Perhaps not enough has been written about what exactly the fuck hopepunk is, but instead of waxing philosophical about what I believe MY HUMBLE OPINION is on the subject, I am just going to assertively cite examples that belong on my mental visionboard for this goddamn concept that I am determined is my official MOOD for 2019.
1) First off, hugging birds. I believe just keeping up with birds is hopepunk enough, because the little adorable terrors are just a Flock of Entropy (band name?) that you allow to exist in your Marie-Kondo tidy space for the sake of THAT WARM FEATHER SMELL and the way their eyes close when they sleep and the goosepimples you get when they nuzzle up against your neck and start eating your hair. It's the very definition of hopepunk because you're enduring an oftentimes unnecessary level of chaos for the promise of CEASELESS ADORABILITY (album name?), which is something we all need to survive right now and at all times.
2) Jonathan Van Ness. Everything about him, but especially his awkward-Bambi-on-ice-to-graceful-Olympic-figure-skating-queen journey over the last few months on Instagram has been INSPO-TASTIC. Fuck everything else in the world. At least we can still count on his pragmatic positivity everyday.
3) The 99 Percent Invisible Podcast. Roman Mars' sexy radio voice makes you tingle even though in real life he's just an overgrown hipster you'd just want to remain friends with forever. And that's OK, because he's always explaining how orgasmic good design is despite this world full of bad design.
4) King Alfred. You just try re-taking your entire kingdom back from the vikings when all you have is 3,000 men in a swamp while your bowels are constantly betraying you and then introduce actual literacy to your bumpkin lands and build fortified towns to fight back when the vikings inevitably return before you reach the age of 50 when you die. You just try. No I mean it. We need more leaders like him these days. Also, I just wanted another excuse to share another photo of David Dawson. Apropos of everything.
5) Cheese. So much could go wrong in this process of transforming curdled milk into the most delicious food that ever graced this planet, but most of the time, it works out just fine.
6) Star Trek. Duh. Look at that sassy crossed leg sitting position. Jean-Luc don't give a shit.
7) Fanfiction. Let's face it, pretty much 99% of the time, TV shows do not give us what we truly want (hardcore gay sex between characters who are almost never gay), and writing it yourself and posting it anonymously just to see if anyone else has your exact OTP in an internet world where trolls are abound is hopepunk AF. Even one kudos on AO3 is a triumph.
8) Chuck Tingle. He champions trotting proudly in all the great ways while shamelessly enjoying chocolate milk with your hard buds and sharing love on every timeline. Pounded in the butt.
9) Broadchurch. I'm serious. There is just so much earnestness in the detectives investigating the most unthinkable murderings and rapings in that godforsaken gorgeous seaside town (I've been there, and it is truly that gorgeous) that despite the overwhelming grimness of all the dark feels, I still get so amped by David Tennant and Olivia Colman yelling at indecent things because they are JUST SO DECENT in the face of indecency. There. Fight me.
10) DOCTOR WHO. Because OF COURSE. It's the MOST hopepunk thing that ever evolved from the mire of garbage entertainment and we are so fortunate to be alive while it is still on television. Also, going to an Oxfam with the intention of finding that PERFECT outfit is all of us hopepunking charity shopping to death. Allons-y bitch!