coldies

(photo by tom palumbo)

haven't updated in too long.
so cold, no desire to take photos in the rain/snow
and i've replaced a lot of free time with training
oh, and downloading lots of new music.

anyway, here's a list of blogs i use to keep the songs rotating:

Sundtrak
Too Many Sebastians
Scottish Friction
DISCO DEMONS
Hot Biscuits
Cassette Culture
Squeegie
Pipedown
HUSH HOUSE
T H E M I X T A P E
Sheena Beaston
Gotta Dance Dirty
Thieves by Tuesday*
Rub A Dub Dub

familial familiar

my father visited me last week.
it was surprisingly enjoyable.
strange to see how my opinions are changing
from being away from america for so long.
we drank together for the first time,
ate lots of meat and bought a coat and shoes.
the heat in the rental car was broken.
we beat a homeless man to death in the park.
the end.

madame claude

last night i went to this bizarre bar called madame claude
where all of the furnishings were upside down.
even the steps, for example, were made out of a chest of drawers
that had been pulled out at different intervals.
very cool and interesting vibe, with lots of people speaking english.
check it out:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPGILJx0y00
(it's not to the actual bar, but rather a pretty amazing clip)



oh, and there was an open mic night in the basement.
it was pretty hit or miss, but there were a few stand-out performances:

waffeln & eis

kauf dich glücklich is the best cafe i've experienced in berlin.
amazing waffle selection, great coffee, very relaxing atmophere.
i got a waffle topped with caramel sauce, cinnamon ice cream and whipped cream.
there were three guys named erich there, not including me,
so that must be a good sign, right?
gotta go back, gonna get fat.
http://www.kaufdichgluecklich.de/

fleas please

first things first.
went to an awesome flea market this past saturday.
it went on for at least a mile, but i still didn't feel the urge
to buy something i would inevitably toss after the year.
ulli helped me steal a book about fairy tales though,
and by steal i mean let me shove it in her purse and walked away.
good tiiiimes.

berghain

went to this club called berghain with ulli.
it's supposed to be "the best club in the world"
but i found this online review to be spot-on:

A repulsive, sweaty mass of leather-clad gays swinging their bodies around to ear-bleedingly loud techno pounding out of massive speakers.

A brilliantly insane club of clubs for the all-out hardcore, take-no-prisoner party animals. It also has the strictest door-policy in town, run by the ominous man with the tattooed face. Cameras must be checked at the door.

Berghain is meant to be the ultimate club of the millennium, an industrial-style warehouse with an extremely free-spirited, hedonistic all-around attitude. On Saturdays, the Berghain’s most popular night, you’ll want to show up as early as possible. Those trying to be fashionably late will no doubt find themselves waiting out in the bitter cold.

So we waited for an hour in a seemingly endless line
just to get in and have bad electro music booming
gross men galore trying to look hot / not possessing monster faces
and avoiding going too far into the dark hallways
where men were waiting in booths to have sex.
went to bed at 8 am today. yiiikes.

twisted

i bonded with my host brother yesterday
by betting whether or not
the taxi guy yellow jacket was
a playable character
in twisted metal 2
aka the best car game ever.
i bet he was.
i lost.

scholarships put to good use?

"the subtleties of fitting into german culture"

nothing like the pain of enduring
black out drunk americans
being loud and lost on the streets of berlin
riding around in shopping carts
with no respect for anyone or anything.
CBYX 2009-2010 for the win!

