absentlyric

absentlyric @ 2005-06-13T15:53:00

2005-06-13T19:54:02Z

Whats this?? I go away for a few months, and all I see in my replies are a bunch of damn advertisements, crazy!

The whole world should pull it's lips over itself and swallow.

2005-02-11T13:37:30Z

Another day, another entry. I see that I don't really update this thing often. Time constraints are a huge concern though. Anyways, I DID take some pics to kind of spice things up though, enjoy!

Monday, Bloody Monday

2005-02-07T20:49:31Z

So here we are, at another monday. Nothing is new, nothing is really old. Emery, and Eighteen Visions are coming to the Magic Stick the 11th, that should be an interesting show. I'm still debating on whether I'm gonna go or not. I could go, ALONE...but what fun is that?? I should insert a witty poem or something in this part, BUT, I don't have anything, this is just an average joe post :)

I love it

2005-02-04T23:54:28Z

This article made me laugh, I thought it was kind of interesting, let the flaming begin!

I've decided that since a good amount of people spend a good amount of time bitching about what people should and shouldn't wear, I should write something about it, just to, you know, strike while the coals are hot. It's totally my dream to be a big time hardcore website columnist and I figured a column on such a HOT TOPIC (ha, get it!?!) would get me EXPOSED!

Below you will find ten of the most ridiculous fashion trends I've stumbled across through my long years of gonzo hardcore journalism and investigative work. I've sifted through literally thousands of different fashion trends (Ok, I wrote down like 20 and picked the ten worst). They've been ranked by a super scientific mathematical ranking system. So super secret, I cannot divulge on how said ranking system even works! All you need to know is it's called The LOR for short, or the Level of Ridiculousness for long.

moving on....

Here's how this works. I give you the trend, Then:

Inspired/popularized by - some trends were inspired by a band or person or thing. Some were popularized by a specific band and then struck the scene like wildfire until everyone looked like a complete idiot. Some trends are both inspired and popularized.

Status? - Is the trend still around? How's it doing? FIND OUT NEXT!

Key Items - This will help you spot the fashion trend ON CONTACT!

The LOR - This has already been discussed the LOR ranking being out of 10. Meaning a 10 would be the most ridiculous trend ever. Nothing scored a perfect 10 because that would be so ridiculous your heads would explode upon contact with said trend.

Ending with a brief or long description and opinion. Depending on my mood. My mood is measured by a mood ring I found near a skee ball game in an arcade in Atlantic City, NJ.

We may begin!

10. The Gym Rat (Revival version)

Inspired/popularized by: Youth of Today, Floorpunch, the year 1988.
Status?: Going strong
Key Items: Mesh shorts, Sleeveless T-shirts, Athletic shoes.
The LOR: 5.5

There's really nothing wrong with The Gym Rat. It basically looks like you just came from some sort of gym or pick up basketball game (or if you're fat and lazy like me and you dress like this, it looks like you're wearing your pajamas), and there's nothing wrong with that. The problem lies in this becoming a fashion trend. Wearing shorts and a cut off shirt means you don't give a fuck what you look like today. If you're doing it all the time though, and you can't decide whether you should wear the red or green mesh shorts with the heather grey Ten Yard Fight shirt is where it becomes dumb. There is nothing cool about wearing your active wear (or pajamas) everywhere you go.
I don't think kids realize that when Youth Of Today were wearing tight sweatpants and shorts it was because it was the 80's and it was cool to dress like a scumbag. In fact, it was encouraged. Dressing like a scumbag showed that you weren't into that new wave faggot shit. Then sometime around 1991, the rest of civilization realized sweatpants made you look like a dork and cut off Tees with gym shorts were reserved for the Ivan Dragos of the world. Not some skinny punk.

9. Metalcore (late 90's version)

Inspired by: bad graphic design, drafting classes
Status?: Pretty much gone, but it rears it's head from time to time in scenes not plagued by the internet and modern technology.
Key Items: T shirt with a bug or a diagram on it. Zip up gas station hoodie or somewhere else to display patches and pins. patches and pins
The LOR: 5.5

The late 90's metalcore fashion style was mostly a refined version of the mid 90's baggy style. Most of the kids involved in the metalcore style used to be down with the baggy style, but bands like Converge and Coalesce became popular, which spawned a whole slew of bands that didn't just play mosh beats. So the kids into that type of music (now known as metalcore) migraited towards this type of dress and left the neanderthals with the b-ball jerseys and JNCO's behind.
Just like the Gym Rat, there's not really anything wrong with this look. The thing that makes it bad is the fact that most of the kids involved with the look looked exactly the same down to the same t shirts and patches due to the fact that there were only a handful of good and popular bands involved with metalcore. Luckily Converge provided nine thousand T shirt and patch designs to make up for it, but it wasn't really that big of a help.
All in all, along with the gym rat, this is one of the most sensible and accepted looks on this list. It's just on here because it's hard to be an individual when you look like everyone else.

