Since this year's Pantless metro ride is fast approaching (tomorrow!) we felt a need to repost Cale's endorsment of it from last year. If for nothing, then for the comments.
Ok, so we're 7 years late to the riding the metro with no pants party that's been going on in NYC, what else is new?
But(t) since BYT is no stranger to pantless activities, we feel it is our duty (snicker) to officially endorse this. We encourage all our friends and enemies to meet up this Sat at 4pm at the Dupont Circle fountain (wearing pants) where instructions will be given on which Metro lines to hop on (without pants). Act cool like nothing weird is going on, do not specifically acknowledge other pantless riders, and hilarity (?) will ensue.
Get the scoop on the original hijinks here: http://www.improveverywhere.com/ (they do lot's of other fun pranks too)
And get the specific DC info at the Facebook group: here
If you don't have a Facebook account, here is what it says:
The mission:
Ride the metro WITHOUT YOUR PANTS. You can wear socks, shoes, boots, coats, gloves, shirts and hats - just no pants. (Thongs probably not a great idea if you don't want to get jumped or thrown in jail) The hard part (aside from not catching something) is to be completely deadpan about it. You pretend like you don't know any of the other pantless riders. You should be acting like it is perfectly normal to have been waiting for the subway without your pants!The plan is to meet at the Dupont Circle fountain at 4pm where we'll get organized and break everyone into teams with different routes. Please be on time so we can assign you to a group! More details on route plans will follow as we get closer to the date and get a better idea of how many people are going to show up.
So far 101 people are confirmed attending, 158 maybe. Expect a lot of pale hairy flabby pock-marked winter legs. Who is with me?
Previously in I Heart DC:
- 2/13: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use:
- 2/13: 101 Reasons To Love DC-Part 1
- 2/10: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/9: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/8: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/8: Perfect Date Outfits + Outings
- 2/7: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
- 2/6: DC News You Can Maybe Use:
- 2/2: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use:
- 2/1: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use:
God loves a cheerful giver.
best mission thus far, "suicide jumper". along w/ boing boing, improv everywhere has been my #1 favourite link.
This is just so stupid and trite. Rather than copying the absurd antics of bored NYC hipsters (who probably just want to see other hot hipsters in their underwear), how about coming up with something unique to DC? C'mon, who are we kidding, we're not dadaists.
Simpsons did it!
Karl - send is a link to your Facebook event when you come up with your unique idea.
Karl,
Wait, you are saying you DON'T want to see hot hipsters in their underwear?
Cale, you need to consider our very particular social, historical, political, and geographic situation if you desire an effective/interesting/fun "happening." What might have served as a thrilling critique of societal mores in New York seven years ago might be completely irrelevant to our present situation here in Washington. Now, the mission of BYT, as I see it, is to promote a kind of nightlife scene in DC and define and articulate an elite social class of pretty, young, hip urbanites. That mission is certainly subject to critique -- the Marxian critique would be that you have forsaken any politics and completely submitted yourself to capitalist decadence -- but let us take it for granted for the moment. Your target would be the stale, conservative culture of DC, or perhaps the dumb hedonism that one might encounter on a weekend night on 18th Street in Adams Morgan. I think it would be to your benefit to attack the Philistinism of the latter example. How might that be accomplished in a staged happening? I would suggest a hipster takeover of an establishment traditionally reserved for yuppies or Philistines, like Adams Mill or Millie & Al's in Adams Morgan. Set a date and time, and take over the place for the night. What do you think of that, Cale?
I agree with Karl--how fucking stupid and derivative and retarded. And I love your tired comeback: "hey, man, come up with your own scene if you don't like it." Newsflash: not everybody is posing and trying so goddamn hard that they need to be part of a "scene." Effectively telling someone they shouldn't criticize your weak ass poseurism because they don't have their own wacky irony scene/events going on is simply retarded and basically a concession on your part that your shit is WACK. If you're going to do cutesy hipster bullshit, quit eating the balls of everyone in Williamsburg already. Better to do nothing, ala Karl, than to do some derivative lame bullshit. You people are contemptible, from all your stupid ass "quirky" themed events to your run-of-the-mill uniforms: irony "somebody loves me in nebraska" t shirt from 1983 you bought at a thrift store, your grandfather's old corduroys, handlebar mustache, members only jacket, drinking PBR at the Black Cat. We get it. You are no better than popped-collar frat bros trying to date rape chicks in Adams Morgan every weekend, just with a different uniform. Actually, fuck that. You all are worse--you should KNOW BETTER, as you purport to "think for yourself" and all that shit and many of you probably originated in the punk and/or hardcore scene around here. You all make me want to vomit. Lame ass little sheep.
as per usual: we are only reporting about an event.
everyone take deep breaths and unbutton a few buttons to allow for circulation to get to your cerebral system.
