Clarity & Chaos

Not For You

2011-12-16T18:26:00.001+01:00

This song is not for you.
This beat is not for you.
This beer is not for you.
This laugh is not for you.
This dance is not for you.
This drink is not for you.
This street is not for you.
This house is not for you.
This kitchen is not for you.
These friends are not for you.
This room is not for you.
This bed is not for you.
This body is not for you.
- waking up your smile meets hers and you know:
This night was all about you.

Swirl

2011-11-27T17:12:00.001+01:00

Out of a
swirl of voices
near and far,
abstract and crystal clear,
of joy, anger and
futility
a vague image develops:
Your mind.

ICE

2011-10-07T19:51:00.000+02:00

tracks tracks tracks
tree!
tracks tracks tracks
tree!
tracks tracks tracks
tree!

suits racing
along tracks

work work work
free!
work work work
free!
work work work
free!

dig trenches

through markets

buy buy buy

see!

buy buy buy

see!

buy buy buy

see!

like a deer

in headlights

Heaps of Glass

2011-10-05T17:11:00.000+02:00

Late September
wasps
parading around
the remnants of
summer's eve

Heaps and heaps
of glass
red wine
trickling down into
autumn day

D.

2011-09-30T16:55:00.001+02:00

"C'mere, baby,
let me tell you how it is"
he said,
words spilling from
his mouth
like fishnets;
his lap a
landscape of regret,
reeking of a
stale, undead age.

Bad Influence

2011-09-24T13:01:00.000+02:00

Every time I start to
think
I feel like I need a
drink
Maybe I should stop to read
Bukowski.

Missed Connection.

2011-09-24T11:45:00.000+02:00

Couldn't hear you
on the radio.
So I came out
to play.

Clarity & Chaos on facebook

2011-09-24T11:33:00.003+02:00

This little blog of mine now has a facebook page. I hope you like it - I do.

Dare

2011-09-23T13:05:00.000+02:00

Ash fell
on the
D.A.R.E. sticker
on his
desk.

"Those were the days."
he thought
and coughed.

Troy.

2011-09-22T12:24:00.000+02:00

Once
you stuffed them
into ships and huts
Reaping the
fruits of their labor
Denying them humanity.

Now
you stuff them
into blocks and jails
Reaping the
fruits of their labor
Denying them clemency.

A Dream.

2011-09-21T14:40:00.000+02:00

Once I dreamt
of Jonathan Franzen.
We shared a sweater
and a cigarette.
Before I asked him
how to write
I finished my drink
and woke up.

Growing Up.

2011-09-21T14:30:00.000+02:00

I was a father once
had silver-gray hair

then

I became a child
and finally knew
everything I would ever need.

Breaking Beds

2011-09-21T14:05:00.000+02:00

we wrecked a
bed
in youthful
wrecklessness

from the backseat
of our fathers’ car
to the back of the
bus

ten minutes
to downtown
was enough

other kids’ stupor
(turning into an
adults stigma)
never caught on
to us

your parents’ basement
a practice field
tests without results

we painted our story
with all the colors
we could
find

Our world held
together
by three words
and a
hair slide

We joined in
fearless talk of a
non-combatant
future

Dilemma.

2011-09-12T15:54:00.000+02:00

I want to see people
and I want to see lights
and I want to stay in.

The pleasure, the privilege
in a room
keeping me safe.

I want to experience
but I
can't stand experiencing

the hideousness that
lurks around every
corner

So I am
cornered in the
four corners.

All that is left
to see
is on a screen.
The light that never goes out.

All That Is Left.

2011-08-16T19:36:00.001+02:00

That moment
when you realize

all you remember
is the way it ended

the thrill of the first kiss
that first hand on
your hip

replaced by

a goodbye kiss
and a shrug
between your house
and the stars.

Commune.

2011-07-29T17:44:00.001+02:00

We wanted to
smash the system
but ended up
smashed
drowning in sips
of sorrow
as revolutionary as
a clean kitchen
with heavy hearts
and averted eyes
renewing subscriptions
for the cause

Morning

2011-07-27T20:03:00.000+02:00

You wake up in
a stale room void of
the smiles and cries that
lingered too long and left
too soon.

Between empty bottles
and boiling coffee
you embrace the glaring
memories pounding in
your head.

You slowly return from
the depths of night and
brace yourself for
another one.

Notebook

2011-07-19T19:53:00.000+02:00

Engulfed by words
buried deep in my notebook.

Sweet noise on my
headphones disassembling
the world around me.

The only way
to deal with
reality
is to create anew
and pretend it is
your own,

You and Him.

2011-07-15T16:45:00.000+02:00

You met
on a balcony
a quiet understanding
amidst rambunctious noise
scrubby skin on stubbly skin

You stayed
for the night
a shared moment
among raging hearts
empty cups and satisfied smiles.

You left
before daybreak
a restless head
in a waking city
returning and departing.

