Think Austin is weird? (Houston, Dallas: home, neighborhood, restaurant)

[mackenziep]

So I went to that website and the first thing I saw exquisitely demonstrated the fact that Austin is actually quite parochial: Cricket and petanque are not weird. They're just sports/activities played in a foreign country.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by mackenziep

So I went to that website and the first thing I saw exquisitely demonstrated the fact that Austin is actually quite parochial: Cricket and petanque are not weird. They're just sports/activities played in a foreign country.

Nailed it. + 1 for you buddy.

Austin is the place that thinks it's unique because it's surrounded by 200 miles of BFE in every direction.

Nothing that occurs here would seem the least bit odd in any major city.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

The art cows "cow parade" has already been in countless cities around the world... and was in NY, Chicago, Houston etc. a full decade before Austin. Just sayin'.

Something similar, Horse Mania, was developed in Lexington, Ky. in 2000, then revived in 2010 for the World Equestrian Games. These horse statues are still all over the city.
Horse Mania 2010 Brings World Equestrian Games Excitement to Downtown Lexington

I have found that what I believed was unique in Austin isn't, at least not to the degree I thought. It's properly humbling to realize that, and all the talk suddenly sounds silly...

[cBach]

Well the 90 to 20 degree weather in one week is kind of weird.

[CptnRn]

Austin is quite weird compared to not just Texas but most of the USA. Yes I know there are weirder places in the US, such as parts of LA, San Francisco, Key West and perhaps Portland. But compared to many other cities I have lived in or visited, Austin beats them in weirdness.

Austin is however becoming more and more mainstream as a result of the dilution factor, all the other people moving here from the rest of the not so weird USA.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Austin is quite weird compared to not just Texas but most of the USA. Yes I know there are weirder places in the US, such as parts of LA, San Francisco, Key West and perhaps Portland. But compared to many other cities I have lived in or visited, Austin beats them in weirdness.

Austin is however becoming more and more mainstream as a result of the dilution factor, all the other people moving here from the rest of the not so weird USA.

The only thing that's weird about Austin is that it considers fairly normal stuff you seen in EVERY MAJOR CITY IN THE WORLD to be out of the ordinary.

The usual evidence of such weirdness put up - petanque, cricket, dead cross dressing sometimes homeless ex-hippies, graffiti, diver bars, sketch comedy shows, yard art, art cars, public art - none of this is would be thought of making a city weird any other place in the universe. Calling it so, building a campaign around it (complete with really weird tie-dye inspired signage with wacky lettering) and marketing the city as such makes Austinites seem like a bunch of parochial rubes.

I hate this campaign even more than I hated the Live Music Capital of the World campaign - and I really hated that one.

[TexasHorseLady]

Komeht, based on everything I've seen that you've posted over time, you WOULD hate the campaign because weird is the exact opposite of what you want Austin to be.

I grant CptnRn's point that Austin is becoming more and more mainstream as more and more people move in who THINK they want Austin but really want Any Big City, USA, and work hard to make it that, and those who are already here who want that because Being Different is anathema to them encourage that, as well. I noticed several years ago that Austin Weird has started moving around the city, hiding, as it were, from those who would destroy it so that those who value it have to seek it out. It's still there, but it's not as primary a part of Austin's persona as it once was. This all started, I think, when those who had not a CLUE what the phrase means commercialized it and the "shop local" crowd, apparently equally clueless, co-opted it to mean the exact opposite of what it originally meant.

As for "parochial", using that term says a heck of a lot more about the user than it does about the target, and trust me, it's not flattering.

[Komeht]

I hate the campaign because it makes Austinites seem like self-proclaiming hucksters who sell snake oil, at best, or naive rubes at worst. Again, nothing about food trucks, yard art, art cars, public art, graffiti, dead sometimes homeless thong wearing dudes, sports and games such as cricket and petanque is unique to Austin (unless your perspective is from Jarrell) - you can find all of this in nearby cities such as Houston, Dallas and even San Antonio - hell you can practically find all of that in Omaha! And you can find far far stranger things in virtually any city on either coast. And if you truly want weird, New Orleans and The Conch Republic fit the bill.

My critique of Austin is definitely NOT that it's too weird, just the opposite - it's that it is actually much blander and far more one-dimensional and a completely conventional sunbelt mostly suburban city when it could and most definitely should be so much more. Austin needs more folks from places like Portland to move here and import fewer from places like Dallas before it could ever really be described as weird.

[mackenziep]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Komeht, based on everything I've seen that you've posted over time, you WOULD hate the campaign because weird is the exact opposite of what you want Austin to be.

I grant CptnRn's point that Austin is becoming more and more mainstream as more and more people move in who THINK they want Austin but really want Any Big City, USA, and work hard to make it that, and those who are already here who want that because Being Different is anathema to them encourage that, as well. I noticed several years ago that Austin Weird has started moving around the city, hiding, as it were, from those who would destroy it so that those who value it have to seek it out. It's still there, but it's not as primary a part of Austin's persona as it once was. This all started, I think, when those who had not a CLUE what the phrase means commercialized it and the "shop local" crowd, apparently equally clueless, co-opted it to mean the exact opposite of what it originally meant.

As for "parochial", using that term says a heck of a lot more about the user than it does about the target, and trust me, it's not flattering.

3. Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook; provincial: parochial attitudes.

I think this describes the phenomenon perfectly. Anyway, I moved to Austin because it's where my husband lived for years and he assured me that Austin was cool. I moved from Cambridge, MA, which truly is weird and has never felt the need to call itself such. If you've never been to Cambridge, Cantabrigians loathe big box stores, strip malls and anything else that reeks of mainstreamism.

So if you're lumping me in with the crowd that wants to make Austin more monochromatic, you're 100% wrong. After 10 years here, and more examples given to me than I can count of supposedly weird things, it's obvious that Austinites don't get out much.

[TexasHorseLady]

mackienziep, the comment regarding the use of parochial has nothing to do with big box stores, or even with Austin, but with an attitude that is a bit more encompassing.

High horses do come irresistibly to mind.