Just reporting on the event, eh? Did I misread this headline: "BYT Encourages You To Drop Trow This Sat"
You might as well have set this horseshit up. You are endorsing it full tilt. I am not speaking, anyway, to this Web site, but to the stupid hipster population in DC generally. This site is only the tip of a giant turd iceberg. I don't know how I should "get me my cerebral system," but I'll try. Maybe I should pursue a graduate degree in transgender studies from American University or some other shithole so I can be a fucking intellectual like you!
i think we found a new mike.
karl, nothing but love.
To the Karls --
Stay up, player.
Karl M - we tried that, nobody came. Granted it was kind of a half assed effort. The gays do it with some success though I believe. But I guarantee a "let's get a bunch of hipsters together and take over Millie & Al's" would bring on way more hate from Hot Karl and the like than pantless metro riding. Also tried a flash mob prank a few years ago, non-BYT related, and like 3 people showed up. The fact that there seems to be a pretty good amount of enthusiasm for this event (based solely on the number of attendees via Facebook) makes it something we're interested in.
Hot Karl - not our event, we're just posting about it, we don't know the people doing it, they may or may not be hipsters. (But that isn't to say we wouldn't have still done it if we thought of it first. We like pantlessness over here.)
"Wait, you are saying you DON’T want to see hot hipsters in their underwear?"
Hot? Where?
I haven't seen Mike in a while, maybe Hot Karl *is* Mike!
Whoa, cool your jets Hot-Under-the-Collar-Karl, apparently my hipster-hating alter-ego. Your critique will not be taken seriously if presented with such vitriol. You're certainly right to be annoyed by the elitism of BYT and hipsters in general, but let's frame that critique in a rational manner, eh?
Now, the problem with these BYT hipster-scenester types is that they're all style over substance, and they haven't a clue about the social or the political -- in fact, that sort of nihilism is part and parcel of their aesthetic. Now I admit, I like a fun dance night, a night out on the town, and I even enjoy checking out the pretty people on the scene. Of course I have some shame for this, and I wouldn't go so far as to celebrate it like it's the whole point of life a la BYT. Also, BYT would benefit from celebrating the weird as much as the pretty (like maybe be a little more Baltimore and a little less New York), hating American Apparel as much as it hates JC Penny. One can generate a pretty nifty wardrobe from discarded second-hand gear (and the Maryland burbs have some great mega-thrift stores), so please spare me the new fashions.
But I presume these critiques will fall on deaf ears and BYT will stick to its mission of photographing the prettiest people on the scene. And well, maybe that's its business and we should look elsewhere for politics or weirdness.
God, you karl's are more bitchingly gay than bitchy gays.
I suggest we end this conversation before it gets out of hand and kills Marty's hard-won "most comments ever" record. He's very proud of that and would break his little heart if it were beaten.
And speaking of dropping your pants, we're getting married on Saturday! So I doubt it will be on the metro but there will be lots of undressing of fancy clothes. In solidarity with Cale, of course.
karl m. -
"I like a fun dance night, a night out on the town, and I even enjoy checking out the pretty people on the scene. Of course I have some shame for this"
why do you feel shame for THAT?? that is just strange.
you are wasting your time and energy on something that has no real, lasting effect on society instead of using that capable brain of yours to voice your opinion elsewhere on issues that matter. the issues you SEEM to care about. that is where your shame should lie.
and where are all these pretty people you are talking about that byt exclusively photographs? i see just people - some attractive, some not so attractive, all having a good time, unlike you.
and yes, maybe you should look elsewhere for politics. how long did it take you to figure that out? do you write in the comment section of a sports website about how they suck at covering the arts?
hot karl - please kill yourself immediately if not sooner. you are a danger to society.
Karl M - you should read some of our fashion/style posts sometime, it's not all AA, for example:
$40 Fashion Spread: Girl Detective
Right This Second!
Ironic’s Gems of the Internets: The Glamour Edition
Fashion-Conscious Indie Boys Unite
Response to the Fashion-Conscious Indie Boy
PS. I love AA, because their stuff is fitted and I'm shaped like I have an eating disorder. I'm wearing an $18 AA white summer shirt under my business casual button up for work not because it's fashionable or cause anyone will see it, but because it fits me like the 70's and is way softer than a cheap Fruit of the Loom.
"hot karl - please kill yourself immediately if not sooner. you are a danger to society."
Pretty much the sentiment I'd expect from a bro dude who shops at Abercrombie and does keg stands, which is what you are in different clothing. I was going to punk and hardcore shows 15 years ago; where the fuck were you? It's not like I'm some disgruntled "normal" person (or however you dweebs refer to what you perceive to be non-underground types). You don't like that I'm calling you out for being herd-following sheep (unoriginal at that), so you tell me to kill myself. Nice. I hope to god you are in your very early 20s, or you are really pathetic.
yelling, even through typing is not nice.
Cale, I have this very AA debate with my girlfriend. (Coincidentally, we also sometimes argue over whether she drinks too much.) She sees no problem with the advertising, likes the clothes, and it's "guilt-free" since it's not produced in some Third-World sweatshop. I do have a problem with the advertising, but that doesn't really distinguish AA from other clothing advertising, since they all do the same thing, AA is just better at it. And, I would argue, the Made-in-the-USA thing has more to do with marketing to a particular "enlightened" group than a moral concern over exploited labor (correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that AA put the kibosh on an AA employee labor union, and of course, it's big business).