Outside a Kebap Shop.

2011-03-18T17:36:00.000+01:00

The tomatoes looked
like February,
last remnants of
colors past.
Reflections of
glistening promises
in eyes so aware
of their emptiness.

Tuned.

2011-03-18T16:42:00.000+01:00

I want to slip into
a song

cuddle up with
a melody

go to sleep with
a beat

and find comfort
note by note

and sing along
and sing
alone.

2011-02-15T18:39:00.002+01:00

Word for
word

you realize
that

you will
never

write anything
good.

Soliloquy

2011-02-02T10:04:00.000+01:00

Hold back the tears,
drop vs. drop.

Quench your thirst,
with memories
of silent woods
and solemn beaches
of first sips
and lingering laughs.

Let your chronicle
beat the chemistry.

Home.

2010-11-11T17:13:00.000+01:00

Talking down a road,
I trip over vowls,
stumble over consonants,
step on words,
get stuck in phrases
- weak and volatile,
short and strong,
long and languid,
until I finally find a

poem.

Telecommunication.

2010-09-11T15:08:00.000+02:00

Caught in the last shadow of the year
between tea cups and coffee pots,
empty wrappers and broken bottles,
that one melody in your ear,
you redial.

August.

2010-08-21T17:08:00.000+02:00

Standing on sweating blacktop
quenching your thirst with memories
of running along shorelines,
of building castles
and drinking sandy 7 Up,
like you never tasted
anything so sweet.

Drop.

2010-08-01T16:19:00.000+02:00

Between a drop
and a coffee pot
Between a drop
and a coffee pot
Between a drop
and a coffee pot
Between a drop
and a coffee pot
- lies good luck.

On a Balcony

2010-06-25T14:35:00.000+02:00

When our feet rested on concrete balconies,
beer in hand, music in back,
sunset in front,
it wasn't easier.
It only felt that way.

Flatter!

2010-05-31T22:42:00.001+02:00

I recently joined Flattr, the new social micropayment service. I think it's a great idea - it is more or less like buying someone you like a (very small) beer. I also added flattr buttons to this blog - not because I'm in it for the money, but because I want to spread the flattr, even in this teeny tiny blog of mine. So if you like what I'm doing and you dig the flattr idea - Cheers!
Oh, here is a little video on what flattr is:

Kids

2010-05-26T12:39:00.000+02:00

Kids' chatter,
Kids' laughter,
Kids' life filling
every pore of the car,
then,
they leave behind,
a vacuum of silence
for our thoughts.

"Anything that's funny indicates an emotion that's died"

2010-04-13T18:24:00.006+02:00

Richard Hell: Basically I have one feeling ... the desire to get out of here. And any other feelings I have come from trying to analyze, you know, why I want to go away ... See, I always feel uncomfortable and I just want to .. walk out of the room. It's not going to any other place or any other sensation, or anything like that, it's just to get out of 'here.' (read more)

Legs McNeil: Where do you feel comfortable?

RH: When I'm asleep...

LM: Are you glad you where born?

RH: I have my doubts ... Did you ever read Nietzsche?

LM: Ha ha ha.

RH: Legs, listen to me, he said that anything that makes you laugh, anything that's funny indicates an emotion that's died. Every time you laugh that's an emotion, a serious emotion that doesn't exist with you anymore ... and that's why I think you and everything else is so funny.LM: Yeah, I do too, but that's not funny.RH: That's cause you don't have any emotions.

- from Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. A core text for anyone interested in the history of 'punk' - here mainly U.S. punk, from MC5, the Stooges to the Ramones. It's a pretty extensive account of how punk came into being, how groupies and dope were involved and does a pretty good job proving that the "icons" of punk were really just a bunch of boring, power-hungry and/or fucked up rock'n'roll junkie douchebags. In case you didn't know already.

Rush Hour Apparition

2010-04-07T19:47:00.000+02:00

In a sea of gray
your effortless skirt
is only topped
by the Divine Comedy
on your knees.

AURORA

2010-04-05T19:21:00.000+02:00

She came dressed

as a lonely girl.

Not easy; at ease

with herself

by herself

for herself,

on her own feet, firmly

planted in the clouds.

She stripped, lonely

layer after lonely layer.

Bit by bit, piece by piece,

shell by shell.

Standing there,

beaming, glowing,

radiating, silent,

naked.

She moved,

breathed, touched.

Starch sheets, cotton shirts,

warm wood;

shoulders, legs, hair

moist skin.

She stepped away, took

away her skin,

gathered up her layers

and returned.

Jamie.

2010-04-04T15:57:00.001+02:00

Another spoon of sugar,

another spoon of rice.

One more cup of this,

one more glass of that.

Ounce for ounce

and pound for

pound -

Eat. It helps.

Spring cleaning.

