Mittwoch, April 27, 2005

Updates...

I got a webcam in the second week of march - and my new home was one of the first possibilities to try out. I didn't have internet access back then, so I put the pics online just today - but posted them with the "original" day when they were taken, on March 18 and March 22

Dienstag, April 26, 2005

German Pop Clash

We've been to Wir Sind Helden yesterday. Maybe they're the first female fronted band from Germany since Nena who can appeal to a bigger audience even beyond the German speaking borders. What's encouraging about them is their success story: The singer Judith Holofernes was already advised to leave the band an get into some plastic surrounding to become a star - but refused it. Instead the band did a video with Florian Giefer/Peter Göltenboth for the song "Guten Tag (Die Reklamation)", released an EP for this song themselves, were played first on the Austrian FM4 - and marvellously MTV Germany played the video again and again and again on heavy rotation.

Heldenzeit

Ist das so? Oder geht es vielleicht viel leichter? Rettet den Schanzenturm - und euch selbst vor Aids. Man muss sich informieren, auch welches Eis man isst. (Genmanipuliert, oder was meinte sie? - ach nein, kein Mövenpick, nunja...) Keine T-Shirts bei H & M kaufen. Aufpassen, dass man Sweatshops nicht unterstützt. Warum kann das Publikum "Denkmal" viel lauter mitsingen als "Die Reklamation"? Waren die tatsächlich alle in den 80ern noch nicht groß genug für Musik? Viele Fragen. Genug Gelaber und Herumgespacke. Seltsames Publikum. Tolle Band. Tolle Judith Holofernes - multi-instrumental. Viele Schanzentussis. Viele, ganz viele Frauen da, die zwar in der DOVE-Werbung mitspielen könnten, aber ansonsten dem herkömmlichen Schönheitsideal nicht entsprechen. Ganz ermutigend, aber auf seine Art und Weise wieder uniformiert.

Montag, April 25, 2005

Urban developement

As already mentioned, we've been along parts of the marathon course by bike yesterday.

So when you're on the way towards the Finish you can see the old water tower "Wasserturm" in the middle of the Schanzenpark, which is now renovated by an investor. The whole story about it is varying between criminal, hilarious and pulp fiction. Much of it was scandalized where I don't really see the point (can the city pay for a building which is not of any use anymore, but which is hell of expensive only for being repaired? I think no) other points weren't scandalized (how the f**k can you sell a building for 1 German Mark and then nothing's happening, and there were no guarantees in the contract that the city would get it back after some time. Hello?! Who did this shabby contract?. At the same time the areal of the fair is spreading right now, with lots of new buildings. But to keep it short, I took some pictures:

Sonntag, April 24, 2005

Hamburg under siege

The Hamburg Marathon is always nice - I can imagine that it's much better to run through the streets for more than 42 kilometers when the public is supporting the runners in the best possible way, to get some extra energy out of muscles and bones. For the audience it is a big party on both sides of the streets, with fast food stands along the course - but the biggest advantage of the race is the nearly traffic-free inner city. If you know the racetrack you can go anywhere on skates or by bike where you would be normally knocked down by heavy traffic. Marvellous. Me and Benni took the opportunity and did some sports ourselves on this sunny sunday.

By the way, the 20.000 or more marathon runners weren't the only ones to crowd the streets this weekend, especially in St. Pauli you could face an uncommon amount of denim demons - I don't know how many people attended the "2. WeltTurbojugendTage" but the impact was - well, blue. Sailor men all over.

Freitag, April 22, 2005

In da neighbourhood

How very funny! My old neighbour - is my new neighbour! Welcome, Holger & Suse! I just came home from the next shopping tour with Kerstin - a story to be told seperately... - to see some friends of mine I didn't exspect at all next door. Except of answering my "how funny, why are you here?" questioning they responded something like "nice that you help as well". Yes, of course I did then - because my former neighbour from the cool flat on top of Koppel no. 24 moved in, together with his girl friend. Nice to be neighbours again, Holger!

Picture, picture, picture

Kerstin, one of my best friends, is here at the moment. She's studying photography (other or more pics soon to be uploaded whether on her own page or at fotocommunity) and she did a couple of great pics last time she visited me. Unfortunately I put them somewhere in my boxes during this last move - but sooner or later I'll find them back and maybe put them online! We're just back from an exhausting tour through the city, but after we recovered we may go out for a little shopping again ;-) I think I need no accessoires for a new shooting...

