Unicorn you really have your panties in a twist, don't you? Lighten up...it really is okay to laugh at oneself from time to time... and I have a feeling that is exactly the intent of that blog.
He tried to focus on the novel, and not how much his bedroom reminded him of a plywood coffin.
Unicorn, I think this thread is supposed to be about SUBTLE commentary.. I think you socked us all in the solar plexus with that one... ;-P
Let's get back to subtly impugning WASPs. It's more fun, they appreciate both subtlety and irony, and there may not be enough of 'em left to adequately defend themselves.
Uncomfortable architecture is not the domain of wasps. they have many features in dwell featuring uncomfortable houses in mexico and south america. and many of the uncomfortable american cribs are not owned by wasps. in fact, many white people are not wasps. i'm sure a crossection of all races and religions enjoy uncomfortable archticture. i mean eisenman and zaha certainly aren't wasps are they? again it goes back to an aesthetic that relies on the difficultness of the intellectual. take two kronos quartets and call me in the morning.
I agree with vado, Jack and Urbanist. It doesn't have anything to do with the DeWASPING of our society. The vast majority of the population likes comfort... familiarity to many is a form of comfort. People are familiar with neoclassicism, colonialism, etc. Hence these traditional styles are viewed as "comfortable." Modernism is not as widely known, it is in some ways unfamiliar... hence it is "uncomfortable".
Elsewhere, I've made the argument that modernism may seem to some as being more race and culture-neutral than vernacular architectural traditions - and thus something of a symbol of a post-racial/post-tribal work. You see this type of thinking quite a bit in Latin/South American architectural criticism.
Modernism may present a canvas on which different groups can, project, in a transient manner, their own vernacular requirements, without the need to "fix" those requirements through detailing and other treatments.
ironic, considering the whole point of dwell is that these places are owner-driven - places specifically set up to make these particular owners happy. and, from their own testimony in the texts of the articles, they seem to be successful.
the author of the blog has brilliantly taken advantage of a few pictures and everybody's piling on.
at the risk of being considered humorless, i'll suggest that we (those of us who enjoy modern design and its comforts) are doing ourselves a huge disservice by propogating this thing. it's become a meme, larger than architect-types talking to ourselves. i've had it sent to me by non-architects now, as a kind of 'in-your-face'....
my house has a pretty modern interior and - guess what! - i don't always smile!
i guess it never occurred to me that these people might be unhappy. i AM glad we don't see a lot of fake smiles pasted on for the photographer, however.
it is funny. and i like that we can laugh at ourselves. but when non- designers laugh at us - and they actually interpret what they're seeing as truth - then i begin to get jumpy...
I'm just now reading it and scratching my head wondering how the hell a funny satire on contemporary environments has drawn such an aggressive racially charged response...
Someone, somewhere, is currently preparing a parody of a discussion thread in which well-educated professional people, without enough to do, log dozens of earnest posts about another online parody.
huhuhuhmmmmmmmmm............they are very minimal images which could be interpreted many different ways that's why they are chosen, they are blank canvases in which the reader can transpose his/her self into. The format sells magazines.
author dude is definitely a self-loathing designer-maybe publisher, who feels bad about pumping the world full of useless bougie environments for useless bougie people.
dude is wayyyyyy too employed to be a hipster, way too clothed and way too responsible to be a hipster.
his commentary is Tao Lin -level; weak sauce to say the least
Urbanist. Red Hook in Brooklyn, Los Feliz in LA, Anywhere in Seattle...
I'm feeling a little silly because all my renderings in my portfolio feature people just like on the blog... Maybe I'll throw in some pictures of Jay-z or Bruce Willis or people wearing Ed Hardy shirts to reduce some of the hipsterism.
hehe intotheloop. Yes, there is at least one common commercial people-set used by half the big firms in the country that seems to rely exclusively on photos of hipster models.
When in school I accumulated a decent collection from literally photographing people around Boston and Cambridge.. of course, it is Cambridge and Boston so the people lack all diversity. At least they weren't hipsters.
I still think it might be fun to learn how to be a hipster and play one for a few months. My friends will find it all highly confusion. I'd need a new wardrobe though (or at least I'd need to pay attention to my wardrobe, which I've never done), I'd definitely need to move to another street (mostly middle-aged bankers here), and I think I'd need to get my hair cut at someplace other than the $8.50 Ukrainian-run establishment I patronize. Oh frack it.. I couldn't be a hipster even if I tried...
