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In connection to this thread it seemed appropriate to mention that pillars in the real world have sometimes been very colourful and adorned with detailed scenes and patterns. The following are some quick Google catches from around the world, historical and modern. These include a mosaic pillar from Pompeii, cone mosaic semi-columns from Uruk, church interior from Moscow and modern takes on the theme in e.g. Karachi. One of them is from Loire.

Scenery reference:

Nice!!!

You know, I have been telling people about the disintegration of what I call 'the lost art'. By that I mean as mass production changes the trade skills needed for various types of work, and how skills do not get passed on down to the younger generations. I have seen this having lived overseas and then returning many years later, in such places as India and China.

When I was a kid, I would visit fishing villages or small towns where some guy might be selling painted clay figures or something. For nothing. But these figures have been around for 100s of years, and the art and knowledge behind them passed down to each generation. I don't see that being done anymore.

Rather than unique or cultural art being sold, its now cell phone cases, designer bag knock-offs, and other junk. Obviously the cultural stuff isnt in great demand, and ironically, the East is trying really hard to be more like the West. You visit the Financial District in Hong Kong, and all of advertising for woman's jewelry or menswear uses white people. Its like, the sign of success is looking more western. I flipped through a interior design magazine and it looks like everything was bought at Ikea.

Not saying they can't choose what they want (because I know someone will chime in here and say that), but there is definitely a loss in what I think made their culture unique in the first place. After living in Hong Kong myself, I was amazed how much it had grown, how had been built, how clean it had gotten, and aside from a few things that were unchanged, like the ferries and road names, I didn't feel like I had returned to the place I once lived. Long gone were the things that I felt made Hong Kong such a unique place, and all I felt I was looking at was just another giant city in Asia. Instead of shopping for cultural stuff, you have Apple, Porsche, Columbia, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, and other western brands you can find anywhere. *

Its a shame when historic art is destroyed. Its also amuses me that 5,000 years from now, archeologists will uncover bits from our civilization, made up of shards of broken plastic, rusted out harddrives, and other devices that no longer work, yet the pottery from 10,000 years ago will remain.

* Edit: Okay I am stretching things here a bit. I did return with some stuff I bought in Hong Kong which I love having in my home, but it doesn't look how you might imagine something from that area looking like. They were more modern if that makes sense. So I don't want to sound like I didn't find SOME THINGS there worth buying, I just found a lot more that I didn't.

We always notice the same thing every time we go to Venice. My family has been vacationing in that area ever since I've been a little kid, so even though I am as much a tourist as the next guy I also feel like I "know" the city more than just a tourist. The old city, and the old arts, are still alive, but there is also a huge amount of "tourist" industry that has taken over the city. And that also includes the souvenir industry.

Venice, and the surrounding islands, are all known for very specific types of industry, as an example: Venice has the masks, Murano has glass blowing, Burano has lace. So all the islands have big shops with masks, glass, and lace imported from China to sell to tourists. The local artistry is suffering because tourists are buying mass produced $5-10 ceramic masks being pumped out in China, rather than buying something authentic. I've been back to Venice twice with my wife, and both times we ended up picking up a mask as well. But we ended up in one of the shops that still hand-produces paper-mache masks that are used by theater production and for carnival. We get them signed by the artist that made them, and we end up spending quite a bit more than $10 on them. But we like having something artisan that can be traced back to someone actually making it by hand in the city rather than something that got there in a shipping container. We got a brown leaf and a silver butterfly, for spring and fall, and we hope to make it back at least two more times to pick up a moon and a sun to complete the four seasons.

 d-usa wrote:
We always notice the same thing every time we go to Venice. My family has been vacationing in that area ever since I've been a little kid, so even though I am as much a tourist as the next guy I also feel like I "know" the city more than just a tourist. The old city, and the old arts, are still alive, but there is also a huge amount of "tourist" industry that has taken over the city. And that also includes the souvenir industry.

Venice, and the surrounding islands, are all known for very specific types of industry, as an example: Venice has the masks, Murano has glass blowing, Burano has lace. So all the islands have big shops with masks, glass, and lace imported from China to sell to tourists. The local artistry is suffering because tourists are buying mass produced $5-10 ceramic masks being pumped out in China, rather than buying something authentic. I've been back to Venice twice with my wife, and both times we ended up picking up a mask as well. But we ended up in one of the shops that still hand-produces paper-mache masks that are used by theater production and for carnival. We get them signed by the artist that made them, and we end up spending quite a bit more than $10 on them. But we like having something artisan that can be traced back to someone actually making it by hand in the city rather than something that got there in a shipping container. We got a brown leaf and a silver butterfly, for spring and fall, and we hope to make it back at least two more times to pick up a moon and a sun to complete the four seasons.

Those are lovely masks, however, posting them here means it's going to easy to pick out d-usa at the next Eyes Wide Shut party.

I have noticed the same thing locally as well. People will line up to go to Applebbee's while the local Mom and Pop restaurant that has been here 2 decades slowly goes out of business. The residents will complain about how their downtown doesn't have any businesses, and then not go to ones that open. Heck, even the Local McD's is re-modelling to look like a Starbucks.

A friend of mine called it "America in a Box" and every town you go to will virtually look the same and have all the same stuff.