Happy Holidays!

R + S

'The Man Who Saves the World' and why I might not be turning European after all...

Apparently if you buy a TV or radio in Germany you have pay a monthly usage tax. This money goes to support the excellent public TV and radio stations...but technically, everyone has to pay these fees. This really changes how your perceive the mediums...Can you imagine having a TV or radio and having to pay taxes just to watch/listen to them? And, if you don't pay these fees you are acting illegally and have to hide your TVs and radios in a closet if someone comes by to check your house for TVs and radios? I guess this really happens and apparently they will show up on Saturday mornings to catch people off guard. Is this really worth less commercials and not having to listen to public radio and TV pledge drives?

We never watched that much TV so not having a TV hasn't been that big of deal but we really started to miss our Netflix. Germany does not have Netflix, but Amazon just launched a new program here that is very similar but not as extensive or cheap. We opted to spend Christmas together at home and I really wanted to chill out and watch some movies. We checked the iTunes store for the new Battlestar Galatica episodes and everything that used to be on there from the SciFi channel was gone. I searched around and found some comments which said the CEO of NBC (which owns SciFi or the show now?) made the decision to pull everything from iTunes and at least a few people are sad enough to post about not being able to purchase their TV watching this way.

First thing I visited the official BSG SciFi site and discovered that the extended special episode "Razor" had been aired but the new season was pushed back to March or April (as long as the writer's strike did not interfere). I went to watch a trailer for the new season (again, on the official site) and could not because of "licensing restrictions" that did not allow viewing outside of the US. Scrolled down and found comments complaining about this issue, esp. from the UK (aren't most of the actors British!?) Here is a quote:
"Same thing here, living in the uk, i can't watch episodes online. I bought every BSG series on iTunes but thanks to NBC retarded CEO i'll have to find other way to watch it. way to embrace the new technologies... iTunes gives people the simpler way to watch content from their home, select their own content and their happy to pay for it."

On further investigation it seemed there was a big mess because "Razor" was leaked online 22 days before it was suppose to air on regular TV. Is this what caused them to pull all the episodes from iTunes? This is absurd. A) They dragged out releasing "Razor" for months leaving the fans of the show in some sort of BSG void....so of course they would go to greater lengths to watch something new. B) BSG is SciFi. Don't you think that means there are a million techie geeks watching this that can disseminate any new info across the world instantaneously? and C) The solution is not to figuratively slap the fans on the wrists by removing the episodes from legitimate downloading. Don't you think this obviously forces people to look elsewhere (to places where the show will get NO revenue) to obtain the same info? Like the newspaper industry, the TV stations are freaking out but have it all backwards. The newspaper industry whines about lack of classified ads in a craigslist world. The more they resist the information age, the further they fall behind...and the more likely people will just find ways to get around them!

This all leads to a second point about accessibility. We found our favorite SF dance station, Energy 92.7, online and have been listening to that...but when we went to find our favorite classic rock stations online, 107.7 The Bone in SF and US97 in Springfield, again, because of licensing restrictions, we were blocked from streaming the music. I don't know if it is just me, but I have never felt like I was restricted from information online like this before. It is very unnerving. Is it the US restricting use outside...or Germany trying to protect its archaic radio and TV taxes? I lean toward thinking the latter...but who knows. Of course, there are always ways to get around it, like perhaps setting up a proxy server on a US based server so the site only recognizes a local IP address, but I don't think think that I am going to do that just so I can listen to 'Get the Led Out' on The Bone.

This is not to mention that R is currently searching for a low key cell phone 'repair' shop to unlock his North American phone to use here in Europe. Even though he owns the phone, and it is technically not illegal to unlock them (you can find all kinds of sites online that will do it for a high fee) any major phone provider will not do it for you...because I guess they are all in agreement that they will force their customers to pay higher international service instead of allowing their customers (with their own phones) to switch to cheaper local services.

But I digress....with all these restrictions I started looking for free downloads online. At first I looked for specific things...and most could be found, though many times were bad in-theatre recordings or bit torrents that take hours, if not days, to download, that then may or may not work. All of this led me to a few sites that have thousands of movies and shows readily available to watch but are confusingly organized. So now, if I am in the mood to watch some 'TV', instead of looking for something specific I just go to some of these sites and see what I can find. That has opened up a whole new world of movie watching.

At first we started with the obvious blockbusters like 300 and Blades of Glory....but then I found a bizarre file titled, "The Man Who Saves the Earth" or Turkish Star Wars (with English subtitles). I watched this movie the other night and it was one of the most inspiring things I have seen in a long time.

Later research on Wikipedia explained, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam [The Man Who Saves the World] was released in 1982 in the midst of massive political upheaval. As a result, American-made films weren't easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The four most notable films to be so bootlegged are Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, The Exorcist and E.T., all of which have Turkish variations." Not only was Star Wars footage reassembled but, "The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Ben Hur, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes, Silent Running and Disney's The Black Hole."

Sure, artists are always working with found footage, but I have never seen film footage used to re/create another major motion picture. Copyright issue are so ingrained I think this would be unthinkable, except completely outside the context where the original film(s) were created and (as in this case) out of restricted necessity. The original films could not be viewed during this time of Turkish upheaval so maybe this 80's film rang true to my current situation with limited access. This film was a creative, if not only amazingly campy, solution to get around those restrictions.



And finally, we have gotten back into watching what I consider to be the best TV show ever, a Canadian Showcase series called Trailer Park Boys. Perhaps it is no coincidence that many of the antics that drive each of the episodes of this mockumentary involve (usually illegally) finding ways around a system that only work legitimately for people who have the money to legally take part in it. And, for all it's Reno 911-type humor, also attempts to explore basic existential questions about what is ultimately important in life when you cannot purchase all of the things you desire.

So, if you are in the US you can rent all the seasons of TPB on Netflix, or if you are not in the US and have tons of disposable income you can purchase the DVDs and have them shipped at a great expense to your house (which is a whole other story*), or if neither one of these is an option (or you even want to cut down your 'carbon footprint' by not having these little plastic disks shipped around) you can view all the extras and every season of TPB here.

*the other story* After R's mom sent us a small box of US goods that cost her 70$, we thought that we would try a local Mail Boxes Etc. to ship a few Christmas boxes home by UPS. Once in the store the clerk warned us that each of our four boxes was going to cost 19euro to ship but would be there on Monday (Christmas Eve). While expensive, we were expecting as much and decided to go on with the plan. After filling out all the custom info and paperwork for each package the clerk gave us our grand total, which was 383euro. We thought this was a joke, or a miscommunication of his broken English. Turns out each package was not 19euro, but 90euro (we had misunderstood!). We cancelled that order immediately and are waiting for the Holidays (and the long lines) to be over to ship our boxes by freight, on a ship, through Deutsche Post.

