I am an American expat living in Germany. It's a far away land on the other side of the ocean. It's interesting and often weird here. If you read this and want to comment then email me at blog(the at symbol)chillmost.com. If you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, you can keep them.
Yesterday I went to see an exhibit in Hamburg called Verbrechen der Wehrmacht. This controversial exhibit deals with the crimes committed by the German army during WWII. When one thinks about all the nasty stuff that went down back then, they usually think that the SS was behind it. This exhibit shows that the regular enlisted army was also involved in some of the atrocities especially on the eastern front against the Soviet Union.
The exhibit is pretty text intensive with photos and actual correspondence from back then, along with short video clips and interviews. Unfortunately, they don't have anything in English so if you don't speak German it will be hard to understand what it is about. It took a real long time for me to read everything because of the different military style language used in some of the displays but I go through.
It was pretty tough. A lot of scary horrible stuff went down back then. When you read about it you get a sick feeling in your stomach and you wonder how in the world could that have happened. Sometimes I find it really strange that this happened in the same country I live in and yet I don't see how it could happen here today.
I think that because of Germany's history Germans have their government on a much shorter leash than other countries. It seems that if people here are displeased with some sort of government policy they will voice their dissatisfaction en masse. And that's good. Some lessons have to be learned the real hard way. Anyway that is just the way I perceive it. Some Germans might disagree. But you don't have to ask a German what he or she thinks because he or she will tell you. Kinda of like how you don't have ask a rapper what his name is either. He'll let you know in the first 10 seconds.
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Weird. I see an ad in "Der Spiegel" for Mazda. There is a red sports car, the new RX-8, blasting around a corner. Up in the right corner there is a barely visible face of the communist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. He's looking down approvingly like a some sort of spirit from the afterlife. The tag line is, "How does one start a revolution? With the ignition key."
Although it is pretty cheesy it shows what kind of pop-icon revolutionary freedom fighter status Che has over here. I don't think, and I could be wrong, that you would see and ad like this in America. Using images of evil commies to help sell cars? In America? Doubt it. Just shedding light on a cultural difference.
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the taxman taketh away and then, umm, giveth back?
D00d1!! Tax refund for 2002: 1.166,75 EUR
I actually had to officially "leave the Catholic church" in order to get the Kirchensteuer back. Don't worry. As far as the Pope is concerned I'm still a member of the club. I couldn't really give a shit though.
I'm going to donate some of that to a charity that helps foreigners. Many foreigners here haven't had such an easy transition in Germany as I have. Gotta spread the love. knowmsayin?
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The Ball Is Dead! Long Live The Ball!
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No wonder they couldn't find him.
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So I downloaded the Grey Album that everybody is talking about. It's ai-aight. I wish a different rapper would released something called "The Black Album". I really don't like Jay-Z's style. His flow is kinda like a wagon with broken wheels.
Yeah, that's right. I said it. What?
EMI should just clear the samples and make some chedda with the whole deal. Yeah, DJ Danger Mouse shoulda went through the proper channels and cleared the samples, but the Beatles/Apple Corps. are supposedly renowned for denying sampling requests. If he would have submitted the tracks and EMI would have denied the sampling rights they could have automatically claimed ownership, confiscated the masters, hard drives, DATs, and we may have never gotten the chance to hear it.
Or is it Michael Jackson who owns thee rights to the White Album? In that case he should grant the requests cuz he needs the cha-ching.
.........
And what's with all the hubbub over the gay marriage over there? Never-mind that it's all about basic human rights. 50% of all marriages fail, are they afraid homosexuals are going to do it better? What's the big deal?
Oh right, it's an election year. I forgot. We need to have an campaign issue to deflect attention from the economy and the situation in Iraq.
*sigh*
Anyway here is a good article about it from Savage Love.
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Today I was again on the Musikalisches Quartet, a radio show hosted by my friend Ingo. I introduced AIR's Talkie Walkie. The others brought Tasty by Kelis, the self-titled debut from Franz Ferdinand and Blah Blah Nonstop by Stoppock, which was my least favorite. Over all it was a lot of fun and I wasn't too nervous speaking German live on the air before tens of people. That is, if they were listening.
