Here Phishy Phishy

THIS RIGHT HERE is hilarious. It's a detailed, yet albeit hapazard, description as to why the band Phish completely sucks. Before any Phish fan reads this and gets upset....I don't really think that Phish sucks, but I did find this article fascinating.

For those of you that don't know about Phish fans, let me break it down for you...

This is Phish

They are a MAJOR MAJOR player in the festival scene and have been for over 30 years. 

This is their logo

And these are their fans. . .

(just a minute fraction of them)

They seem pretty happy-go-lucky right? Balloons, smiles, tye-dye galore...but holy smokes does their loyalty run deep. So deep, in fact, that when one journalist wrote an article bashing Phish for not actually being a good band, he still continues to get death-threats from these fans. These fans are CRAZY. Like wayyyyy crazier than Bieber fans or One Direction fans. These people take drugs, lots of drugs, like to get dirty and sleep on the ground (clothing optional) and LOVE them some freaking PHISH. 

I have one friend that's a die hard Phish fan and he literally cannot help himself but to talk about Phish at every chance he gets. He is going to see his 40th Phish show this year...he's 23. The point is, don't cross these peeps. Respect how much they love the band and how much the band means to them and then leave it be. Hey, maybe even turn on some Phish tunes and see what you think. 

Transformational!

Recently there has been an big emergence of "conscious" music festivals that promise ticket holders a life-altering and spiritually uplifting experience unlike any other festival. When I look at these posters I immediately think that this is the place I need to be this summer. These festivals must be the answers to all my problems because it's promises something so much more than just music and light shows.

Look at this poster for Envision festival. It looks like Mother Nature herself is inviting you to come along for the mystical ride of a lifetime. 

Rootwire, held here in Ohio for the past two years, claims itself to be a "transformational arts festival"

The thing is, these festivals ARE amazing but my boyfriend made an excellent point this week; are these people just out to make money? Any good promoter will survey the fans that are going to come out to these things and will realize that the young hippies of our generation are getting REALLY REALLY into things like yoga, permaculture, sacred geometry, and live art. Kids will pay big bucks to go somewhere that they think will change there life and uplift their spirit...even if they're just going to douse their brains with a shit ton of drugs and run around like looney-bins for four days...hey, whatever works. 

The point is, and as one elephantjournal.com blogger notes in this post , these festivals are still festivals and are not actually places of spiritual growth and healing in the raw sense. People are using drugs rampantly, drinking obscene amounts of alcohol, and staying up all hours of the night. Not to say that these things aren't cathardic and wonderful at times...but festivals are trying to broadcast themselves as being something that they might not be. 

When I was 19 I began my first yoga teacher training program. It was a rigorous, yearlong program that really opened my eyes. My program not only gave me the tools to teach a yoga class of my own, but also helped me understand the vast and expansive depth that the world of yoga holds. Contrary to popular belief, yoga is not simply something that you "do" by going to a class and working out. The more and more the Westernized versions of yoga grow in popularity, the more I feel embarrassed to tell people that I teach and practice yoga.

Yoga is much more so a spiritual practice than it is a physical practice. Yes asana (postures) is part of it but so are meditation, self-study, non-judgement, practicing ahimsa or non-violence, and so on. I'm beginning to meet so many self-proclaimed "yogis" that have simply become fans of a watered down practice that makes them feel fit and peppy. 

Like what the flip is this? 

I understand that sometimes one needs to take clothes off while exercising because one gets hot. . .but this scantily clad yogi is turning herself into an object for the male-gaze and developing a certain type of sexualized holistic look for other female fans to emulate. I mean just type in a Google search of "yoga" and all you see is hot girls. . .

This is great and all but please keep in mind that the practice of YOGA was developed for MEN! Yes, that's right! MEN! 

Can you see how different these images are? The fandom of yoga is something entirely different than the actual yogic system of beliefs. It would make me very happy if people would start understanding this fact and maybe even start paying attention to the richness of yoga and how it can deeply affect one's life. 

Nature vs. Nurture

This week I've been thinking about how our childhood preferences shape what we become fans of. I was having a conversation with my boyfriend about our different tastes in music and why that may be. One glaring factor was that his childhood was spent in the 80's . . .

and I am the product of the 90s. . . 

Since the music that he and I were surrounded with as children was so different, we now have different tastes in music. I think what's going on is that sometimes when we hear music it triggers a sense of nostalgia that makes us long for a time when our parents drove us around while our favorite pop song was blasting through the radio waves. I think some things you become a fan of is due to your environment and not simply how you were born. 

