Industrial Districts and Memories without Names

[ZeaLitY]

I love industrial districts at night. There's such a glow to them, especially with cloud cover, and they're so unique among attractions natural and man-made. I flipped out at the beauty of a couple videos that popped up on Digg, along with some flickr pictures, taken by a guy who mans an industrial barge.

What a scene:




You can see two videos of him sailing out here and here. There's more to be found in his Flickr account too, so go nuts! This maritime stuff fascinates me. I can't wait until I can actualize my ambition to learn how to sail and log some serious hours on the sea. We are on the cruise!

I also recently watched To Live and Die in LA, a great 1985 movie by the director of The French Connection and featuring a fantastic score by Wang Chung. To my delight, there's a ton of industrial Los Angeles scenery, and a splendid early-morning drive amid factories in the middle of the film and at the end (which has the bonus of Wang Chung's very intense song, Wait). Here are some screenshots, auto-adjusted to bring out the real color and beauty:








You can also view the credit sequence with Wang Chung's song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esLmTJLEwss&fmt=18

Something about the song Wait feels like rain. That's special. As you watch the video and see scenery reminiscent of a time past, with old model cars on the road and the sound of mid-80s urgency in your ears, imagine that you're in that time. The late 80s, the 90s, the 00s—none of it's happened yet. When you go home, there's no computer, and your TV may have tubes. There are no cell phones, nor handheld devices. And you're so alive, it almost hurts. Fantastic.

As the credits rolled, I had a distinct image in my mind. I made a quick search for De Lorean images to sustain the feeling, and I found something perfect:



I can hardly wait.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Ah... That reminds me of Bowater.  It's a major factory in Southeast TN that I used to drive up to.  I found this park that I could safely park at and then walk up to some railroad tracks that snaked out of the ginormous complex and wind up a lofty ridge.  There was a small railroad bridge over an old road where you could stop and look out over the industrial valley before you.  It was truly majestic (although you could only go to do this at certain times; because it was a paper mill the factory sometimes threw off incredibly strong sulfuric fumes - truly stinky).

I, too, enjoy the look of an industrial district by nightfall.

[utunnels]

The color scheme of these pictures reminds me of a dream I dreamt when I was 5 years old or so(strange I'm still be able to remember it although it has been more than 22 years).

It was a sea shore at sunset or dawn, empty, without any buildings, there were only 3 things: a giant vehicle with giant wheels, I could only see its black figure sine the light was dim; besides it was a car, compare to the vehicle, the car was really small; in the sea there was a structure of an oil well...

[ZeaLitY]

Yeah, sometimes random dreams from childhood that I've long forgotten will come back to my memory.

Some random neuron...

[ONSLAUGHT]

they do look really nice. I've always loved these kinds of areas.
Also love factories. Nice to see em...without the smoke that is. Not the whole polluting thing but I just don't find it interesting to look at. takes away from it. I feel they look so futuristic all these things and then the smoke takes it all back by about 50 years.

[V_Translanka]

I always had a thing for the gold Delorean, myself...



Yes, I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I think the silver got played out with the BttF movies...>_>

[FaustWolf]

Nobody can deny the awesomeness of that Gold DeLorean. Henceforth it shall be called the Neo DeLorean.
 

[GenesisOne]

I've never really had the opportunity to see a true Industrial landscape because I've always lived in small cities all my life.

I'm mostly rescinded to the suburbs or the boonies.  Growing up country, that's what it was for me.

Even so, I'm more of a tropical scene person.  Like this one right here:



As for that golden DeLorean... well, let's put it this way.  For every success:



...there's always an Epic Fail.

[ZaichikArky]

Nice pictures.

I watched the ending sequence a bit because I like 80s. I probably won't watch that movie, though, because I can't stand 90 % of action flicks... though at *times* I have made an exception for 80s ones or ones with decent plots. After my friends coerced me to see Crank in theaters, I have vowed never to watch a stupid action movie just for the hell of it ever again. I HAVE PASSION IN MY VOW.

Anyway, I don't agree with you about something. When you say that you can't have that feeling with modern times. I don't know. On some other forums, there are old timers who can tell us what life was like in those days. Considering that the oldest member here is Thought and he's not even that old, I don't think we can have an accurate impression of how life was like with no internet.