Re: "shaped like I have an eating disorder." OK, I know you're kidding, sort of, but of course you're sort of not kidding, which is a little disturbing. It's attractive to be skinny to an unhealthy degree precisely because that's the image that's sold to us in commercial images. Also, ironically, I suppose it's something of a subtle protest against bloated American consumerism. For the latter reason it is embraced justifyibly; for the former reason it is conformed to sadly.
BYT: DC's flab police. You never rest.
these hiptser types are the type of people that got their asses kicked kicked at hardcore and punk shows for the last 15 years.
Hold on, I'm running to lunch to eat my Pot Bellys sandwich (white bread, double meat please) followed by Rita's Italian Ice Gelati. I'm in the Rita's Cool Club, I think I'm just about due for a free one.
Not kidding.
who knew that people could get so upset about pants!
oh wait
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/25/AR2007062500443.html
hot karl, you aren't "calling me out" for anything and i never jumped on any bandwagon. nice guess on who i am, though. you act like there is one very exclusive type of person on here, like everyone is exactly the same. i think you're sad. and why this whole thing upset you so much in the first place is really, really bizarre.
"I was going to punk and hardcore shows 15 years ago; where the fuck were you?" hahahaha! wow, you're cool.
it would probably be better if we took this exchange elsewhere as to not subject these people to such jackassery. here you go: gifbmpjpg@hotmail.com
whoooo fuckkinngg caarreessssssssss
karl m. you spelled 'justifiably' wrong. not that it matters. you are crazy and way too concerned with this stuff. i think i might be going too far with the responses myself, but i can't help it cuz it's kind of entertaining to see just how silly people like you can be. cale is skinny because of his metabolism like me, ya fat bastard (i was kidding about the fat b part, but i was on a roll). you think too much. sometimes things just are what they are; cale is skinny, you are a pseudo intellectual.
and dan - "these hiptser types are the type of people that got their asses kicked kicked at hardcore and punk shows for the last 15 years." what, are you some kind of tough guy? i laugh at you. i laugh right in your tough guy face.
wow, someone says "take your clothes off" and this is the response?! have you ever considered "sure, why not, that would be a laugh". i'm hung like the future, maybe that's why i don't mind so much.
eduardo is taking things a bit seriously.
"you act like there is one very exclusive type of person on here, like everyone is exactly the same. i think you’re sad. "
And I think you're in obvious denial about the above. Everyone here is not exactly the same, but it is a matter of degree, not kind. Different shades of the same colored turd, if you will. You know I'm right, which is why you are responding.
I come here now and again. If someone made a post cutting on hipsters who wear dumb outfits Hot Topic style, you sure wouldn't see me responding to refute that point. Think about THAT, man.
No, I'm not going to e-mail you, dude. This is somewhat tongue in cheek. Calm down.
Having an arguement on the internet is like competing in the special olympics -EVEN IF YOU WIN YOU'RE STILL RETARDED
Karl, you'll be happy to know that not even hours on BYT got me to my goal weight of 95 lbs by this week (aforementioned wedding on Saturday). 98 and holding. Blasted useless hipster website. It is sadly lacking in dieting advice.
if you don't wear pants, you don't need game.
it's true.
eduardo..why is it that YOU get so upset if some dude comes on this site and makes some fun of these people? you dont even have a little BYT thingy by your name? you looking to write for the site or sumtin? these people, if you in fact know them, probably make fun of you behind your back at "dance nights"..geek.
I think Eduardo Ignasio is right...I see photos of uglies and non-uglies on BYT. Cale fits both...sometimes he's ugly and sometimes he's non-ugly, depending on the boa.
Shit-On-Your-Girlfriend (Hot Karl) seems to be sad and grouchy. I would be sad too if I was named after such a sexual act. Somebody cop Shit-On-Your-Girlfriend (Hot Karl) a pitty feel on the Metro on Saturday.
...and I would hope by now that Shit-On-Your-Girlfriend (Hot Karl) would realize that people only keep posting comments to egg on Shit-On-Your-Girlfriend (Hot Karl)'s emotional rants.
=/
This entire thread is gay.
Regardless, the drop trou on the Metro thing is going to fail with fewer than 10 people participating.
"oh my," that post was about as original and well thought out as the uniform you wear out to the Black Cat every Friday after a long day of data entry at the nonprofit you work at (because your undergrad degree from AU in minority studies = shitty job).
I made a few posts clowning you lot of fucktards. Nobody is egging me on, and there have been no emotional rants. Try again.
woah - whoa! i really don't care, it's just entertaining and i'm amazed at how people got so upset about the metro thing. my repsonses basically were only to tell them how damn silly (and retarded) i thought they were being.
dan - you said a stupid thing. that is why i commented to you directly. read your first post a few times and tell me what it proves. you're not tough.
marty - "i’m hung like the future, maybe that’s why i don’t mind so much." lol! awesome.
hot karl - your dad should have used a condom.
time for my nap...
