Sorry for the overblown titles. I've just been listening to way too much prog & metal and reading way too much economic theory, lately, to not let that happen. Anyway, I'll knock it off; promise. I'd like to say I hate chillwave but there's not really enough there to hate. It'd be like hating eggplant or tile grout. It's just so insubstantial. I guess the part that bothers me is the hype around it, the hollowness and nothingness of this supposed new great hope. It makes the so-called slackers of 90s look like driven go-getters. Enough negativity, though. [...]
With all the hullabaloo about Google finally releasing their Street View for Germany (after three years of privacy rule back-and-forth), I started looking around at other comparable online maps. Lo and behold, I found Microsoft's aerial views superior to Google's. Thanks to the shifted angle shots from Bing, you can see not just the x+y-dimension but a good slice of the z-axis as well (sides of buildings, etc.). I never thought I'd say this, but well done, Microsoft. Of course, Google is probably about [...]
What's with the corrupt 11-year-olds this week? First, a breathtakingly foul-mouthed and poorly-raised little emo girl gets an entire internet community to converge on her life, prompting an unfortunately hilarious video outburst from her moustachioed dad (simultaneously coining the internet memes "cyberpolice", "back-traced" and "You dun goofed up"). Now, an 11-year-old boy just got busted (apparently his third arrest) for selling heroin down the street along my local subway line, the U8, which I guess they should just go ahead and call The Dragon (as in "riding the", get it?). In his defense, he [...]
Congrats to Spain for winning the World Cup and congrats to me for making it through one of the most boring, low-scoring-est and foul-heavy games of the whole tournament. Such an anti-climax, somehow. At least in 2006, we got a masterful, career-closing kung-fu headbutt of justice. As much as I love football or soccer or roundball or whatever you wanna call it, watching quite a few (too many?) matches the past few weeks-especially this last one-I constantly recalled this classic Simpsons bit, back from when the Simpsons were funny. Fast kicking! Low scoring! Ties!
If José González is any kind of football fan, even with Sweden not even qualifying for this year's World Cup (in the admittedly über-competetive European division), he's got the luxury of rooting for formidable Argentina, homeland of his parents. I mention this only because culturally Swedish/ethnically-other people I find fascinating. González's girlfriend, Little Dragon singer Yukimo Nagano , happens to be another. Which is all perhaps unimportant. But when I heard that González had reunited his band, Junip, and was playing Krautrock-influenced jams with them, I rushed out to see what kind of catastrophe they had concocted. Somehow, it [...]
Unless you're living under an U.S.-sized rock, you know that the Greatest Show on Earth, the Football World Cup starts ("kicks off") today in South Africa. And even the Americans are supposed to have their best team ever this year-though we'll see how that pans out in the Brit v. Yank match tomorrow. Here, a few good World Cup links I've stumbled across. Is North Korea's World Cup team any good? (FP) Where to Watch World Cup Soccer Streaming Live (Lifehacker) The [...]
Once upon a time there was a guy named William F. Buckley . He was sharp, opinionated, well-spoken and avowedly conservative. But he was a delightful sparring partner and obviously considered his positions-even if you disagreed with every last one of them (though he was for legalizing marijuana - can you imagine a conservative taking a libertarian stance like that today? I can't even imagine Ron Paul doing that). Buckley didn't spout boilerplate inanities like Messrs. Beck and Limbaugh do today. He argued with reason, not volume. So when I'm told that pundits like Charles Krauthammer of [...]
The Beatles did it. Johnny Cash did it. But Marvin Gaye? Singing in German? Seriously? Seriously. Decades ago it was common practice for record labels to have their top artists record foreign language versions of their hits. A new record from Hip-O Select, Motown Around the World , collects French, German and Spanish versions of songs by The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and (yes) Marvin Gaye singing "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" as "Wie Schön Das Ist"... And his German pronunciation is surprisingly good. If you don't believe me, check [...]