HOLIDAY CAUTION:

Yesterday we attended a 'Boxing Day' event at the house of LS and witnessed one of the few 'Wonders of the World'. A christmas tree illuminated by candles, real candles, with real open-flames. It created an ambient show of shadows and lights that held your attention and added an extra tension (possible combustion) to this household decoration.

I have never attended a Boxing Day event, celebrated in Britain and Canada, and this one involved a left-overs dinner. This made perfect sense to me considering that left-overs often come in boxes. I don't think this is the true version of the holiday, but LS is a German author whom writes books that specialize in regional American cuisine. Each book is dedicated to a specific state. On the menu was home made North Carolinan pulled pork on baguettes, with coleslaw and a tomato sauce followed by English Christmas cake for dessert. Mmmmmm, tasted quite authentic.

The End of 2007 is Near!

Last Tuesday I spent the afternoon with PE (our first, unexpected, visitor) as R already mentioned. It was great to see her and catch up on all the great things going on with her right now.

After that we went over to SS and Br's for dinner and so that I could cut Br's hair. This was a great excuse to buy some hair clippers I have been meaning to get from Media Markt.

After leaving SS and Br's we met up with PE and her friend from undergrad in London who is currently living here, Ma. Ma is actually German (from outside of Hannover) but has spent the last 10 years in London, so her accent is a great mix of German and British English. This is when we went to Erdbeer ('Strawberry') that R also mentioned, and I had a great Erdbeer Daiquiri.

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Last Wed, we had a much more successful time trying to meet with our visa counselor at Babylonia. We got lots of advice and some magic numbers, like after rent and insurance the German government expects for you to have about 345Euro/mo. to live here, and if you can prove you have that you should be fine for a permit. We feel fairly confident about where we are at to apply, although the longer we wait, the less money we have...but I guess that is also the longer we are here, so it evens out in the end. She suggested we go to the 'amt' sometime after the New Year but before I start my language classes on the 14th and gave us both a form which says we are taking classes for the upcoming year which will hopefully help us in acquiring a student visa. With a student visa you can even legally work 90 days a year (or on average about 2 days a week), which will be perfect when that time comes. I think that we are going to try and work it out so that we go that we go apply on the same day as SS and if Br can come he could help us all out with his German speaking skills. But, everyone says it depends so much on who you get to review your application and even what kind of mood they are in. But, Babylonia also gave gave us some info on a German government office that helps people who are applying for visas, especially if you run into any problems with the amt.

I learned recently that part of the German 'left' politics is a very pro-immigrant stance. While walking by a squat we asked Ma what this phrase meant that we kept seeing, and she explained it meant something like "foreigners stay, nazis leave", which summarizes the position. All of a sudden it made a lot more sense why an ex-squat like Babylonia would be helping foreigners (and esp. refugees) so much with language courses and free visa counseling.

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We then stopped at SS's to pick up my hair cutting supplies I had left there the night before. We stopped for a light meal at a restaurant/bar around the corner and had a baguette sandwich and some German spaghetti dish that doesn't really have marinara sauce but more of an olive oil based sauce with savory onions and mushrooms and other spices. It was better than it sounds or looked like but was a bit heavy.

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On Thursday I experienced another closing of the circle of friends-of-friends. Way back on Dec. 2nd I posted about meeting SS's friend Gr. Gr works for an artist, WN. After learning this I checked out his site and was intrigued about a lot of the work, esp. some early painting trays he made.

A while back I also contacted the one person I knew was living in Berlin, EB, but last I had talked to her (at Vision Request back in May) she said that she would not be staying the winter in Berlin because she couldn't take the cold gray weather (and was shocked that we would consider moving here in November). I emailed her anyway and she got a hold of me on Wed. (too bad 'cause she knows PE too and just missed her) but we made plans for Thurs. night. I showed up at her apartment, near KW, that is only about a 15 minute walk and was introduced to her long time boyfriend, who just so happens to be the same WN that Gr works for! I had actually even met him briefly when her visited Skowhegan, where EB and I met. Now that is a crazy coincidence.

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On Friday was Br's birthday party which was at a kinda random place a DJ they knew was playing. It was called Abraxas and was in Charlottenberg, and area of town on the other side of Tiergarten we hadn't been to yet, so we had no idea what to expect. We first stopped by Ma's because we had invited her along. She is staying at some friend's apartment on the edge of the Mitte, kinda near the Reichstag. The apartment was right on the Spree and was pretty amazing. There were lots of familiar paintings, but not familiar enough for us to be sure of the artist's names, and Ma didn't know either. There was one large painting in the dinning room that was a large white canvas with kind of topographic layers of transparent spectrum colored resin pours. If anyone knows whose work this is, please let me know because it is driving me crazy that I cannot remember who it is.

So all three of us headed out about 11:30pm (Berlin party-time). Abraxas was slow at first but soon was flooded with an older crowd, maybe in their 40s and 50s. It was also a surprisingly mixed crowd (in all senses of the word) esp, for Berlin which general is far more white than what I am used to from San Francisco. It was 'Funk and Afro-beats' night, but there were a mix of various other genres like Salsa. We later learned that this bar historically has been known as a place that white women come to meet black men. This was a strange parallel to a film we had seen recently in the WWII Fassbinder movie "Die Ehe der Maria Braun" (or something like The Marriage of Maria Braun) where she marries her husband Hermann on the front lines before he leaves for battle, falsely hears he is dead, and starts working in a club where black US soldiers come for German female companionship. I won't ruin the rest of the movie, and since we watched it in German I can't really give exact details anyway, but is was really good. Anyway, whoever was there it became exceedingly obvious this was a bar people came to pick up other people, which was fairly entertaining, but since none of us were looking for 40+ year old companionship, it was not exactly 'our scene'. We had fun though and ended up staying until about 4 am.

Berlin galleryography

Throughout the last 50 years the social, economic and urban conditions of Berlin have produced an island city, neighborhoods of squatters, and inner city beaches. It has also resulted in an abundance of exhibition spaces and galleries with their own unique programming. Every few months a pamphlet listing 80 galleries and institutions, called INDEX, is printed and distributed for free around the city. It only seems to scratch the surface of what is on view in Berlin. To be included in the index you have to receive a vote from 4 or 5 of the other galleries on the list, creating a democratic elite of art spaces. This list includes most of the blockbuster shows in town: the national museums (Neue Nationalgalerie, Martin-Gropius Bau), the corporate collections (Daimler-Chrylser, Deutsche Guggenheim), private collections (Hamburger Bahnhof), residency programs (Künstlerhaus Bethanien, DAAD), art compounds (Kunst-Werke/KW), and commercial galleries (Max Hetzler, Peres Projects). There are many more spaces in each of these categories. These lists help you locate neighborhoods where a groups of exhibits are concentrated and with a little exploring you will be able to locate other less advertised venues nearby.