I really hate responding to interweb haterz, but Mr. Karl has said a lot of things that have irritated me, so yeah, I'm going to say something.
1) I'm intrigued by your need to classify everyone into these neat, perfect little boxes. What type of a person are you, Karl? Will I be able to learn all about your passions and aspirations by the brand of tee shirt that you are wearing?
Like so, you claim that everything and everyone on this website is the same. Like herding sheep. You, too, obviously read this website and post on it - can i categorize you, too? Are you a sheep?
2) I post on here when I get a chance. I am a full time student with a kickass GPA. And I am extremely passionate about politics and literature, too. Imagine that! And I don't go to dance nights every night. And I wear 50 cent clothing from my local thrift store. And I make my own clothing, too. And I take pictures of all different sorts of people. And I'm not really skinny. And on occasion, I too listen to hardcore. Wow...I listen to music that I actually like, and I don't let anyone else dictate what I listen to. Wow. I'm sure you could find a few other people like me. I'm not perfect; no one is. I'm not trying to spark some sort of hipster revolution, either, but if you expect others to acknowledge you seriously, maybe you could try acknowledging them seriously, too.
THERE ARE ALL SORTS OF DIFFERENT FUCKING PEOPLE IN THIS CITY, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT. AND I DON'T REALLY CARE WHO YOU CHOOSE TO ASSOCIATE WITH, BUT I DO CARE THAT YOU REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE IDIOCY OF A STEREOTYPE. DIFFERENCES EXIST EVERYWHERE. IF YOU VIEW EACH PERSON WHO POSTS ON THIS WEBSITE AS THE SAME, YOU ARE SEVERELY BLIND - OPEN YOUR EYES.
3) American Apparel is wildly popular in other countries, too. If their whole "Made in the USA" schtick only appealed to "englightened" Americans, their sorry asses wouldn't be making the kind of cash that they make.
Shut the fuck up and use your head. If you want to complain about something, do so constructively and logically. That's all.
poo-poo on anyone that poo-poos on people having fun
time for my afternoon dump...
Alyssa, you are conflating and confusing Karl and me, Hot Karl. We are not one and the same. In fact, his Marxist worldview bemuses me, and it is one with which I am in disagreement--but that is fine, we all think what we think. I am with him insofar as he thinks the running around on the metro with no pants and biting the style of NYC hipsters is lame.
I said before I was being partially tongue in cheek, but many, many, many of the people who post here and featured in the many photographs here are lamer than shit. Look at any event covered on here: people wearing iron maiden and dokken t shirts and throwing up devil horns, irony mustaches, members only jackets, some people looking like they are obese for irony purposes. The list goes on. And I mean it really goes on with the hackneyed dogshit I see people doing/wearing. Every time I deign to venture to the Black Cat or somesuch place, I think the same thing. SO SO SO LAME. It is tired and has been done. I shake my head whenever I look at these photos--it really is akin to a bunch of blonde frat dudes at a kegger standing around wearing Abercrombie or Hollister or whatever the fuck those clueless idiots wear nowadays.
Yes, this does not apply to every person individually, but it applies to this whole "scene" generally, whatever that "scene" even defines itself as--I honestly don't know, except that it is populated by "hipsters" who walk around in a herd following each other.
I saw the same shit in the hardcore scene throughout the 90s. Same zines, same stupid sneakers, same dumb ass bands playing the same three chords, same dipshit slogans, etc. It got old and repetitive and I lost interest.
Yay...we have a new CRAZIE!!!
Hot Karl, where do you like to hang out? Where are people generally un-douchey and dressed appropriately?
Seriously - I am asking purely and honestly. Cause I find it really hard to believe there is some utopia anywhere that contains nothing but genuine, awesome people. Most places are a mix of good and bad. And that's just life. You seem to be way too focused on the bad, so where do you feel comfortable?
Idea:
If you have an overwhelming distaste or some moral beef with this website, devote your time to enjoying and being a part of something that makes sense to you, instead of a being bystander on a website that doesn't cater to your personal sense of valid, coverage-worthy culture.
This site isn't the only aesthetic representative that DC has, and its not for everyone. I can understand taking issue with an article's content, but if you just don't like whats on here, period, then come on, find something else to be INTO. Its simple, effective and it sends the right kind of message, because the message you're sending now is that you have a ton of spare time and are reading this over and over.
"Where are people generally un-douchey and dressed appropriately?"
Either with friends at their houses or at dive bars that are not populated with shitbags. So, in DC that means with friends at their houses. The bars here suck penis. If it isn't you people, it's bros covered in Axe body spray with a pocket full of roofies getting a Jumbo Slice in Adams Morgan.
the internet is serious business
AA now sells clothing? Alcoholics Anonymous?
No wonder all the hipsters are wearing it head to toe.
