Berlintro

2007-07-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

A good year for the roses

2007-06-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

'Yupies zerschlagen!'

2007-05-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

A declaration of war against young urban professionals in Pappelallee.

Die Welt

2007-05-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

The Berlin Hi-Flyer on the Zimmerstrasse on sunday.

The sweet smell of spring

2007-04-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love the springtime? With its vibrant colours, its soft new babygreen leaves, the sweet smells in the air?
The way the streets suddenly seem to fill with chairs and tables and people warming their pale winter skin in the sun?
It's like a yearly reminder that however cold and dark and grey it might get, however bleak and skinny the trees; things will always get better eventually, life will come to life again.

The writing's on the wall

2007-04-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

@ Rosenthaler strasse. I wish all advertising space could be used like this...

NEWS FLASH Arctic Monkeys have their own store in Kreuzberg!

2007-04-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

In the Falckensteinstraße, to be exact...

Kool Klaxons Kids

2007-03-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

Where did all the kool kids go yesterday? They were at Kreuzberg's Lido, five hundred of them, all packed into the small venue to see the Klaxons, who proved how exciting new music can be. The Britisch press 've already got a name for this music of course, they call it 'New Rave'.
And rave they did.

They waved too, with their fluorescent sticks and bracelets. Haven't seen those since 1992. I'm getting old.

The Klaxons in axion:

Veteranenstrasse, Mitte

2007-03-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

Could it be?

2007-03-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

March is usually totally unpredictable, but could it be that spring is in the air already? At least in the Schliemannstrasse in Prenzlberg the chairs and tables are outside again.
Can't wait for summer...

Berli-no-le

2007-02-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

I guess not everyone's happy the Berlinale-promi-Hollywood-circus is in town...

THE RED ELVIS

2007-01-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

This documentary by Leopold Grün tells the story of Dean Reed, an American entertainer who made it big in South America and behind the Iron Curtain. He was a cowboy, a rebel, a freedom fighter and a heartthrob at the same time, but eventually comitted suicide in a Berlin lake.

"The Red Elvis" will premiere at the Berlinale, the 57th Berlin International Film Festival (8-18 feb). Check out the trailer below.

Dean Reed- The Red Elvis

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Supermarket etiquette

2007-01-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

It was a bit busy in my local supermarket Rewe at the Kulturbrauerei. When I approached the cash register, there were four or five people in front of me. At the end of the line stood a shopping basket on the floor, its owner nowhere to be seen. Must have dashed off to get some last minute things. Can happen, right? I just positioned myself next in line. When she returned, the girl whose basket was in front of me appeared to fetch it to leave to do some more shopping. Great, I thought, one less in front of me. But then she stepped behind me, apparently offering me her place! To a Dutch person like me, that made no sense at all. If your basket's in line, that's your spot, except if you just leave an empty one and then start shopping.

I noticed before that Germans under no circumstances want to appear rude or uncivilised, but this to me seemed like a step too far. There's all kinds of humble, but this was the awkward kind. So in my best Deutsch, I offered her her place back and stated that I found it absolutley no problem that she wasn't there but here basket was. Funny, these cultural differences. In Holland, it would have been the other way around; people would have made a great fuss if you took their place while they had run off for something they'd forgotten.

The border

2007-01-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

"And time and again the border. A mysterious magnetic power radiates out of it. An attraction, irrespective of political or moral interpretation. Politically I understood the building of the wall, morally I was incensed - both actually overlook what it means today: a form of social contradiction condensed into stone. Of course the thing is perverse, but it shows its malady openly and does not hide it away awkwardly. The loss of this construction would impoverish life here. And even if it were only the anger that was lost.

"And it is not just the anger. The wall as a motor that permanently generates tension. It challenges, coerces much of what is everyday routine into shedding its superficiality, so as to get to the core - even if it's hard to swallow.

"This knife of history, ruthlessly cutting a place in two, which then turned into more than the halves of the previously existing city. At the time of separation both parts were falling apart, so that the wall joined them together.

"A zipper. The cement holding the whole of Berlin together. Its name a metaphor for something that holds a brittle hope. Fencing off is only viewed as necessary when things threaten to intermingle."

Lutz Rathenow in 'Ost-Berlin - Life before the Wall fell', first published by Jaron Verlag in 1987.

Kill your ego

2006-12-18T03:59:00.000-08:00

Holy shit

2006-12-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

With traditional Weihnachtsmarkets all over town, you might want to try something completely different this weekend.
For Christmas shopping alternative style, be sure to visit these two events:

3&33 Markt | located in the beautiful Villa Elisabeth and Elisabethkirche (Invalidenstrasse, Mitte).
Various designers and artists sell original products at 66 stands, priced 3 to 33 euros.
From friday the 15th - sunday the 17th of december.
More info: www.3&33.de

Holy.Shit.Shopping | more than 100 designers plus dj's, vj's and performances.
Location: the famous Cafe Moskau at the Karl Marx Allee.
Saturday the 16th and sunday the 17th of december.
www.holyshitshopping.de

Threesome

2006-12-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

Matress humor on Helmholzplatz.

Sweet

2006-11-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

Shop window in Stargarder strasse, Prenzlberg

Water

2006-11-29T08:17:00.000-08:00

Monday night, 21:58, in a taxi towards Kreuzberg:
"So, you're from Holland, right? Do you guys have highways over there, or is that not possible due to al the water and bridges and everything?"

(the destination of our ride was club Lido, where new British band the Maccabees performed. There were only a handfull of people, but we still had fun, especially when the singer decided to bring chocolates and gherkins from the dressing room and hand them out to the audience)