. And since the only people who're really bothered by hipsters seem to be the type of people who are already overly concerned with their own sense/lack of cool, the very existence of hipsters is like some sort of elaborate troll to draw out and infuriate people who are way too concerned with trying to forge their own half-baked bohemian philosophy. Like John Lydon wouldn't be wearing skinny jeans and a dirt 'stache and living in Portland if he was born in Iowa 20 years ago.

(This is maybe overstating things a bit but frankly I am kind of tired of people thinking I'm some vapid rich kid because I listen to LCD Soundsystem and have a beard.)

(Hipsters that laugh at your sunglasses are pretty much legit assholes, though)

[Mark in Helsinki]

The great thing about hipsters is that they don't stand for anything and simply recycle previous era's aesthetics, which makes Real Countercultural Types hilariously self-righteous and super-angry over some ritualistic "lifestyle" trappings ("dude I had to order tapes out of 'zines and made my own MDC shirt, you didn't LIVE THE LIFE, poser"). But it does a good job in skipping the whole getting co-opted/selling out your principles stage, since it's already a co-optation without principles to sell out aside from maybe "old stuff is weird" and "deliberate tackiness is hilarious". Its disillusionment and casual rejection of norms is built-in, which just confuses the hell out of people because it's to hedonistic ends instead of your traditional rebellious or destructive ones. And since the only people who're really bothered by hipsters seem to be the type of people who are already overly concerned with their own sense/lack of cool, the very existence of hipsters is like some sort of elaborate troll to draw out and infuriate people who are way too concerned with trying to forge their own half-baked bohemian philosophy. Like John Lydon wouldn't be wearing skinny jeans and a dirt 'stache and living in Portland if he was born in Iowa 20 years ago.

(This is maybe overstating things a bit but frankly I am kind of tired of people thinking I'm some vapid rich kid because I listen to LCD Soundsystem and have a beard.)

(Hipsters that laugh at your sunglasses are pretty much legit assholes, though)

This dissection of the North American Hipster Dilemma 2010 is wiki-worthy. That being said, I look upon hipsters (I am too much of a full time parent to trim any 'stache, much less fit into skinny jeans) much in the same way I look upon the hip hop kids, with their low-riding pants and so on.

I just think that someday most (former) hipsters and hip hoppers will look at pictures of their weird, former selves and wonder aloud "what was I thinking, I'm better than that."

[Bryan]

That's brilliantly stated, Stupornaut. I'm with you on this one.

[Andy]

I could really give a shit about them until their they impact my life through their stupidity. There is no reason to ride a track bike on the roads. It's dangerous and stupid.

[crumbum]

I have to admit that I find track bikes a.k.a. fixies to be beautiful machines insofar as I like minimalist design in general, and a bike can't be simplified any more than that. But I doubt many people riding them these days do so for that reason. I think it typically has more to do with rejecting for shallower fashion reasons all the excessive doodads that have accrued to bikes over the years, and especially with defining a special club that is appealing precisely because it's too dangerous and scary for your average rider to join.

[yesno]

You can definitely simplify a bike further than a fixie.

[Andy]

Face.

[bmills]

I like riding fixed during the winter. Less junk to clean/maintain and you can feel when you're losing traction on bad roads.

Overall, bikes are pretty fun to ride no matter what.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I hate theater producers who think they can fucking lord it over you with the offer of a six-day, non-reviewed workshop production that 500 people will see, and which no one will make a dime from, who make you wait two years for such a production, and who won't let you take the play elsewhere -- but at the same time refuse to promise you this insignificant little bone they're dangling in front of you.  And who provide you with endless headaches when you try to have a goddamn STAGED READING somewhere besides their company.

I also hate my old, do-nothing agent for leaving me with such a shitty contract.

[Paul DePhiladelphia]

Something that bugs me is when you are talking music with someone who apparently thinks he knows more than you and when you bring up someone like Neil Young (or a musican that holds a BIG role as influential to all the music you are talking about) and they dismiss them instantly by saying something like "I always found him sort of boring." 

Also people who claim they don't have time for movies. I mean cmon I don't expect you to be an aficionado but really, an hour and a half.

[Stupornaut]

Something that bugs me is when you are talking music with someone who apparently thinks he knows more than you and when you bring up someone like Neil Young (or a musican that holds a BIG role as influential to all the music you are talking about) and they dismiss them instantly by saying something like "I always found him sort of boring." 

That can be pretty exasperating but I think pretty much every single music nerd has some blind spot like that. Me, I never could get into Sleater-Kinney or the Smiths. And then there's this one dude that I know of who listens to a lot of cool music, and he's on the record of hating the Band. The Band! Can you believe that?

[Christina]

One of my ex-boyfriends had an ex-girlfriend whose all-time favorite band was Sonic Youth.

I always thought that was such bullshit.