20 Jahre Mauerfall

the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall was pretty epic.
epically rainy and cold that is.
i got to see bon jovi play and stand around in a sea of people,
many wielding large umbrellas.
for the celebration they knocked down a wall of dominoes
that had been painted by local students.
the students were dressed in silver space jackets for some reason.
i also peed in the jewish memorial without realizing what it was.
i just really had to go!
it took me until today to recover,
but it was well worth the wait!

many clips of the event follow:

smooches

cute couples were all around this weekend.
i thought passionate kisses in the rain
only happened in them drama flicks.

one foul swoop

i happened upon a peace ralley of all things
as i wandered the streets of berlin the other night.
it's for an organization called PACE.
their flag looks suspiciously like a flag for gay rights,
but anyway it was really cold and i got a glow stick.
i love the shot of the people walking in front of the police!

localnights

bam and bam!
i met this girl ulli last night and she reminds me
of zoey deschanel so much it's amazing.
i hadn't showered for 5 days prior, and i'd played
an amazing few rounds of badminton that day, so
i had to routinely smell my (fouad's) shirt to see how bad it was.
danced for 5 hours, slept for 2.
a great night overall!

 

franci, anja, anna and suzie were all there too. love it!

full night's album here

hair back

fouad found this photo in mika mason's flickr.
this was what, 6 years ago?!
i miss being able to have a ponytail
and for selma to cornrow the sides...
and of course to use my own hair as floss
instead of friends' / strangers'.
look forward to it!

city of faust

leipzig was fun!
jessica and i had döner, indian food, AND paprika chips.
the only thing missing was almdudler.
i need more almdudler.
i bought a sleeping bag.
i heard too much crystal castles.
i taught everyone drink while you think
and we made a bet after anna was drunk
that she would or would not make out with a bald guy.
next morning we had some pancakes
with peanut butter and nutella.
didn't i mention leipzig was fun?

weekend photo journey

fouad arrives, without coat.

fouad hasn't hurt his shin yet.

fouad used the bathroom for free.

fouad enjoys paprika chips, almdudler and whisky.

fouad thinks about apartments some more.

fouad likes apple cake.

fouad pays to use the restroom.

fouad eats chicken mush on the flight back.

bow legg'd comes to visit

for fouad's birthday we had curry pizza
at noodles on the brandenburger strasse.
his jacket got stolen so he's wearing one of mine.
i picked up some poop from my clogged toilet the next day.
the best weekend i've had abroad!

Or yesterday maybe, I don't know.

bike is fixed!
so i biked for 4 hours.
it was cold.
here's what i saw.

camus' the stranger ruined me.

missing miss cleo

so i'm watching TV and playing cards again.
funny how no matter in which country i am
i manage to watch the worst garbage on TV::



i love the way she shuffles!
also i love that this is her actual profession.
maybe there's hope!

make moves

new address: Zeppelinstraße 171, 14471 Potsdam, Germany
new host family: amazingly nice (paprika chip nice)
new room: has an elephant potted plant stand!

superheroes pt2

jessica and i walked down the streets of cologne the other week
and found these gems of people coalesced on the clearing.
if i could do anything nearly as physically amazing as these people
i would be asking for a lot more than people's spare change.
more amazement below!

Wenn im Puff...

i thought puff translated as smoking puff
and i expected this play to be about smoking pot
but puff means brothel in kölsch
so i had a much different experience than anticipated!

the actors were ridiculous
the plot was typical mistaken identity,
men being handcuffed together in their underwear,
the corpse of a rich old lady being stuffed into a chest,
you know, the usual.

i really enjoyed it!
it was featured in the newspaper this morning, too::

old dragon lady

this old dragon stepped
all over my brand new toms
on the train home today!
...she looked at me
and didn't apologize.

my instant reaction included
calling her an old bitch (!!!)
and threatening to de-wig her.
watch out for her!

then again i did look like waldo today:::
(still no excuse for scuffing my toms!) :)

bad news

so remember that shit day i had
where the asshole bike salesman told me
that my bike was a piece of garbage?
well frau beerbaum showed me the newspaper
and this fecal excuse for a bike shop
was featured in the local section!
what a fucking joke!



fucking asshole!

teeny weenies

so even though i swore i wouldn't
i'm watching the tiny tots season of antm
honestly, who can resist?
these girls are actually pretty
despite the ridiculous shit tyra does to them
like bleaching all of their eyebrows
so they look like cancer survivors.
the asian bug lady is finally going to win this season!