THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: nothingwitty on 30 Apr 2005, 12:32
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So I was driving home from school the other day. At a red light I pulled up right along side this "pimped out" civic with ultra-black, tinted windows. Inside the car was a skinny white kid blasting Ja Rule with his super-high bass . He, of course, was wearing his baggy urban uniform that was seven or eight times too big for him. You know, "Playaz 69" jersey, FUBU pants, backwards visor, etc.
Jeez, what a poor, misguided stereotype. Then I looked at myself.
I was wearing my four year old, paint covered vans, courds from the local thrift store, an ugly button-up shirt from the mid-90s. I was blasting The Decemberists in my shitty, 1991 Ford Tempo on my shitty, half-broken stero. I have that poorly cut, shaggy, tasseled haircut. I'm an English major. I'm an indie-kid.
Now, I always kind of joked around about it with my friends. I always knew I appreciated the delcious indie sounds... but this? I didn't ever want to think I was so easy to drop into a sub-culture just by someone looking at me. Crap, now what I do?
I mean, I could try to not be so stereotypical... but since it just kind of happened one day, and I never made the decision to be "an indie kid", wouldn't un-happening it make me a sell-out poser? Am I being true to myself by wearing ugly shirts because it's ironic, or is it impossible to be true to one's self if they fit so well into a Stereo Type.
These are questions that are rocking the very foundation of my being.
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Ironic clothing is lame. Sorry, but it just is.
But you should just wear what you're happy wearing. Why worry if someone can ascertain your musical tastes just by looking at you? People make various instantaneous judgements about you as soon as they see you. It's just the way our brains work, a means of quickly processing the vast amount of information the world constantly presents us with. So since you like indie, people are at least making a correct assumption and one I presume you're comfortable with.
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Learn from Raven: you are more than just the way you dress.
Am I being true to myself by wearing ugly shirts because it's ironic, or is it impossible to be true to one's self if they fit so well into a Stereo Type.
My first reaction is: isn't being "true" via irony impossible by definition?
But my second and more serious reaction is: why is being true to oneself necessarily incompatible with fitting into a stereotype? Indie-lovers' mannerisms started the stereotype; the stereotype did not start indie-lovers' mannerisms.
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being an indie kid is better then being a 'playa'
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true, and the inherent snobbery that plagues indie kids as a whole is merely another part of our charm.
We ARE better than everyone else, simply because we try that much harder to emulate tramp chic and spend that many more hours in second hand stores hunting out the rarest of rare Stone Roses b-sides and Velvet Underground rarities, to prove how superior we are.
Embrace your superiority complex!
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yeah!
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*Gets a battle axe* Don't make me go Black Metal on your stuck up asses!
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oh yeah!?
ill kick your ass with our good lyrics and well structured songs
then i'll finish you off with a shotgun made of minimalism
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You're claiming to do that to a Prog fan? That's just not gonna work? And minimalism, I listen to Drone as well. So that doesn't work either. Touche I say, touche :P
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avast!
the boy has some mad skills tis true...
arrr
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I used to dress like a punk, when only about 10 kids out of 4,000 that went to my high school wore hoodies and most patches where home-made and all the other's you got from the merch area at concerts you went to... Long before the bastard Hot Topic started selling patches and stuff.
As soon as main stream people started wearing black hoodies and putting patches all over them and doing the same to their back packs and stuff, that is when I started to dress like a prep.
I still go to punk shows every once in a long while, but ever since, probably about 1997 I've dressed in slacks and polo-type shirts every where I go... including when ever I go to a Punk show.
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I remember being really self conscious at a Meteors show - there were all these punks with their patches and mohawks and huge, muscley tatooed arms, and I was stood there thinking 'shit, they know I'm not punk, they know I'm one of those soft indie kids who listens to sad music who'd probably cry if they saw a mosh pit...they're gonna lynch me'.
My fears were pretty unfounded, as I only got a few looks, but the band were utterly shocking anyway, so it didn;t really matter.
That said, if I go to a really preppy/townie club, I make every attempt to indie-fy myself as a way to say 'I'm not one of you. Leave me alone'.
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I am so metal it hurts.
I own a gas mask with inverted crosses, pentagrams, runes, alchemical symbols, thelemic iconography and Gandalf lyrics carved on to the filter.
I wear an inverted wolfs cross.
I have worn corpsepaint. In public.
I am in a band. And have my own side-project.
All my friends are posers. Except Darren. He's awesome.
Yet, oddly, I'm not really that stereotypical at all. Or rather, I conform to stereotypes most people are not aware of.
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aha, like having.....hair?
'stop conforming to the human species!'
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Baldness: The ultimate rebellion!
