A new book / Cambridge Street, Cambridge / On door handles / The house Jack did not…

Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right. Arthur Schopenhauer

A new book

To learn, teach. To learn to write, read. I bought Other voices, other rooms by Truman Capote. Few weeks ago, S gave me The plot against America by Philip Roth. Maybe reading them and lots of practice (e.g. blogging) will improve my writing.

Cambridge Street, Cambridge

I took a stroll on the Cambridge Street in the early morning. The street is startling. It is lined with all kinds of small shops. Besides the usual launderettes, pizza joints, and corner groceries, it boasts a fish shop, a poultry shop, a bakery, a liquor shop, several manicure joints, a church. In all aspects, it is very far from Newbury Street in Back Bay, Boston. If there would just be a decent cafeteria, I would move to in this side of the Charles River. (I know there are cafeterias further inside Cambridge, not here at the outskirts).

On door handles

In Finland, one opens a door by pressing the door handle down and then pushing or pulling the door. This works fine, when one has to push the door. For pulling the door and for tall persons, this works poorly, because one cannot use one's body weight for pulling to door. Instead, one has to pull with one's hand. In USA (especially in MIT) I have found a better solution: the door handle opens the door also when one lifts it. One smooth movement of lifting and leaning back a bit opens the door, even if the door is heavy. Great design!

The house Jack did not build

The house I am staying in is interesting. It was built in late 19th century for housing a pump-factory. The factory was successful. It manufactured all onboard pumps used by the US-navy in the WWI. After WWI, pump business was not doing that well and the house was sold to another company. Another war came, the business of producing parts for the Air Force was doing well. But the war ended and the house was converted into a fastener-factory, which later gave way for a factory producing automobile parts. Then all manufacturing left Cambridge and the house was rebuilt as 200 housing units, in 1998.

Movies & sit-coms vs life

In Finland, as elsewhere, we tend to watch American movies and sit-coms. Before visiting USA first time in 1998, I always thought, that movies and sit-coms are fiction, that the way of living, the habits of people in USA are somehow different from the movies. To my surprise, arriving to New York, I felt like stepping in a movie. The movies and sit-coms came to reality. I was stunned. Later, I have found that there are life-forms outside the movie and sit-com realm. It took some searching. It still does.
Still I am wondering, almost daily, the influence of movies, sit-coms, advertisements, and other visual landscape on the way ordinary people behave. It seems, that the ways most people have fun are directly taken from movies: driving a limo, sipping martini, soaking in a pool with a margarita, etc. Nothing wrong with this; I just wish for more movies teaching people that reading and intellectualism are hip! Then I would have more fun when discussing with people.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs January to February 2006".