[QUOTE=Millit the Frail]
I just think the blurbs from the “customers” on the site are hilarious…“I listen to Beck and Wilco”…“My sweater whispers to me…”
[/QUOTE]
You know, when you put it like that, they sound like crazy people. That makes it a whole lot more palatable to me. They’re all crazy, from the sweater-whisperer girl to the C-train applause guy. WooT!
[QUOTE=featherlou]
You know, when you put it like that, they sound like crazy people.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, they sound like Torontonians. Sunspace is correct; this is the kind of condo marketing you find in Toronto: aimed at a specific demographic. In this case, at the cool, hip, young, urban folks to whom appearance means much and cost means little. No suburbs, spouses, or kids for these folks; not for a few years anyway, when they can flip their condo at a profit. In the meantime, they’ll work at developing their careers (anything requiring a professional or post-graduate degree will do) and patronizing gallery openings, live theatre (the more avant-garde or experimental, the better), trendy restaurants, and nightclubs featuring new and hip bands.
Yep, it’s Toronto condo marketing. We’re not selling a condo, we’re selling a lifestyle. And you really can’t be a part of it unless you live in this condo.
Pretentious? Sure, but it sells condos. Worked well enough on a couple of friends of mine in Toronto some years back, anyway. And just as expected, they each sold their condos at a nice profit when they got married and needed a safe suburban home for their coming kids.
They seem alright. The marketing sucks but the marketing always sucks for new condos. If I’m looking for a new place, I don’t care what kind of music my neighbors like. I might be concerned about the fact that their clothing talks to them.
The one thing that caught my attention was that none of them had hardwood floors. Is this a regional thing? Around here all of the pretentious condos come with hardwood.
[QUOTE=Spoons]
Actually, they sound like Torontonians. Sunspace is correct; this is the kind of condo marketing you find in Toronto:<snip>
[/QUOTE]
It really does have a Toronto stink to it. Is that what we have to look forward to in Calgary - being some kind of Toronto-wannabes?
[QUOTE=featherlou]
It doesn’t make the marketing that isn’t aimed at me any less irritating to me when I stumble across it, though.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t hate the marketing. I hate the shallow urban yuppiebots for whom it is designed, because despite their palpable smugness they are programmed consumption-happy sheep who are too stupid to see through the transparently manipulative pitch. Next to the plague represented by these soul-patched scum, the advertising that targets them is barely a fleeting flu bug.
I don’t suppose it’s occured to you that the really shallow 'bots here are the ones who are sneering with disdain at people for the crime of not being like them? Most of these ‘yuppie-bots’ found a way to go to college and have careers. They pride themselves on respecting art, following the indie movement, dressing well, and enjoying life.
And if they were ‘consumption happy sheep’, wouldn’t they be driving SUVs and living in the 'burbs in McMansions? But then you’d hate them for that too, right?
[QUOTE=featherlou]
There’s a new condo complex in town, and oh my god are they pretentious. (Click on “Residential.”) From the tinkly, factory-setting midi music (that is obviously supposed to be representative of über-hip jazz) to the little blurbs that are supposed to represent what kind of über-asshole wants to live in this complex to the names of the tiny little apartments* (592 to a whopping 947 square feet - for approx. $350,000 and up) to the pretentious fonts to the pretentious capitalization and punctuation to the pretentious colours, this site just make me want to punch somebody. Probably the Armani-wearing, hair-gelled, square-glasses, cell-phone-as-umbilical-cord assholes who created it in their über-chic downtown “media group.”
Have I mentioned I think it’s a tad pretentious? Is this something that we are just going to have to get used to, living in “THE HEART OF THE NEW WEST” (as pretentious people are calling Calgary)? I have to go listen to some Rob Zombie now to get that music out of my head.
*(Under “profiles and plans”) This part is either sad or funny - they named one of the tiny, one-bedroom condos “Duet.” Ha? The rest of the names are Alto, Bass, Concerto, Drum, Forte, Flute, Guitar, and Jazz. I think I see a theme. At the building known as “Keynote.” Too cute for words. No, wait, I think a word for it is coming - pretentious.
[/QUOTE]
You’re right, it’s super-pretentious.
“I listen to Coldplay and The Pixies. I’m telling you that in case there was a lingering doubt as to how uber I am. If you need me, I’ll be surfing the L.L. Bean catalog on my Mac at Starbucks”
Coldplay!!!.. Weak.
And who was it up-thread who celebrates placing Calgary in the rear-view mirror? I hate to break it to you but IMHO Edmonton sucks. IMHO.
The ‘profiles’ are silly, and the constant music-themed writing is over the top, but it doesn’t look too different from the advertising used by the place I live in now, or any of the other new condos in my neighborhood.
So, featherlou, Cervais, if either of you are planning to come to Tokyo someday and need a place to stay, well… ask somebody else.
I wouldn’t want to have to subject you to my tiny little apartment surrounded by shallow urban über-asshole consumption-happy soul-patched scum yuppiebots. I also happen to like my neighbors, and wouldn’t want to subject them to a houseguest who needs to restrain him/herself from punching one of them just for living here.
[QUOTE=featherlou]
It really does have a Toronto stink to it. Is that what we have to look forward to in Calgary - being some kind of Toronto-wannabes?
[/QUOTE]
You should be so lucky. 
