And Now You Will Be Redirected...

Hey Gang!
So as of today, you'll be redirected to Hipstercrite.com. It will take a few seconds and we're still working out the kinks this week. Please let me know your thoughts on the new site!

6....5....4....3...2...1

-Lauren

Blogger vs. Wordpress? Wordpress Won!

Ok, guys. It's finally happening. That blog redesign I told you about earlier this year and I kept saying was going to happen and it never happened and you were probably thinking that I was full of shit, well, it's finally happening!

Next week Hipstercrite 2.0 will officially launch!

It won't be all crazy different. The biggest differences are that I switched over to Wordpress and that the layout is now magazine style. Design-wise the aesthetic is still minimal since I have limited resources and limited skills in making it all fluffy. Plus, I like modernism? My wonderful web designer is making the blog transition seamless, so you shouldn't have to do anything. If you are following me through a reader, everything will stay the same and the URL is staying the same. Oh, and I finally got hip with the times and got me some tabs! Now my posts will be categorized by such phrases as "Music", "Pop culture", "Austin", and "20-something" etc.

My goal all a long has been to have a blog where I can talk about different things without the blog seeming disjointed. I want to talk about Austin things, but if you're not from Austin and could give a flying shit about Austin, you could read my 20-something musings or pop culture ramblings instead without having to sift through stuff. Or vice versa. This current one column setup on Blogger made me feel that this goal was unachievable.

While I was hemming and hawing over redesigning my blog, I wrote a blog post called Blogger vs. Wordpress where I discuss the pros and cons to both blogging platforms. I was torn between staying with Blogger- something I was comfortable with and use to, but ultimately unhappy with because of the limited customizing options and my inability to find a web designer who enjoyed working with Blogger OR switch over to Wordpress which is ultimately more customizable but would require money (not an ass load though), migration and hiring someone who actually knows what the hell they are doing. If you're a blogger thinking of making a similar switch, I can tell you that if you're slightly smarter than me, which you probably are (I didn't do well on my SATs), you probably won't have to hire someone to do the migration for you. I understood about 75% of what was required to make a smooth transition from Blogger to Wordpress- getting myself self-hosted and installing the Woo Theme I purchased- but the other 25% of uncertainty made me horribly insecure that I would somehow blow my blog up. Specifically migrating my blog with all it's content and followers over to Wordpress. The nice thing about Wordpress is that once you're set up on there, it's pretty easy to figure out.

If you're thinking of making this change and don't feel comfortable doing it yourself like me, before you go shopping for web designers online, talk to your web savvy friends and see if they can help you. For a lot less you will probably be able to find a friend who can help. I was getting initial quotes from web designers upward to $2,000 for absolutely no reason. Make sure you find someone who understands what you're looking for and don't be afraid to ask questions!

Blogger, our time together is coming to an end. I won't have to look at your '60s-era logo and features anymore. I will say that I am a wee bit sad and nostalgic right now. You were my introduction to the blogging world and you have been good to me. Maybe one day we'll meet again, but for now....

Forgive Student Loan Debt!

I don't know about you, but I have debt.

Car loan debt, credit card debt, and school loan debt.

The car is almost paid off and I'm two years into a four year plan of paying off my credit card debt.
My school loan debt, on the other hand, has a few years to go. I'm one of the lucky ones though. I have roughly $10,000 left to pay on my school loan. The average college graduate owes $24,000. I know people who owe $40,000, $60,000, $80,000 and up and can't find work OR or are stuck in a job they don't like but can't afford to leave.

One of my favorite reads is Huffington Post's ongoing "Majoring in College Debt" series where they encourage readers to discuss how much college debt they're in. Some of the stories are downright frightening- students owing over $200,000, making coffee shop wages, or being harassed by their lenders. One man shared his story of owing over $250,00 for medical school and the great lengths his lender went to try and f*ck him over. While he was working his residency his lender labeled his as a graduate and demanded he start paying back his loan. He tried to explain that they were wrong, but no one would listen. They threatened him with everything they could. It wasn't until he went to the media that the lender finally listened.

Stories like these scare me. How do they expect people to afford school? How do they expect people to want to go to school knowing that they will have a dark money cloud constantly hanging above them? I've thought about going back to school myself, but the idea of taking out more loans is not appealing to me. I make just enough to pay my bills now, why would I want to add to that? Have you gone back to school as an adult while working full-time? How did it work for you? Was it worth it?

Student loan debt is a burden that many of us have and we are often prisoner to it. If I didn't have my college loan debt and all it's interest to pay each month I would be ten times more likely not to be a tight wad.

Currently a petition created by MoveOn's Robert Applebaum is going around calling for Congress to forgive college debt. It explains that by forgiving college debt, consumer spending would go up and we all know how scared everyone is to spend right now- me included. Maybe this is just the shot in the arm we need to get out of this terrible recession. The petition currently has 423,492 and his growing. Democratic Michigan Rep. Hansen Clark has decided to take this action on. Who knows how far this will get, but it never hurts to try, right?

