Amelie in Berlin: October 2009

29 October 2009

Stil in Berlin

A few words on Berlin fashion:
I've heard this alot, and it's certainly true, that you can get away with wearing anything in Berlin. Unlike other European metropolises, Berlin has no dress code, unwritten or otherwise. Which is incredibly liberating. But it also means it's hard to stand out. The following people are pretty f-ing close, though:
(Source: Stil in Berlin)

Jil, 19, Galerie Assistant, Neue Schönhauser Straße.
I am absolutely dying for the gorgeous blunt bobs that a lot of girls are wearing here. There's a girl in one of my classes who has a black bob with a side part, very simple, very Leigh Lezark...I. want. it.

Elisa, 26, Fashion Designer, Steinstraße.

Get this: Marko, 32, Student, Karl-Marx-Straße.
I love Berlin.
As an aside, I'm actually genuinely surprised there are no pictures of Turkish Berliners on this site. No one does fashion better than Turkish teenagers in Berlin. Seriously.

A little something for Hallowe'en...

So, Halloween isn't celebrated here in Germany, which is giving me a serious case of the sads because there are SO many costume ideas I've had floating around in the back of my mind.

For instance:
Susan Sontag

(Peter Hujar, 1975)
Unfortunately, that costume would be logistically near-impossible, seeing as I look NOTHING like Sontag. Maybe Sylvia Plath would be a better choice.
Or:
Margot Tenenbaum
Option 1:

Option 2:

What do you think??
In conclusion, I salute all of you NRAC Hallowe'en Party goers...party up a storm! And enjoy your regional-specific holidays...grr...

19 October 2009

Clubkultur Part Two

Two more places to recommend (after Magnet Club):

When you want something cosy:
1) 'Das Hotel': Well, to be more precise, the little candlelit, limestone-walled club under the 'Hotel.'I went there last weekend, and it really didn't feel like being in Berlin. This lovely John Lennon and Yoko One lookalike-couple were DJing, mainly early 60's soul music, and the combination of the music and the exchange students conversing in Spanish and everyone dancing felt very European without being tied geographically to one location. Kind of like being in a hotel! (Article in German)

When you want a 'club' atmosphere:
2) 'Week End': So, this past weekend (har har), instead of going to an overcrowded Erasmus party (Ed. Note: ERASMUS is a European university exchange system that allows students from all over Europe to 'study' [i.e. party] anywhere in Europe], I went to Week End with a friend and some Americans we had met. Week End is on the 12th floor of the former Haus des Reisens, and it's got an amazing view of East Berlin and the Alexanderplatz. Week End is a little bit Circa (i.e. expensive to get into), but the music is electronic heaven and you can watch the sun rise over the Fernsehturm if you're so inclined :P

14 October 2009

Amos Oz: Amazing.

"If you ask me to summarize what my books are about in one word, I will say 'families.' If you ask me to summarize them in two words: 'unhappy families.' If you allow me more than two, well, then you'll have to read my books."

"The most devoted Europeans you can find belonged to my parents' generation, the only people who really loved Europe and felt they were Europeans to the core, rather than Bulgarian patriots or German patriots or French patriots or whatever. My parents, these "rootless intellectuals" or "cosmopolitans" or whatever else they were derided as, fled to Jerusalem because Europe did not love them back. This unrequited love to Europe has left traces of deep ambivalence among Israelis towards Europe that lasts until today."

"I love Israel even when I can't stand it."
-Amos Oz

I heard Israeli author Amos Oz speaking tonight on the occasion of Humboldt's Mosse Lectures, which have since 1997 invited famous authors to read from their works. This year, the theme is "A Literary Atlas: Poets and their Localities".

In a word: amazing. Oz was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize this year, and he has a gift for storytelling that translates in person, as well. The whole audience was absolutely entranced by him, whether he was reading from his most famous work in Germany - "A Tale of Love and Darkness", which is about his parent's journey to and beginnings in the early state of Israel - or his new collection of short stories, published here in the New Yorker, entitled "Waiting."

Oz is also a vocal proponent of a two-state solution, and I think he handled the to-be-expected political questions from the peanut gallery with grace.

I am impressed, thrilled and inspired...