I have not yet discovered the role that non-profit spaces play in Berlin, but I am sure that they come in many varieties. A model that we've seen around the city that was unfamiliar to me are 'pay' or 'rent' galleries affiliated with a group of art students. In these spaces a group of art students will get together to rent a gallery space for a exhibit, or a year. They show their work and control the flavor of the exhibits, in return the gallery commercially represents this group during their duration. Depending on the success of these exhibits the space may establish itself with these artists or may cycle on to the next group of students. These spaces confused me at first, the gallery often has a name, the collective of artists often has another name, and the exhibition will have a name. Making it quite confusing to keep track of what one is looking at. There seems to be a collection of these types of spaces along the Brunnenstraße corridor. This is not an entirely new model but one that would struggle to thrive in cities like London, New York or San Francisco because of their outrageous real estate costs, but becomes feasible with the abundance of Berlin's unoccupied storefronts.

I also ran across another gallery, called Jet, that had eluded me for weeks. It is in a strip mall near Alexanderplatz next to Jet Cleaners and Jet Photo. Jet finds a symbiotic relationship to it's neighbors much in the same way that Queen's Nails Annex has with its neighbor Queens Nails (salon) in San Francisco, or any number of the galleries in Los Angeles' Chinatown district. Disguised amongst these businesses I had walked past Jet several times, wondering why the empty store front was so well-lit and was slightly intimidated by the white ceiling tiles sagging out of their fixtures. Upon closer inspection I realized that these tiles were very purposefully suspended and that they weren't ceiling tiles at all, but long planks of white formica woven into the ceiling grid warping the space below. This was an Tilman Wendland exhibit, an artist whose primary mediums are paper and architectural spaces. The front room contained this piece and a few more wall works while the back room consisted of a less effective ceiling installation, sculptural objects, and the gallery desk. Jet is engaged in serious risk taking. Its presence destabilizes and charges this trilogy of storefronts, much in same way that the white formica planks alienated and distorted the storefront that I had casually accepted as empty for weeks. The director of Jet is also interested expanding the curatorial dialogue within her gallery. For half of the year she creates an overarching theme like 'Was Wäre Wenn" (What If?) or this year's "FEHLER" (Failure) as an umbrella concept for a series of shows to take place over several months. During this time group shows, solo shows and guest curating takes place under this theme, then the results are published in an edition that can be found at the gallery. This space was not only a surprise but quite refreshing, and I hope to find more in the days ahead.

Tilman Wendland

We also met an Australian artist living in Berlin this week,DK. He is one of the co-founders of suberbien!, a greenhouse as alternative project space. superbien! is located outside of Milchhof studios in one of Berlin's many hidden courtyards. DK gave us a tour of his studio and answered our many inquiries about how art and Berlin relate. Much of the above conversation regarding the variety of galleries came out of this meeting. He mentioned the influx of a lot of foreign commercial galleries in the recent past, with the potential to make things even more interesting, and Berlin's lack of a Kunsthalle. This struck us all as quite an oversight. Every major city in Germany has a Kunsthalle and they create a type of competitive circuit, generating a regular calendar of interesting exhibitions all over Germany. But the country's capital does not seem to support a Kunsthalle of its own? I am sure this is part of a larger discussion that we are just entering, but Kunsthalles provide some of the most ambitious exhibitions that I have seen. A Kunsthalle is a museum scale exhibition space that doesn't have a permanent collection but instead focuses on rotations of large-scale exhibitions of contemporary art. Spaces that operate on the Kunsthalle model can be found outside of Germany and include the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), SITE Santa Fe (Santa Fe, NM), and many others.

David Keating

Underground bowling

This was our fourth full week and a busy one. We had our first friend visiting from the states (unexpectedly) and we simultaneously got a cell phone, internet service, wireless and a Brita filter all in the same day. I do not think that we will be leaving the apartment much for the next week, but if you have been waiting to video chat now's the time.

Last week we met AW a new friend of a friend. He is part of a collective that publishes a magazine out of Vienna and Berlin. The magazine has been circulating since 2002 and changes names each issue. It has a printing of around 500 and new issues are released when they have collected enough content. This happened to be one of those months and they were holding a release party for the current issue, 'Gringo, at a bar in Wedding district called Kaffee Schmidt. The occassion turned out to be a dual release party with another magazine, live music and films of 1920's Berlin projected onto one of the walls. Wedding is just NE of the Mitte and I have heard it referred to as the last hold out of old E Berlin culture. It was rather quite on the streets, clean and there was no graffitti. It evoked more of a suburban feel than the rest of Berlin that I have seen. This bar was also a bit of a hidden treasure, as I'm finding our most bars in Berlin are. Down in the basement were two small disco rooms and a 2 lane bowling alley from the 1920's. It would have been like a time warp if I had any prior idea of what a 100 year old bowling alley looked like. Here is a bad photo I took with my cell phone but it was basically a 1" wide board that ran the length of the entire basement. There was also a panel of buttons from the 1970's for keeping score from behind a plexi glass window, very Star Trek 'original series'. We also discovered to our misfortune that the trains do not run all night and ended up walking most of the way home.



Our friend PE, a Spanish artist, was in town for two days this week and we managed to briefly meet up with her. She has been included in the upcoming Berlin Biennial and was here to look at a few possible sites for her work to be displayed. She had meetings most of the day but we managed to catch up with her at a bar nearby that we have been meaning to visit, Erdbeer. They are knows for their amazing fresh fruit drinks (I had a fresh mint daquiri) and possibly as being the only non-smoking bar in the whole city. They also had an eclectic array of furniture inside including these pod-like East German lawn chairs (Google image). It was good to see PE but it was late when we walked her back to her apt and forgot to take a picture.



The brake cable broke on my bike this week. Luckily I had almost come to a stop so I did not end up entirely in the middle of traffic. I was repaired in 10 minutes at a local bike shop where he also advised me about how to fix the wiring on my bike so the lights will work. Bikes in berlin are more like cars. Bike riding has been really great and is going to save a lot of time and train fare.

