USA is so Passe.

Ok a few observations about the US v. the rest of the world/Britain. Probably mostly superficial. Also a few other musings at the end if I have time.

Today I slept in after a late night, overslept past when the one cheap barber near by closes (he has VERY limited hours on Saturday). So I looked up places in the phonebook and set off with a general idea of where some of them might be. I ended up wandering for an hour or more before I found a shop. First south past the Farringdon Station, then back up and to the west down Clerkenwell, back towards the flat along Roseberry, crossed over Farringdon again and wandered through the Exmouth market near us, falling more and more in love with all the quaint shops and intriguing environment there. Back onto Roseberry after that brief semi-detour, past some of the LSE (London School of Economics) campus (new discovery for me) up into Angel and Finsbury (but still in the Borough of Islington). It looked to be quite an interesting area and surprisingly green with parks. Take, for example, the fact that on this walk I passed the London HQ of Amnesty International AND a big Lonely Planet building that is probably their local HQ--might as well simply give them a knock and go over and pick up my books for the Adriatic excursion at the office! Additionally, there was some type of dance theatre whose name is escaping me that looks like something to most definitely look up in the future. Why we don't wander further to the east of us more often I don't know. It was a refreshing afternoon and I felt like I was stealing a bit of a page out of Ulysses (now that's a pretentious statement if ever there was one!), wandering around through the town as I was musing all the way. After a steaming ham/asparagus/carrot/brie omelette it was off to mass for a brief service, with Stonehenge--obligatory tourist experience that it is--on the pages for tomorrow.

So observation time.

I hate how American culture so often squashes intelligence and intellectual curiosity. The average British citizens working vocabulary of the English language is about 3 times that of the average Americans, and I am absolutely obsessed with that fact. Bickering over a grocery bill, I used the word "arrears" with a flat mate and was immediately ridiculed by two people. Now "arrears" is not that uncommon a word and far less bizarre than some things you'll hear on a regular basis around here--and it's all absolutely wonderful and amazing. USE THE LANGUAGE YOU HAVE. Don't waste it and distill it down into a sort of bland "new speak" ala 1984.

I feel like this language example is only the brink of a much larger culture of ignorance iceberg. This isn't to say that other nations and cultures can't be just as bad, but other than the French and a few Brits, few come anywhere near the arrogance we possess alongside it. The arrogance of the uninformed and unintelligent most definitely remains a huge pet peeve of mine. I know I can be guilty of the same, but I nonetheless struggle for a sense of humility, trying only to resort to arrogance when it's false and meant to poke fun at myself. Not that it's always that way, but I'm trying. I wish the rest of America would too--but I feel like, especially in the business world, it's encouraged to dumb yourself down and yet still be amazingly smug, self-content, and materialist. Controversially, I the attitude towards these subjects is exactly what I love about the Jewish or British sense of humour and people like Woody Allen and the Monty Python troupe. They don't take themselves seriously and continually poke fun at themselves. It's lovely.

That was my major beef for the day. Now, perhaps a little about the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament. It's been all over the BBC today--huge international tournament with long lasting rivalries: England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Italy. France is the reigning champion and had a successful start to the tournament today with a thorough trouncing of Scotland. Do I understand rugby? No. Do I really understand or have an interest in any sports save cycling and skiing? Not at the moment. Do I have many a friend who is incredibly passionate about the sport? Yes. Now, watching what I did of the France/Scotland and England/Wales matches, I must admit I was a bit intrigued. Compared to the few instances in which I have forced myself to watch American football (no, I have no intention of watching tomorrow night's "SuperBowl"), rugby was much more non-stop action and comical yet violent pilings on top of one another. Bizarre, yet captivating. Fast and furious. None of the stoppages and brutal boredom and land monsters of men, hulking, hideous beasts on the playing field. No, these rugby players were speedy and fit--clearly they actually had endurance as well as muscle, instead of an abundance of useless and pathetic muscle mass. Fitness is about being lean. And here I go spouting off being arrogant. Guess I'll have to eat my words from above. Anyway, it just seems to be much more of a sport than football does. Football fans like to talk about how wonderful the passing skills and the strategy is, but I dispute it. Strategy only counts for so much, and it just really isn't evident to me. Sure I don't have a trained eye and would rather spend my time doing other things, but I feel football is a great example of that dumbed down, slow moving, arrogant Americanism.

I must give the US the nod with regards to serving the customer. The UK (particularly London, surprisingly) continues to frustrate with regards to early, inconvenient hours and general top down attitude. Much prefer the always on fast pace of the East and West coasts in that respect. Feel like I've discussed that before, so I won't dwell on it.

I guess my last not of comparison is that English tea is a lovely tradition and it's a true pity we ended that with Boston Harbour.

I'm going to break the rest of this into a few entries. And I promise I'm still working on last week's entry.