The late noughties hang out for Sydney Uni arts students of choice, there was one real reason why we loved the Fair Trade Cafe in Glebe, which recently closed its doors. Was it the ethically correct, fine tasting coffee, or the fact the proceeds went towards volunteer projects in third world countries? Or was it the fact that you were bound to hear at least one overly loud conversation about someone's documentary project, short film or band?

No, it was the fact that, ironically, unlike the ironically titled Well Connected cafe next door (one of the first internet cafes in Sydney), The Fair Trade Cafe actually had wi-fi.

The birthplace of the Tropest film festival, this cafe symbolises all that is soul-less and generic about modern Sydney. During the day, it's packed with obviously unemployed people in designer clothes slaving over their masterpiece screenplay on their laptop, pretending to be talking to their "agents" on their mobile phones, all the while a dozen or so plasma screens blare bad 90s music. The coffee is not bad, but the food, a rather generic and small menu of mediocre foccaccias and pastas, makes McDonalds or Subway look like a home to individualism.

I had a mate who used to love this place and would constantly be dragging me here. Why? I worked out he wanted to be "somebody", and where was he spending his time? Sitting crammed in a cafeteria full of other wanna-bes pretending to be somebody.

For the record, my favourite Sydney cafe is Cafe Berardo of Glebe (RIP), which was full of unemployed musicians and writers who at least knew they were nobodies... and the coffee was sublime.

Tropicana Cafe is at 227 Victoria Road, Darlinghurst.