New Roommates

We have three new roommates staying in the apartment. I met them in the rain, huddled outside of a nearby school. No one else was around to help them so I brought them back to our apartment to dry off. We've been getting along so far, but it has only been a week. It seems that one of their grandparents was involved with the Bauhaus in Dessau. They even claimed to have distant relatives in America in the lawn chair business. The apartment has been more crowded but they aren't imposing guests, one has even offered to help me with my studio work.

KALT.

It was so cold today that Alex didn't even want to come out..

Berlin -2 C
SF 12 C
STL 9 C

What's your weather...?

Biking with Swans

Most of last week was spent getting on some sort of schedule, and starting to do some new studio work. I started working out on Monday and that has gone really well so far. I also worked on some new drawings that became a short movie loop.

Last Thursday we had planned to go to a meeting I had signed us up for at Babylonia, to meet with a woman who gave free counseling on applying for residency permits. We were very sad to discover that our appointment had actually been the day before. I was afraid this was going to happen because I thought the woman was only there on Wed., but decided the date that I written down was the date on the sign-up sheet so I think ultimately that had been wrong.

We then had some time to kill so we biked through Gorlitzer Park. Oh yeah...this was the first day that we ventured out on the bikes that came with apartment. They are both very functional sturdy bikes, less streamlined than what most people ride in SF, but it is very flat here so biking is a very leisurely. In fact, not only are their bike lanes, the bike lanes have their own traffic lights! so cars, pedestrians, and bikes can move around with ease...and for the most part people absolutely wait for the green to cross the street.

So we biked through the part and I R some sort of ruins that SS had shown me before. I can't quite make out what kind of amphitheater-type structure this was, but it gives me the impression it was a fountain/amphitheater made to look like classical ruins that ended up actually being ruins. But, I can't quite picture Germans building something like that.





Across the way is a cafe that looks like it was an old train station that has been rebuilt. I imagine at some point this whole park was in complete ruins.



Then we explored the area a bit, ultimately headed in the direction of a cafe where we were going to meeting two more friends-of-friends that were former CCA undergrads. The cafe was called Anchor and is on a small canal...that we ended up biking along.



Berlin is divided by the river Spree, which also has two manmade canals, one in the northeast and one through the central part and south. The river carries barges and ships, but the southern canal we were on is mostly calm with quaint brick bridges and flocks of ducks. Occasionally you will even see a pair of white swans like the ones in this pic.



I really like the fact that there are these little water ways through the city. It some how makes everything seem so much...cleaner and fresh. I've always liked rivers and lakes, more than the ocean for example. So, I really enjoyed this bike ride and am really glad it is such an accessible thing to do here!

We meet the two former CCA students at around 4pm. Ec has been here for about 7 months and En has been here for about 2 months, on and off over the last 3 or so. They both seemed surprisingly indecisive about living here. I got the impression that they like it but the cold weather, not knowing the language at all, and a tight budget was getting them down. It was nice to share common knowledge though and we had a nice time with them, ending with a promise to stay in touch about things.

Against All Authority

Another insomnia induced entry.

Sometime last week while leaving the apartment we noticed a letter taped to the front glass door. The Polezi letterhead caught my attention and a short wave of panic set in, being foreign occupants of this very building. I quickly scanned the notes for anything else alarming or incriminating, like our names.

I read part of the heading and in quotes was written "(something)...gegen Herrschaft und Kapitalismus". I could translate enough to know that this was the international language of organized protest. Then I recalled reading that all protests and mass demonstrations in Germany must be registered with local police departments. This was an update from the Police forecasting the path of a protest on saturday that would be closely followed by riot cops and trucks with blue flashing lights. Yes, it strikes me as a contradiction that to protest against what you perceive as an authoritarian system you must first register with the local authority (begging the question, how do you protest against this policy?). But i know that this process is not isolated to Germany. If you want to organize a protest or demonstration in SF or NYC, that will last any length of time, you must also register for a permit. However, in the US it is often referred to as a permit to march or hold a parade, at least in Germany they are willing to differentiate between a parade and a protest. As stifling and bureaucratic as this process may be, the act of going door-to-door with notes acts as a form of public announcement and a social service (having seen no other flyers).

The specific translation of the protest's theme has still alluded me, 'gegen Herrchaft und Kapitalismus.' The best I have been able to decipher was Kapitalismus is obviously Capitalism, and Herrschaft is some combination of tyranny, authority and nepotism; and this protest was against both. The event went off on Saturday night as announced. We first encountered the group at the end of our street, a group projected to number between 500-1000, carrying signs and beers and followed by a group of police wearing olive green armor that resembled space suits. We crossed paths again on the way to the Montanaberlin opening and later outside of a falafel stand where we stopped to eat. By this time in the night the protesters were getting more drunk and the cops more bored, with the sounds of sirens and broken bottles a cat-and-mouse game ensued.



After this we regrouped at G's apartment nearby to watch a movie while deciding on any future plans. G's roommate N is a filmmaker and had quite a large selection of movies to choose from. We decided on a movie from the early 1970's called "McCabe & Mrs. Miller". A Western starring Warren Beaty and a soundtrack by Leonard Cohen that seemed an unlikely enough combination to produce some interesting surprises. As far as i could tell it paid off, but half an hour into the movie N came home and invited us all to go out to a club, where he had reserved a few spots on the guest list. It was both a generous offer and the kind that would be almost rude to turn down. Four of us decided to go under the clause 'as long as there is no cover' and S went home because she was in the middle of a juice fast.

5 passengers was too many for a taxi so we were left with the option of walking across town. Getting to the club was a bit of sight-seeing through Berlin's equivalent of the National Mall followed by 5th Avenue. N was unsure of the exact location so once we were close we just followed the groups of people our own age roaming around in the shopping district at midnight. We followed them into an alley, along a path marked by orange tape, that led to a loading dock where the line formed. This was the kind of club that had a different name on different nights and depending on whether you entered from the front door or the back door. Tonight it was called Crush and other nights it would be called Cookie. After getting in line we learned that the cover was 15 Euros and that N could only manage to get 2 names on the list. We debated about who would stay trying to do the math to make it equal for everyone, but in the end SS and B chose to pass. That left the three of us to wait in the less than celebrity status line while others eased in, on the right, after affectionately greeting the bouncer. Once we were waived inside we learned that the guest list had been discarded and that each of us would have to pay to enter. Standing there with a dumbfounded look on our face, we decided that since we'd made it this far why turn back. By then N, the only german speaker, had already paid our covers and we went inside promising to buy his drinks for the night.