8. Indie Rocker Emo Boy (Or Girl)

Inspired by: Weezer, The Smiths
Status?: mostly gone or just evolved
Key Items: Thick black framed glasses. Ringer Tee. Cuffed pants. Boring girlfriend
The LOR: 6.5

This was another reply to the mid 90's baggy clothing trend. Somehow a handful of kids wanted to branch off and be looked at as individuals so they declared The Smiths their favorite band and started dressing like nancies. They would come to shows and bitch about the bands and talk about how all they listen to is The Smiths and Boys Life, but oddly enough, they were still in some shitty mosh metal band. The same kind of band they bitch about, yet their's is somehow "different" from all the OTHER mosh metal bands. Mostly because The emo boys lyrics are way more emo and not about moshing, which is what makes him smart and makes the shitty mosh music somehow better.
This actual fashion style died somewhat quickly but pretty much morphed into today's modern "fashioncore" style. The Indie Rocker look was a bit better looking and not so ridiculous, but in the actual scheme of things where all those douchebags would be in some 8th rate Converge ripoff band and still act like they were different and more mature made this trend way worse, just because if you knew someone was dressed like that but still went to hardcore shows, they sucked.
Luckily, Dashboard Confessional got real popular and made it to gay for anyone besides a 13 year girl to dress like this anymore.

7. The Swing Kid

Inspired by: idiots
Status: long dead
Key items: pompadour. bowling shirt. clunk two tone shoes.
The LOR: 7

Short-lived off shoot of the Indie Rocker look. See, there was this one summer where swing music got popular again and a bunch of hardcore kids thought it would be cool to jump on that bandwagon. Boy was that fucking dumb. Going to shows with a bunch of assholes dressed like your Grandpa, if your Grandpa was still hip. Fucking morons. I really have nothing else to say about this one.

6. The Baggy Pants era

Inspired by: Victory Records
Status: Relegated to Hatebreed shows and Vanilla Ice concerts.
Key Items: Basketball Jersey. Huge pants. Running Shoes. Visors or headbands or some other type of dumb headgear (including dreadlocks).
The LOR: 7

This is the one I'm most guilty of. The mid 90's Baggy Pants Era. I don't know exactly how it happened, but Victory Records put out 5 real successful records in a row and before you could blink everyone in sight was wearing gigantic clothes. I must say, the look was very comfortable but not too practical.
Eventually most people just got bored with it and moved onto something else. For the most part, it was looks just as, or even more ridiculous than the initial look. Amazingly enough 18Visions and some members of Daughters (from what I'm told) were very much into this look when it was popular.
As I stated in the status section, the look still exists, but it's mostly amongst actual meatheads who can beat you up, instead of little suburban kids pretending to be meatheads.

5. The Crustlord

Inrpired by: Hating the System
Status: Still going
Key Items: Black clothes. Butt Patches. Stench
The LOR: 7
I think some people will think I rated this too low, but it's not really that bad of a look. It's the whole stench factor that makes it ridiculous. That and the fact that most crustlords are all about being different and being above all other types of hardcore and being labeled, but they've still managed to create their own fashion style, which is silly.
Back to the stench. Being smelly is not cool ever. Being smelly will not smash the system. Go steal deodorant and use a public bathroom if you're 'squatting' at the moment. The fact that a fashion style can inspire bad hygiene is amazing and disturbing at the same time.

4. The Thrashmaniac (Revival version)

Inspired by: 80's skateboarding
Popularized by: Suicidal Tendencies
Status: unknown (to me). I think it;s still around but I'm not 100% sure.
Key Items: Cap with the brim pulled up. Bandana. Suicidal Tendencies shirt. Tight jeans, possibly with holes.
The LOR: 7.5

Like The Gym Rat, this is another fashion trend that's made ridiculous by the fact that it was something that was ok in the 80's, but not too ok 20 years later. It's not a bad look. It's the fact that it's so dated it makes it seem like you're wearing a fucking Halloween costume every time you go to a show. Coupled with the fact that all a Thrashmaniac wants to do is CIRCLE PIT makes it even worse, because you have 20 trick or treaters running around in a fucking circle in the middle of a show.
I'm not too into romanticizing past decades when you probably weren't old enough to remember the decade to begin with. That's where everyone goes wrong when they pull some bullshit like this. They look in one old magazine and decide that's how it is, but meanwhile everyone else is dressing like that hoping they're getting it right but don't know what the fuck is going on. I'm thinking this is why this isn't as visible as it was a few years ago. You can only go around so long dressed like some dude you saw in a magazine before you were born before you come to terms with how big of a tool you really are.

