Deck

This is deck. Two reasons. First, check out the keywords. Second, it’s from the future.

there are hipsters in Columbus, too

I have been meaning to post here at “small slice of soy vegan pizza” for some time now, but the motivation just hasn’t been there until now. I think I was experiencing a crisis of hipsterism somewhere deep in my subconscious, but my sister just got a pair of really thick glasses and I think my psyche is undergoing a restoration.

Anyway, at a recent Bright Eyes show (never mind that I was really there to see Gillian Welch), I spotted some hipsters waiting to get into the venue. Perhaps because I was outside of my home state of Indiana, I put all ethical concerns aside and made my friend Alison stand “near” them so I could take “her” picture. Hint: the hipsters are on the right half of the image.

I am about to embark on a journey to New England, after which I will have time to digitize some of my Churchill art. My study of this man is so personal and such a huge part of my self-image and really, my whole world view. But it is time.

-Katie

Taft in ‘08

In one of my favorite elections, the 1908 election Republican William Howard Taft ran against the Democrats’ William Jennings Bryan, making this Bryan’s third race. “330 Pounds — Not Electoral Votes,” was the slogan for Bryan, taking a shot at Taft’s famous girth. Opponents of Bryant retorted: “Vote for Taft this time — you can vote for Bryan any time,” making this my favorite mudslinging of all time.

Eat your words Bryan, Taft has 321 electoral votes, that’s almost double the votes you got.

Why The Current rocks so hard

    If you live in Minneapolis or the Twin Cities area, you know the best radio station is The Current. Not only is it public radio, which is badass in itself, it is commercial free and doesn’t play shitty music. If you don’t live in the Twin Cities you can always listen online, but I digress. Commercial free radio is awesome, but if you don’t have one of those newfangled xm radios you’re usually stuck with the awful Clear Channel offerings. As a side note, what is “xm” anyway? I get AM and FM (amplitude and frequency modulation, respectively) but there is no “x” anywhere in radio waves. I’m assuming this is another sad attempt at “dynamic marketing strategies that reflect the values of today’s youth.” Apparently capitalization and traditional letters are not inline with the values of today’s youth, but that is for another post.

Commercial free radio is fantastic, check out Free YR Radio to see if there is awesome radio in your area. I would like to point out that while I do support their cause, I do NOT support the lack of vowels in their name.

The Vegan Letters: Issue 1, Thoughts on Lou Dobbs and Popular National Brand Hummus.

Dear Reader,

I wonder whether or not I should be embarrassed. My grandmother, an octogenarian, has a crush on a much younger man. At the age of 80 (hence the octogenarian), she seems to have fallen for a strapping lad of 61. This fellow goes by the name of Lou Dobbs and he works to support his wife and six children by being the anchor of Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN. They date every evening at around six o’clock and he weaves his verbal magic while she plays Boggle on her computer. Putting myself in her shoes, I must admit it is hard to resist that smile and his segments with titles such as “War on the Middle Class”. On one occasion he clashed–exuding masculinity out of his Baby Boomer physique–with the Adonis-like civil rights attorneys J. Richard Cohen and Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Three titans of epic verbosity engaged in a war of words and facts via satellite. The intoxicating combination of satellite technology and anger over illegal immigration made me want to pour a class of vegan, organic, fair trade red wine; dim the lights; play some soft background music. It is good that I’m mostly impartial, even neutral on Lou Dobbs in my general every day existence. I know a taken man when I see one, and I won’t compete against my grandmother. She saw him first, and like Al Gore during the 2000 election, I shall concede.

Why I bring up my grandmother’s crush on Lou Dobbs is because I want to draw a parallel of sorts. My grandmother’s love of Lou Dobbs, is matched only with my intense hatred of store bought hummus. This hummus, which will remain nameless to avoid a possible law suit, ranks up there with my intense dislike of Anime, mayonnaise (though that is more of a phobia), and Smokey Robinson’s 1972 hit “Tears of a Clown”. My first introduction to hummus was my senior year of high school. Sitting in the history department with best friend, fellow slacker, and fellow “McAngst” Breanne our teacher convinced Breanne to try this new fangled dip called hummus. I was weary due to my dislike of most things dip-like and opted not to try it. I’m glad too, because with her declaration of “This tastes the way vomit smells!” and my disgust in relation to vomit I felt that fortune had smiled upon me and saved me. I didn’t bother trying hummus until I was a junior in college. I bought this “National brand, authentic Greek style” hummus at the swanky Kroger in Richmond, Indiana. I was ready to love hummus after friends gushing about how delicious it was. I had become a vegan at this point and I was ready to take the plunge. Like a plunge into a swimming pool that hadn’t been cleaned since the previous owner’s divorce, it was disgusting; and like celibacy, it was disappointing. I gave it to a housemate who loved it and briefly questioned whether or not she could actually taste it.

