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Are You a(n) (A2) Hipster?

Gawker’s New York-centric Are You a Hipster? quiz will probably leave most Ann Arborites with a sense of utter befuddlement (Misshapes? Isn’t that the new yoga/spinning hybrid they’re offering over at V ie: Fitness and Spa?) so we think it’s time to rewrite it for an A2 audience. More suggestions welcome.

  1. Have you ever commented on Past the College Grounds?
  2. Without looking it up, can you fill in the blanks in this sentence: “The Technology Center is on _______ between _______ and _______, but why are you going there? That place sucks now. Oh wait, I mean, it burned down.”
  3. You’ve seen Davy Rothbart and [enter favorite member of Pas/cal here] at a bar, but you didn’t make a big deal out of it, right? After all, they’re just dudes hanging out.
  4. Have you been in a photo, even in the background of a photo, published on the inside front page of the Ann Arbor Paper?
  5. While having a conversation with someone in a bar, has the topic ever turned to how much you both hate AAIO, even though you both agreed on “how nice he, or she, is in person?” (Wait, that doesn’t make you a hipster, it makes you a blog dork.)
  6. In the past six months, have you been to two Madison House shows? (anybody can luck into one).
  7. Do the following letters (and numbers) mean anything to you: A2H20?

41 Responses to “Are You a(n) (A2) Hipster?”


  1. *cough*

    posted by Brandon on December 11th, 2005 at 8:51 pm e

  2. P.S. Pas/Cal are from suburban Detroit and are only around here on occasion.

    posted by Brandon on December 11th, 2005 at 8:52 pm e

  3. 8. Do you notice when someone miscapitalizes and/or incorrectly states the hometown of Pas/Cal?

    posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 11th, 2005 at 8:55 pm e

  4. Although most of those people photographed at, uh, Live at PJ’s are probably not hipsters.

    posted by Brandon on December 11th, 2005 at 9:03 pm e

  5. That cackling you heard from downstairs was me cracking up at this.

    I believe the quiz needs to be weighted to exclude those who know these things/interact with hipsters/blog geeks based upon their living situation. It’s hardly MY fault that I’ve attended Madison House shows. And Past the College Grounds? I think it’s my moral obligation to mock Brandon. A2H20? It’s sitting on the filing cabinet in the living room. I’ve been A2 hipster-educated against my will! Help!

    that said, my suggestions:

    9. do you scoff at being called a ‘hipster’ because that somehow diminishes the artistic and personal qualities of your self-proclaimed unique style and inherent coolness?

    10. do you dress up as members of local bands for Halloween, and assume that people will actually know who the hell you’re emulating?

    11. Would you consider chaining yourself to the Fleetwood, Big 10 Burrito, or another hip local establishment to prevent its demolition both on moral/aesthetic grounds, and also because your probability of starvation/malnutrition would increase 100-fold if it went under?

    (mock, mock mock mock mock….)

    posted by Heidi on December 11th, 2005 at 9:17 pm e

  6. Why are you guys so buzzed on a Sunday?

    posted by A Different Jon on December 11th, 2005 at 9:44 pm e

  7. 12. Do you ever carry spare change in your pocket specifically intended for panhandlers as you make your way down Main Street?

    posted by Sketchy on December 11th, 2005 at 10:01 pm e

  8. Coffee. Nonstop multiple concurrent group projects. Lack of Sleep. Undergrad background tittering in the UGLi. The usual.

    posted by Brandon on December 11th, 2005 at 10:04 pm e

  9. ditto. (except replace coffee with tea and group projects with huge papers) plus reeeeaaaly bad papers to grade.

    posted by Heidi on December 11th, 2005 at 10:43 pm e

  10. Can we change the name of this site to “Brandon Zwagerman is Overrated?”

    posted by Annie on December 11th, 2005 at 11:04 pm e

  11. 13. Have you ever posted flyers on the electrical box outside The Fleetwood? On every street light on Liberty Street between Division and State?

    posted by Sketchy on December 12th, 2005 at 5:23 am e

  12. Re: Annie.

    BURN!

    posted by js on December 12th, 2005 at 8:46 am e

  13. “12. Do you ever carry spare change in your pocket specifically intended for panhandlers as you make your way down Main Street?”

    12b. Is the change Canadian?

    posted by Dave on December 12th, 2005 at 8:59 am e

  14. Just posted mine on my blog.

    posted by js on December 12th, 2005 at 9:40 am e

  15. I submit a revision for question 4: “Have you even been in a photo, even the background of a photo, featured on “TheBang.Net”? The inside front of the Ann Arbor Paper has pictures from Scorekeepers, for chrissake.

    posted by Annie on December 12th, 2005 at 12:15 pm e

  16. But isn’t Scorekeepers hip in a reverse-hipster way, kind of like what js was trying to get at on his blog?

    Okay. No, it’s not.

    posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 12th, 2005 at 12:17 pm e

  17. 14. You recognize all of the CD’s in the jukebox at Leopold Bros.
    15. You actually spent your hard earned money to hear “Skating” off of the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” from said jukebox.

