.
....that, speaking of Utah, it is more or less culturally identical with San Francisco.
I have been learning this little by little over the years and I would like to share with you two clinching proofs, both taken from the world of high school.
First, I don't know if you've ever heard of the movie Newsies (you probably haven't unless you are from one of the two above-mentioned locales), but it came out late one year--the same time Silence of the Lambs was rereleased to ensure strengthened Oscar buzz--and remained in theaters all of like one day. And until I went to university in Utah I was under the impression that no human being who was not personally acquainted with Christian Bale had ever seen the film.
But it ends up that in Utah, one high school graduation requirement is to have seen Newsies at least 453 times with all your best girlfriends. If you don't love the music, you're no Utahn.
My dear Lady Steed who grew up on the Peninsula had a similar graduation requirement. I learned this just a few weeks ago after we watched Mr Bale in Batman Beyond (which she liked so much that she regrets not letting me talk her into seeing it in THX).
Yes, San Francisco girls love Newsies too.
The biggest and most obvious cultural correlation however is this almost pathological love of a band called U2. I don't know if you've heard of them, but I understand they are very big in Ireland and that they are very very old--like the Stones only not as gross.
Anyway, when I first attended a college, I had a professor play a track off U2's Joshua Tree, which apparently, as far as albums go, is a "big deal." Only one kid of the forty or so students recognized the band.
Then I move to Utah where this band is on any given radio station 37 out of every 60 minutes. And I meet a nice girl from San Francisco who enjoys attending U2 concerts. And you wouldn't believe how much she (and others from Utah and SF) are willing to pay to see these fogies "jam." It's astonishing.
Anyway, I could go on, but the evidence presented is staggering enough.
Utah. San Francisco. What's the diff?
.png)
The men in both locales are also much more inclined to like Broadway Musicals.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I don't get that connection either...
AND Salt Lake City is one of the top-rated cities to visit for gay people. (I think this was from The Advocate or something, but I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment.)
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteAdvocate for whom?
Your mom.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Christian Bale, he's hot.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Newsies until I came to Utah. In So Cal we only listened to gangsta rap or mariachi music. I did know Christian Bale from Empire of the Sun, which is a far superior movie to Newsies.
ReplyDeleteI feel totally disconnected now. Being from the San Francisco Bay Area and now living in Utah, I find that I am not a true citizen of either locale. I have never seen Newsies. I have barely even heard of it.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when I listened to U2 for a few minutes. I also saw Christian Bale in "Little Women."
Who AM I?
.
ReplyDeleteBoy, Daltongirl. You sound really messed up.