Post Titled: Ouch

Good to be busy, good to be riding a bike again. I zoom around on my lunchbreaks getting as far away from the Friedrichstrasse tourists as possible, napping in parks, and checking out magazine stands. Other than that I am dead-'zombie'tired... can't hardly see straight. But in most ways it is all very fun...

THe proofreader at work mentioned the "Commodore 64" yesterday and suddenly my entire memorory of the 1980's was crystal-clear and re-experiencable in my mind.
Kinder times.

wE KEEP TELLING OURSELVES "thinks will level out" "things will get better"... which is true.. they are and they will... but in the meantime it is still survival and hard work. I am happy, essentially.

Post Titled: Kryptonite Found in Serbia.

Well, sort of. FROM REUTERS.

Post Titled: Iraq Pullout

I don't quite believe this will happen, but it would be nice...

"How many more suicide bombs must kill American soldiers before this president offers a timeline for our troops to come home?" asked Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., a freshman Iraq war veteran who lost nine fellow paratroopers this week in one of the deadliest attacks of the war.

"How many more military leaders must declare the war will not be won militarily before this president demands that the Iraqis stand up and fight for their country? How many more terrorists will President Bush's foreign policy breed before he focuses a new strategy, a real strategy? This bill says enough is enough."

Meanwhile, CODA seems cool.-

New word: majuscule
1. (of letters) capital.
2. large, as either capital or uncial letters.
3. written in such letters (opposed to minuscule).

who knew? not I.

Oh good, more fun with BANKSY from the Guardian

Post Titled: Google Conspiracy Video
That's right, a fun little Google Conspiracy video, which made me thinK: do I care about my privacy, ... uh, no, not as long as I have less that $10 dollars in the bank. (Less than 5 actually.) Should I trust Google? Uh... don't care. I trust them far more than the government, so that is a start. Do I want absolute transparency? Yes.Why? Why not? I hate secrets and lies. Brave New World... again and again and again. I Like it. Maybe some don't, but I do.


THEN AGAIN; should I worry? : from Adbusters: Rise of the INternet Police State

Anyhow, check out this completely unengaging internet news report on Google vs. VIACOM:

Post Titled: Nothing like a good craigslist posting.

ART CRATES

funny, right?

Post Titled: Intel's Vision of the (Near?) Future...
Yea, "cool" don't know how I feel about this- liker in previous posts: if the power goes out all these drones are fucked:
found in Dave's "the Thinking Blog"

Post Titled: Kalle Lasn Interview on CNN
In honor of me FORGETTING about Buy Nothing Day this year, I felt the need to post this... even though chances are I didn't buy anything that day. I may be interviewing this guy in a few weeks- good stuff.

Post Titled: Best Website Ever?

Genial... totally. danke Helen!

Back in real life. It is production week at the magazine, which is usually hectic, but this time around things feel ok, (knock on wood) we have TOO MUCH content this time, and just have to iron things out (as opposed to the past where we were scrambling for text adn images)
the only bad timing issue is that Amelia and I are desiging the interior of the Zinnober Maskenball at UDK. THis is a masked ball with a history going back to the 20's, and we just got on the project 3 days ago, which must be completed in less that a week... oh boy. -fun, but hectic.

Post Titled: SHIT JUST KEEPS HITTING THE FAN
Post Subtitled: Something that ACTUALLY made my jaw drop.
Post Sub-SubTitled: Just when I thought there was nothing left that could shock me...

soooo, you get busy for a few days, don't pay attention to what is going on and THEN you find out about Alec Baldwin's angry phone message to his daughter...
he might as well just go ahead and have a press conference where he says "Yes, I AM a psychotic asshole."

Transparency, BIIAATCH! Hurts a lot.

Honestly, it hurts my heart listening to that message.

But I still like him in Beetlejuice...

and soon all the world will be see-through... unless you want to go back to carrier pidgeons and self-destructing messages...

Post Titled: cool iceland post from unknown myspace user...
ahhh, damn, ICELAND! want to go back when it is actually sunny.
thank you, "dave."