We walked into a large dark room, with high ceilings and a dancefloor book-ended by bar counters. The interior design of the club was versatile. There were 12-15 digital projectors hanging from the ceiling projecting a red pixellated foliage motif onto the walls, allowing the club to change its image as often as it pleases. We each got drinks and N proceeded to show us around, while he told us of a British band he was interested in was performing tonight. The room was packed and break-beat house music bounced off of the walls and from person to person. N took us through a short passageway and into another room with low ceilings and simulated wood panelling. This room was about the size of your average trailer home with couches lining one wall and it had a different soundtrack than the previous room. In this room a DJ was spinning European and American pop from the 1980's giving the space the feel of a make-out room. There were people packed in the front dancing somewhat less self-conciously than on the other dance floor. This room felt a little more comfortable, reminding me of some of the impromptu dance parties in our kitchen in SF. N said there was one more room if we wanted to check it out, so we did. This room didn't quite fit. We had to climb a back stairwell that led to a door. We peered in but never entered. From outside you could see an abstract geometric painting with the word 'ficken.' stenciled on it. (if you don't know what this word means don't bother looking it up.) The room was rather stark and populated with tables where a few remaining couples were dining. I guess it is the equivalent of dinner and a movie.

We went back down to the main room to catch the band's performance. We all felt they would have been better without the singer. They possessed a coffee-house sound plus a keyboard. Since we fought this hard to get here I thought I would embrace it and proceeded to go out onto the dance floor. I stood there for a while listening to fragmented German conversations and checking-out the crowd. Everyone was dressed to 'go-out' but in a laissez-faire kind of way, including the girl standing in front of me whose outfit shocked me. I could only see her back, but she wearing tight jeans, flats, and Nike t-shirt, cut into a muscle shirt worn over a pink tank-top. In small print was a Nike slogan, "There is no finish line", followed by a swoosh. No finish line?...this was her party wardrobe. All of a sudden I started to picture all-night drug-fuelled raves, parties that never really finish just move from one venue to the next. Dressing up to go out on Friday night and not returning home until Sunday morning. I was in awe and dumb-struck. She had somehow managed to totally subvert Nike, turning one of their banal wholesome slogans into something impure. I know that Europeans have a different relationship to Nike's branding than Americans, that I cannot admit to totally understanding. A sort of appropriation that crosses all genres. This was a radical gesture that I don't think any American would every try. Even if they did I don't think it would have the same un-ironic effect. In America, Nike is a practically a uniform. It is so prevalent that their clothes are handed out to high school athletic teams, found in free-bins, and distributed by volunteers at clothing drives. She didn't know about any of this and she didn't care, this shirt was making a statement. A statement that was never sanctioned by Nike. I've seen many people try this but never overcoming the obviousness of protest or political art. Attempts ranging from street graffiti to gallery artists, including Hank Willis Thomas' digital photographs (Nike = racism) and Brian Jungens tribal masks (Nike = colonialism+ sweatshop labor). Their work leans on a common understanding of Nike-ness, that evening she managed to change what Nike 'means'.

I spent the rest of the night dancing and dwelling on this, leaving at 3:30 to walk home.

Archive Unveiled

!!! I have to share this, IKEA's online archive containing 55 years of IKEA catalog covers!!! HERE!

Culture of Furniture

Earlier this week I heard a lot of loud stomping around in the stairwell of our apartment building. Living in such close quarters with so many people makes one hypersensitive, and even voyeuristic at times. The view from our back balcony is comparative to the apartments in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rearview Window', although less scandalous for now. Following this loud noise I decided to look out my front window to see who would emerge from the front door and I almost couldn't believe what I saw.



Standing outside was a middle age man in a tall black top hat, made from real fur. He wore an all black outfit including a button-up V-shaped vest with tails and sported a bushy mustache, it was almost cartoonish. I struggled to place this person in space and time. The only thing that occurred to me was that he must have wandered over from one of the nearby Weinachtsmarkts (Christmas markets) that consist of dozens of wooden cabins temporarily set up for merchants to sell their holiday wares. It still did not seem quite right. Upon another inspection, I noticed that he had a large brush sticking our of his back pocket. The kind of brush made from real twigs not just extruded plastic bristles. It occurred to me that he was serious. This was not a costume, it was a uniform. He was like something I had only seen in movies, something from a distant past. He was not a charicature, he had to be a chimney sweep.

I doubted this conclusion, not to mention i do not think that there are any chimneys in our entire building, but my suspicions were reinforced when I later heard a story about Tischlers. Tischler are part of a crafts tradition that still survives in Germany speaking countries. They are tradesmen that practice pre-industrial crafts, in this case woodworking. After their formal training they roam the countryside looking for a way to make their living, often performing songs for donations and using an age old network to support them for housing and job openings. They are easily identified by their uniforms which consist of a floppy felt hat, a man-skirt toolbelt (like those worn in many woodshops today) and carrying a large walking stick that has been hand-carved. Seeing a Tischler convinced me that the trade of chimney sweeps could b alive and well. For all of its Modern utopianism Germany is still a very romantic country.



I never cease to be amazed by the culture of European furniture. We made our second trip to IKEA to seek solutions to our remaining household needs; pillows, a fruit bowl, a houseplant (cactus) and a set of picture frames for some new prints I am working on. We spent most of the time admiring all of the consideration that IKEA has put into creating an entire shopping experience, a Gesamtkaufwerk if you will. We used their electronic PIN lockers, ate a swedish meatball meal in the cafe, and looked at their new line of clothing for the pertinent things in your IKEA life, pajamas and reflective bicycle vests. This location even has pet furniture in place at the entrance so you do not have to leave your pets at home.

Absentee-ism

A recounting of events from this past weekend, in no particular order. The weekdays in Berlin seem to follow the same pattern as those in San Francisco, Thursday is the new Friday.

As S previously mentioned Thursday we went to an opening at the residency center Kunsthaus Bethanien. There were 3 artists displaying work in a building that was built in the late 1800's and used as a hospital for most of the 20th century, with an awkward balance between decoration and sterility. By far the most interesting work was by Marianne Vierø. Her 12 photographs of brick walls (built by the artist) were hung in a tomb-like room saturated with fluorescent light. I only mention this about the surroundings because it was the kind of exhibit that you walk into and want to turn around and immediately leave. As a result the room was empty, serving as a perfect place to escape the crowd filling the hallways and sucking down beer and cigarettes. The longer we stood there the more the work unfolded. The brick walls in the photographs gave way to become like ready-made Sol LeWitt's. Work that would have been invisible to the attention deficit viewer.