Do you think forgiving student loan debt will help the economy?

How to Become a Social Media Manager

I mentioned two weeks ago that I finally made the leap from 9-5er to freelancer. I'm still acclimating to the change and trying not to feel guilty about waking up at 9:30AM and working in my underwear. Listen, I know that sounds all wonderful-like and you're thinking, "Shut your face!", but I have to figure out stuff like getting my own health insurance, paying quarterly taxes and hoping that none of this falls apart, so there.

My freelance works involves two regular writing gigs and one social media managing gig.
It still dumbfounds me that anyone would pay me for my writing. There is this semi-prevalent concern that one day people will call me out on the fact that I can't write at all. But if I've learned anything from my "How to Make it as a Freelancer" research, that attitude is a no-no. Believing in yourself is the only way you're going to be successful. So far both publications I write for haven't said, "Get lost, assface!" so I must be doing something right.

The social media managing gig stemmed from a conversation I had with the producer on the film I currently work for at a mutual friend's birthday party. I started going off about Twitter and blogging and we both realized that I was a nerd had the skills to be a good social media manager (and losing the skills to being a normal, healthy human being). She offered me a gig on her movie and so far it's been a blast. Having gotten really into social media because of my blog, it's been interesting and exciting starting from square one on another person's project. It's like planting a seed and watching it grow.

I used to not like social media. Or rather, I hated Twitter, had no idea what LinkedIn was, and wrote my blog without advertising it on any platform other than occasionally Facebook. It wasn't until I moved to Austin- the #8 most socially networked city in the country- that I realized how important social media has become with anything and everything. If you have something to sell- business, band, blog, you name it- you are greatly missing out by not partaking in social media. Granted people have sold ideas and products for centuries without the use of Twitter, but now we have this 100s of millions-reaching marketing and advertising resource to us for free. A resource that is effective depending on how much you put into. The more dedicated you are, the better the results. It's challenging, it's engaging, and it's fun. You get to meet people from all over the world, people in your city, celebrities, reps from major corporations and startups, artists, and people who have nothing to sell at all- they just love social media. As I mentioned before, for an only child you spent a lot of time talking to stuffed animals as a child, social media is the megaphone to the world I had always dreamed of.

I've been utilizing the tools I've learned from managing my own social media accounts to my new gig. What to do and not to do (like tweeting every single lyric to your favorite song back-to-back). I joined Hootsuite and keep my fingers crossed that I don't have a #gettinslizzerd moment (considering I don't drink much anymore, I doubt I'll have a boozed-fueled rogue tweet such as the one that appeared on @Redcross, but I do have to be careful not to drop the f word, Jeff Goldblum-musings, or late-night Wendy's takeout rants on my work account). I've learned through the years about social media etiquette, the fine line of self-promotion, how to create conversation, how to build up followership through meaningful content and connections, and the art of summing up what you're trying to say in 140 characters or less. It's a world I love and am excited to be a part of.

But enough small talk. So how does one become a social media manager? Well, I'll be honest, I have no seminar to sell you or a long list of steps to becoming one. I have one very clear and simple answer- you have to love the living shit out of social media if you want to become a social media manager. If you do, then you're already a step above the rest. You have a skill that many others don't. You've learned the game. You have become a master of something, a "thought leader" in the ever-expanding bubble known as social media. You also have the resources to find that social media managing job. You're going to know where to look for those jobs and who to talk to.

So what are you waiting for?

We're Almost Finished Making a Movie!

We just wrapped our Austin shoot on Loves Her Gun. The gang is now en route to NYC in a Winnebago that looks like this:

Our three week shoot in Austin has been awesome. We had so many wonderful cast and crew helping to make this movie something special. The footage looks great and we had some amazing talent in front of the camera. Our lead actress, Trieste Kelly Dunn, has starred in the IFC film Cold Weather, the indie hit Vacation!, and starred on the law drama Canterbury's Law. Here is a picture of Trieste getting bruised by our make-up artist Liz Rische.

photo by Brandi

Our lead actor, Francisco Barreiro, happens to be one of the hottest talents coming out of Mexico City and we are so lucky to be able to work with him. His last movie, We Are What We Are, a film about a cannibalistic family living in LA, premiered in Cannes and Fantastic Fest last year!

 

Our film also stars the absolutely adorable Austin-based actress Ashley Spillers and NYC writer/director/actor Geoff Lerer (who also was our butt-kicking 1st AD)

I co-wrote Loves Her Gun with my sweetie pie, Geoff Marslett. This badass guy below:

 

photo by Patrick Rusk

Here are the two of us in San Marcos getting underwater footage for the film.

Loves Her Gun has definitely had it's challenges but nothing abnormal for an indie film shoot. In fact, the shoot was pretty seamless. Whether you're shooting a $100 million studio flick or a $20,000 indie flick, movie production is exhausting, stressful, but hugely rewarding. The cast and crew become a family and we're so excited to see how the movie turns out. Loves Her Gun is about female empowerment and we had several amazing women working behind the camera. Below are some pics from the set. You can see more on our Tumblr page.

