Breaking News: Bebe Zeva’s first feature film.

MDMA films is a film production company founded by Tao Lin and Megan Boyle. Up to this point, they had focused exclusively on themselves wandering about ingesting drugs. Usually done in one take, they offer two opportunities, one for you the viewer and the other for the production team. As a viewer, you get to learn and discover who Megan Boyle is, because I never heard of her before. Besides this obvious benefit (she is genetically pre-disposed to being adorable, a condition that she shares with Tao Lin) you learn about how writers act when on a various controlled substance. They earn the sweet money cake, and have started to do so with huge sums of money they procured from the Wall Street Journal (choosing a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch and increases readership, brilliant!).

                Today all of that changed. Bebe Zeva’s documentary is due out on January 11^th, 2011. For those of you not in the know, Bebe was the first Hipster Runoff girl. She wooed Carles and he responded in kind by writing articles professing how much he cared about her. While the attention she received wasn’t universally positive (some called her ‘entry-level’) it gave her the confidence needed to propel her into the blogosphere, where she currently lives.

                Now she maintains a tumblr and twitter presence. Her main focus appears to be fashion and music, and she’s been interviewed countless times over the internet. Now, by having her documentary, she can be propelled into the ‘real-life-o-sphere’. In this area, normal people may learn about her, besides those living on the bleeding edge of internet hipster culture.

                However, Tao Lin’s decision to do this may have unintended consequences. Sure, Bebe is definitely AN HRO girl, but she isn’t the only one anymore. Carles in his infinite wisdom sought new members to enhance his online brand. Now the clever and delightful Catholic School girl (riding the Catholic School wave) Allie Teilz has become a permanent fixture on the HRO circuit, in fact garnering more attention from Carles as of late. So maybe Tao Lin ought to do a documentary on Allie as well in order to remain impartial on the Bebe/Allie debate raging throughout the HRO community.

                Both of them should have their own specific documentaries on the MDMA films project. Why not? Tao and Megan appear to desperately need money, since those drugs they enthusiastically consume do not come for free. Having additional offerings to the public would not only expose Tao Lin’s work, but HRO’s work in the online hipster scene. All of these things could be easily tied together. Failing to do so may cause friction between some of the most influential figures Generation Y has produced as of now. 

                Probably the film I would most want to purchase would be the “Snacks the Cat” documentary. Carles had her crowned as the winner of the Halloween contest, yet painfully little is known about this person. Lacking any sort of online presence, she exists in that strange bizarre place known as real life. Without a tumblr or even a mere twitter, she has captivated the audience on HRO. Is she even a real person? All we know is that she is from Idaho and very meme-able. Using inferred logic, we can only conclude that she may be Mormon, since Mormons are very meme-able (via ‘Big Love’, Mitt Romney, not drinking caffeine, etc.). Her documentary would focus on how she grew up on a small cabin, pulling potatoes out of the ground and learning how to make a mean potato chip. 

                I like all three of these internet personalities and want all of them to expand their personal brand. I want all three of these people to come together, like how those transformers combined into one giant robot, to overtake the entire meme-i-verse. Certainly I hope they become BFFs in both internet and even real life. But my important question to you is what team are you on? In the space below, please choose your favorite:

1.       Team Zeva 

2.       Team Teilz

3.       Or the third party candidate, Team Snacks the Cat (She lacks the following/financial clout of the other two, hence she’s the third party.)

4.       All of the above (via the ‘not rocking the boat’ strategy)

HRO CCC – The Hipster Runoff Costume Contest Controversy

Carles started this contest with the best of intentions: to create additional traffic so he could feed his family. Sadly, this all went horribly, unmistakably wrong for him. 

It started out with some acute observations on the current state of what is considered “alternative” Halloween costumes. Focusing on Wes Anderson inspired garb, he brutally labeled each one in thick red letter saying “FAIL”. According to Carles’ exquisite taste, this sort of fakeness was something he could not tolerate. Seeing how long ago those movies came out, he figured that people ought to dress up as more relevant, more “now”. 

As Carles stared blankly, looking at cars passing by as he took his daily Segue way through the desert, reflecting on humanity, he realized what he needed to do. Quickly running towards his authentic Mac Book, he immediately decided to draw up a Halloween contest, for those souls who hovered around his website like moths to the light. 

The announcement stated how he would write a letter to your parents explaining you as a “person” and write a letter to a Grad School of your choice. Admissions officers all clearly have read and follow Hipster Runoff, so they would no doubt be impressed by your costume-making/personal branding skills. What shocked everyone was not just the chance to curate Hipster Runoff for a day, but to speak to and meet Carles IN PERSON AT CHILIS! Finally a chance for those who have wondered what Carles looks like but never bothered doing a basic Google image search to confirm what he looks like was given.

Over the course of the week, people submitted their costumes. Life felt good for this pioneers of the hip and trendy. As a fellow hip/trendy person, I know how sad it is to be so damn cool. Sometimes it is just difficult going to a party with a costume that’s just leagues beyond these mere plebeians. Only years later would those mounds of boring start laughing at how perfectly genius your costume really was. 

Carles tried to sway the online community, saying how he was “Vibing Hard” to the Snacks the Cat character. On his influential post about which costume ought to win, he showed her picture on 8 separate occasions. Coming from the great state of Idaho, it is clear that whoever Snacks the Cat was received her culture injections purely from the internet since an authentic indie culture infrastructure is still not in place for that state. The best they have is just a Knitting Factory concert hall (in Boise), which is a step in the right direction, but not all the way there yet. Some of the commenters began to worry about the eventual picks, by cursing each other’s existence out (of particular note, Carles Sagan's breakdown). 

Justice got served though. By their attempts to hack into the system, they ruined the contest. Carles’ diligent technicians/friends he gave a few bucks to were dumbfounded. Instead, they had to go by pure positive votes. They must have known the wrenching heartache that would result among the lily-livered HRO community, especially considering the controversy surrounding Snacks the Cat.

Slutty Wolf Bro was apparently the winner before the system was hacked, but afterwards she came in towards the bottom of the ten. Commenters rued this outcome, saying how they ‘banged her’ and that she was ‘sexier’ than Snacks the Cat Girl. 

Even with the happy outcome for a genuinely wholesome costume, there were still a few creepers around to rain on her parade. Some stated that Carles deliberately choose it for a perfect “Human Meme” kind of feel, since it is a blog, it needs a meme. Others gave off a distinctly “pedo” feel to the proceedings. While a few more adventurous souls looked on the internet for additional pictures and age verification so they could feel more/less creepy simultaneously.

From my perspective, I’m glad the community was engaged. Though not my favorite one (I personally adored the Jerry Seinfeld one), Snacks the Cat appears to be the best informed of the bunch. By deliberately referencing the site she was trying to win on, she pretty much was assured victory by those who spend their mornings reading HRO before heading off to their un-fulfilling office jobs. 

Godspeed Snacks the Cat!