I always used to think Silicon Valley would be a proper valley, surrounded by sheer cliffs, very romantic. I was possibly getting it confused with Death Valley, and the reality is very different. Silicon Valley is a big, flat suburban California town - sprawling, flat, wide, empty (for a Londoner, anyway). My taxi just drove past "Woz Way" but apart from little hints like that, I really could be in Anywhere, Calif.
My hotel floor is vibrating. Earthquake? Lorries? The air conditioning unit? It's disconcerting. It's also on a slight slant, which is terribly British, but in Flat America feels very wrong, like the whole thing is going to slide into some sort of landfill or hell-fissure fault any minute now. All my makeup pencils and tubes keep rolling off the bathroom shelf. Still, there is free wi-fi, which is now fairly common in California and very much the Way Things Should Be.
I am, of course, making a nuisance of myself. "Hello, front desk, do you have any MILK? This Non-Dairy Creamer made of Corn Oil and Partially Hydrogenated Palm Oil plus preservatives and assorted E-numbers is, I'm sure, very tasty but I refuse to find out. Bring me milk, from cows!" And to think there are cancer-warning signs on innocuous things such as restaurants, yet not on the Non-Dairy Creamer...
Just the beginning of what will be a pleasingly Crazy Week, I'm sure.
I read this great article a few years back in which they overlayed a chart tracking obesity in the U.S. over a chart that marked the start of the corn lobby's dominance of the U.S. sweetener market. Although statistically imprecise, it sure looked frightening.
Bless you for fighting the good fight!
Posted by: josho | March 20, 2006 at 02:00
Is it just me or is this town exceptionally quiet today?
Oh and we are surrounded by mountains, they are just really far away ... :P
Posted by: Shadman | March 20, 2006 at 03:17
I spent a lot of today walking around, familiarising myself with the area. THERE IS NOTHING HERE. The art museum's cafe is all right, but overpriced.
Posted by: Brinstar | March 20, 2006 at 06:56
Go see Winchester House if you're not too far away. It's a blast. If it's still there, there's also a really good vegetarian place to eat at across the street. Don't expect any culture, you're in America, after all. What was the movie quote I heard...
"You have to love America. They went from barbary to decadence without bothering to build a civilization in between!"
Honestly, though, I just came back from Moscow with a stop both ways in Frankfurt. Does all of Europe smoke like a stack? I'm still finding documents, bags and assorted jackets reaking of cigarette smoke even though I won't touch the stuff.
Hope entry into the country wasn't *too* painful, either. It was easier to get into Russia than it looked like getting into the US. They actually had to play a video on the plane on how to get through passport control.
Posted by: Astarte | March 20, 2006 at 07:47
Hurray for more of Alice's lengthy transcripts typed at insane speeds beyond the reach of most mortals! :)
Posted by: Pixel Kill | March 20, 2006 at 11:57
Wahahah!
Astarte - there was a queue of about 1000 people (really) so an hour wait, the paperwork, fingerprinting and photographing... not so good when you need the loo.
And yes, everyone east of France smokes like a stack. France just smokes, and Britain is trying to quit.
x
Posted by: Alice | March 20, 2006 at 14:45
"Don't expect any culture, you're in America, after all."
I have never understood comments like this. Are you saying that Americans don't make any good food, write any good books, make any good music or movies, or build any beautiful buildings? Because all of these are provably untrue. Or are you guys operating on some other definition of "culture"?
Posted by: Viridian | March 20, 2006 at 16:32
No, I'm talking about great, historic, amazing places to visit. Museums, concert halls, great, old, amazing ruins... etc., etc., so on and so forth.
Instead, we have endless strip malls, acres of parked cars and gigantic, gawdy box stores. Oh, and Disneyland. :P
Posted by: Astarte | March 20, 2006 at 17:29
Silicon Valley isn't a city. In fact, it isn't really a valley either. It's mostly located in the Santa Clara valley, but it's really an imaginary place that stretches from San Jose to San Francisco.
San Jose likes to call itself the "capital of Silicon Valley," but that's only because it's the biggest city in the area (most of the industry is further north). Of course, it really isn't a city, either. It's a giant (177 square mile) suburb. (California clearly has problems with terminology.) San Francisco is California's only actual city, but it's only 46 square miles, so its population isn't nearly as large as San Jose's, even if it is many times denser.
Downtown San Jose is good for one thing, as far as I'm concerned: Vietnamese restaurants (such as Vung Tau).
Posted by: bob | March 20, 2006 at 17:47
I've lived in California most my life and even I'm not sure we have real cows. On the commercials they say we have real cows, but I've never seen them. They must hide them along with the real milk. Nothing in California is real.
Posted by: Beckie | March 20, 2006 at 19:19
Caltrain to culture in SF.
Can't wait to go to Vung Tau. Check out the taqueria up the road at La Victoria. $1.95 Breakfast Burritos. And oh, the orange sauce... the orange sauce.... Coffee's worth trying there too.
Posted by: Yermum | March 20, 2006 at 20:02
San Fransisco is the place to go but it's a 70+ mile trip north.
Try Dave and Buster's for drinks and games.
