Ping Pong. Gnip Gnop. Takes you back to some report you wrote on Richard Nixon's diplomacy efforts with China. Anyone care to discuss cap and trade or carbon emissions? I didn't think so. Ping Pong. It's making a come back. And Hipsters are leading the way.
There are some noteworthy facts about ping pong. First of all, Hipster hero Bjorn Borg played ping pong before he played tennis. That's cool. It is also interesting that one of the challenges on a reality show in which entrepreneurs look to launch new companies was this dude who created a new form of ping pong with multiple little tables that you put in a circle. Pretty neat. I didn't get the scoring, but it was sort of 4-square meets ping pong, which...both being past-times...could be an interesting mix.
But most importantly is new and outstanding evidence that our geeky hipster minds will actually be IMPROVED (if that is possible) by playing ping pong! Holy long volley batman! This is like hipster Viagra, to say that a pinger ponger past-time might actually ENHANCE the brain! For evidence I site the well known and PBS KOCE celebrated Dr. Daniel Amen who's New York Times best selling book is all about brain health. He lauds this favorite basement past-time as being a knockout for mental functioning which you can check out here http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/exercise-fitness/table-tennis-is-the-worlds-best-brain-sport/
So get out your favorite paddle (the one with the sandpaper so you can hit your tricky shots) and make your way down to Fat Cats in the West Village, or to Tony's on 7th St. in LA for a game of singles, doubles. And if you REALLY want to go for it, check out the club that Susan Sarandon opened last summer called SPIN...it's a ping pong social club. http://www.spinyc.com/
Okay, that might be a bit too much for you hipsters to rub elbows with Geo Clooney at a ping pong table. But if you're tired of regluing that farm animal to your diorama, and want to get out of your "little world" then get out there and GET YOUR GAME ON! PING PONG. Go get 'em tiger.
11.02.2009
Extreme Latte
As mentioned previously...hipsters don't do sports. They do past times. And one of the real problems with sports as that as time has gone on, sports have become more and more extreme. We must now dangle helmet-less off a 10,000 foot cliff or skateboard sideways downhill on a metal rail, or run mach III with our hair on fire to even get a hint of a thrill. If it doesn't leave you missing a patch of hair or clutching your nuts, it wasn't a sport. This is why the hipster movement has essentially avoided anything that required wearing shorts. However, hipsters have their own version of extreme... coffee. You laugh. I heard that. But I ask you this... what Favre is Judas t-shirt wearing Lambo field GB Packers fan...has EVER dared to drink a venti Starbucks black. Yep, no half and half. No splenda. Exactly. Any normal suburban ESPN hound armchair quarterbacking on Monday morning would simultaneously piss and shit themselves drinking extreme black coffee. So I say to you hipsters out there... if you ever are feeling wussy as you're untangling your iPod headphones when some asshole in a fakey-fakester NFL jersey walks by and kicks your Jack Spade messenger bag, just run your tongue along that flat spot where your retainer was and let your eyes water from that first sip burn ... knowing... that dude's got nothin' on you. He's ordering a frappuccino. Nice green extra-long straw...asshole. Hipsters rule. (We just do it quietly).
8.29.2009
Hipsters. The Anti-Athletes.
Let's be clear about one thing. Hipsters don't do sports, and they don't wear shorts. Not the kind we think of, when we think of good old all-American sports or the kind of baggy trow that are popular in the paint down low on the 4th Street Hoops Courts. Hipsters don't watch football. They don't have fantasy teams. They don't check the NCAA March Madness box scores. They don't understand the difference between the American League and the NHL. The don't have jerseys (they have track suits). Hipsters don't compete. They play. Big BIG diff. This therefore, is the premise of this blog. And if you are looking for more sporting news, you will be sorely disappointed here at this web addy. This blog is about a different form of recreation, a form known to us back in the 70s when life was a little slower and less ego driven. This is about "past-times."
It should be noted that for our definitions and reference a hipster in the truest sense of the hipster movement, is someone who is over the age of 35 (likely over 40). Anyone currently in their 20s is faking it (or in rare cases, growing into it). Tight ankles on your jeans do not make you a hipster, unless it so happens you pegged your levis cords in junior high in 1978 and wore them with your Nike cortez. That would count. Wearing Converse does not make you a hipster, unless it is the same pair you had since your feet stopped growing in '86. And horn rimmed glasses do not make you a hipster, if you don't know who Lou Reed is or who he is married to. REM is still a college band, and u2 is a foreign band, and Steve Jobs is the second coming. So get over it. Nothing is "retro." It just "is." And it is a combination of appreciating old school and being facile with technology that make one a hipster. Age has nothing to do with it.
Having said that, hipsters are not just lost GenXers. And in point of fact, true hipsters are NOT living off the Daddy- dole (unlike the 20-something Brooklyn Pratt Hipster wannabes who don't even know what pegging your levis means). The true hipsters actually have jobs. Usually tech jobs. Creative jobs. Geeky jobs. Hipsters are a blend of smart and awkward and introverted and nice. They are digital and they are analog. They like systems, and organizing and designing and illustrating. They do not define slacker cool, nor would they shop at the Gap. They drink coffee because its warm and reminds them of long hours in "studio." Not as a display of venti-conspicuous consumption. They just go their own way. They archive collections of music and images and links and have apps for some things and binder clips for others and think that anything timelapse is really neat. If you see a moleskine notebook and a Fisher space pen and fingerless gloves from the Army Navy store, you've got yourself a hipster. Boy or girl. The true hipster comes from a small town or a small family, too smart for both, lands in an urban mecca, becomes a designer or "creative" in some capacity, and leads a life unencumbered by the desire to achieve, and immersed in process. There are no power cocktail parties for hipster networking. Sharing couchspace in the coffee lounge can start up a brainstorming session to rival any corporate whiteboard. The hipster life is a giant tea ceremony, one simple event stripped to its essence after another. Life is art, and art is process, and process is truth, and truth is beauty... The motto? Nothing fancy, except your iPhone.
