Brooklyn Ikea

[YouBetcha'Berry]

Like, I was in Mexico last week and they had Dominos, Subway, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  Just like we do.  Its a global movement, you know.

Yea, before it was "global" it was "colonial" I don't think  critique's of the current trendy "Globe sameness" world is fit without a base understanding of colonialism by the United States in places like Puerto Rico, Hawai'i, Cuba, DR, etc...

That said the die is cast, Globalism is alive and well but I'm not sure where who's court the ball will end up in. Just be happy you saved a buck...

Or, more precisely, the Portuguese and Spanish in S.America, the Belgians and French in Africa, the Britsh in S. Asia and the Caribean, etc. 

It'll be awesome when everything everywhere is exactly the same. 

Well since we are from "here" and not from Portugal, Spain or Belgians I'm not sure it's relevant to point at others before we point at ourselves, no? Also, last I heard the following companies you mentioned 'Dominos, Subway, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company' are all from here, American companies.

I'm not sure it will be "awesome" when everything is the same but I am sure the human instinct to be different and other manifestations of human individuality will kind of Rock & Farking Roll. I guess it all depends on the way you look at things. When every 16 year old  in the burbs is driving around in a BMW 3 series the young kid pimping out a '58 low-low is going to stand out. I see sh1t like this all the time. The 'sameness' has a way of birthing difference. Case in point, Our man Psycho. His ability to manufacture cool brown trout out of almost anything, astonishes me.

 To a lesser extent, I find difference in the 'sameness' in  things I do, I used a Crate and Barrel Wine rack (garbaged picked) to hold my cucumbers in place.  Beauty, sameness or difference is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

Like, I was in Mexico last week and they had Dominos, Subway, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  Just like we do.  Its a global movement, you know.

Yea, before it was "global" it was "colonial" I don't think  critique's of the current trendy "Globe sameness" world is fit without a base understanding of colonialism by the United States in places like Puerto Rico, Hawai'i, Cuba, DR, etc...

That said the die is cast, Globalism is alive and well but I'm not sure where who's court the ball will end up in. Just be happy you saved a buck...

Or, more precisely, the Portuguese and Spanish in S.America, the Belgians and French in Africa, the Britsh in S. Asia and the Caribean, etc. 

It'll be awesome when everything everywhere is exactly the same. 

Well since we are from "here" and not from Portugal, Spain or Belgians I'm not sure it's relevant to point at others before we point at ourselves, no? Also, last I heard the following companies you mentioned 'Dominos, Subway, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company' are all from here, American companies.

I'm not sure it will be "awesome" when everything is the same but I am sure the human instinct to be different and other manifestations of human individuality will kind of Rock & Farking Roll. I guess it all depends on the way you look at things. When every 16 year old  in the burbs is driving around in a BMW 3 series the young kid pimping out a '58 low-low is going to stand out. I see sh1t like this all the time. The 'sameness' has a way of birthing difference. Case in point, Our man Psycho. His ability to manufacture cool brown trout out of almost anything, astonishes me.

 To a lesser extent, I find difference in the 'sameness' in  things I do, I used a Crate and Barrel Wine rack (garbaged picked) to hold my cucumbers in place.  Beauty, sameness or difference is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

Yeah true that, America has been and currently f*cking the Carribean nations royalluy no vasciline!, in terms of produce and high interest loans.

why stop at the US and European colonialism? - although there may be no writen history - odds are real high that the indigenous Caribbean people behaved like the rest of the human race over the course of our existence and formed tribes with the intent of survival of the group by any means possible, inculding taking over neighboring tribes land and belongings by force and keeping the losers as slaves. Humans have been defeating each other and taking each other as slaves forever, read about the greeks or the romans or read the classics like Candide, Arabian Nights, etc. where slavery was just something that people fell into and out of via fate through the course of a lifetime.  Look at the studies of the successful north and south american "indian" tribes for endless stories of dominance and submission (great BOC tune). the difference now though is the submitted have a legal right to endlessly whine about there dominators.

re. sameness - people who think they are idividualistic because of the retail shops and restaurants they frequent (add music they listen to) are kind of missing the point of individualism. 

