even better if the something that you're "into" is something that no one else thought of being "into" or if what you're "into" is something that people think is a dorky thing to get "into" but you're cool so the thing you're "into" is by association now cool and other people want to get "into" it too.
furthermore, it is good to appear to not want to be thought of as cool and to say what you are now "into" in kind of a sheepish tone, and then take a lot of pictures of yourself doing that thing and get tattoos of related-to-that-thing things. then you wait. and if you are a cool enough person, this thing will become a trend and a bunch of other people will be "into" it too.
the point, however, is not all that.
the point is that last week i listened to a 30-episode radio drama about a company that figures out how to turn brain waves to radio waves, thus creating a way for disabled or bedridden people to operate equipment with their mind. the research for that project was then stolen by a larger company who intended on reversing the process [radio waves to brain waves] in order to control the entire population of the world by sending out subliminal orders via radio waves.
to test the whole rigamarole out, they send out radio waves influencing the people of the world to buy greasly chips. and the whole world goes out and buys greasly chips. they then send out more waves telling the world to buy birdhouses. and they buy birdhouses. then it's fizzy cola. and everyone in the world has more than enough fizzy cola.
now i'm not a paranoid person, but has anyone around here noticed the owls? everyone all of a sudden loves owls. now i'm not saying owls are not cute, i'm saying why is 4 quarters of the blogosphere suddenly obsessed with owls?
indie music. cupcakes. knitting. photography, and, in the same vein, polaroids. thrifting, anthropologie. weheartit. twitter. all good things. but why doesn't anyone not like them? why doesn't someone in the blogosphere embrace rap music and polar bears?
is someone out there just THAT cool?
or is someone out there just THAT cool, AND they have figured out how to turn internet waves to brain waves?
DISCLAIMER: this was not a rant about the inherent evils of knitting and photography. i'm about to learn how to knit from my mother in law, and if i could take a picture like kelly ann or amyschmamey or any of most of the blogs i read, i would be a happy camper. also: i LOVE indie music and i saw an owl the other day that was pretty dang cute. i thought to myself, "that is a cute owl for sure." i'm not throwing my proverbial fist in the air and rebelling against conformity, i just thought i'd comment on my blogosphere observances thus far. and i do seriously wonder why we all just so happen to listen to the same kind of music and do and love most of the same things. it is kind of trippy, don't you think? is it because the sort of people who blog are the sort of people who like those things, or is it that we are in fact just that influenced by the blogs we read?
24 comments:
I am very willing to step out an a limb here and say that I think twitter is quite stupid. everything else though.... so worth being "into". ;)
Freakin' love polar bears! I am THAT cool :D
And yeah, the other stuff we are "into" is pretty great, so I don't mind conforming :P
I don't understand the Owl thing either. I mean, who decides what is cool and what is heinous? Why do I get made fun of when I wear plaid? :(
You just made me feel guilty for being that kind of a person, and yet I love you for telling it like it is. Is that weird?
P.S. we went to a craft fair here in Salt Lake a while ago, and the most I got out of it was counting how many people were wearing Toms shoes. If I drank, and did so in public like a rebel (criminal?) it would have made an awesome drinking game.
okay i was kinda confused on the first few lines there..haha but i get it, being into something means you belong.
oh i think i'm aware of that radio drama actually ;) hahaha
so true!! another thing to add to your list? pumpkin spice lattes. everyone is obsessed!!
a conversation:
me: listen to this.. (read the whole last paragraph of your blog)... i like her.
omar: i like her too!!
we like you. should we probably get tattoos now?
I am SO the girl that enjoys a good piece of owl jewelry and tons of thrifting. I also like doing puzzles, drinking stout beers and talking in strange accents at my boyfriend. I think at the end of the day it's just cool to be who you are. If part of who you are is trendy, so be it! I love sparkly toms because I fell in love with them on Elsie's blog, but I wear them because they're comfy and add pizzaz to my boring work clothes. As long as you make shit your own, I think that's all that matters.
Like the oreo slide :)
You know Allie? This blog-o-sphere is so small! Oh and I don't especially like owls, don't know how to knit, and never once 'twittered'. (tweeted? past tense- twite? No, that sounds like something from the KJV. "And God twite them for their blasphemous deeds.") I'm rambling.
I am also aware of that radio drama. What a dramatic time in that series that was. I don't want to give it away lest I accidentally belittle you for calling it a radio drama . . . Just kidding. Did you by chance find that online? Please please tell me where.
