Video: James Murphy, Trapped Between Two Terrible, Hilarious, Aging Hipsters in a Taxi

Foster Kamer — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:04:19 -0400

DFA Records' co-founder and retired LCD Soundsystem bandleader James Murphy has always exhibited a certain stripe of self-awareness that other musicians could probably take lessons from. In one of two films to feature Mr. Murphy at this year's Sundance Film Festival—the other one being the documentary about his band's final concert—he has a cameo role as a guy stuck between two obnoxious, aging hipsters in a taxi.

Via Pitchfork— naturally—upcoming feature The Comedy is about someone who "whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom." In the following scene, Mr. Murphy is trapped in a taxi with two of the worst people alive, made even worse by the probability that these "characters" actually exist.

The clip:

Also worth noting in James Murphy-related news:

The DFA online store opened today, featuring a wonderful tribute to Hipster Runoff—which, if you don't know what that is, the explainer's right here if you dare—in the form of "'Relevant'" Blue DFA T-Shirts.

James Murphy: Retiree/Funny Guy.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Summer of Cynicisex: 60% of Williamsburg Hipsters Don’t Know What a Dominique Strauss-Kahn Is

Foster Kamer — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:28:01 -0400

As new revelations about the impending criminal trial of Dominique-Strauss Kahn continue to emerge, the New York Times went for a triple-play of coverage on the story this (decidedly American) holiday weekend. Buried in the story concerning New Yorkers' attitudes about the case, however, was this gem of a parenthetical:

(Not everyone, however, had a strong opinion about the case, or even seemed to know about it. At a coffee shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 6 out of 10 customers said they had never heard of Mr. Strauss-Kahn or the charges against him.)

Ah, yes, Williamsburg, ever-reliable for totally-unscientific-but-generally-accurate-and-scoff-worthy-statistics culled from polling of some of the most ill-informed (and inversely proportional to being as such) undeservedly-moneyed individuals in this city. The only pause the Times likely had in using the term "mouthbreathing Williamsburg hipsters" is because they've actually been scolded about the whole "hipster" thing before. Across a city, however, insight sprung forth from one quotee:

No one came out well in the story, said Dominique Jones, 42, a designer from Harlem. “The district attorney is culpable, her lawyer is culpable, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is culpable. There is hardly anybody who isn’t tainted.” The summer has only just begun, but Ms. Jones said she was already weary of scandal. “I just feel so cynical,” she said. “This is the summer of cynicism around sex.”

Emphasis ours. We'll need something catchier than what we've got, but for the moment, fair if not decent, and trenchant for a Times temperature-taker.

With Each Twist in Strauss-Kahn Case, City Sees Further Reflections of Itself [NYT]

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Observer » Yes We Still Call Them Hipsters

Video: James Murphy, Trapped Between Two Terrible, Hilarious, Aging Hipsters in a Taxi

Summer of Cynicisex: 60% of Williamsburg Hipsters Don’t Know What a Dominique Strauss-Kahn Is