Wow, such anger! And I've been called fat, the greatest insult in hipsterdom, even though none of you has a clue what my body-mass index is. Ha. Hot Karl, whatever the source of your anger (dumped by a hipster chick?), it seems that you have some sort of ax to grind with the hip of DC. But then, who wouldn't be annoyed by an elite social class of any sort? They define themselves by their neat clothes, skinny, pretty bodies, and whatever music they happen to be into at the moment. That which fails to meet the criteria is met with scorn. Hot Karl, perhaps you fail to meet some of those criteria? If not, your anger should not be at hipsters in particular but elite social classes in general, which all operate in the same way, just with a different set of aesthetic criteria. So, you should be a Marxist like me, and have distaste for the entire structure of hierarchical social class, in general.
One amusing thing about hipsters is their persistant ridicule of "white trash" (I think a white-trash-themed dance night is coming up, actually), which is the working class that, unlike them, fails to achieve that aesthetic required to belong to their class. Of course, the working class hasn't the time or education to do that, because they've been systematically denied it because of their subordinate socio-economic position, but never mind that, the hipsters still delight in ridiculing them -- hence the "ironic" mustache or mullet that wouldn't really be all that out-of-place on a white working class guy.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I was talking to you. I think you might have missed my point, Hot Karl.
I have posted photos on this website, too. A lot of diverse people do. Some of them are far from attractive and young, and nobody's excommunicating them. That was the point.
In fact, I'm sure that if you actually took the time to investigate individually each one of the people that you have been ragging on collectively, you would find that there are quite a few people who write or photograph or whatever for Brightest Young Things who might be into some of the same stuff that you are. Or might not be. Or might be into completely radical, awesome stuff that is completely over your head. It doesn't really matter.
You just never know. You can't come tyrading onto a website and claiming that all of the people here suck and are the same when you really don't know that.
This website doesn't claim to be a political blog. But you can't assume that the people who write for BYT aren't passionate about politics just because they don't write about what Di Fi eats for breakfast every day.
If you aren't seeing what you think should be represented represented, start your own website and cover it. Or write for this one. In case you haven't noticed, this site isn't all pictures of people partying. So if you don't like them, then don't look at them.
But frankly, if you are willing to come on here and categorize/talk shit about people who you DON'T KNOW as illogically as you just have, you aren't any better than any of these identical hipsters you have been describing.
Karl M., my friend, I think my scorn for these people is that their schtick is so hackneyed and worn out. I was actually expecting one of them to accuse me of not being "cool" enough to be "down" with them, but they have not done so yet, but you have touched on the issue. Such is not the case, and I actually have to plead guilty to owning a closet full of designer work clothes as well as jeans that I probably paid a bit too much for; I am thin and work out constantly; I do not look down on label clothing with scorn. I will leave you with your distaste for capitalism and social classes with the utmost respect. Thing is, if I wanted to be the coolest hipster kid, I could easily do it by throwing on a Stryper t shirt and wearing tiny running shorts with cowboy boots. My distaste for this whole scene is that it is so boring and so easy to pull off.
I am with you again on the ridicule of "white trash" aka the working class. There was a feature here where some people went to a TGI Fridays and, gasp, ATE FOOD! AND DRANK BIG OBNOXIOUS AMERICAN ALCOHOLIC DRINKS THAT WERE BLUE AND GREEN AND STUFF! et cetera. What a biting commentary on American culture, going to a place where "working class" and the uncultured masses consider a nice night out and taking funny pictures. How cute, you ridicule people lacking in opportunity and formal education. And on top of that, hipsters nationwide do it, so you aren't even being original.
And don't get me started on hipsters taking pictures of obviously mentally ill homeless people.
Karl M - now that white trash are on the web, can't they learn how to be hip too?
Hot Karl - why you always ragging on my Stryper shirt - I had to go all the way to Tokyo to get that and it cost like $50, damn!
let's see - a socialist and a burned-out punk go to a dc social website, which got its start from a bunch of friends sending each other funny photos from the night before, and condemn the rampant commercialism, elitism, and ironic anti-intellectualism they perceive to find.
without commenting on the dozens of reviews of excellent movies, plays and books, as well as guides to non-mainstream outlets for clothing and art in the dc area. and proceed to demonstrate to the assembled friends, acquaintances, and lurkers their own neuroses, hobby-horses and internal contradictions in - what, an attempt to shame us into posting more photos of ugly people? more substantive political or social debate? more dispatches from the dc hardcore scene (hot karl - O RLY? what pages of dance of days are you on? quick! google it - i'm sure you have no idea what it is!)? more book reviews?
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/misc-awesome/irene-nemirovsky-double-feature/
it is rather like condemning the quality of the debate on health care on late night shots, or the complete neglect of discussions of modern dance on tony kornheiser's blog.
that said, i like the aa website for the lurid photography. and i like byt photos because i it's a nice way of seeing my friends enjoy themselves without actually having to go to the rock'n'roll hotel.
