After a long, teeth-grinding battle with spam and with my web server, I have implemented Blacklist plugins to help eliminate spam comments about poker, viagra and mortgage rates. So, if you post a comment and it seems to get caught in the spam net, let me know so I can sort you out. Also, you will no longer be able to comment on anything dated older than 30 days ago, sorry.
Skool Disco as usual, only this time without a flash. Experiments in lighting as the night transpires.
International Students were treated to food and drink at the Castle. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the food, or the drink, or any of those old stuffy people we met, but gotta love that 12th century architecture, Norman Chapels, Edwardian fireplaces, etc.
And there was that waitress girl…
Apple’s first European retail store, location on Regent Street, just south of Oxford Circus in London, is more than simply a place for Britons to buy Apple products, it is the latest chapter in Apple’s full-contact approach to branding and their continued leading of the digital lifestyle.
The presense of the store was apparent days before the doors opened. With eager shoppers queueing as early as 36 hours before 10 am Saturday, there was no denying that this was going to be an event more suited to film premiere than a store opening. When Saturday arrived, so did the Apple faithful, thousands of them. They came from faraway places like Chicago, Tokyo and Bombay as well as from all parts of the UK. They waited in the rain, for hours, to get through the doors to see, and to experience what Apple had been selling as it_s most illustrious retail location to date.
And it typical British fashion, the queue began. At it_s peak, the queue stretched about 1 km, and one could expect a 4-5 hours wait to get in the store. The police had their hands full creating order on an already-crowded Regent Street that now had to contend with buses, rugby fans, and depleted pavement area, as well as the usually rabble of shoppers.
I braved the queue later in the day, long after the free t-shirts and specially-packaged goody bags were gone. After about a half hour of gawking at how much Starbucks and McDonalds rubbish was strewn about, I entered the store itself. Having been to three other Apple retail locations (New York, Short Hills, and King of Prussia), I wasn’t terribly surprised by anything, Apple’s dedication to minimalism was apparent, but they have upped the scale slightly for London.
The ground floor of the apple store is designed to be as uncluttered as possible. A massive entry hall greets you as you enter from one of two double-doors leading to Regent Street. Just beyond is the center of the store, a shiny glass-and-metal staircase leading to the second floor where the theatre and Genius Bar are located. Most of the display tables as well as the check out counter are located on the first floor. What is striking about the store is its use, or lack, of building materials. The design is strictly modernist, only wood, glass, stone and metal are used, all coordinated to painful detail. The tables are shockingly ordinary, butcher-block style at best, with 90 angles that complimented the design of the modern generation of the Apple products themselves, most of which are built out of Aluminum, the great exception being the iPod and new iMac which are still white plastic.
It is the mixture of minimal architecture with intricate technology that makes the Apple store significant, and which makes Apple somewhat arrogant in themselves. The machines are displayed art gallery style, almost idolised, especially when you see the only photography, and in fact the only decoration at all displayed around the store is of the Apple products themselves. The machine aesthetic has returned to prominence, almost a full recovery to the modernist thinking that was defeated in the 1970s. The design of Apple products has influenced nearly every other computer manufacturer, if not every other product designer as a whole. Where a few years ago, they pioneered coloured plastic, now they have brought brushed Aluminum into the homes and hearts of their consumers. And in doing so, have changed the trend of design back to a form of low-tech chic.
All this has been done while the products themselves have been evolving in functional power with great speed. In addition to the monstrously fast G5 desktops, I was humbled by the 23″ and larger flat panel displays, designed as much to inspire jealousy as to create more desktop space. In regards to the ever-popular iPods, the new Photo ones were impressive, but overpriced. I found the addition of a colour screen and adaptation of the Aqua interface much more significant than the fact that I can now carry my photo library everywhere I go. I’m sure that anyone like me, who hates the typeface Chicago, will be releived to see that the now fully-backlit iPods have also changed their font choice, as well as been made more beautiful in general by the use of a colour screen.
I was disappointed that the new iMacs are plastic, and they have lost their swivel capabilities, reduced to a mere one degree-of-freedom tilt action.
Regarding the atmosphere of the store itself and the ‘experience’ I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the Apple store employees I have dealt with have actually been rather annoying, and while knowledgable, they usually seem stressed and clearly have very little experience dealing with people. Perhaps because it was the first day, but the staff seemed very welcoming, all smiles. And the composition of the staff itself was quite varied, Americans, Britons, Spaniards, and a whole range of other nationalities and accents could be found dressed in Apple Black. A reflection of London, it would seem.
It was an eventful day, one that London will not soon forget. The true impact of the Apple store has yet to be felt, but we can be sure that London will be examined closely be Apple customers and business theorists alike. It rained. But England still beat South Africa 32-16. I smell another World Cup (in three years).
Karaoke as usual.
Today we won our first rugby match of the season, although it was under the rather strange circumstances that Westminster University didn’t turn up. Perhaps they were off dealing with the ban on Foxhunting or some other Parliamentary crap.
Then to the house of Sam, Andrea, etc. for some random artsy type chat.
I have lost of track of how many Mondays have occurred this year, that’s not really important. It’s funny to note that Monday has become less Skool, and less Disco, and more of people just getting really drunk with music playing, and snogging in public while being sprayed with champagne.
Interesting to note how many of these pictures are blurry, for some reason, and how many Zoe is in. Also, I hope you are paying attention to what’s going on in the background, odd to catch some of those moments.
And at the end of the night, I return home, sweaty and smelling like fags, but otherwise unscathed.
P.S. I love England.
At the Union for no apparent reason. Listening to a really bad band called Kapowski. Not clever. Had some chats by the end of the night, so I guess it wasn’t all bad, but certainly not �3.50 worth of fun. Oh well.
Spent the morning at the library, then went to Guildford to have my finger checked out at the Hospital, then back to campus, watched some tv and went to the Union. Laurence posing for a Guiness ad.
Turns out I am linked from the Student Union Website.
After a visit to Wheel in London, decided to take a walk and see the Raphael Exhibit at the National Gallery. Not a substitute for the Vatican, by any means, but a good time none the less.
I learned another important lesson today about the National Rail service – don’t travel before 9 am! My return ticket to London was inflated by abut 2.5x because I had to leave in the morning for a 9 am meeting, which I wound up being really late to. £24 – What the Fuck! Thank you President Bush, they dollar is officially worth less than ‘loo roll’ on this side of the Atlantic.
yea yea I’m the taxman…
Master students hanging out at the Wheatsheaf. Pretty standard really.