Donnerstag, April 21, 2005

Bike in Bed

According to my former flat mate Basti a bike is much more than one of the means of transportation. His bikes usually stay in his bedroom. For me - well, I had no love-hate but merely a hate-hate relationship with my last bike - it always broke down when I did need it most and expected it least. There were several times when it was damaged while I left it outside the house and I spent not less than 4 times the money I needed to buy it for several repairs. It had one good side - I could park it wherever I wanted to without the slightest possibility that it could have been stolen. But this fucking immobility had to change: I went to 1000 Räder and bought a new one! Now this one is definitely a "he" and I immediately fell in love with him. So, well, I did offer the bedroom, but decided that I'm gonna sleep somewhere as well. So "he"'ll stay in our library for the next couple of days. Our first drive went from my home to Markthalle and back. Man, the saddle needs getting used to, but the drive itself was as smooth as it could have been. Here's the first glimpse on my new marvel: Please be so kind and report if you see evil hands working on it, 'kay?!

Mittwoch, April 20, 2005

Habemus papam - look, he's German ;-)

Well, you've heard it all yaself, I think - between six and seven o'clock this evening the new pope was revealed - Kardinal Joseph Ratzinger is the new pope Benedikt XVI. So, from a historical point of view the former - more or less secret - theological leader of the Vatican is now his official leader in every aspect. I was pretty impressed with the entertainment qualities and fine humour of Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez who announced the official phrase to be spoken in a salutation in seven or eight languages. Estévez seems to be a big football fan, because he started his announcement in the same way as the speaker in a stadium - starting with the forename, having a long break in which indeed the first fans made a short attempt to shout the surname and then the surname. Wow! What kind of media reference world do we live in?!
In fact I am pretty content with their choice even though I didn't think of this option any more during the last days - wasn't it way too obvious??? At least I won against my flat mate, who was favouring "a conservative Italian, for sure" whether I was replying "whether Ratzinger or any one from South America or Africa". But the funniest things are the relations - I've heard rumours that the infamous head of the EBM band :Wumpscut, Rudi Ratzinger, is the nephew of this new pope. And man, that is outstandingly ironic.

The former professor of catholic theology and enfant terrible, Uta Ranke-Heinemann, was already interviewed about her former fellow student in an interview linked here some days ago. The phrase about him states:
"Ratzinger is still a riddle to me. He is of high intelligence and was a star among us students back then. We translated latin phrases together. But he always had this strange aura of a cardinal: of high intelligence but with complete absent of any erotic. By the way, it was not him who removed me from university. That's beyond his style and intelligence. I was blocked by the primitive theological means of the local German bishops."

Sonntag, April 17, 2005

Do people speak Flemish in Belgium?

I discovered a pretty posh magazine which apparently did only come out for one issue and I doubt that there was ever a second one. But there I discovered the Flemish author Geert Van Istendael who was arguing for a proud pro-belgian and anti-separatistic attitude. He is backed up in this essay by Herbert van Uffelen, who is giving a closer look on the language differences: In Belgien spricht man belgisch. (Yes, that's German, to add another tongue.)

I always like to read a bit more in-depth when I'm home from travel...

Samstag, April 16, 2005

WannaHave

As I spent all my time today but no money I'll go through the damn torture next week again, I'm afraid. If you're on a visit in Hamburg and not sure if it would be appropriate to follow my tour de force through the nice but nasty shops of questionable reputation, here's the recommended list of fashion shops of the University of Hamburg for visitors from aroad. And there's not much to add.

When I'm done with them there'll be no money left, I'm afraid. But... but... butt... I'll desperately need a new office chair. On most of them I can't sit for longer than 30 minutes. So this is my new object of preference: a stool that swings!

Shopping is Hell

Well, maybe you're not used to hear such a quote from a lady, but in fact it is more than exhausting to go shopping, when you're exactly 1,85 m tall (that's 6' 7" for the non-metric system, folks). And when you have just one winter's load of chocolade on the hips, it's not only humiliating and downbeating but downright staggering. Don't get me wrong - I'm not fat and I know. Unfortunately the fashion designers don't - or they want some extras for the fact they recognized there is women taller than Kylie Minogue. Meaning - if I want any decent looking clothes that don't look like my usual street fighter's outfit or like bags, I have to pay at least double. So I thought I'd take a chance and go shopping at an outlet of Thomas I. Punkt. Thomas I Punkt is the shop and concept behind the "Omen" Label. Omen is hell of expensive, but they have decent and funktional wear even in comparable bigger sizes.