    posted by todd on December 12th, 2005 at 12:27 pm e

  18. We need a list like this for “Are you an A2 Politics Geek?” too.

    1. You’ve stayed home on a Monday night to watch city council on CTN.

    2. You’ve stayed home on a Friday night to watch city council on CTN.

    3. You’ve stayed home on a Friday night to watch city council on CTN because you didn’t get to see it Monday because you were there, and you want to see how you looked in the background while Blaine was challenging the mayor to make eye contact with him.

    posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 12th, 2005 at 1:06 pm e

  19. 4. You’ve invited over your A2 Politics Geek friends on a Friday night to watch the City Council Meeting they’ve already seen with you.
    5. You’ve accepted such an invitation.
    6. You’ve designed an “Watching the Ann Arbor City Council Meeting on CTN on a Friday Night drinking game”.

    posted by Murph on December 12th, 2005 at 1:32 pm e

  20. heh. We really need to finish that drinking game and post it to go along with js’s CTN Art Fair coverage drinking game.

    posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 12th, 2005 at 1:38 pm e

  21. Maybe you should get some politics geek points for traveling to rural polling places on Election Eve to put up campaign signs featuring phrases like “Register of Deeds”.

    posted by Larry Kestenbaum on December 12th, 2005 at 2:13 pm e

  22. Heh. I’m helping a friend move, otherwise I’d be working on the not-writing-a-term-paper-so-instead-watching-city-council-drinking-game.

    posted by js on December 12th, 2005 at 2:14 pm e

  23. Maybe you should get some politics geek points for traveling to rural polling places on Election Eve to put up campaign signs featuring phrases like “Register of Deeds”.

    I think so. Bonus for knowing that it’s “Register of Deeds” even though grammatically it should really be “Registrar of Deeds.”

    posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 12th, 2005 at 2:21 pm e

  24. Yeah. So, we also need an English language geek list, too.

    posted by Dave on December 12th, 2005 at 2:41 pm e

  25. We ate hipsters for breakfast if they showed up at the tech center.

    posted by JJ on December 12th, 2005 at 3:15 pm e

  26. It’s “Register of Deeds” in the Michigan state constitution (Article VII, Section 4). It would take a statewide vote to change it. Most nongeeks would probably say “Why are they bothering us with this?” and vote No.

    posted by Larry Kestenbaum on December 12th, 2005 at 3:16 pm e

  27. I’d change #3 to Fred Thomas / SLGTM instead of Pas/Cal. At least until the latter puts out another album. And the fact that I’m complaining about that… yeah. I know.

    High-five, Annie. (Sorry, Brandon).

    Heidi: It’s not that I would chain myself to Fleetwood because I would starve if it closed. It’s just that I would fail out of school, because where the hell else is a girl to smoke and study at the same time between 3 and 8 AM? Not to mention the unsecured wireless signal in the place… not like… I would ever take my laptop to… fuck.

    I’m about 75% hipster, if you count all the additional questions. A little bit more if you count recognizing the local musician costume immediately. A little bit less if you take academic major/employment into account, probably.

    posted by Jen on December 12th, 2005 at 3:38 pm e

  28. I’m not a fucking hipster. They all live in Detroit.

    posted by Brandon on December 12th, 2005 at 4:28 pm e

  29. “9. do you scoff at being called a ‘hipster’ because that somehow diminishes the artistic and personal qualities of your self-proclaimed unique style and inherent coolness?”

    posted by Annie on December 12th, 2005 at 4:41 pm e

  30. Snap!

    posted by Dale on December 12th, 2005 at 4:48 pm e

  31. I’ve been told that “I’m too nice to be a hipster.” Hipsters are assholes.

    posted by Brandon on December 12th, 2005 at 4:50 pm e

  32. I’m not touching that one. anyone else want to take a stab?

    posted by Annie on December 12th, 2005 at 6:59 pm e

  33. by whom, brandon? sources, please.

    posted by Joy on December 12th, 2005 at 7:46 pm e

  34. If you look really close hipsters are just desperate children

    posted by murder on December 12th, 2005 at 9:31 pm e

  35. Wait….Aren’t hipsters a style of blue jeans or pants for women? In order to be a hipster must one wear, or once have worn “hipsters?”

    posted by CMS on December 12th, 2005 at 11:30 pm e

  36. Some people think that most of the hipsters moved out around ‘79 or so. It seems awfully expensive for hipsters these days. Maybe “rich hipsters’, unless that’s an oxymoron (this will be on the quiz).

    posted by Michael McC. on December 15th, 2005 at 3:33 pm e

  37. How come you think that way? I do agree but do not understand 100% your thought process. Nice stuff here though!

    posted by air breeze complaint ionic purifiers on March 30th, 2006 at 12:03 pm e

  38. Poseur.

    posted by Brandon on March 30th, 2006 at 3:21 pm e

  39. Brandon - quit this ragging on detroit shit, son.

    -kwame

    posted by Detroit on April 18th, 2006 at 11:47 pm e

  40. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAO4EVMlpwM

    posted by Anonymous on August 30th, 2007 at 2:50 pm e

  41. Figured you’d appreciate this new site

    posted by Anonymous on November 2nd, 2007 at 4:00 pm e

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