I was willing at this point to swear off hummus forever, had it not been for Katie and Sainsbury’s. In London, I fell in love with hummus and could not believe I didn’t it like it before. It was a weekly, though sometimes daily, item on my grocery list. When there was a salmonella outbreak that caused Sainbury’s and Marks & Spencer to have it off their shelves for weeks, I was at a loss. I decided to make it myself, with my first two attempts tasting like hummus but having the consistency of tan Play-Doh. At the age of 21, I can’t imagine my life without hummus. When I arrived in America, I made the mistake of going to our local grocer to find hummus to satiate my craving. They only had the “National brand, authentic Greek style” hummus I had had before. I decided to try it again, thinking I was in a better place and maybe, just maybe I’d like it. I took it home, eager, with my “Sandwich Salad Pockets” (I couldn’t actually find pita). Like the first time I had had “National brand, authentic Greek style” hummus, I was disgusted and disappointed. I now know that it isn’t hummus, nor is it my tongue, or my being an elitist: it’s that brand!

I feel as though I’m doing a disservice to many by not mentioning by name the brand of hummus that has caused me so much distress. this brand is committing the true war against the middle class. At the very least, making the middle class feel self conscious and subjecting it to peer pressure. Perhaps I should call Lou and bring this story to light. I could be a whistle blower I’ve always wanted to be under the guise of a concerned consumer. He’s from Texas though, so he might not actually care. But I beg you, dear reader, to resist that temptation to buy this “National brand, authentic Greek style” hummus. It may or may not start with the letter ‘A’ and you can find it lurking in the dairy and/or deli section of your very own grocery store, ready to assault or mock you. Simply put it’s gross, so get out there and make your own.

Yours sincerly,

Jenny, the vegan

soy vegan shirts

Well, sort of, but we do have shirts featuring some of the art from National Republiky of Dinos! go check it out.

FINNTASTIC

The latest from Finish pop-rock/experimental band Argyle Jellyfish is a finntastic exploration of the human mind, body and soul. Aww…Zap! really shows how far a band consisting only of a drum machine, saxophone and various car noises can come. We recently sat down with first chair saxophonist, Aki-Petteri.

Soy vegan pizza: So how does this album compare to your other albums?

Aki-Petteri: Well, for this album we had our entire collective working on the album from beginning to end with only 7 members dropping out before the final recording.

svp: All 32 of you recorded at once, how did that work out?

AP: As you know we don’t write our music before hand. We record every track strait through however we interpret it at the very moment of recording. Usually this is no problem, but on the track Pass me the microphone, my car is on fire, the drum machine came in way too late, after the explosion noises. We had to change the direction the piece was going mid song. I think it turned out ok though.

svp: Well, it sounds like a good album, any last words for the kids at home?

AP: fin

Geeksta cool

Hello fellow hipsters. As my fellow bloggers know, we hipster bloggers are constantly trolling the tubes for the latests and greatest (assuming, of course we are not ourselves creating it. Soy vegan pizza will always have the latest so this really should be your first and last stop). Anyway, for all the tech savvy hipsters/geeksters out there I present you the moleskine hard drive, courtesy of zonageek. It will make the perfect accessory next time you’re in the coffee shop and your mac runs out of space. This is Hemingway 2.0.

International hipsters

Well, unfortunately our series on the international hipster must now come to a close. Don’t worry though, the domestic hipster series will continue as soon as a I get a camera phone. As a special treat we present you with one final international hipster spotting adventure, enjoy!

and we can’t forget this gem…

Meet the geeks

Check out the team hipster page and meet the team