Culturegeist - Confessions of the Pop-Culture Junkies

Hype, Chill, and everywhere in between

So I have a buddy named Chris. He's definitely the inspiration for this post. See Chris is what could be described as a chill kind of guy - laid back, plays Halo, grows a cactus, spurned Dupont because its engineers were too materialistic and hype, etc. Chris revels in his chillness. At times, it can be a site to behold. If there is one thing Chris abhors, it's probably DKs, but that's only because they are his least favorite kind of hypes. Hypes can be difficult to define, but, to borrow a phrase from Justice Potter Stewart, we know them when we see them. Unlike the Supreme Court, which left the question up in the air on pornography, I decided to tackle the hype-chill issue head-on.

Thus was born the Hypometer. With the aid of some friends - including the aforementioned Chris, and most notably my buddy Boomer - I began to compile a list, really more of a ranking, of major and minor events and people, according to how hype or chill they were. The resulting scale is kind of a pH score - the lower the number, the more hype something is, and the higher the number, the more chill. Now, this is not a measure of "good" or "bad," no matter how much Chris might want to equate chill with the former. It's simply a measure of the coverage or the personality of whatever is being measured. I suppose another axis could be added, but it would take a better man to do that. Anyhow, the Hypometer has made the jump from its original home on my AIM profile, which it will continue to inhabit, to Culturegeist.

Of course, the Hypometer is always updating and changing. You will definitely notice watershed events being reflected (e.g. Dwyane Wade). There will also be a pick of the week feature, which is something in the world that I think you should pay attention to. One last note: if you don't recognize some of the names and can't find them on Google, they're probably just friends of mine that made the list, so don't fret. And one more final note: the Hypometer is purely subjective, and it is open to suggestion. So feel free to leave comments on any post nominating something for the Hypometer or whatever. Enjoy.

posted by The AMT @ 11:40 PM