Post Titled: Boris Yeltsin Death
As Lucien so eloquently stated:
"He had Too much blood in his vodkastream."

OH, but how he loved to dance! R.I.P., Big Guy.

Post Titled: Monsters

Images from a computer game of mosters destroying stuff.

bloggin dat ass re-revisited

bloggin dat ass, originally uploaded by TAR ART RAT.

what? I finally got this photo out of my old phone.

Post Titled: THings not to do for a new Nintendo Wii
Post Subtitled: Bad bad BAD PR

1. Uhm, DIE.
2...Uh... die.

-thanks bubba!

Post Titled: Kinda like the idea of this Noosphere thing

Not that I wander wikipedia too often, but but the idea of the noosphere caught my eye:

"The noosphere can be seen as the "sphere of human thought" being derived from the Greek νους ("nous") meaning "mind" in the style of "atmosphere" and "biosphere". In the original theory of Vernadsky, the noosphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human cognition fundamentally transforms the biosphere. In contrast to the conceptions of the Gaia theorists, or the promoters of cyberspace, Vernadsky's noosphere emerges at the point where humankind, through the mastery of nuclear processes, begins to create resources through the transmutation of elements.

The word is also sometimes used to refer to a transhuman consciousness emerging from the interactions of human minds. This is the view proposed by the theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who added that the noosphere is evolving towards an ever greater integration, culminating in the Omega Point—which he saw as the ultimate goal of history. The noosphere concept of 'unification' was elaborated in popular science fiction by Julian May in the Galactic Milieu Series."

Speaking of the future of humankind, Wil Wheaton (aka Wesley Crusher from Star Trek The Next Generation) has a blog that I used to read, forgot about, then just found again

Post Titled: Newts that won't get better.
Hearing the word newt I can't help but think of the dialogue from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
"SHe turned me into a NEWT!"
"A NEWT?!?"
"Well,... I got better.."

Apparently the building of the new Olympic Stadiums in East London for the 2012 Olympics will actually disrupt rare wildlife, included newts who are protected by law- I know it isn't the most exciting things in the world, but before coffee at 7 am on a Friday morning it seems completely fascinating.

Post Titled: Charming as all heck!
This Mashup from the XOLO.tv WMX 98 VideoBloggingWeek 2007 is just charming as all heck.

Post Titled: unusual girl bloggers I have come across recently
and they couldn't be more same-different
Babys Blog by Sinead
and
Media Lizzy

Post Titled: Virginia Tech Student Blog

Bryce's Journal, a Virginia Tech student.

Interesting, with the New Media, how this is all so different from Columbine...

Post Titled: Blackberry down!
Shit, it's like the Whos in Whoville waking up to no christmas:
BLACKBERRY DOWN

Oh, and on a separate but wonderful topic, here is a sort of manifestation that has come to my mind ever since the Emperor took his throne:

Post Titled Pandabortion
thaks susanne!
the Onion has realy coe a long way since the last time I checked their site...
Panda Demands Abortion

Post Titled: MyDeathSpace.com

I am just going to take a neutral position on MyDeathSpace.com, which Sam just told me about last night, but many profiles of the Virginia Tech Students are aldready there...

Post Titled: MIT Student Blogs

indeed, sponsored by the Admissions dept, unsensored MIT student BLOGS.

Speaking of other SCI-FI oriented things, the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies seems... kinda great, actually. Too bad a subscription is €250 for six issues.

and to just point something out, a sentance I found in an article from the UK today:
"But despite all the hype (and obvious enthusiasm) for the project, some observers wonder just how far it will get on a niggardly budget of €7.5m - barely sufficient to pay for the participants' working-lunches over the three year period."

Have you ever seen anyone use the word niggardly? Me neither. 'K, glad we're on the same page.

Post Titled: World... oh, World.

WHo would do THIS?

Post Titled: Damn junkies...
Post Subtitled: On Computer Addiction
THis online article from the Goethe INstitut reeks a bit of classic "Reefer Madness"-esque propaganda, advisings warnings and paranoias, oder? Pretty fun.