After the opening we went our for drinks with friends and a friend-of-a-friend PD who was visiting from Milwaukee. We ended at a restaurant in Kreuzberg with called Hannibal, whose mascot was an alligator and served Pan-American cuisine. You know everything from nachos to burgers and pizza to milkshakes. I decided on a Long Island Iced Tea and french fries (pommes frites). We spoke with PD about his interest in moving here and our mutual desires to set up studio spaces in Berlin. The conversation turned towards politics, literally the American electoral system and Presidential Candidates. Our discussion about absentee ballots and everyones' interest to participate in the upcoming presidential election revealed some disheartening information.

It appears that there was a large campaign locally to promote absentee registration and voter turn-out for Americans living in Germany. Living and working on the German clock all of the ballots were collected and turned in early for the election. But if you recall, in the 2004 election there was an error made with the absentee ballots and the only absentee ballots that were counted were of military members serving abroad. This brought back the bitter taste lingering from the last election. Reminding us that with all of our hopes placed into this election and the rhetoric of the 'every vote counts' electoral system, the political system is fundamentally broken. I have a strange feeling that no matter who wins the next election, it is going to be a hard pill to swallow.

It's a small (art) world afterall...

I forgot to mention in the last post on Sunday evening SS and her friend GD stopped by our apartment. They were headed out to gallery openings so we joined in. We stopped by an opening at Montanaberlin to meet a girl who had also worked for the same artist GD worked for. SN had some work in the show and was here on a residency at GogauAIR, but was returning the next day to Berkeley, where she is from. Turns out, when she is in the Bay Area she supplements her income by working as a waitress at a club called Jupiter, where my good friend (from way back in MO) JT does the sound...who she knew well...so we knew someone in common!

...and...remember that show we went to with Marianne Viero's work that we liked...R checked out her website and saw that she normally lives in Amsterdam and had a link to my friend KM's site. I emailed KM and she just emailed back saying that yes...they are indeed friends...which I guess make Marianne another friend of a friend...Random! (or not?)

Bauhaus Tannenbaum

Friday was spent pretty leisurely. I made the last of my curry attempts with the remaining veggies that we had in the kitchen. The second attempt was not any where near as good as the Green Thai Curry, but the third was a bit better. These last two were more of an Indian tomato-based approach and those are just difficult to recreate. I think that I might just go out for masalas from here on out...and luckily we just saw an Indian restaurant with a buffet (at least on Sundays) yesterday that would be more exciting than cooking at home anyway.

On Saturday we went back to complete the IKEA shopping we had begun 2 weeks ago. For awhile now I have be looking for something a little festive for our apartment...not quite an actual Christmas Tree, although I have considered a few miniature ones, but mainly something that would exude some holiday cheer. While walking around a store called Bauhaus (which is almost exactly like a Home Depot but also uses the name of a famous German art/architecture school from the early 20th c. known for simple/functional and innovative design) next door to IKEA, I found the perfect surrogate Christmas Tree...a black plexiglas geometric box with six flashing colored lights. Now we have decked the apartment with out our Bauhaus Tannenbaum!


Bauhaus Tannenbaum


R with our Bauhaus Tannenbaum

Speaking of Tannenbaums, I always thought that the Christmas song 'O' Christmas Tree', or 'O' Tannenbaum' in the original German, gave me a good sense of the German language. The song is so familiar and it translates so smoothly...

O' Christmas Tree
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us.
They're green when summer days are bright;
They're green when winter snow is white.
O, Christmas Tree, O, Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us!

O' Tannenbaum
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie grün sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie grün sind deine Blätter!

...etc.

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We picked up most of the rest of the things we needed at IKEA so the bedroom now especially seems relatively complete. I could help but buy this throw pillow with such an awesome design.


our bed

Somehow we have ended up with a combo of colors on our bed that just reminds me of an avocado (two shades of green with dark blue)....like our combination of avocado and other soaps (with a pit!). We must really miss avocados!


our soap

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Another thing that I decided to do this weekend was a two-day juice fast. It was recommended to start out my meal plan and I always wanted to so I thought now was the time. I had already been eating a lot of veggies and little meat with the curries so I felt prepared to start. I bought a bottle of fruit medley juice and a bottle of veg medley juice from the Bio that was or course organic and contained only those ingredients, with no extra sugar or anything. Then I also bought a few vegetables to make a basic veg broth.

Over the next two days I roughly drank fruit juice for breakfast with some herbal tea, drank veg juice for lunch and had the broth and/or a combo of the other juices and some more herbal tea for dinner. I also drank at least 2 Liters of water each day.

I was not super hard-core about it, since it was only two days. Anytime I got hungry I just drank some juice or tea so it was not like starving yourself. The reasons people might do this is for detoxifying the body (which happens the most starting on the third day) and to reset your metabolism. I didn't really have any side effects except my mouth felt really dirty so I brushed really well and that felt good. (I guess your mouth is a major place that toxins come out.)

For me, I think that the most valuable thing was gaining a new perspective on food intake. A person can go 1-2 weeks without eating at all and most of the time that just seems incomprehensible. Not that that is healthy for you, but there are plenty of people in the world who don't eat much at all everyday. And, it gave me a really new perspective on proportions and general moderation. For example, when I started eating today I started slow with raw foods, so all of a sudden a few carrot sticks and hummus was this really intense feast. I mean, who needs drugs when you could fast?

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On Sunday we went to a large Floh Markt (Flea Market) that is kind of near us in Mauer Park. It was made up of rows of tents that people have laid out with various wears, from garage sale type items to boutique-y hand silk-screened t-shirts. It has taken me a long to figure out that these are the urban equivalent of garage sales.


Floh Markt

We got there pretty late so we mostly just looked around. I bought two young adult novels. They were from a series of books written by a Danish guy but then had been translated to German. They all center around a young girl names Lone. I bought "Lones Sommerferien", which I think means "Lone's Summer Vacation" and "Lone in Tirol" which I think is a place in northern Italy or southern Switzerland. I guess I will soon find out...

The second thing I bought was a large 1998 calendar that had reproductions of Wassily Kandinsky's paintings from the years he was at the Bauhaus. Surprisingly (or not) at least some of these works R and I could agree on as nice for the apartment. We picked out three to hang opposite our bed.


Kandinsky with Laundry

Now that we had added a few touches the apartment is feeling quite cozy. Still very simple, but now there are a few accents that it make it a bit more our own.

*ART OPENINGS*

A few of my friends have exhibitions opening this week. All are highly recommened.

KE @ gandy gallery



BB @ Flux Factory



MB & CM @ ATA

from Dec. 7th, 2007: Friends of Friends

For a couple of days I was feeling a bit whinny. Well, maybe that is not the word but perhaps a now-we've-been-here-two-weeks phase when 'Oh, not knowing the local language is so hard!' and 'What is it exactly we are doing here?'. Not that I had any major crisis about it, but I think being here is about navigating these things.