*sells idea to Hot Topic for millions. Buys small island. Lives the rest of his days in peace and contentment*
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I remember being really self conscious at a Meteors show - there were all these punks with their patches and mohawks and huge, muscley tatooed arms, and I was stood there thinking 'shit, they know I'm not punk, they know I'm one of those soft indie kids who listens to sad music who'd probably cry if they saw a mosh pit...they're gonna lynch me'.
My fears were pretty unfounded, as I only got a few looks, but the band were utterly shocking anyway, so it didn;t really matter.
You can't tell how punk someone is by their dress sense, so you probably didn't look tas out of place as you might think. To look at I imagine the presumption most people would make of me is 'indie bastard' (well, unless they happened to read my badges, knew the bands and I wasn't happening to wear indie ones), but it doesn't mean I can't circle pit in my sweaters.
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i like the way i dress. my chuck taylors, blazers, band shirts, short messy haircut. it's very "indie" but i like it - i've seen other "indie" girls that i look at with different clothes on and go "fuck, you're ugly". like it's been mentioned in the thread, the people make the stereotype first. if i'm stereotypically "indie", i was just plain "indie" first, if that makes any sense.
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I kinda look like poseur indie. My glasses are wire frame and I don't own a pair of converse (nike bought em out anyway, so they're evil corporate blarg now anyway). I get plus points for being English (in America) but people assume I like the beatles and indie pop when I'm becoming kind of a nut for more experimental styles.
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Yeah, well you wanna know how Indie I am?
My wardrobe is predominated by items from Express for men and Gap. My shoes are either my nice black Borns or my "retired" Asics running shoes. I'm pretty much like any other mid 20-yr old male grad student. Heck, I have a nice collection of dress shirts & ties that I enjoy wearing. The most Indie thing about me is my denim jacket, my QC shirt, and my straggly red hair -- and that is on border line hippiesh then indie. Even if I tried to look indie (I know I never could) I think that I'd be screaming "poser." Kinda like that scene in Hi Fidelity when John Cusack is talking about people who said they were punks but not really. Yeah, that would be me. So the way I figure it is I wear the clothes I want and look good doing so and then I can go listen to my indie rock. I don't need to dress the part to play the part. Do ya dig?
As far as indie girls go, however, I do appreciate their style and what not. I needs to find me a nice indie chick.
~~Willis
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Or she needs to find you. Forget the stereotype of men having to make the first move, or at least we wish women would. Step up and enjoy some equal rights girls.
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...pleaaaaaaassssse.
Many of us are terribly lonely!
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*Hugs Khar in a close and personal way*
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I am so metal it hurts.
I own a gas mask with inverted crosses, pentagrams, runes, alchemical symbols, thelemic iconography and Gandalf lyrics carved on to the filter.
I wear an inverted wolfs cross.
I have worn corpsepaint. In public.
I am in a band. And have my own side-project.
All my friends are posers. Except Darren. He's awesome.
Yet, oddly, I'm not really that stereotypical at all. Or rather, I conform to stereotypes most people are not aware of.
Khar, will you marry me? Or, at least, get into a drunk fight with me. Maybe both... at the same time
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^ Sexiest thing anyone's said to me all week.
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I've worn sweaters and been serious about them.
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I've worn sweaters*. That's no feat. Were they home-made? Second hand? Did they smell of old lady!? What kind of man are you!!?
*BLACK AS THE ABYSSIC PITS OF THE ETERNAL ARCTIC WINTERNIGHT of course
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Both of them were wool. One was a deep, winey shade of red. The other had some kind of symbol that looked like an ameoba trying to reproduce.
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I refust to recognise your hew-mon sweaters unless they have strange stripes, or badly sewn-in sheep.
If that amoeba thing was actually an incredibly crap sheep, DOUBLE BONUS!
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It could well have been. I'm not even kidding, nobody had any clue what it is.
And actually, bonus points to your idea since the sweater was white and the design was black.
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Do you guys really think this much about this shit?
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Of course the Indie Kids do, the hip-code doesn't allow fun. And Metalheads just have nothing else to talk about.
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Do you guys really think this much about this shit?
This is a brilliant point.
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And Metalheads just have nothing else to talk about.
Fool! You revealed our secrets to the un-metal! We shall punish you for this! Necrobobsledders, bind him and take him to the dark fjords of Azabagorath.
...
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fuck yeah I'm gonna say it, and fuck yeah none of you are going to get it.