I closed my eyes last night and saw matte-brown-black nothing. Nothing on the backs of my eyelids, which are usually hyper-animated with shifting imagery, especially before I go to sleep... and I thought "yes, perhaps the computer screens have burned away my imagination..."

Not the most likely scenario, but it could happen.

And does it really matter if children escape into virtual realities?

I mean, I wouldn't want that for my kids, but if other kids want to tune into techno-zombies, I'm cool with that. Little buggers. What else do they have to do? Read words on PAPER? Entertain THEMSELVES? SOunds like a lot of hard work if you ask me.

Post Titled: Great Article

Yes, a really GREAT ARTICLE from the Wasington Post, thanks ceas.

we really do need things to be validated in order for us to value them, don't we?

why is that? it there just too much in the world? too much vying for our attention? or do we not trust our own judgement? do we even posses our own judgement and tastes?

Post Titled: Oh Fassbinder My Fassbinder

Damn. I mean, the worst thing you can do during (aforementioned) beautiful day is to go indoors (without windows) for hours at a time. But damn, the Berlin Alexanderplatz show of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's series at KW is worth it. I have been a Fassbinder fan for a few years, but seeing this exhibit completely amplified my respect for him and made me just want to wash his (long dead) feet and just worship the guy. It is great. If you are in Berlin and reading this then go. If not, then move to Berlin and go.
Basically, there really isn't any reason that a 15-hour TV series should be in an art space, but how well it works. there is a Panorama on the main floor - and by "panorama" allow me to just insert video to save myself a description:

insert video

Post Titled: The Impossibility of an island.

Walking up and down Friedrichstrasse yesterday surrounded by more tourists than ever... and the the young americna tour guides who lead them with loud animated historical shout-speeches. I actually used to work with a guy I saw leading a tour, Nikolai, and he paused in the middle of a sentance when this moment of recognition occurred, he stopped, smiled, became himself and said "hey!" for a second then returned to tour guide mode.

It dawned on me that I couldn't imagine thousands of germans living in any one major american city eeking out a living any way possible, fighting the beurocracy, living without electricity, staying for years technicaly illegally or receiving unemployment from the American GOvernment, but that all seems to go on here all the time... BUT on this island Berlin there are different standards or foundations for life... life is completely up-in-the-air. Hardly any structure. I wonder how that works in Paris- even more absurd? Paris, I believe, is only half the population of Berlin, and I seriously doubt there is the abundant and dirt-cheap housing to be had there like there is here-

I have been reading Haruki Murakami's "Frog Saves Tokyo" in German, this is the second novel I have been able to read that was translated from Japanese to German- it is just easier, go figure.

Nadine just went off to audition for an acting school. SHe has spend weeks honing the character of Ulrike Meinhof for the piece, it is very very good. She will get in.

So, Saturday morning and I put on Morrissey's Vauxhall and I, then do German vocab and wait for Nadine to return and relay details. Glorious sunny day.

Post Titled: 99 Problems (err, well, just one actually)
Post SubTitled: NYT-Git that foot in tha door!

Awhile back I blogged about Hewlett-Packard's use of Jay-Z ('s torso, hands and voice) in an ad, (CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO THAT POST including letter to HP in which I pretend to be a soccer mom) and here is what NY TImes said back then: (ok, no harsh critic- but drumroll for irony to come further down the page)

" Instead of the stereotypical geeky, corporate PC users — the kind that are mocked in a new Apple campaign that juxtaposes them with supposedly cooler Mac users — people like Jay-Z, the rap artist, are featured in the H.P. spots. But not in the usual way. The Jay-Z ad shows him from the neck down, focusing on his hands as he sorts through the things he has stored on his hard drive, like “vacation photos you won’t see in the tabloids.’’
“We wanted to step away from selling computers as a commodity to telling a story in an autobiographical way,’’ said Steve Simpson, partner and creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which created the ad.
Goodby, based in San Francisco, is working on the Hewlett-Packard account with the global agency groups McCann Erickson, which is a unit of Interpublic, and Publicis; the media buying is being handled by ZenithOptimedia. An H.P. executive said the company spent $510 million on advertising in the United States last year. The new global campaign, the executive said, will cost several hundred million dollars."

