Do your best to describe the most indie person (real or fictional, but please avoid using names of real people since 'indie' may soon be replaced by some other word (counter-culture, perhaps), making the term 'indie' not only obsolete but offensive) you can think of in the comments box.
Here is a picture to get you thinking, thanks to Vanessa and this site. V remembered a conversation I told her about -- I was talking to some "indies" as they were discussing music and fell hopelessly behind when I mentioned Sufjan Stevens as a fresh, original artist (this conversation took place a couple years back obviously).
Anyway, here ya go. Hit me with your best shot. What is your best indie-person description? What does this person do? What are their views on life? Music? Politics? Movies? How do they dress? In two weeks' time, I will name the winner. And . . . go!
6 comments:
Apparently many from the Indie crowd jump-rope!
When I moved to SLC, I was excited to learn that my ward has a jump rope club... it sounded like a fun/social way to exercise.
I mentioned this to my co-worker, and she asked, "are they indie kids? Because they all seem to be jump-roping these days." I thought about it...she was right. Even though I don't personally fit the mold very well, I do tend to gravitate toward "Indie" people...
Consider the Indie male. He looks like a mainstream female. He grows his hair long like a lion, and lets it shag in waves that are meant to appear effortless but are lathered in very expensive hair gels from possibly fictional foreign countries. After your nonchalant compliment on his tresses, he tells you about the prehistoric eucalyptus leaf only growing in that portion of his probably fictional country. He says the coffee planters are turning the suspicious-sounding place into a wasteland, then he quotes a little T.S. Eliot. His clothes come from thrift stores, yet he is blissfully unaware that most of them were first purchased at Wal-Mart--a human rights nightmare. Still, he boycotts Wal-Mart. Strangely, he boasts an earthen attitude while dating women who look like Cindy Crawford. This only adds to his "mystery". Thankfully, the women he dates are generally too busy to recognize he truly does nothing but play guitar and work a dead-end job.
The Indie female looks like a mainstream man. She cuts her hair short for utilitarian purposes, like a lioness. She is the Indie man's true match, but he will not realize this till he has been cast aside by two or three less indigenous types. She showers, to put it in kind words, sparingly, and considers The Communist Manifesto a must read. She's independent, sexy, and completely confident in the knowledge that she doesn‘t need her Indie man. His sloth unconsciously feeds her ego. She is not easy, and creates a threat to the Lion/Indie male, who will circle her with caution, wondering if they could be true Indie-igenies. As female lions do most the work, so does the Indie Female. She welcomes these added responsibilities. The male may take time off work while the female holds down sixty hours and nurses children. She calls his directionless phase artistic, and starts a world-wide campaign encouraging men to take more time for reflection. She thrives in the conviction that she is different, unique, capable, and not pedestrian--although she’ll never own a car.
I Jon Fairbanks am more indie then all indie buggers. Why? Because they think they've got it all, they're at the top of their scene and then they look in the mirror and they look like every other indie person out there. They've got the dirty look with tight jeans, maybe corduroys. Straight hair down to their ears. They write on their facebook how they went to an art gala or how they enjoyed the nature that morning and saw something "special" in it. That is the quintessential stereotype of indie. And you know what? Indie is currently popular. It's becoming a popular thing to be indie. Where as I am my own, there are none like me, I walk my own path, I listen to different types of music even ones that don't have poignant lyrics. I don't get into a movie like The Fall just because it looks beautiful and is independent. I like what I like and I stay independent of everyone else. I am truly independent and will always be a step ahead of the popular "indie" crowd. Poseurs. Boo Yah.
Scottie says:
Indies seem to be all about those bikes, you know the ones that you'd totally expect to see in a Simon and Garfunkel video or something.
I'm not even going to try. That Michelle girl wrote an essay long enough to make its own wikipedia article. (Wait, is that where she got it from??)
A t-shirt for the winner:
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