Of course the bigger sizes were all but gone when I arrived, so I ended up at the Reeperbahn in the end. But Boutique Bizarre had no good selection of Mode Wichtig items this time. Doesn't matter, Hundertmark is just opposite across the Spielbudenplatz.

To keep it short: The jeans didn't fit. At least no pair I tried on. Unfortunately the new "Kapanen/Stalker" shop with always wanna-have items from Finland and a hot coffee to lift me up was closed as well. But... finally I got a Nokia DKU cable at the Aladin store and heureka! found a nice pair of trousers at the Darkside boutique. Let's see, what my fashion experts say to this hip-bliss of the Aderlass-label...

Ah, yes. Fortunately it was not all vain to run around in the "office desert" of Hamburg: The I-Punkt Skateland has changed the opening hours for old farts like me to wednesday evening. Next training ahead ;-)

Freitag, April 15, 2005

Friday evening sports

Ha! I'm a bit proud of myself because this evening I started my sports program again with a little jog through Wohlers Park. But...
I totally missed out the match between FC St. Pauli vs. VfB Lübeck. It was pretty motivating hearing all the yelling and screaming and the "St. Pauli" chants - even in this distance of nearly one kilometer. But unfortunately I could hear them yelling at the referee in the moment of the penalty decision as well... Shit, I would have loved to be in the stadium as well and support the team.

Experimental Jazz and happy Grindcore

Yesterday some nice occasions matched perfectly - I had an old friend of mine as my guest and together we went to celebrate the release party of Helgoland at Astra Stube. Of course there were many people you only see once in a couple of years - like my former flat mate Mario, the cartoonist.

Donnerstag, April 14, 2005

Metal up your ass

Today I fullfilled lot's of overdue duties and did some reviews for metal-inside.de. Here you can see an overview over my latest additions. But none of today's three got really my attraction, so if you're out for some good music try this. DEATH BEFORE DISCO play fine rock music between Emocore and experimental.

Montag, April 11, 2005

HeShe Superhero

I didn't know how male I can be - but this is my out-quizzed Marvel identity:

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Paris-Roubaix 2005

Usually...
I only watch bicycle races once a year. Call it Tour de France. Last year the whole course matched perfectly with my learning schedule, so that I was training vocabulary while the boys where going up and down L'Alpe d'Huez.

But this year already started with the Ronde van Vlanderen - which Tom Boonen won. And yesterday he won the "Hell of the North" as well, the race Paris-Roubaix. The finish was impressing - hey, the others looked like sprinters as well, but only Tom seemed to have some extra power in his legs. I'm starting to become a fan...

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Sonntag, April 10, 2005

Swimming in Hamburg

I love swimming, and I was pretty eager to visit the renewed Holthusenbad in the heart of Hamburg Eppendorf. The Holthusenbad is a clever mix between a spa and a sporty swimming pool, with artificial waves. Unfortunately the pool for sporting purposes is on the outside - more than chilly in the evening, brr!

But it was a more than bad idea to go into this water temple on a sunday evening. Let's say, a 90 percent of the visitors were couples, the music and the light show was romantic through and through - a good place to get the depression of your life if your alone even only for those few hours..

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french military victories

As we were speaking about the 100 year's war: This joke about France and it's military victories is pretty nice, even though it brought major problems to Google. Can't understand why ;-)

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Samstag, April 09, 2005

more about the pope - mostly German

Well, it's a pity but even at "normal" funerals in "normal" families people gather at the coffin who neither meet nor speak with each other at "normal times". Of course it's different with the Pope, but it's remarkable who sat beside each other peacefully during the ceremony. Well, I didn't watch it on TV. But my flat mate did, awestruck by the mix of modern and medieval.

Some of the best things I read about during the last days:

Freitag, April 08, 2005

Holidays in Belgium Pt. II - Brugge

One thing I completely didn't know before this trip:

The old city of Brugge is a tourist trap to the core, with some thousand Americans and Japanese stuck in the main Shopping Lane. But, this "hartelijk bedankt" goes out to Ed, who was leading us contrary to the touristical paths - but without missing out one of the beautiful landmarks and attractions. We walked by...