3. The Wild West Urban Soldier

Inspired by: NYHC tough guys, cowboys, rappers, GI Joe and possibly homosexuals.
Status: Going Strong
Key Items: Bandana. Bubble vest. Hoodie. Military Cap. Camo.
The LOR: 9

Something happened at some point where a bunch of suburban kids decided just wearing a hoodie wasn't tough enough, so they channeled all of their past and present idols and made the Serpentor of Hardcore Fashion. You get a Bandana from cowboys or gang members or the seedy underbelly of homosexual pickup techniques, match it with a bubble vest and hoodie worn by your favorite rapper or NYHC hardcore band and top it off with a military cap and camo from G.I. Joe. It's quite the smorgasbord of retard if you ask me.
I'm not really sure how it evolved, but I know it has to do with moshing. For some reason dressing like this makes you feel tougher when moshing, for those who would normally not feel tough. I'm not really sure if any actual tough people dress like this, but I have my doubts. The last time I checked John Wayne was dead and he's the only tough sonofabitch I know who could pull off wearing a hanky around his neck.
This style is so ridiculous that it can't really evolve anymore unless kids start accessorising with guns and lassos. That means it should die out at some point or at least devolve back into wearing just plain hoodies and maybe some camo here and there. One can only hope.

2. The Art-Grind/Screamo Dude

Inspired/popularized by: The Locust
Status: Still around. May be on it's last legs though.
Key Items: Bad angular haircut. Shitty Attitude. No body fat. white belt or some sort of wacky belt.
The LOR: 9

I think most people hated The Locust as soon as they saw what they looked like. I also think that was what they were trying to do. Unfortunately, a good amount of kids though it would be cool if they did the same exact thing to SHOCK people, but totally forgot that it gets less and less shocking when more and more people do it until you're left with a bunch of waifish nancyboys stuck in a room trying to be SHOCKING to each other by looking like a NAMBLA funded Calvin Klein ad playing watered down grindcore even though they never even heard a Napalm Death record.
For the most part, these kids have some superior attitude because they truly believe they are SHOCKING THE SCENE, but outside of their little circle jerk no one gives a shit, because the only people who are super into grind would most likely kick the shit out of them and no one is SHOCKED by the attire because every fruit on myspace looks the same way.

1. "Fashioncore"

Inspired by: Morons. Tools. People with Low Self Esteem
Popularized by: 18 Visions
Status: Going Strong
Key Times: Bad swoop haircut. Tight T shirt. Tight jeans.
The LOR: 9.5

The only thing that separates the artgrind dorks from the fashioncore kids is that the artgrind dorks becamse what they are by trying to be shocking. I think fashioncore kids look the way they do because somewhere down the line all the hardcore boys got sick of all the girls dressing like boys, so they took it upons themselves to start dressing like girls who dress like boys to appeal more to them. This got out of hand, because then the girls had to try and look more girly but failed miserably, because they're into hardcore and female so they obviously have no fashion sense. So all the girls ended up getting those Shotgun haircuts, so the guys got them too! Then the girls started wearing makeup and so did the guys! It's this endless cycle and all you end up with is having a hard time checking someone out from behind because it's a toss up on what kind of equipment is in the front of the jeans.
Most of these kids can be found on myspace arguing about who's "scene" and who's not, but for the most part, they only go to $16 package tour shows which is not a part of any scene except the moneymaking scene.
Even more unfortunate is the sad truth that this look sells now, so there's a bunch of kids who could very well have been guilty of the other 9 trends on this list starting bands with a bunch of other people who look exactly like them in hopes of becoming THE NEXT BIG THING.

People might as well start going to shows dressed as fucking aliens. I'd have a better chance of being able to relate to them.

interesting

2005-02-04T13:36:09Z

Postmodernism: A rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon anarchic collective, anonymous experience. Collage, diversity, the mystically unrepresentable, Dionysian passion are the foci of attention. Most importantly we see the dissolution of distinctions, the merging of subject and object, self and other. This is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the "John Wayne" individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject.

Yeah, thats right :)