In March, Viggo Mortensen spoke at the occasion of Dennis Hopper getting his star on Hollywood Boulevard. In honor of Hopper's fearlessness and honesty, he dedicated this poem by William Stafford, a fellow Kansan, whom he called "perhaps the finest and most honest poet that state has produced." I thought it was pretty good, too. For My Young Friends Who Are Afraid There is a country to cross you will find in the corner of your eye, in the quick slip of your foot- air far down, [...]
Chalk it up to small victories, but I just learned that I passed the exam for Microeconomics I at Humboldt University. This wouldn't have been such a big deal if I hadn't been so concerned about not passing it, but I was concerned about not passing it. Quite a lot, actually. Sure, it's Bachelor level and, sure, it's freshman level and, sure, I didn't make the best grade in the entire 200-year history of the storied HU (which just got a new prez yesterday)-but it was a challenge all the same and considering the amount of time I [...]
There won't be much happening here for the duration of March, as I'll be focused on studying for some exams. Meanwhile, please feed the fish.
Seems to have the U.S. at the top, the first time in 80 years . Of course, it won't count psychologically if Canada beats the U.S. in hockey tonight. And look at Germany up there. View the vancouver2010.com medals' table
Very Basement Tapes Dylan, this recording, not least the lyrics. I love it. Zookeeper - Snow in Berlin There's a cold German in a bar in Berlin With the blueprints of an architect still searching through His pockets for a dream-maker or a chance-taker Or the will he should have written by now But he's been thinking bout them ships sinking For his whole half-lived private school life At home silver spoons gleaming In his eyes a vision dark as midnight in Berlin [...]
Some things are better unimproved, un-messed-with. Case in point: zombies. I prefer the old style, slow, lurching, shuffling kind. Sure, the new running zombies are scarier because they can catch up with you-whereas you can just walk away from a slow one-but, as Brent McKnight rightfully says , the slower ones are arguably scarier because they'll eventually get you. The core argument of fast zombie proponents is inherently flawed. Proponents of fast zombies confuse zombie movies with action movies, while in reality zombie movies are more akin to suspense movies. Sure, a fast [...]
The United States is-so says Klaus F. Zimmerman, convincingly .
In case you wondered why the ice started to melt... First solo exhibition in Berlin by London-based Swedish artist and photographer Sara Young . Friday, February 19, 19:00-23:00 Uhr @ Galerie ZeitZone Adalbertstr. 79 [ map ]
Just few weeks ago (it seems a lot longer) we-the quintet of my sister Rebecca, her soon-to-be husband Jorge, their college friend Katie, Yuhang and I-found ourselves driving along the coast of Santa Cruz, California in search of nothing, which is to say without serious responsibilities apart from eventually getting to the beach and enjoying the time in between to do nothing but whatever we felt like doing, one of those rare and lovely pockets of time without ambition. Tasks, many tasks would return the following week in the pre-wedding rush (not to mention torrents of historically heavy rains), but [...]
SLAB Magazine critiques one of the more obvious design flaws of the Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz, one that's been super evident this frosty winter. Metal floor panels in a plaza? Excuse the parlance, but what in shit-fuckery were Murphy/Jahn Architects thinking? Here's a little hint from your friends at SLAB, free of charge: metal is slippery when wet. That's sound advice, write it down. Even in summer you have to watch how you go here with a pair of tread-worn sneakers on your feet, but in winter, after almost two months of snow [...]
Since it's technically still last year, by Chinese standards (by a hair), I will allow myself a few seconds to lovingly, obsessively and nerdishly list my favourite ten tracks from the past 365 days... It was a good year for music. I promise that all these tunes will quicken your heart and stiffen your ear hairs. 01. Moth - Burial & Four Tet 02. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z & Alicia Keys 03. I'm Confused - Handsome Furs 04. Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear 05. [...]
Tip magazine, the Berlin biweekly, had a cover story last December about where to get the best dumplings (Teigtaschen) in town. Having lived here for a decade now (as of November), I can confirm that this is something that has definitely changed for the better-ten years ago, just having a pile of noodles was enough to qualify as Chinese food. Now, in 2010, not only is there a modestly wide variety of Chinese eateries to choose from (including some very creative Sino-Euro fusions ), but Berliners can opt for the Russian and Indian varieties of [...]
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Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