I love it when white people (and I am one) take offense (I am not one) at satirical pokes at white people and compare them to offensive depictions of other races, as per Unicorn above. Because after all, all of our ancestors were brought here in chains and traded like property for 400 years... If you can’t see the difference, you should just put the history book down and step away slowly.
Yes, if you want to see the sad state of the white race in this country, I'd ask you to tell me the racial makeup of the big bank CEO's, who, after nearly destroying the economy and availing themselves of taxpayer bailouts, are now whining about the perception the public has with regards to rewarding their executives with six and seven figure bonuses, apparently for the fantastic jobs that they've done with their Mortgage Backed Securites Portfolios.
Oh yeah, remind me about that meritocracy thing as well...
And why so sensitive about the hipster commentary? Hipster is what it is. An existential craving for the authentic, which in our consumerist culture gets co-opted, commodified, branded and hung on racks with price tags so fast that we barely have time to enjoy the little bit of risk it entails. If you want authentic, visit a garment factory in Cambodia or Vietnam (I have), where you can watch tee shirts preprinted with ironic graphics pour off sewing tables run by people who make a few dollars a day to survive.
The sewers tend to miss the irony of it all.
And don't think I'm preaching. I'm as guilty as anybody, guiltier because I've been at it longer. We've worked ourselves into a place where I don't know that we have much choice. (Or do we?)
In my humble opinion, I think that a million people sleeping on the streets in Haiti are living a way more “authentic” life than any of us are right now. As tough as the economy is, as scary as business is, I know I’ll have a roof over my head and a meal in my belly tonight.
I’m not suggesting that we give up our relative safety, or that we owe anybody anything for our lifestyle. It was paid for by the blood and sweat of our fathers and mothers and a lot of folks who sacrificed a lot to get us here (Investment Bankers notwithstanding). I just hope we can keep it in perspective, and not get overly sensitive while we work through our little identity issues.
Urbanist, just cut your own hair (badly) and shop at thrift stores, with the occasional $500 pair of jeans or shirts thrown in for good measure. Also, you'll need a vespa.
what would really freak you guys out is all the inbred families in the old coal mining towns of west virginia! anyone seen the movie "wrong turn" THEY REALLY EXIST
Steven, I think you have a very good point there, but I really do think the satirical critique of Dwell is spot-on.
The photos in Dwell, despite their whole fruit bowl manifesto, are so painfully staged, and the overall feel of the magazine seems to be increasingly one of cooler (and richer) than thou. I often like a number of the articles and projects in Dwell, but recently chose not to renew my subscription because the projects seem to focus almost exclusively on expensive single-family homes of affluent people. Furthermore, the focus (of both the magazine and the featured projects) seems to be more on an aesthetic of Modernism, which in this case is often just as historicist as anything neo-classical, than on evolutionary or innovative design and building. It's hard, because while my sense is that Dwell is really only preaching to the yuppie/hipster choir, it is perceived by others as representing modern/contemporary architecture in general. In many ways, I think this does a disservice, and while we can separate a satire of Dwell from a satire of modern architecture, I'm not sure everyone else can.
unhappy hipsters - it's lonely in the modern world
Unicorn you really have your panties in a twist, don't you? Lighten up...it really is okay to laugh at oneself from time to time... and I have a feeling that is exactly the intent of that blog.
He tried to focus on the novel, and not how much his bedroom reminded him of a plywood coffin.
Relax, it is just humor!
Whatever floats your boat man... I'm sure there are some people out there that share it.
In the meantime... being a natural blonde I am able to laugh at my own occasional dim-wittedness. Anyone else out there able to laugh at themselves?
Unicorn, I think this thread is supposed to be about SUBTLE commentary.. I think you socked us all in the solar plexus with that one... ;-P
Let's get back to subtly impugning WASPs. It's more fun, they appreciate both subtlety and irony, and there may not be enough of 'em left to adequately defend themselves.
Uncomfortable architecture is not the domain of wasps. they have many features in dwell featuring uncomfortable houses in mexico and south america. and many of the uncomfortable american cribs are not owned by wasps. in fact, many white people are not wasps. i'm sure a crossection of all races and religions enjoy uncomfortable archticture. i mean eisenman and zaha certainly aren't wasps are they? again it goes back to an aesthetic that relies on the difficultness of the intellectual. take two kronos quartets and call me in the morning.
I agree with Vado. Hence my comment earlier in the thread questioning whether WASPs really do modernism in that Dwell-kind-of-way.
We're talking neo-classicism, overdone and cluttered rooms, Dead Poets Society and lawn parties.
