crackerjack
Well-known member
is there a large town anywhere that isn't chain-friendly? was in oxford (first time ever) a couple of months back and once you see past the architecture the shops are just the same old shit
London
- Thread starter grizzleb
- Start date
is there a large town anywhere that isn't chain-friendly? was in oxford (first time ever) a couple of months back and once you see past the architecture the shops are just the same old shit
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I think this is a huge problem in this country, all the moreso because it's "invisible" or seems a "petty" thing to complain about in the face of unemployment, economic inequality, crime and all the rest of it. I bet it's not like that in France, whatever socioeconomic problems they may have of their own.
Homogenisation is ultimately just depressing, even dehumanising I think, after a certain point. If where you live looks and feels just like everywhere else, you can end up feeling like it's nowhere at all. And I think this feeling of disconnection, of a lack of identification with where you live, probably lies behind so much antisocial behaviour and crime.
Edit: funny you should mention Oxford - you may have seen my recent rants about how so many of the pubs, even the ostensibly nice/historical ones, are owned by one of three big breweries, none of which are based anywhere near Oxfordshire. And I still chuckle darkly when I see that wonky half-timbered Tudor building on the high street that used to house a Laura Ashley, I think there's some other equally dull and generic chain outlet there now...
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baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Life in the suburbs, in a single sentence. Have you ever ghostwritten for Suede?
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computer_rock
Well-known member
i did the UoL federal philosophy degree and imo it's a really enjoyable and balanced course for analytic philosophy. the only drawback i found was that your grade is entirely determined by final year exams.
however as someone said it's no longer a federal course, but as far as I know the content of the course is roughly the same. in fact the only thing which has changed is the colleges are no longer to required to use the UoL marking scheme/methods, which is only a good thing because do you really want to sit 8 3-hour exams in the space of 10 days?
as for birkbeck: it's is a proper decent college and the department is headed by AC grayling who is a don so i wouldn't worry about the quality of teaching - it will be very high
regarding halls: I got into UoL intercollegiate halls no problem and so did everyone else i know. however i do remember the application process was incredibly stupid and required that you either fax or turn up in person with your application of the morning of a specific day. very stressful. the halls are all within easy walking distance of Birkbeck and senate house library so you wouldn't need to spend anything on travel to get to those places.
if you've got any more questions about intercollegiate halls or the content of the course / recommended literature i'll try and answer them
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Vauxhall has its nice bits (esp around Vauxhall Park) but I would agree that one of its better features is that you can go somewhere else very easily. Vauxhall itself, apart from a collection of gay venues, is a bit of a non-place.
There's a book called The Geography of Nowhere which deals with this sentiment. Although its focused on American and its car culture, it does cover themes about the suburbs feeling like nowhere.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah, tell you what, life in urban East London can have its downsides but I'd rather live ten years there than ten minutes in suburban West London.
*shudders*
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grizzleb
Well-known member
This is a really really helpful post - thanks! I've been worrying about getting into halls, so I hope that it comes off - you've given me alot of encouragement.
I've noticed already that the administration seems to be a little kafkaish but hey-ho, that's to be expected of course. I've got loads of vague questions floating about my head but I don't want to splurge them all out - I'll maybe give you a pm with one or two in a few days.
Cheers!
grizzleb
Well-known member
And as to the homogenisation of everything - that's why to me it seems like tourism is almost like a cruel joke capitalism plays at your expense.
"Look! You paid a grand to see somewhere different! But everwhere is exactly the same!!! Ahahaha"
Certainly around Europe/Western nations anyway, where you go to a city and it is basically the same as your city, with slightly different architecture (if you are lucky) and a bustle which includes a different kind of verbiage. Something which adds to this is the disorientating feeling of cognitive dissonance you get whenever you travel by any high-speed method. Arriving in New York by way of transatlantic flight is such a bizzare experience. Think about it...300 people wrapped in a small tube, sitting in one position for hours and then popping out of the other end. The outside environment is nothing, it's like a kind of teleportation, and the immediate change in surroundings doesn't fit easily in our minds with what maybe we feel travel should be. Travel.