Hot Karl, re: "I actually have to plead guilty to owning a closet full of designer work clothes as well as jeans that I probably paid a bit too much for; I am thin and work out constantly; I do not look down on label clothing with scorn."
It makes me sad to read that Hot Karl, because you're playing the same game the hipsters are -- you're just in a different social class. There's a certain breed of hipster, a bit more raw, probably more common to the midwest where I'm from, that doesn't really play the fashion game so much and is really more punk in essence, and would never wear designer jeans or work out to shape a body. It is THE MAN that demands that you do that so that you're a good member of your social class, and it sounds like you might be a young upwardly-mobile professional from your description. What happened to your hardcore punk days? Sounds like you've sold out, man. Shame, shame. But then, society demands it, in most cases, so we can't really blame you.
Don't get me started on working out. My friend, it's a collossal waste of time. People working out and, especially, jogging, look so ridiculous, it always makes me giggle. Join a soccer league instead and have some fun running around.
PS. I totally masturbate to the AA ads in Vice.
Alyssa,
I'm posting anonymously for obvious reasons, but I actually do know a number of the people writing for and associated with this site. I have seen many of their unfriendly faces out too many times, and I am acquaintances with a handful. They really are a vacuous lot. In general it's like a high school clique. I'm being completely honest.
That said, I really appreciate this site for 2 reasons:
1) entertainment value
2) I know exactly where NOT to hang out based on postings.
My personal beef with the scenesters is that they are unfriendly and judgmental and I also have a problem with people that are "into" things because they think it's cool. There are a handful of people that byt is associated with putting "creative" stuff out there that is really just awful. DC's art scene is lacking enough that I try to be supportive when people are at least working, but some of them give new meaning to the word dilettante.
"posting anonymously for obvious reasons"
which would be what?
cowardice?
inability to face judgment face forward?
enjoyment of being unknown and therefore "untouchable" while dispensing harsh criticisms yourself?
just curious.
Aw, anony-pants, I'm super nice and friendly, you can come hang out with me anytime.
...unless you're ugly.
jay kay!
because some of you know me, the others have certainly seen me out—dirty looks do not go unnoticed—and I don't feel like putting some of my friends in the position of having their friends (that are associated with you) hate me.
by the way, svet, where's the disarming "aw, we love you anyway anonymous"?
i have never been to any of the byt events, though i know for a fact that anyone is welcome.
i know ONE person at byt and they have not commented on this thread.
i am not a hipster, but i've met people who you might consider to be hipsters and they have always been friendly.
if you have gotten dirty looks either:
a) you are paranoid
or
b) you are a bitch
this thread has gotten ridiculous.
if the people who run this site are the jerky, stuck up, elitist, holier-than-thou, too-cool-for-school people that others are claiming they are, i have yet to see it.
the only people who are being nasty, condescending, judgemental, passive aggressive or mean on here are the ones you see commenting above (you know which ones).
there are a few people on here in need of a hug. let's hug it out, bitches. i'm happy to help. karl? karl? anon? dan? etc..?
goodnight.
i posted my "only love" comment early on today.
where is everyone else's disarming and unconditional love?
that was the best waste of billable hours ever. hugs and kisses to byt.
Since I last posted at 3:05 PM and now I have been asleep. Hasn't someone bothered to simply link to the last time someone came on (June-ish? I'm old and my memory fades) and made fun of BYT and then all the defenders argued and then the naysayer argued back so we can just nip this in the bud right now and Marty can keep his title?
"What happened to your hardcore punk days? Sounds like you’ve sold out, man."
I hope this is sarcasm. I suppose everyone could keep their shitty college retail/coffee/waitressing job just to prove a point, but some of don't want to live in a shithole apartment with a roommate forever.
But I like Dada...
Re: anonymous. I know a lot of the BYT staff and many of the people who go to their events. When stuff sucks, I say it sucks. I even come here and say it sucks. Most of my comments are, in fact, about stuff that sucks. Like your posting anonymously. That's about as sucky as it gets considering you claim you know many of the people here.
Why so fearful?
This is just a stupid (and very judgmental) statement: "I don’t feel like putting some of my friends in the position of having their friends (that are associated with you) hate me."
If your friends are worried about their friends hating you then they're the vacuous ones wouldn't you think? I would. Not to mention how you're insulting your friends by implying they'd make choices between friendships with you and friendships with other people.
Damnit. I forgot to finish my thought:
Take the NYE event for example. I called it as sucking. I said I wouldn't go because it would suck. I made no bones about the fact that I thought the planners could have done much better than "naked sushi." I was not quiet about lambasting something that I thought was almost as stupid as taking Obama seriously Presidential Candidate...
And guess what? I've seen the people involved in that event since then. I didn't get any negativity from them. In fact the only negative response I got to my many posts on that event was an anonymous one on this board.
I think you have delusions of grandeur if you think that people will hate you because you state an opinion.
fuck you, michael!!