Our DIT and script supervisor Brandi

Our DP Amy figuring out the shot at Wheatsville Co-Op

Renee, our sound operator extraordinaire!

 The Karate Kids come out at night! (photo by Patrick Rusk)

The cast and crew of Loves Her Gun

Partial cast and crew on their way to the NYC shoot

She Only Dreams in Black & White

if she was able to count them all, she would see that 12,456 people have passed through her life. she will have met 65,657 by the end.

there was her kindergarten teacher who told her she'd be a flight attendant some day (she did not), the manager at her first job, and the young man she went out on two dates with but decided on the first date that she didn't like him because of his inability to talk about anything other than himself. she will never know what happened to them. she will never hear that the first one died of cancer seventeen later. her former boss still manages the restaurant she only thinks of twice a year, randomly, when someone mentions the word "skillet". the last one is married now and lives with his wife and two kids in new jersey.

don't they all live in new jersey?

she doesn't have romantic notions anymore because she's exactly where she wants to be. as she lies on his bed, watching the pattern the sun makes through the trees, she touches the sheets to remind herself of this. she thinks of the first time they met and she realizes there will never be another moment like that. now there is a love, when before it was about the possibility. no more feeling the rush of "what if" because his secrets are hers now. they combined storylines.

today on her bike ride home she noticed a dog thoughtfully looking at a tree and a team building exercise involving segways. when she spoke to her grandmother later that day, she didn't mention either of these things. she couldn't think of anything to talk about. her brain have had given up the ability to imagine anything. this concerned her grandmother who in turn told her mother that she thought something was wrong with her.

she had a dream last night that her hair had turned gray. when she woke up, she went to the mirror to examine and noticed that two stubby gray hairs had sprouted in her part. what it meant, she wasn't sure. all she knew as that in pictures of herself now she looks like the woman she was meant to become. someone vaguely familiar.

but the picture hasn't become clear yet.

Looking to Songs for Answers

Tonight I saw Arcade Fire, a band I affixed great emotional significance to a long time ago. I recall lonely nights of drinking to, jerking off to, or crying to their first album Funeral. Of thinking that the swell in each song would carry me away to the place I was meant to be at. At 21 years of age and meandering into adulthood, their gospel held truths that I was meant to study and adhere to. When Neon Bible came out, it was the same thing. An organ meant proclamation. Of what? I'm not sure. Either way they were the gateway to the beginning of it all. Or so I thought.

So tonight, in a large field in the middle of Austin, I closed my eyes and tried to stir the nostalgia for a time I looked to songs for answers, but it just wasn't coming. I closed my eyes more tightly and concentrated as hard as I could. I kicked the dirt over the memories of lying on my bedroom floor hitting repeat on "Rebellion (Lie)" thinking that eventually the song might make me burst into a million tiny pieces. I dug deep for the memory of when I saw Arcade Fire alone in Los Angeles, a pilgrimage to find direction when I was considering leaving the life I knew and head anywhere else. But tonight, I had no great epiphany, no dropping to the knees. Instead I listened, I enjoyed and nothing changed.

And I realized, my life currently has no soundtrack.

Music is an important part of the human experience. Without it, I believe we're nothing. It acts as the backdrop to the story of our lives, often changing from chapter to chapter or staying with us for a lifetime. For me, I have my bands that have stayed constant: Talking Heads never wavering at the number one spot, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Frank Zappa, and Elvis Costello. All the tried true standards. Then there are the ones that came and went, the flings that represented my age and my setting: Dave Matthews Band (high school), Ben Folds Five (high school), Arcade Fire (LA), Modest Mouse (LA), Bloc Party (LA), Wolf Parade (LA) etc. Hey, don't judge.

Currently, all I have are my staples and nothing else. Nothing else that has quite inspired me.

I live in the city known as "the live music capital of the world" and I'm completely clueless as to what is going on in music. Just like when I lived in LA, when you live in a city that is built around a certain industry you tend to shy away from it, overwhelmed with it's vice-like grip on the city. When everyone scrambles to eat up the daily concerts and various festival line-ups, I retreat, overwhelmed by it all. Where do I even begin? What if I don't like the band? What if it's crowded? What if it's too loud? What am I even looking for anymore?

I'm losing my edge, but I'm not really sure I ever had it. Maybe I'm not necessarily even concerned with that. I kind of miss the days where I needed music as an emotional crutch. I'm no longer in a place where I seek it and I realize how much I am missing out on. Being in a substantially happier state than I was in my early 20's has left me listening to light and fluffy stuff, songs I can dance to and make me smile. There is nothing wrong with that, but watching Arcade Fire tonight made me realize that I no longer listen to anything that stirs me.

Am I afraid to go to that dark place again?