Canberra Selling ourselves short.

I reject the idea that I am in the low to middle income earners bracket when I waltz thru Belco Mall.

I am of the opinion that all malls have been tailored to capitalise on the demographic of the area. Look at the different malls –

Tuggers Hyperdome – aimed at the bogans, the stores aren’t extravagant, they are simple with specific target marketing for the low to mid income earners.

Woden – aimed at the low to mid income earners

Belco Mall – aimed at the low to mid income earners

Canberra centre – apparently aimed at the mid to high income earners, but most high income earners just hop in a plane to melbourne or Sydney. The canberra centre is the largest mall we had, but the DFO gives it a run for its money now.

Canberra centre is filled with boutique shops that I wouldn’t dream of visiting on my normal hunter gatherer trips for the groceries. It is a mall aimed at special purchases, and you feel that it is designed for the shopper that can spend entire days trolling for bargains.

apparently, we are cash rich and don’t mind spending up big in a 3 level shopfest….

I say meh to it all.

really don’t care if it is there or not, but the bunda street area is far darker now it is….

bring back the sun!

tylersmayhem (@ #17):

you may have just coined this seasons newest fashion T-Shirt: “Who is Pedro?” (assuming no-one got there first 😉 )… hmmmmmm, who knows a good t-shirt printer in the ‘berra?

I throw my hat in the “Don’t like it – don’t go” ring…

People who write posts like these have way too much time on their hands.

Wow commercialism and capitalists are the root of all evil and people wearing colourful clothes bought from said commercial stores are satan’s spawn. Welcome to the real world, if you don’t like it crawl back into your box and sit in the darkness, there you won’t be able to see the clothes you dislike people wearing or go to the shopping centres that have all sorts of commercial going-ons that sell said clothes. I suppose they could have tried building a rollercoaster on the site, stopping along the way for people to disembark for some good old-fashioned small businesses who of course could afford to fund the ride. Otherwise it could be still a nice lovely carpark full of petrol guzzling brightly bland coloured vehicles. Oh we can never win..

Solution. DON’T SHOP THERE!

Seriously, is it really that hard to figure out?

I’m not one of the supposed people you speak of, in fact I dislike those same carbon copy clothing stores as much as you do, but my solution to the problem is simply to not shop there. People are free to shop wherever the hell they like, and if some of them like those stores then good on them, it’s not like they have any direct influence on me.

Overheard said :

Actually, jakez, in line with another comment along similar lines above, we’ll have to have you stuffed, mounted and bronzed when you finally kick it. And install a plaque announcing: ‘Well, who would have thunk it: a Liberal with a sense of humour, a bit of balance and a personality!’

I’d make a joke about needing a sense of humour in order to be in the Liberal Party but I’m too afraid of proving justbands right…

justbands said :

Shhhh….don’t tell them. They’ll kick him out of the party!

Overheard said :

Actually, jakez, in line with another comment along similar lines above, we’ll have to have you stuffed, mounted and bronzed when you finally kick it. And install a plaque announcing: ‘Well, who would have thunk it: a Liberal with a sense of humour, a bit of balance and a personality!’

Jakez is one of those friendly small-l liberals, though. God bless them, if only there were more in both parties…..

Nukezone said :

I have no issues with young people, I am in my 20’s.I never mentioned anything about horny kids although you seem to have that on your mind, and I don’t mind dumb people either, as long as they don’t make decisions that affect others. I specified the issues, you sir have missed the point.

I’d suggest that the kids having a good time on the town harm nothing but their own livers and dignity. Likewise the unenlightened shopping centre plebs you hate so much.

Overheard said :

Oh, you’re going to hate me for this but it’s just factual, not pretentious (moi?!) but between us, the ex and I had five languages, no four languages covered, so we’d watch SBS and predominantly enjoy the films, but also be highly amused at the poetic licence the translators had employed.

I would never resent anyone for being smart and accomplished. I love to see people using their gifts and talents, and I think most people have more than anybody gives them credit for.

Will keep an eye out for those DVDs, thanks.

: )

Whoa whoa whoa, don’t get me wrong, you’ll note that the things I rebutted are not the things you just said. I’m not going to say Hoyts was a magical land of flowers and rainbows (after all, I no longer work there).

The stoogery you have just mentioned, I can’t deny, particularly towards the end of my tenure. After I left, I heard that Hoyts Woden really went into the crapper. What timeframe are we talking about?

I’ll absolutely agree with you on overtime. You’d have to fight tooth and nail to get that extra pay, it was ridiculous.

Incidentally, I think I’m the one with the theories and you are the one with the facts, lol.

As for your OUTRAGEOUS (kidding) slurs on my coworkers at Hoyts and Dendy, let me say that the oily teens were never projectionists, the projectionists hardly ever helped on Candy, and when they did they always cleaned up afterwards. They used special gloves upstairs anyway so it’s simply not an issue. Film reels were always put together by the head projectionist, and ads were never spliced into the feature (simply because they are completely separate formats these days let alone reels).

Sorry jakez: these are not outrageous as I too have worked for Hoyts…in Woden – as a projectionist, seen the way film stock was handled (new films splayed all over the dusty floor during make-up, the expectations for the quick turn arounds on the make-up and breakdown of film stock and (I could never comprehend) the splicing of ad’s on to the reel, WHILE THE FEATURED WAS STILL RUNNING! On more than one occasion I saw cowboys make a mistake doing this and causing the film to stop (a common occurrence at Hoyts).

Ad to this the fact the Hoyts paid their full time staff for 8 hours and no more whatsoever. Forget the fact that a shift would start at 3pm, and often the features would not finish until well after 12 midnight. Add to that the “thorough” cleaning of all projectors, help count tills, check that the candy bar was clean…come on man – are you sure you worked there? So to clarify, I usually worked 8.5 hours each day, but only ever got paid for 8 hours. When approached by me, management said “over-time is not our policy”. The fact they ran their films past 12am didn’t seem to matter.

So go ahead and keep trying to debunk my theories my friend, but your facts are not correct!

Granny said :

I have been surprised by many of the films we have seen at Dendy.

Since we are almost always finding ourselves stuck with the 9pm Sunday timeslot we often end up seeing these delightful French films with subtitles … and they are so good that we don’t even notice them once the movie gets going.

I would never usually go and see this sort of thing, but it is like finding a rare jewel or unexpected treasure.

Molinere was just divine!

A couple of recommendations for DVDs, Granny: ‘The Visitors’ (Les visiteurs) and ‘Tais Toi!’ (Shut Up!) Both very funny. The first is a bit slap-stick while the second is more dialogue-based humour while still very visual. And I loved the ‘Trois Coleurs’ trilogy (Three Colours: White, Red, Blue. Er, but not in that order. Blue, White, Red — I think.)

Oh, you’re going to hate me for this but it’s just factual, not pretentious (moi?!) but between us, the ex and I had five languages, no four languages covered, so we’d watch SBS and predominantly enjoy the films, but also be highly amused at the poetic licence the translators had employed.

Shhhh….don’t tell them. They’ll kick him out of the party!

Actually, jakez, in line with another comment along similar lines above, we’ll have to have you stuffed, mounted and bronzed when you finally kick it. And install a plaque announcing: ‘Well, who would have thunk it: a Liberal with a sense of humour, a bit of balance and a personality!’

I have been surprised by many of the films we have seen at Dendy.

Since we are almost always finding ourselves stuck with the 9pm Sunday timeslot we often end up seeing these delightful French films with subtitles … and they are so good that we don’t even notice them once the movie gets going.

I would never usually go and see this sort of thing, but it is like finding a rare jewel or unexpected treasure.

Molinere was just divine!

amarooresident said :

For the first time ever I am completely in agreement with jakez. And now I feel dirty for agreeing with a liberal.

MUAHAHAHAHA MY EVIL BRAINWASHING PLAN IS FINALLY COMING TO FRUITION.

I’m sure it’s not the first time Amaroo, you’ve probably just missed the posts where I rag on Burke and Pratt.

tylersmayhem said :

Okay jakez: The main issue that these forgone cinemas all struggled against, were the distributors of the films. i.e. Hoyts opens in Woden, distributors gives them first dibs on films because they can show 8 films, say 5 times per day, as opposed to Cosmo only being able to handle half that number. Poor old Cosmo for instance gets the old crap that Hoyts doesn’t show as much any more. Therefore, the majority of the public have probably seen the movie, so don’t frequent the little guy, who happened to have the best sound and film quality in the ACT. Add to that the fact that many distributors take (or at least they used to) about 90% of ticket sales profits the first week, 80% the second, 70-60% the next and so on (bring on the candy bar prices for profit then). Small independents could no longer stand up to that kind of competition. So as Canberran’s, we are left with massive multiplex’s such as Hoyts with their substandard picture and sound quality, s**t service, 15 year old candy bar attendants smearing popcorn oil all over the film while they are making up the reel, while trying to serve the candy bar, pop corn, splice ad’s into a feature – all the while with the monopoly on the pricing market.

As soon as we removed our independent film houses, we removed probably over a hundred years of quality projectionist experience and love of the industry, and handed our money to the money machine Starbucks of cinema in this town. agin, we were dazzled by quantity, not quality – new, not old/established.

All that said, Dendy is by far a better multiplex and company than the likes of Hoyts. Probably because a lot of the blood that pumped through Shadows and Centre Cinema now flows through Dendy (thank God).

In the mean time, I still frequent Greater Union in Manuka, both for price, and to keep that old theater open. I can’t stand to see another Academy take over an old Canberra landmark.

I could go on, and on for hours on this topic – but that’s a very very brief overview.

I guess you assumed I was new to the industry. I’ve worked in the industry for about 7 years now (yes I started as one of those teen candy bar attendants at Hoyts Woden.

I know all about the distributors and how they work, and what you have said about them. My point was never that that wasn’t the case. My point was that Dendy can put more indie and arthouse films on than Electric Shadows, AND can get the average punter to go see them. This is because we are bigger, and because we are a hybrid cinema. I understand your nostalgia for the old, I can get it but I don’t share it.

All I know is that the Canberra punters now have access to more films than ever, and as far as I’m concerned, quality is up not down.

I’m not a tech head so I can’t speak to your comments on better quality from the little guy (I assume you are talking about the actual film and sound quality). I never saw that but I don’t think it’s good enough to matter anyway. It’s easy to lament the demise of something that you personally like, I do it all the time (small Government is a popular one 😉 ). However, sorry mate but people have different desires and sometimes that doesn’t extend to technical specifications.

As for your OUTRAGEOUS (kidding) slurs on my coworkers at Hoyts and Dendy, let me say that the oily teens were never projectionists, the projectionists hardly ever helped on Candy, and when they did they always cleaned up afterwards. They used special gloves upstairs anyway so it’s simply not an issue. Film reels were always put together by the head projectionist, and ads were never spliced into the feature (simply because they are completely separate formats these days let alone reels).

As for poor customer service? Well I guess that’s in the eye of the beholder. At Hoyts some of us were good and some of us were bad, and that’s the same at any store whether it is chain or indie. Never in my time at Hoyts was the policy ‘let’s make the customers hate us’. Electric Shadows never blew my mind with customer service and all their staff came over to Dendy anyway.

Jazz said :

Nukezone, You mention that kids are allergic to books and the truth. What exactly is this great truth you speak of?

Isn’t it just your perception of life and events from a particular perspective?

I had a chortle at this too, because in this context I assumed the OP wasn’t talking about them being allergic to the truth about black and white things like gravity and death and weather, but the “truth” about things like philosophy end economics, where asserting that yours is the only account that can be true is a bit more contentious….

Screw all you hippy whingers. I like going to giant JB Hifi store to admire the fine plasma TVs while the girl browses through the vast Borders library.

If you’re too poor and unemployed to afford the finer things in life, don’t come complaining to me under the guise of anit-consumerism. Get a hair-cut, join the mainstream and listen to Oprah like the rest of us.

Anarchist hippy commie nazi scum.

jakez said :

Oh no not an Aldi where you can get cheap food products. Oh no, not a Borders where you can get books on innumerable topics. Oh no, not a Dendy Cinema where we (I work there) show far more independent films than Electric shadows could hope to. Oh no not an Oxfam store, where you can shop till your bleeding heart is content.

Oh no, not an amazing amount of new shops that we never had before in Canberra. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THIS CHOICE?

The strip from Dendy to the information centre has an abundance of female clothing stores, many of them in the manor the original poster described.

SO WHAT! It’s not my bag and I don’t like the people you described, but I’m not the kind of twit that has to get all pissy about it. You keep walking, you mind your own business, and you do it because you have a life that is satisfying and busy. If you don’t have that life, then moaning is not the hobby to enrich it.

Get over yourself and stop being a whinging waste of space. I don’t even know what you want out of a shopping mall. QIC is providing us with a great variety of options, and if you don’t like it then you can piss off back to your basement of sorrow and resentment.

Before the new part of the Canberra Centre, it was all teeny bopper bullshit, across the land, in all the malls.

For the first time ever I am completely in agreement with jakez. And now I feel dirty for agreeing with a liberal.

Wow, Nukezone! I love someone who can start a good avalanche.

: )

circusmind said :

Nukezone said :

If being on the crotchety old whiner bandwagon distinguishes me from being on the “fully sick” throwing up in a gutter at 4 am,loud ,insane bandwagon then I will take that as a complement.

And seriously, if those Zombie clones are “on their way to being productive members of society” then our society is in for some major disfunction.

Keep raging against ‘those damn kids’, gramps. Every generation of kids is loud, dumb, and horny. Every generation wears stupid new clothes and listens to stupid new music. And yet, every generation manages to sort itself out and get a haircut and a job when they turn 25.

Funny that, although you might indeed find me drinking in Civic at 4am of a weekend, I can actually spell.

Noice…

Nukezone said :

I have no issues with young people, I am in my 20’s.I never mentioned anything about horny kids although you seem to have that on your mind, and I don’t mind dumb people either, as long as they don’t make decisions that affect others. I specified the issues, you sir have missed the point.

You have to be $hitting me!!!! 20’s? Damn.

I have no issues with young people, I am in my 20’s.I never mentioned anything about horny kids although you seem to have that on your mind, and I don’t mind dumb people either, as long as they don’t make decisions that affect others. I specified the issues, you sir have missed the point.

Nukezone said :

If being on the crotchety old whiner bandwagon distinguishes me from being on the “fully sick” throwing up in a gutter at 4 am,loud ,insane bandwagon then I will take that as a complement.

And seriously, if those Zombie clones are “on their way to being productive members of society” then our society is in for some major disfunction.

Keep raging against ‘those damn kids’, gramps. Every generation of kids is loud, dumb, and horny. Every generation wears stupid new clothes and listens to stupid new music. And yet, every generation manages to sort itself out and get a haircut and a job when they turn 25.

Funny that, although you might indeed find me drinking in Civic at 4am of a weekend, I can actually spell.

* user = use *

Freudian slip. I should be getting back to the office!

Kramer said :

But the psycho-social-observer in me just finds it fascinating to ‘mensenkijken’ — I love languages that have a word for concepts that we need two for in English: ‘people-watching’ (Dutch).

The word you are looking for is ‘perving’.

Ah, no actually. Here’s a phrase I almost never user, but I’ll bring it out now: ‘You’re wrong!’

Perving: ‘Phwoar, check out the pins on that doll!’
mensenkijken: ‘Wow, check out the introspection on that one; surrounded by 250 people and not paying any attention to anything except their own reflection in the shop windows.’

But the psycho-social-observer in me just finds it fascinating to ‘mensenkijken’ — I love languages that have a word for concepts that we need two for in English: ‘people-watching’ (Dutch).

The word you are looking for is ‘perving’.

circusmind said :

Nukezone said :

The concerning thing is I sound like some antiquated old fool, or “miserable old tosser” and Im in my 20’s. Thats where Im at. I find it humerous that it has become a trait of the “older generations” to question and resist modern fashion and commercial trends.

You’re right, of course. Our society consumes an unholy amount of crap. I have had the dubious pleasure of working many a retail Christmas and it is truly sickening how much useless rubbish we buy in this country. And yes, the clone Westfield-style shopping centre is depressingly uniform, and I can’t think of a worse thing to do than spend a day in the fluorescent hell of an indoor shopping centre.

But your OP was just such a rocking-chair-on-front-porch whinge. I mean really. The older members of society have always thought that kids “these days” have stupid clothes and haircuts, don’t do any work, and are dumb as a box of rocks.

You might find that a hell of a lot of the “zombies” in the Moose or Acads of a weekend night are uni students well on their way to being productive members of society. Likewise with kids buying cookie-cutter clothes and music you don’t approve of in the Canberra Centre.

Rise above the boring stereotypes before you become one yourself–the crotchety old whiner.

If being on the crotchety old whiner bandwagon distinguishes me from being on the “fully sick” throwing up in a gutter at 4 am,loud ,insane bandwagon then I will take that as a complement.

And seriously, if those Zombie clones are “on their way to being productive members of society” then our society is in for some major disfunction.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Wow, Nukezone. You’re gritty and edgy, not like those fake people. I’ve never seen insightful social commentary like this anywhere. Pink polo shirts, hah! Why hasn’t anybody thought to ridicule these kinds of people before? How does it feel to be an intellectual leader, an avant garde, living life on the mental edge? Can I subscribe to your newsletter?

It feels good.

I can’t really reply to everyone and I appreciate that there are others in the community with such varied views on this I actually think thats a good thing you could easily be fooled into thinking most people in Canberra are pretty dosile when it comes to these matters. As to The Dendy, I have been there three times since it has opened and have decided not to return. I know the Dendy’s at Melbourne used to only play independant films and documentaries, which had no other real public platform, and being a patron of the cinema, kind of meant something. Dendy in civic is a smaller, nicer looking Hoyts.

The massage chairs are a bit much…. And Has anyone tried the “self service” at Big W? What a joke! Self service my A@$!

I know there are those that say “stfu who cares” when it comes to these topics, but you really should not be posting here let alone on this website. Either get on the soap box or GTFO!

Oh Jesus H Christ, lighten up!

I may not salivate over the thought of spending the day at a mall, but when I need to buy something, or im just simply in the mood to treat myself to something nice, I like to have a few shops to choose from. Sure consumerism has gone a little over the top in recent years but you know what? I may not *need* everything that I own, but I work hard and im absolutely entitled to enjoy the fruits of my labour by buying useless crap if I want to.

Consumerism – one of my favourite topics.

Mr_Shab said :

Nukezone – we’d all like Civic to be more like Brunswick St in Melbourne (a more “human” scale of marketplace, IMO), but it’s just not going to happen. Complain about the galahs in pink polo shirts all you like; but they pay the piper.

Keep to the old areas of Civic (Petrie/city walk/Garema). Hopefully more folk will weary of the new temple and it will see a resurgence.

Or go to the north end of Lonsdale St in Braddon – boutique stores aplenty. As far as I can tell the growth in this area has not been driven by out-of-town developers, rather it has been the result of adventurous business owners and supportive consumers. An organic transformation of a sub-semi-industrial area into a hipster neigbourhood, if you will.

My advice to the OP – if you don’t like the Canberra Centre, steer clear of it. It’s not that hard. Canberra has a couple of niche shopping areas that will hopefully leave you feeling less frazzled. Or just follow Granny and Locaqiousness’ advice and make something.

Keep it real son.

BTW – this season’s hottest tshirt seems to be ‘vote for Morgo’.

Okay jakez: The main issue that these forgone cinemas all struggled against, were the distributors of the films. i.e. Hoyts opens in Woden, distributors gives them first dibs on films because they can show 8 films, say 5 times per day, as opposed to Cosmo only being able to handle half that number. Poor old Cosmo for instance gets the old crap that Hoyts doesn’t show as much any more. Therefore, the majority of the public have probably seen the movie, so don’t frequent the little guy, who happened to have the best sound and film quality in the ACT. Add to that the fact that many distributors take (or at least they used to) about 90% of ticket sales profits the first week, 80% the second, 70-60% the next and so on (bring on the candy bar prices for profit then). Small independents could no longer stand up to that kind of competition. So as Canberran’s, we are left with massive multiplex’s such as Hoyts with their substandard picture and sound quality, s**t service, 15 year old candy bar attendants smearing popcorn oil all over the film while they are making up the reel, while trying to serve the candy bar, pop corn, splice ad’s into a feature – all the while with the monopoly on the pricing market.

As soon as we removed our independent film houses, we removed probably over a hundred years of quality projectionist experience and love of the industry, and handed our money to the money machine Starbucks of cinema in this town. agin, we were dazzled by quantity, not quality – new, not old/established.

All that said, Dendy is by far a better multiplex and company than the likes of Hoyts. Probably because a lot of the blood that pumped through Shadows and Centre Cinema now flows through Dendy (thank God).

In the mean time, I still frequent Greater Union in Manuka, both for price, and to keep that old theater open. I can’t stand to see another Academy take over an old Canberra landmark.

I could go on, and on for hours on this topic – but that’s a very very brief overview.

tylersmayhem said :

Oh no, not a Dendy Cinema where we (I work there) show far more independent films than Electric shadows could hope to

Be very careful where you go with comments like this one. I suspect you don’t have an in-depth knowledge of why this is, and why both of Canberra’s best cinema’s were crushed (not to mention the Cosmo).

Enlighten me.

@ AngryHenry. That’s quite a spray, which is an effective metaphor since ‘spray’ goes in all directions with little purpose or direction.

Who are you addressing, sunshine? The original poster? If so, then I probably agree with you, and since it’s your first say-so on this thread, that’s a fair assumption (a word you used yourself).

However, as so oft been said on this site, ‘Assumption is the mother of all f*ck-ups’.

What a bigot you are…

Judge not lest ye be judged yourself my friend.