Heres another definition

2005-02-01T18:38:35Z

Person who models the abstract and later specific behavior of individuals
trying to make a claim on certain media,i.e. literature, art, books, poetry, movies. A trend will then arise of "packaging", at which point, genres will mix into socially acceptable grab bags of media and somehow spawn a fashion, normally causing these disillusioned individuals to start resembling the traits of characters, band members, and each other because he or she likes this " underground" lifestyle and wants to be accepted by a discriminating crowd. In short, the sucker thinks these people have all the answers and conforms to some " be- yourself-but-be-us-subculture". Scenesters can range from genres of music such as Indie, emo, hardcore, nerd rock,(math rock), metal heads, ska kids( skankers,Moonstompers), ravers, club kids, goth kids, mod kids,space rock,concept artists,retro throwbacks, punk, pop punk, to Donnie Darko fans and other cult movies such as Heathers or Velvet Goldmine,poetry by Bukowski or Frost, cartoons such as Sponge Bob or shows like Nip/Tuck and The Simpsons, books such as Catcher in the Rye, The Virgin Suicides, Valley of the Dolls, Ask the Dust, and occasionally, The Communist Manifesto,as most scenesters are anti-war and unless straight edge, (refraining from sex or drugs of any kind) are heavily into drugs and alcohol,nomadic,anti-religious,poor with rich parents, and slumming.Essentially, they are their friends, although some people will like what they like and be accused of being scenesters by mistake. The smart scenester will say that is the case, because he or she knows it can't really be disproven except by baby pictures, second grade stories, and by God Himself.

Wow, congratulations you just "labeled" about 90% of Americas youth.

Fucking Labels

2005-02-01T18:28:34Z

Ok, so I was talking to some people the other day. And apparently I fell into a label now. I guess I'm known as a "scenster". What the fuck? Since when did I become a label? I hate kids nowadays. You know, the funny thing was, is that I never even HEARD that term until last week. I know I don't get out much, and whatever. So I wanted to know what a "scenster" is, and why I was called it in a negative aspect. So, I found this little definition out on the web (yeah, I'm a dork who works with computers all day) and it states that:

a person who tries very hard to fit the stereotype of a certain scene. often having to do with a specific genre of music emo.indie.punk.rock. dresses and acts in a prescribed fashion. image focused. vain.

Thats funny, because in the past, I've been called everything from emo, to punk, to hardcore, to metrosexual lol. But hey, so I like music, and I like the way I dress. The funny thing is that I've never changed, I've always been like this most of my life. The only thing that seems to change is the word, or LABEL that I've been called. I'm sure in a few years, it'll be a different word floating around. Either that, or I'm jsut too old to pick up on this nonsense anymore. I am who I am, if it's called a "scenester" or whatever, fine. But I won't change, only the LABEL will over time. I just think most people out there don't even have a clue in life, no music taste, no fasion sense whatsoever, and are just jealous that the only fashion that comes to mind is going to the local mall and picking something up from AE or PACSUN or HOLLISTER, fucking posers.

I hate punkers...espicially ones that wear green makeup

2005-01-31T16:02:52Z

Well, this weekend was a toned down weekend thank god. I think this is my first journal entry in which I just spout off stuff about whats been going on, like a REAL journal imagine that. Anyway, heres a pic of Brandt and I from a few weeks back trying to act all "scene" or so I'm told.

Anyway, heres a pic of Brandt and I from a few weeks back trying to act all "scene" or so I'm told.

Here's one from just last weekend, thats my cousin Meghan and I cruising around town looking for something to do, she so tries to be like me.

and thats about it, I'm not much of a picture taker so...it won't be too often I update this thing with pics, and yet I love photography, can you explain that?

My back is turned against me

2005-01-28T19:49:40Z

Hi people, just to clear up something, I'm not a weird stalker or anything. Although I haven't been hit with that yet. I thought I'd just nip it in the ass before someone said something. Everyone might be getting responses from me. Thats because I'm new to this journal thing, and I find it quite interesting. So, if you hear from me, it's probably because you're one of the few people out there left that can actually hold a decent conversation. Thats what communicating is all about, connecting with people, and I'd like to see how many friends I can get, each with unique and different personalities that make this world a lot more colorful. And, I'll understand if you don't want to talk, it's cool, I won't bother you more than once. But so far, everyone I've responded to, I've found really interesting so far, and I'd like to see how far my curiosity will take me.

A picture is worth a thousand words

2005-01-28T13:52:39Z

I've been asked by a few people what my face looks like, well hopefully this is a better picture than my little thumbnail shown in my profile. Vanity is so secure in the heart of man that everyone wants to be admired: even I who write this, and you who read this.

A great famous quote

2005-01-27T18:42:17Z

Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.

absentlyric @ 2005-01-26T23:15:00

2005-01-27T04:15:51Z

You're more punk, hardcore, mod, straight edge, emo, indie than me. Your hair is cooler, your pants are tighter, you have more tattoos. You have cooler pins on your messenger bag and your favorite band is more obscure than mine. Your shoes are more vintage and so is your t-shirt. You own more black clothes than me. I don't even own a trucker cap or a denim jacket. Your glasses are thicker and blacker than mine, the plugs in your ears are bigger. You know more people in bands and your black jelly bracelets are the envy of scenesters everywhere. Your photography is blacker and whiter, your Myspace profile is wittier, and you have much better soul records. Your tie is whiter, or redder, or blacker. Your scene points are double, perhaps triple, mine. Because as we all know, that's what really matters. In a scene where the music has taken a backseat to the haircuts, you win and i lose.