Why the Expats Left Paris

[JManc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

France more deliberately manages what it means to be French more than its neighbors seem to do with their own national identities. I don't really go to Berlin to do "German things", and I don't necessarily go to London to do "British things", but I'm absolutely expecting to do "French things" in Paris.

Agreed though tourists do want to experience Britain/ England when they visit London; Big Ben, black cabs, piss warm beer, the queen, double decker buses, the Globe, etc. After you been there a few times, you'd go there for same reasons you'd visit New York or LA. I can't speak for Berlin...never been there but it strikes me as not really representing Germany since it's so decentralized.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

Agreed though tourists do want to experience Britain/ England when they visit London; Big Ben, black cabs, piss warm beer, the queen, double decker buses, the Globe, etc. After you been there a few times, you'd go there for same reasons you'd visit New York or LA. I can't speak for Berlin...never been there but it strikes me as not really representing Germany since it's so decentralized.

Germany has cities that weren't obliterated in the 1940s. The two I spent the most time in when I was there were Heidelburg and Munich. I would love to have experienced Weimar Berlin but it's gone.

[dc_denizen]

this article is a bit embarrassing all around.

[Via Chicago]

its also 14 years old...how is anyone even finding this stuff?

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

My point was that music linked the U.S. with England and Jamaica in a way that didn't happen with France (or anywhere else). Cuban music was fairly popular in the United States until the embargo, with Cuban bands playing Las Vegas, touring across the country, etc. The I Love Lucy show, which featured a Cuban costar, aired in the 1950s until just months before Castro took over. The musical history of the United States (and Cuba) might have been completely different if not for that event.

I'd say French music has been just as popular as Cuban music, if not more so. French artists have long been popular in the US, especially with more highbrow consumers. It used to be Edith Piaf or Serge Gainsbourg, now it's Daft Punk and Phoenix (or Yelle on a lower tier). In the case of Daft Punk and Phoenix, it helps that they either sing in English or it's electronic music with minimal vocals.

Certainly we have a "special relationship" with England that applies to the culture as well, no other country's exports will ever have the same level of popularity in the US. But we speak the same language so that shouldn't be surprising.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

No, he's still around. He just came back as Pedestrian.

Originally Posted by BTinSF
As a writer of African origin,

wow, that threw me big time, until I realized that the text is from the article, not the poster. I mean, there is just no way...