This post is to point out a blog that is just the thing for procrastinators on deadline. Owen Powell, a writer, performer and director, and Alex Horne, writer and comedian, set out to prove that London is the most cosmopolitan city in the world. They began in October 2006 and finished one year later, having interviewed and recorded comments from people from 189 countries living and working in London. According to the United Nations there are 192 countries in the world so they're only missing people from these three countries: Tuvalu, Palau and the Marshall Islands.
To access the blog click here
4 comments:
WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON, STAYS IN LONDON.
I have lived in, arguably, 5-6 of the most important cities in the history & development of the Western world: nYc, SF, Chicago, Wash DC, London, Amsterdam and now Paris.
Why is it that Londoners, surely inhabiting one of the greatest cities on the planet, feel such a relentless urge to convince themselves that they are the most ____________ (fill in the superlative du jour)?
Are they really that insecure? Am I the only one who hears the second sentence in any conversation at a London dinner party is the question "Isn't London great?" And every news paper reports some dubious achievement every day like the capitalist wing of the China Daily News.
As a native New Yorker, I think back to my hometown, where people would rather be drawn & quartered than be so parochial as to actually utter such words in the presence of strangers. Not that we don't KNOW that New York is the Center of the Universe mind you. Just that we feel no need to convince you of something so obvious.
From the self-important yet soulless art scene (thank you Mr Saatchi) to the anti-formulaic (yet somehow oddly formulaic) restaurant chains (Merci Mr Conrad), it all seems more than a tad hyperbolic for my tastes.
All this reminds me of another city of excess self-promotion as the means to its end: Las Vegas - home of the superlative.
Let's hope Londoners figure out that the hallmark of having "arrived" is not having to ask everyone: "do you know who I am?"
ok ae how 'bout a nice essay about your ideal city?
Sorry Olivia: except for Shangri La, which I haven't found yet, there is none. ;-)
NB: There's really only one place on the planet where one can readily find people from EVERY country, budding nation-state and hopeful administrative zone.
It's the coffee truck at the corner of First & 42nd - right across from the UN.
Coffee trucks... now there's a great subject for an essay. Coffee trucks worldwide...
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