I enjoyed this stirring re-enactment of the events of November 10, 1989: Notice how there’s a Hasselhoff-ian figure atop the mobile platform thing, and how lights start going on and off as he performs once the Wall falls. Nice touch. This atones for the minor historical inaccuracy my wife pointed out: that the Wall actually [...]

Two recent sightings from opposite poles of Berlin’s cultural zeitgeist: 1. Not-So-Little Cleveland Indian Last week, I was biking home from a basketball game in early evening and ran into this, looming over Alexanderplatz: What? Aha, it turns out that this is art— an installation by French media artist Cyprien Gaillard, exploring the legacy and [...]

I’m going to keep this short, because surely it’s boring to read anything where some expat guy is complaining about US culture… but I really have to comment on how mind-bending the standards of customer service are in this country if you’re not accustomed to a steady diet of fake friendliness. Did it used to [...]

Photo series I took on the steps of the Parthenon during my holiday travels. No, not the real Parthenon– this is the replica Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee. Definitely the ‘kitschy Americana’ high point of the trip.

I don’t know anything about 3D printing, but apparently it’s the bee’s knees. Just check out the side bar of an article someone pointed me to called ‘3D Printer Prints Its Own Upgrades‘: Doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of nay-saying flying around at PC World over this right now. Question: suppose you strip out [...]

My friend Mike returned from vacation in Corfu last week to a spate of bad news: A lawsuit involving his dog knocking over an elderly lady in park had somehow gotten revived long after he had deemed it over and done with. Over the years, the plaintiff’s allegations have gotten trumped up and dramatized to [...]

This weekend, the wife and I went back to the farm where we got married. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all reflections on two years of marriage to a beautiful woman on you. The reason I bring it up is just to tell you about the village restaurant we stopped at during our [...]

Having dismissively sworn off yoga in the past, I’ve recently gone crawling back and started taking classes again. The reasons for my about-face: first, the 30 now 35 pound bowling ball problem (discussed here); second, an increasing incidence of disconcerting observations along the lines of ‘Why does my back hurt if I’m not slumped over in [...]

There are frequent postings about music on this blog.  I enjoy hearing the clips, but am absolutely clueless when it comes to the different types of rock, the names of bands and performers, the history of their departures from bands and return to them, etc.  So now I’m writing about music and musicians that I [...]

Last night, I was talking with friends about the some of the dreadful stopgap jobs we held between the ages of, let’s say, 18-23. I know a few purposeful, self-directed people who proceeded straight from college onto meaningful, rewarding work, but lord knows I wasn’t one of them. Pretty much the consummate late-bloomer, I found [...]