I am feeling a lot better now...after a few things were accomplished and R and I had a nice talk about our thoughts and feelings about our situation here. A sort of re-grouping. I think that I learned two things. One, I had the idea that once I got here I would put a lot of energy toward trying to learn German, but what ended up happening is that I was thinking about it constantly, what I could or could have said in any given situation. Once I realized this was starting to really stress me out I worked to the point of deciding not to care if I was trying hard or not and then it became easier and more fun to try.

The second things was about dealing with the fact that we do have all this time with no major obligations...and the question becomes, How do you spend that time? We came to do our studio work and experience Berlin (and Germany). Where is the balance of that? What are the overall priorities, in terms of time versus money spent?

It seems as much as one might daydream about a time with no obligations people will inevitably fill that time with things to do; working, eating, having kids. Sure, everyone has to make a living and there are some things that simply must get done, but ideally, and hopefully, most of that time is filled with things you like to do. That is the point, right?

I have realized I am just not someone who lives all willy-nilly without a plan, but actually enjoys and possibly needs some structure.

This all comes at a time when I am ready and able (it arrived by mail) to start a regular workout routine and accompanying 'meal plan'. This I plan to all start on Monday, including a general sense of what we might do what days (cleaning on Sundays, etc.). I think this move will definitely clear up days dedicated to our own work and seeing the city. Of course, this is all flexible, but I think that realizing that we want to start setting up a plan, or rough calendar, is the first step.

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After sharing a 1/2 meter long wurst (a baguette about 10 inches long filled with a wurst folded in half) from the Alexanderplatz Weihnachtmarkt, R and I met SS and B at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien for an opening where they were meeting a friend of a friend who is in town for a couple of days. (So, ultimately, that makes him a friend of a friend's friend of a friend, right?) PD is an artist from Milwaukee who is considering moving to Berlin.



The opening was good. We especially liked the work of Marianne Vierø. At first you were confronted with a bright white room with six photographs of brick walls on each side. Seemingly boring...but after spending some time with the work you discover that each of the brick walls has different pattern, that is repeated on the brick wall opposite it, so there are 6 brick walls with two different perspectives each. Then you discover that the photographic prospective of each wall is arranged in a specific pattern: first straight-on shot, opposite a side shot...then two side shots, etc. All of a sudden this boring room with photographs of brick walls became a system of patterns within patterns. And finally, on closer examination of the walls themselves you wonder how they were built...and find random pins left in the walls on a few shots which reveals the image is likely twice the size it was taken at, or the walls are actually half the size that they appear and were printed at the size of actual bricks, which they are not...?
It has been a long time since I have seen a piece that unfolded continually this way.

Then we went for drinks and R and I split an order of Pommes Fritz (French Fries).

Tonight I came home and took a bath with the best new soap. We finally got our US money transfered to our new German bank accounts and to celebrate, earlier in the evening, I decided to go by a nearby Lush store for some long awaited conditioner and body soap. After a bit confusing, but ultimately OK, half-English/half-German conversation with the shop keeper, I ended up buying a small bar of "You Snap the Whip". I wanted something that both exfoliates and heavily moisturizes my newly acquired dry and flaky winter skin. This soap does both jobs amazingly well! You can probably imagine just by considering some of its following ingredients, which include: Coco Butter, Macadamian Nut Oil, powdered charcoal and pumice. This was a fantastic scrub and smell-good moisturizer, especially on my endlessly walking feet.

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...however...as off as I have been feeling the last week, I was sleeping though most of the night (finally), but here it is...5am yet again.

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We have a lot more to write but have fallen behind! more soon....

Imbalanced $

Remember when I was acting excited that there are so many clothing boutiques near our apartment? Well, not anymore.

I packed minimally for the flight over and am in need of some new clothes, so I stopped into American Apparel earlier today and it was sticker shock. There is always a fine line between the expense of the clothes they sell and the quality. But this was a global economy reality check. I spotted a pair of pants that I liked on a manequin in the window, then I located these black pants amidst the racks of multi-colored clothes inside. The price tag said Euro 68 and they weren't even jeans, they were slacks. That's not what killed me it is that they list the price in 4 different currencies, US $, UK £, Euro and Korean providing a quick lesson in currency exchange. These pants were listed for US $68 and Euro 68! I don't know if you have been following the exchange rate of foreign currencies lately, but I have, and 68 euros does not equal 68 dollars, not even close. Try $100. All of my plans to live cheaply in t he bankrupt city of Berlin for the next year vanished in that moment.

I had to seriously consider ordering these clothes online in the US and having them shipped to me. It still might work. For the time being I be back on the hunt for thrift stores. Fashions turn around fast in Europe, so second hand stores should have a decent selection of clothes (right?). Speaking of fashion and trends I ran across this coach bag in a park that must have been left lying there since the last time these bags were in style.



I found this original Deutshe Werkstatt office desk at a furniture store nearby. It would look great in the apartment. There was a sign that listed the designer and the original date of the table as 1923, more to come…

Lectures on LP

The other day I thought that I'd died and gone to art book heaven, and its name was Pro QM. If there was one thing that I've been missing for the last 5 years it was a comprehensive book store with an up-to-date stock of art publications. I never could understand why San Francisco, such a literary city, could not scratch this itch. It was hard to even find a store that carried a selection of art magazines. (Now I am kind of Ranting, but it seemed common sense to me that a book store like this would thrive in the Mission. I mean, there are 5 MFA programs in the Bay Area.)

When I discovered that Pro QM was just blocks away I felt the euphoric anticipation of that itch being scratched. But if there is one thing that I've learned in the past decade (and thousands of tuition dollars later) it is that buying art books is an addiction. Yes, they are research material; and yes, they can be written-off as a professional expense for taxes (if you're making a profit off of your artwork), but they are not art. Even though it kind of felt like it when I recently saw a Basquiat monograph that I own listed for $400-1000 on e-bay. Knowing my predisposition to this addiction I had already made the decision to practice restraint in this area (but now I know where to find it).

The bookstore if very reminiscent of the salon next door, sparse, white and well-lit. There are few obtrusive bookshelves to negotiate, even their staircase is a slab step design allowing for maximum transparency. However, there are very few places to sit and read. The books are often stacked directly on the floor and cover table tops, like any bibliophiles apartment it is hard to distinguish between the furniture and the books themselves. Reinforced by a phonograph in the back of emiting ambient sounds of an artist lecture series.