Then today on SLATE.com I see - what???: a New York Times ad feauring Jay-Z! With text: "Mingle with moguls. As little as $3.15 a week, Delivered." and there the motion graphic freezes with Shawn Carter's face...

what do we even say about that? baffling! Let me just put a link to that HP post from last year again. and re-phrase the line from 99 Problems... or, can someone, anyone- do it for me? Bubba, where you at?
(guess they fell prey to the same damn thing: current... überall pervasiveness of hip-hop used to sell and market everything. HOW many NY TImes Readers can even Pick JAy-Z out of a lineup (no disrespect intended) but seriously.)

Post Titled: Age old question
Die Welt Online had a little sidebar poll going today asking which research scientist readers would find most helpful for survival on a deserted island, and as of noon-ish here are the results:
Umfrage
Welcher Forscher hilft Ihnen beim Überleben auf einer einsamen Insel?

abstimmen Ergebnis
8% Albert Einstein
9% Jane Goodall
5% Sigmund Freud
47% Alexander von Humboldt
3% Marie Curie
9% Benjamin Franklin
12% Robert Koch
7% Antje-Katrin Kühnemann

I voted for Franklin, with a pause to consider Koch and Humboldt... but some of the others I know little or nothing about... but FRANKLIN, right, come on- hands down. Koch might be able to battle infection, but Franklin is just damn clever... "inventive"

On a similar note, congrats to die Welt for finally deciding to pull its head out of its own well-structured ass and start posing breaking news online first rather than waiting the next morning to print it. wow. brilliant.

Post Titled: Harsh.

from BBC:

"One file records a payment of $35,000 made to a family in Hib Hib, Iraq, after US forces "accidentally discharged 155 mm rounds", killing three children aged five, 16 and 18 and damaging their home.
Another, dating from February 2006, describes how a fisherman in Tikrit was shot as he reached down to switch off the engine of his boat. He had been shouting "fish, fish" and pointing to his catch.
The US Army refused to compensate his family for his death, ruling that it was the result of combat activity, but paid $3,500 for the loss of his boat - which drifted off - net and mobile phone.
In a third file, a civilian states that US forces opened fire with more than 100 rounds on his sleeping family, killing his mother, father and brother. He was also hurt and 32 of the family's sheep killed.
The US Army paid $11,200 compensation and made a $2,500 condolence payment. It had been responding to an attack from the direction of the village."

I usually just ry not to dwell on this, but sometimes It is so hard (if not impossible) to justify what we have done in/to Iraq...

and anybody else tired of the use of ___ 2.0 yet, I think I am... like THIS: Krieg 2.0. What ever happened "Krieg Nouveau"?

other things eating my brain (rant after coming across so many "Corporate Social Responsibility" spiels on various corporate websites:
The Other Green (Not Easy Being Green… or is it?)
In recent history and particularly in recent months the global Go Green movement has practically reached a fever pitch. In order to present themselves as Socially Responsible and/or politically correct, companies must have some sort of environmental cause or sustainable methods and practices… are there any out there that do not? Go to any website and it is basically guaranteed that there is a section for “products and services are produced using our alternative fuel vehicles” or “offsetting emissions of carbon dioxide.”
Is this just bullshit?
When compared to the enormity of the environmental issue, which had been a real warning for decades now, are these efforts sincere or just corporate bandwagoning? What does a company have to gain by “going green” besides the respect, loyalty, and business of its clients and customers whom also believe in the cause or would feel too guilty not to buy into it.
Other questions which arise, …
Much like the tobacco industry spending more money on PR and marketing to tell us what good things it is doing that it actually spends on DOING those good things…

In linguistic complaints, this happens all the time:
I look up a word in German and get 20 different definitions in english... what the hell

Post Titled: alluc.org
"all you see".org a.k.a. alluc.org is great becuase peekvid hasn"t been workig very well at all for me lately... so, knock on wood and I hope my praise doesn't jinx it like ti did last time. Unfortunately you have to register, but in a land far far away I could care less, a Wonder Years episode while I make dinner after a long day at work really hits the spot, hate to admit.
(thanks Lucien)

"Warhol, it turned out after his death, really was a pious Catholic who served secretly in New York soup kitchens."