HAIL THE NECROWIZARD! :[
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Please, I'm so Black Metal, I dont wear band shirts out in public so the poser wimps can't pick up on real Metal for free :P
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...dude, I hope you're not listening to your tapes and CDs, right? You realise some poser might over-hear the faint distant sounds from your room and randomly guess exactly what Les Legiones Noires band you were listening to? And headphones are even worse: Posers are constantly listening out on shortwave radio sets for the signals eminated by the headphone wires.
Indeed, we currently believe the only safe way to enjoy true black metal is to visit the bands in their own homes, memorise all their tabs in the form of a coded gregorian chant, and then play them yourself on an unplugged guitar where all the strings have been replaced with, well string.
Otherwise, you never know what might happen.
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Kvlt. *Gets hit in the head with a grim and frosten bitten sheeps skull from the Necrowizard*
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THis thread is grimmer than lustfully worshipping The inverted moongoat whilst skiing down the inverted necromountain of necrodeathmortum!
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THE COLOUR OF MY SOUL
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BLACK ISNT A COLOR ITS A SHADE OMG
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DON'T BE PICKY
I'M SO BITCHING YOU OUT IN MY DEADJOURNAL
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Did your parents pay for your Deadjournal?
Poseur.
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To get back on topic... I don't think there's anything wrong with subconsciously conforming to a stereotype... after all, stereotypes exist for a reason. If followers of certain trends weren't identifiable by their dress sense or whatever then there wouldn't be those stereotypes. It isn't like you're posing or whatever, so do what you feel like.
Though yes, when you conform to a stereotype without realising it can be a little scary when somebody points it out. Having wanted a trenchcoat forever, then having to change my entire wardrobe to black just to make it look right, I didn't realise until I got to college that I'd just jumped into the goth stereotype.
Am making moves to correct this though, add more colour to my wardrobe... my Music + Science = Sexy t-shirt is on it's way ;-)
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I get afraid when some loser 'The Killers liker' says to me
'Sturge, what do you think of The Decemberists album then?'
I generally go 'oh no! they are shit, you definatly dont wont to go out and buy their records, i heard the new My Chemical Romance album is pretty banging though!'
That usually puts them off the scent, phew, another band succesfully saved from bad music listeners.
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See, Indie is resorting to coping Black Metal trends.
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Next thing, the bands will be vetting who they send their CDs to.
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I get afraid when some loser 'The Killers liker' says to me
'Sturge, what do you think of The Decemberists album then?'
Strangely enough, even though I'm quite happy to admit I don't know the first thing about indie right now, I've been finding I've been getting really annoyed at people who keep flaunting The Killers as a sign of their affinity for indie. I mean, hell, I liked the album, but I'm very aware they're not exactly part of the indie scene.
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I'd call the Killers indie.
I'd also call them a Shed 7 tribute band with synths and 2 good tunes to their name, but that's just my personal frustration at having heard Mr Fucking Brightside one too many times.
But they headlined a huge NME tour, which is a benchmark of indie schmindie behaviour...
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i call The Killers.. shit i'd never heard of til i got to college and then my roommate played it nonstop for three months. god damn that Somebody Told Me thing got old. real quick.
and the rest of the people in me whole building are the same. they're all radio-indie kids, with a strong dose of Stuff Our Parents Listened To As Teenagers thrown in. so the brilliant idea of the itunes sharing network is generally completely useless in bel air. [/rant]
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I too have Killers-loving flatmates, and their songs do burrow in like annoying little weevils. And there's that one that keeps going on about 'indie rock and roll', which always makes me give an aloof 'you know you're just a pop band really' glance at the stereo.
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I have an Aiwa.
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#indie rock and roll for meeeeee-eeeeeee-eeeeeee*smack*#
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I get afraid when some loser 'The Killers liker' says to me
'Sturge, what do you think of The Decemberists album then?'
I generally go 'oh no! they are shit, you definatly dont wont to go out and buy their records, i heard the new My Chemical Romance album is pretty banging though!'
That usually puts them off the scent, phew, another band succesfully saved from bad music listeners.
Aw screw you, I'm a big fan of all three of those bands ;P
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JEALOUSY
TURNING SAINTS INTO THE SEA
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I can't wait until this Indie elitist stuff kicks off full on like the Black Metal kvlt trend did. Then you'll all feel so leet, until someone points out Black Metal did it 15 odd years ago and still does.
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I can safely say I have no idea what you're on about.
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Yes, that's what makes it even more funny.
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Ah, very good. I'll carry on until elitism bites me in the ass.
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That will be when your bands start saying anyone that doesn't like their latest LP has "obviously Jewish behavour" before claiming it's just a local term for stupid that they use all the time without thinking and of course not racist.
Or Indie Kids call each other "poser fags" for liking a band more than 5 people in the surrounding 50 miles have heard off.
