50 insightful entries examining the self-proclaimed urban elite. Skinny jeans? Check. Charity-shop clothing? Check. Non-essential prescription glasses? Check. Beanie balanced artfully on the back of your skull? Check. These items have become the uniform for a new breed of young people - hipsters - determined to take over cities with their "alternative" ways whilst overloading on irony and striving to be original and creative. So You Think You're a Hipster? examines what it takes to become one of this ever-growing tribe of middle-class urbanites, just as desperate to be accepted by their peers as they are to receive the next rent cheque from mum and dad. Over the following pages a series of hilarious case studies will identify typical examples of the subculture, helping you to avoid any future encounters with them. Take thrift-store guy, who at 35 still works selling worn sneakers and threadbare t-shirts for extortionate amounts and still dreams of one day getting his latest album reviewed on Pitchfork. Or the aspiring author who lugs around an oldfashioned typewriter to write down her inspirational musings at a moments notice. Then there's ironic moustache man whose facial hair makes him feel like a highly individual fashion maverick, despite the fact all his graphic designer friends have one, too.

Before Jess was the new girl, there was Nick, Winston, Schmidt . . . and The Douchebag Jar. Originally devised to do nothing more than alter Schmidt's wardrobe, hairstyle, and personality, the Douchebag Jar has become an apartment-wide phenomenon, forever changing the way douche-like behavior is viewed, policed, and penalized. Compiled and annotated by Schmidt himself, The Douche Journals catalogs the jar's first years in existence. Every jar-worthy outfit, faux pas, and innuendo is captured exquisitely and for all time, transporting fans and scholars alike into the inner orbit of a master douche at the height of his powers. Comprehensive, unflinching, and fully illustrated, The Douche Journals delves deep into the annals of douchery.

With the vast majority of Facebook users caught in a frenzy of 'friending', 'liking' and 'commenting', at what point do we pause to grasp the consequences of our info-saturated lives? What compels us to engage so diligently with social networking systems? Networks Without a Cause examines our collective obsession with identity and self-management coupled with the fragmentation and information overload endemic to contemporary online culture. With a dearth of theory on the social and cultural ramifications of hugely popular online services, Lovink provides a path-breaking critical analysis of our over-hyped, networked world with case studies on search engines, online video, blogging, digital radio, media activism and the Wikileaks saga. This book offers a powerful message to media practitioners and theorists: let us collectively unleash our critical capacities to influence technology design and workspaces, otherwise we will disappear into the cloud. Probing but never pessimistic, Lovink draws from his long history in media research to offer a critique of the political structures and conceptual powers embedded in the technologies that shape our daily lives.

"Think Coca-Cola. Think iPod. Think Nike. Think Google. Each of these names represents a successful product or service but, more importantly, they are all successful brands. Most attempts to explain the role of brands focus on brands either as management tools (managerial perspective) or as symptoms of consumerism (sociological perspective). In Brand Society, Martin Kornberger combines these perspectives to show how brands have the power to transform both the organizations that develop them and the lifestyles of the individuals who consume them. This holistic approach shows how brands function as a medium between producers and consumers in a way that is rapidly transforming our economy and society. Using an array of practical case studies from a diverse set of organizations, this book provides a fascinating account of the way in which brands influence the lives of individuals and the organizations they work in"--Provided by publisher.