On December 1st, a new independent film festival begins at the Babylon Kino in Berlin-Mitte. Figuratively starting in China with “Summer Palace”, Around The World In 14 Films will introduce each film with a presentation by the (or sometimes just a) German director who will also moderate a discussion after the film. Some of the [...]

[listening to: Don Carlos - Day To Day Living]
The arrival of Richard Linklater’s fictional filming of the fully non-fictional Fast Food Nation (must-read book but I admit I haven’t seen the movie though I hear it’s so-so agit-prop) and Lidl’s Yuppie oranges (see below) reminded me of something else I noticed recently: two new food [...]

in case you were wondering… updates L8R…
Meanwhile, check it: Slate (sorta) bashes Pitchfork Media [It's on, baby! Hot, sizzling blog beef.]

These are ‘Yuppie’ oranges I bought last week at Lidl–didn’t notice the brand name until I got home and had to rub my eyes to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating.

We had some good old/new-fashioned fun at the Thanksgiving / going-away combo party (Abschiedsfeier sounds better) yesterday at Christina and Rainer’s house in Potsdam. They’re moving off to the greener fields of Regensburg, but not before they throw down a house party for a motley crew of Germans and foreigner or bloggist types of the [...]

Here’s another classic turkey vid (my Thanksgiving isn’t over just yet).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEKxWUCBZk8
From the most famous episode of TV show WKRP in Cincinnati, Turkeys Away (October 30, 1978). Either (or both) a parody of Herbert Morrison’s live report of the Hindenburg disaster or inspired by a real-life occurance in the 1960s by Atlanta radio station WSB, which [...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JsILdSZf-0
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

In about four weeks, the US is sending a delegation, including new Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, to Beijing with the intent of soft-powering China into loosening up their economy by letting the currency (yuan) strengthen, thus making its exports dearer and less competitive, as well as:
…deregulating its state-controlled economy, allowing greater imports and foreign [...]

So, Happy Thanksgiving America. Have fun with the gorging and the college football stateside. And don’t forget to be thankful. Seriously, though, Disneyfied version of Plymouth Rock or not, it’s pretty damn crucial to keep a grateful attitude—at least that’s what I learned from Jesus (or was that the Rastafarians? see below). I’ll be celebrating [...]

Give thanks and praises to the Most-I (Jah!);Give thanks and praises so high (so high).He will not deceive us my brethren;He will only lead us again (again):Oh, take that veil from off of your eyes;Look into the future of realize.
Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem and Japhet (Ham, Shem and Japhet);And in Ham is known [...]

Last Saturday night @ Gabriele’s birthday party (+ the return of Andor, Krisztina and ugra bugra).

Oh man, I love this guy. More or less every other Tuesday afternoon, as I’m walking to work (which is late work), I pass a kindly old man in a crumpled leather jacket milling about on Oranienstrasse (usually across from the Max & Moritz Restaurant) who approaches me and shouts, “Sag mal, ist heute Dienstag?” [...]

FYI: having already noticed recently on street posters — and then sadly missing — The Twilight Singers, Souls of Mischief and Mr. Lif, here are some more Berlin shows that I notice are coming up in the new future. If I miss these too, I’m hoping at least someone can tell me how they were!
November [...]

Kraut was once a derogatory term for Germans, but now, in the future–like so many slurs–it has been reapropriated as a term of endearment. Well, OK, the only case that comes easily to mind would be Krautrock (not including my recently invented term for a German-American, Krautmerican). This is a kind of uniquely teutonic music [...]

['the world is more than icons' says the website decorated almost exclusively with icons] This post finds itself smack dab in the middle of the One World Berlin film festival (Nov. 16-22), a human rights oriented affair, focusing this year on the current health of human rights in the world, the philosophy of said [...]

Remeber how a while back I was saying that the next album from Bloc Party would have a song called “Kreuzberg”? Well, here it is [mp3]:
[audio:http://www.myfilehut.com/userfiles/222564/bloc-party-2006-kreuzberg.mp3]
There is a wall that runs right through me
Just like the city, I will never be joined
What is this love? Why can I never hold it?
Did it really run [...]

(Note the overturned golden arches.)
Gisela Williams (how’s that for a Krautmerican name?) takes a look Berlin’s burgeoning culinary culture and “ambitious” street food. She locates some interesting food stores and imbisses (imbissi? fast food joints) in Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg—namely W Imbiss (with its nan-bread pizza), WKD Lebensmittel (with its liver dumpling soup), FoodBall (with [...]

I’m a little low on pep right now so it’s not a bad time to try one of these quickies provided by the Mirror UK (the self-described “BEST NEWSPAPER ON THE WEB”), reprinted here to spare your click energy on this:
(Keep in mind that technically energy is always conserved — conservation of energy being [...]

Fat Jon is an MC from Cincinnati, Ohio best known for his work with the underground (ish) hip-hop crew Five Deez. He moved to Berlin about three years ago. I met him about two ago in Kreuzberg (I was all, “Yo, I’m from southern Ohio too!”). He had just finished a collabo with Berlin dubtronica [...]

Check it out: last week I finished posting all 1,517 photos from Yuhang and I travelling through eastern China. So, don’t say I ain’t never give you nuttin’ what to look at or such (that was my Appalachian American alter-ego talking just now). It would appear that quantity won out to quality in the long [...]