[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
I don’t suppose it’s occured to you that the really shallow 'bots here are the ones who are sneering with disdain at people for the crime of not being like them? Most of these ‘yuppie-bots’ found a way to go to college and have careers. They pride themselves on respecting art, following the indie movement, dressing well, and enjoying life.<snip>
[/quote]
You almost make a good point, but I think the failing here is not that the yuppie-bots are different from me, it’s that they are extreme conformists who are trying to make themselves out to be unique and different. I have the same kind of dislike for the black-wearing, clove-smoking artsy crowd who think they are all unique when they practically live in lock-step. You don’t have to be an iconoclast, but at least own your follower tendencies.
Yup. Like Spoons pointed out, they’ll meet a nice Yuppie-bot-ette and move to Beigeburbia and have 2.5 kids just like everyone else. The downtown condo is just the cocoon stage in the life-cycle of the yuppie-bot.
I probably shouldn’t be so hard on yuppie-bots; people who follow trends and live like sheep and never take the time to examine their lives and make conscious decisions are the vast majority, after all. “You’re all individuals!” “Yes! We’re all individuals!”
I’d expect the hallways to have Charlie Brown characters painted on them. Schroeder playing the piano, notes floating down the hall, and those goofy assed birds flying upside down in the musical notes.
[QUOTE=featherlou]
It really does have a Toronto stink to it. Is that what we have to look forward to in Calgary - being some kind of Toronto-wannabes?
[/QUOTE]
Don’t worry. We’re a long, long way from becoming Toronto. There’s a lot more to it than yuppie-esque condo marketing. We’re okay…
… for now. 
[QUOTE=featherlou]
I probably shouldn’t be so hard on yuppie-bots; people who follow trends and live like sheep and never take the time to examine their lives and make conscious decisions are the vast majority, after all. “You’re all individuals!” “Yes! We’re all individuals!”
[/QUOTE]
Don’t worry, featherlou, you ARE a unique individual–just like everyone else.
[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
This is what $350,000 gets you in Calgary these days. A 607 sq foot ‘handyman special’ built in 1950.
[/QUOTE]
Holy guacamole! Is that the entire house, or just an entry way that sticks out in front? And those are Canadian dollars – much bigger and burlier than our puny U.S. dollars! Yeesh!
[QUOTE=Caffeine.addict]
If I’m looking for a new place, I don’t care what kind of music my neighbors like.
[/QUOTE]
That depends on how thin the walls are. If they’re like a few apartments I’ve lived in, liking the same sort of music as your neighbors might be very important…
[QUOTE=tomndebb]
Don’t worry, featherlou, you ARE a unique individual–just like everyone else.
[/QUOTE]
Aw, man, you really know how to hurt a gal. 
Anne, my first house was a condo townhouse where I could hear the neighbours sneeze. And argue, and hit each other…
[QUOTE=Anne Neville]
That depends on how thin the walls are. If they’re like a few apartments I’ve lived in, liking the same sort of music as your neighbors might be very important…
[/QUOTE]
True, but for me the thickness of the walls and the floorplan are deal breakers. I don’t want to hear every little thing going on the neighbor’s place. If my bedroom is next to their living room, then chances are noise is going to be an issue.
That being said, while there is a lot to those places that I don’t like, if the location were good and I lived in Calgary, I would consider a place like that, especially since what I hate the most about my place is that there is yardwork and gardening to be done.
When my wife and I were looking we looked at quite a few new condos which had annoying websites and marketing campaigns. Had we tried to limit our search to places with non annoying websites, our search would have been extremely limited. I have a friends who bought in a building that had a shitty marketing campaign. If you asked him about any of those bands mentioned in the ad, he would probably shrug his shoulders since AFAIK, he doesn’t listen to music.
I’m trying to figure out why, of you’ve got less then 900 sq ft in the whole condo, you put in 2 full baths. I’ve lived in a condo. Give me a big closet instead!!
[QUOTE=Sublight]
The ‘profiles’ are silly, and the constant music-themed writing is over the top, but it doesn’t look too different from the advertising used by the place I live in now, or any of the other new condos in my neighborhood.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, that advertising reminded me of advertising I’d seen from Japan, they seem to like profiling people.
The theme I noticed was traffic, several of the “profiles” mention that they don’t mind traffic noise. Somebody must be trying to address those concerns right up front.
[QUOTE=control-z]
The theme I noticed was traffic, several of the “profiles” mention that they don’t mind traffic noise. Somebody must be trying to address those concerns right up front.
[/QUOTE]
The map showing the project’s location shows it to be just south of the area considered downtown. If you look at the map, you can see that it’s bordered by 1 Street SE (which is a one-way southbound) and Macleod Trail (which at that point is a one-way northbound). These streets are both very heavily used during morning and evening rush hours as traffic heads into and out of downtown, respectively.
As well, a railway track runs east-west between 9 and 10 Avenues. The trains don’t blow their whistle (there are no level crossings), but they will rumble through all night.
In addition, you’ll see that the Stampede Grounds are kitty-corner to the project. These are the local fairgrounds, really, and in addition to the annual Calgary Stampede, they host car shows, boat shows, and other exhibition-type things throughout the year; as well as the Saddledome, where the Calgary Flames play hockey.
It can be a busy, noisy, area; and if you’re going to live in it, you’d better be willing to accept a certain amount of traffic and noise–especially after Flames games let out.