Post Google has GONE CAMPING!
Will be back soon-ish! ciao-ciao!

Post Titled: OBAMA photo on Norwegian site

one of my Berlin Obama photos ended up on the Norwegian site
FLAMME FORLAG
via Ms. Amelia Saul ;)

word.

Post Titled: Saturday Morning Roundup from the web

Preparing to make approximately 200 Pierogis for Ms. Poland"s b-day/going away & the English Girls' Exodus
but I did have time to check my email: : From my dad from the Times Online: He Ventured Forth to Bring Light

&

IBM Slides 1975 thanks Jesi!

Post Titled: Gaba aus Hamburg at Obama speech in Berlin
I love this guy so much that I am giving him his own photo post. Damn, Huffington Post has some good photos.

Post Titled: Obama in Berlin post the New Republic

My photos ended up in the New Republic via Mr. A.J. Goldmann.

"A dispatch from Obama's speech in Berlin today:

"Today none of the quotidian annoyances of Berlin life seemed to matter. Not the open ended strike by Berlin's public service, nor the maddening traffic changes brought upon by the never ending construction. All attention was focused squarely on Barack Obama's visit today..."

READ COMPLETE POST @ THE NEW REPUBLIC BLOG, THE PLANK.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/24/live-from-the-obama-mosh-pit-in-berlin-bratwurst-beer-and-bravura.aspx

"

Post Titled: fotos und videos von
OBAMA in Berlin 24. Juli 2008
photos and videos of Obama in Berlin, July 24, 2008 Siegessäule
"In a speech delivered to an audience of 200,000 in Berlin yesterday Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, outlined his plans for future US foreign policy."-eurotopics






a Berlin OBAMA GIRL: "STOP CO2" (uhm...right.)


ABOVE: Gaba from Hamburg / Gaba aus Hamburg, for full-size image click HERE

love those potted plants.





here is the official video of the speech. he doesn't say anything amazing, really- but how can you nowadays? I can't think of a single thing a politician cold say which would blow my mind...

Post Titled: Barack Obama BILD zeitung cover for sein Berlin besuch

BILD Zeitung is Germany's most popular (and therefore best) newspaper. here is today's tasteful front cover, -which usually includes a daily dose of T&A, oh- and note the clever and hilarious and expert use of Photoshop to make German politicians look like Obama. That's news. Those BILD people are so so clever, I'm jealous- who would've ever thought to do that? Wow. Amazing.


DETAIL



just for the heck of it I'll translate the text next to the girl:
"When is Monica visiting us? What to the Czechs have that we want? The answer: Monika Trubkova (21) The beautiful redhead (1,64 meter, 50 kilo) with the braun deer-eyes is doing her first photo shoot in England and smiles her way into men's hearts. Ideally the Brits would like to keep her and her 84-56-84 dream-body, but perhaps Monika would rather come to Germany? Hopefully..."

My comment to John... "Yea, here I am editing and rotating this image on my computer at work, forgetting completely that there are boobs and then remembering that just about anything is safe for work here... there is not NSFW in Europe yet, is there...? hm... boobs... silliness."

2 days later: PHOTOBUCKET DID NOT LIKE MONICA



me being a dork:

Post Titled: BARACK OBAMA in Berlin - 1

I took the day off today to go to the barack obama speech at the siegessaeule in berlin soooo- I'll be doning a bit of running video commentary throughout the day, unfortunatly this camera can only do very short video clips

Post Titled: gorgeous graffiti links

hot murals and stencils from Ms. Poland:

M-CITY
work in overview by city:
http://www.m-city.org/m-city/index2.html

BERLIN, FRIEDRICHSHAIN http://www.m-city.org/m-city/realizacje/m-city_167/m-city_167.html

http://www.m-city.org/m-city/realizacje/murales.html

http://www.m-city.org/m-city/plac_budowy/plac_09/plac_09.html

http://www.woostercollective.com/guests/tristan/4c-uwaga_fabryka_a.jpg

http://www.woostercollective.com/guests/tristan/4c-cold.jpg

http://www.woostercollective.com/guests/tristan/4c-hot.jpg

radykalna akcja twórcza http://www.rat.bzzz.net/rat/projekty.html
m-city.org

gdańsk

Post Titled: effing translationland
das ist eine Käseglocke: (falls ihr wissen wollt)

