Hasta La Ideas

pWe were in Rome a few weeks ago – essentially the bonus portion of my trip to Munich to a href=”http://www.portigal.com/blog/culture-youre-soaking-in-it-from-upa2010/”speak about culture/a at the a href=”https://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/conference/2010/index.new.html”UPA conference/a. Turns out it’s cheaper to buy separate return tickets San Francisco-to-Rome and Rome-to-Munich, giving us an extra opportunity to explore. Upon arrival into Rome, we took the train into the city, with jet-lagged eyes upon early morning haze, grabbing clues from the random bits we could see out the window. As we passed through a train station, I spotted a young woman on the platform wearing a sweatshirt that read “Duff Beer” with the typeface and logo that is probably familiar to anyone who’s watched The Simpsons. I was intrigued at the notion that the Simpsons was popular enough in Italy that the young-and-hip would be not only be wearing clothing from the show but something more obscure than, say, Bart exclaiming “a href=”http://atlanta.metromix.com/movies/essay_photo_gallery/twenty-moments-that-defined/1699286/photo/1699393″Non hanno una vacca, l’uomo!/a”/p

pLater that day we did our obligatory (and wonderful) tourist routine at the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. As we strolled amidst the gelaterie and souvenir shops we happened upon a window display offering a fine selection of Simpsons merchandise./p

pimg alt=”Everybody Loves Homer” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/EverybodyLovesHomer.jpg” width=”468″ height=”556″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pWe stopped, pointed, and laughed, “Oh, look! They have the Simpsons here, too!” As we stepped away, feeling just a bit globally smug (“Psst, see those cartoons folks in that window…those are OURS!”), we saw a group of Asian men walk past the same window. Tourists themselves, they also stopped, pointed, and laughed at the delicious absurdity of coming across Homer so far from home. It was a densely-packed moment for reflecting on culture from the inside and the outside.br /
/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/homer_simpsons_duff_beer_barley_hops_and_cultural_stories_16719.asp”(more…)/a
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