9/8/10

15/7/10

14/7/10

13/7/10

12/7/10

Since the end of the World Cup, I've finally been going to sleep a) sober; and
b) at a reasonable hour.
While my body is thankful for the respite, it was a pretty exciting few weeks and I can't help but feel a world-cup-shaped hole in my life.

I thought it was time to take a look back to those heady days.

It wasn't the high drama of the matches or the stand-out players that will stay with me for years to come.
No, my most vivid memory of the 2010 world cup was my favourite member of Das Erste's commentary team. A man who was considered at one time 'the greatest passer in the game of football'.
German Footballer of the year 1972 AND 1973 - Mr Günter Netzer.

Ladies and Gentlemen The many moods of Herr Netzer

Jovial

Hungry

Serious

Sleepy

Brown

4/7/10

I guess I count myself among that ever-growing group of people who make a fuss about the origin, altitude, process, roasting methods, delivery and eventual steeping and presentation of a few grams of coffee beans.
The same group of fickle, opinionated and scornful folk who spend more time complaining about coffee than they do enjoying it.
When we first moved to Berlin, it was hard to find a cafe that served the similar Italian, espresso style coffee that I'd become used to in Sydney, so, I was pretty excited to find a passionate coffee nerd running a first class cafe on my street, no less.
Before I had a full time job I would spend a large part of my day in Cafe CK on MarienburgerStraße talking shit and stealing wireless. When my mum recently sent a bag of Campos beans for my birthday, the accommodating Cory Andreen of Cafe CK. (American Ex-pat and House DJ du jour) was good enough to whip us up a few espressos from his machine and so began a coffee swap-meet of sorts.
Today Cory hooked me up with 3 separate types of beans he picked up at the World Barista championships in London from roasters in Oslo, Gothenburg and London....complete with tasting notes.



Amazing!

1/7/10

The mighty vuvuzela
a couple of feet of tubed plastic responsible for the drone which has defined the 2010 world cup is now available in German supermarkets for 3 Euro.
The cops here are trying to crack down on public use of the vuvu. They're already banned inside football stadiums in Germany, but the law surrounding their use in public is pretty grey. I heard tales of 3 policemen pursuing a vuvuzela player through the undergrowth surrounding a local Berlin lake after a cacophonous burst, but a chorus of B Flat (or thereabouts) is still filling the air here in Berlin during (and after) every world cup game.
Viva la vuvu, I say. It's cheaper than an air horn and less likely to maim than a flare.

21/6/10

It's the Summer Solstice today and while I've already posted a shot of the iconic Berlin TV tower, I have been meaning to talk about this 'Crucifix' phenomena for a while. Today seems an appropriate enough time as the thing is still catching the sun at 9:00pm.
The Berlin Fernsehturm was built in the East while the wall was up and was clearly visible from the Western side. I use it almost every day as a compass as I navigate the city by bicycle but it was originally a bold display of Eastern engineering designed for the West to marvel at whilst sipping coffee and smoking American cigarettes.
There is a strange and unfortunately shaped (for the then, Communist East) Cross-shaped light that reflects from the tower each evening

From Wikipedia:

When the sun shines on the Berlin TV Tower's tiled stainless steel dome, the reflection usually appears in the form of a crucifix. This effect was neither predicted nor desired by the planners. As a jibe against the atheist foundations of the Communist government, and the ongoing suppression of church institutions in East Germany, Berliners immediately named the luminous cross Rache des Papstes, or "Pope's Revenge". For the same reasons, the structure was also called "St. Walter" (from Walter Ulbricht). Humorously, the tower has also been called "Ulbricht's last erection."

20/6/10

Every Sunday from 3:00PM at the auditorium outside the Mauerpark Flea Market you can catch up and coming singers belting out karaoke, Al Fresco.
It's a very supportive environment with equal kudos handed out to the more capable singers as the countless tone-deaf, hungover, wannabe rockstars.
There's also the occasional over confident pre-teen having a crack at a sugary pop number.

This girl was belting out somne AccaDacca. If we'd had somewhere to sit instead of standing on a slippery gravel hill we'd probably have stayed all afternoon. The Karaoke usually goes til dark but get in early if you want to 'perform'

19/6/10

Guerilla Gardening Berlin-Style
I've noticed a few of these pop up around our neighbourhood. A pot of nasturtiums tied to a traffic light, a box of soil with potatoes starting to sprout and this:
A trolley full of parsnips


Nice work. I whole-heartedly approve.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any reference to Gemüse Korb (vegetable basket) on the Book of Face, but maybe my umlaut was in the wrong place?

18/6/10

For those who like their chicken with right angles and ready in under 2 minutes

15/6/10

These graffiti prams appeared overnight near the infant-dense playground on Kollwitzplatz, Prenzlauer Berg.
Most weekends, the Platz is thick with prams, strollers and of course, children thanks to the fertility explosion (eeeew) in P'Berg.
Someone has taken it upon themselves to bring order to this mêlée of 'kinderwagen' and assign lanes to the pavement.
The Berliner Morgen Post has already jumped on this story and assigned the vandal with a moniker - 'The Pram-Hater of Prenzlauer Berg'

4/6/10

I'm kind of ashamed to be using an iphone app that simulates a polaroid effect on this blog but it's considerably cheaper than polaroid film and I'm on an intern's wage... so give me a friggin break

3/6/10

2/6/10

berlin fernsehturm

1/6/10

31/5/10

Teufelsberg (Devil's Mountain)

30/5/10

29/5/10

Eurovision in Berlin
We were streaming the ESC finals in our apartment when we heard cheers coming from our local bar
We went to inspect the hoo-ha during the voting rounds and were swept up in a Eurovision street party.
This shot was taken moments before the German representative 'Lena' was crowned winner

The win means that Eurovision 2011 will be held in Germany
Just when I thought this country couldn't get any better...

28/5/10

Seriously? Benecio Del Toro Adevertising Magnums?

27/5/10

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'Q'

26/5/10

25/5/10

This is a really sinister ad I passed on a train platform.
Its purpose is to highlight the dangers of BBQing near toddlers.
Certainly, they can be dangerous places but personally I learnt everything I know about BBQing from hanging around grills at a very young age.

What I'd like to see is a friendly grill giving toddlers helpful BBQing tips.
"Onions first, then sausages, then steaks!"

24/5/10

23/5/10

Busker, Kreuzberg

22/5/10

Karneval der Kulturen, Kreuzberg.

This wasn't the multi-cultural experience I'd expected. True, there was more than one culture represented... but only just.
Pretzels, caprihinas, beer, bratwurst were the only food on sale.
Maybe we got there too late

21/5/10

Dum Dum Girls and Monotonix


It's pretty hard not to crush on Dum Dum Girls. Sweet harmonies, fuzzed out guitar, smoking good looks...
It was equally hard to get any decent shots at this show. The room was so full of sweat, steam and smoke when DD girls played that it was almost impossible to focus.
Then, when Monotonix played they decided the stage wasn't for them and set up in the middle of the floor.
I'd been told that the front man of Monotonix usually nudes up at shows but I couldn't be sure.
The throng were so thick that the only time I saw him was when he was crowd surfing (yes, people still do that).

20/5/10

Brendan and his increasingly ridiculous cocktails.

19/5/10

18/5/10

17/5/10

16/5/10

15/5/10

14/5/10

13/5/10

12/5/10

11/5/10

10/5/10