I did buy two things while I was there but they have been on mental lay-away for months: the recently released 'Proxemics: Liam Gillicks Selected Writings' and the newest copy of 032c magazine.

Babylonia

Today and I went and signed up for the language course I will be starting in January with SS...it is run by a collective in an old, use-to-be-squat in Kreuzberg. It is called Babylonia...and I am quite excited, not only to work on my German but meet some new people there.

After that I went back to the Turkish markets and bought some groceries. I am really excited to start trying out some different kinds of Curry and Masala recipes. Here is the one I cooked this evening for dinner...I made it a little too spicy for my tastes and but it turned out really well! Since it had no veggies I added some thinly sliced carrots and zucchinis the second time the chicken cooks and a little more coconut milk because I like curry saucy. The reason mine was too hot is because I put about twice as much green curry paste as was suggested...but R, who really likes things spicy, thought it was a good level of spicy.

Green Thai Chicken Curry

INGREDIENTS
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons green curry paste
• 2 green onions with tops, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
1. Toss chicken first in 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, then in the flour, coating pieces evenly. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place chicken in the skillet, cook and stir chicken until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken.
2. Reduce heat to medium and stir in curry paste. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant, then stir in green onions, garlic, and ginger; cook an additional 2 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet, stirring to coat with the curry mixture. Stir the coconut milk, fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and sugar into the chicken-curry mixture. Allow to simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes until the chicken is tender. Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.

'I think I'm turning European, I think I'm turning European...I really think so'

For my entire life I have pretty much only worn white socks. I always loved all those funny colored and striped sock but I could never get myself to wear them on any regular basis. I don't know why...anything but white socks just didn't 'feel' right. This is, of course, a very funny and true American stereotype...the bright white socks (presumably with khaki shorts and over-sized sweatshirts with sport teams on them). Maybe it is the Berlin winter-grey, or the early fading sun, but I went to go out the other day and put on my bright white socks and they just seemed so...I don't know, bright. As R commented, "Like giant reflectors for my ankles." So, now I am really excited I brought all my exotically colored and patterned socks, in hopes that I would want to wear them, because I do...I really do!
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On Friday, we went over to SS and Br's again for dinner. We met SS first at Kottbusser Tor to check out the Turkish Markets. Some food was a lot cheaper there, like meat, but otherwise perhaps not worth traveling the distance. Then we went to SS's house where she made us some yummy curry-esque veggie dinner with wursts. It was quite fun and we met their friend Gr.

On Saturday, R and I did some walking around to find this art supply store in our neighborhood. They have two locations, one really big one far south of town, and one relatively near us. It is called Boesner and ended up being a really great store. It was, in fact, the most organized and easy to navigate art store I have ever been in. If there is anything you are looking for you know right where to go because everything is categorized and neatly arranged in rows by size and type. Perhaps, it just helped that I have no way to tell if the store clearks were jaded apathetics, who really couldn't help me if I needed it...
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Back at Oberholz...drinking Apfelschorle, a drink that basically involves mixing equal parts apple juice and sprite, mmm....


I am trying to post more picks so here is SS and her boyfriend B at a wine tasting party they went to on Saturday...it was in a huge cellar that I guess exists in one of the few small hills in Berlin...these cellars I guess hold some wine and beer for area companies but are also for rent for these kinds of dramatically lit parties.

SS has starting writing as a guest for a food blog. You can read her first entry here...

I am going to meet up with her tomorrow to see about enrolling in a language class.

Dolores Taqueria

11.30.07

A California-style Taqueria in Germany.

It is hard for me to believe that we left San Francisco, travelled half way around the world and 2 blocks from our new apartment is a restaurant themed after our old neighborhood. Dolores was 2 blocks from our apartment on Valencia St. and if you do not remember where that is there is a map of the Mission District blown-up to the scale of wallpaper covering the walls of the entire restaurant. The map does not show our previous apartment on it, reminding me of the micro-provincialism even within the city of San Francisco itself. We were the 'North Mission'. However as we sat and ate our burrito and quesadilla, we could locate the apartment of our friends JC, S MF, the other JC and plenty of our favorite bars and restaurants.



This restaurant is kind of a placebo, yes I was eating a steak burrito and S had a cheese quesadilla but it did not taste like any of the food found near Delores street. Also, you cannot fake pico de gallo from the Mission, they forgot the roaming Mariachi bands, and you cannot have a Mexican restaurant without refried beans. But it will do for now.

Max-Beer Minstrels

11.29.07



Last night was the first night that I have slept through the entire night in several days. Usually I have been awake between the hours of 3-6 am, watching a movie or reading. This past Saturday was one of those occasions with fragmented sleeping but I was waken up around 11 am by the sound of live music being played on our street. I couldn't quite identify it but it was slowly getting closer. I went to look out the window and only saw a few neighbors with a fixed gaze staring down the street. Not exactly scowling and not exactly smiling. Then I saw the three men, one with an accordian, one with a trumpet, and one with a saxaphone. They were walking down the middle of the street in a Pied Piper, parade-like fashion playing what I can only describe as a Turkish jazz. They seemed enthralled playing to a captive audience. I guess they assumed that 11 am was the time for the city to wake up New Orleans-stye.

The Revolution is Calling...

11.28.07

Ever heard of Venture Communism?

Now you have. Telekommunisten: The Revolution is Calling.
(the peoples' phone service is the cheapest)

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The major ongoing drama at the M-B apartment is still the lack of internet, followed in a close second by the lack of sleep. All of the equipment is here for us to be set up with DSL but we cannot seems to get the correct passwords working. It is a long drawn out story and I'll spare you the details. We have been frequenting an internet cafe nearby daily, just an hour at a time cause we have to pay for it.

It is no secret how digitally dependent we have all become. I cannot even work on my computer with out the internet. Any drawing, research, or writing inevitably involves a visit to Google. It is not so much dependency as it is connectivity. Having access to people people, news and information from across the world. It is not even a simple connection to another culture but access to a constant record of how millions of other people all interact with this medium. All occurring in an electronic 'real time'. If I did not find this type of input so curious and inspiring I doubt that I would be here, in Berlin (and I probably would not be writing this). Although, access to the internet may save me a little money in internet cafes and shopping, I might not have unplugged to go and see a movie last night. We saw Persepolis, it is out in Europe but doesn't come out in the states until x-mas. It is definitely worth seeing, it has the feel of a political comic strip that has been turned into a feature length animation. The key is that it is an auto-biography of sorts that gives you a personal insight into the politics and history of Iran over the last 30 years from the perspective of a child and young adult. I even took a lot away from the film even though we watched it all in German (without subtitles).