I loved this! Yes, I have noticed the owl obsession, so over it! And yes, everyone is trying to live the Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie life, vintage/thrifted clothing, old record players, Etsy handcrafted items, everything is in sepia tones and soft focus. It kind of makes me sick. I personally like my clothes BRAND NEW (and designer if possible). I like to listen to music on something made in this freakin' decade! Owls freak me out! And cocaine! Let's hear it for cocaine! LOL, just kidding, I would not touch a drug, but you get my drift, everyone is in la la land with this reclaimed, vintage-y, "green" life, I say let's hear it for hardcore! ;) I guess I needed to vent! XX!
I prefer sparrows to owls, even though I am incredibly obsessed with the new owl movie. I have a bathroom in my house completely decorated with birds. It is a long story as to why.
I prefer soundtracks from musicals to indie music.
I like to eat cupcakes and make them, but that's about it.
I forgot how to knit.
I'm not a good thrifter, but I wish I was.
Never been to anthro.
Hate twitter.
I guess I'm not a super cool blogger, oh well.
I enjoyed this post Suzy! I like how you think. Especially those last questions. =)
I like radio dramas. :) It's how I got to know The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. I listened to the dramatized version on CD :) Awesome.
Now... about your list... Let's see...I am not in love with owls... they are cute buuuuuut. I do lurve me some indie music... I am not in love with cupcakes. they are yummy. buuuut. I don't knit... just crochet, but I don't broadcast it on my blog cuz everyone else does a bang up job of that, I don't need to add to the bazillion blog posts about crochet. I do LOVE photography... it's kinda what I do. Polaroids are cool... but you can't use them at a decent price anymore... so they suck now. Thrifting is good and great, but i am not an avid thrifter. Anthropologie??? hUH??? I didn't even know what this was until like 2 weeks ago. ha. Psha... we heart it??? Never used it. ha. I HATE TWITTER, but I use it. Ugh.
Am I cool? Am I cool?
And. Polar Bears are the most excellent. You may have started something here. And rap music? I looooooooove rap music I always have and I always will... bah ha ha ha ha.
I was just having this discussion with a good friend of mine about the owls! I've been pretty obsessed with owls for years(see blog, lol) but after I got an owl tattoo a couple months ago, I started noticing I was definitely not the only one! All of a sudden I'm seeing owls on every t-shirt, necklace, and inked up Seattleite every time I walk down the street! I was asking my friend if she thinks maybe I'm some kind of super-influential trend-setter, and I'm too modest and humble to even notice the effect I have on the masses until it has spread like wildfire... But my friend goes to college so she knows how to examine these kinds of happenings more objectively. We talked about how it seems like people somehow unconsciously use some kind of telepathy to follow certain trends, which is an interesting possibilty, but not likely. We concluded that it's probably more of a psychological phenomenon caused by our deeper underlying wants as humans; i.e. if we see a beautiful, rich, famous celebrity sporting the bohemian Urban Outfitters' style of clothing, we emulate that style not necessarily to conform, but because it makes us feel somehow closer to acheiveing that beauty, fame, or finance that we REALLY want. For example, it has been suggested that what humans find attractive in another human is typically associated with money and sex/procreation, because those are the keys to our survival. A hundred years ago (and prior), it was considered more attractive for a woman to have at least a little extra weight around the middle and paler skin, because that showed that she had the means to feed herself well, and also that she lived a luxurious lifestyle because her skin hadn't been damaged by long hours working in the sun (which was typical of "common" working women). It was also a statement of her overall health, and ability to bear children. In today's society, the general tempelate for an "attractive" woman is to be very thin and tan, because the idea of what wealth looks like has changed. Since the average American isn't tending a farm anymore, but rather has an indoor/office job which doesn't require a lot of physical activity, people become fat and pale. Only a wealthy person can afford to eat expensive, healthy, organinc foods, pay for the gym/personal trainer/artificial tanning,etc., which makes them attractive. Also, this presumed wealth would mean they could afford adequate medical care to ensure healthy offspring. How this directly relates to the current popularity of owls, photography, knitting, etc., is debatable; they might deviate from this idea entirely. But I think it's an interesting way to get to the bottom of a trend: What does this [trend] have to do with sex or money? Some are easier to figure out than others... ;)