2010-04-03T11:48:00.000+02:00

So this blog of mine, Clarity & Chaos, is my baby. Only few people read it, even fewer comment on it, but still - I like it. The only think I don't like at all by now is the randomness of it. The combination of 'original material' - my poetry, Coy Copyboy, the few (but soon to be more) reading journals besides the cool stuff I like to share and the bits on (American) politics is starting to bother me. So, after cleaning out my closet this morning I decided to give Aunt Clarity & Chaos a little niece: clarityandchaos.tumblr.com That's the new place for all the quick links, music videos and politic rants from now on, this blog will be the site for all that original material: Poetry, Coy Copyboy, reading journals. Plus you can still follow me on twitter for the shortest sweet stuff.

Simone.

2010-03-29T20:35:00.000+02:00

Red lips, matching shoes;

A gust of blonde hair,

a cigarette.

She pulls her jacket

tight,

exhaling,

waiting.

Mondays are the

worst - school.

Tuesdays she gets

off work early.

Wednesdays, Thursdays,

fill in the blanks.

Falls in love with Fridays.

Saturdays are an affair,

Sundays are the breakup.

A light drizzle,

rainy fog,

her bus pulls up.

Today she'd be

punctual.

A City Has Many Skins

2010-03-29T13:00:00.002+02:00

"It was in that room that I started to read again. A leaflet says a little, a whole book is full of thoughts, ideas and makes you fall prey to complicated feelings; there is no anaesthesia in the pages of a novel. Often you find discomfort, as if you were sleeping like the princess on the mattresses on top of the pea." (Grant 226)

It's been weeks, months, possibly even a year since I last read a book 'just for fun'. Yesterday I sat down with The Clothes On Their Backs by Linda Grant. I sat down on my comfy bed, in my old room at my parent's place, the bed on which I used to spend hours and hours just reading. Without a pen in hand. Without any music on, once the album I put on stopped. Without anything to drink, once the tea I made myself got cold and I finished it in one big gulp between pages. I did nothing but read. And it felt amazing. (read more)

The book itself was alright. A couple o weeks ago I woke up with an almost desperate urge to go downtown to buy a new book. Since that day was also the International Women's Day, I wanted to buy a book by a female author. That still is a lot harder that it should be these days. The Clothes On Their Backs was the only book by a female author that did not sound too depressing or to obsessed with mental illnesses. (Interesting and common topics, yet not what I was looking for..) A quiet childhood, refugees, glamor, family mysteries, a flashy uncle.. sounded alright.

The book I bought for fun turned out to be no fun read, afterall. But a good one. The book revolves around the coming-of-age story of the narrator, Vivien, a vintage clothes obsessed child of Hungarian immigrants in a small, encapsulated, timid neighborhood in London. The book tackles large topics that, as so many aspects of the character's lives, feel both familiar and strange: The history of Hungarian jews in the second world war; London as a space for post-war refugees, West Indian immigrants, artists, punks, nazi skins and normal people; early marriage, early death and abortion. The at times upsetting or surprising plot if woven together by often elaborate description of fashion, especially of the flashy vintage clothes both Viviane and her mysterious uncle love. Clothes are the only constant, the book seems to tell us, the only part of our lives we can control. Our past, history, our present and our future are constantly changing and beyond our control. The only elements of our identity, of our selves, that we can control are the clothes on our backs.

5 O'Clock

2010-03-23T17:00:00.004+01:00

Cars, cars, cars,
an endless line of postwork pearls.

Buzz, buzz, buzz,
rows of gleaming headlights.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh,
smooth downhill streams.

Home, home, home,
and then back up again.

Just a Quick Thought Regarding Texts, Books, and Textbooks.

2010-03-19T09:47:00.000+01:00

Does anyone have the funds to freely distribute A People's History of the United States around Texas high schools? I do believe that history writing - and textbook writing - is a 'selective editing' process, yet what is going on in Texas these days is just ridiculous. Or it would be ridiculous if it wasn't so sad.

Little Things.

2010-03-16T16:46:00.001+01:00

You wake up as a little thing.
You go to school as a little thing.
You go to work as a little thing.
You go to sleep as a little thing.

You work on little things.
You keep little things.
You hold on to little things.
'Cause it's the little things that count.

A Moment.

2010-03-16T09:23:00.001+01:00

A shared cigarette
   on the balcony.
Words falling between
   them like ashes
whisked away with
   a sigh and a simple gesture.

Feminism is for Freiburg.

2010-03-14T16:36:00.001+01:00

Someone brought Feminism Is For Lovers to Freiburg.

Glenn Beck Tells Us To Run Away - from Jesus?

2010-03-14T11:55:00.000+01:00

Every time I think the crazy surrounding certain U.S. media figures like Glenn Beck reached its climax, they manage to lower (or raise, depends on how you look at it) the bar once more. I almost missed this:

When Glenn Beck told listeners of his radio show on March 2 that they should "run as fast as you can" from any church that preached "social or economic justice" because those were code words for Communism and Nazism, he probably thought he was tweaking a few crunchy religious liberals who didn't listen to the show anyway.