Now that we have established this foundation of hipster, we want to elaborate on the fact that hipsters, like all humans, like to have fun. Yes, I mean fun...beyond "apple X... apple V...apple Z." But that "awkward" thing (mentioned earlier) and that "introvert" thing, make grand old American sporting traditions a bit of a challenge for the outlier hipster. That's why hipsters go for PAST-TIMES. Let's examine the difference.
Football -- requires a uniform and a team and gatorade.
Football: Has a coach. Has a play book. Has cheerleaders.
Football is a sport.
Scrabble -- does not require shoulder pads, just a dictionary and a beer.
Scrabble: Is still made of wood. Can be bought at Wal-Mart. Has an app.
Scrabble is a past-time.
Now that we understand the direction clearly, the reader will gain far further appreciation for Park and Wreck, as a blogsite, knowing that areas of interest like "best vintage clothing stores for Bjorn Borg Fila" and "is orienteering making a comeback" are truly pertinant topics to the hipster set. Yes, the universal hipster theme "irony" is given a nod in the title, an attempt at "deconstructing" recreation. Neverthless, our aim is true (footnote to Elvis Costello) and we're out for fun. We'll give you great urban hikes, the best dog parks for your rescue pooch, Holga camera tips and tricks, why Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking, how to outfit your AirStream for an iPod dock, plus who will take this years Williamsburg Wii Wimbledon crown. Whether its hipster gear, gadgets, adventures or arenas, anything related to travel, fun and creative loafing, we'll cover it or recover from it. All we ask is that you check your attitude at the gate, and have fun. Because after all... we're just passing the time, until our next big project.
It should be noted that for our definitions and reference a hipster in the truest sense of the hipster movement, is someone who is over the age of 35 (likely over 40). Anyone currently in their 20s is faking it (or in rare cases, growing into it). Tight ankles on your jeans do not make you a hipster, unless it so happens you pegged your levis cords in junior high in 1978 and wore them with your Nike cortez. That would count. Wearing Converse does not make you a hipster, unless it is the same pair you had since your feet stopped growing in '86. And horn rimmed glasses do not make you a hipster, if you don't know who Lou Reed is or who he is married to. REM is still a college band, and u2 is a foreign band, and Steve Jobs is the second coming. So get over it. Nothing is "retro." It just "is." And it is a combination of appreciating old school and being facile with technology that make one a hipster. Age has nothing to do with it.
Having said that, hipsters are not just lost GenXers. And in point of fact, true hipsters are NOT living off the Daddy- dole (unlike the 20-something Brooklyn Pratt Hipster wannabes who don't even know what pegging your levis means). The true hipsters actually have jobs. Usually tech jobs. Creative jobs. Geeky jobs. Hipsters are a blend of smart and awkward and introverted and nice. They are digital and they are analog. They like systems, and organizing and designing and illustrating. They do not define slacker cool, nor would they shop at the Gap. They drink coffee because its warm and reminds them of long hours in "studio." Not as a display of venti-conspicuous consumption. They just go their own way. They archive collections of music and images and links and have apps for some things and binder clips for others and think that anything timelapse is really neat. If you see a moleskine notebook and a Fisher space pen and fingerless gloves from the Army Navy store, you've got yourself a hipster. Boy or girl. The true hipster comes from a small town or a small family, too smart for both, lands in an urban mecca, becomes a designer or "creative" in some capacity, and leads a life unencumbered by the desire to achieve, and immersed in process. There are no power cocktail parties for hipster networking. Sharing couchspace in the coffee lounge can start up a brainstorming session to rival any corporate whiteboard. The hipster life is a giant tea ceremony, one simple event stripped to its essence after another. Life is art, and art is process, and process is truth, and truth is beauty... The motto? Nothing fancy, except your iPhone.
Now that we have established this foundation of hipster, we want to elaborate on the fact that hipsters, like all humans, like to have fun. Yes, I mean fun...beyond "apple X... apple V...apple Z." But that "awkward" thing (mentioned earlier) and that "introvert" thing, make grand old American sporting traditions a bit of a challenge for the outlier hipster. That's why hipsters go for PAST-TIMES. Let's examine the difference.
Football -- requires a uniform and a team and gatorade.
Football: Has a coach. Has a play book. Has cheerleaders.
Football is a sport.
Scrabble -- does not require shoulder pads, just a dictionary and a beer.
Scrabble: Is still made of wood. Can be bought at Wal-Mart. Has an app.
Scrabble is a past-time.
Now that we understand the direction clearly, the reader will gain far further appreciation for Park and Wreck, as a blogsite, knowing that areas of interest like "best vintage clothing stores for Bjorn Borg Fila" and "is orienteering making a comeback" are truly pertinant topics to the hipster set. Yes, the universal hipster theme "irony" is given a nod in the title, an attempt at "deconstructing" recreation. Neverthless, our aim is true (footnote to Elvis Costello) and we're out for fun. We'll give you great urban hikes, the best dog parks for your rescue pooch, Holga camera tips and tricks, why Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking, how to outfit your AirStream for an iPod dock, plus who will take this years Williamsburg Wii Wimbledon crown. Whether its hipster gear, gadgets, adventures or arenas, anything related to travel, fun and creative loafing, we'll cover it or recover from it. All we ask is that you check your attitude at the gate, and have fun. Because after all... we're just passing the time, until our next big project.
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