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Berlin Living Rooms

theparisreview.org

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Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#61

Post by hashmal »

mysterypie wrote: post #3
colmvp wrote: post #2

Having looked at some of the photos, one of the things that I notice is a lack of televisions which I see amongst sometimes with my friends. I find when I go to my friends living room with a PS4 and tv, we generally chat for a few minutes before diving into games or videos. Or if I go to another friends place, they feel obligated to entertain instead of allowing one another to be he entertainment. And while I certain…

Along those same lines, I never understood why bars and clubs have such loud music as to make conversation impossible. Especially if it's just canned music, so you're not there to listen. And especially more if the idea is to meet women (or guys). As far as I can determine, it's fashion. It's not that games and videos are intrinsically more enjoyable than conversation, or that people have more success meeting the opp…

for regular bars I don't know, but if you want to score at a club, talking is often a hindrance. a few looks and dancing is usually enough to get started, and the loud music can even be a pretext to go elsewhere.

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#62

Post by hashmal »

hx87 wrote: post #48
krzyk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just a different style. Some prefer rococo style (late Baroque) and some more modern minimalism presented by e.g. Ikea. I prefer the later, and most of my generation also. Our parents prefer the former.

My problem with Ikea isn't the design--their products are pretty good in that regard. My problem is with their awful construction quality. Particleboard does not belong in furniture. Fiberboard and plywood sure, oriented strand board maybe, but particleboard? Hell no.

that's another way to look at furniture. in the old days furniture could be passed down generations, and fashion did not change much. today I gladly accept the drop in quality because it comes with a serious drop in price, and I can change stuff around home rather often.

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#63

Post by christop »

bensun13 wrote: post #47

In the fourth paragraph he mentions Charlottenberg. The actual name is Charlottenburg ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlottenburg ).

And they say it's been more than thirty years since the Berlin Wall came down…

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#65

Post by nether »

colmvp wrote: post #2

Having looked at some of the photos, one of the things that I notice is a lack of televisions which I see amongst sometimes with my friends. I find when I go to my friends living room with a PS4 and tv, we generally chat for a few minutes before diving into games or videos. Or if I go to another friends place, they feel obligated to entertain instead of allowing one another to be he entertainment. And while I certain…

I stopped watching TV on a TV twenty years ago, but I watch enough Netflix/YouTube and read enough frivolous social news (including some HN stories) to more than make up for it.

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#66

Post by icantdrive55 »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #43
santaclaus wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet connectivity and screen size are fairly orthogonal.

This. It's crazy to me that my entire generation loves to say "I don't own a TV" while staring at videos on their tiny laptops (or even phones ) all day. You don't need cable or any other subscription to get a lot out of a TV.

I hope they find staring into a phone is bad for the eyes.

Or, any reason, that would break people of the nasty habit?

In all honestly, I would rather be around a chain smoker, with an active herpes outbreak; than spent time with a Phone Zombie.

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#67

Post by bogomipz »

hazelnut wrote: post #50
bogomipz wrote: post #40

The article mentions: >"East Berlin had Alexanderplatz; West Berlin had Europa Center ..." I know Alexanderplatz but can someone tell me where is/was Europa Center?

also Kuh-Damm

Do Berliners still refer to it as Europa Center or something else?

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#68

Post by cfreeman »

rconti wrote: post #56
throwaway287391 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. It's crazy to me that my entire generation loves to say "I don't own a TV" while staring at videos on their tiny laptops (or even phones ) all day. You don't need cable or any other subscription to get a lot out of a TV.

Similarly, I have a MASSIVE TV on my living room wall, but it's off most of the time. In these days of flat-screen TVs, very few concessions have to be made to have a large TV. It's not like when we needed huge entertainment centers to hold a television. It does not exist at the exclusion of anything (except money, I suppose). It doesn't take away from anything when it's off. It doesn't necessitate cable/satellite te…

> It doesn't take away from anything when it's off.

While you can certainly design a room around a modern TV easier than in the past, I still find them to be aesthetically unpleasing when I'm not using them. Especially when dealing with small apartments and studios, I don't want a large TV in my space.

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#69

Post by mercer »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #43
santaclaus wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet connectivity and screen size are fairly orthogonal.

This. It's crazy to me that my entire generation loves to say "I don't own a TV" while staring at videos on their tiny laptops (or even phones ) all day. You don't need cable or any other subscription to get a lot out of a TV.

'Historically' not owning a TV was really just saying that you don't watch broadcast television and, by extension, that you don't really watch much TV (like The Onion's Area Man [1]).

I agree that this interpretation doesn't make sense anymore. What fascinates me is that many people will still use "I don't own a TV" to mean the same thing. Even more interesting is that more than a few people I know, myself included, will even believe what that statement implies despite it being completely inaccurate.

It wasn't until recently that I realized that not having a TV had absolutely no impact on my consumption of entertainment, and yet somehow it still felt like I was being 'more responsible' by not having one. Nevermind the fact that I'll happily binge on Netflix or watch hours of YouTube, and not just in my living room at broadcast times, but anywhere and at any time where I have 'nothing to do'.

Maybe one day people will brag about having only one dedicated media consumption device at a fixed location in their house!

EDIT: I just realized that another common implication of "I don't own a TV" is that the person is more discerning in their consumption and only watch 'good stuff' (HBO, feature films, etc.). Having spent loads of time watching only the highest quality shows (of which there many nowadays), I can't help but feel that this is also very often just another justification to consume relatively pointless media that just happens to be well-written and expensive. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[1]: http://www.theonion.com/article/area-man-constantly-mentioni...

Re: Berlin Living Rooms

#70

Post by tonyedgecombe »

cfreeman wrote: post #68
rconti wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, I have a MASSIVE TV on my living room wall, but it's off most of the time. In these days of flat-screen TVs, very few concessions have to be made to have a large TV. It's not like when we needed huge entertainment centers to hold a television. It does not exist at the exclusion of anything (except money, I suppose). It doesn't take away from anything when it's off. It doesn't necessitate cable/satellite te…

> It doesn't take away from anything when it's off. While you can certainly design a room around a modern TV easier than in the past, I still find them to be aesthetically unpleasing when I'm not using them. Especially when dealing with small apartments and studios, I don't want a large TV in my space.

Yes, in fact it's surprisingly difficult to buy a small one that is still feature rich.
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