CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Hello team and may I say Well Done! This is the 100th post in this fabulous blog called "Stuff I Ponder". I feel very proud to have made it to this point, especially considering that I've done so in less than two years which means that, on average, I have somehow posted more than twice every week.

Given the enormous gaps I've had between some of these posts, I think that's pretty impressive. Plus, it means I must have an awful lot to say for myself :S

So, there's not really a lot I have to say on this post, I'm not pondering anything in particular, certainly. I guess it was just Happy Birthday. Maybe I'll put up some random quotes from the best of "Stuff". Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. So here we go. I'll put 2012 on this post and 213 and 2014 on the next post (post no. 101):

• you can just erect (laugh if you must) a "bitchin' yurt" - 1st April 2012
•  "Excuse me sir! In the Onesie! You look Excellent!" and my friend Adele yelling "Like a sexy baby grow!!" - 18th April 2012
• I have discovered the Tabernacle. It is like the mother of all tents; bigger than a yurt and without the yaks. - 18th April 2012
• (especially when I shouted "You sir, you look like a man who likes a cuddle!" at an Emo) - 18th April 2012
• Shove a Crout inside him (confusingly) (Emily) - 30th April 2012
• Hollow him out and use him as a canoe (Liz) - 30th April 2012
• My ponderances since I last write have been minimal, although my working-ness has been much - 17th June 2012
• I really am very, very sad. I thought to myself, as I cleaned my saxophone, wearing a shirt with a colourful message about Jesus after finishing playing music nobody had listened to and thinking about Scouts. Yes, I am about six walking stereotypes. - 17th June 2012
•  So basically, I have decided that I really don't want to be a Cub Leader! - 27th June 2012
• Team Saxophone, for those of you who don't know, is a group of seven "epic" people, who all play the saxophone in Concert Band (probably as a punishment for something bad they did in a former life...) - 17th July 2012
• Peter Hurrell should not, NOT be allowed to wear a mankini. Ever. - 27th July 2012
• Eventually, somewhere in the midst of the eighties, Jeff Lynne got bored and left, after writing a song about it (as you do). - 2nd August 2012
• Gabi and Markus, our German friends (from Germany, because they're just totally awesome like that) - 19th September 2012
• The only reason we should care if Kate gets pregnant is if the baby ends up ginger. And they should totally call it Emma if it's a girl. Just saying. - 21st September 2012
•  Like every other musical activity I do, this is the highlight of my week. - 6th November 2012
• Welcome back, Internet Dwellers, to my cave of mystery. My name is Plato (not really) and I have many wonderful things to discuss with you. Or not. At all. - 11th November 2012
• If you do it wrong, you die. Then you're dead. Forever. - 11th November 2012

The Hipster Culture

Hello, today I have been painting a shed. This has given plenty of pondering time, which I have spent primarily on the concept of Hipsters. For anyone over the age of thirty, or who is not accustomed to the ways of Youth Culture and the Internet (congratulations on finding this if this is you) a hipster is a young person who deliberately goes against popular culture to stand out from the crowd. Usually, this involves wearing clothes which would look more appropriate on a pensioner and eschewing the ways of modern technology; using cassette tapes or records instead of CDs and MP3 Players.

Here is a brief educational video if you'd like to know more (be warned, it says it's clean, but it's not entirely free of rude language): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krsRqZ42lyE

Anyway, anyone who announces to others that they are a hipster is, by definition, not a hipster. Hipster culture has become an essential part of mainstream youth culture and therefore anyone who relishes the title of "hipster" is actually a mainstream try-hard.

But in my opinion, a hipster is just as bad as someone who only likes things because they're popular. Trying to stand out by liking things that nobody else cares about is ridiculous. You should like things (and listen to them, wear them, whatever) because YOU LIKE THEM!!!! What other people think of them should have no bearing on your opinion.

I mean, I like bands that I don't think people have heard of, such as Sixpence None The Richer, Violinski, AlternativA, the Flashcubes and Voice Of The Beehive or individual artists, such as Parthenon Huxley (P Hux) and Juliana Raye (I may be wrong, those bands may be quite famous. Does it matter? No!) but I don't like them because nobody else does, I like them because they're god musicians with music that makes me happy. Usually. I also like people like ELO, Queen and the Darts for the same reason, even though a large portion of their members have, sadly, now died.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that hipsters are really silly. In the same way that people who change their lifestyle to be like everyone else are silly. You should like what you like because of your personal tastes, whether that be modern, old, alternative, cheesy, popular, underground, reggae, jazz, soul, dubstep (please God no), or even Math Rock. What actually is Math Rock?

[SIDEBAR:] Thanks to Dad for reminding me of all the weird bands I like that nobody else has heard of/cares about.