I have a lot to write to catch up with everything that’s been going. I was in the Netherlands for a conference, and didn’t have much time to blog on the road.
Here’s a preview of what’s to come: I’ll be talking about the conference, which was on immigration, and particularly on Saskia Sassien’s keynote address. [...]
Entries from June 2008
June 29, 2008
Verdict on Amsterdam
June 26, 2008
Lingua Franca for real!
Until now the comparison between the position of English today and the historical significance of Latin has seemed more ironic to me: Obviously English cannot lay any claim to the sanctity which Latin held (and for some people still holds), and even as a model for literary emulation English has a fairly weak position. But [...]
June 23, 2008
The Wanking Widow!
I am not sure if I saw a German film or a British film tonight: Irina Palm has a German writer and director, is set and filmed in London, and stars British (and Serbian and Hungarian) actors. Co-productions are the norm in European cinema today, mostly because of the way EU funding is distributed. But [...]
June 21, 2008
Wunderbar!
Both musical theatre fans and opera afficionados spend a lot of time debating wether the genres are mutually exclusive. The arguments are usually prompted by such “American operas” as Porgy&Bess, or Street Scene, or Candide. Kiss Me, Kate! is a less likely candidate for operatic status, but here it is on the stage of the [...]
June 21, 2008
Good news from Texas?
As I mentioned before, I’ve become a very faithful podcast listener. It’s still very new to me, especially because I’ve never been big on radio (that’s what happens when you don’t drive), so the entire thing is unfamiliar. I think the fact that I have very little access to news not-in-German, except of course on [...]
June 19, 2008
Reading Update #3
I took a break from more serious reading to return to one of my chronic indulgences: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. The one I finished today is Reaper Man. I should explain that my interest in fantasy (if I have any interest in fantasy) is in no way connected to “discovering a new world” or any [...]
June 19, 2008
La Vie en Rose
As I mentioned earlier, I figured out that there is theatre in Berlin which is not state subsidized and still worth seeing. A lot of it is much more populist than what is done at the “national” stages, but that’s fine with me. Tonight I had the pleasure of watching a very intelligent production of [...]
June 19, 2008
Youth must have its fling
Having finally discovered a website with comprehensive theatre listings for Berlin, I now feel even more overwhelmed with how much there is to see here. Until I had been looking up the website of each of the major state-subsidized theatres, and therefore limitting myself to the companies I already knew of.
In any case, I did go back [...]
June 18, 2008
Too much to remember
I know it sounds a bit perverse, but I do enjoy visiting cemeteries. A particularly impressive one here in Berlin is the Jewish cemetery in Prenzlauer Berg. It’s in remarkably good condition, for a Jewish Cemetery in Germany – the more central, older Jewish cemetery in Belrin was completly destroyed and is now a memorial [...]
June 18, 2008
It’s a privilege to pee!
We saw this today on another one of our city tours. I’m not a big fan of paying for the bathroom, even though I don’t hesitate to do it when I have to – up to 80 cents at thet trainstation bathrooms at Friedrichstrasse. (Go to the Dussman bookstore if it’s anyday except Sunday. It’s free, [...]