why is it in the blog? because (I'm italics):
SKYPE:
hi (wave), i need your help please. and i hope you understand me... i need the englsich word for this: (above image)
moment... meine fotos kann auf diese laptop(manchmal) nicht hochgeladen werden ...
noch nicht...
nee. du könntest als .jpg mit skype schikend oder diese link an D___ oder A____ senden
A____ weiß es auch nicht :( und D____ ist nicht da...sagt skype
guk mal hier: link zum bild
also...
covered glass cutting board?
or cutting board with glass covering
or wooden serving plate with glass dome or domed covering
oder einfach "UFO"
gibt es dafür nicht ein wort. in deutsch ist es käseglocke
:D
es geht um das glas oben drauf, die platte ist egal
ein einziges wort...scheiß... einziges Wort...
ihr kennt sowas aber, oder?
neee- kenn ich nicht, also, "domed glass cover" oder sowas
aber kein einziges/besondere Wort
englisch ist manschmal nicht so praktisch wie deutsch
ach fuck ey, ich kann nicht nach so vielen wörtern suchen, höchstens zwei.
dann "glass cover"
oh ja ich weiß, deshalb kann ich es auch so schlecht. aber ihr native's werdet immer besser in deutsch

Post Titled: lovely song...

Artist: Jacaszek (composer Michael Jacaszek)
Album: Treny
Song: Lament

Post Titled: Guest Post by Jordan Catalano

Süddeutsche Zeitung has this article which is titled with a question: "Verblöden wir?"
which cites, like, this OTHER article in the Atlantic Monthly called "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"
and I'm like: YES. Goodle is making us stupid.
but for some odd and comforting reason I just don't care that much... modern existence is effing stressful and freakish, if google is dumbing us down a bit then, like, god bless it. there are plenty of other things to, like, keep us smart adn busy and stuff... sudoku, for example- that makes you really think fast and the New York Times crosword adn reading books adn tetris and thinking alot...yea.

PosT Titled: Obama in Berlin vor der Siegessäule juxtaposed with Merkel out and about...

I read some article yesterday in a German newspaper about how the Germans are embarrassed of fame or something- (must re-find that), then this morning with ma alarm set (once again) to Spree Radio -jabber-jabber- they said that there will be airport-like security at the Obama event tomorrow... which will be interesting since der Siegessäule (that monument the angel is standing on in Wings of Desire) is in the middle of a HUGE roundabout and surrounded by the Tiergarten- what are they going to do- seal off the entire area? anyhow, I thought about that- and was reminded of what happened a few weeks back:
(explained via chat from early this moring):
me: Germans... can't get it up for their own politicians, -but they lovvvvvvve ours? I don't get it.
meatyochre: like merkel?
ha!
viva deutschland!
über polis!
me: ja, for example: I was walking down Friedrichstr. last week after work and I bumped into my boss- who had left a few minutes before I did and was heading back towards me- and he said"oh, I just said hi to Angie, she was just leaving Gallerie Lafatette"
"huh? she was just shopping?"
"yea. just picking up some things apparently."
"no bodyguards?"
"they were probably nearby somewhere..."
just different...

for Gen XYwhateverers there is often no difference between Huey Lewis and the News and Back to the Future... they are one in the same.

Post Titled: BLU

graffiti artist and muralist BLU is still doing great work... here is his main site

Post Titled: digital remains
MySpace message I received this morning form an old friend:
RE:
Text:
Its so nice to hear back from you as well! I am still here in Denver and love it. Unfortunately on May 31st my two best friends were driving to Ft. Collins Colorado at 10am. Ten hours before we were all at our house toasting to Chris's walk he was about to start the next day. He was walking from FT. Collins Colorado to Lisbon Maine. Check out chrisdouglass.org to learn more about Chris or youtube "Ame and Chris" to see a slide show of them made by chris, click on the video with shoes under water. Some coked-up 20yr old crossed the highway when Ame was driving him up to Ft. Collin and hit them head on. Chris didn't make it and Ame is still in a coma. Nothing about Ame and her condition is shared with anyone because the 20yr old lawyered-up real good with his millions. We don't know whats gonna happen. Her chinchilla that I have been taking care of died this morning. Its just a crazy time but aside from it I am happier and more gratefull for what I have than I ever have been.
I am glad that things are well with Ms.Poland! Just enjoy her and life and be happy man. I need to check out your blog, if I don't comment on it soon remind me to check it out again. I am going camping later this week.

