Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

This burnt ochre-colored craving

Pumpkin spice pioneer, for I believe your day is coming

Yippee latte, pumpkin spice
Yippee latte, pumpkin spice

Dear Hipster:

I think we have all heard someone call Sriracha “the hipster ketchup” before, but is there a hipster version of everything? Like, is there a Hipster Elvis? A Hipster Citizen Kane? A Hipster Michelangelo?

— Lance

Sponsored
Sponsored

Because once you become “the” anything, you’re sort of losing hipster credibility by operation of first principles. Nothing springs to mind, although it reminds me of a game some friends and I invented one night at a dive bar in Hillcrest over about half a keg of Pacifico and half a bowl of soggy pretzels. The rules are pretty simple, you have to either add the word “Hipster” to a movie, book, or song title; or you can change one word in an existing movie, book, or song title to the word “Hipster.”

If you think the fun ends there, you’d be super wrong, because you also must include a blurb or caption to go with your augmented hipster title, which blurb or caption must convey the approximate substance of the putative hipster-themed media. Thus, you end up with concepts such as:

“Hipster Die Hard: off-duty Williamsburg barista, John McClane, heads to Los Angeles in search of his ex-girlfriend, Holly, a singer-songwriter who left him after she achieved moderate YouTube fame for her solo banjo covers of mediocre pop songs. Before he can reunite with Holly, McClane gets caught up in the takeover of a local coffee shop by Silicon Valley tech-bro wannabes. He survives by staying low-key authentic in a world full of posers.”

Or, if you do the change-a-word variation:

“The Only Living Hipster in New York: very sad song about poor hipster with useless art history degree and crushing student loan debt who feels like nobody gets him.”

This whole game also works great in group-text form. For any of you out there who would really like to play, but don’t have friends or family who think this sounds like a good game, email your blurbs to [email protected]. I’ll be your friend who plays clever word games.

Dear Hipster:

It’s getting to be that time of year again. I feel a secret yearning for pumpkin spice growing in my heart, yet I don’t want to broadcast this burnt ochre-colored craving to the world on account of the inevitable (not to mention harsh) judgment of my peers. Is it cool to like pumpkin spice stuff ironically yet?

— Shaun

Not yet, but have patience, you brave, pumpkin spice pioneer, for I believe your day is coming. For the time being, I still consider pumpkin spice jokes pretty darn funny. Time was, they were straight up hilarious, but the novelty of mocking pumpkin spice in all its pumpkiny spicy forms has indeed faded some, and now pumpkin spice jokes are merely amusing, or perhaps droll would be the right word. Soon, it will no longer be cool to make fun of pumpkin spice, because everybody else will be doing it, at which point you can safely consume your pumpkin spice whatever with only a self-deprecating “I know, right?” as a shield. In fact, this very autumn season may well push pumpkin space hating into the mainstream; and by the time the Thanksgiving stuff starts appearing on the shelves at the local grocery store, you might be in the clear.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Fix it Clinic, Gaslamp Holiday Pet Parade

Events December 14-December 18, 2024
Yippee latte, pumpkin spice
Yippee latte, pumpkin spice

Dear Hipster:

I think we have all heard someone call Sriracha “the hipster ketchup” before, but is there a hipster version of everything? Like, is there a Hipster Elvis? A Hipster Citizen Kane? A Hipster Michelangelo?

— Lance

Sponsored
Sponsored

Because once you become “the” anything, you’re sort of losing hipster credibility by operation of first principles. Nothing springs to mind, although it reminds me of a game some friends and I invented one night at a dive bar in Hillcrest over about half a keg of Pacifico and half a bowl of soggy pretzels. The rules are pretty simple, you have to either add the word “Hipster” to a movie, book, or song title; or you can change one word in an existing movie, book, or song title to the word “Hipster.”

If you think the fun ends there, you’d be super wrong, because you also must include a blurb or caption to go with your augmented hipster title, which blurb or caption must convey the approximate substance of the putative hipster-themed media. Thus, you end up with concepts such as:

“Hipster Die Hard: off-duty Williamsburg barista, John McClane, heads to Los Angeles in search of his ex-girlfriend, Holly, a singer-songwriter who left him after she achieved moderate YouTube fame for her solo banjo covers of mediocre pop songs. Before he can reunite with Holly, McClane gets caught up in the takeover of a local coffee shop by Silicon Valley tech-bro wannabes. He survives by staying low-key authentic in a world full of posers.”

Or, if you do the change-a-word variation:

“The Only Living Hipster in New York: very sad song about poor hipster with useless art history degree and crushing student loan debt who feels like nobody gets him.”

This whole game also works great in group-text form. For any of you out there who would really like to play, but don’t have friends or family who think this sounds like a good game, email your blurbs to [email protected]. I’ll be your friend who plays clever word games.

Dear Hipster:

It’s getting to be that time of year again. I feel a secret yearning for pumpkin spice growing in my heart, yet I don’t want to broadcast this burnt ochre-colored craving to the world on account of the inevitable (not to mention harsh) judgment of my peers. Is it cool to like pumpkin spice stuff ironically yet?

— Shaun

Not yet, but have patience, you brave, pumpkin spice pioneer, for I believe your day is coming. For the time being, I still consider pumpkin spice jokes pretty darn funny. Time was, they were straight up hilarious, but the novelty of mocking pumpkin spice in all its pumpkiny spicy forms has indeed faded some, and now pumpkin spice jokes are merely amusing, or perhaps droll would be the right word. Soon, it will no longer be cool to make fun of pumpkin spice, because everybody else will be doing it, at which point you can safely consume your pumpkin spice whatever with only a self-deprecating “I know, right?” as a shield. In fact, this very autumn season may well push pumpkin space hating into the mainstream; and by the time the Thanksgiving stuff starts appearing on the shelves at the local grocery store, you might be in the clear.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Bob Long played piano for Tina Turner and Ray Charles

And he got the crowd shaking at InZane Brewery
Next Article

Birdwatching bonanza, earliest sunset of the year, bulb planting time

Venus shines its brightest
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader