I'm always curious to know about where people live, what the attractions are/the history/where do people go/what's there to see/etc. etc. Pretty sad I suppose but it really interests me. So I thought it would be nice to know about some GiantBomb users hometowns.
To set the pace, I'll start. I herald from Lichfield, England -- a small roman settlement which was given its current name way back in 669AD. Lichfield is in the centre of England, a part of the county Staffordshire, and just north of Birmingham.
The most notable thing about Lichfield is its three-spired cathedral (above). The only one in the country. The cathedral took substancial damage in the Civil War in 1640's. The monarch of the time, King Charles II, paid for the rebuilding of the cathedral and is represented in form of thanks via a statue positioned to the south of building.
In the middle-ages, Lichfield was a strong producer of wollen material. As such, much of Lichfield's presence is represented by Tudor buildings, as pictured above. The cafe in the picture above is actually where my mum worked in the 1980's, but was built in 1511.
The most famous person to have lived in Lichfield was Dr. Samuel Johnson, an 18th century author who compiled the first ever English dictionary in 1755.
The grandfather of Charles Darwin also lived in Lichfield, to which you can explore his house and garden.
As far as modern entertainment goes, Lichfield is totally devoid, but as a historical town we are blessed with much remains of Tudor England, which is much of Lichfield's tourist attraction.
I'll go next. I'm from Ft Washington Maryland and there's plenty to do since D.C is basically 30 minutes away. It started in sometime around the mid 1600s when settlements started to arise and if you want to know the history here's a wiki article for your amusement.
Around here there are loads of shopping malls and that's basically where you'll find people. Nothing particularly interesting to see except for when you go to D.C and see all the lights, the White House, other historical monuments.
Most of the people here listen to the music that this area, and only this area really knows......Go-Go of course.
Can't really think of anything else that I'd put randomly into this.
I live in Pensacoloa, Florida. It's the oldest European settlement in the United States, first founded in 1559(the settlement was destroyed a couple of weeks later and resettled again in the 17th century). The most famous part of the city is Naval Air Station Pensacola, the oldest naval air station in the country and the primary training for all aircraft pilots in the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. We are also the home of the Blue Angels, the world famous squadron of elite precision-flying stunt fighters(which my uncle was a part of back in the 70s). We are also known for our beaches, which are famous for having some of the whitest sand in the world. Pensacola is also home to a famous and one of the largest gay pride gatherings, which happens anually on Memorial Day Weekend. I also can't forget that we are the ones who caught famous serial killer Ted Bundy. There are other little cool and interesting facts about Pensacola which I might go into later for you guys.
Once you know where we live, do you want our alarm codes and the times our families are out of the house?
But in all seriousness, I'm from Reading, as in the Reading from the ballard of Reading Jail or whatever it was Oscar Wilde wrote. What I find funny is how just behind the prison is an Oscar Wilde Walk, intended to help people remember, and I suppose, celebrate, Oscar Wilde. We act like we're an important place for Oscar Wilde and help form him into the man he became, when in actual fact we simply locked him up for being gay! Well, I say 'we', obviously I wasn't personally involved. I dare say I would have been quite against it!
Faversham, Kent Population: 18,222 Distinguishing characteristics: jack shit About the only thing to do in this town is kill time at the shopping mall...
"Victoria BC. There's a lot of trees, mountains, and overpriced real estate here."
Victoria is nice. Not as nice as Vancouver though.
I'm from Issaquah Washington:
Nice picture of main street. This whole road is full of art galleries, theatres(2) and food.
Every year we have a festival called Salmon Days, where we watch a bunch of dying salmon struggle up stream, and then eat some not so old Salmon. It gets a lot of attention.
Fun times at the only XXX RootBeer left in the country. they do these car rallies all the time.
The Cougar Mountain Zoo, whose main attraction im sure you've figured out by now. And the best part of the city/town is Tiger Mountain where on a nice day like today there are dozens of hanggliders and paragliders. Takes me about 45 minutes to hike up there from my house(my house would be about another picture length to the right) They take off from that bare spot in the middle of the pic.
Famous residents include
Ichiro during the baseball season
Ken Griffey Jr while he was a Mariner
Mel Stottlemyre
The entirety of Modest Mouse
Tim Lincecum
Most of the people that live in the area work at Microsoft, whose campus is located both in Issaquah and across the lake in Redmond.
My favorite part of living there/here is the proximity to another town, Seattle. It's about 10-15 minutes away.
Qwest Field, home of the Seahawks and Sounders, and my home away from home
"Victoria BC. There's a lot of trees, mountains, and overpriced real estate here."
Victoria is nice. Not as nice as Vancouver though.
Really? Vancouver feels too big. When I said there is a lot of overpriced real estate here, the main reason is because it's so nice and private here. My mother is a realtor and I go with her often to check out the nice property here. No way Vancouver has anything like what we have here. "While Vancouver's clean cosmopolitan nature is certainly appealing, some of the best oceanfront living is actually just a short ferry ride away to Vancouver Island. One of the more attractive master-planned resort communities on the 285-mile-long island is Bear Mountain Resort." That place is amazing. The whole mountain coated with houses, and then a resort with golf course.
We don't have an ocean view, but it's nice. There's the view from the room I am in now.
Right now? Auburn, Al. Small college town, football is the most important thing in our lives, and the only thing to do is drink. Home of Bo Jackson and Charles Barkley.
From Mobile, Al. It's on the southern tip of Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico. It's about 80 miles west of CitizenKane's home of Pensacola, Fl.
3rd largest city in Alabama with a population of just over 200,000 in Mobile County.
We're home to the first American Mardi Gras in 1703 before New Orleans was even founded, even though New Orleans now has a bigger celebration than us.
Home of Hank Aaron, Jimmy Buffet, the leprachaun, Satchel Paige, Willie McCovey, Vince Dooley, Cleon Jones, Ozzie Smith, and Tommie Aggie.
We're the City of Six Flags- France, Britain, Spain, The Republic of Alabama, The United States, and The Confederate States of America.
We're also the port that brought in the very last slave ship from Africa.
Also the Alabama Leprachaun was right across the street from my high school.
I live in São Paulo, Brazil. It's one of the biggest cities in the world, which is great on one hand, but on the other we get all the major problems that come with big cities, like pollution, high criminality etc. Here you can a see a panoramic view of the city. As it is easy to notice, it is terribly ugly and gray. But that's just on the exterior though, it has its share of qualitys.
For instance, many of our buidings were designed by Oscar Niemeyer, one of the most important modern architects in the world. He designed things like Copan:
This is really one of the craziest things. Not only it has a very weird design, but there is an estimative that it has around five thousand residents. That thing is HUGE, and its apartments vary from incredibly small and cheap to enormous and very expensive.
Something else to notice is MASP, a very important museum. It may not seem big in the picture, but that's because most of it is located underground:
Lastly, I'd like to show Rua Augusta, or Augusta Street if you prefer.
It may not seem from the picture, but it is a very big street that is bustling with activity all the time. On one end of the street you'll be able to find some of the best nightclubs and bars around. The alternative scene is proeminent here. On the other end of the street you'll be able to find a huge quantity of whorehouses, being that the streets are almost entirely populated by prostitutes and tranvestites. Also, you'll be able to buy any drug in existance with minimun difficulty.
The contrast is somewhat absurd, but São Paulo is a city of constrasts. Someone that was very fascinated by this was Nick Cave, from Nick Cave and the Bad Seed. He lived here for a while, and one of his videoclips was shot in one of the mentioned whorehouses:
Phew, this was a long post. I'll finish with something that is common to be found glued to walls along Augusta Street:
It reads: Tati and Friends. Unique price: R$ 30,00 (about fifteen dollars).
"Victoria BC. There's a lot of trees, mountains, and overpriced real estate here."
Victoria is nice. Not as nice as Vancouver though.
Really? Vancouver feels too big. When I said there is a lot of overpriced real estate here, the main reason is because it's so nice and private here. My mother is a realtor and I go with her often to check out the nice property here. No way Vancouver has anything like what we have here. "While Vancouver's clean cosmopolitan nature is certainly appealing, some of the best oceanfront living is actually just a short ferry ride away to Vancouver Island. One of the more attractive master-planned resort communities on the 285-mile-long island is Bear Mountain Resort.
Sorry dude, I just love Vancouver so much. It's almost as great as Seattle/Tokyo, and its cooler than Oslo, which is saying something.
Btw can't wait until the Whitecaps join the Sounders in MLS!
BoG said:
"I live in the home of what apparently is one of the best libraries in the world.
It's SLC!
Sorry about the laydown the Sounders gave RSL the other week.
DOUBLESHOCK said:
"Woah, BOG, that place looks awesome. What is with the mountains right freaking there behind the buildings?"
Salt Lake is already at a pretty high elevation, and is surrounded by the...Rockies right?
BTW Seattle has mountains surrounding it on essentially 3 sides.
Gallery
Not really on topic but i love showing Seattle off.
I live in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Venezuela. Second biggest in the country and one of the most important. Typical big city full of big buildings, lots of traffic, rich parts and poor parts. I live in the suburbs some 20-25 minutes from the main city, close to the Rafael Urdaneta bridge, which is one of the biggest in Latin America and the world. Here are some pics:
I live in the middle of goddamned nowhere. The nearest actual town is Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, which has a booming population of about 6,000. Technically, I live in a village of about a hundred people.
This is about as much activity the town will have on any given day. Oh, and I have to drive ten miles to get to the nearest gas station from my house and, when I look out the window behind my computer, it's forest as far as my eye can see. Living in a quiet, secluded area is nice, but it is dead out here. According to Wikipedia, the population increased by less than 3,000... since 1900.
Edit: Oh, and 20% of the population is below the poverty line. Awe-some!
