4.6.12

*** Shoreditch ***

Recently (and at last), I have been relatively successful in my job-endeavour and have landed myself a placement at a mobile design agency in Shoreditch- this is primarily the reason I have been such a neglectful blogger.  I am not used to getting up at 7h00 and getting back home at 19h00.  12 hours straight out of the house has only happened on very rare occasions in the last month.

I do, however really like it. I will not ramble on endlessly about my new "job", it will suffice to say that besides being productive everyday in a lovely environment, I can also get away with being barefoot at work and partaking in the weekly office ritual of "beer fridays".

Anyhoo, as this agency is situated in Shoreditch, I spend most of my days there and have found two very, for lack of better word, "cool" web features related to this area in London:

Firstly, the Überlin music video by R.E.M- which is just some dude jumping around a stretch of street. The fascinating part of this music video is that it is right around the corner from my work- more specifically at 0:31 of the video you see a metal doorstep.  To anyone else I suppose this is just a standard set of steps, but I noticed that last Friday I was sitting on those stairs drinking a pint. Admittedly this isn't the most fascinating piece of blog-information, but I thought it was damn cool- coming from a country that has virtually no international exposure to sitting in the middle of East London where it is literally "happening".



Also, this area is very close to Brick Lane, an area of East London once associated with jack the Ripper (apparently), but now popular with the "edgy and artistic crowd".  Although it is a bit hipster and trendy, it still is a great place to spend a day (or night, depending on what you are in the mood for), filled with pubs, restaurants, graffiti, festivals and markets.



[Instagram: Cool Pug on the "famous" doorway]


[Instagram: Graffiti & "famous doorway"]


 [Instagram: Sunny day and beerday at work]

Sometimes though, this area can be a bit much, as many things are often overpriced and crowded.  So, for my second find, I stumbled across a website called "normal Shoreditch", which is a website dedicated to the more "normal" things in Shoreditch. You can choose from a list of "normal things you want in Shoreditch", for example "An old man pint. £4 for a jar of hipster beer. I don't think so.  Get a proper pint down you" with recommendations of places you would find such a beer. Pretty clever.

 [Normal in Shoreditch screencap]

[Normal in Shoreditch screencap2]

These people have also made a remake of the R.E.M Überlin Video, stating that they "don't want a nepotistic, ironic pose down Redchurch Street.  They just want to listen to a bit of lovely R.E.M and be Normal in Shoreditch".  It is of a very regular looking dude strolling down the same stretch of street as that in the R.E.M video- doing more regular things- like tying his shoelace, looking both ways when he crosses the street and just walking with his hands in his pockets. I thought this was quite amusing...