Post Titled: Kurt Vonnegut is dead.

"Writer Kurt Vonnegut dies at age 84."

Post Titled: More Day-In-The-Life Movies
Mysterious music floating down from nowhere was actually Sam playing gituar on his/our roof:

Fondue Party 360:

Post Titled: A Lunch Less-Ordinary

I realized that if I live to be 60 then I have approximately 12,410 days left in my life...

cocorosie-induced heimweh has passed, and I am looking around... riding susanne's repaired bike, realizing that the only two truly liberating activities in a compact urban environment are fucking and biking. Everything else is fairly controlled and opressive. in a car or any public trasit you are jubject to stoplights and schedules, walking as well, but bicycling is chaos, lovely lovely chaos.

Took some video of biking around Humboldt Universität and Unter Den Linden (to be loaded later)

At work I have been mixing this (new-to-the-work-communal-kitchen-scene) powdered espresso into real coffee... so it is REAL FAKE coffee... and keep drinking it. It is kind of ridiculous.

Other random thought: you know when you are 16 and you have philosopies about life like "everything is everything, man." I Now think that that might actually be true. My head is so stuffed full of information every day after staring as a screen and living in a metropolis, that all things equal everything else, and I sometimes have difficulty deciphering differences any longer... of course, after a few hours of much-needed down time with the Nadinechen I am thinking a bit more level headed,,, but bug-eyed and burnt-out is generally the order of the day every day...

"The City is an addictive machine from which there is no escape."
-Rem Koolhaas

Breaking down the 4th wall; QUESTION TO READERS: I am considering adding music to the blog, anybody have an objection, please let me know

Cute the first few times but ANNOYING the 50th and 51st time: use of the word "Webinar"
Creepy: use of the word "Mind SHare" in the same sentance as "market share" ... makes perfect sense, though. The English language is such a slut.

Post Titled: Dude, Where's My Flying Car?

HERE?: skyflyer, Inc.

Or has it been plagued by Nanobots? (actually, I don't think there are any actual Nanobots on that site)...

but speaking of wierd science, lately I have become obsessed with CERN in Switzerland. "The world's largest
particle physics laboratory"

Oh, and a rather eye-opening study regarding CHemicals Regualtion in the EU (REACH)

Paul Jesi Paul Easter Sunday Jump, originally uploaded by TAR ART RAT.

just had to plop this one directly in ye olde blog,
photo by Paul Tyree-Francis' timer.

Post Titled: Easter SUnday Outing
or
How I Spent My Easter Vacation (Thanks for having a camera, guys!)

Post Titled: Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art
Jesi's article is up about the Förderpreis Buldende Kunst der Schering Stiftung 2007 at
Berlinische Galerie, yahooo! Congrats!

On another note: where the hell is this MOS DEF True Magic album, to be found??? auuugh! That is what I get for being in Germany and therefore totally out-of-the-loop! Scheisse.

Post Titled: Hummer sucks
Post Subtitled: Mighty suspicious

Disclaimer: Ok, so I just had 4 days off. FOUR days. soo long, I can't believe Easter was that long... and now, brutal reality of a desk and an overcast view of the old stone monuments to... monuments to... Berlin having a dark and rough past.

This just in from Nigel:
"If a blogger badmouths the Hummer, for instance, the system could notify GM. Within the console, a PR person can draft a response, inserting key points, then get approval to post or e-mail the nettlesome blogger.