Not that people who actually listen to Beck read this blog, but:

Christians, turn Glenn Beck off as fast as you can.

Supposed to.

2010-03-09T17:46:00.001+01:00

Spring is supposed to be a fresh start
after a long, bleak winter.
Supposed to.
Nature is supposed to start anew;
snow melts, blossoms bloom.
Supposed to.
Creatures are supposed to return,
to shed their winter coats.
Supposed to.
Sunshine is to supposed to warm,
our limbs, our hearts.
Supposed to.
As when the leaves turned,
as when the year turned,
we're supposed
to start
anew.
Supposed to.

Erase and Start It Again.

2010-03-09T17:30:00.000+01:00

Slaughterhouse 90210

2010-02-20T09:43:00.002+01:00

Slaughterhouse 90210 is one of my favorite blogs these days. Celebrity/pop culture photos captioned with quotes from (high) literature. Awesome!

When Morning Comes.

2010-02-17T18:19:00.002+01:00

Craig B and Iain Cook, formerly know as the geniuses behind Aereogramme, released a new, wonderful, quite non-Aereogramme record as The Unwinding Hours. And Solstice played its way right into my Top 10 love songs. Too bad the (animated...) video can't keep up with the song. A 'Hallam Foe'-esque melancholic Glasgow aesthetic might have been too obvious, but still...

You can just switch to a blank tab to enjoy the song.

Maximize Your Investment.

2010-02-09T15:15:00.000+01:00

In the newsletter for the release of I'm New Here, the new record of Gil Scott-Heron ("The Revolution Will Not Be Televised") he described the 'proper procedure' get the maximum out of you CD investment:

Music, for example. Buying a CD is an investment.
To get the maximum you must
LISTEN TO IT FOR THE FIRST TIME UNDER OPTIMUM CONDITIONS.
Not in your car or on a portable player through a headset.
Take it home.
Get rid of all distractions, (even him or her).
Turn off your cell phone.
Turn off everything that rings or beeps or rattles or whistles.
Make yourself comfortable.
Play your CD.
LISTEN all the way through.
Think about what you got.
Think about who would appreciate this investment.
Decide if there is someone to share this with.
Turn it on again.
Enjoy Yourself.

I should go hit the record stores.

Marching Bands and Camouflage Shrubs Make Your Day.

2010-02-06T14:29:00.000+01:00

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

Time to Read.

2010-02-05T16:02:00.000+01:00

In a recent Q&A with Prospect, Martin Amis first claimed to agree with Dryden that "literature is instruction and delight" and is ought to be enjoyed. So far so traditional, so good. In his next answer he dismisses young, contemporary authors:

I don’t read them. I read my friends: Will Self and Zadie Smith. But it’s a fantastically uneconomical way of reading, to read your youngers. No-one knows if they are any good. Only time knows that.

Ian Leslie more or less agrees. Norman Geras in my opinion correctly calls it a " cramped approach from someone who's talking up the tienjoyment of reading". Sure, time is a scare commodity (if you want to introduce economical terms into a discussion about reading, which I fear you have to). So I can't entirely agree with Norman Geras either: You probably can't read it all. Most people just don't have the time or energy for that. But to dismiss young authors because they haven't passed the test of time, or, like all the authors he mentiones before, are part of the canon. In times of loads and loads of user-generated reviews etc. I can easily and quickly determine how big the chances are that I will enjoy any given book. There just is no more need for a strict canon anymore, for literature passing the test of time.

When talking about reading as joy and delight, such normative statements are problematic, anyway.

(photo by moriza http://www.flickr.com/photos/moriza/ / CC BY 2.0)

Humdrum Town.

2010-01-26T14:53:00.000+01:00

Theophilus London gave Hum Drum, one of the shortest, sweetest tracks off his This Charming Mixtape, the full pop single treatment. Extra verse, chorus repeat, video.

I like the vibe. Get the track at Green Label Sound.

"I Hate Fashion."

2010-01-23T12:06:00.000+01:00

Twitter, the blogosphere and all the other places where fashion, culture and boredom intersect are fashionably ablaze in times like these, the week of the Berlin Fashion Week. I must admit, these days bring along a few interesting styles and interviews that are brilliant in text yet a bit ambiguous in picture (German link to an interview with Stefan Eckert ) I have, like so many others, a guilty pleasure in casually subscribing to The Satorialist. And while I do think that personal fashion and style can (but must not) be a tool of self-expression (and fun), I also agree with this article by Tanya Gold in the Guardian. When she describes the experience of having the extensive, expensive siren cry of fashion (or rather: the pressure of the Fashion Industry) as grueling soundtrack of growing up:

Can't you ignore it, you may ask? Can't you squeeze yourself into a library and have an inner life instead? Ha! Anyone who thinks that has never been a young woman staring into the window of Topshop. Sophisticated weapons are employed to make us need the rubbish. And so we do.

