Authors: Robert Lanham, Jeff Bechtel (Illustrator), Bret Nicely
ISBN-13: 9781400032013, ISBN-10: 1400032016
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Date Published: February 2003
Edition: 1 ANCHOR
About the Author
Robert Lanham is the author of the romantic series known as The Emerald Beach Trilogy which includes the works Pre-Coitus, Coitus, and Aftermath. This collection of novels was recently called “a beach towel classic” by Redbook. Robert has a great body and often drives shirtless in his Camaro. He brushes his teeth several times daily, but is nevertheless prone to cavities. He is currently the Editor of FREEwilliamsburg, which can be found online at www.freewilliamsburg.com. He lives in Brooklyn, New York and works at Foot Locker on the weekends.
About the Art Director
Bret Nicely's theories linking artistic practices with sandwich making buttressed much of the cultural output of the early 21st century. His work "Post-Structuralist Beer n' Brat" won the 2002 Turner Prize and was named a "Best One Dish Meal" by Gourmet Magazine. Bret began working with Robert Lanham through their shared interest in falafel, and in 1999 became the Chief Creative Officer at FREEwilliamsburg. He lectures widely around the world and currently lives in Brooklyn.
About the Drawer
Jeff “J-dawg” Bechtel grew up on the cruel streets of Richmond, Indiana. As a teenager, he battled an addiction to glue and took up drawing to escape the thug life. He was recently called "the greatest Drawer of his generation" by Phil Donahue. His work has appeared in Dutch, Maxim International, and Family Circus. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn.
hip•ster - \hip-stur (s)\ n. One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term "cool"; a Hipster would instead say "deck.") The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat.
Clues You Are a Hipster
1. You graduated from a liberal arts school whose football team hasn't won a game since the Reagan administration.
2. You frequently use the term "postmodern" (or its commonly used variation"PoMo") as an adjective, noun, and verb.
3. You carry a shoulder-strap messenger bag and have at one time or another worn a pair of horn-rimmed or Elvis Costello-style glasses.
4. You have refined taste and consider yourself exceptionally cultured, but have one pop vice (ElimiDATE, Quiet Riot, and Entertainment Weekly are popular ones) that helps to define you as well-rounded.
5. You have kissed someone of the same gender and often bring this up in casual conversation.
6. You spend much of your leisure time in bars and restaurants with monosyllabic names like Plant, Bound, and Shine.
7. You bought your dishes and a checkered tablecloth at a thrift shop to be kitschy, and often throw vegetarian dinner parties.
8. You have one Republican friend whom you always describe as being your "one Republican friend."
9. You enjoy complaining about gentrification even though you are responsible for it yourself.
10. Your hair looks bestunwashed and you position your head on your pillow at night in a way that will really maximize your cowlicks.
11. You own records put out by Matador, DFA, Definitive Jux, Dischord, Warp, Thrill Jockey, Smells Like Records, and Drag City.
Just as The Official Preppy Handbook exposed wearers of Lacoste polos and drinkers of Bloody Marys, Lanham's new book delves into the lives of those who deem themselves too cool for school. Hipsters, he says, are the ones you see around town smoking European cigarettes, wearing platform shoes and reading biographies of Che Guevara. Lanham, editor of the site FreeWilliamsburg.com (Williamsburg being a favorite New York City hipster enclave), does his best to dissect the personality types, the hangouts, the colleges and even the facial hair of the modern-day Hipster. There's no main narrative per se, rather a prolonged pastiche of sarcastic observances and witty asides. And in a clever marketing gimmick, Lanham compiles a raft of lists detailing crucial Hipster music (including the Beastie Boys record Paul's Boutique) and literature (Nick Hornby's High Fidelity), which are sure to spark debate. Topping it off is a questionnaire, to suss out whether or not you could qualify for Hipsterdom (e.g., if you subscribe to Wallpaper, you're in; if Maxim's more your speed, you're out). The truly hip wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole, of course, but they aren't really Lanham's target. (Feb. 18) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
Everything That Once Was Cool Is Now Deck | 1 | |
11 Clues You Are a Hipster | 2 | |
11 Clues You Are Not a Hipster | 3 | |
Who Says "Tubular" Anymore? | 4 | |
Phrases and Terms Avoided by Hipsters | 11 | |
Core Elements of Hipsterdom | 12 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The UTF (Unemployed Trust-Funder) | 14 | |
Styles Hipsters Avoid | 17 | |
What About Indie Rockers? | 18 | |
Hipsters and Non-Hipsters in History: Separating the Deck from the Fin | 20 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The Clubber | 26 | |
Dining, Diet, and Dinner Parties | 29 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The Loner | 32 | |
The Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan: Choosing a Bar | 35 | |
The Perfect Bronson | 39 | |
Finely Brewed for Greasers: Beers Hipsters Avoid | 39 | |
Deck Chowder: Hipster Cocktails | 40 | |
Midtown Happy Hour: Cocktails Hipsters Avoid | 41 | |
Gotta Light? Hipster Cigarettes | 41 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The Schmooze | 42 | |
Hipster Grooming: More Than a Matter of Style | 46 | |
Follicles, Pores, and Flubber: Grooming, Makeup, and Surgery for the Hipster Female | 49 | |
Hipster Hairdos for Men | 52 | |
Hipster Hairdos for Women | 54 | |
Hipster Personality Types: Maxwells, Carpets, and CK-1s | 56 | |
Tattoos: They've Gone Suburban | 61 | |
Pierce Wisely | 64 | |
Metal as Fuck | 65 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The WASH (Waitstaff and Service Hipster) | 66 | |
Waddup Bitch?! Hipsters and Their Greetings | 69 | |
www.thehipsterhandbook.com and Other Deck Sites | 77 | |
Hipster Magazines | 78 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The Neo-Crunch | 79 | |
A Day in the Life (Slacker Style) | 83 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The Teeter | 90 | |
Indigenous Zones of the Hipster in the United States and Canada | 93 | |
The Ivy Leagues for Hipsters | 93 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The Polit | 99 | |
Working for the Man | 102 | |
The Job Interview | 110 | |
Hipster Personality Type: The Bipster | 112 | |
Hipster Music: I Want My MTV Disconnected | 116 | |
Hipster Literature: If You Haven't Read These Works, at Least Pretend You Have | 126 | |
Hipster Cinema: Rolling Out the Red Carpet, or The Oscars Suck Ass | 132 | |
Matters of the Heart: Dating a Hipster | 137 | |
Some Common (and Uncommon) Pairings in Dating | 140 | |
Dating a Non-Hipster | 148 | |
The Aging Hipster | 151 | |
The Questionnaire: Are You a Hipster? | 160 | |
Behind the Scenes: It Takes a Village | 167 |