I’m not a fan of these kind of people either but hey, it takes all kinds of people to make the world go ’round.

I mean I could make an assumption about you being an organic food eating, overtly conscious, looking for some kind of agenda to give their life a purpose, has read a few books and thinks they know everything kind of person. That was drawn purely from MY interpretation of your words, I could be wrong but I’ll never know and I don’t really care.

I think Danman said it best in a previous post…

“I get stereotyped no matter what I wear, so I am careful to not do the same to others.”

Still everyone needs a purpose I guess, so enjoy your petty little beef with society and leave the big issues to some intelligent, open-minded people.

Granny said :

That’s a fantastic gift idea, Overheard.

I guess I wouldn’t normally know who those struggling musicians were. They don’t tend to get advertised on telly or such. The same principle probably applies to local painters and photographers. It would be nice to have some kind of a ‘buy local’ website that showcases and markets their wares – soundbites for the musos and thumbnails for the artists.

Hi Granny. About ten of my 27 jobs are in the music industry, so I’m spoilt for choice. Occasionally I get free CDs which I am usually free and not ‘conflict of interest’-ed to accept, depending on whose hat I have on (radio station, magazine, festival, MC, singer, punter, etc).

But typically the freebie is for the the good of many concerned.

For example, I saw a jazz act on Saturday night, chatted with the lead, he gave me a free CD, I played four tracks on radio the next day and LOVED it (the gig was a simulcast by my radio station) and I gave an honest opinion which was that the music is absolutely sublime. BUT I also disclaimed that I am not a jazz buff.

Tomorrow I’ll meet up with the guy and spend $20 of my own cash on a copy for my ex-wife’s birthday this Thursday.

Everyone wins. Except for the major recording labels and other associated middle-persons who don’t get a cut.

Check it out: profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=136490844 or if that doesn’t work, search for: Greg Stott Band (myspace or youtube). Sublime.

Back OT. It’s been a day of musical revelations for me, but on cruising from Allara Street up towards Dendy via the aforementioned alley of flourescent-lit mall, I was absolutely amazed by the number of aurally-cocooned individuals, wrapped up in their own little secluded iPod worlds. I love my music, but talk about walking around in a bubble. And the effect was evident from the vacant, zombie-like stares.

I walked the whole way with my own MP3 player in my hand (not my ears), just aghast at this sea of drones. And THEN (and I have more front than Woolies and will talk to anyone on the street), I stopped a woman who had a ‘Medecins Sans Frontiers’ (sp?) Refugee Camp t-shirt on because I wanted to quiz her on the camp that’s been set up in Glebe Park. She was pleasant, helpful and informative and had a voice and accent that just makes you want to close your eyes and have it run for hours……. but only after she’d unhooked from the iPod experience she was having! I didn’t notice it at first so she nearly jumped out of her skin when I motioned to her and started talking.

Midday to 2pm in Glebe Park, my friends. Mayhaps see you there.

More choice?

… because we really didn’t have enough!

More sweatshops.
More landfill.
More debt.

Oh no, not a Dendy Cinema where we (I work there) show far more independent films than Electric shadows could hope to

Be very careful where you go with comments like this one. I suspect you don’t have an in-depth knowledge of why this is, and why both of Canberra’s best cinema’s were crushed (not to mention the Cosmo).

Oh no not an Aldi where you can get cheap food products. Oh no, not a Borders where you can get books on innumerable topics. Oh no, not a Dendy Cinema where we (I work there) show far more independent films than Electric shadows could hope to. Oh no not an Oxfam store, where you can shop till your bleeding heart is content.

Oh no, not an amazing amount of new shops that we never had before in Canberra. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THIS CHOICE?

The strip from Dendy to the information centre has an abundance of female clothing stores, many of them in the manor the original poster described.

SO WHAT! It’s not my bag and I don’t like the people you described, but I’m not the kind of twit that has to get all pissy about it. You keep walking, you mind your own business, and you do it because you have a life that is satisfying and busy. If you don’t have that life, then moaning is not the hobby to enrich it.

Get over yourself and stop being a whinging waste of space. I don’t even know what you want out of a shopping mall. QIC is providing us with a great variety of options, and if you don’t like it then you can piss off back to your basement of sorrow and resentment.

Before the new part of the Canberra Centre, it was all teeny bopper bullshit, across the land, in all the malls.

Seconded, justbands. What a petulant whinge of a post.

Granny said :

People are actually telling the government that they prefer ‘marketplace’ models like Gungahlin to the great American ‘supermall’, but what would we know?

Actually these “marketplace” models are an American thing too. They call em “strip-malls” and predictably we’re following blindly.

Shallow materialism…… unashamed consumerism….. demise of small business…. Wanna do something about it then vote with your feet instead of whingeing.

Oh and one more thing…. VOTE PEDRO!

@granny thanks for your story, it’s got me thinking.

Wow, Nukezone. You’re gritty and edgy, not like those fake people. I’ve never seen insightful social commentary like this anywhere. Pink polo shirts, hah! Why hasn’t anybody thought to ridicule these kinds of people before? How does it feel to be an intellectual leader, an avant garde, living life on the mental edge? Can I subscribe to your newsletter?

That’s a fantastic gift idea, Overheard.

I guess I wouldn’t normally know who those struggling musicians were. They don’t tend to get advertised on telly or such. The same principle probably applies to local painters and photographers. It would be nice to have some kind of a ‘buy local’ website that showcases and markets their wares – soundbites for the musos and thumbnails for the artists.

Nukezone, You mention that kids are allergic to books and the truth. What exactly is this great truth you speak of?