I was just having this discussion with a good friend of mine about the owls! I've been pretty obsessed with owls for years(see blog, lol) but after I got an owl tattoo a couple months ago, I started noticing I was definitely not the only one! All of a sudden I'm seeing owls on every t-shirt, necklace, and inked up Seattleite every time I walk down the street! I was asking my friend if she thinks maybe I'm some kind of super-influential trend-setter, and I'm too modest and humble to even notice the effect I have on the masses until it has spread like wildfire... But my friend goes to college so she knows how to examine these kinds of happenings more objectively. We talked about how it seems like people somehow unconsciously use some kind of telepathy to follow certain trends, which is an interesting possibilty, but not likely. We concluded that it's probably more of a psychological phenomenon caused by our deeper underlying wants as humans; i.e. if we see a beautiful, rich, famous celebrity sporting the bohemian Urban Outfitters' style of clothing, we emulate that style not necessarily to conform, but because it makes us feel somehow closer to acheiveing that beauty, fame, or finance that we REALLY want. For example, it has been suggested that what humans find attractive in another human is typically associated with money and sex/procreation, because those are the keys to our survival. A hundred years ago (and prior), it was considered more attractive for a woman to have at least a little extra weight around the middle and paler skin, because that showed that she had the means to feed herself well, and also that she lived a luxurious lifestyle because her skin hadn't been damaged by long hours working in the sun (which was typical of "common" working women). It was also a statement of her overall health, and ability to bear children. In today's society, the general tempelate for an "attractive" woman is to be very thin and tan, because the idea of what wealth looks like has changed. Since the average American isn't tending a farm anymore, but rather has an indoor/office job which doesn't require a lot of physical activity, people become fat and pale. Only a wealthy person can afford to eat expensive, healthy, organinc foods, pay for the gym/personal trainer/artificial tanning,etc., which makes them attractive. Also, this presumed wealth would mean they could afford adequate medical care to ensure healthy offspring. How this directly relates to the current popularity of owls, photography, knitting, etc., is debatable; they might deviate from this idea entirely. But I think it's an interesting way to get to the bottom of a trend: What does this [trend] have to do with sex or money? Some are easier to figure out than others... ;)
No worries girly, you didn't make me sad. I actually really love this post because I've thought of all this before. Seriously, what is WITH the owl obsession? Where did it come from? The little non-conformist inside me says WTF to things like that, and yet I find I like owls too. And pretty much everything on your list. It's just funny. And I'm glad someone else noticed it too!
Hey! I gave you a little award over at my blog! :)
http://koreeunveiled.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-award.html
I notice that when I write about random things I love, I lose readership and then I feel like I'm writing to myself.
Then I get discouraged and want to stop blogging.
Does this sound familiar to anyone else out there?
Just keepin' it realz.
heehee, you guys are funny. :) for those of you that commented first, make sure you go back and read the disclaimer. this wasn't a post on how lame any of that stuff is, or how cool any of that stuff is. kristina beana hit the nail on the head: it's just interesting to look at why certain things become trends, why other things fall by the wayside. i really liked her whole comment, you should read it.
jen g-son: wear plaid. i promise not to make fun of you.
mich and hannah: i'm so glad you know what i'm talking about. i borrowed the box set from my sister at thanksgiving. 10 discs!!! we powered through. so, so good.
allie: tattoos! yes! you absolutely should. (haha)
chantelle: i think i actually found your blog through hers somehow...haha. :)
shari: i love how passionate you are. i'm glad you got that off your chest.
amy: yes, you are cool. but i'm not an authority on that so you may need to check with your health care proffessional or biscuit or somebody.
hi! thanks for the comment! my banner is an actual picture of me. the full pic and my friend's flickr is here. (she's a great photographer.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itsdelicate/3348422030/
love your blog so stinkin much. what a gem.
well we are influenced or shaped by what we see and what we read but it's back to our personal taste again about which one to follow and kept as our preference
to me i love cupcakes and photography for sure hihi
xoxo
It's kind of sickening how into weheart it and cupcakes the blogosphere is. Which is why I won't be ashamed of being into science and psych and sci fi and robots :)
Also? I think owl loving is a result of "Legend of the Guardians". I'll give you a warning lol my next post is a review and it definitely made me love owls!!
becca: thanks so much! and heck yes, your friend is amazing. that picture is so sweet. :)
carla: don't be discouraged by it...i gain and lose readers like crazy. it's not you, it's them. [haha, but seriously, your blog is great. keep writing about what you want. :)]
fhen: true. my mind just doesn't stop there. i love understanding why things are what they are.. :)
emily jane: heehee, that's why i love your blog.
also, i haven't heard of legend of the guardians...lookin forward to the review. :D
Hahaha I love you. Although I'm kind of sad that most of the blogs I read don't talk about knitting much at all... haha. I love me some knitting talk! I don't know anyone around me that knits (except my nana, ha! And my mom used to.) so I love to read knitting posts... but blogs that are ALL about knitting kind of make me lose my interest. Oh, and I don't thrift EVER. Well, I bought a typewriter a few years ago (before I even knew what the hell a blog was) because I really wanted one, but it stopped working pretty much as soon as I got it in my house, ha. Now I have my grandpa's old typewriter though so that's cool. But yeah, I don't own any "vintage" or "thrifted" clothes and I'm totally A-OK with that.
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