...once again it is so strange to see the digital trail left behind now...

Post Titled: Wednesday Morning Roundup from the www...


the 10 Most Amazing Ghost Towns

Homeowners Associations put the smack down on the "eyesore" of outdoor laundry drying in the USA- which may change due to rising energy costs... seems weird now... since the only way we dry our laundry is on the rack...

(I don't even think I've SEEN a clothes drying machine in Berlin... ok, maybe I walked by a laundromat once or twice, but that is it...)

Post Titled: Breaking Afternoon News Fresh from the WWW


No. 1 Brilliant Comment posted on Johnny Cash's "Hurt" video on youtube:

MikeTFP (1 hour ago)

"I think 50 cent is a much better artist than whoever the fuk this old ass guy is."

Post Titled: Armut in Deutschland "Arm sind nur die Faulen" (the poor are just lazy)
really love how the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reporters suceed in doing the most simple and obvious thing possible: polarize this argument using people from the wealthiest and least wealthy parts of Germany; interviewing people at some high-end rich shopping street in Munich München where the people are portrayed as clearly oblivious to any human suffering in their fantastic, prosperous and hardworking Deutsch Land, oblivious to anything but the good life -and- then juxtaposing these stereotypes with leute at U-Bahn Rathaus Neukölln (2 U-Bahn stops away from me, by the way, where I do some grocery shopping in the Kaufland below the Neukölln Arkaden... ok, seriously: Rathaus Neukölln is really not that bad- at all, I think it is actually kind of refreshing...but... then again... relatively I am not and never have been scared of anything in Germany: this country is just way too effing SAFE to be scary on any level. Actually, the scary this IS how safe and orderly it is. That scares me. Anyhow, enjoy the portrayal of rich and poor, oh -and ... ja, the longer I am in Berlin the more I hate the whole idea of the stereotypical rich arrogance of Stuttgart or Bayern... stewing in Southern German comfort...or Switzerland. Ugh. Gross. Igit.
weird, huh? Am I being sloooowwwlllyyyy brainwashed? And Süddeutsche Zeitung simply reinforces these stereotypes?... Am I becoming racist against wealthier white Alpen-Europeans? Probably. If they stop saying "Grüß Gott!" I might reconsider.
Anyhow, CLICK:
Armut in Deutschland gibt es nicht. Oder doch? Wir haben uns auf Münchens Luxusmeile Maximilianstraße und im Sozialviertel Berlin Neukölln umgehört.
Ein Video von Marcel Kammermayer, Thorsten Denkler und Kathrin Haimerl

Радован Караџић
(Radovan Karadžić... am I too young to know who this guy is because I don't really know who this guy is...)

ooh... ok, so it took me 2.5 tries, but i finally got a perfect score on the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Obama quiz... which is actually pretty darn easy

Post Titled: People keep flinging digital gold at me this morning.

EXHIBIT A: AMAZING photos from Mike Tyson's Ohio Mansion by Illicit Ohio
thanks Jesi! jesus.

EXHIBIT B: ABFAB Pet Shop Boys video, (danke Svea!)

Post Titled: Tuesday Morning Roundup...
"'No Values Voters' Looking To Support Most Evil Candidate" from the ONION
well, duh.

'No Values Voters' Looking To Support Most Evil Candidate

FROM NY TIMES: "Berliners Get a Crash Course in Glittery Celebrity Culture" -quite a good read.

Post Titled: clean and dirty
Post Subtitled: Non-fiction, July 19-20, 2008

CHAT EXCERPT:
me: claytonics
Clayton: indeed
me: claytalicious
Clayton: oh so ture
true
brb
how are you?
me: good, effig tired
effing
surreal weekend
8 minutes
Clayton: yeah? why cause?
me: long story, but in a nutshell I went to my friend's wedding in ______ (way north germany, 3.5 hours away) it was really schnazzy, all Hansa-esque, really classic and lovely (aesthetically think: the Celebration but with nicer older architecture and no family molestation crisis) but I did (in the wee hours of the morning) eventually get propositioned with an offer to do a gay porn film (which I politely and convincingly turned down), then I left at 3am- and thought I was getting a ride home (well, that we would be stopping by a music festival and then riding home in the early afternoon), but we got kind of lost and then instead going to Berlin we ended up at an outdoor rave festival in the middle of the woods at a lake... where I sorta willfully got stranded for 11 hours (after napping and missing a ride back) (in my wedding tux, mind you, surrounded by a thousand crazy dancing and/or nakd people on tons of drugs- think GO meets TANK GIRL meets MAD MAX meets Lord of the Rings) and so... I just danced and drank Club Maté all day because there wasn't anything else to do there and eventually just had to hitchhike back to Berlin with _______ (who also in a tux)
Clayton: weird!!
me: jaaaa! why didn't I bring a camera!
or an effing film crew for that matter