Or relates the story of meeting a 16 year old model:

She was a sweet, utterly ordinary girl with an astonishing face. She exuded gloom. She showed me a photograph of herself. It had appeared on the cover of Vogue. "I don't think it looks like me at all," she said. She was right. It didn't. It was a non-existent woman.

Or even mentions the fashionable shoe related death of a 16 year old who fell under a train:

This was different from the usual Fashion Death, where a model has a heart attack on the catwalk, because she lives on grapes. This was an ordinary girl – a bystander. And why was she wearing high-heeled shoes on an icy night? Because fashion, the whispering monster, told her to.

I can't stop nodding my head - and shaking it at the same time. Nodding in agreement. Shaking at the stories - and being surprised at how little I am surprised by these stories. So even though I did not suffer as badly under the cry of fashion as a dude, there is a lot not to like about Fashion. Don't agree? Go read articles like this one.

And This! Machine! Is Dying!

2010-01-22T00:06:00.001+01:00

Few instruments excite me as much as a cello or a hard strumming acoustic guitar. And few things make my heart jump as indie/folk/americana with a raw yet complex sing-a-long vibe.

So, of course, This Machine Is Dying by Kittens Ablaze had me at metaphorical 'Hello'.

via Indiestreber

Keep This Town Alive!

2010-01-19T17:04:00.000+01:00

Wake (Keep This Town Alive) by Finn Riggins is a nice, clever, breezy ray of light - from Iowa, of all places! Perfect for this week - you can almost hear the spring coming (that is: the snow melted) yet you know that it's still a long home stretch through winterland.

American Ghetto

2010-01-16T19:39:00.000+01:00

To conclude Portugal. the Man day: Apart from releasing the video for the Sun, Portugal. the Man also announced that they're releasing new material soon:

We will shortly make an official announcement for the release of American Ghetto. This one is for you, we are not sending it to press and we are not sending it to radio. When all the finishing touches are complete we will make it available to everyone on the same day. OK, we will answer 2 questions right now…
1. Yes, it is an entire album, 11 songs
2. Yes, it is a slightly more electronic, beats, samplers, etc. album than The Satanic Satanist. Maybe not something for the casual listener but for those who have a most of our records we think you will love it.

If it's anything like a It's Complicated Being A Wizard for Satanic Satanist (it sure does sond like it), I'll be jumping circles.

Big, Bad, Sunny Sheep.

2010-01-16T11:29:00.000+01:00

Portgal. the Man released a video for The Sun, prominently featuring their bass player Zach in a sheep costume.

The awesomeness just never stops flowing from this band.

Distorted Pop.

2010-01-15T18:46:00.001+01:00

Is your heating on?
Are you feeling warm?
About the future,
about the future.

Tonight.

Weather Warning

Cain | MySpace Video

The Xcerts: Weather Warning.

yeah.

This Must Be It.

2010-01-14T20:21:00.000+01:00

Music television is dead. But that's alright. Music videos can finally go back/become (of course unprofitable) art and genius shot movies that enrich the song. Instead of being promotional tools and, by chance, artworks.
Today's example of what music videos can be: Röyksopp - This Must Be It

Röyksopp 'This Must Be It' from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

Candy or Poetry?

2010-01-08T17:19:00.004+01:00

What a brilliant idea - a 1964 candy vending machiene turned into a Poetry Machine by the editors of Molossus:

The machine sold nine different poems by category—from Love Poem to Food Poem to Poem to Help You Get Laid*—including work by Amatoritsero Ede, Armando Celayo, Ryan Van Winkle, Elizabeth Aamot, David Shook, and Víctor Terán.

This machine debuted in Sept. '09 in LA for for the 13th annual Silver Lake Art Crawl.More machienes are to be distributed, for example in El Paso. I'd love to read the actual poems inside - or better, have a couple of these machines closer by. That'd be one healthy diet.

*Of course, one of the categories has to be 'Poem to Help You Get Laid. Sigh.

Giuliani: No Domestic Attacks

2010-01-08T16:05:00.002+01:00

Being in the opposition apparently does weird things to you and your memory. For example, you claim that there was no domestic terrorist attack in the US during George W. Bush's rule, despite the fact that your international claim to fame is that you were the mayor of a city that experienced the largest domestic terrorist attack - on September 11, 2001.

Decade Under the Influence.

2009-12-31T14:00:00.002+01:00

What better way to leave the Noughties than with a song by a band that's one of the biggest representatives in a genre I used to like a lot, then grew tired of; used to be full of emotion and excitement, and then turned big and ... shit. Just like the Noughties. To hell with you and all your friends, 2009.

Iconic Noughties.

2009-12-30T11:57:00.004+01:00

Phillip Niemayer did a graphic review of the past decade for the New York Times.
Very cool.
(Via Pascal and The Junction.)