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One more while we're at it
IHT: Giving science the brushoff: "Although the Bush administration is hardly the first to politicize science, no other U.S. presidency in recent memory has so shamelessly distorted scientific findings for policy reasons, or suppressed them when they conflicted with political goals, as George W. Bush's has."
Good night
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It's the link that is sweeping the world!
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
- Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
- Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
- Threat to the world is greater than terrorism
Got no time to wonder why. Whoopee! We're all gonna die!
I wonder if the secret report is real or if it is just a screenplay that got mixed up with W's papers. If it's a screenplay, the president is probably portrayed by Morgan Freeman.
It's Karneval Time Again courtesy of the FAZ's Living in Germany section.
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Yesterday Karstadt had a super sale on CDs. They had 5 or 6 huge bins full of CDs, each for 4€. Most were total crap but there were a few gems to be found. For a total purchase price of 40€ I got:
- KRS-One +kristyles
- Herbie Hancock +Empyrean Isles
- Sonny Rollins +New's Time
- Chet Baker +Plays It Cool
- Rob Swift +Sound Event - really good turntablist
- Primal Scream +Evil Heat - alright, partially produced by Kevin Shields
- Amon Tobin +Out From Out Where
- Buffalo Daughter +"I"
- Zwan +Mary Star Of The Sea - Listening to it now, crap. Will be gotten rid of.
- U2 +War (!!!!)
I heard some 15 year old girl say, "Oh U2!" and she holds up the CD and looks at it. "Hmm. I've never heard of this one". She then threw it back on the pile. As soon as it hit I said, "Yoink" and snagged it. Heh.
I found this link today at memepool.com. It's a flash based presentation of the history of electronic music. The guy who did it hasn't exactly approached the whole thing in an objective unbiased way. He is often prone to dismiss a genre with one sentence. Anyway, there are all kinds of audio samples and brief descriptions to explain it along. Enjoy.
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Last night Detlef and I went over to Ingo's and ate homemade pizzas and killed 4 bottles of wine and a half bottle of grappa. I'm not really sure what grappa is made out of but it tastes like paint thinner.
We were going to go out after we ate and tear it up somewhere but Bier auf Wein, lass das sein. So we ended up staying at Ingo's and playing cards. I don't remember what it was called that we were playing but it was difficult to learn after the 3rd bottle. Did you know that in Germany card decks don't have cards 2 through 6? I'm not a big card player so I had no idea. It explains why I kept loosing. I was trying to pick up sixes or fives and I was wondering where the hell they all were. M said that a 52 card deck is only used in Canasta.
So in Germany they don't play with a full deck.
This explains a lot.
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Xerox Germany has the worst customer service.
Ever.
Believe me I know.
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.... . -.-- / -.-. --- --- .-.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . / ... - .. .-.. .-.. / .-. --- -.-. -.- ... .-.-.- / .. / ..- ... . -.. / - --- / -.- -. --- .-- / .... --- .-- / - --- / -.. --- / .. - / --- -. / -- -.-- / .-- .- .-.. -.- .. . -....- - .- .-.. -.- .. . ... / .-- .... . -. / .. / .-- .- ... / .- / -.- .. -.. / -... ..- - / -. --- .-- / .. / -.-. .- -. / --- -. .-.. -.-- / -.. --- / ... --- ... .-.-.- / .... .- ...- . / ..-. ..- -. / .-- .. - .... / .. - .-.-.-
Translate here. Copy it first before you click away.
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First Lüneburg, then the world!!
dit dit dit dit...Just in from Lüneburg....dit dit dit....
- Teachers mistakenly eat 'space cake'. 13/02/2004. ABC News Online
Ten German school teachers were taken to hospital after eating part of a chocolate cake left as an anonymous gift that turned out to be baked with marijuana, a city spokesman said.
The teachers in the northern city of Lueneburg complained of jitters, nausea and hallucinations after consuming part of the 'space cake' and were treated and released late on Wednesday.
A laboratory test conducted by police on the pastry showed it contained cannabis.
The school staff was not suspicious about the cake because of an ongoing fundraising project in which students sell homemade baked goods to benefit victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Police said they were investigating on charges of grievous bodily harm and drug possession and looking for anyone seen leaving the teachers lounge at the time in question."
Rumor on the street is that some teachers that were affected didn't feel that going to the hospital was all that necessary. Others were out "sick" for a few days. If I was a student I would definitely now know who the cool teachers are.