Post Titled: Berlin News
ohh...
Another bad OBAMA magazine cover emerges (before it was just Zitty, now it is der Spiegel as well...


also, stupid but awesome:
WAX HITLER BEHEADED in Berlin
"I was sitting in the pub with friends," Frank L. told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper. "We talked about the figure and about how it was put up so close to the Holocaust memorial. So we had a bet on whether I would do it."

Post Titled: Robert Redford on Wikipedia

ok, kind of funny -guess this slipped past the wikinazis:
"Redford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Martha W. (née Hart) and Charles Robert Redford, Sr., a milkman-turned-accountant from Pawtucket, Rhode Island.[2][3][4] He has a half-brother, William, from his father's re-marriage. Redford is of English and Scots-Irish ancestry.[5][6][7]

He attended Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles, California (where he met Natalie Wood), graduated in 1954, and received a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado, where he was a pitcher. He lost the scholarship due to excessive pooping, possibly fueled by the death of his mother, which occurred when Redford was 18."

Post Titled: When PR itself has a little PR crisis...
apparently Edelman UK (large Public Relations firm)
has had climate protesters out front of their offices recently, no wonder really since it one of its clients, E.ON, is building a coal-fired power station in Kent. See what Robert "Sundance" Redford has to say about it HERE... and...
here is a Rodney King-inspired video message from Edelman CEO Robert Phillips to protesters... hmm... )well, what else you gonna do, really?)

"OBAMA keeps asking me for money" by TAR ART RAT (a fake poster in jest)

tar art rat rarartrat

Post Titled: Did the "Devil" Make Them Lose?
by John Moe from Weekend America about "the Devil Rays'" name change to just "the Rays" including an interview with the leader of the Church of Satan

POST Titled: Final Fantasy cover of POSSIBLY MAYBE by BJÖRK

I am still realy hooked on that ENJOYED album of björk covers from the album POST, I guess it is just nice to know that people still love POST- but he one which really stands out is Final Fantasy's cover of Possibly Maybe- which manages to give me the same goosebump-inducing trance as the original.



here is the original song Possibly Maybe by björk (with matmos live at the royal opera house- actually I saw her on this tour but at the Frankfurt Opera house... she should really do another opera house tour):

OR original video:
Possibly Maybe
Directed by Stéphane Sednaoui

why is it that when you have, like, +50 GB of downloaded movies from the internet which you still haven't seen that the videostore still beckons...? some kind of comforting materialism

Post Titled: Paul Potts sings opera for German Telekom.
Post Titled: non-fiction, Cinestar theatre at Sony Center, last night
ORIGINAL VIDEO FIRST:

sooo... this is the second time I have seen this (below) commercial (in the run-up to a movie) in the past week, I nudge the guy next to me and whisper "we are getting, like... SO brainwashed right now" this advertising is sooo so manipulative, it breaks you down and then butters you up with a brand... and I was kind of loving it...so, ja...the commercial Deutsche Telekomvideo:

Post Titled: >JODY JOLDERSMA
Seattle painter drawer artist Jody Joldersma is just really effing talented.

In 4th grade (1989-90ish) there was an odd period
where no matter what map of eastern Europe you
looked at it was wrong, they were all wrong and
even the latest editions were already outdated
because of all the national border upheaval, so
I think I just stopped looking at maps of East-
ern Europe altogether... and now I can barely re-
member where Belarus is, or Lithuania/Latvia/
Estonia for that matter... what i am trying to
say is that it is their fault (also a bit) that
I don't know where they are.
White Russia, that "rogue state"...