Isn’t it just your perception of life and events from a particular perspective?

The apparent trend of commercialism as manifested in large malls could itself be argued as an extension of man’s adoption of tools to make life easier.

neanderthalsis said :

I made the mistake of venturing out to DFO on the weekend with Mrs Neanderthalsis. It is an exact replica of Brand Depot slightly scaled up; hard concrete floors, too brightly lit and endless miles of stores all selling the exact same crap. After what seemed like hours of hiking and growing despondency, I bought some pairs of socks and retreated…

I suspect so. But I will go there sometime for some hardcore psycho-social observation (of ‘mensenkijken’ als ik hep in een anderen ‘thread’ praten) as I reckon it would be an absolute rich tapestry to observe. If you see a fat, balding man with glasses and a RiotACT pin mumbling into an MP3 recorder out there, come up and say, ‘Hi, you’re a sick and twisted individual! How’s tricks?!’

Choice is a wonderful thing, and there are always options.

Sometimes large, soul-less, overly bright shopping malls are like nirvana as they provide me with what I need. And they’re convenient, especially when the kiddies were younger and we/I needed three sherpas and two porters to lug the bags and other essentials required for any outing avecs les kiddies.

Increasingly less, though. (Well, definitely less without the kids around on a regular basis.) But I choose to go independent and local and market stalls etc. when I can.

For presents, I’ll almost always go with CDs from independent (sometimes local) artists who are working on small margins and whose tours are typified by small crowds, low costs, sleeping with billets (er, at the place of billets!) and any sale means, ‘Hooray, for tonight we eat!’ Or drink. Or pay off the engineer and guest artists from the last pressing.

I personally prefer having cloned superbright fluoro lit, piped-muzak filled, plastic pot planted retail cess pits as the venue of choice for spikey haired yoofs, screaming children, meandering geriatrics and single mothers. It means that they stay away from the small suburban centres and the markets and I can shop in peace.

I deplore the crass commercialism, the mass produced feel and the endless sea of grey faces that haunt the big centres. I made the mistake of venturing out to DFO on the weekend with Mrs Neanderthalsis. It is an exact replica of Brand Depot slightly scaled up; hard concrete floors, too brightly lit and endless miles of stores all selling the exact same crap. After what seemed like hours of hiking and growing despondency, I bought some pairs of socks and retreated…

The real issue I have with his post is his comment on Dendy.

The sound quality is definately a high point but I recall that the screens aren’t even that big.

There insufficient seats to meet demand.

It lacks stadium seating so if you are last in line you sit about 2 metres away from the screen and hurt your neck.

And only ONE drink holder per TWO seats??????????? Whaaaaaaaat.

—

And don’t get me started on the tractors on the parkway at 9am.

behaviour as well bothers me. 🙂

Meh – a non issue for me – I am usually only at shopping centeres on a mission and take minimal notice of my sourrounding mass of humankind.

How people dress does not bother me, behavious does.

I used to dress like a metalhead bogan – I am the same person now but now dress a bit more respectable.

I get stereotyped no matter what I wear, so I am careful to not do the same to others.

Come on Nukezone! If there weren’t sufficient shops in Civic, you would be whingeing. Now there is an array, you are whingeing. Young people with popped collars and contemporary haircuts driking in Mooseheads (a young person haunt), you’re whingeing. If you don’t like it, just don’t go there. With the growth that Canberra is experiencing, infrastructure and the like needs to grow with it.

Live and let live…..

Nukezone – we’d all like Civic to be more like Brunswick St in Melbourne (a more “human” scale of marketplace, IMO), but it’s just not going to happen. Complain about the galahs in pink polo shirts all you like; but they pay the piper.

Keep to the old areas of Civic (Petrie/city walk/Garema). Hopefully more folk will weary of the new temple and it will see a resurgence.

Look…I just lament the day all the strap-on’s jumped on the Napoleon Dynamite wagon and my once original “Vote For Pedro” t-shirt went from the mostly “who’s Pedro” questions from passers by and the occasional grin and thumbs up from a random fan – to every second pink-shit…I mean shirt or student tosser wearing one on the weekends.

My Pedro shirt has been retired for just this reason. Dang!

Personally, I don’t mind the stupid consumerism that has gripped our country, as it makes my investments work better. I don’t buy much ‘stuff’ at all these days, and don’t have what some people consider ‘basics’ (eg plasma telly) of someone in my socioeconomic group.

Since making a conscious effort a number of years ago not to buy ‘stuff’ I don’t need, I’d say I’m a much happier human. But if others want to throw themselves on the dungheap of debt fuelled consumerism, well, be my guest!

Why do people like (Nukezone) worry so much about what other people wear or what they look like. Get a f***ing life.

justbands said :

Don’t like it = don’t shop there. Easy!

For once, I’m going to agree with this sentiment. Further to what I was saying above, vote with your feet. Give your dollars to the retailers you want to support – not those who demand your support.

L

Granny said :

People are actually telling the government that they prefer ‘marketplace’ models like Gungahlin to the great American ‘supermall’, but what would we know?

There has to be a hell of a lot of voices before the comsumerist model will crumble.

As for your earlier post, Granny, I’ve long thought the same. I tend to buy gifts for the children, and then make chocolates or other foodie things for the adults. Just something small, generally, to say “I love you”. I rarely spend more than $100 and a day or two creating whatever it is, although I find most of the fun is dreaming up the idea in the first place.