Am I the only one that found Marty's I'm hung like the future both hilarious and perplexing at the same time? Like the future is so bright his dick has to wear sunglasses or what?
man. vacuous is a great word.
let's all play freerice.com today
and improve our vocabularies!
and save the world (...)!
and leave Svetlana, and Cale, and BYT, and all those very cold, emaciated hipsters in shorts and cowboy boots alone!
Wow you know there's some BS going on when Michael is the most rational person in a comments section (B.I.S.L.Y.M.)!
Anyway, I wish I could be there but I'll be getting a tattoo at Fatty's about 20 yards from where the meet up is. Drat. Pantsoff subway day should be a national holiday.
HOLD THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cale, you have a Stryper shirt?? Who the fuck would make fun of that?
I sadly admit that I went to a Stryper concert when I was in second grade.
It has bothered Hot Karl on multiple posts:
stryper sucks
I mean, am I crazy to think it's silly to wear the shirt of a band that obviously sucks? If you like them, that's one thing, but it's obvious that you're trying to be absurdist and ironic by wearing the shirt of a crappy band. I suppose that would have some merit if it weren't played out, but it has been done over and over and is tired. Kind of like screaming at a band to play freebird or throwing up the devil horns at people. It's just corny, man.
"(hot karl - O RLY? what pages of dance of days are you on? quick! google it - i’m sure you have no idea what it is!)"
LOL. I just saw this. Wow, this is like someone acting like he is privy to special punk rock knowledge because he knows who Green Day is.
Anyone who uses the term "man" as in "It's just corny, man" (see above) is not cool - not even in a Cheech and Chong movie or the 1970s.
Wearing a Stryper shirt (which apparently had to be seriously hunted down) is cool if it provokes someone like me at a bar to talk about how he fought some bitch in his church abstinence club to grab a Stryper-themed New Testament they threw out from stage.
Worth every shitty comment by Hot Karl.
Hot Karl - let's examine the wardrobe choice here. So we have a concert by a fake hair metal band. I decide to wear a t-shirt of a real hair metal band as both a costume and to be funny, cause a) the only thing more ridiculous than Christian rock is Christian hair metal and b) most of my friends know me as a devout and vocal antitheist. It also fits quite snuggly. I had a handful of people tell me they thought it was funny. The really hot female DJ at the show said she loved it and gave me a hug. Success.
Now was it the most original idea of comic genius I've ever had, no. But was it in any way annoying to anyone at the show like yelling Freebird would have been? I don't think so. And hasn't wearing a plain t-shirt with nothing on it probably been done more times than wearing a Stryper shirt ironically? You're saying it would be ok to wear a Stryper shirt if I actually liked Stryper? Wouldn't actually liking Stryper be more offensive than making fun of Stryper by wearing the t-shirt ironically? Is it ok to wear a t-shirt that is funny but not vintage ironic?
I guess in the end I feel like there are way worse social offenses to get worked up over than wearing an ironic t-shirt to an ironic rock show.
this thread is still going! sweet! is it a record yet?
/ sometimes i use dude and man in the same sentence. for example: dude, that stryper shirt is tight, man!
john, you just made me feel silly. i say man all the time.
karl's hopes for his ideal social scene of the world have gone to shit and he cries himself to sleep every night thinking about how everyone is just so damn CORNY. i feel sorry for poor karl. there, there, little fella.
john, that's exactly why it's not cool....no one wants to hear your unfunny stories.
You might as well try to justify making an "I've fallen and I can't get up" joke. Not going to work. And yes, I wouldn't have a problem with you wearing a Stryper shirt if you liked that shitty band, and I wouldn't be offended by your liking bad music (you probably like plenty of shitty twee fag rock anyway). Having bad taste in music is actually not as bad as intentionally listening to bad music or buying merchandise of shitty bands to wear as a "joke" (and paying $50 for a t shirt of one of said bands????)
And why would you BE at an ironic rock show? What is the point of that? That is just terrible. Was it full of people wearing mullet haircuts/wigs, mustaches, dokken t shirts, etc.?
Re: serious?
A gay man attending a Stryper concert as a member of a church abstinence club is not funny?
Ok, I guess it's more horrifying than funny, but still.
Hot Karl, posting two similar comments three minutes apart from the same IP address doesn't convince anyone that you are two different people.
Oh, thanks for calling me fag (you actually attributed it to a musical genre as a proxy for myself). Its both cool and classy that you resort to homophobic slurs for anyone who disagrees with you.
Oh wait, did you mean "fag" in an ironic sense? I hope not, because - according to your logic - that would def. not be cool since it has already been done.
"Are you serious? Says:
john, that’s exactly why it’s not cool….no one wants to hear your unfunny stories."
but they DO wanna hear karl's crazy ass?
"Hot Karl, posting two similar comments three minutes apart from the same IP address doesn’t convince anyone that you are two different people."
That wasn't me. If you could check IPs, you would know that. Quit talking out of your stupid ass.