Post Titled: CORRECTIONS...and Truth in Advertising... my nit-picking...
I keep going back to watch the Landlord because it cheers me up and for a few minutes makes me forget all the horrible things about life (ja, totally missed the bandwagon on that one)... but the banner ad today read:

uhm... that seemed a bit odd... especially since "According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, projected to July 17, 2008 at 14:32 GMT (EST+5) is 304,623,183"
hmmm... so... either there are 158 million unregistered Americans with internet access (who are also not blind) OR they failed to mention that the video has been VIEWED that many times... small distinction... (i know, lame, nit-pickery)
5 Min. later: Oh, WAIT- I mis-read, 462 million American's still haven't seen the Landlord... uhm... maybe it is a joke.
another recent weirdness... I noticed was in the Incredible Hulk. Tim Roth's constant stubble is against military regulations, as is William Hurt' mustache AND the length of both their hair... (I believe) -not to mention their uniforms are ill-fitting and Roth has an odd un-militaristic swagger.

Post Titled: Found Gallery, Los Angeles added to the blogroll

FOUND Gallery Los Angeles

they have a nice blog called Talk as well.

Post Titled: Where the Hell is Matt? Part 3 (aka dancing guy around the world)

My thoughts on the Stride chewing gum sponsorship: "I've encountered the Matt videos a few times since they started popping up online, and basically I would have to say that Stride's sponsorship IS quite effective in that:
You go to the store and there are a dozens brands of gum that are all more or less the same, and let's say after work if you are a slow-witted consumer animal -like me- then just seeing that "Stride" logo adds the extra conscious/subconscious nudge to go ahead and buy it, simply because: you can justify supporting them because they supported Matt and that was a "pretty cool YouTube video" which almost got you choked-up, and at least hit some very human notes and nerves in the same way that- let's say- the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics might. None of the other gums did that. HOWEVER- You know this if and only IF you watched to the very end where it says that Stride made everything possible, (at least the sponshorhip screen isn't planted at the beginning to ruin the mood.) It really makes Stride into the good guys there on the shelf- ...is too simple? I don't think so. "

Post Titled: "Modern Jackass."

This American Life re-broadcast one of my favorite episodes last week, "Modern Jackass"! aka "293: A Little Bit of Knowledge"

Post Titled: Taking Devil(’s) Mountain by strategy.
Post Subtitled: TEUFELSBERG

non-fiction, July 14, 2008
SUGGESTION: SKIM-SKIP THIS FIRST PART, (it is dull unless you were there): Packing backpack over-prepared sunscreen, towels bike-pump, Bionade: 2 bottles, sunglasses, Swiss Army knife, New Balance running shoes with halfday used socks balled-up inside all to possible replace the €3 Brazilian flip flops on my feet later, READING material: Paperback copy of Jurassic Park ("DINO PARK") in German which I have been reading on and off since last Fall, and roommate (ok,ok "flat"mate), detour to ye olde BACK FACTORY, getting coffee & croissant €1 deal, going underground hearing train rumble in and rushing running and really hot coffee sloshing-up through the baby-pinky-sized oval hole in the lid. Oua!
Ja JA- Late starting out. No Tageskarten yet, damn machines take minutes too long MINUTES sooo we'll hop-on and just schwarzfahren it one station because we just have to go to Hermannplatz. Brain studder, no wait...
Train stops at Hermannplatz. No wait, Hermannstraße to the Ring Bahn, not Hermannplatz - sh*t, on the train without a ticket now- oh well.
Train gets going. "Fahrkarten, bitte!" SHIT SH*T SH*T,
they got me, skip Johannes somehow miraculously even though everyone else gets controlled, this is the third time I have been caught without a ticket and I have no ID, I give my info, they call the station to confirm I liver there and am called this name and this name is born on this day, I'm... not happy.
we settle the business, I spool-off some lame lie about having changed backpacks too quickly and having forgotten my Monatskarte in my OTHER bag AT home (hoping I can borrow one from someone to go to the station and prove my dishonest semi-innocence)(can't effing afford another ticket), alas.
Took the day off & had intended to just go relax on the water’s edge of Teufelsee (S-Bahn Berlin-Grunewald.) Unfortunately the Teufelsee was not so much of a “See” (lake) and much more of a “pond” surrounded by and inhabited by ducks, fish and very quiet very peaceful skinny-dipping old pensioners. Walking halfway around the pond we looked up and could see the Communications tower of the Teufelsberg off in the distance…

