if New York can die so can London

[version]

was talking to Gus about how grotesquely ugly Londoners and New Yorkers are. warped, deformed, twisted out of shape, terrible pallid, jaundiced complexions, greasy, hunched over, but often with a kind of charisma in their deformity that makes them attractive

whereas californians radiate health and vitality. they really glow. just looking at them makes you fel positive about life. it's like they are a plant that unfolded according to the perfect innate blueprint. no ill wind bent a single limb out of shape. their smiles are so symmetrical and bright.

They make blood sacrifices to the sun in California.

 

[wektor]

re tourist convo I had a very ismilar position (ie trying to avoid all tourists when being a tourist myself, always trying to find someone i know who's more or less local to show me the good spots, looking for the 'real' and 'authentic' or more accurately: closer to people's reality etc.), stumbled upon the new urbanomic book on tourism written by this japanese fella who has a bunch of publications about otaku and net culture. interesting stuff

 

[wektor]

also I'm still in London until Tuesday afternoon (the breakup phase is done but I am also moving to Den Haag for the next two years at least to study Roland Kayn)

 

[wektor]

re: shoes, if you are a classy man, your best bet for the summer is probably the birkenstock mules, keen sandals work only if you carry around a boombox playing sun ra arkestra

 

[wektor]

these one cutout hokas are nice too but considering most of the people here are invested in modalities of what I would call "literate swag" they probably won't match.
I think even mvuent (although considerably younger) is probably not a sneaker wearer, more like a second hand ann d wearer. impressed there are people on this forum who are into japanese denim, but on the other hand, forgot there is an overlap between that and crate digging for sure. same age group etc

 

[wektor]

its funny considering the convo here about the high level of care people put into their looks, then you see like, trunks writing in a substack post he wore a superdry bike leather jacket to an event, tkmaxx drip lmao, red scare gyal ordering from shein etc. really high school core

 

[wild greens]

That brooklyn mafia lot are clearly a load of gimps who'd be bullied within an inch of their life in every single British comp, i wouldn't judge new york fashion on that

 

[haji]

re tourist convo I had a very ismilar position (ie trying to avoid all tourists when being a tourist myself, always trying to find someone i know who's more or less local to show me the good spots, looking for the 'real' and 'authentic' or more accurately: closer to people's reality etc.), stumbled upon the new urbanomic book on tourism written by this japanese fella who has a bunch of publications about otaku and net culture. interesting stuff

https://www.urbanomic.com/book/philosophy-of-the-tourist/ 👍

 

[wektor]

https://www.urbanomic.com/book/philosophy-of-the-tourist/ 👍

yea liking it lots, clear, approachable, good ideas in there. only problem is he does not elaborate much on his actual point, but perhaps I relate to the type of writing as it's not unfamiliar for me in my own stuff. first you think he's introducing ideas properly, then it turns out 95% of the book is a massive detour where the author draws out the context for his concept up to the point where the concept on its own materializes at the end without having to be invoked much. if that makes sense. plus actually challenged my thinking on tourism etc which was a fun mental exercise.

 

[wektor]

i was heading towards the end not expecting much, then he pops out with a dostoyevsky analysis all of a suddent, moreso, calling dostoyevsky a cuck

 

[luka]

yyaldrins article was actually quite good. i know gus didnt read it he just got defensive cos he thought america was under attack. but the internet has changed how we travel in quite interesting ways and that is what the essay is about.

what it reminds me of is the ubisoft open world games people complain about. where instead of exploring the territory and happening upon things by chance you are tugged from map-marker to map-marker

 

[wektor]

what it reminds me of is the ubisoft open world games people complain about. where instead of exploring the territory and happening upon things by chance you are tugged from map-marker to map-marker

the issue is there is fuck all to explore in those, it's a desert with a few scattered collectables here and there, just bad design init
good design can make a closed world game feel like a free roam

 

[luka]

im sure you're right but my point was more about how the internet makes moving round a foreign city like those games, eyes on the map, marker to marker.

 

[wild greens]

the real way to explore european cities is to start drinking at about 12 and just carry on all day, never look at your phone, and just let the booze decide where to go

of course, the philistine teetotal contingent will never understand such adventures

 

[luka]

or take some acid with you. that's actually good too. anything that stops you feeling so self conscious and pointless. takes you out of yourself a bit.

 

[luka]

you travelled for work and that takes all the pressure out of the situation. you have a purpose. you have someone to show you round. different scenario.

 

[luka]

door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. your gateway to knowledge.

 

[wild greens]

you travelled for work and that takes all the pressure out of the situation. you have a purpose. you have someone to show you round. different scenario.

I've done both tbf. I think the Asias would have been shit left to my own devices

Europe i feel like you need to make some mistakes on your own

These recent american video people trying to tick instagram boxes are doing it wrong. Tbf me and the mrs did a bit of that in new york a few years back and after the first couple of sightseeing days we had to fuck it off and just let the ale take us on adventures, it was great then

 

[wild greens]

or take some acid with you. that's actually good too. anything that stops you feeling so self conscious and pointless. takes you out of yourself a bit.

This is why the dam can seem amazing sometimes and also sometimes horrendous, I think.

Rotterdam is very different, i wouldn't like to be on acid there

 

[luka]

you can understand why people do it. you feel like you don't want to waste any time of your precious holiday. the reason i like paris is i've been enough times to know what and where to avoid. usually in a new place by the time i feel im starting to get the hang of it it's time to leave. that's why i like to go to the same place again and again really.