a berlin blog
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a berlin blog |
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Tuesday, January 31, 2006 This is Only a Test"The newspaper said it printed the cartoons as a test of whether Muslim fundamentalists had begun affecting the freedom of expression in Denmark," according to the Copenhagen Post and this web site explaining the flare-up between Denmark and, apparently, most of the Muslim world. Results of the test? Quite positive. I mean, negative. I mean --Palestinian gunmen said on Monday Danes and Norwegians visiting Gaza could be attacked unless their governments apologise after newspapers printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.What the Saudi government, two major Muslim organizations, and gunmen in the Gaza Strip are trying to do -- control a newspaper in Denmark with death threats and a boycott on Danish goods -- is as grubby as Khomeini's fatwa on Salman Rushdie. The idea that they might get the UN to listen is like something from a bad dream. "Consultations are currently taking place at the highest level between Arab countries and the OIC [Organization of the Islamic Conference]," said Ahmed Ben Helli, deputy secretary general of the Arab League, "to ask the U.N. to adopt a binding resolution banning contempt of religious beliefs and providing for sanctions to be imposed on contravening countries or institutions." Um, no. Right now Danes and Norwegians and Swedes have to fear for their lives in the Middle East because of something in a "Danish newspaper"; sales of "Danish goods" have all but come to a halt. This is just ignorant nasty nationalism. I don't care whose religion is offended. (You can look at the cartoons here.) "We call on Muslim nations to boycott all Danish products because the Danish people supported the hateful racism under the pretext of freedom of expression," Hamas wrote in a statement. It's hateful enough that these racists are now in charge of a government; even worse that the boycott is working. But western leaders have stepped up to defend our traditions of free speech, right? They won't let fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, or anywhere else dictate what European newspapers publish. Right? Um, no. [Bill] Clinton described the cartoons as "appalling." ... "Because people see headlines that they don't like, [they will] apply that to a whole religion, a whole faith, a whole region and a whole people?" he asked.People get ready. UPDATE: Dali, Rodin, Blake, and Gustav Dore all got there long before the Danes did. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 12:07 AM (8) comments Monday, January 30, 2006 Red, Red Wine In Berlin you can buy wine with Stalin's name and face on the label. The product is lieblich, sweet, unlike Stalin himself. Last week, or the week before, I saw old Josef played as a puppet in an excellent, bitter, three-hour satire called Heroes of the Twentieth Century (HELDEN DES 20. JAHRHUNDERTS: Ein Hysterienspiel mit Puppen) at the Volksbuehne. Lenin, Hitler, JFK, and Marilyn Monroe all had major roles, though the story frankly didn't get far beyond the 1960s. Three women played all the Heroes in front of a clever jazz and rock band; they gave brilliant physical performances, if you can believe that, through the foot-high puppets. A highlight of the show was Mickey Mouse disturbing a massive sleeping Russian bear, then submitting to therapy from a depressive Sigmund Freud. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 9:04 PM (0) comments Sunday, January 29, 2006 Der Fesche Fernsehturm From an East German shopping catalog, 1969-70. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 1:35 PM (0) comments Saturday, January 28, 2006 Drink, Pray, Fight and FuckA terrific writer named Joe Bageant who interprets America's fundamentalist right for America's left might as well do it for European readers, too. And he has a web site with a catchy name. Thanks to Lisa. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 2:37 PM (0) commentsFriday, January 27, 2006 Noch Mehr Fernsehturm This New Yorker satire is actually West German art from 1985, by Olaf Schumann, who painted the poster for a conservative outfit called the Bonner Friedensforum. "This is the only, or at least one of very few posters out of West Germany that show the Fernsehturm," according to Von der Partei zur Party, 1969-2003: Der Berliner Fernsehturm als grafisches Symbol -- which by the way is the source of all the Fernsehturmkunst in this Radio Free Mike miniseries. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 8:37 AM (2) comments Thursday, January 26, 2006 Du Bist Deutschland. Unless You Blog.A fancy Belgian ad man named Jean-Remy von Matt, who led the creative team behind a feel-good German campaign called Du Bist Deutschland, has immortalized himself with an ill-advised internal memo -- now leaked! -- disparaging blogs as "the toilet walls of the Internet." This remark made him world-famous last weekend, at least in the blogosphere. ("Du Bist Deutschland" was the top Technorati search item for days after his memo was leaked, up there above "bin Laden.") Mike was on the story this week for Spiegel Online.For a while I tried to ignore Du Bist Deutschland, I really did. As a rule I think big dumb ad campaigns get more attention than they're worth. But a few weeks ago I had a little debate over it with Andy at i am a doughnut. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 9:21 PM (2) comments Wednesday, January 25, 2006 More Fernsehturm From an East German second-grade songbook, 1969. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 3:07 PM (0) comments Strange, SadChris Penn just died in Santa Monica, which seems like oddly familiar territory, even from Berlin. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 1:45 PM (0) commentsTuesday, January 24, 2006 Fernsehturm, Fernsehturm Mayday poster, 1969. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 12:24 AM (8) comments Monday, January 16, 2006 FernsehturmliedHere's what the Fernsehturm looks like from the new neighborhood. Not as close as it was from Sophienstrasse, but still hard to miss: And here -- in the first installment of a special Radio Free Mike series of Fernsehturmkunst from the old East Germany -- is how the same structure looked in a Communist children's magazine from 1975:  That's right, kids! There's a Fernsehturm song! The first lines, freely translated, are: TV tower, TV tower, you are tall and lean You're the crown of our big town and for this we give you thanks! ... From an excellent book called Von der Partei zur Party, 1969-2003: Der Berliner Fernsehturm als grafisches Symbol. I'll expect at least one of my readers to lay down an updated version of the Fernsehturmlied with his or her band, and send me a demo. In the meantime, we'll be posting more Ostalgic images here on Radio Free Mike. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 7:53 PM (10) comments Thursday, January 12, 2006 Wait, Can He Say Things Like That?William Pfaff has an unkind but penetrating column about Ariel Sharon. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 10:26 PM (0) commentsWednesday, January 11, 2006 Inaccurate Cooking With MikeLast year on this day I was ladling up my first spoonfuls of soljanka. Now I can make my own. All you need are:a number of tomatoes maybe 3 onions some capers 1 hand-sized salami "soup greens" -- z.B. thyme and coriander no more than two little cans of tomato paste 2 tbspns "soljanka" mix from the local open-air market (or just paprika) a bay leaf Boil soup greens in a couple of cups of water. Dice the salami into quarter-inch pieces, cut the onions fine. Sautee salami in butter, then dump it in with the soup greens. Sautee the onions in the butter and salami fat, then pour everything, fat and all, into the pot. Let this brew simmer long enough to dice the tomatoes. Add tomatoes, capers, and tomato paste. Then add enough water to keep the soup from tasting like ketchup. Stir in soljanka mix. Add a bay leaf. Simmer for an hour. Soljanka recipes differ from town to town in eastern Europe, or really from kitchen to kitchen, like borscht, so "inaccurate" is damn well close enough. The flavor should come from the paprika, onions, salami, and fresh tomatoes. Be ready to balance these ingredients when the time comes to add water. Extra spices and fresh tomatoes, in other words, can't hurt. Serve with sour cream, a lemon slice, and strong beer. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 11:27 AM (0) comments Tuesday, January 10, 2006 Choice Quotes in the Matter of J.T. LeRoy, Who Turns Out Not to Be RealFirst, the facts: "In October, New York magazine ran an article by San Francisco novelist Stephen Beachy, arguing that LeRoy is not a former hustler from West Virginia but a woman in her 30s from Brooklyn named Laura Albert. [The New York Times confirmed the story yesterday that Albert was the ghostwriter; it also identified Mr. LeRoy's public persona as a woman called Savannah Knoop. Anyway:] After much sleuthing, Beachy concluded that the weight of the evidence -- including LeRoy's refusal to prove his identity by offering up a Social Security card or a passport -- showed he was a fraud."Now the raw meat: ... The expose, originally written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian (whose editors didn't think the story was ready for publication, so Beachy's agent placed it with New York)...And, Full disclosure: Chronicle Acting Deputy Managing Editor David Wiegand has edited some of LeRoy's fiction.And, Reached by telephone, Ms. Knoop said, "I don't need this in my life right now," before hanging up.And, "I actually edited a story, 'Harold's End,' by LeRoy, and spent hours on the phone -- with someone -- going through a typical line-edit," Eggers said.And, "The work of both Anthony Godby Johnson and J.T. LeRoy seems quite harrowing and moving when you don't know they're a fraud," Maupin said by phone last week. "When you go back and read it again, it reads like the most awful kitsch."A story of mine was once rejected by someone at the San Francisco Writers' Grotto for a public reading on the grounds that a similar JT LeRoy story -- featuring a homeless kid on Polk Street -- had just been read at the last reading. Should I sue? Or is it possible that I'm JT LeRoy? UPDATE: James Walcott has more. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 10:26 PM (5) comments Swimming in Germany First, put on parka, snow boots, and gloves. It's cold. Then get on the S-Bahn. Tramp from an old East-Berlin station through a dull neighborhood to a frozen waste of icy polished snow. Navigate this without falling. Find reception area for the Badeschiff, or "Bathing Ship" -- not as easy as it sounds, since reception, curiously, is not attached to the ship itself. Receive wristband, lock, and robe. Change from boots and parka and gloves into bathing suit, lock up things, realize you forgot to bring sandals and traipse out barefoot, wearing mainly the robe, in below-zero weather, from reception area to "Bathing Ship," which is really just a tub in the River Spree. Marvel at German engineering: vaulted plastic ceiling, espresso machines. Then boil naked in the sauna. Get out, jump into pool, which -- since it's in a tub submerged in the Spree -- is bloody fucking cold. Swim through plastic drapes on either end of the bathing tub and enjoy a water-level view of the frozen river. Wave at old ladies bundled in furs on the riverbank. Wonder why you left California. Swim back, recover naked in sauna. Jump in pool again, for kicks. Realize it's kind of fun. Repeat. Then shower, don robe, and order a hot drink at the bar. Wonder why they don't have these things in California. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 8:39 PM (2) comments Sunday, January 08, 2006 New Fiction!Or at least newly published: The Big Ugly has a story of mine in its new issue. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 8:14 PM (2) commentsThursday, January 05, 2006 The Real Sally Bowles Could Sing, and She Didn't Sound Like Liza MinelliAlexander Cockburn on his father's second wife, Jean Ross, who once knew a guy named Isherwood. (Scroll down.) Thanks to Ed. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 11:29 PM (5) commentsTalking to JihadisA new piece on Indonesia's up at Spiegel. In which Mike talks to radicals at Majelis Mujahidin, and asks about Islamic traffic laws. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 8:33 PM (0) comments | |
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