Do they really need to call in the Polizei and get the stuff tested? Next time save the taxpayers some money and call me. I'll do it for free.
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Ahem, Ahem!
For the past few months I have had to constantly clear my throat. Sometimes it feels like I have a huge ball of phlegm in the back of my throat. Anyway I went to a doctor, who sent me to a specialist because she thought it might me nodes on my vocal cords. That would totally suck because I would not be able to sing for a while...and I got a studio gig coming up....
The specialist says it is not nodes (whew!) but I must be allergic to something. So we did this allergy test which basically says I am allergic to...Everything! I already knew this. Cats, dogs, hay, rye. Take a heavy object and throw it out the window. Whatever it hits I am probably allergic to.
So it's not nodes but we don't know what it is. Ahem, Ahem!
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Just got back from Berlin where M and I went to see the Ronkalli Circus with musical guest stars....
The Kelly Family.
It was very entertaining. They did a good job.
Today we went to the Berlin Film Museum. It focused mainly on the advent of the German film industry before WWI and moved up to the present. It also had a small exhibit from Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animator of such kick ass sci-fi classics like "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Clash of the Titans". One of the coolest things in the exhibit was Luke Skywalkers light saber from Return of the Jedi.
Suh-weet.
This week the Berlinale is going on. It is the huge German film fest kinda like Cannes. There were supposedly a lot of famous hollywood actors like Jack Nicholson and Charlize Theron walking around but I didn't see them, because they didn't call so we didn't get to hang out.
By The Way: The new album from AIR, Talkie Walkie, is really good. It is my current favorite.
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Fischer say 'I told you so' -- but mildly - (United Press International)
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Those who were not shocked and outraged by the public display of boobage at last weekends Superbowl halftime show can just ignore this post or just read along for amusement.
UPDATE! This post is for you Terri Carlin of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Sometimes I wish I was back in the US just so I could distribute some well-deserved slaps to all the fucking knuckle-heads over there who are flipping the fuck out about Janet (Miss Jackson if you're nasty) Jackson's breast. To all of you I would like to say:
So. Fucking. What.
It's a breast. 50% of the population has them in the same mammarial capacity as Miss Janet (I'm nasty). Most of us have spent the first few months of our lives suckling on them.
"Yeah, but they supposedly staged it and they should have known better."
To which I reiterate:
So. Fucking. What.
"She should apologize immediately! I'm outraged!"
She and Timberlake did, unfortunately. They should have told everyone to go fuck off.
"But a child could have seen that and been traumatized. Won't somebody think of the children? Oh the Humanity!"
You know what? If you have a child that has any sort of access to the Internet there is a 90% chance he or she has seen way more interesting things than Janet's breast.
Wanna know something else? The rest of the world is laughing at you.
"Hey Stefan, the Yankees are flipping out again over something stupid."
"Ja, Hans. I know. It is as if America was founded by Puritans."
"It was. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Ha ha ha hah ha ha ha ha ha!"
"And Rumsfeld called us 'Old Europe'."
I'm gonna do you all a favor. I'm going to help you all get it out of your system. Are you ready? Okay. Click on the picture of the tits below to see. Click on the evil fornication and unclean thoughts inducing bejeweled breast to make it go away. When you are done there we need to talk.
How was that? Need a cig you deviate? Did I corrupt your soul? Sorry about that.
You know what America should be flipping out about? How about a president and his chicken hawk buddies lying to the American public and the rest of the world about what a threat Iraq was to security and freedom. How about over 500 American soldiers and thousands of innocent Iraqis killed in the name of "Defending Our FreedomTM". The Bush administration has the blood of these people all over their hands and people are flipping out about Miss Janet's breast?
*sigh*
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For all those who loved Atari and whose first album was Van Halen's 1984, this is for you.
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All last week here it snowed and then on Saturday it all melted. Today feels like spring. I'm going outside to take advantage of it.
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Guten Tag Liebe Freunde,
Yesterday I went to see Robotic Angel in the local arthouse theater here. It's based on the manga called Metropolis and was directed by Rintaro. I'm not really into japanimation or Manga but this film was pretty cool. The animation style was great and atypical of the genre.
Today I did next to nothing so far.
Isn't there some sort of football game going on today?
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