a few cultural differences

how about a thread where we compare some interesting differences...

one thing i've noticed after moving to Germany is that the (perhaps overly) confident swagger encouraged in the United States is very much frowned upon here.

as a kid i was taught to always be humble in China, half full bottle being the loudest and all.

in America i've had to learn to act a little bit "I'm the motherfucking SHIT". this seemed necessary to push myself out there, to get my voice heard, or get my work noticed -- in the corporate sector, art world, music circuit. perhaps yours are different but my experiences in America was that the meek, quiet, and humble do not get the job/gallery space/club booking (or even girl).

but this did not translate well in Germany at all. here it seems like ego should be very much concealed. seems if you walk into a situation with that kind of energy people really just switch off. first time i noticed was when i first got here, one night standing outside a club i was asked what kind of dj i was and i replied "better than the mediocre one in there that's for sure" and the reaction was very clearly not the positive one i expected.

i don't know, maybe this is all so subjective, and dependent on so many other cultural specifics and other factors involving personality and others that a sweeping generalization about an entire culture makes next to no sense (regional differences and all)...

but what's it like in England would you say?

other types of differences welcome...

nochexxx said:

self promotion in anyshape or form is just not cool! why this should be I have no idea and tbh I have felt isolated here in the UK because of it. it's way different with the working classes/non whites though. perhaps I’m generalsing too much, but it is what i feel i’ve experienced.

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yeah i've noticed this a bit. even on here. coyness and self deprecation seem to be considered charming. while the opposite i suppose is vulgar.

certainly related to what woebot was saying about the awful phenomenon of musicians and labels being marketing savvy these days. his argument was couched in a more political context, along the lines of Capitalism infecting everything, etc, but i think the sort of deeper cultural biases i'm talking about here also have a lot to do with his sentiments.

while i understand and respect this perspective -- that artists and musicians should resist corporate marketing techniques, should not have myspace pages, should not send out mass emails, and just quietly do what they do, hoping (or not?) that through word of mouth or other non-commercial means people hear of their work -- i feel that the other way of doing things should also be understood and respected.

in my life i have seen too many good artists/musicians/writers not get the attention they deserve, which is not only sad for them, but i believe for the world (while loud mouthed yahoos prance all over the place). so i absolutely believe in the goodness of artists pushing themselves in what ever way is effective, also empowering themselves, economically, legally, and in what ever context they find themselves.

nochexxx said:

aww, my mate Gavin! a true romantic. draws all day, rarely leaves the house, wears a broken watch, walks everywhere, managed to work one or two shortlived 'jobs', years spent just to complete one picture - many go unfinished (god only knows what archive resides underneath his bed), becoming forever more extreme and cornered by his own refusal to move within the art world and life. not many like that these days!

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none of these images work for me. even when i copy paste the URLs. just blank pages.

but i think there are still a lot of people like this. i had friends like this in LA.

and speaking of self promotion, funny to see a few other posters with rainbow colored signature links now

wow crazy! you should pimp him out to some galleries and take a percentage of sales.

this elephant one is seriously dope. the extreme cropping, the palette, the details, the suggestion of narrative leaving so much to the imagination.