the Hipster is probably the counter-culture of this generation, or maybe cybergoth, IDK, but what people DON'T know is that there are many different types of hipsters:
(NOTE: These are just my observations)
The American hipster represent those young adults straight out of college (or in college) who give off the impression that they have no money, no food, and barely any central air conditioning, which is why they tend to dress in a very contradictory fashion: sweaters, sweatshirts, hoodies, with rolled up jeans, or crop-tops with winter ugg boots. Even though they give off the impression that they don't care, they really do care; they care about the trust fund money that they are currently spending on that one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, the money they are spending on shirts of horses from urban outfitters, and the money that it takes to be ironic. Yes sir, the American hipster is all about irony: caring about looking like you don't care.
British hipsters have a sort of elegance about them. Due to the unfortunate geographical location, the weather is normally depicted as partly cloudy, partly cloudy, partly cloudy...so this hipster knows that they need to look stylish but stay at a reasonable body temperature as well, so most of these outfits consist of leggings under shorts, big blazers, throwbacks to the new wave subcultures, and a look reminiscent of a character from the nutcracker, this hipster, while successfully appearing stylish, also fails to match. This hipster is all about being quirky: cute, fun, and lacking the ability to match clothes like a 6 year old picking out their own outfits for the first time.
The Japanese hipsters' look is reminiscent of their favorite tv show, band, lifestyle, cartoon characters, etc. While this may not be the hipster look we are all used to, this look, for Japanese society, does give off the impression that they aren't putting forth that much effort into their appearances. This look is often heavily copied.
Due to the ridiculous temperature, (chilly in the morning, hot in the day, moist at night), this Georgia hipster is prepared to face any type of weather. The Georgia hipster is most likely an out-of-townee, coming here to attend art college and eat at local sandwich shops in newly gentrified neighborhoods. The Georgia hipster normally gets their clothing from unknown boutiques, attends many shows of local indie rockers, and has a disdain for college football. This hipster can be described as beatnik: the only reason they exist is because of the rising art scene.
I'm just gonna sum up my college experience so far, because if I know life (and believe me, I know life), this is how things are always gonna be.
For one thing, since housing is expensive, and I failed to take out student loans, I have to commute back and forth, which is a bitch because I don't like driving that much, and parking on campus is hell, so I probably most likely illegally park in the student housing parking lot, but I have no other options.
Due to paranoia and bad timing I always arrive on campus early, which means I have nothing to do. I used to know some people who went there;I kinda feel like the campus bum in a way, I clean myself in the
bathrooms whenever I feel dirty, and I sleep in my car whenever I'm
tired. Unfortunately I can't find anyone I used to know or anyone to hang out with, so I try to find a quiet space where I can sit and use my laptop in peace.
What I've noticed is that this is just like a regular college - dorms, guys stereotypically playing shirtless Frisbee on the green, people hanging out, but for me it's just awkward, I legit don't have anyone to talk to, so I just sit in a building somewhere and look around. What I've also noticed is that there is a disturbing amount of cigarette smokers, like every other person on campus has a cigarette in their hand, like WTF.
There are a lot of really good looking guys, and by good looking I mean I-only-thought-these-type-of-guys-existed-in-the-movies type of guys. It would help if I was equally hot so I would have a chance, but it is whatever.
So far my classes are ok, my sociology class is my favorite so far, because we talk about people and basically stuff I rant about on this blog, and my first assignment is easy- stand in a crowded place and observe. Easy, no?
I have mixed feelings about college. I feel like I'm fully missing out on the college experience because of being a commuter and my socially retarded-ness; It's kind of like being a clown at a child's birthday party..you don't really get to enjoy the party, you just make a few appearances from time to time. I like to compare it to this poster that I used to have:
So much for study buddies. Maybe I'll find myself in a situation where I find a club or a study group and we end up hanging out..
That's better.
Yet even though I may seem like I'm really ungrateful, I really can't complain. I've have been trying to get to college for 2 years now, and now that I'm here I can try to learn from my slacker mistakes that I learned from in high school. Just try to pass please.
I'm just curious. When did girl gamers become a heated topic of controversy?
Seriously, google "girl gamers" and you'll see a bunch of stuff come up about why it's controversal and then you'll see pics of naked chicks with controllers and a caption that says "girl gamer". But what does being a girl gamer REALLY mean?