  • Sint-Salvatorskathedraal (St. Saviour's Cathedral), Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church Of Our Lady)
  • got a glimpse of the Steenstraat without the troubles of being stuck in a big group
  • passed by the Markt, jostled into one of the tiniest alleys I've ever seen - seems like Harry Potter could have been shot right here
  • passed the Burg and the town hall
  • and the Heilig-Bloedbasiliek (Basilica of the Holy Blood
  • stepped into the 21st century again - em, into the new building of Toyo Ito
  • crossed the Vismarkt
  • passed by the Groeningemuseum
  • and enjoyed the most beautiful silence on the old Begijnhof(Beguinage)
Our walk started and ended with a little disappointment: The new-new-new Concertgebouw, built for the purposes of the culture year 2002, seems a bit like a waste of money. While similar architechture like the 013 in Tilburg are vivid cultural centers - with a lot of concerts for the youth, but as well of course useable for higher cultural occasions like violin concerts or musicals after a decent clean up, this Concergebouw is an all-in-all closed shop. And the place in front needs a few more trees as well...

But the final was more than a crowning for the whole stay - we had dinner at the Brasserie Cafedraal. Already in the afternoon we had a short stop for a coffee. I was very impressed with their collection of fine and old Rothschildt wines, impressed with the light show in the bathroom. The bar is well-decorated as well, fresh ham is hanging from the ceiling.

But the food is even better - I had fresh, handmade french fries (or Belgian fries ;-) and delicios Tomate crevette. Yummi! I heard, the crime scene of a popular murder novel is placed in the restaurant, but I didn't figure out the name of it.

Donnerstag, April 07, 2005

Gran Turismo or: vakantiereis in Vlaanderen

It was a spontaneous decision - a friend of mine was travelling the same direction anyway, so I had a lift - I had an invitation. Yeeha, so I was on my way to Kortrijk in Belgium. Nice holidays with nice friends, a big CHEERS and THANKS! In Kortrijk was a fun fair going on this week, so we spent a lot of time at funny things like shooting games.

And of course I spent some money in the local record store...

The sunday started with a seemingly major event in the region - the Ronde van Vlaanderen. I saw many famous racing cyclists - but I recognized only a few, among them Jaan Kirsipuu - and Erik Zabel, who later scored no. 4.

Well, so much about Kortrijk - next time I'm gonna take a closer look at the River "Leie" or "Lys" as it is called in France - or "The Golden River" as it was called during the high times of the linen industries. And the Linen Museum.

Also I'm gonna search for the traces of Breydel und Coninck next time I'm gonna visit Kortijk. Both were leading the Flemish in the Battle of the Golden Spurs or "Guldensporenslag" which the Flemish won against France. The "Guldensporenslag" was the prelimenary for the 100 Years War, but we don't wanna talk about it now, well?!

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I liked the Pope 'cause the Pope smoked Dope

So, I was in holiday and the world changed. Well, at least Rome and the rest of the catholic world. And the Belgian TV program. Even BBC did change theirs, but there at least I understood most of it.

I wonder how many people might have made an April Fool about it? No one will ever know... Ah, yes - and I liked the pope. Maybe because I'm NOT catholic. So I liked his approach towards other religion and other denominations. Even though I would have immediately have left the church if he would have made a success in reuniting any of the denominations. But he never wanted it as well, so...
I liked his peace policy as much as I dislike his approach to regain controll about the private lifes of the christian, his anachronistic sex morals and maybe some of the dogmas.

But: I think he showed a lot of style the way he died - defeating the US american trend of keeping sb. alive as long as doctors and medicine can. Ironically the same week as Mrs. Schiavo. I think he showed a lot of dignity by waving the world farewell as he did.

Belgium has 2 Many DJs

Something I would recommend for your visit anywhere in the music loving world is an DJ Set by 2 Many DJs. If you hear they're going to rock the club next to you - go there.

They played an 80th/90th set during my stay here in Kortrijk, and it was at least cool! Pics like "Thriller" (Michael Jackson) had a kind of "Do you remember?"- effect. Nice. And I was on the verge of dancing. ;-)

And went in a night shop on our way back. Of course owned by a turkish man. Iyi geceler, dostam. Hos bulduk!

Mittwoch, April 06, 2005

EuroNightTrain

I just returned from my holidays in Belgium. I went back with a DB NachtZug, the former EuroNight - this was still quite convenient, and in the end I might have got about 5 hours of sleep. Even though those beds are even smaller and shorter than the average bus bunk...