This is more consistent with the look you want:
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club:
Estates in places like Locust Valley, NY
I agree with vado, Jack and Urbanist. It doesn't have anything to do with the DeWASPING of our society. The vast majority of the population likes comfort... familiarity to many is a form of comfort. People are familiar with neoclassicism, colonialism, etc. Hence these traditional styles are viewed as "comfortable." Modernism is not as widely known, it is in some ways unfamiliar... hence it is "uncomfortable".
Elsewhere, I've made the argument that modernism may seem to some as being more race and culture-neutral than vernacular architectural traditions - and thus something of a symbol of a post-racial/post-tribal work. You see this type of thinking quite a bit in Latin/South American architectural criticism.
Modernism may present a canvas on which different groups can, project, in a transient manner, their own vernacular requirements, without the need to "fix" those requirements through detailing and other treatments.
ironic, considering the whole point of dwell is that these places are owner-driven - places specifically set up to make these particular owners happy. and, from their own testimony in the texts of the articles, they seem to be successful.
the author of the blog has brilliantly taken advantage of a few pictures and everybody's piling on.
at the risk of being considered humorless, i'll suggest that we (those of us who enjoy modern design and its comforts) are doing ourselves a huge disservice by propogating this thing. it's become a meme, larger than architect-types talking to ourselves. i've had it sent to me by non-architects now, as a kind of 'in-your-face'....
my house has a pretty modern interior and - guess what! - i don't always smile!
i guess it never occurred to me that these people might be unhappy. i AM glad we don't see a lot of fake smiles pasted on for the photographer, however.
i thought the whole thing was really funny...surprised it caused so much debate
it is funny. and i like that we can laugh at ourselves. but when non- designers laugh at us - and they actually interpret what they're seeing as truth - then i begin to get jumpy...
Agreed, it's only satire and we shouldn't take things so darn seriously (hence our ironic mustaches).
Paste Magazine had the Evolution of the Hispter 2000-2009 (unicorn, it's just persiflage!).
LA folks will appreciate this.
jeez, so much analysis...c'mon, those photos were just screaming for those captions.
This thread is hilarious!
I'm just now reading it and scratching my head wondering how the hell a funny satire on contemporary environments has drawn such an aggressive racially charged response...
Unicorn has a bug up his butt.
So good! I can't believe some people are trying to put a negative spin on this.
This thread is a good indicator of how head-up-our-butts we architects/designers are
There is nothing worse than a 50 year old hipster with a beer belly.....I saw one while I was out shopping for dinner.
Someone, somewhere, is currently preparing a parody of a discussion thread in which well-educated professional people, without enough to do, log dozens of earnest posts about another online parody.
may i ask what is the difference between a yuppy and a hipster?
the dwell/wall paper ppl seems yuppish except some in suburb area^^
huhuhuhmmmmmmmmm............they are very minimal images which could be interpreted many different ways that's why they are chosen, they are blank canvases in which the reader can transpose his/her self into. The format sells magazines.
kinda like modernist buildings, tectonic :)
author dude is definitely a self-loathing designer-maybe publisher, who feels bad about pumping the world full of useless bougie environments for useless bougie people.
dude is wayyyyyy too employed to be a hipster, way too clothed and way too responsible to be a hipster.
his commentary is Tao Lin -level; weak sauce to say the least
Anywhere I can go for hipster lessons? I'm thinking hipsterdom might be a fun change.
don't do it urbanist. i did that a while back. my libido hasn't been the same since.....
those photos are by far the most interesting thing i've seen in a while. someone should do that for generic architecture renderings as well.
Son of a Hipster:
Then again it coud be son of Puddles (tongue in cheek) He seems to have the island theme going.
Urbanist. Red Hook in Brooklyn, Los Feliz in LA, Anywhere in Seattle...
I'm feeling a little silly because all my renderings in my portfolio feature people just like on the blog... Maybe I'll throw in some pictures of Jay-z or Bruce Willis or people wearing Ed Hardy shirts to reduce some of the hipsterism.
Don't forget Silverlake. It's like the Mecca of hipsters.
funny how some architect associate clean/tidy interior with discomfort here^^
hehe intotheloop. Yes, there is at least one common commercial people-set used by half the big firms in the country that seems to rely exclusively on photos of hipster models.
When in school I accumulated a decent collection from literally photographing people around Boston and Cambridge.. of course, it is Cambridge and Boston so the people lack all diversity. At least they weren't hipsters.