Or We Could Move On.

2009-12-18T16:55:00.002+01:00

One of the most beautiful songs I discovered in the past, say, half year is Or We Could Move On by Happiness. I discovered it as a download on Karo's blog. And now, Karo herself did a wonderful version of it. Do check it out.

Your Idols are Dead.

2009-12-15T19:03:00.006+01:00

A recent survey conducted by the British-American Tobacco funded Stiftung für Zukunftsfragen asked 14 - 29 year olds, who they would name as a role model/idol (Vorbild):

Mother Teresa (24%), Martin Luther King (20%), Mahatma Gandhi (15%), Anne Frank (14%), Hans and Sophie Scholl (11%) and Graf von Stauffenberg (7%).

Yes, they're all dead.
Doesn't really surprise me, though. I, too, would have a hard time to come up with a lively answer for that question, especially among "public figures". If pressed, I at the moment would feel least uncomfortable with Michele Obama (seriously).

What does surprise me, though, is that no athlete or popstar pops up in this top 6 list. Maybe (hopefully) my/the next generation did* finally understand that stars aren't role models**. Yet most people probably might still have "famous" people in mind when talking about role models/idols. Unfortunately, I'd say, since in my opinion, family members and everyday heroes are the best role models - maybe the only role models one should have, if one doesn't want to reject the concept "role model" entirely.

I found this survey in a post on Mädchenmannschaft, which describes hard time the participants in a recent discussion had to find a female role model. One interesting example that cought my eye was that somebody mentioned Lena Odental - but the participant wouldn't specify whether he meant the Tatort character or the actress portraying her, Ulrike Folkerts.
Maybe today's idols are dead - or fictional.

*Or the survey is just flawed. The list is way too conventional - and neat.
** Rockstars are either "just like us... or dicks"

Young Rebel Set.

2009-12-11T14:45:00.006+01:00

Young Rebel Set, the new band on the wonderful Grand Hotel van Cleef label, fit right into the musical scope of this blog. Folk. Indie. Alleged Springsteen & Dylan references. Beards. Hailing from Stockton-on-Tees, they're also something for people who listen to Artic Monkeys, Maximo Park etc. 'because of the accent'. Here's the video for a charming litte ditty called "If I Was":

And! - they're coming to Freiburg on 29.01.10
Young Rebel Set might just blow up or fade away - haven't quite made up my mind. But for now, you can believe the hype.

Drain the Blood.

2009-12-09T23:33:00.002+01:00

The Rural Alberta Advantage, probably my best discovery this year, released a video to Drain the Blood today. Apparently it's their first official video. Nice!

Evolution of Storage

2009-12-09T17:04:00.004+01:00

An amazing graphic documenting the evolution of storage devices:

Evolution of Storage by Curtiss Spontelli

via.

“I’ve always wondered something. Why is it called a ‘revolver’?”

2009-12-08T17:21:00.002+01:00

I can't even begin to express the condescending creepiness of this 80s video teaching women - mothers - how to use - and accessorize - guns. For fun and protection, ye know?

Isn't the internet amazing, how it keeps bringing (hilarious?)crap like this up? In this case, everythingisterrible.com dug it up. And you're never going to unknow this. Sorry.

Edward stalks Buffy.

2009-12-02T09:03:00.003+01:00

An mash-up of Twighlight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, adding a interesting perspective to the Edward craze:

“In this re-imagined narrative, Edward Cullen from the Twilight Series meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s an example of transformative storytelling serving as a pro-feminist visual critique of Edward’s character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy’s eyes, some of the more sexist gender roles and patriarchal Hollywood themes embedded in the Twilight saga are exposed - in hilarious ways. Ultimately this remix is about more than a decisive showdown between the slayer and the sparkly vampire. It also doubles as a metaphor for the ongoing battle between two opposing visions of gender roles in the 21ist century.”

(Via.)

Top Ten iSongs.

2009-12-01T14:26:00.004+01:00

Today is the first day of the last month of the first decade of the new century. So, of course, everyone is doing Top XY of the Noughties lists.
I want(ed) to do that as well. Of course. But since I'm 'working' on it for a month now and still haven't made up my mind how to sort, include, publish the list, or if I want to do it at all, I'll start with a Top 10 of songs that have been scrobbled onto my last.fm profile. I changed the list a bit to include only 1 song/artist. The list is by no means representative, as I only started last.fm in 2006, only started to include songs listend to on my iPod last week and still listen to a lot of music not on my computer. But anyhow, here it is:

1 Bon Iver – Flume
2 Portugal. The Man – AKA M80 the Wolf
3 The Rural Alberta Advantage - In the Summertime
4 Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today
5 Karo - Schweinfurt
6 Muff Potter - Das Frozen Man Syndrom
7 Why? - The Hollows
8 Jimmy Eat World - Table for Glasses
9 The Joy Formidable - The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade
10 Popup - Lucy, What You Trying to Say?

Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!

2009-11-28T11:51:00.003+01:00

Neil Patrick Harris is a shoe fairy, sings; got shoes for Sesame Street.

via Sneakergirls.

The Bra-Burning Myth - Uncovered!

2009-11-19T19:04:00.003+01:00

From Indexed

Healin' and Killin': New Zealand Is Doin' It Right.

2009-11-19T16:24:00.003+01:00

Okay, that might be a bit oversimplified. But New Zealand is spending 18.4% of its budget on health care, and 3.1% in its military. Actually, that's quite similar to the spending in Germany. And are "we" doin' it rite? Compared to others, maybe. The US is spending ruffly as much on its military than on health care (at the moment).
Compare these statistics yourself on Visual Economics and Sociological Images.
By the way, the US is spending 17.1% of the budget on education, New Zealand 15.1% and Germany - 9.5%
Ah, comparing statistics to turn them into populist slogans - it ain't easy.

Freiburg is on fire!?

2009-11-17T13:38:00.004+01:00

In the last couple of weeks, and especially today, a large number of protest are going on all around Austria, Germany and other European countries as part of teh so-called Bildungsstreik. This is (or is supposed to be) a map of all universities where students are taking part in the protest against the the past introduction of tuition fees, the Bologna reform and other education related issues..

Unsere Unis auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

Here in Freiburg, a demo with ruffly 5000 participants just ended and the main auditorium is occupied by students since Monday night. More info on twitter and on the corresponding website. The motto is "uni brennt" or "Freiburg brennt" (Uni/Freiburg is on fire), which is catchy yet, due to the implied violence, problematic.
We'll see where this goes. I wouldn't go as far as claiming that the broad student protest movement is "back", but there is certainly something going on. And the protest and demands are even slightly more differentiated and creative than in the past. It's also interesting to see the participation of high school students. Might add my 2 cents later, yet first I have to get back to... studying.

Poetry or Prose?

2009-11-11T13:45:00.003+01:00

Once again, I am at a point where I ask myself: What is the better way to express all those timeless, priceless moments in life, good and bad, beautiful and ugly, sublime and vulgar? Poetry or prose?

So, if you can be arsed, let me know in the little poll box on the right hand side. Or, even better, start discussing in the comments section. Or both. Or whatever.

Clay Shirky on Copyrights, Prohibition and Access to Knowledge.

2009-11-09T13:45:00.002+01:00

In an interesting interview with GRITtv, Clay Shirky talks twitter, technology, access to knowledge, journalism - and compares copyright law to the prohibition.

(via netzpolitik)

Homeward Bound.

2009-11-08T15:21:00.002+01:00

Traveling down
a road you know
too well -

Travelers enchanted
by the sights are
too peculiar -

Pressing their noses
against windows you
don't need.

Mechanically you put on
your coat to arrive
before they remember
their suitcases.

Asti on the Train.

2009-11-08T14:46:00.002+01:00

Sixteen-year-olds,
giggling,
discover the joy
of popping bottles
of Asti on the train.

Traveling and drinking,
talking 'bout boys,
for no good reason.

Twenty years from now
they'll have to join
clubs and societies,
to talk, travel and drink.

Boys turned into husbands,
the bottles multiplied,
the giggles got louder
- but rare.

Drink and dialect remain,
only the sixteen-year-olds
get lost on the way.

Everybody's Gonna Be An Author.

2009-11-07T17:58:00.004+01:00

An interesting chart showing facebook and twitter authors and comparing the development to book authors:

Seed Magazine: From nearly universal literacy to nearly universal authorship.
(via Andrew Sullivan)
The post title is of course borrowed from this. Somebody should do a corresponding cover.

Come on baby let me tell you
All the things I wanna say
Come on baby let me tell you
All the things I wanna say, and
Everybody's gonna be an author,
which means you and me, my love.

(Un)favorability.

2009-11-03T13:28:00.003+01:00

The anniversary of his election is coming up, time for a litte Obama related quiz.
A recent poll shows 2 variants of his favorability-unfavorability rating:
a) 28-67
b) 68-23

Guess which rating is for the Southern states.

Via marbury.

Hell.

2009-10-26T20:45:00.003+01:00

No, not a commentary on this foggy, tired, late fall Monday. It's the new Tegan and Sara video 'Hell'. I like the tune, haven't made sense of the video yet. Especially of the flower-print-little-house-in-the-prairie-dress-Burqa-esque-thing. But well, here it is:

Hell - Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara | MySpace Video

Pretty neat nevertheless.

From the Mighty Streets of Freiburg.

2009-10-20T19:21:00.002+02:00

Chin Up!
Nice to see that at a tram station on the first day day of class.

Monday Music for the New Term.

2009-10-19T10:29:00.001+02:00

It's all starting all over again.

The Anti-Beatles.