What has annoyed me as my daughter has gotten older is the ‘birthday party’ concept. Children turning 3, 4 or 5 and having gigantic extravaganzas for the entire preschool class – complete with jumping castles, professional entertainers, gala dinners, professionally made cakes and – of course – a pile of presents taller than the children themselves. I gave my daughter a picnic party in the park with a homemade cake and three friends. Luckily, she thought it was great, and announced she wants to do the same thing next year. I’m worried when peer pressure is going to kick in though 😐

As for the malls, while I can understand the frustration of the OP, I don’t think it ever was “a chance to do something different” – it was never going to become anything other than a retail haven. Canberra has been playing catch-up to Sydney and Melbourne forever, those cities both have glossy shopping malls with top-name brands and bright lights and multi-screen cinemas in their CBDs. Now Canberra does too.

Like it or not, the society we are in now is a consumer society. That can only be changed one way – slowly. If those who care (and we are in a minority – many people talk the talk but don’t walk the walk in matters like this) are sensible and reject overt consumerism and teach our children to do the same eventually, change will come. It’s glacial, and we may never see the results of it ourselves, but there’s only one way to make it happen.

L

Meh….build a bridge, get over it. Yes, your average shopping centre is full of endless rows of chain store clones….so? Don’t like it = don’t shop there. Easy! We didn’t “miss out on a great opportunity to do something different”, an investment firm built a shopping mall. Why? To fill it up with endless rows of chain clone stores.

People are actually telling the government that they prefer ‘marketplace’ models like Gungahlin to the great American ‘supermall’, but what would we know?

circusmind: yeah, it’s the temple o’ crap that infuriates me, not those that inhabit it. Which is why I love mooching around Garema Place in the good weather, seeing young kids hanging around having fun and yeah, being a bit loud and out there, but good on them. I could watch the skater dudes for ages; they’re not hurting anyone. I love watching them try all sorts of tricks and jumps and stuff under the entrance to SAP House too, right in front of the sign that forbids skateboarders.

I was walking through Garema Place on Friday night en route to a night of brain cell re-arrangement at the Uni Pub and there was a fire-twirler in Garema Place. Reminded me of a night a couple of years ago when I was out with a bunch of mates (30-somethings to 50-somethings) and we passed the fire-twirlers, and one of my mates (50-ish) said to me, ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to do fire-twirling’. About a split second later, this girl who must have been mid to late teens at most came running after us and said to my mate, ‘Excuse me; did you say you wanted to try fire-twirling?’ And with that, he was led back into the chess pit and got a tutorial and some hands-on experience at the art, and somewhere I have the photos from my camera for posterity.

Bob love young people and their energy. For mine, they can hang around the city centre as much as they damn well please. Preferably out in the fresh-ish air, and not in the flouro wastelands.

nukezone: 2XX is on the third floor of the Griffin Centre in the city and while it’s a great community resource, I’m much happier plying my community radio trade out in the more scenic and open surrounds of the Manuka Arts precinct.

In reply to Granny, that was a wonderful post, I completely agree with your take on materialism. New good things are nice, but we need less “this super-bright, muzak-filled temple of plastic, carbon-guzzling (or emitting) crap-emporium’. (Loved that quote by the way) And Overheard Yeh Fitness first is a great Gym, it has very amazing equipment, It is one of the more positive elements there, and I liked the imagery of the almost roman ambience Garema place has during the spring/summer season.

I guess one of the other main issues with these new malls is that they give us these places as if to say “you complained about how boring Canberra was well we listened people! And we gave you what we told you you think you needed! More of the same places to buy the same crap you dont need!”

Its the same stuff we had at Woden and Belconnen mall, “Now at civic for your convienience!”.

They spent millions of dollars just made people lazier, and to shut down a few more small businesses and kill off 8 dollar movies at Greater Union.(Yeh the screens were not amazing but hey 8 dollar movies and they werent sold out on a Weekend session for a premiere film).

I mean its 10 minutes from Civic to Belconnen by bus, or car, around the same to woden traffic permitting, I know Australians are lazy, god bless us, but it was a bit much especially considering we already had the Canberra Center.

Am I alone in thinking that a Promenade, melbourne style area would have been nice? Or an open area simmilar to Garema Place with oppurtunities for a varied range of both retail and entertainment could have been built.

I know the Public Radio station is inside the new building, and the government did spend a bit of money on it and thats great for the people, but just look across at the ATO building across the road. I mean think of all the tax payers dollars they spent on that monstrosity, (so exactly why is the building that big and what are they doing there tax related that they were not doing before?) and you cant tell me that building does not look like something out of an Orwellian novel.

Nukezone said :

The concerning thing is I sound like some antiquated old fool, or “miserable old tosser” and Im in my 20’s. Thats where Im at. I find it humerous that it has become a trait of the “older generations” to question and resist modern fashion and commercial trends.

You’re right, of course. Our society consumes an unholy amount of crap. I have had the dubious pleasure of working many a retail Christmas and it is truly sickening how much useless rubbish we buy in this country. And yes, the clone Westfield-style shopping centre is depressingly uniform, and I can’t think of a worse thing to do than spend a day in the fluorescent hell of an indoor shopping centre.

But your OP was just such a rocking-chair-on-front-porch whinge. I mean really. The older members of society have always thought that kids “these days” have stupid clothes and haircuts, don’t do any work, and are dumb as a box of rocks.

You might find that a hell of a lot of the “zombies” in the Moose or Acads of a weekend night are uni students well on their way to being productive members of society. Likewise with kids buying cookie-cutter clothes and music you don’t approve of in the Canberra Centre.

Rise above the boring stereotypes before you become one yourself–the crotchety old whiner.

