Websites That Bum Me Out On Life

Hype Beast

A once promising web outlet for design and creativity that quickly turned into a "don't bother thinking for yourself" machine. What's funny about this site is if you just now came across it you'd think it was some fancy future yacht clothing blog. It only seems just a few short years ago it was strictly tee shirts, new eras, sneakers and toys. Well I suppose toys are still on there even though it doesn't jive with the nautical outdoor craftsman street style.

So sit back and drink your kool aid little duns and watch your once nostalgic youth cultures get bludgeoned into limited edition commerce.

Twitter

I have already dedicated a whole post on the viral beast that is Twitter so you may have seen this one coming. If Twitter ain't the most mark ass trick ass trick marking mark ass thing a human being can do then I don't know what is. My main issue is that it puts the emphasis on Twittering about what you're doing instead of just enjoying the experience of that particular moment. Why watch a concert when you could just simply Twitter about the concert?

Also there is not one person on this planet that needs to keep the world updated on their every move.

Just the mere mention of Twitter to one of my friends generates this immediate response:



Also how many people have to get in trouble or even lamer arrested because of Twitter before people start wising up? It seems nearly once a week a celebrity or athlete and even a graffiti writer seem to be getting into some sort of trouble because they have an online diary of what they were either thinking or doing.

I can not make this any clearer: Twitter is for assholes.

12oz. Prophet

The blogs on 12 oz are quite good. I have no problem there. They are filled with lots of talented dudes sharing different thoughts and giving you an inside look on their hustles. Now the forum on 12oz is where we run into a little problem. That cesspool of graffiti dribble spawned the whole "internet thug" persona. I can not even fathom how much drama this little website has caused. They could of course simply solve the whole problem by only allowing people to post pictures, but I guess the vanity of graffiti culture prevents that logic from passing the Better For All Of Humanity Board.

At any rate if you want to avoid the whole mess just simply sign up for Flickr and join the rest of the civilized graffiti world.


The Hundreds

I know taking these guys down a peg is petty and is about as easy as ripping on Bush, but frankly speaking I think this brand represents the whole "co-sign" and "design raping" thing to the fullest. Now to be fair they are much better business men than most people in the industry and I'm sure they work non-stop to keep the lights on etc, but I mean they could have done that without ripping off nearly every logo and band that resonated with the 18 - 35 year old male demographic for the last two decades. Just to name a few victims The Raiders logo, Starter hats, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Bebe's Kids, Disney, The Smiths, fucking M.C Escher ? and the list could really go on for another post. Some things were just better off the first time they came out. We don't need your re-interpretation of everything you've ever liked since you were 5 years old. I like Minor Threat too, but I don't need to use their album art to make a Minor Threat tee and then hide behind words like "homage" or "tribute". There are ways to allude or evoke something without copying it. It's not that hard.

I think to be unbiased I will do the compliment sandwich: compliment, criticism, and compliment. The brand itself has not followed suit with many of their contemporaries by pretending that they are no longer a brightly colored tee shirt brand and that they are now a Masonic clip art yacht brand that sells to stockists. Oh wait I just checked they use the word stockists too.

How pretentious is that fucking word?

I will now illustrate my point with an example of someone using the word "stockist":

Some guy: "Hey dude, that's a cool t shirt and matching hat ensemble."

Other guy: "Oh thanks."

Some guy: "Where did you get it?"

Other guy: "I got it at the stockist on 5th avenue."

Some guy: "Oh I have not heard of that stockist which stockist do you speak of?."

Other guy: "It is the stockist next to the black smith right across from the taffy shop."

Some of you may wonder where this recent surge in editorial/opinion focused posts are coming from.

All I can say is that if I talk about something with enough people it usually finds it's way on here whether it is critical or not.

I come from the school of genuinely disliking something every once in a while. Most people try and call this hating, but I think hating is to be envious without being able to articulate your reasons why.

It is okay to not like everything.

Here is a list of shit I like that people can hate on:

- Flannels
- Family Guy and The Office
- Old school graffiti
- City of God
- Breakdancing
- I listen to Cat Power

The list goes on dudes....