2009-10-12T21:47:00.002+02:00

Last night I saw Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback, a documentary about The Monks, a fairly experimental art garage beat band of 5 GIs. They were designed to be the Anti-Beatles - and their sound blew me away! Active between 1964 and 1967! Beat-Proto-Punk-Heavy-Metal-Noise-Art! Wow.

Lonely for So Long.

2009-10-05T21:32:00.003+02:00

This nice new video from Olli Schulz reminds me of my long trip through the night in a Greyhound from San Francisco back to Oregon in 2006. So lonely and yet so wonderful. And I could barely keep myself to singing along to the music I was listening to as well.
The song, 'So lange einsam' is pretty nice as well.

Live Disintegration.

2009-10-04T18:24:00.006+02:00

I've spend my last night
strung up and pulled tight, holding out
sleeping proud.

Sadly, Disintegration (along with Stay on My Side Tonight companion Closer) is the last really great song Jimmy Eat World wrote since 2005. The album version features Tony Hajjar (Sparta) and producer Mark Trombino on additional percussion. I'm glad to hear that their teaming up with Mark Trombino again.

My Will Is Good.

2009-10-02T21:41:00.003+02:00

The video might be a bit too cute, but the tune is really nice: Port O'Brien's "My Will Is Good". It's going straight on my imaginary autumn mixtape.

A Bear with Chainsaws for Paws Still Loses.

2009-10-02T14:09:00.002+02:00

Once again, Jon Stewart is hilarious when angry - and is right. His commentary on the Democratic Super Majority and the mess in congress:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Democratic Super Majority

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Ron Paul Interview

Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Birthermercial.

2009-09-29T19:15:00.005+02:00

The infamous birther conspiracy movement has now spawned a late night infomerical. The woderful Rachel Maddow takes 'em on:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Zoot Woman's Memory

2009-09-28T20:06:00.002+02:00

Here's a pretty cool pretty new pretty video for Zoot Woman's Memory. Boy-remembers-girl.
Polaroids + Animations + Heartbreak + Cute Couple = Indie Cliché Bingo.
But still witty and good. Like the tune as well.

Wow, White Middle-Aged Males Do Not Need Maternity Care.

2009-09-26T16:23:00.003+02:00

Dialog of the day from Feministing:

[US Senator John] Kyl: "I don't need maternity care" in my benefits package.
[US Senator Debbie] Stabenow fires back: "I think your mom probably did."

Yeah.. This also shows how incredibly 'valid' the claim was that women/people of color, e.g. "wise Latinas", speak from a heavily biased position but white, Middle-aged men are totally neutral in their thoughts and decisions.

Happy Birthday, Boss.

2009-09-23T18:36:00.003+02:00

Bruce Springsteen turned 60 today. Apparently he celebrated by performing Born to Run in its entirety on the eve of his birthday. What a way to turn 60.
Here is an amazing performace of "Lost in the Flood", one of my favorites from his first album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J..

It's All A Bit Too Much For Ol' Copyboy.

2009-09-23T15:00:00.001+02:00

Psychedelic Zombie Mummies from Outer Space Love Geometric Shapes!

2009-09-22T09:52:00.004+02:00

Portugal. the Man released a new video for "Do You".

Portugal. the Man - Do You from Ryan Rothermel on Vimeo.

Weird. Wonderful!

Update: Kanye and i have something in common now..

San Francisco: The Literary City

2009-09-14T10:59:00.004+02:00

A map of San Francisco filled with literary quotes refering to the city or a district in the city. Awesome.
More at Strange Maps and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Dies.

2009-09-11T16:23:00.003+02:00

Fata morganas
of empty vessels.

Ought to bring
precious gold from
coast to coast -
instead rotting
on the vast ocean floor.

Failed remnants of
wood and water.

To Work a Crowd.

2009-09-09T08:48:00.003+02:00

Al Franken, former comedian and author, now the Junior Democratic Senator for Minnesota, actually managed to have a calm, intelligent, constructive, productive discussion on health care with a group of tea party protesters.

via.

In the Summertime.

2009-09-07T22:35:00.005+02:00

A glass of red wine. The window wide open, the last summer night breeze. Remembering the smell of fresh cut grass and hot blacktop. A special person on the phone. This song on the stereo.
The only way to end this summer.

The daytrotter version is even more beautiful.
Rural Alberta Advantage - In the Summertime

The Library of Guantanamo.

2009-09-07T17:20:00.002+02:00

The prison on Guantanamo Bay has a library of 13,500 books. The list of books that are most requested is surprisingly... normal.

1. Harry Potter books, J.K Rowling.
2. Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes.
3. Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama

Could be any city library, really.

More at marbury.

All Is Love.

2009-09-02T23:15:00.004+02:00

So this is the (first) single from the OST of the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are movie.

Charming. Sounds like Tilly and the Wall and Arcade Fire were in the same children's choir conducted by Karen O.

Karen O. & the Kids - All Is Love