I still think it might be fun to learn how to be a hipster and play one for a few months. My friends will find it all highly confusion. I'd need a new wardrobe though (or at least I'd need to pay attention to my wardrobe, which I've never done), I'd definitely need to move to another street (mostly middle-aged bankers here), and I think I'd need to get my hair cut at someplace other than the $8.50 Ukrainian-run establishment I patronize. Oh frack it.. I couldn't be a hipster even if I tried...
i like it when black ppl make modernist interior more joyful and fun^^
http://vimeo.com/8988454
I love it when white people (and I am one) take offense (I am not one) at satirical pokes at white people and compare them to offensive depictions of other races, as per Unicorn above. Because after all, all of our ancestors were brought here in chains and traded like property for 400 years... If you can’t see the difference, you should just put the history book down and step away slowly.
Yes, if you want to see the sad state of the white race in this country, I'd ask you to tell me the racial makeup of the big bank CEO's, who, after nearly destroying the economy and availing themselves of taxpayer bailouts, are now whining about the perception the public has with regards to rewarding their executives with six and seven figure bonuses, apparently for the fantastic jobs that they've done with their Mortgage Backed Securites Portfolios.
Oh yeah, remind me about that meritocracy thing as well...
And why so sensitive about the hipster commentary? Hipster is what it is. An existential craving for the authentic, which in our consumerist culture gets co-opted, commodified, branded and hung on racks with price tags so fast that we barely have time to enjoy the little bit of risk it entails. If you want authentic, visit a garment factory in Cambodia or Vietnam (I have), where you can watch tee shirts preprinted with ironic graphics pour off sewing tables run by people who make a few dollars a day to survive.
The sewers tend to miss the irony of it all.
And don't think I'm preaching. I'm as guilty as anybody, guiltier because I've been at it longer. We've worked ourselves into a place where I don't know that we have much choice. (Or do we?)
In my humble opinion, I think that a million people sleeping on the streets in Haiti are living a way more “authentic” life than any of us are right now. As tough as the economy is, as scary as business is, I know I’ll have a roof over my head and a meal in my belly tonight.
I’m not suggesting that we give up our relative safety, or that we owe anybody anything for our lifestyle. It was paid for by the blood and sweat of our fathers and mothers and a lot of folks who sacrificed a lot to get us here (Investment Bankers notwithstanding). I just hope we can keep it in perspective, and not get overly sensitive while we work through our little identity issues.
upvote aldorossi
Nice, Aldo.
Urbanist, just cut your own hair (badly) and shop at thrift stores, with the occasional $500 pair of jeans or shirts thrown in for good measure. Also, you'll need a vespa.
Make sure to get a pair of these
yes.
those don't seem very practical or durable. Or waterproof...
That's why hipsters in LA are happier hipsters.
Have people seen this video called "The Third & the Seventh"? It's an epic celebration of modernity. Lonely, maybe, but spectacular.
I always wondered what they did in places like Silverlake
Oh man! Urbanist now you can see what goes down in Silverlake!
this is all rather poignant. Someone needs to dispatch a team of anthropologists to Silverlake to study hipster tribal culture.
what would really freak you guys out is all the inbred families in the old coal mining towns of west virginia! anyone seen the movie "wrong turn" THEY REALLY EXIST
yeah unicorn fuck all this PC shit
wtf does this have to do with Appalachian mining towns. This thread's about hipsters. Can we get back to the hipsters please?
wtf does this have to do with Appalachian mining towns!? This thread's about hipsters. Can we get back to the hipsters please?
no way the image above with axel rose looked like a bunch of inbreds
You truly are a scourge on this website. Anyone know any good exorcism rites?
i like the pictures in dwell, and see no humor in attempting to get a laugh out of them.
am i alone here?
Steven, I think you have a very good point there, but I really do think the satirical critique of Dwell is spot-on.
The photos in Dwell, despite their whole fruit bowl manifesto, are so painfully staged, and the overall feel of the magazine seems to be increasingly one of cooler (and richer) than thou. I often like a number of the articles and projects in Dwell, but recently chose not to renew my subscription because the projects seem to focus almost exclusively on expensive single-family homes of affluent people. Furthermore, the focus (of both the magazine and the featured projects) seems to be more on an aesthetic of Modernism, which in this case is often just as historicist as anything neo-classical, than on evolutionary or innovative design and building. It's hard, because while my sense is that Dwell is really only preaching to the yuppie/hipster choir, it is perceived by others as representing modern/contemporary architecture in general. In many ways, I think this does a disservice, and while we can separate a satire of Dwell from a satire of modern architecture, I'm not sure everyone else can.
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