Random thoughts from an expat American living in Britain
I live in Europe. In London, to be precise. That makes me a European. Europe is better than America because it is filled with diverse countries and cultures. Right? For example, one of the big advantages of being a European is that you can visit other European cities so easily. For me, Paris is only 40… Read More Common-platz: Seen one European city, seen ’em all
Dear Britain, Thanksgiving is a big meal where you eat turkey with your family and think about what you’re thankful for. It’s not complicated. But you just don’t seem to get it. I tried explaining it to you. Last year, I wrote a comprehensive, day by day, moment by moment guide to Thanksgiving for British people.… Read More Britain just doesn’t get Thanksgiving
There’s a scene in the film “International Velvet,” where a young American girl who has relocated to the UK (played by Tatum O’Neal) is teased in the playground of her school by some local boys. They show her a fake bloody finger, prompting her to run away in floods of tears. As a child, this sequence had a strong… Read More Sticks and stones, and “noogies.” The cruelty of British and American children
It feels like just yesterday, but it’s been almost exactly a year since I started this blog. My first post was written in early September, 2014. The world was a different place. Donald Trump was still just a run-of-the-mill, angry, idiot billionaire, not a presidential front-runner. A young Ed Miliband was captivating all of Britain with his… Read More “What a sad waste of the internet” One whole year of ‘Claptrap’
The two most iconic posters ever produced by the United States and the United Kingdom have much in common. Both came out of the second world war. Both were appear to have been meant to boost morale on the home front. And both were unknown in their time- only becoming famous many years after their creation. But their… Read More Keep calm and analyse posters
There’s really nothing funny about America’s epidemic of gun violence. … Read More How do you find comedy in America’s mass shootings?
You remember “Cool Britannia” don’t you? It was the notion started by magazine editors in the mid-1990s that Britain was the ‘home of cool.’ That the UK was where innovative music, fashion and culture thrived. That the British people were effortlessly and painfully hip- an entire nation on the cutting edge of trendiness. If you bought into… Read More Morris Dancing: Proof that Britain isn’t as cool as you think
Eurovision is a big deal. No, really. … Read More 13 amazing facts about Eurovision
The 8th of May is the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. It’s the day that history books tell us that Adolf Hitler surrendered to hard-knuckled U.S. General George Patton, who promptly slapped the Führer around, persuading him to kill himself in his bunker, saving everyone the trouble of an expensive trial. To be honest, I’m a little… Read More VE Day: America saves the world again
Here’s the front page of the Times right now at 8pm on the 2nd of May, 2015. The Times is one of the most-respected newspapers in the United Kingdom: And here’s the current front page of the New York Times at this exact same moment. The New York Time is considered one of the USA’s… Read More Americans are OBSESSED with royal babies. Just Americans.