Generic Fans

This week in another one of my classes we were asked to stand up at the front of the room and give a short presentation on a book, movie, or television show that inspires us. Now, before I say this, I feel as if I need to mention that I, like everyone else, enjoy some trash t.v. here and there. I think it's a great form of escapist entertainment and I can see how one might get hooked on it. ESPECIALLY with shows like My Strange Addiction and, dare I say it, The Real Housewives of New York (guilty and ashamed face). 

HOWEVER

When you get up in front of a classroom and actually try to tell me that the show Keeping Up with the Kardashians inspires you, INSPIRES you. . .IMMEDIATE fucking palm to face. 

Being a fan of this. . .

Or this. . .

Is understandable because, as I mentioned before, it is entertaining. 

But are you really, REALLY trying to tell me that this inspires you??

What's the deeper issue here? 

The issue is that, unfortunately, a lot of college-aged girls (I'm looking at you, Ugg Boots, black yoga pants, North Face, Vera Bradley girl) are not taking the time to actually explore the rich and vast cornacopia of literature, television, film, music, and aparrently fashion that is floating around the world today. What they are doing is falling into a dangerous mass-media fandom cycle where someone else determines what they are going to be a fan of. All of their friends watch these shows, these are the shows they talk about and therefore many of these fans probably believe that this is just what everyone watches and what everyone likes. People that are not on the bandwagon of fan clones are called hippies, goths, hipsters, etc. because they simply are stepping out of "the norm." 

 Bottom line

NEVER 

EVER

Say that the Kardashians inspire you. 

Because if you do, you are absolutely SHITTING on all the real, intelligent, beautiful artists out there that have created actual things to be inspired by. Do not simply settle on saying something that's been spoon-fed to you inspires you. You only say that because you've got nothing real and tangible that actually inspires the unique and diverse being that is YOU. 

So get out there and actually get inspired! 

Those Damn Festie Kids

Urban Dictionary defines the "Festy Kid" as:

"An unkempt/filthy person of middle to upper class suburban descent (usually white) who in an attempt to rebel against their parents and the establishment cease all forms of hygiene and employment and live off their parents' money while attending music festivals and consuming copious amounts of psychedelic drugs. When not scoring drugs in festival parking lots, they can be found driving from thrift store to thrift store looking for patchouli and crocheted dread lock caps."

I have been around these kids for some time now and even have some "festy kid" in me, but I chose this particular type of fan for this week's post because they fascinate me. Although it seems as if a lot of new-age, peace, love and happiness beliefs have seeped into this lifestyle, a lot of these fans are still just fans at heart and do a lot of weird things that fans do.

As I mentioned in class before, they collect pins. LOTS of pins.

Up close, these things can get prettttyy ornate. . .

Oh sooooo tripppyyyyy, bro.

And then they come together in a beautiful collective display on a person's flat bill hat (the flat bill part is very important) which is then displayed on the head.

Like this

So this is pretty cool, right? It's wearable art which reflects a festie-goers preferences as far as music, movies, art, spirituality and so forth. Having an intensely decorated flat-bill is a symbol to other festie goers that you are cool, you belong there, and you have built up some experience in this particular world. At the same time, the flat-bill pins allow the fan to express themselves and to feel unique in a sea full of thousands of other raging hippies.

This comes at a price. 

Flat bills themselves can get pretty pricey. You'll maybe pay around $30-40 for a style you like but WAIT! Want to show even more uniqueness amongst your groovy friends? Get that shit CUSTOMIZED, braH!!!

Oh shit, is that the flower of mutha fuckin LIFE?!!

That's deep. 

(my friend made this hat)

   

Then you add the pins which you can buy from this guy. . .

And they'll each run you about $15-$40 a piece.

Add some dreadlocks. . .

(thanks Lenny)

And you'll fit right in! 

Lookin' Good

Well guys, after some more research this week I've found a few more curious things that fans do. In class we had been talking about cosplay, a.k.a. the act of dressing up like the character (s) you're a fan of. I thought about cosplay in its extreme form with partakers decked out head to toe in costume but didn't consider that any person you pass by on the street may be cosplaying without us even knowing it.

Lovely ball-gown this woman has on, right? 

Notice anything. . . peculiar about it? 

You go, Angry Birds girl. 