Four days a week I more or less go through the stretch from Target to the Fitness First (?) gym in the early morning and then back again in the early to late evening. If the weather’s fair, I’ll skirt around the back of the skate park thing on Kooyong Street. Lunchtimes I’ll venture into the area at the front of Supabarn as time normally only permits me to pick up a quick salad or stuff from Supabarn.

Part of me is screaming out: ‘Get out of this super-bright, muzak-filled temple of plastic, carbon-guzzling (or emitting) crap-emporium’.

But the psycho-social-observer in me just finds it fascinating to ‘mensenkijken’ — I love languages that have a word for concepts that we need two for in English: ‘people-watching’ (Dutch). It’s just such an education observing behaviour in shopping malls.

(Moreover, I look at some of those niche stores that seem mostly empty and wonder how the hell they afford what must be astronomical rents. I figure some have got to be tax dodges.)

But when the sun shines and it’s more than five degrees outside, give me the fresh-ish air and the endless carnival that is Garema Place. A toasted foccacia (sp?) and a strong, long black at Bardelis and watch the world pass.

Of course the local government and investors could be (Do I dare say it? Yes I do!)PIONEERS and be inovative but then I don’t think they would have the bollocks for that kind of thinking and action. Im sure that you will find many places in the world that have economically viable and shopper friendly town centers and new business that defy the norm of the American Modeled shopping mall. In the advent of Brand Deppo we can already see where canberra is heading. And sooner or later we too will have the Monster Marts with the 10 kilos of milk powder for 10.99 and the 50 liters of washing diturgent for 12.45. I mean seriously America 2 here we come. Watch as uncle sam and his fist full of dollars kicks down our proverbial small business door and rolls the little guy one more time. I know all too well that there is a working model, but the good thing about being a human is that we have the potential for abstract thought, reasoning and logic and we can be inventive and solution orientated at the same time. I know all that chanel 9 news and the media fear machine has us shaking in our boots afraid and too scared to ask big brother government for another choice or option, but thats really the only way that we can avoid being totally dominated in the years to come.

FYI

The term innovation may refer to both radical and incremental changes in thinking, in things, in processes or in services (Mckeown, 2008). Invention that gets out in to the world is innovation. In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.

Innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, technology, sociology, and engineering. Colloquially, the word “innovation” is often used as synonymous with the output of the process. Since innovation is also considered a major driver of the economy, the factors that lead to innovation are also considered to be critical to policy makers.

Those who are directly responsible for application of the innovation are often called pioneers in their field, whether they are individuals or organisations.

Nukezone, I am very concerned about the consumerism in our culture.

I like nice things as much as the next person, but I don’t believe they make people happy. I actually think they can make people miserable. So often people in your generation have been given things when they have been crying out for a bit of time and attention, and things are hollow.

I have never felt so free as when I was stuck on the streets of Los Angeles for a few months with next to no money and a suitcase of clothes. Yes, I was grateful that I usually had enough food to eat but I learned something important from that time. I learned even more when I visited Russia and saw some of the poverty affecting people in other nations.

It was my birthday yesterday and my family kept asking me what I wanted. I thought, “What do I want?” and I really didn’t want anything. I was driving everybody crazy, but in the end the gifts I loved most were the three little trinkets my daughter picked out from the garage stall at the school fete.

What I asked for was a copy of my daughter’s old home-made CD recorded live at a Sydney pub, for my old family videos to be converted to DVD so I could watch them again, and for a copy of an out of print book that my father had recommended I read.

As kids we used to be excited about birthday parties because we hardly ever had them. We used to be excited about Christmas and birthdays because we hardly ever got stuff. We would get a handful of presents and they weren’t that expensive.

Whenever I go shopping for one of the many birthdays in our family I feel like I have to buy so much so that they know they are as loved and valued as their friends. Then our home gets filled up with this useless junk that they can’t have half as much fun with as an old cardboard box or a packet of crayons.

Then, as I am spending the money, I think of what a difference it could make in the life of a child with no blanket or shoes.

I so wish that I could get the courage to say, “To hell with the system, my kids are going to have to be different”.

I think it is happening slowly for me, starting with my own birthday this year.

Just give me breakfast in bed, a bubble bath, a sunshiney day, a hearty meal and a home-made chocolate cake and I’ll be happy as a pig in mud!

@Nukezone:
Never is a single entity like QIC going to take their shareholders money and put it at risk just because YOU want something “trendy” to suit your particular (or should that be peculiar) individual shopping tastes. The Canberra Centre is what it is simply because it is a formula that has repeatedly been shown to work time and time again.

The concerning thing is I sound like some antiquated old fool, or “miserable old tosser” and Im in my 20’s. Thats where Im at. I find it humerous that it has become a trait of the “older generations” to question and resist modern fashion and commercial trends.

Im not by any means advocating going bush and becoming a hippy, I love technology and all things modern, but do it with taste and reason, dont go overboard with crass comercialism and more of the same. We had a good oppurtunity to have something to make our shopping experience different or unique, instead we got rickrolled by the commercial mafia.

Unfortunately for me I wasnt raised on television and didn’t belive everything the teachers told me so that in turn has forced me to question my society and its values and search for the truth rather than have it packaged and sold to me.

Unfortunately, miserable old tossers aren’t a profitable target demographic for retailers.

I agree, it’s bloody awful. It’s a plastic, fake, pointless place. However I confess to quite liking some of the shops in the original bit of the Canberra Centre (where the parrots used to be). Meanwhile, you can have a pretty good shop at Kingston and Manuka. They’re not perfect, but they’re better than the cavernous array of carbon copy chain shops in the new bit of the Canberra Centre.