Tuesday, August 17, 2010

What's a hipster doofus?

Some of you might be wondering what the deal is with the title of this blog. I shall tell you.
"Hipster doofus" is a reference from Seinfeld, the greatest sitcom of all time. As I recall, somebody used the term to refer to Kramer, who took offence to the label in a hilarious way. For some reason that quote just lodged itself in my brain and I started using it in conversation. I can proudly say that I've introduced "hipster doofus" into the vernacular of my circle of friends and co-workers.

(Trivia: A bit of internet research seems to indicate that the hipster doofus line was from the episode "The Handicap Spot" from Season 4. Apparently series co-creator Larry David lifted the line from an unfavourable review of the show, which described Kramer with the same term. Take that info with a grain of salt - it is the internet).
Originally, my friend Matt and I used "hipster doofus" to refer to people who take their coolness very seriously. They listen to bands you've never heard of and watch art-house movies nobody's ever seen before. They cultivate their coolness. They work hard at it. They're pretentious about it.
Urbandictionary.com had a pretty solid definition for hipster doofus: "Someone who has taken being hip and unique to an extreme and therefore worn the 'cool' out of the hip."
That pretty much sums it up. So now you know.
The ironic thing is, I actually have a few hipster-doofus tendencies myself. I own a record player and a decent collection of rock classics (Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, John Lennon) on vinyl. I enjoy some indie bands. And I like to feel superior about my taste in movies.
But I hope I don't go too far down the hipster doofus rabbit trail. I don't aspire to be pretentious, for starters. And it seems to me that in this era, people tend to define themselves by what they like as opposed to who they are. I want to be more concerned with my character.
But if I happen to catch a few deadly movies along the way, so be it.

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