People in NY read the Times for trends? Pathetic. If it’s in the Times, it’s so over. The cool people read the Times for the X-word puzzle, of course.

W: I am the smartest, coolest person I know… but being an aspiring interpretive-dancer/juggler sure is hard work.

M: Well, you could very easily become a farmer because people don’t even have to go to school to do that. Besides, think of how cool you’ll seem to your friends!

W: Wow, I really admire myself for even considering it.

These too-cool-for-school doodooheads won’t be able to cut it as farmers because they’re too busy being contrarian and spoiled, as you just pointed out. It’s just a fad– why else would the Times write about it? They know that a chunk of their audience is these jerks who read it for the trends, and for the trend that it is in itself:

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/45-the-sunday-new-york-times/

If the article was in Crop Report Monthly, I might see this differently. Besides, how can you ignore the irony of sheep raising sheep? Wokka wokka.

I agree that most of this hipsters in this city aren’t in fact hipsters, they’re just sinewy pests–members of the rat family I think. Anyhow, I think the framing thing is more of an existential type story than it is a coolness one.

First, I truly believe human nature has some code programmed in it somewhere that makes us want what we do not have: you’re a rich banker; you want to raise sheep in Ireland: you’ve got a hot skinny wife; you want a fat slob, etc. etc.

Second, we humans are way too specialized and fundamentally unable to care for ourselves. If the world as we know it drastically changed over night and all of out luxuries slowly went away would you be able to build yourself a new house? Raise the hog and slaughter it? I doubt it.

So my conclusion is this: no matter what you attain, a killer record collection, a lucrative job, a hot wife with a trophy rack; it does not matter on some level you will always want something else and finally we are starting to realize, perhaps as human beings that growing grapes and making your own wine might make you happier than learning how to do some other intangible service-sector bullshit.