I think you are right about indigenous people, its pretty well document with the Incas and even Caribbean "indians" Arawak vs Taino ( pretty broad brush but arguments have been made to this case) Arawaks were much more aggressive then Tainos  but then again we learn the from Columbus so I would say it's suspect to say the least.


I'm not sure what you are trying to say about sameness. The point I was trying to make is that, "You can't stop the Sun from Shinning" Globalism, heir to colonialism can not and will not be stopped. At this point it's a force of nature. Bitching about it isn't going to change it one bit. 

[YouBetcha'Berry]

ummm hello....the Taino are Arawak who invaded Puerto Rico from South America-they killed the earlier dudes.  Um, fully modern humans like spread out from Africa.....Neanderthals got pushed out by Cro Mags......europe as well know it was populated from Turkey, pushing out and interbreeding with the earlier populations....all of Africa was recolonized by the Buntu tribes....."globalization" is the biggest intellectual circle jerk since phrenology...

PEOPLE HAVE, AND ALWAYS WILL:

 MOVE, INTERACT, SEEK TO EXPLIOT, HAVE SEX WITH EACH OTHER DESPITE EXTERIOR DIFFERENCES, KILL, and COMPLAIN. 

This is the "force of nature" thing I mentioned but instead of running to push myself off the circle jerk list by pointing at others and how it has occurred in history, I say start where you are.

Where and how do we/US Globalise? Are we the victims of globalism of the champions of it?

I can not believe Ikea meatballs are not more a part of this thread, I'm actually saddened by it because those farking meatballs were so good.

[north st.]

I must say, there really isn't a meatball that I don't like.....

[YouBetcha'Berry]

I must say, there really isn't a meatball that I don't like.....

holy cow, if people were more like meatballs this would be a much better world. Brilliant.

[Just Mario]

wow. flat spell of boring threads everywhere else, and if you just get out of your neighborhood and poke around a little: boom ! here's this epic thread tucked away from the crowds in the 'views from the tube' room. score.

so i just read through this thread and want to jump in with an observation that i think might really make evryone reconsider a few things:

i'd rather eat meatballs, than ball meats.

thank you.

[da Kook]

So BB did they let you play in the ball room during your special event?

[north st.]

perhaps they should rent out the Ikea for special events, like weddings, bar mitzvas.......eating meatballs and chilling on fashionable funiture....

[Mims]

Meatballs are best when made with 3 diff't kinds of meat, cooked, thrown into a pot of tomato sauce with potatoes and other meats. Serve over pasta.

[YouBetcha'Berry]

So BB did they let you play in the ball room during your special event?

I wish!

I was actually preoccupied with how farking friendly the staff was. I'm so cynical all I could think was "Those smiles will be off of all of their faces in a week!

[HydroGlide]

I'm not sure what you are trying to say about sameness. The point I was trying to make is that, "You can't stop the Sun from Shinning" Globalism, heir to colonialism can not and will not be stopped. At this point it's a force of nature. Bitching about it isn't going to change it one bit. 

I just meant that the people that made the restaurant or local retail shop were the individuals who created something different, not the patrons (although they are badly needed to keep it in existence). Even though I didn't make them myself, I love IKEA meatballs.  I agree with the you can't stop it attitude - the market could stop it though - many chain retailers are now (and will in the future) going under, the rental space they vacated will reduce in price and maybe some individuals will fill the vacancy?  I love the indivudualistic restaurants and retailers myself but I realize taht they only can survive where there is enough monied foot traffic.  The globalized stuff spreads the risk across regions and increases the chance of survival - so although I prefer an artisan baker (who wouldn't?) I'd rather have a Panera in the neighborhood than a blacked out, unmaintained,  vacant retail spot.  

[Bubba]

ummm hello....the Taino are Arawak who invaded Puerto Rico from South America-they killed the earlier dudes.  Um, fully modern humans like spread out from Africa.....Neanderthals got pushed out by Cro Mags......europe as well know it was populated from Turkey, pushing out and interbreeding with the earlier populations....all of Africa was recolonized by the Buntu tribes....."globalization" is the biggest intellectual circle jerk since phrenology...

PEOPLE HAVE, AND ALWAYS WILL:

 MOVE, INTERACT, SEEK TO EXPLIOT, HAVE SEX WITH EACH OTHER DESPITE EXTERIOR DIFFERENCES, KILL, and COMPLAIN. 