As  you can see, the "stealth cosplay," as its titled on tumblr, can be very, well,  stealthy. There's this girl who goes by "HollySocks" on tumblr and she specializes in cosplay and stealthy cosplay. Here are some examples. . .

Joker 

Hellboy

Cool Super-Girl Fire-Lady

With these super-stealth costumes, do you think you'd be able to spot someone cosplaying? These pictures make me doubt that I could.

So what is it that might drive people to want to dress up as their favorite characters? Maybe they're just lonely weirdos that have nothing else to do. Maybe they find this as their only way to make friends. Maybe, hey 

WAIT A SECOND. . .

Hmmm. . . 

This is not a foreign concept to us. Clearly, cosplay is encouraged in critical developmental years when parents gladly buy their children outfits to make them look like their favorite characters. These "dress-up" clothes allow the child to become a character he/she aspires to be and pretend that they have all the magical powers, good-looks, and friends of that character once they put the costume on. Therefore, haven't we all cosplayed at some time in our lives? 

Yep, that's me. Halloween 2010. 

Cosplaying

 TOMB RAIDER. 

Is Your Baby Wearing Clint Eastwood?

So this week I wanted to dig a little deeper into fandom and see what oddities I could find floating around in cyberspace. Well let me tell you, I hit the jack-pot.

With one quick link I discovered a Huffington Post article simply labeled, "20 Pieces of the Weirdest Celebrity Fan Art".  Mother load.

This shit was so obscure and bizarre that I had to write an entire blog post about it. Don't believe me? Check out number #6

Hand. Painted. Levine. GLASSES. 

You're welcome. 

This kind of fan art just shows me the kind of crazy weird fans that are out there in the world, and it's hilarious! What drives people to love a celebrity so much that they would mold miniature clay earrings of them? 

       #17: Conan O'Brian Earrings

or put Clint Eastwood's face on their baby?

ok you have to admit. . . this is actually pretty badass.

But the reason I think this post is so funny and probably why all of you do too is that we see the sweeping obsurdity behind making everyday household objects into something which proclaims your love for someone who doesn't even know you exist. It's freaking ridiculous and therefore it's freaking hilarious. Another interesting thing to note is that hipster-kids are probably all OVER this kind of stuff because it is obscure and bizarre and "different". So at this point I don't even know if this stuff is pathetic or if it's genius and these craftsman are swimming in dough. 

You decide. 

Here's the link to the article: 20 Pieces Of The Weirdest Celebrity Fan Art

People always look at me a little oddly when I tell them the types of things that I am a fan of. Typically I use popular television shows I enjoy or movies I've just watched to answer generic questions about things that I like, but if people ask me about some of my hobbies they're usually getting answers they don't expect.

For starters, I like to hula hoop. I actually love to hula hoop. You could say I am a BIG fan of hula hooping. The funny thing is, since most people can only conjure up images like this when I tell them I'm a hula hooper. . .

 they think it's something kind of odd to be a fan of. 

The fact is, hula-hooping is actually REALLY badass, but people have no idea what makes it so cool that someone would actually become a fanatic (like me!). Fast forward 60 years and here's what hula hooping looks like today. . .

Damn girl. 

I find it odd and a little frustrating that people judge the things other people are fans of before trying to understand why others might like something they've never heard of or don't get. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't harp it 'till you try it!! You may discover that hula-hooping IS badass or Star Trek IS cool as hell or that movie everyone's been seeing TOTALLY lives up to the hype. What people like should not be the ground you stand on to judge them (unless it's something morally wrong or disturbing, of course).

PEACE!

(me and my little circle)

The world of fandom has never been something I have considered studying in my free time, and never expected to study in an academic setting. Yet, I am intrigued at the topic chosen for this semester's Intermediate Composition class; FANDOM.

The word elicits images of screaming, hysterical fans smashed together by the thousands, hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite celebrity.

Something along the lines of this. . .

Or this. . . .

Definitely this.

So I wonder, what drives these girls to act like this? What fantastical realities have they dreamed up in their adolescent minds that make them cry real, hysterical tears at the mere thought of being close to the object of their affection?

Often times these fans are referred to en mass by the celebrities they adore, who use phrases like, "I want to thank ALL of my fans", or "I love you guys." It's as if the fans themselves have no individual personalities and are simply thought of as one large, collective group. So why wouldn't each individual fan realize the immense, ridiculous scale of this unrequited love?