The Agenda

By Dan Verrier

[This article first appeared in The Agenda #16, July/August 2006]

Hipness was around even before Lord Kelvin said “Now this is as cool as it gets,” and even just in the present day, there are any number of different definitions for it, depending on the clique being discussed. Analysis, however, leads us to some basic mechanics common to all forms of cool, regardless of period.

The reasoning behind a given thing’s popularity seems ultimately based in some quest for dominance—everybody clamoring to be the Alpha Dog—but what’s In or Out for any one group is apparently arbitrary. A given definition spreads as all memes do: from person to person, reliant upon people with varied interests to travel to other cliques, who then put their spin on it. Evolve and replicate—pure Richard Dawkins. Which isn’t to say that it’s worth liking (trucker hats and Ann Coulter are both popular in some circles, despite sucking ass). When a meme takes hold, it becomes the new Big Thing, complete with dedicated adherents…until something else comes along.

By Dan Voknine

[Note: This article first appeared in The Agenda #18]

This is a manual method of screen printing that requires no special
equipment or tools. It does require some drawing or tracing ability however.
The advantage of this method over typical screen printing is that this screen
is permanent and reusable. This particular project is focused on printing to a shirt.

So Anna Nicole Smith died.

And I thought, “So what?”

And then I wondered if I’m somehow a bad person for thinking that.

Viennagram at Snookers

by Dan Verrier

Well, it’s happened. For once, somebody isn’t just lamenting the city’s dead music scene, but actually doing something about it. Singer, songwriter, and emcee extraordinaire Dan White, with the help of the good people at Snookers, is arranging the rebirth of the performance space formerly known as the Green Room. The first of what will hopefully be a long line of shows happened on Saturday, November 18th, and if you didn’t go, you should be pissed.

by Dan Verrier

Lots of things are going on at the edge of the Solar System these days. To check it out, we’re sending a craft called New Horizons—which is sure to be voted “Lamest Name for a Space Probe” someday—that should arrive in 2015. There have been new objects discovered there in recent years, and though it’s extremely cold that far from the sun, it’s been at the center of one of the most heated debates in astronomy.