Clients pick an "author" or opt for anonymity. Visible also has a virtual army — thousands of personas registered with online forums."

that from Seattle TImes

Here is the VISIBLE TECHNOLOGIES site, they are located a mere two blocks from my old art studio in Pioneer Square, hmm.

Quote from their site regarding one of the features in their Trucast software for blogs and CCC: "Intelligent sentiment technology helps companies understand how key issues, brands, and products are perceived by analyzing the tone of consumer conversations."

To be fair, it makes complete sense- the service they offer is nothing short of a necessity, and... I wonder how long it will take them (using their own technology) to find this post. DEAR VISIBLE EMPLOYEE if you could please leave a comment with the time/date of your discovery of this post that would be fascinating.

It is fascinating, the virtual (but very real) PR battle learning how to rage in the boiling and churning seas of web 2.0- or is it web 2.1 now?

On a side note, To further bash GM- (just because they need it) no army of imaginary PR blogger drones is going to change the fact that GM lost 12 Billion Dollars last year... or is it? I Think it was 12,000,000,000, but let me double check... and to help this matter:

"Cost-cutting efforts, healthcare concessions, and restructuring should help GM narrow N.A. losses in 2006 but they will remain substantial," noted Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy

How Charming.

GM is in really bad shape.


Blog: Outliving the Oil Economy

Post Tilted: Cocorosie Postbahnhof
I hadn't seen any live music in over 6 months, so going to the cocorosie show last night was recharging/refreshing. THe girls' new material is very (either) windswept fullmoonlit barnacled dock on a harbor on a late September night or kids songs all amped up, but the new material sounds good, haven't actually heard the album (but I think it comes out today). This was (either the first or) second night of the Tour, all seemed a bit unsure and nervous and perhaps even unsure with what to do with our undivided attention for so long, but overall, all went very well. That beatboxer is completely out of control, I am glad they have kept him on, and that they played an almost unrecognisable version of "West Side" and the live version of "Tekno Love Song"
shoot, it will be awhile...

Ulysses, originally uploaded by TAR ART RAT.

found on Friedrichstrasse.the coolest copy of Ulysses I have ever seen, thick rough cardboard and cloth cover, bright red text.

Meanwhile, here are oddities found in out apartment after the party last Sunday... and I am lazy so I still haven't uploaded any video, but:

Post Titled: Easter Sunday
9:30 am. Sitting here in the "Projekt Room" (formerly known as the "Cold Room" where the only furniture is a small poorly painted coffe table, the ottoman I am siting on, and... that is it. Sunlight is soming through the bay window's triptych and the sounds of birds and skateboarders and a man retching is broken by the churchbells of Easter Sunday mass.
In an hour we are supposed to have brunch, I should look up some kind of egg and spinach concoction recepie.

The weekend thus far has been remarkably chill. On Thursday Susanne and I FINALLY walked the bikes to a repair shop, (just in time for the weather to make it unbearabe NOT to have a bike) After some evaluation and fumbling it turns out that it will cost 46 Euro to get them both fixed, a bit pricey but worth it- then on the way back to the apartment we stopped by the TUrkish nut shop. THis is a small store full of every kind of nut you can imagine, huge roasters, the works. We were seeking something Kosher so SUsanne kept asking the two teenage girls in headscarves behing the counter if the nut coating had wheat in it, and they were quite unhelpful. FInally the one girl blurted "Hey-Ich weis nicht, ich studiere kein Chemie, alter!" ("I dunno- I don't study Chemistry, dude!") which was probably the most ridiculout thing I have heard anyone say in weeks, especially coming from a teenage Muslim girl behing the counter of a nut shop. We settled on some Sesame-covered somethings adn returned to the apartment to find Sam and Paul just hanging out, Nadine and Jesi having already gone out to meet the girls for Germany"s Next Top Model. SO, that night we did the rounds of the galleries on Brunnenstrasse, something like 6-8 openings, I think we made it to 5 of them, my favorite of which was the Artnews Project with a visiting show from Luxemborg. There is a huge white sculpture made from plaster-covered styrofoam, one end is crocodile maul and the other is a lion roar (or ywan?) that definitely stuck with me. We had a good group which kept morphing. Sam, Paul, Myself, Susanne, Alicia and Florian, then alter Amelia and her Spanish friened Judith, kidn of nice to just keep bumping into people over and over.