"Look! You paid a grand to see somewhere different! But everwhere is exactly the same!!! Ahahaha"
Certainly around Europe/Western nations anyway, where you go to a city and it is basically the same as your city, with slightly different architecture (if you are lucky) and a bustle which includes a different kind of verbiage. Something which adds to this is the disorientating feeling of cognitive dissonance you get whenever you travel by any high-speed method. Arriving in New York by way of transatlantic flight is such a bizzare experience. Think about it...300 people wrapped in a small tube, sitting in one position for hours and then popping out of the other end. The outside environment is nothing, it's like a kind of teleportation, and the immediate change in surroundings doesn't fit easily in our minds with what maybe we feel travel should be. Travel.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I dunno gb, Chicago* and Geneva (the only foreign cities I've spent an appreciable amount of time in as an adult, sadly) are both plenty different from London. And not just in terms of size, in the latter case, though obviously that's a big difference in itself. I was talking more just about the (lack of) difference between towns in this country, following crackerjack's point about the homogenisation of highstreets in terms of shops, pubs/bars, cinemas etc.
But yeah, globalisation is obviously a huge issue w.r.t. cultural/aesthetic homogeneity, as well as the bare economics of it.
Edit: 8,000 (posts, you nitwits!) not out! Impressive, or utterly tragic?
*Edit edit: I never lived in Chicago but I had a girlfriend who lived there for a couple of years, so I got to spend a fair bit of time there. Which was cool, but expensive!
But yeah, globalisation is obviously a huge issue w.r.t. cultural/aesthetic homogeneity, as well as the bare economics of it.
Edit: 8,000 (posts, you nitwits!) not out! Impressive, or utterly tragic?
*Edit edit: I never lived in Chicago but I had a girlfriend who lived there for a couple of years, so I got to spend a fair bit of time there. Which was cool, but expensive!
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grizzleb
Well-known member
Yeah, I was talking more at a tourist level - I think spending significant periods of time in other places and cities lets you appreciate the much deeper differences there are culturally and socially.
You're a lucky man to have (by the sounds of it) lived in three cities. I hope I can double my tally at the end of this year!
btw - 8,000 ??
You're a lucky man to have (by the sounds of it) lived in three cities. I hope I can double my tally at the end of this year!
btw - 8,000 ??
woops
is not like other people
Tragically impressive
woops
is not like other people
wait, i thought only oxford or cambridge had dons
scottdisco
rip this joint please
there is one Wetherspoons in Stockport but apart from that wrt licensed premises there's a noticeable lack of chain fare in the centre, not too much at all really, which is something for a wider area (albeit it's all just suburban Mcr, really) approaching 300k in population.
it's something to do w the vast amount of old man pubs.
scottdisco
rip this joint please
i would like to add - just for the second off topic post in a row - i was born in 1979 (that makes me an old fart by some Dissensian standards, and less so by others). by my reckoning this post right now will be my post number 1,978.
i am going to have to do something very special for the next post after this one i do.
hmm.
i may disappear for a few days and make arrangements. capes that you wear, dry ice, that sort of caper.
incidentally, speaking of London, i am looking to move there late August. doubtless i can then come and meet various board members at these pubs you have in the smoke, and talk shite at you.
i am going to have to do something very special for the next post after this one i do.
hmm.
i may disappear for a few days and make arrangements. capes that you wear, dry ice, that sort of caper.
incidentally, speaking of London, i am looking to move there late August. doubtless i can then come and meet various board members at these pubs you have in the smoke, and talk shite at you.
Slothrop
Tight but Polite
It kind of depends what you're doing really. I mean, I live in London and I've just been to Paris and Barcelona, and would say that a lot of the shopping for consumer goods is similar if not the same, and a lot of the same chain coffee places exist (but don't really dominate, except in London), but otherwise it doesn't seem that homogenised - except insofar as urban bits southern britain, france and catalonia aren't that culturally different in the grand scheme of things anyway.
You still experience something quite different in terms of architecture, food culture, nightlife, media, lifestyle etc.
Homogenization of shops - I'm not sure how much this has actually affected london, particularly compared to the rest of the UK. I mean, you don't have to stay on Oxford Street all the time. It's clearly a bit rubbish across the rest of the country though, especially in places that are too small to support Next, Marks and Sparks, H&M, Tesco and some local independents.
Homogenization of restaurants and food culture is really noticeable and really bad across the UK - partly down to the rise of chain restaurants (which I think is in turn largely down to the fact that low-mid price British restaurants have traditionally been absolutely abysmal, and so generic, bland, predictable competence was actually an improvement - see also the rise of chain coffee shops in the UK) and partly down to a complete lack of interest at the reasonably priced end of things in local, seasonal produce and regional specialities. Both of which are fundamentally down to UK mass food culture having been mostly grim for years. This is something that does improve once you cross the channel IME.