If it weren't for the rain, Hwy 1 would be a good place to meander a la Santa Cruz.
Posted by: Batmonkey | March 20, 2006 at 20:28
You can certainly find culture in America but it is like finding an oasis in the desert. Hmm, what the hell is the plural of oasis anyway?
Posted by: | March 20, 2006 at 22:03
It's an hour and a half on the train. $10 or so return.
It's really not that far.
Posted by: Yermum | March 20, 2006 at 22:09
Ah, so the definition of "culture" is "buildings more than two hundred years old"? How very convenient.
I can't help but wonder why people are still coming to America when it's such a dreadful place and so hard to get into.
Posted by: Viridian | March 20, 2006 at 22:15
I do wonder how much the border controls have affected pure tourism into the US. Obviously work-related trips will continue but do you think any tourists have been discouraged by the controls?
Curious.
Posted by: Alice | March 21, 2006 at 06:55
I am just a single person, so hardly representative of all the tourists of the world, but for myself... yes, I have been discouraged. The thought of having to be fingerprinted, like some criminal, really does not appeal to me. There's also all the frightening stories about people being handcuffed at US airports and dragged away to hours of interrogation, because their name happened to look similar to some suspected criminal. No thank you.
Posted by: Essi | March 21, 2006 at 08:11
"I am just a single person, so hardly representative of all the tourists of the world, but for myself... yes, I have been discouraged. The thought of having to be fingerprinted, like some criminal, really does not appeal to me."
Which only happens in America, of course.
"There's also all the frightening stories about people being handcuffed at US airports and dragged away to hours of interrogation, because their name happened to look similar to some suspected criminal. No thank you."
Which, again, only happens in America. And to every other person, really! That's what my friend told me!
Before 9/11, it was very easy to get into this country and stay here illegally. Terrorists took advantage of that fact to kill over 3,000 innocent Americans. Do you really think that we are going to simply keep the lax restrictions after that? And our entry procedures are simply more in line with what the rest of the world ALREADY DOES...yet when AMERICA does it, it's not for security, but out of prejudice or something. More proof of our barbarity.
Like I said, if America sucks so bad, why are you guys so keen on coming here anyway?
Posted by: Viridian | March 21, 2006 at 17:19
As an American, I apologize for Viridian ... I think he watches a bit too much FOX News. Most of us don't think like that, well outside of the old Confederacy, so please continue to come visit (hopefully things will change with the next elections). Truth is there is almost no culture in America outside of the larger urban areas, unless you consider McSuburbs culture and I don't.
Posted by: Aluvius | March 21, 2006 at 19:23
There was I, about to post a couple of innocuous but relatively amusing alcohol stories...
A friend of mine was pitching a script or something similar in LA. She and a couple of mates in some kind of nobby restaurant - ordered a glass of red each. I think they must have been too funny or 'non-LA' or something, because they ordered another glass each toward the end of the meal and the waitress (you can almost feel her lips purse and her hands clasp together) said "I think you've had enough!".
I thought I'd quickly say to Aluvius, meanwhile that whilst culture in an urban/e way may not be present, nevertheless, mountain ranges, canyons a mile deep, national parks on top of super volcanoes etc... it's not *too* bad out there, as long as you travel incognito.
Posted by: Cait | March 21, 2006 at 20:20
Shadman: The town is always that quiet. Welcome to the pit of nothingness that is San Jose. I truly wish GDC had staid in Moscone Center.
Well, I'll join all you guys tomorrow - looking forward to meeting some of you finally in person!
Posted by: Robert 'Groby' Blum | March 22, 2006 at 03:08
We certainly have beautiful landscapes here, but I don't think that qualifies as a cultural heritage :)
Posted by: Aluvius | March 22, 2006 at 17:55
Gotta call bs on the "things that are old" equalling culture. It's not culture, it's history. These are two different things.
We've INVENTED forms of music, theater, and art that were not seen in the world before we did them. The fact that the great majority of Americans choose to not partkae of this CULTURE is a sad fact and mostly true. This is not the same as America having no culture.
I'm a rabid left-winger too. So no cute Fox News comments please.
Posted by: | March 23, 2006 at 05:15
whoops. that last comment was me.
Posted by: cornan | March 23, 2006 at 05:16
I don't see where I said that America has no culture, only that its hard to find in suburbia or the large open spaces where few people actually live. I also don't see where I or anyone else said that "things that are old equals culture". Perhaps you are mistaking Viridian's USA! USA! USA! post where he/she states:
"Ah, so the definition of "culture" is "buildings more than two hundred years old"? How very convenient."
While I could be wrong, I don't think this is exactly supportive of your contention since Viridian appears to be using sarcasm rather than stating his/her actual opinion.
Thanks for taking out that straw man, he looked threatening.
Otherwise, I totally agree with you Cornan. However, outside of larger urban centers where can you find "music, theatre and art" here in the US? I live in the South in a city of around 250,000 and well, we maybe have 1 of the 3 if college bands qualify as music :)
A tourist would have to be out of their mind to visit here and by that I mean a small American city/suburb not America as a whole.
Posted by: Aluvius | March 23, 2006 at 15:00