We have many windmills around here that look just like this one. On a real windy day I will check them out to see how fast they are going. I have never seen one go as fast as the one in this video. This supposedly took place in Hornslet near Aarhus, Denmark. Wait until the end for the big finish.

One of the local bartenders I am friendly with is from the freshly-minted Republic of Kosovo. Previously, if you wanted to get him mad or upset, you could easily do so by bringing up the situation going on over there and watch him go off. His basic sentiments could be summed up in, “Fuck anybody that had anything to do with it.” It was neither fun nor amusing. That’s why I only brought it up once. Plus he has some rather large “home boys” that sometimes hang out there and they don’t like to smile alot. So, why push it, ya know?

Last week I stopped in and I had to ask. How was it, how do you feel about, uh, you know? He was much more willing to talk about it. He said that finally there is some hope. Hope is what he had given up. He was very excited about what the future holds and expressed gratitude that the US recognized Kosovo’s independence.

He also expressed gratitude specifically for Bill Clinton. I didn’t know that there is already a Bill Clinton Boulevard, a 25ft tall mural of Clinton and, get this, a 10ft tall statue of him under construction. They love the guy. He withheld comment on 43 though.

All this gave us a warm fuzzy feeling, certainly aided partially by our imbibitions, and the next round was on the house.

America! Fuck Yeah!

See?

also…

Bonus Nazi Comic!

Angered by his girlfriend’s smoking, a German man used a fire extinguisher to put out her cigarette. The apartment now looks like it snowed inside — and boyfriend was hauled downtown.

Sehr Gründlich

Hauled downtown? Cancer-stick? Who’s writing this copy, Mickey Spillane? Dashiell Hammett?

She was a feisty dame, but she burned a few too many bridges in Bielefeld and needed a place to lay low. I helped her out in exchange for, shall we say, companionship? I told her when she’s under my roof the only thing that smokes is the barrel of my .44.

I only tell someone once.

Hallo Hallo. I just wanted to let the world know that I will be performing with Venusberg, this Sunday, Feb 10th, at the Markthalle in Hamburg at 20:00. It will be an international evening with bands from Germany, France and Switzerland. Tickets are 7 EUR Vorkasse, and 9 EUR at the door. I know it is a bit short notice, but there may be tickets left to this one-night only show. In fact, there may be lots of tickets left. Lots. Seriously, if you live and Hamburg and you are not there, pffft, whatever dude.

Rumor has it the show will be broadcast live over the Internet on this website. So if you are on another continent somewhere, you can tune in. I will provide details about this as they develop.
****
I think all you have to do is go to the website when the show starts (20:00 = 2pm East Coast time) and the video stream should just come up when the page loads. If not, click on the purple square where it says TAG and scroll to 20:00 where it says Dub Spencer & Trance Hill. Scroll down a bit further and click on details and then “Zum Konzert”. I’m assuming it will just be on the front page but I don’t really know. I don’t think you have to login.
****

The line-up is as follows:

Dub Spencer and Trance Hill (Zurich, Switzerland)
Venusberg (Hamburg, Germany duh)
Jaywalker (Paris, France)

Check out this cool video from Jaywalker….

There is not much new going on here in La La Land. Yesterday was state elections in Niedersachsen and Hessen. I went to the polling place with M just to watch her perform her civic duty and get her democracy on.

But that election is not what I am here to talk to you about. On Saturday morning, while folding laundry and cleaning up, I came across a post over on Metafilter that opened the door to a time machine. Namely, 3 hours of MTV from 1983 hosted by Mark Goodman. This is from when MTV used to play music videos. All. The. Time.
There are even commercials for Atari and old video games.

Part 1: Ha! Night Ranger!

Part 2: First video is Sharp-dressed Man by ZZ-Top

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a smoker.^

Sticking to the theme of the smoking bans being introduced all over Germany, I will draw your attention to an article in this weekend’s Guardian.

Campaigners for smokers’ rights have been quick to draw on the comparison between the recent clampdown and the little-known nationwide tobacco ban introduced by the Nazis in 1941 as part of their quest for bodily and racial purity.

Ah, pulling the Nazi card. This is always a delicate matter in Germany, where Reductio ad Hitlerum can have disastrous results and legal consequences if not pulled off well.

Conan faithfully recreates a German disco light show.

Photos of Lüneburg between the years 1962-1966