Also, if you had the ability to read something and comprehend it, you would know my comment was directed at Cale. I never called you names, nor did I pay much attention to your post. Though I agree with the anonymous person you think is my alter ego that we probably don't need or want to hear your wack stories.
Still...you are calling people fags. Classy.
I believe the term was "twee fag rock" and that doesn't really count.
Hey, cut him a break. Given that he demonstrably cannot read, he got close enough to what I actually said to get a pass.
Hot Karl...thanks for the apology.
My friend, do not misconstrue my feeling sorry for your lack of intellectual acumen as an apology. Being sorry for and feeling sorry for are quite discrete.
I don't see the point in criticizing someone for what they wear, listen to or who hang out with or where they hang out. above all, I don't see the point in taking these things so *personally*. especially when you could just be a grown up and look the other way. you just end up looking like a weak little bitch with nothing better to do in your life than whine about things you can't control. It's one thing to have a laugh among friends, but to come onto this site and broadcast your pettiness ... what a total waste of time. time that you could be spending on things that make you happy and take your mind off the shit you hate, like people who hang out at the Black Cat, their clothes and ironic moustaches and musical tastes. all these things you hate are still there, and they'll be there tomorrow, the day after and so on. so you gain nothing: no points for cleverness, no new friends, no extra money in your pocket, no one gets converted to your cause, you get any smarter or any sexier. nothing. nada. you just sit there hitting refresh, for another shot at having the last word.
I
just
don't
get it.
Whoo, Mary (I'm not calling anyone a "mary," it's just an expression) -- I completely forgot what story led to this thread by the time I was halfway down the page.
I don't look like or hang out with people I see featured in photos on this site. I'm a good 10 years older and 30 pounds heavier than the average subject in these pix. So yes, sometimes Sexy Fitsum's latest set makes me feel old, fat, unhip, and sober. But you know what I generally like about it? People having fun. Lots and lots of fun. Going out with their friends, supporting local bands and DJs, wearing stuff that they like or perhaps what they think they should wear to fit in. I don't care either way.
If looking at this site pissed me off as much as it seems to other commenters, I wouldn't come here. It's not the only source for what's going on in this city.
And the occasional batshit comment thread aside, what I also like about the site is its positive attitude. I love my city, too. I want to find new things to do, new bands to hear, new places to eat, etc. I'm glad someone is out there digging this stuff up. Do I love everything I see/hear on BYT? Nope, but hey, someone is doing this for me, I don't pay for it, and I can come and go as I please.
Thanks, BYT for all that you do. And for keeping your calm in the threadstorm.
"I
just
don’t
get it."
You can say that again.
My God, I had a lot of time on my hands a year ago. Get a life, Me-From-A-Year-Ago.
Now my time is much more productively spent on Facebook.
I find this entire 'conversation' hilarious. What Hot Karl doesn't realize is that by criticizing the frat boy or hipster crowd as being the same (i.e. extreme conformists), his association on the other end in the anti-conformist club is just as silly. To feel so strongly about how other people spend their time and money to commit all the energy to tell them about it is weird. This is an insecurity issue over anything else. There are lots of things/people I'm not particularly fond of -- I just don't go trolling on their websites to criticize them and use awkward verbiage in the process to make myself sound smart (another mark in the insecurity department.)
I'm not a part of the BYT/hipster scene, but I like the music and art (for the most part). So I come here for news on DC happenings. I don't really care who provides the content and what they wear.
ha! These comments are epic!
Karl M., do you still think my skinny ass is as subtle protest against bloated American consumerism?
ps. I ate pizza, an Oreo mcFlurry, lobster macaroni and cheese, malt balls, and bread pudding yesterday among other things.
Cale, I think you being skinny is a not-so-subtle F-you to the average American metabolism.
if i didn't have to work tomorrow i would be taking part in this. and there are 99 comments, i'm not going to read through all of them right now, but i probably will later, because it looks like some people have a lot of free time at work today to discuss going pantless. i'm for it.
Props Cale, I cannot eat any of those things, not because to do so would be to succumb to the temptations of American consumerism, but because my pathetic Marxist body cannot process gluten.
With the economy in the toilet, forsaking consumption has once again become fashionable, so soon we'll all be skinny little things clad in thrift-store clothes, and thus ending the hipster revolution. R.I.P.
Hey Karl(s) found you on youtube!
I fear the embedding did not fulfill the wishes of the website coding,in turn I will link.
If it does, my apologies for re-posting the content.
Most favorite thread EVER. (Had to get that off my chest...thanks to all...)
karl, i'm glad to see you finally had your zoloft prescription refilled. nice work.
memoriiieeeeess!! why did i ever ditch 'eduardo ignasio'?
eddie
p.s. michael, i was "obama girl" and one year later i still say fuck you.
eddie, you still are Obama Girl.
curses!!
touché, mon frére. touché.
My ears are burning from all this 'ironic' talk.
Just so you all know, I use the term in the ironic sense only.
Why, Eduardo, you buggering knave. What a wily, wily prick you are. Ernesto will explain things to you in greater detail on Monday.