When I was little, I practically grew up around video games. First we had a computer, then we had a super Nintendo that my older sisters played ALL the time, and then when the playstation first came out, I was fascinated by it's open worldness and freedom. In elementary school, I enjoyed playing the little computer games when they had nothing else for us to do, and when the sims came out, I HAD to have a computer, even if it means not eating a full dinner for a few weeks. Now, I know that some girl gamers are quick to say that they've always hung out with the guys and never played dolls, I had a better relationship with guys in school, but outside of school I had female friends, and we didn't play dolls (I have always been scared of dolls) we played with our build-a-bears. But eventually I because the social outcast, and no one wanted to hang out with me, all of my sisters had grown up and moved out, so it's always been me and a kick ass video game. Video games have always been my best friend.
But some of us "girl gamers" just downright infuriate me. There are 2 1/2 types that annoy me.
The first one is the attention whore FPS player. This chick ONLY plays Call of duty and/or Halo and the only reason she plays them is because she wants to seem like the relatable-datable chick that all the guys want. These are the girl gamers that I used to experience in school, but that's because I went to a school full of sluts. I can't even begin to explain how many times I have been in a group conversation about video games where the only other girl is going on and on about Call of duty. And she never says anything other than "oh I play call of duty!" like that's the only video game to ever exist on Earth, and she doesn't say it because she really wants to talk about it, she just wants every guy in the group to have an epiphany and think "GASP! That's my dream girl" but no, honey. This chick knows nothing else about video games. This is the girl who you see pics of online with some lingerie holding a controller. Note: the quickest way to call this girl out on her BS is to throw questions about the game in her face: " what's your highest kill streak? what weapon do you use the most? do you use any cheats?" and if they somehow manage to answer those questions, then ask them this:
"what other games do you like to play?"
The second "girl gamer" that annoys me is the one that likes to say every five minutes how much of a tomboy she is and how she's never played with dolls and blah blah blah.. I understand how gender stereotypes are sometimes still in 50's housewife and we DO have to state our place in the gaming world from time to time. For an example, when I used to live in a small town in Arizona, the employees at the gamestop practically KNEW me and everything, but once I moved back to Atlanta, no matter how many times I go into the gamestop near my house they still assume that I'm shopping for some imaginary boyfriend or imaginary little brother instead of myself. These stereotypes are alive and well, but the stereotype of the badass girl gamer annoys me even worse. Sweetie, we are aware that you like boy things, but you don't need to piss on every single tree; seriously, every single forum, every single youtube video about video games, every single live podcast, there is a bunch of girl gamers reciting what seems to be some sort of creed:
I never played with dolls when I was little
I have more male friends than female friends
I like doing things that boys do
and I am a girl.
Congratulations. However, I WOULD be contradicting myself if I didn't say I wasn't guilty of this (I just stated like, half of it in the first paragraph) but it's like spam and it's irritating, it's just another way some girl gamers make us look bad.
Another type of "girl gamer" that has the potential to annoy me is the anime freak. Back in the sailor moon - namco - konami - pokemon days of my childhood I loved anime, but if you ask me a question about which character from Total Blade Power I liked the most, Ranuke or Ishuamuki, you wont really get a response out of me. There is nothing wrong with loving anime, it is fucking hilarious and a lot of it is cool, but I guess since a lot of the makers of video games are Japanese it is assumed that I'm supposed to religiously know the name of all anime series ever to exist. Plus I kinda grew out of my anime phase a while ago.
Disclaimer: girl gamers are indeed, awesome people, and while we are the minority of the gaming world, there are some people who hear the words "female gamer" and roll their eyes, because there are "US" who enjoy games because it's always been a part of who we are and sometimes it's a world we can escape to when the real world gets too tough to deal with, but because it IS a modern trend, some people just want to hop on the bandwagon and go "oh yeah I like video games too" but no, I LOVE video games, I love how it takes me to another world, I love how I can accomplish more in a game than I can in real life, and I love it so much that I am going to school for video game development. For me it's not just a thing, It's all I have ever really had.
And for the record, there is nothing wrong with playing FPS games, after all, they are "games" but real gamers play all type of games, regardless of the nature or genre, however, I don't really care for FPS; they lack story depth and if I wanted to play a game where I am in the military, I would've just joined the military FFS. I used to play FPS back in 2004. And I have played COD: hated it. That's for the stereotypes.
BTW check out the article The Different Type Of Girl Gamers by ComicalDisaster. And this clip from family guy about girl gamers. Sad but true:
