squirm

meanwhile down at the gym

i am still working on acquiring those rock hard abs!

in an effort

to further cross border cooperation gulliver, the economist's travel blog, has a few recommendations for doing business with berliners. my favorite:

"berliners are known for their schnauze and can be quick to ridicule anything they see as pompous. don’t be aghast at this acerbic wit, and tread carefully when responding."

and, as i can personally attest, contrary to german superstition failing to meet someone's eyes when clinking glasses upon a toast, though rude, need not result in seven years of bad sex....

to all you foodies out there

they've got something special for you in Budapest....

the magnificent

ute lemper opened her set at admiralspalast last night with a cover of hildegard knef's für mich soll's rote sosen regnen“. after a long day spent flying to nuremburg (with air berlin losing the luggage), driving an hour into the countryside to the customer site, returning the same way, then racing down the the goethe institut for the initial meeting of my evening conversation course, it was luxury to settle into the soft velvet seating and enjoy her sweet singing. while more than once during the peformance she and the band made most unwelcome incursions into jazz territory (one one occasion resulting in an unfortunate drum solo) her chansons flowed like a honeyed nectar over my outraged sensibilities...

oh my Aachen heart

arrived in aachen on thurday afternoon just a few hours after angie and sarko. the police presence at the station was noticeable but not extravagant and it wasn't until her beaming face appeared on the hotel television that i realized what all the fuss was about. the next day we traveled out to the mountains, marvelling at monschau's slate roofs and masses of wildflowers. i was also thrilled to spy sections of the westwall, pushing out of the green hills like the broken plates and spikes of a long backed stegosaurus. the legendary siegfried line proved no more effective than its french equivalent. the next day we hassled animals at the zoo and took the steam at the carolus thermen, afterwards wandering through the stadtpark and the notorious antoniusstrasse, where young women and men dressed for success make like rapunzel at the window and offer to let down much more than their hair...

crumpets

and coffee saturday at a villa in berlin-dahlem. here i would meet my first actual anglicans - they seemed almost normal! of great interest was the vacant lot next door at number 24. a hillock of clay and a dozen small rosebushes huddled together providing the only evidence that the lot had once been the site of a luxurious villa, home to swedish chanson and film star zarah leander. the following day found us wandering through friedrichshagen, marvelling at the lakefront villas before venturing into the waterworks museum, which provided a look into the murky history of berlin's water systems. afterwards by tram and ferry to a late lunch in rahnsdorf where, at twilight, mosquitoes the size of small birds emerge from the pines.

Eighteen

is the number of titles i've read which appear on this list from the Telegraph of the 50 best cult books. Their selection is not quite optimal though, as it is missing some seemingly obvious texts - such as Ballard's Crash, the Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea and Wilson, and Big Bill's Naked Lunch.

there's an long, odd story behind it

but while my father and i write to each other often, and enjoy hanging out together at his home in florida, at my advanced age of forty-four, i have just spoken with him on the telephone for the first time ever!

i don't speak frog but

in an interview over at telerama director michael haneke criticizes the present state of american cinema stating that it makes

"violence a product for mass-consumption. ... [the] loss of standards gets a little worse everyday in the media orgy of brutal images: a real pornography of violence. with the development of communication in every direction, it's even more present today. and art has not been spared. for many filmmakers, exploiting the distracting qualities of violence has become the pinnacle of cool. ... violence has always profoundly revolted me ... how can we revel in the suffering of others, even on the screen? i don't understand. as long as this unhealthy fascination exists, i won't stop speaking out about it and opposing dominant cinema." (thank the goodly folk at euro|topics for the translation).

while i can appreciate his revulsion, it is a bit specious to argue that america's fascination with violence is novel. the nation was formed from and girded with violence from the very start and its ferocious proclivity has only accelerated as its capacity for violence has grown exponentially. it's as american as apple pie and carjacking!

a candidate

for my favorite headline this week - hopes fade for balloon stunt priest - which, as evidenced by the rather forlorn photo accompanying the story, is surprisingly accurate.