Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Post Titled: Remember in BACK TO THE FUTURE 2
when the JAWS ad tried to bite Michael J. Fox's head off? Well, that time is HERE, and it isn't even 2015 yet! Ironically it relates to my previous link trashing the Toyota AURIS campaign. Apparently this is all brought to your senses by Dimensional Studios. Or Philips. Honestly, I don't understand how it works

Greedy German Business Buggers TAKE THIS ADVICE.

Dissappearing Bees!
this link should've been in yesterday's APOCALYPSE post.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: If we cloned Jesus would it count as the Second Coming?

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Post Titled: More nonsensical BULLSH*T from the Wonderful World of Advertising.

Berlin is currently plagued by a poster and billboard campaign for the new Toyota AURIS

The ads feaure the sleek, black sharp-looking bug-like car in a hazy, glowing (almost foggy) desert with people standing off to the side or in the foreground looking at the car. Most of the time it feels like:
A. They forgot their keys or are locked out
B. They have are having relationship difficulties or havejust had a bad break-up with the car.
C. The car is a potential cock-blocker.

The one I saw today has a casually well-dressed Euroman standing with his back to the viewer taking a break from walking his German Shepard (also sitting with back to us) looking at the car. DUMB! Pointless! EMPTY! Who walks their dog in the desert and stops to look at a car? A stale whiff of matrialistic surrealsism at best.

What an effing waste of space, resources and supposed brainpower. Sadly, I cannot find any of these ads online... might have to photo them myself.

On a more positive note-
NIMBUZZ can connect skype to your phone and other such wonderfulness for free. Check it

On a less-positive note,
in which case good comes from bad- the slide show (left) of images from the Asian Stock marked decline is full of amazing and beautiful images. cred: NY Times
(Good thing you have that huge stash of gold beneath the basement floor.)

Prank of the Day: Fake GUCCI ad in Switzerland reeks of BANKSY-esque-ness, but doesn't seem like an art project... yet.

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Post Titled: Ist.
Wenn: Mann ist was mann ißt, was ist wenn mann nichts ißt, ist mann nichts?

'schuldigung wegen quatsch und blödsinn- weil ich langweilige mich. zur arbeit. Mittwoch. kann sein das Arbeiten insgesamt eine total verschwendung die Menschlichen kraft/Zeit/potentiel ist. also, naja. hier bin ich. trink noch 'ne kaffee und such immer weiter die interessantesten sachen aufs internet.

Ich hab gestern gezählt das ich viellecht 10 stunden online war. viel zu viel. auch blöd. ich wollte viel lieber knutschen oder- zeichnenlesenmahlenfickenentdecken, und soweiter, gell?

P.S: erste post auf Gerrrman, bitte corrigiere mich mit Kommentare!

von diese Zeit ab soll ich eigentlich alles post auf beide sprachen schreiben, außer diese.
Denglisch... wenn's nür eine echte sprache wäre...

P.P.S. DESIGN*SPONGE is a really fun blog to look at.

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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Post Titled: Panic Now.
On Wait Wait Astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City said that on Friday the 13th in 2029 a metorite will buzz the earth, coming closer that the satellites, then there is a 1:45,000 chance that it will return in 2037 and land in the Pacific Ocean, in which case it would cause ONE TRILLION dollars work of damage. (adjusted for inflation?) Wow.
That is if the Mayan Calendar hasn't already foretold our doom in 2012. *sigh* Heh.
Love it, Apocalypse!

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Post Titled: THE GOLDEN AGE OF RETARDATION REVISITED
I can't tell if Ehrensenf is any good yet, gotta study it a bit.
But what IS good is Susanne's blog entry from yesterday! SWEET BABY JESUS, George Washington!!! THE most perfect example of THE GOLDEN AGE OF RETARDATION I have ever seen... wow.

TO COUNTER SUCH GLORIOUS RETARDATION (and this MAY RESEMBLE AND ADVERTISEMENT, but it is not): In a matter of seconds I just downloaded the entire books (as pdfs) of Stephen Hawking's The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe, Beowulf (which I have only read parts of), The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and The Divine Comedy all for free at WOWIO and I think all they do is throw in an ad or two in the front pages of the book- as far as i can tell- thanks Jerome!

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Post Titled: Will I have anything better to do today that dig up obscure things of interest on ze eeenternet?
Post Subtitled: How to live off of €1,63 a day and be ok with it. Sort of.

Disclaimer: in the following paragraph I was going to complain about my life in more drastically colorful ways, but... then I realized that I have nothing to complain about. Sure, we are completely and utterly broke and there are 101 things that could be better, but the fact is that I have an amazing woman whom I adore to experience life with; plenty of space to live in (even if it is chilly space); and 2.25 jobs (even if I get paid extremely irregularly); a few friends (new and old); and several creative talents. Therefore, I have nothing to complain about.

Berlin is doing the trick and my mind is levelling-out, as I had hoped. No more tense nervous USA-inspired panic like I had in years past. I now end up saying things like "Oh, the Oscars? When were those?" and (absent-mindedly) "More troops in Iraq. right." This is a healthy dose of Euro-apathy which I will not let settle in totally because I am naturally a bit restless to begin with, but really- by pulling back from the American Media/Etc Machine I feel pleasantly freed of its forced tides... Imagine it as a Hollywood set created for a storm at sea, build just slightly offshore- the deck is just a of the fraction of a boat, a platform really, and it is attacked on all sides by 1,000,000 gallons of water and jet-engine force winds while the crew is fighting for their lives. If you are on this deck, you are IN the storm, but if you view this scene from a slight distance you can see the gears and pullies and engines and water tanks which can allow the crew to experience a real White Squall-grade storm, but all around the ocean it is actually quiet, a few waves breaking here here and there... meanwhile the hecticness in front of and behind the camera feeds itself, quite unaware of anything else... the boom guy trying to get close but not too close...

So, on that note here is some sort-of news:

Ironically I found a German copy of Gabriel Zaid's So MANY Books! at the bottom of a pile of pulp crap romance and travel/cookbook/mystery/thrillers in a clearance booksale last weekend. Originally priced at €14,90 it was on sale for €2. Marianne Goldin (Cult of Youth) had originally reccommended this book as a fascinating read, mainly because of its premise:
Fifty years after the introduction of television, he writes, the number of titles published worldwide each year has increased fourfold from 250,000 to 1 million - from 100 books for every million humans to 167. A book is published somewhere in the world every 30 seconds.
Zaid sees the true problem in the hopeless disproportion between the flood of books and the time and physical space of readers already overwhelmed by the larger information deluge. The speed of publication, Zaid writes, makes us "exponentially more ignorant. If a person reads a book a day, he would be neglecting to read 4,000 others, published the same day."


-Ouch. Try telling that to the kids.

Speaking of other overwhelming problems in the world that are more serious and less luxurious, not to mention very unlikely to ever be solved, here is an excerpt from Tom Friedman's speech at CalTech:
"2% of our biofuel needs are coming from 14% of corn production - hence it is NOT possible to envision a day when corn based ethanol will supplant fossil fuel. We as a nation spend as much in 1 hour at the gas pump - across the nation collectively - any 1 busy hour of the day - as we spend annually in renewable energy research. There is as much sunshine hitting US in 1 hour as our need for an entire year if we can convert 50% of that energy. One proposal is to sequester CO2 under the earth - but this will require plugging holes in the earth, or else the CO2 will seep out. It moves around laterally quite easily. Texas alone has 1.5 million holes from oil exploration, and each and every one of them have to be capped!) Amongst currently declared presidential candidates, he said Obama has the best record for sponsoring an emission cap rule."
ripped off from DailyKos

Hmm, Internet Archive... overwhelming.

P.S. There are now 19 people out sick today, nothing is happening. I am temporarily a full-time blogger again, quite unwillingly, but what else can I do- THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS if one has to sit in front of a cmputer from 6-9, not to mention we just published a magazine and everybody is taking a big deep preath before the next one rears its ugly head... ok, maybe not "ugly" head. But you know- stressy head.
P.S.S. (thought to self: wow, these posts could use some photos, getting a bit texty...)

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Monday, February 26, 2007

Post Titled: Lost Productivity VS. Water Bill
Post Subtitled: the cost of germ warfare.
I was out sick 2 days last week and now there are a dozen or so people out sick today... and I'm wondering if that lost productivity would be more expensive than having HOT WATER and SOAP in the bathrooms to help prevent the spread of germs... HMMM. Not to be a smartass...

Heard on U-Bahn "Die die die reinkommen wollen." ("Those who would like to come in") is a funny sentance because the work "die" appears three times in a row.
"DIE DIE DIE" like that Simpsons episode- right?

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Post Titled: Like a Vampire craves blood.
Post Subtitled: Dramatic Title for UNdramatic Monday morning post.
Almost forgot about Boing Boing, so cool.
(10 minutes later) whoowweee, how life comes full circle. I hadn't checked boing boing since leaving Seattle in October and voila´ there is a link to "That Ain't Art" (Roq La Rue Gallery blog) a favorite where I have actually bought 2 pieces in the past- lovely.

P.S. and more cool sh*t about Obama. This man will be the next President of the United States, and it will be good.
(link credit: DailyKos).

and even though it was written *gasp* in Oct. 2005, this article on Nicolas Carr's Blog, Rough Type, about the dawn of Web 2.0 and what it means for the history of mankind is very cool (and bried for those with shorter attention spans).

oh, and there is more:

dozens of miniature, low-resolution cameras and sensors. They're wirelessly linked to computers throughout the 6,000-square-foot space, keeping tabs on traffic flow in public areas and monitoring temperature, humidity and acoustics. The building serves as a testing ground for developing and perfecting wireless sensing technology to connect major chunks of the real world to the Internet.

what a fine blog that is...

and may god have mercy on on the souls of our grandchildren if their power ever goes out. Last week at work the server went down for 15 minutes and it was dead/panic/helpless because EVERYONE needed the internet ALL THE TIME to work... so lookout, ye children of the future...

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Post Titled: Ooof.
Very interesting list of the countries listed by Reporters Without Borders as "Enemies of the Internet" (that is, countries who are hectically oppressive about this whole www thing.) and the peculiarities of each... guess the FCC ain't all that bad afterall. %/§&ers.

Saw a triptych of student modern opera productions last night Händel 1-3 (uh, unfortunately at this time I do not know what the venue was called) but there was some greatness happening there, and the fact that these were STUDENT pieces was unbelievable due to the quality and apparent budget of the production.
Nadine DJ'd a great set to a lukewarmly responsive afterparty- early into it we realized "Oh, these are Opera dorks..." How do you DJ an Opera Dork party??? (Answer: play obscure Showtunes. -this took effect later, not on our watch). Either way it was entertaining, and they did eventually dance (like 14 year old girls up all night at a slumber party.)(to the musical numbers. and Blur.)

Honestly, I am not an opera fan. Call it "modern retardation" or cultural ineptitude, but it is true. Ballet is fine, but (and I know it sounds awful) I would rather- well, do MANY things other than watch a classic opera. (maybe even watch aeon flux again, eeew.) (Ok, maybe not because that movie is terrible, but there was a running loop of scenes from GoDZILA, Aeon FLUX, 2001 and some others on a monitor on stage that my eyes were drawn to more than the performance itself at times). BUT, fortunately 2 out of 3 of these pieces were very well done and much more performance-art oriented than anything one might label "opera". All set to the music of Händel but full of wieeeeerd and beautiful postmodern scenarios, mostly lacking plot- but bice to look at like a teeming bio-sphere. Fransisca's (-link?) piece was very lovely, I#ll have to see if I can't pin down some photos.

I also met a German guy who speaks perfect Australian English, that was a first. It makes the mind spin... you can't believe that this person is anything but what these sounds tell you they are...

Spent all day yesterday buliding and cleaning things in the apartment. I found a secret passageway of sorts, which actually had an extra light fixture laying up in it which is great because we have had little-to-no light in the living room since I accidentally kicked over the industrial-grade beacon from the thrift store (which was pointed in a corner and lit the whole room, btu a replacement bulb is like nothing I have ever seen and is not to be found. anywhere. Probably in the best interest of our elecrtic bill-

ok, I am back at work, the magazine seems to be complete... so... I am awaiting instructions... and ok with that because I still feel stightly hitbyatruck.

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Saturday, February 24, 2007

Post Titled: Two great foto links
From Davis Confused aka NEMU a link to Edward Burtynsky's fotos
and from Greg Lundgren a link to Mardi Gras fotos by Justin Lundgren.

I went dancing with Amelia last night which was a much-needed release. Ballhaus Mitte is amazing- like a East German prom-meets-fest-meets-something. The upstairs was closed but it has the most beautiful old ballroom I have ever seen. Carved wood everywhere and crumbling walls, like it was lost for 100 years. THe downstairs was full of lively dancers, walls lined with tinsel and a couple hundred people lounging watching the spastic antics of those on the dancefloor... I

Upstairs.

The great thing was that there were people of all ages and walks of life just dancing (for the most part goofily but joyously) about. A 75 year old man strutted out onto the dancefloor for Blondie's Heart of Glass. Old couples waltzed and lesbians in suits were dancing besides groups of done-up girls while a gay couple flamencooed. Quite lovely.
We were later joined by a very talkative and charming spanish gallerista and performance artist Mitsu Salmon. The spanish girl kept commenting on how everything in america is big- on the scale of a car, whereas everything in europe is built and functions on a human scale. I like that. This matter of space and proximity...

On the way home I got a bit lost and them was confronted by 5 separate prostitutes, all very young and cute, but initally shocking as I had more or less forgotten about prostitutuion being legal here. The first looked at me and said "hallo!" and ia looked behind me to see if she wasn"t talking to someone else nearby, then confusedly hurried along. The next few would jump in your path on the sidewalk halting you with a hand on your chest, all dressed up warm and adorable batting their heavily make-upped eyes.
"Hi, whatcha doin'?"
"Going home"
"Why are you going home when we could have some fun?"
"I don't think my girlfriend would like that."
"Oh, she doesn't have to know. We can go back to my apartment for a bit, lay back and have some fun"
I am way too polite. I literally had a small conversation with each of them about why this wasn't possible and thank you but I needed to go home. What the heck is wrong with me? Ugh, anyhow. I hadn't been in this situation since Prague many many years ago- it is so awkward. But business is business and (as Claire pointed out) they ARE salespeople...

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Post Titled: Barack Obama on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!
I was initially charmed and impressed when the now presidential candidate apeared on NPR's weekly News Quiz Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me! back in April 2005. This guy is a badass.
LISTEN HERE

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Thursday, February 22, 2007

Post Titled: Home SIck
I am home sick today, but they pulled a giant squid out of the Arctic Ocean in New Zealand. and apparently monkies used spears...

Special reprot just in from Vern-Dawg: (normally I wouldn"t blog about Pop gossip, but this is an exception. BRITNEY GOES MAD at K.Fed's over not being able to see the kids.

I went back to the Bezirksamt yesterday, feeling crappy but bringing a book this time- which is a must. My first visit to the old Bezirksamt (see Nov. 1 posting) was overwhelming, mainly because I was dazzled by the beaurocracy, like a fairy tale...
this time around I sat and minded my own business with my nose in a book. It wasn't until this goofy Turkish guy in his early 30's, (a tough-guy type now reduced to complete infantastic helplessness by a bunch of forms he was required to fill out) started asking me for help (again!) that I even had any interaction with anyone.
"Hey, hey -my friend"
"Yes?"
"You know how to do these papers?"
He put his papers against the wall to fill them out, constantly dropping them and then continually fropping the pen I lent him until it broke, but was still semi-usable. All was going smoothly until we realized that his Passport had expired in April of 2005. I tried to play it off cool- as if I didn't understand the turkish text "Uh, kann nicht wahr sein, hmm, uhh..."
then it was my turn to go in and i was saved from his embarassment.
After the hour and a half wait I realized that I have forgotten the rental agreement for the new apartment, but the lady was nice enough to offer that if I hurried home and back I wouldn"t have to wait in line again and could come directly to her.
I fully took advantage of this, practically sprinting home and then back, filling in all the empty spaces in out copy of the rental contract on the U-Bahn along the way and all was well, I am re-angemeldet at our new address, with a date of 22.Feb, 2007- which can only work in my advantage... the whole system is beyond me, really. THere is no right way of doing things, one must simply roll with the Amtlichen punches.
Now that I am home sick again today, I might consider another go at the Auslaenderbehoerde... the funnest place on earth.

8 PM, the Auslaenderbehoerde was closed BUT I got a tax number at the Finanzamt instead! I can kind of work kind of legally now!
(or at least get paid)
whew.

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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Police are looking for these breasts (and this nose)

the folks at PHOTOBUCKET deleted this image from the other days' blog entry, so I am reloading it into FLICKR. Grrrr.

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Post Titled: My sauerkraut is better than yours, -damn right, its better than yours.
I don't know what to say about this...

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Post Titled: Interesting things in the news this morning
DUTCH KIDS being happy, and Nanotechnology meets sci-fi, and IRISH BECOMES EU's 23rd Official Language (isn't it called Gaelic?) (from the EC site) MOTHER JONES info on global terrorism from Bubba, OOh- and a page full of FRENCH BUSINESSPEOPLE that is fun to look at, just because. They are... cartoonish.

Furthermore, now that everything in my life has two words attached to it instead of just one, here are some perplexing little examples of words which are not easily translated into English From German:

Doch: used as a response to contradict a statement, for example: "It is raining" "(DOCH) It is sunny out-" In this way "doch" can only really be translated as "no" but only used in this way.

Spießig: best translated as stuck-up, uptight, and/or conservative but doesn't always have a negative connotation attached to it. (can be quaintly speßig)

Asi: Technically it is short for Asozial or, in English, "asocial" but means anything from "white trash" to "creep"

and there are more that I can't really remember at the moment. Time to mop:

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Post Titled: "When I grow up I want to be Unemployed,- oh, no wait, like, a Megastar, an actress, that would be supercool."

Nadine found this from (From Stefan Raab), which goes to prove that clueless losers exist and thrive all over God's blue-and-green earth, even in the effing German utopia...
(will translate later)

(Clarification: the German School system is broken down into Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. The Hauptschule is the lowest of these three is for very average to those with learning difficulties, (but not retarted), Realschule is in the middle- it is ok, and the Gymasium one can make an Abitur (High school diploma).
TRANSCRIPT:
Work Councelor at the Employment Office: Which subjects do you dislike?
Girl: History. I don't like it at all.
WC: You've never been interested in History? In Elementary school even?
Girl: No. I have never been interested. I am more interested in the future, and not what came before me.
WC: Hmm..
Girl: They do their thing and I do my thing, these funny Romans and whatnot. At the Gymnasium are all the total nerds(bookworms/social climbers), they look totally different than the Hauptschüler (her peers) have you seen them?!? They are bitchy- I'm not joking. The Realschüler are the most normal, and the Hauptschüler are the coolest.
WC: Your dreamjob?
Girl: My dreamjob: unemployed. simply be at home. No, wait - Megastar. Whole lotta cash. A huge house, cars-
WC: Being a Megastar wouldn't be that simple.
Girl: Oh, actress, for example- that would be cool!

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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Post Titled: Overheard in Berlin

"Dude, you know what I think!? I think Britney Spears, like CALLS the paparazzi ahead of time!
Friedrichstraße, 13.08

"And then my bladder infection got realllly bad!"
Kochstraße, 13.27

"Also, Jodi-Maus, Tschüßi! Bis später!"
Charlottenstraße, 13.41

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Saturday, February 17, 2007

Post Titled: Handstands
We have a room which we don"t know what to do with just yet... so this morning I just decided to use it to practice handstands, some in my underwear... (might be proof that I am a closet egoist?)



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Post Titled: A great Speech by Wim Wenders
(thanks ceas for the link to signandsight)
I Don't care for Wim Wenders' films, but this speech he made at the Berlinale is wonderful.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

Post Titled:
A. Another wonderful reason to love Nadine
B. A reason NEVER to give your German Girlfriend an IKEA catalog.
(see below)

very unaware that the camera was on.
and here, singing about IKEA:

so good, though, right?
xo,
;p

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´Post Titled: Good Art, Bad Art

To get my mind off things I went to two galleries on my lunchbreak today, first Per Kirkeby's show at Julius Werner Gallery which was atrocious crap... really, honestly atrocius crap. http://www.juliuswerner.com/
Right nextdoor was CRONE gallery, full of nude paintings of fascist and Communist leaders in the buff and doing hip-hop type poses. And Prince Charles... That was delightful... by artist Alla http://www.alla-art.com/ (I`ll activate the links and fill in the blanks later.)
Augh, art...

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Post Titled: February 15, 2007

evening. again. days are just flying by, now aren"t they?...

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Post Titled: Wi-Fi and Coal Heating
the great irony of Berlin (which, in a way, seems to ring true in europe overall ) and this is something I have joked about before: I now have wireless internet and coal heating... and all of europe exists between these oldest and newest world things...
Nadinechen in the new Apartment:


MEAHWHILE, over these last few days another little something has come to light- the simple differences found in a german workplace... (George, feel free to pretend not to have read this)- but the day is littered here and there with looking up inappropriate things on the internet and making raunchy jokes between the office folks and whatnot... and then I go into the kitchen area at work and there is a naked woman on the front of the newspaper (BILD) and on the subway posters and I have flashbacks of being 13 and seeing all this for the first time and it dawns on me- oh, duh, one of the good things about Germany, there are still human beings here, and bodies are just bodies and men are just men and women are just women... I don't know how to explain it really, but I have always appreciated... the fact that nobody is in danger of being sued for sexual harrassment at work because somehow people self-regulate... instead of pretent that we live in a perfect PC utopia... let me see if I can't find some of those trashy BILD girls to include here... thus making my own blog inappropriate to look at in an American work environment:::
AH, yes, ripped from their blog here are a few darling examples of the pure tastelessness of BILD Zeitung, "POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR THESE BREASTS!"
oops.

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Post Titled: Everything it its right place

Hi, just busy as all heck with production week for the magazine (work) so no time to add to ye olde blog, but Lauren sent this cool link, unforunately I can't activate it on this computer: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070213/K021304AU.html
all is well with the apartment, and Nadine and I are feeling ok about our situation for the first time in months.
Eventually I will add fotos.
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Monday, February 12, 2007

Post Titled: May the Force be with you, BARACK OBAMA
just in from the BBC, kind of fun:
"Australian PM John Howard has criticised US presidential hopeful Barack Obama for saying US troops should withdraw from Iraq next year.

His comments came soon after Mr Obama officially announced he would seek the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Mr Howard said al-Qaeda should be "praying as many times as possible" for an Obama victory in the 2008 elections.

But Mr Obama reacted by saying Australia should increase its troops in Iraq, if Mr Howard was so concerned."

Put the smack down.

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Friday, February 09, 2007

Post Titled: yea, that tree needs to go... in one of our 3 ovens... now.
Seeing as how we have no time and/or little money we haven't been able to go out and buy coal to heat the apartment just yet- which lead to me sawing a 4x4 scrap of wood in hald with a Swiss army knife between 7-7:30 am this morning. Other than that we are just burning everything is sight. I mean, it isn't THAT cold, but it is snowing out almost every day-
anyhow, I have only heard of half of the following tope ten video sites on the web...
Web Property Visitors, July 2006 (in millions)

1. Yahoo Video 21.1
2. MySpace Videos 20.1
3. YouTube 16.1
4. MSN Video 14.6
5. AOL Video 10.5
6. Heavy 8.3
7. Google Video 6.8
8. Ebaum's World 5.4
9. iFilm 3.3
10. Break 2.6

11. Metacafe 2.0
12. Atom Films 1.3
13. Veoh 0.7
14. Grouper 0.5
15. Revver 0.2
(sorry, I#ll clean that up later- ugh!)I might live under a rock? I don't know any more... impossible to gague.
Today at work we moved a couple thousand old magazines from the basement to the recycling bins behind the building, that sucked. But I am almost done with my article, now having to hack it apart (from 2,260 words down to at most 1,500) and have renamed it Uncooling Tobacco in the EU in a little nod to adbusters. Sorry, MOS.
Aw shizzle, I just found out that if you google "Matthew Barney in Berlin" I come up third, heck yea- all that transcribing paid off... not that I had anything better to do at that time...
meanwhile here are some photos of the new apartmetn- bare necked empty!

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Thursday, February 08, 2007

Post Titled: Crazy Astronaut News from Bubba!
THat's right, check it out
astronaut charged with attempted murder of another astronaut in a love triangle with a male astronaut

wow. thanks bubba.

and a fun discovery this morning: SLANG CITY, and here a translation of MOS DEF'S GHETTO ROCK from slang to proper english for those of us who are Ghetto-challenged. Like me. (Damn, I love that song though.)
(see full video below)

So, Nadine and I are now happy residents of a huge apartment at Schönleinstraße 7 (Kreuzberg) that needs a LOT of work, I spent hours sweeping and mopping last night which is merely a snowflake resting on the tip of the iceberg. We have so much space and there is so much to be done that it is truly daunting, but it will be fun- because by the time we are done with it it will be amazing. There were layers of dust, mostly from the half-completed rennovation, and what might be called grime- many unidentifiable dirtinesses

In other news I did an interview for my first article here at the magazine, which I am very excited about. I used my trusty Olympus digital audio voice recorder held fast to the reciever, unfortunately it was practically full with audio from my Grandparents, friends and first month in Berlin. I ran out of space about two-thirds the way through and jotted like a madman for the rest. Now, to put it all together for tomorrow's deadline... the article is tentatively titled "Anti-Smokey smoke from coast to coast" partly from the song:

MOS DEF: GHETTO ROCK


I never really know how to feel about MOS DEF's recent rise to movie stardom... if you can call it that... the Woodsman, that HBO movie about baby heart transplants that was really good... Hitchiker's Guide and 16 Blocks... dunno, it is very double-sided. But he is a better actor than most other hip-hop personalities turned actors... i.e. LL Cool J, Ludacris, Ice Cube, ... but perhaps not Ice T...

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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Post Titled: going down in a hail of information
A few points of interest on this fine Wednesday afternoon:
A. we get our key to the apartment today!
B. the couch I bouch on my lunch break yesterday and described to Nadine as a 60's-70's retro sofa was quickly relabeled by her when she picked it up as "an 80's coke couch, but it will do for the time being"
C. Eeew, wierd TESCO spiders- if this article from the SUN is to be trusted.
D. Branglina were just in Berlin and somehow that makes me kind of happy... dumb I know.
E. I have been steadily listening to Justin TImberlake's Justified (first album) and can safely say that it isn*t nearly as good as Future Sex/Love Sounds, the more recent second album...
F. There is much more, but I must return to work...

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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Post Titled: a near-bath experience
fold-down bath in the middle of Amelia's kitchen:

Due to some technicial difficulties we find ourselves a wee bit misplaced, "inbetween apartments" "homeless, hoewver you want to put it. Fortunately Dear sweet awesome Amelia is letting us stay at her place (which is directly above our would-be apartment) because she is is Dresden for a few days. Hopefully this little technical difficulty will be undifficulted today...

Last night, however, the guy in the apartment on the other side of the wall proceeded to play loud techno into the late hours of the night. Nadine and Amelia called the Police 3 times, who came into the sleeping room, listeded to the noise, agreed that is was too loud but were ultimately unable to locate the apartment, which was in another building (even though the wall is shared). Jeez, German Police are very- ...well, different. Dyed hair, piercings, a bit overwirght, young, friendly and almsot goofy.
I finally met SUsanne, which is totally crazy- just becuase we have been existing in this sphere of shared people and places for so long without ever having actually met...

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Post Titled: or call 1-800-FOR-TRUTH
Post Subtitled: (I really shouldn't waste perfectly good blog space on this...)

Oh, hooray! More creepy crap from the followers of Tom Cruise! I am so glad I gave them my email address:

Introducing the new Dianetics Self-Improvement Package — everything you need to start using Dianetics technology with step-by-step instructions and demonstrations.
Package price: $49.95

Dear TAR,

If you’ve ever felt there was something holding you back in life, ruining your plans and stopping you from being who you want to be, you were right.

The fact is, there is a single source of all your problems, stress, unhappiness and self-doubt. It’s called the reactive mind—the hidden part of your mind that stores all painful experiences, then uses them against you.

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Today you can get Dianetics in a brand-new Home Study Course package that provides you with easy-to-understand and visual demonstrations of precisely how it works. It gives you everything you need to start right away with a friend or family member. In essence you are getting the following in this package:

Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health large-format paperback, which gives the complete anatomy of the reactive mind and the technology to get rid of it.

Dianetics: A Visual Guidebook to the Mind DVD, shows a step-by-step demonstration of Dianetics procedures that makes it easy to get started.

Dianetics: Lectures and Demonstrations, six one-hour recorded lectures by L. Ron Hubbard, in which you'll hear him personally explain and demonstrate the breakthroughs of Dianetics.

Dianetics Self-improvement Home Study Course, an easy-to-do course that takes you through all of the above and greatly increases your understanding of Dianetics. Do your lessons on-line and get supervised by a professional Dianetics consultant!
All of this is available in a discounted package price of only $49.95! All orders are shipped in 24 hours and delivered in 3 – 7 working days anywhere in the U.S.
There’s only one way to find out if Dianetics procedure is everything millions of people say it is. Don’t just take our word for it. Try it. Then, with the past painful experiences erased from your life, the full nature of your own creativity, character and personality can emerge. Along with the full power of your mind!
And we are so confident that this package will achieve the desired result, we are offering a 30-day money-back guarantee if for some reason you are not completely satisfied. Click to order the package now or call 1-(800)-FOR-TRUTH.

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Visit our On-line Bookstore
Results from application:
"I suffered for years, ever since I was a kid, from sinus pressure. It would get so bad, I couldn't even bend over to pick up a pencil!

"And as a result, I'd have migraine headaches.

"Dianetics handled the source of my headaches — the reactive mind.

"I can't explain the feeling that I had at that time. The pressure just blew. I could feel it come off my face and it was such a relief.

"I walked around for months thinking, 'Okay, when is it going to come back? When is it going to start?' It never did. It was just gone."

— K.F.
"My marriage was headed for divorce. And even though we loved each other, something had come between us and we didn't know what it was.

"We tried everything. We went to a marriage counselor, we even went to a psychiatrist and the end result was we still were headed for divorce.

"So just when I was about to file the final papers, a close friend of ours insisted, absolutely insisted, that we try Dianetics.

"And that was when we knew what had come between us — it was the reactive mind.

"So not only did Dianetics give us the tools to save and rebuild our marriage, but we love each other more today than the day we got married."

— C.L.




or call 1-800-FOR-TRUTH

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Post Titled: Björk talking about TV

...so damn cute!
Manü sent this cool link to TETRIS vandalism.

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Saturday, February 03, 2007

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Friday, February 02, 2007

Post Titled: Yesterday was dramatic, Today is ók.
This January, goodness. Just as stressful as last January for the same and different reasons. Perhaps I should just skip januaries from now on...
There was something I meant to write, but now it escapes me.

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Thursday, February 01, 2007

Post Titled: DOB revisited.
Almost 5 years now after the Superflat shows in the states (or has it been longer?) I was looking into Takashi Murakami on the internet and came across this quote:

"DOB is a self-portrait of the Japanese people," explains Murakami, 37, "He is cute but has no meaning and understands nothing of life, sex, or reality."



Makes me wonder... is it ok to be brutally critical and borderline racist when it comes to your own people... I thought I couldn't stand American Society, but after 4 months in Berlin, I find myself growling at the way things are done here as well... I think I just can't stand many basic aspects of society as a whole... alas, *yawn*
Oh well. There are plenty of good movies to watch and books to read and music to listen to and pretty girls roaming the earth... it that is all the meaning I can squeeze out of life at the momentthan sobeit.http://www.artbr.com.br/takashimurakami/
Meanwhile I will sell the shirt I bought at the SUPERFLAT show in LA on eBay because... I don't care for it too much anymore...

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Post Titled: Maybe I don't have that much to complain about.
After all, my costs thus far haven't been this bad:
"WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund issued the following statement in response to the announcement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services of a proposed increase in the fee for naturalization:
"The NALEO Educational Fund strongly condemns the exorbitant increase in the fee for naturalization proposed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), because it will put the dream of U.S. citizenship beyond the reach of many of our nation's newcomers. Under the USCIS' proposal, the fees for starting the naturalization process will soar from $400 to $675, an increase of 69%. The agency anticipates that the fee hike will go into effect sometime in June.
"The naturalization fee has grown dramatically since 1991, when legal permanent residents paid $90 to file their applications. The increases are a result of fundamental flaws in our nation's system of financing immigration services. The USCIS is supposed to set fees at a level that it will allow it to recover the costs of processing applications. However, agency policies and Congressional mandates are forcing newcomers' fees to cover massive expenditures for major infrastructure investments and process improvements that are driving fees to a level that immigrants simply cannot afford. For example, according to the USCIS, the agency needs to raise fees to improve the timeliness of background checks, modernize its outdated business systems by upgrading and enhancing its technological capabilities, improve USCIS facilities and enhance its personnel training and recruitment programs. The USCIS also announced that it intends to improve the average processing time for the Form N-400 naturalization application from seven to five months."

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