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Oh shit, that's happened in my town. It's called the "emo scene."
My solution involves chainsaws and e-meters. Think it'll work?
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No, not at all. But yes, Indie is just copying Black Metal in that regards. Also the low-fi thing as well. Apart from Black Metal actually made entertaining music from it.
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Blast, the fortress of "anything decent coming out of Regina" is doomed!
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I live in a town 60 miles south of Houston, and when The Killers play on the local mix station, whatever indie cred it once had has been destroyed. I'm new to the indie rock scene. You know how there are bar babies? Well, my mom has raised me a concert baby. She has been taking me to concerts (some big ones, but mostly clubs) since I can remember, from everything from Loudon Wainwright to Cheryl Wheeler to John Prine to Susan Lindfors. If you have heard of anyone besides Loudon, please tell me as I have not met anyone who knows who the other two are, especially Susan Lindfors. I saw Garden State when it came out in the theaters back whenever that was, and really liked it, and got the soundtrack and DVD for Christmas, and it has introduced me to a few bands. Iron and Wine and The Shins are especially appealing. I love the song "Young Pilgrims" by The Shins! As for what I was originally going to write in relation to the topic, most everyone at my school is a Hot Topic zombie, and it's awful. The music sucks, the clothes have anarchy signs and heartograms all over them that makes them "cool," and it takes stuff that I like and turns it into a trend. Eh, clothes don't matter to me. I wear anything that looks good, is of decent make, and is affordable.
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I wear anything that looks good, is of decent make, and is affordable.
Like my Swedish gas mask!
Stylish and Anthrax-proof, and all for only £20. I knows a bargain when I sees one.
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stylish? anthrax proof?
*scoffs*
well YEAH! DUH! OF COURSE it was a good deal!
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All hail the gas masks!
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I'd call the Killers indie.
Gah! I was quasi-appalled by this statement, I honestly despise them, anyone else? Please? (Just wanted to get back on topic, somewhat)
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John Prine.
Speed of the Sound of Lonliness is a GREAT song.
Unfortunately, that's the only one I know. :(
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I'd call the Killers indie.
Gah! I was quasi-appalled by this statement, I honestly despise them, anyone else? Please? (Just wanted to get back on topic, somewhat)
I don't like them either. Nor do I care for Modest Mouse and The Strokes.
My friend was all, "c'mon! you're just saying that to be a hipster snob. 'oh, four other people like them... they can't be cool!' and all that. Give them a shot!"
So I did, I really, truly tried. I meditated on it. I just... don't. The Strokes are okay, and The Killers/Modest Mouse can turn out a decent tune every now and then... but it all just makes me wonder why The Arcade Fire isn't hella famous instead of these jerks.
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Well for modest mouse because of the angry factor. Though I must add I do like modest mouse. (not because of the angry factor)
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I'd call the Killers indie.
Gah! I was quasi-appalled by this statement, I honestly despise them, anyone else? Please? (Just wanted to get back on topic, somewhat)
Now I'm confused...I put them in the indie bracket in the sense that they're a guitar band, and they have fans who are into bloc party, kaiser chiefs et al and spend their time clogging up the indie press more than, say, smash hits or other mags, not because of label or underground status - indie bands can get popular too. That they are insufferably annoying is another matter, but a fair bit of indie is shite too...
that's my view, anyway.
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My favourite stereo type is the one with the CD and the radio in it. And a tape deck is always handy. A record player is a matter of personal choice.
(Not that I'm counting but is this not the third topic on the subject of image/looks/style/stereotyping in a pretty short time?)
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Yes and they've all gone on different directs/been about different things.
If it'd had all be one topic, it would have been locked for off topic and these things wouldn't have been air. So they're all good topics.
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I grew up on an Infinity sound system. Mmm.
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I'd call the Killers indie.
Gah! I was quasi-appalled by this statement, I honestly despise them, anyone else? Please? (Just wanted to get back on topic, somewhat)
As was I, as was I
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I just have zero-tolerance for these guys, really, especially their first 'hit' - " Somebody Told Me". Rubbish, in my opinion. Besides, usually any music considered independant contains lyrics that are above average in quality and/or insightful. Let's just take a peek:
Well somebody told me
You had a boyfriend
Who looked like a girlfriend
Wow. 'Nuff said.
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SHIT, that's who does that. Hurr. Not my cup of tea but amusingly gets me thinking on how alot of people (around here at least) that dress in a hipster sense are androgynous as in apperance as you can get (which actually isn't as androgynous as a person can get, I think glam probably pulled that off.)
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(http://www.nothingnice.com/comics/20050418.gif)
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Bow down to Mitch Clem, for he is your GOD.