I have wanted to visit there ever since first hearing about it from William and Vera, and also espically after David Lynch's controversial visit regarding the purchase of the land last November. (He wants to (will be?) turn(ing) it into the Donovan Transcendental Meditation University or "Invincible Germany University" or something (READ HERE) Paul and Jesi had been awhile back and took some pretty awesome fotos as well (in ELECTROPEASANT HERE -oh, moment, can't find link!) and (oh, duh, I wrote about this in ELECTROPEASANT last year)
A half hour of wandering through the woods trying to find the right path, we helped a daffy woman get her car going (she was getting nowhere trying to push it in the gravel-y parking-lot while her 8 year old sat in the passenger seat with one hand on the steering wheel. After Johannes and I pushed it about 20 feet it then VROOOMed to life and the kid gave me a Burger King French Fry from the passing car window in thanks. That was the first time I#d had Burger King anything since I was horribly food-poisoned there in the Fall of 1993)

Forest had changed from primarily pine to a much more jungle-y mix of big old creepy deciduous trees mixed with ivy and filled in by leafy brush. A long upward-spiraling slim but paved hill goes up up up up and we encounter a Turkish teenage love-spat (try not to stare, none of our business, is it getting violent, do we look the other way?), the girl runs off allllll the way back down the hill, guy runs to car to pursue, we go up up and off the beaten path to a steep clear-cut tree-free strip which goes straight up and down the "mountain"
AH-HAH. thar she is. one of the effed-up epcot-esque triplet balls finally showing their geodesic faces above the wall of ivy above...

hike hike- oh, the wall of ivy is supported (in-part) by no less than 3 barbed-wire fences between it and us... (creating a perimeter ivy-tunnel almost with a barbed roof) the whole seen is verymuch Lost World: Jurassic Park 2, but with 1960/70's architecture. Ok, we walk the perimeter and every hole in the outermost fence has been very well patched, re-wired, re-barred with rebar, grr. Walk walk walk. cool view, a guy is about to paraglide or whatever (I think that is Potsdam in the distance):

It takes about 15 minutes to find a real human-made, man-sized gash in the outermost fence,then another in the inner fence and we're in, although it isn't really any more clear on HOW to get to the center, there is just dense overgrowth everywhere. we are wading through weeds, and then pavement, a busted guardrail and some streetlights then more overgrown and steep hills. crumbling and overgrown crumbling and overgrown, we climb two more very steep hills, pretty dense vegetation which you can grab onto to assist climbing and finally on flat-land (avoided nettles) and the ground-level of the communications facility,




I am wondering a bit if and/or how often the Polizei patrol this area often... saw them down by the parking lot... a long time/ways ago/away... shards of control panels in the ivy
and all sorts of wires spilling out of underground hatches very much like a half-ton of proportionate-ly sized spaghetti...
arg. man, this place... "this place..." I say to Johannes "this place IS post-apocalyptic. If everything screeched to a halt then the world would probably look like this in 15-20 years..." and it is amazing.



I start taking fotos and more-or less don't stop for about an hour. NOTE: many of the indoor images are extremely long-exposure because there was often little or no light.

strange sort of boiler room:

Johannes hears people and beckons me out of the building. Two French guys approach and suggest that we go into another building, climb up and check out the view... but we never found what they were talking about.

most every room I walked into had a lot of floor panels missing... not a good place to come at night. i.e.: Open manhole overlapping a path with computer equipment down at the bottom...


the French guys somehow climbed to the uppermost parts of the complex:



The one 3 or 4-story stairwell with a busted skylight at the top of it also just happened to have an emergency ladder laying in the rubble directly below, but it was one of those ladders that should be attached to the edge of a building rooftop, and would probably take at least 4 people to lift, so no-go on that one...






Found a much nicer hole in the fence to exit from:




Coming down the hill we looked up to our right where a large wild boar was coming to a stop on a high bank above the edge of the road. It looked us up and down, we looked at it, instant silent shock. I recalled a story from the newspaper about people being gored or at least bitten during brutal boar attacks in the German forests surrounding Berlin... without thinking I removed the towel from around my neck and began to twist it in front of me- uhm...? Did I think that I would choke the boar if it charged???... no idea. Staring a wild and potentially dangerous animal in the face one hardly thinks...
Later Johannes explained it as such:
"When you panicked I panicked and searched my brain for "WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF WILD BOAR ENCOUNTER... and that file in my brain was totally empty, so I ran."

