An interesting spread of days.
As we pick up the tale from the last leavings, we find myself having hung out with my female doppleganger and not having seen her dad's shop.
Later that night, MB and I go to see a friend's band perform at a nearby bar called Palmer's. This was slightly funny. I shall reprint a portion of some reviews of this Palmer's establishment:
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Palmer's Bar
4 star rating
27 reviews Rating Details
Category: Dive Bars
Wandered into this awesome dive bar...
Palmer's is one of my favorite dive bars...
Seems like a place for junkies and lowlifes to go...
I was surprised to see the clientele switch gears at about 10:00 pm the last time I was here. It went from die hard locals to hipster college students...
If you're looking for an unpretentious, awesome, eclectic dive bar...
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I would like just like to offer a view thoughts on the nature of the dive bar.
1. Let's just recall that a "dive" is shitty place. I don't mean to pass judgment on Palmer's, or indeed, the dive bar phenomenon itself, but if a place is a dive, that means nothing more than it is a dirty, ill-lit, possibly cheap place. Therefore, the phrase "an awesome dive X" is illogical on the first glance.
I suppose it could mean that X (in this case bar) is awesome in its efforts to be shitty, but something about the notion doesn't sit well with me. The third excerpt seems to accurately describe a dive. What's surprising is that this person gave Palmer's a one star rating! I'm sorry sir, this place is clearly Category: Dive Bar! If it didn't have junkies and lowlifes in it, it couldn't qualify for that! And yet...
2. I direct your attention to the fourth excerpt regarding the switching of gears. At 10, the hipsters roll in. Here, perhaps is the reason that this person gave it a low rating. He is dissatisfied with the presence of lowlifes, here's my theory. Hipsters want to go to a dive, but they don't want an actual dive experience. They want to go a place that looks like an actual dive, that will give them the impression of being in a poor man's bar without having to encounter actual dive denizens (lowlifes).
What's so attractive to hipsters about dive bars? I think the last comment is telling. It's their lack of pretension. But what the fuck does this really mean? Pretension for dictionary means "laying claim to something". Ladies and Gentleman, I submit to you that Palmer's lays claim to being a dive bar, but in fact is not, because no dive bar would sell PBR at three dollars a pop and on special at that!
What the hipsters are looking for here is just bulletproof pretension protection. By going to bar that has the occasional crackhead and lowlife and unmopped floors, hipsters are trying to assure themselves that they are "real."
Hipsters, chill the fuck out. It's okay to be interested in "pretentious" "not real" things. Read your beatnik literature and wear your silly fashions. We love you anyway. Lose the pretension of unpretensiousness. Falling for Palmer's unpretensious veneer is only setting you up to fall for the "authenticity" pretension when you take your kids to some sort of Mayan exploration tour in Mexico 20 years from now.
Go find some real crackheads, hipsters, or get out of the kitchen.
As we pick up the tale from the last leavings, we find myself having hung out with my female doppleganger and not having seen her dad's shop.
Later that night, MB and I go to see a friend's band perform at a nearby bar called Palmer's. This was slightly funny. I shall reprint a portion of some reviews of this Palmer's establishment:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palmer's Bar
4 star rating
27 reviews Rating Details
Category: Dive Bars
Wandered into this awesome dive bar...
Palmer's is one of my favorite dive bars...
Seems like a place for junkies and lowlifes to go...
I was surprised to see the clientele switch gears at about 10:00 pm the last time I was here. It went from die hard locals to hipster college students...
If you're looking for an unpretentious, awesome, eclectic dive bar...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would like just like to offer a view thoughts on the nature of the dive bar.
1. Let's just recall that a "dive" is shitty place. I don't mean to pass judgment on Palmer's, or indeed, the dive bar phenomenon itself, but if a place is a dive, that means nothing more than it is a dirty, ill-lit, possibly cheap place. Therefore, the phrase "an awesome dive X" is illogical on the first glance.
I suppose it could mean that X (in this case bar) is awesome in its efforts to be shitty, but something about the notion doesn't sit well with me. The third excerpt seems to accurately describe a dive. What's surprising is that this person gave Palmer's a one star rating! I'm sorry sir, this place is clearly Category: Dive Bar! If it didn't have junkies and lowlifes in it, it couldn't qualify for that! And yet...
2. I direct your attention to the fourth excerpt regarding the switching of gears. At 10, the hipsters roll in. Here, perhaps is the reason that this person gave it a low rating. He is dissatisfied with the presence of lowlifes, here's my theory. Hipsters want to go to a dive, but they don't want an actual dive experience. They want to go a place that looks like an actual dive, that will give them the impression of being in a poor man's bar without having to encounter actual dive denizens (lowlifes).
What's so attractive to hipsters about dive bars? I think the last comment is telling. It's their lack of pretension. But what the fuck does this really mean? Pretension for dictionary means "laying claim to something". Ladies and Gentleman, I submit to you that Palmer's lays claim to being a dive bar, but in fact is not, because no dive bar would sell PBR at three dollars a pop and on special at that!
What the hipsters are looking for here is just bulletproof pretension protection. By going to bar that has the occasional crackhead and lowlife and unmopped floors, hipsters are trying to assure themselves that they are "real."
Hipsters, chill the fuck out. It's okay to be interested in "pretentious" "not real" things. Read your beatnik literature and wear your silly fashions. We love you anyway. Lose the pretension of unpretensiousness. Falling for Palmer's unpretensious veneer is only setting you up to fall for the "authenticity" pretension when you take your kids to some sort of Mayan exploration tour in Mexico 20 years from now.
Go find some real crackheads, hipsters, or get out of the kitchen.
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:D