(more later, gotta clean)

Post Titled: The first tile I have ever actually wanted Cable
(or a TV) and this is why:

Post Titled: In a perfect world.
At work I had been in contact with a man working at a large computer firm in Milan. It turns out that we are both reading Paul Auster's "New York Trilogy"- what are the chances?

Post Titled: Art Face Off Blog
First entry (not terribly impressive) is finally posted: CLICK HERE

Burning Question: should I switch over to Wordpress... it seems really nice... shoot. Inner turmoil.

Speaking of art... this image of MARS looks an awful lot like a sun-bleached Yves Klein

Love this quote from the BBC:
"Political lobbying may have a rather seedy reputation, but there are plenty here who argue it's vital and for the common good. Those who lobby on behalf of lobbying say the heart of it is giving politicians detailed, technical information so their decisions are better informed."

Hmmmm... HMMMM, never knew. Thanks, Lobbyists!

Post Titled: Journal of Plankton Research
It warms my heart to know that somewhere in the world there is a Journal of Plankton Research.

Overcast Thursday Commentary: I have Friday and Monday off of work for EASTER! THat hasn't offically happened since I attended St. Joe's Catholic School in 7th Grade. and sometimes I think "Hmm, so separation of church and state, eh... can we add MORE churches to the state and get Ramadan and Passover off as well?..." Seriously, 4 days free... I want to hit-up Poland. A short train ride away awaits: Gray, depressing, Poland. (No, Poland is great.)
Must plan.
Get bike repaired, ride bike... to Wannsee-
Does anyone understand what is going on in the Ukraine??? I mean, there are these two guys, and ever since the election (2 years ago?) I haven not been able to keep them straight because their names are:

President Viktor Yushchenko
&
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich

like Cain and Abel...

Ah-HA! That girl in the Knife (swedish band)
is the very same girl who sang the Röyksopp song "What Else is there?"

- hot damn.
Check this super-banal summary of what is going on in British Soaps:

Home & Away: 4334: Lucas contemplates his next step with Belle.
Thursday, 18:00 on Five.

Hollyoaks: Zoe is unforgiving toward Will.
Thursday, 18:30 on Channel 4.

Emmerdale: Perdy suffers a miscarriage.
Thursday, 19:00 on ITV1.

EastEnders: Mo causes havoc at Booty.
Thursday, 19:30 on BBC One.
(huh?!?)

Neighbours: 5137: 'For Whom Janelle Tolls'.
Friday, 13:00 on BBC One.

Coronation Street: The police take Joanne away.
Friday, 19:30 on ITV1.

I am kind of jealous that Easter in Spain (aka Semana Santa) is super-hectic... straight surrealist KKK shizzle
for a list of some interesting traditions: cafebabel.com

On a nihilistic note:
Isn't that last post just goofy-porny? but kind of pleasant?

Post Titled:
Someone posted this video to my youtube account, which I can only describe as "really wierd"

and I wonder how long it will be before it is pulled since it is slightly against their rules...

Post Titled:
top german websites as listed by Mr. Wong.

Post Titled: Wie Geil ist dass denn?
Finally watched Ehrensenf, totally good! Damn snappy and I was afraid to laugh lest I miss something.

and

Totally bad! Another effing EU anti-trust move against another US computer company. (from Huffington Post)

Fascinating little article called "The once and Future Republic of Vermont" in the Washington Post

uh,... Forbes' list of the WORLD'S BILLIONAIRES...

"Hey, teachers, leave those kids alone!"
-Pink Floyd

Post Titled: KAOS
Post Subtitled: (ZENSORIERT)
Post Sub-Subtitled: Oh, good morning, is there... oh,... no, there isn't anymore coffee... ok.