The boar headed towards us and Johannes bolted off into the woods, I began running down the street as well but facing the boar, twisting the towel defensively so that it was on its way to becoming a think sort of terrycloth rope out in front of my tusk-vulnerable stomach.
After a few strides I saw two old Germans up on the bank yelling and then laughing at our fear... but they both carried large sticks, which would give one room to laugh in such a situation. I was too busy running to listen to anything they said...


SHOULD've checked the TEUFELSBERG WIKIPEDIA PAGE before going:

"Trivia

* Wild Boar roam free on the hill. Visitors are advised to stay on the paths at all times."

Post Titled: Government down."The Austrian government collapsed Monday after months of acrimonious dispute between the country's two largest parties." Did it? Is that true? Must be because it is an International Herald Tribune article... dated July 7th. Amazing that a government can "collapse" and I don't hear about it for 9 days.
There are 2 possible reasons:
1. I wasn't paying attention.
2. Austria doesn't really matter.

Post Titled:Tony Snow, Former White House Press Secretary and FOX News Anchor, Dies at 53 apparently this happened yesterday while I was running around the woods=? Well, regardless of what one thinks of Mr. Snow, he will always stick out in my memory for his appearance on "Wait Wait... don't tell me"'s which is really funny.

Björk and Thom Yorke on Space Ghost...

Post Titled:
FLEET FOXES "White Winter Hymnal" video

White Winter Hymnal from Grandchildren on Vimeo.
FOUND ON the FLEET FOXES MySpace Site.
ALSO: Fleet Foxes live at Washington, DC's Black Cat, and interviewed as well on NPR's All Songs Considered

Post Titled:
CHEAP electronics.

Why are you going to sell me a 3-headphone pack for €6... the earbuds lose their ability withing a month, (fade and sputter and just get quiet-quiet-quieter) the ear-hanger things crack and fail in 3 weeks and the over the top of the headphones I don't even want to put on...
VERDICT: I think I liked the Ang Lee HULK better. He was greener, dopier, and could jump WAY higher/farther. (but the last 3 minutes of this new one were great.)

Post Titled: Clayton Ryan Images added to "Friends" in the blogroll: photography to bee seen at

CLAYTON RYAN IMAGES

(click click)

Post Titled: "THIS AMERICAN LIFE T-shirt Design Contest"
"Every once in a while, listeners ask if we have a new This American Life t-shirt. And we tell them no. And then, well, maybe they feel sad. We assume it's just sad, and not something worse, like morose..or despondent. Truth is, it's been a while since we've had a shirt idea that we really like.

This is where you come in. That's right: we're holding a t-shirt design contest!

Create a This American Life t-shirt, and your art could end up on the backs (or fronts, depending on your design) of thousands of people. Because.... drum rolllll.... the shirt is going to be our thank-you gift during the next national pledge drive. Then later, after the drive, we'll make it available in our webstore.

Oh, and the winner will also get a cash prize of $1000. Okay, it won't be cash. It'll be a check.

The deadline will be in late July, and we'll post complete contest rules and submission instructions soon. In the meantime, start working up your design. We're excited to see what you come up with!"

Post Titled: CARPE BERLIN ADDED TO "OTHER" in the blogroll useful Berlin arts and culture site:

CARPE BERLIN

Joint Custody Project "Where is the Rebel Base?" Installation at RAAB GALERIE

18 Kopie, originally uploaded by Found Gallery.

this piece was a collaboration between myself and Klaus W. Eisenlohr there are more fotos at FOUND GALLERY's filckr acct.

luv.
TAR ART RAT tarartrat

Post Titled:
"I wanna cut his nuts off."
-Jessie Jackson (ouch!) on Obama

Post Titled: climbing the wallsand squirming in my seat this morning... nothing is working...
think I#m totally in-love with Erykah Badu again, though...



The Healer by Erykah Badu

there was definitely a long period after baduizm came out when I was just hypnotized- and I lost and re-bought that album 4 times- but that was (since) 1997. New stuff seems great. weird, but great.

2DF or zdf or whatever has a youtube channel... kind of interesting... but in typical German television fashion: it is very low energy.