I live in the few suburban places between two major areas of Tokyo (Shibuya and Shinjuku). I take the Keio Line to either station via express, and I can get to either in 7 minutes. Overall, my neighborhood is very quiet, I have a Middle School, Day Care, and High School behind and in front of my home. In the morning, the school kids run to school because they can't be late, and I'm normally running the opposite direction towards the station to get to work/campus on time. My icon is a picture of me infront of a small field in front of my house. :)
I live in Calgary, Alberta. Its a great city to grow up in, but I'm getting a feeling to move and try new places. It has more than a million people and the 3rd largest city in Canada. Its well knows for the Stampede (a yearly rodeo), the 88 Winter Games and the Calgary Flames! Its proximity to the rocky mountains makes it a major tourist destination for people abroad. Too bad its conservative to the core, and has a image of being headquarters to some seriously greedy oil companies.
Too bad its conservative to the core, and has a image of being headquarters to some seriously greedy oil companies.
I've been living in Calgary for about two years now and the whole conservatism is really the only thing that grinds my gears. I can't really complain about the oil companies, one of them writes my cheques.
I'm from Leitchfield, Kentucky. Super small place with literally nothing to do. I think wikipedia explains it better than I can: "As of the census of 2000, there were 6,139 people... ...The racial makeup of the city was 96.63% white, 1.56% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.18% Asian..." So basically a small town loaded with white people. For kids to "hang out" outside of someone's house our options include driving ~50 miles to another town, or a Wal-mart parking lot (I wasted to many hours there sadly).
The only great thing about our town is for whatever reason my personal favorite Fantasy artist (and one of the better known ones at that) lives here, Larry Elmore.
He has done a lot of Fantasy art over the years ranging from some Everquest stuff, D&D, Dragonlance, Magic the Gathering, etc. Chances are some of you have encountered his artwork and never even knew it was him. I have got to meet him a few times since an English teacher of mine in high school lived very close to him and they were good friends, so he came in and talked to the class about his life and art, even autographed things.
And that is my town in a nutshell, lot of white people, a wal-mart, and an awesome artist.
It's an ok town, I've never really liked it personally. There's hardly anything to do there and shopping is pointless, since there are hardly any decent shops. It's not exactly got a good name for itself. The highlight of the town is The Old Hall, a manor house where King Richard III and King Henry VIII had both stayed. The town is also located next to one of the longest rivers in the UK, the River Trent. We have our local football team, Gainsborough Trinity and recently a new shopping area opened up called Marshalls Yard. Other than that, I can't think of much else to say.
Wimbledon. The town is a hole and the village is expensive. The town is filled with chavs and the village is filled with supercilious upper-middle class bankers yet to feel the recession. My god I love it here >__>
I live in Aachen/Germany. Sadly I don't have time right now to write something down or to post some images, but I can provide a Wikipedia link for all who are interested :)
Faversham, Kent Population: 18,222 Distinguishing characteristics: jack shit About the only thing to do in this town is kill time at the shopping mall...
I live in the small college town of Clemson, South Carolina, USA. Clemson University is a decent sized university. A very athletics oriented school, Clemson is one of the more feared ACC school to play at home because of the [over]enthusiastic fans. Outside of the university there isn't really a lot in the town though. A lot of very scenic mountains are around if you're into hiking. Also, it's very close by to the Chatooga River which is one of the better rivers for whitewater in the US. In terms of civilization, there isn't much in the immediate vicinity, but Atlanta and Georgia are both roughly a two hour drive away. In terms of the population, the redneck population is relatively well represented, but most of these guys were at least smart enough to get into college so they aren't the hardcore type of redneck that probably comes to mind. There's also a relatively strong fraternity and sorority population which frankly I don't care too much for, but they aren't big enough that they overwhelm things. A lot of people really love it here, but frankly, I can't wait to get out.
"Woah, BOG, that place looks awesome. What is with the mountains right freaking there behind the buildings?"
They're pretty close. It takes me 30 minutes from my house to drive to up the canyon to the ski resorts, and SLC itself is actually closer. It's pretty nice if you like the outdoors, I'm minutes away from a gorgeous hike in the mountains, and 3 hours from the famous national parks.
And J, I gave up on the RSL a long time ago, so it's totally cool.
" Faversham, Kent Population: 18,222 Distinguishing characteristics: jack shit About the only thing to do in this town is kill time at the shopping mall... "
Im from Stockholm, Sweden and the City has existed in one form or another since the 1200´s(maybe earlier then that even) when it was founded by the statesman Birger Jarl.
I live in Michigan. Surprisingly though, my town is pretty nice. Upper-class, with the world headquarters of Dow Chemical employing a lot of our residents. My high school was full of rich kids, whose daddies work for Dow. I wasn't one of them, my dad died of cancer when I was in the 3rd grade. I like the Michigan climate. Skiing in the winter, warm in the summer. Although, I lived in Colorado Springs for two months, and loved it there.
I hated the cold weather. I lived in Gran Rapids MI where unemployment was king. It wasn't a great place to live or grow up in but i sure do miss my friends...
Im from Stockholm, Sweden and the City has existed in one form or another since the 1200´s(maybe earlier then that even) when it was founded by the statesman Birger Jarl. "
Ah thats cool! Didnt actually stop in Sweden, but went to Copenhagen and Oslo a few years back, and took a tour of Norway
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