Banalnotes: I was livestreaming KAOS (Community Radio Olympia, WA) for 48 seconds before realizing the the colorful static was them OFF-air, not a song (because it is the middle of the night there)... but with them you never know. Great station, though.

and... Wish I actually had money to blow on NEON.
damn, got that rehab song stuck in my head, thanks darling.

The baby Polar Bear is on the cover of the German Vanity Fair, and I keep thinking about the day when cute Knut will crave flesh. Could they raise him to supress his own nature? WHy is it that nurture never stands a change once instinct kicks in with these "wild" animals?

a thought as I walked to work:
maybe it is best if I stop caring about american politics so much- (something I say every couple months)... afterall, it is merely a carnival of the EGO and the NOW-and-near-FUTURE
maybe it is best if all Democratic candidates drop out, let the craziest right-winger Republican candidate win, then build a wall around the whole country topped by an air-tight force-field bubble...
indeed, why the hell do I/we care so much.

then again, it is all so darn entertaining...

Post Titled: What IS that thar hexagon still doing on Saturn?
This story From NASA, (thanks issara!) and better photos on thier site, I just like this one because it moves. But seriously, what the hell is a six-sided mass doing on a round planet?


Meawhile, back on earth: whoa, DEPESSING DEPRESSION study from the Guardian.

Post Titled: Sunday Pre-Fondue Run-up/Round-up
Post Subtitled: another day in the life. a post about daily things, now what I have pumped the blog full of newslings for the past few days/weeks:

It is a very quiet Sunday morning here, I have been awake for hours, only sound has been churchbells. Sunny, blue sky, I should really go for a walk.
We are going to spend the day preparing for our second-and-a-half dinner party, this time Nadine has hatched a plan to have 12 people for fondue. THe recepie calls for cherry schnapps. Hopefully it will work out as well as the first dinner party where we only had 8 people- but even that was a bit hectic to handle... we shall see.

THe apartment is really coming together. I spent yesterday gathering materials to build Nadine a desk. At Bauhaus (like Home Depot) I actually ran into some Americans. This was the very first time I have randomly encountered other americans in my neighborhood. I kept my mouth shut and observed their behaviours... the way they talk to their 3-year old as if he were 30, asking his preferences and such, the loud talking-to-you-talking-to-self manner in which they addressed questions to one another, the passive-agressive interactions... like "Well, Hon, the towls in the bathroom are eggplant so if we painted the trim ivory- I don't know, it is up to you, I just don't know if we want to install that -blah blah" very odd- and in a way this encounter shattered my purely anonymous-alien existence/experience here, and I walked away feeling very confused about the situation. I have grown accustomed to dodging and observing american tourists at Checkpoint Charlie (across the street from my work) but having them IN the neighborhood is wierd... on my walk home from work I encountered two "bros" from "Philly" who were lost looking for the Jewish Museum. THey were nice, but asked the usual questions: so, like, where is the party at tonight? and where can we buy some pot around here? Two areas in which I am particularly unhelpful.
Every once in awhile I see hipsters who I think might be american, but then I realize that they are just universal hipster-stock.

At work our chief editor keeps having me contact famous people to interview for the magagine. On Thursday we were shot-down by Greenspan, who is completely absorbed in writing a book, and I am still waiting to hear from Slavoj Zizek, the secretary at his University in SLovenia is the most blunt, rude, and impatient woman i have ever encountered on the phone... but then, it is Slovenia, what did I expect... (unfair generalization, i know) and now am supposed to contact Stephen Hawking. On the up-side I spent most of Friday researching Dr. Hawking, which I truly enjoyed. However, the chances of getting ANY of these people is extremely slim... anybody have a better, more-realistic suggestion?

THe other night I realized that the crazy red-haired secretary in The Devil Wears Prada is the same girl I met and chatted with at the Seattle film fest a fews years back at the release of "My Summer of LOve" - duh. Just watched it again on peekvid and all the pieces fell into place. Emily Blunt, how odd.