Please laugh. I don't actually take myself this seriously.
And this is the, oh crap someone's driving down our road, this is awkward, quick, pretend I'm not actually taking pictures of myself shot.
Anyway. The shirt is from Sympathy for the Rebel, a cool vintage shop downtown, the belt is from Vall Vill, but apparently from Bluenotes, because my friend has the same one, and the skirt is from H&M.
Also, I picked up a dress I just had hemmed today, I'm excited, there will be pictures soon!
While I enjoy talking about what I wear, probably a little more than I should, we've nigh approached the real impetus for this little post. This little delight, "Stuff White People Like" by Christian Lander. Hilarious. You know why? Because it makes fun of us, but is undeniably true. And guess what #103 is on the list of Stuff White People Like. Self-deprecating humour. This book is genius, not only for it's irony (#50) but because, well, it describes me to a tee. A creepy, depressing, irrefutable tee. Strangely enough, shortly before I stumbled upon this book, I wikipedia'd Hipster, because that has become my high school label, and I was wondering about it's origins. You're damn right I'm a "character who likes hot jazz". That's what it meant in the 1940's. Now,
"Hipsters are the friends who sneer when you cop to liking Coldplay. They're the people who wear t-shirts silk-screened with quotes from movies you've never heard of..."
Time - July 2009
Dude. We're not that pretentious. And Apple Dictionary said, "a person who follows the latest trends and fashions". I resent that. I like the derivative of 'hep cat' better. So while I can laugh at how accurate this book is, there are parts that were unfair. I'm rolling my eyes at myself right now, by the way. This book was essentially describing 'hipsters', and referred to those blonde people that give me the stink eye about wearing their grandma's shirt as 'undesirable white people'. Okay, I'm still with you. #1 was Coffee, and seeing as I was sitting in Chapters, sipping my latte like no other, I can't deny that. #14 Having Black Friends. Coolness should be directly proportional to how black you are, and unfortunately, I'm as white as they come. So I compensate by playing bass in a jazz band. But now I'm going to defend myself. #10 - Wes Anderson movies. I've met one person who likes The Darjeeling Limited as much as I do. The person who told me about this book, actually. So I guess, I'd be the one person they described that actually laughed in the theatre, making it okay for everyone else to join in. Another thing I didn't quite understand was what they said about Kerouac's On The Road. This just keeps popping up everywhere, doesn't it? In the White Annotated Bibliography, On The Road was described thus: "I read this book when I was sixteen years old. I would say that by the time I reached page 2, I knew I wanted to be a writer." (Note: Advanced white people are disgusted by people who like this book.) Okay, so I'm not an advanced white person. I want to be a photographer, not a writer, another profession that every white person thinks they can, and will, be. Oh, and under All Victorian Novels, "So your favourite books are Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and Vanity Fair? Convenient that they've all been turned into movies, don't you think? Well, I haven't seen any of these movies, and the glory of Vanity Fair was in the satirical prose of William Makepeace Thackeray. I really DO like sushi, vintage clothing, acoustic covers and non-American news sources. Also, "If forced to select a Bob Dylan album, white people choose Blonde on Blonde or Blood on the Tracks." Both excellent albums, but I'm a pretty big Desire fan... I was surprised that The Velvet Underground made it onto The White Person's iPod, especially when Andy Warhol, purveyor of all things very white and American, was not mentioned. Modern Art Museums were, however. I guess the only things that 'offended' me were parts where the author seemed to think people didn't actually like these things, they just said they did because there were a few who legitimately DID like them, and looked down on those who don't. Hm. And in most cases, I do legitimately enjoy whatever the thing was, like Vanity Fair and Wes Anderson movies... and while it makes me happy if you do too, it's entirely okay if you don't.
Buy this book. Read it. Perhaps my favourite part was on the last page,
This book was set in Helvetica, a typeface
created in 1957 by Max Miedinger and
Eduard Hoffman at the Haas'sche
Schriftgiesserei, a type foundry in
Münchenstein, Switzerland. It has be-
come the official font of white people.
Whenever a white person opens a store
or restaurant they must create a sign that
uses Helvetica, justified bottom right or
left. They love it so much they even made
a documentary (see #57) about it.
Guess what font this blog is in? Uh, Trebuchet, actually, but you get the point.
In the spirit of white people music,
Ridin' In My Car - She and Him
B