This is the "force of nature" thing I mentioned but instead of running to push myself off the circle jerk list by pointing at others and how it has occurred in history, I say start where you are.

Where and how do we/US Globalise? Are we the victims of globalism of the champions of it?

I can not believe Ikea meatballs are not more a part of this thread, I'm actually saddened by it because those farking meatballs were so good.

You guys are never gonna let me live that circle jerk comment down, are you?

My comment was intended as tongue in cheek.  Sarcasm, you know?  Not bitching.  Sheesh.

Fat tourists in hawaiian shirts can have their Subway and Dominos Pizza and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  And they will, because if you build it, they will come (if they come they will build it?).  It was funny driving down the road in Puerto Vallarta last week past the cruise ship terminal.  We saw a Disney cruise ship bigger than anything I've ever seen unloading its passengers.  Across the street was a Wal Mart.  Something about that made me laugh and I pictured Bob and Cindy Smith of Anytown, USA getting off the ship and walking into a store that was exactly the same as the Anytown Wal Mart, to pick up a copy of the latest Jessica Simpson release and a bottle of kaopectate in case they got the runs (in the rare event they actually ate someplace other than Dominos or on the ship).

On the globalization circle jerk, and to veer even further off the subject of the new Brooklyn Ikea, I just read a terrific book called McMafia, by Misha Glenny.  Its a sort of travelogue of the global criminal economy.  Glenny, a former Financial Times (I think) reporter, starts in the Balkans, his area of expertise, and then follows the shadow economy through eastern Europe, Russia, Israel, India, Dubai, South Africa, Canada, Colombia, Brazil and to China and Japan.  The book is not without its flaws (i.e. there is no examination of American organized crime), but offers a really compelling portrait of the underside of the global economy.  I thank God I can save a buck at the Brooklyn Ikea and I'm not a Philipino laborer building opulent condos for Indian mobsters in Dubai.

[YouBetcha'Berry]

My sis-in-law doing a documentary on Bangledshi construction workers in Dubai. Whoa, talk about the slave trade all over again.

The global genie is out of the bottle...

[north st.]

I will, as always, heed your book recommendations Bubba.....

I like Vincent's Clam Bar meatballs, although they are mostly bread crumbs.....and their baked clams....

[Bubba]

I will, as always, heed your book recommendations Bubba.....

I like Vincent's Clam Bar meatballs, although they are mostly bread crumbs.....and their baked clams....

I think you'll dig it northstreet. 

Here's an accurate review of the book from the Times.  NYT Review of McMafia.  Like I said, the book is not without its flaws, but it offers tons of great insights into the lecherous nature of the criminal economy and documents in great detail the way its expansion has paralleled the growth of the "legit" global econmy.  Glenny's thesis is that a perfect storm of conditions arose and coalesced around the collapse of the Soviet Union, the expansion of global economies and deregulation of worldwide financial markets and that this, in turn, served as a kind of petri dish in which the bacteria of organized crime could feast and expand. 

The book is so expansive that it fails to paint a really coherent picture at times, but some of the chapters are too good to miss.  For example, he digs down really deep into the Nigerian internet scams that have been the source of much laughter on this board.  Its amazing that anybody would ever fall for these scams, but they do, and he documents the biggest sucker of them all in incredible detail.  There is even a popular Nigerian song, "I Go Chop Your Dollar" that celebrates the art of separating suckers from their money via elaborate banking schemes. 

[Joe 6-Pack!]

ummm hello....the Taino are Arawak who invaded Puerto Rico from South America-they killed the earlier dudes.  Um, fully modern humans like spread out from Africa.....Neanderthals got pushed out by Cro Mags......europe as well know it was populated from Turkey, pushing out and interbreeding with the earlier populations....all of Africa was recolonized by the Buntu tribes....."globalization" is the biggest intellectual circle jerk since phrenology...

PEOPLE HAVE, AND ALWAYS WILL:

 MOVE, INTERACT, SEEK TO EXPLIOT, HAVE SEX WITH EACH OTHER DESPITE EXTERIOR DIFFERENCES, KILL, and COMPLAIN. 

You forgot the Caribs!