Arsenal vs Middlesborough
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Berlin, March 2008
Chancellor Merkel's office is in this building, unaffectionately called "The Washing Machine" by Berliners. I think it is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.
Berlin, March 2008
"Okay, Bernice, it's your day to be the scary one - Martha and I are going to play Scrabble in the back."
Berlin, March 2008
The RhinocerosThe rhino is a homely beast,
For human eyes he's not a feast.
Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
I'll stare at something less prepoceros.
Ogden Nash
(I think the rhinoceros shares my opinion that Nash is wrong about his homeliness).
Berlin, March 2008
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - the jagged shell of the old church was left as a reminder of the horrors of war and an austere new chapel was constructed in the late fifties by Egon Eiermann.
Berlin, March 2008
Marx and Engels, AlexanderplatzMarx and Engels
There is misery in all I hear and see
From people on TV
After their tea when life begins again
They'll be happier than me
There are a thousand meals being made on Saturday
From the view I saw today
I took a bet inside the launderette
With a girl from Wallasey
She spoke in dialect I could not understand
But one thing that she made clear
There was no coming on to her
There was no way
There's misery in all I hear and see
From people on TV
After their tea when life begins again
They'll be happier than me
There are a thousand meals being made on Saturday
From the view I saw today
I took a bet inside the launderette
With a girl from Wallasey
She spoke in dialect I could not understand
But one thing that she made clear
There was no coming on to her
There was no intellect
That she could respect
If it couldn't see
That the girl just wants to be
Left alone with Marx and Engels for a while
She's writing in the style
Of any riot girl
-Belle & Sebastian
Berlin, March 2008
It's a shame this is so blurry, but maybe you can see that it is Leda and the Swan? From our very strange hotel (the Estrel, Europe's largest conference hotel, reminiscent of central Florida, circa 1986), we had a view of a riverside biergarten, complete with an oh-so-graphic (her womb was visible) neon "sculpture" of Leda and her Swan. Can you imagine this on the banks of the Ohio?
Berlin, March 2008
If you look closely, you can see his sloth-bear neighbor's black coat just above his head.
Berlin, March 2008
Knut, either a) yawning or b) singing Bonnie Tyler or Sade, the unofficial sirens of Berlin.
Berlin, March 2008
These faces are from an exhibit called "Fallen Leaves," or "Shalechet," by Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman. There are over 10,000 faces coarsely cut from iron - visitors walk over the faces, which clang together with an awful noise that reverberates through a series of empty rooms. It was one of most profound experiences in the museum, if not all of Berlin.
Berlin, March 2008
To a GiraffeIf it is unpermissible, in fact fatal
to be personal and desirable
to be literal—detrimental as well
if the eye is not innocent—does it mean that
one can live only on top leaves that are small
reachable only by a beast that is tall?—
of which the giraffe is the best example—
the unconversational animal.
When plagued by the psychological,
a creature can be unbearable
that could have been irresistible;
or to be exact, exceptional
since less conversational
than some emotionally-tied-in-knots animal.
After all
consolations of the metaphysical
can be profound. In Homer, existence
is flawed; transcendence, conditional;
"the journey from sin to redemption, perpetual."
- Marianne Moore
Berlin, March 2008
IN A STATION OF THE METROThe apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
- E z r a P o u n d
Berlin, March 2008
Erik, next to the Reichstag and the new parliamentary buildings across the Spree. If you saw the posters for the Joy Division film "Control" last year, this pose reminds me of that. And these buildings...they are just stunning.
Berlin, March 2008
This is my photograph of the same view, with the Friedrichstrasse Banhof (train station).
Berlin, March 2008
Erik took this photo from inside the Vaporetto restaurant -the restaurant's chandelier and illuminated construction cranes. I love these photos - he is a better photographer than me.
Berlin, March 2008
The deconstruction of the former East German Parliament building, across the Spree from Alexanderplatz.
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