The top 10 hipster stories of 2011

Ah, the hipster! That mythical, undefined creature that makes urbanites across the globe recoil in terror. (To paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, people know a hipster when they see one -- and they don't like them. Why? Who knows?) In honor of those skinny-jeans'd objects of ridicule, here is our list of the top 10 hipster stories of 2011.

Hipster traps spring up on streets of New York



Are hipsters animals? We certainly don't think so, but that didn't stop some cheeky street artists from setting up comical "hipster traps" on the sidewalks of New York this past spring. With a can of PBR, some Ray-Bans and a pack of American Spirits, these traps were the perfect way for Gothamites to catch a scenester of their very own.

Hipsters don't like the census



It was the question heard around Brooklyn this May: Did hipsters spurn the census? After all, the nationwide survey was the definition of "mainstream," so it was not out of the realm of possibility that the borough's cooler-than-thou citizens passed on taking part, leading to the city potentially losing out on millions of dollars of federal funding. However, for some reason The Awl got mad at us when we tried to raise the issue. (As one commenter there wrote, "Cool, I bet it definitely wasn't people afraid of admitting they're in illegal sharing situations set up by reckless landlords! This is definitely not a problem caused by people with any modicum of power!")

"Community" canceled put on hiatus



How can you feel holier-than-thou about watching a show that's still on the air? The news that NBC was pulling the reference-a-minute "Community" from its midseason schedule -- a decision widely assumed to presage the show's eventual cancellation -- was a boon then to a large portion of the show's audience. Only after the show's been martyred on the altar of Nielsen ratings, can the choruses of "Oh yeah, I watched that when it was on the air" truly start!

Accidental Chinese hipsters get their own tumblr



Look at that person wearing outrageously '90s neon and a comically oversized hat -- are they a hipster or just an elderly Chinese person? With the popular Accidental Chinese Hipster tumblr you can get your hipster-hate with a cup of casual xenophobia on the side!

Arcade Fire wins big at the Grammys...



The Grammy Awards are a hidebound mess, but until we find a better way to encapsulate "mainstream" music, they're all we've got. So it was a pretty big deal when Arcade Fire, a bunch of dour Canadians with Skrillex haircuts signed to a tiny label formed by members of Superchunk, won the prestiguous Album of the Year award for their masterful record, "The Suburbs."

...And no one knows who Arcade Fire is



But luckily, hipsters didn't have to worry long about their favorite band becoming too mainstream. In the days after Arcade Fire's Grammy win, Internet wags delighted in the astounded reactions of lamestreamers across the land: "Who is Arcade Fire??!!?" A tumblr was even started, chronicling the foul ignorance of those in the dark about the most important band of our age, thus ensuring that hipsters would have a steady stream of people to feel superior to until the end of time.

Instagram takes over every social network in existence



Do you like lens flare? Washed-out colors? A little tilt-shift? Want those things to be on every single picture you see online? The aesthetics of the hipster iPhone photo had largely been formalized by the beginning of 2011 thanks to paid apps like Hipstamatic, but it wasn't until Instagram -- which crucially differed from its predecessors by being free -- took off, that these visual cliches were set loose to roam newsfeeds across the Internet.

Hipsters confused over what to make of Lana Del Rey



Do people not like her because of how she blatantly seems to be checking off the hipster signifiers of the day (Instagram, chillwave, Paz de la Huerta, DIY, Joan Holloway, etc.), or do they not like her just because she's pretty?

Hipsters confused over what to make of Odd Future



Are they irreverent scamps who rap in character as homophobic and misogynistic assholes, or are they actually homophobic and misogynistic assholes?

Hipsters confused over what to make of Kreayshawn



What is this? Is it even good? Is this what the kids think is cool these days? Does not thinking it is cool make us uncool?

Occupy Wall Street



The Occupy Wall Street movement put hipsters in a bind. On one hand, young, Internet-saavy activists were organizing against rich people. On the other hand, people were caring about something. The hipster nation was thus divided upon a single question: Better to look down with scorn upon the lamestreamers who got our country into dire financial straights, or to stay casually indifferent to the world outside one's own subculture? The hipster civil war over Occupy Wall Street pitted brother against brother -- or at least, Shepard Fairey vs. some guy on the Internet who wanted to make fun of how sincere the Occupy protesters were -- but the conflict boiled over after most of the movement's encampments were shut down. Now both sides have aligned in peaceful harmony, with one common refrain: "Occupying? That's so last October."