When I was a kid, I didn't really have internet until about 2000 and no cell phone till 2003... and then it consumed my life ever since XD;. Stillto this day, I can definitely live without my cell phone, but not internet. So many times in my life do I wish I was born 2 decades earlier. I wish I wasn't born in the 80s, I wish I *lived* in the 80s. It's such a magical, magical time period for me. Words can't even express how many times I have wished this, and how much I obsess over the 80s. To me, it's like living in an entirely different world.

But anyway, I could probably agree that all the recent technologies have really taken away some things from life these days. Modern day transcendentalists still do exist, but they are even more cut off from the world than the same people who are glued to technology.

I don't know what I would do with my life if I weren't glued to technology. I would definitely have fewer friends and I think I would be much more depressed due to the loneliness. I wouldn't know what the hell to do with my time other than to watch tv and take a bike ride (not that I don't do that enough anyway). It doesn't change the core of my existence. I am a social retard and even though I'm not awkward, I don't go out there and make friends/start relationships. I do online and if online didn't exist, then I am sure I would be just like my dad and just not have any friends.

So it's not the decade that defines us, really... That's something that I believe anyway. No matter how much I want to be in the 80s, I don't think my life would really be for the better...

[Lord J Esq]

Ooh. I am the original and still greatest lover of city lights. I'll post some scandalous pictures of jiggawatts and smokestacks from my Collection of Cityrotica when the Compendium comes back online.

[Dialga_Palkia]

Ya know what I like about this cruise? I have another six month vacation before college till January! No doubt about it, I will try to get into the Art Institutes! If there is a way, the dream is alive! And my two sisters (the last ones) are in high school as of today. One is a freshmen and one is a senior. My sister who is currently at home graduates from Colgate University this May 2010 of 16 whereas my senior high school sister graduates the 28th of May. Going to be crazy!  Now, with that aside, who wants some cookies or bread? I've been baking lately.

[Uboa]

Z, I couldn't agree with you more about industrial districts at night.  There's a certain sublime quality to them that no other place can possess.   When I would go out driving between cities soon after I got my license, my favorite sights on the road at night were always dimly blue and amber lit grain and cotton processing plants, or the industrial sites around our city power plant.  They made the darkness of night seem like a fog which swallowed up the pipelines, silos, and ducts hidden from the light.  The structures seemed half-real, half a dream, and for as long as I can remember I've had the most potent feelings of nostalgia when I see anything like them.

[ZeaLitY]

I wish those feelings of nostalgia could be better understood or pinned down. The title of the thread came from a Hendrix lyric, "Must there be all these colors, without names, without sound?" It feels like that; like I've hit some kind of deep, underpinning feeling and memory, but can't put any kind of name or understanding to it. Rain does it to me, as do some stimuli from when I was an infant (like George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set on You" video).

I'm just not content to accept these as pleasant, mysterious feelings. I want to know the exact mechanism, because with that, experiences and feelings like these could be properly communicated. I guess it's sort of my own personal philosophy of art to capture and convey experience as accurately and profoundly as possible.

[GenesisOne]

Not to be a downer or anything like that, but nostalgia is, by definition, a form of homesickness.

Often, we tend to see an idealized form of our past lives and how we lived.  The movies and tv shows we watched growing up, the toys we played with, the video games that we sat and played for hours on end...

All those things are lost to the flow of time.  Case in point?  Sit down and watch some kids movies from the 80s and 90s when you get the chance.  I guarantee at some point you'll be scrathing your head (not literally, of course) wondering "Why did I enjoy this movie/tv show again?"

Nostalgia is based on our limited knowledge of our childhood pastimes.  More often than not, using nostalgia as a historical premise for your life is both subjective and inaccurate.

Heck, I never even played Chrono Trigger growing up.  I didn't get the ROM for it and play it until I was well into high school (crazy as it sounds).

[Shee]

^This has happened to me before.  I watched "Dick Tracy" for the firs time in eons about 18 months ago.  The whole time I could see my childhood shattering before my eyes as I asked what piece of shit is this that I'm watching????


Personally I find the industry sectors, whether it be here or DC or anywhere inbetween, to be depressing.  It always seems so lonely to me.