torres everywhere

great gifts

dead like me and a very great longing for american-style breakfast

my new daily show is “dead like me” – soo funny, so un-american, with an almost british sense of humor – me likey very much – but it has one very bad side effect – the undead, the reaper-gang meet at a waffle house every day and that makes me long for american-style breakfast big time – mhm, waffles, pancakes with maple syrup, crisp bacon and eggs, hash browns and sausage, grilled cheese – i am hungry!

the jackson hype

it has taken the world by surprise – michael jackson’s dead – millions of fans around the whole world are grieving – i am not so sure – of course, he’s a legend and like every other good pop star, he had to have the scandals, outrageous life-style and crazy ideas – i just don’t think too much of this whole idea of making your kids wear masks or, even worse, changing your whole self beyond recognition – but i guess that’s the way he had to be – and whatever else there is to say, whole generations of us have grown up with his music and that will stay!

berlin has it’s own way to cope – apart from vigils and spontaneous meetings either to sit in grief or to celebrate the music, people talk and form their own ideas – my co-worker decided, he’s simply done the elvis and is really not dead at all, just gone undercover (hard to imagine barbie-man jackson going anywhere and not being recognized, but the general idea is appealing, it would suit his craziness) – someone else said, he’s glad for the children because it seems they now have a chance to grow up somewhat normal

my office not only overlooks the brandenburg gate, but als berlin’s own version of madam tussaud’s (outrageously expensieve, but always busy – http://www.madametussauds.com/berlin/) – they not only put their michael jackson copy out front, but also put out a book of condolence, so fans could sign their name alongside getting their photo taken with their idol – the media seized the chance and rolled up with cameras to interview the grieving masses – i have yet to find proof any of the footage actually made it on screen, but i sure enough watched rtl-ntv and news24 camera men all morning and afternoon yesterday – once again, i am not sure, what to think – it’s just an other person dead – okay, he was famous and dying at his age is a pity, but then – he’s  the king of pop, he lived his life to the full, so death probably saved him some troublesome times – in the end there’s only one thing that’s important

gotta love IKEA

got style?

americanize me

unsuspecting me on my way to work – sunny monday morning – i quite enjoy myself and the early morning buzz of the city around me – then, i nearly fall of my bike – i see an advertising pillar with a huge ad on the soon to be opened berlin hooters – i am in shock – it’s not enough that there are mcdonald’s, burger king and starbucks on every second street corner, that our police is turning from green to blue and our educational system goes down the bachelor/master drain – no, we now start adapting tasteless american rituals as well – in a prude society, that america would like us to think they are, a bar like hooters is simply ironic – scantily dressed girls in a business that defines itself as “delightfully tacky yet unrefined” and offers a ” work environment in which joking and sexual innuendo based on female sex appeal is commonplace” – in a country where everyone can sue anyone for anything and literally anything is possible, if it is not hushed up (!!!) i wouldn’t wonder, if sexual harassment was at the menu at hooters just as well, only we don’t know – somehow i find the idea of a hooters in germany silly and slightly repugnant – it may be that hooters is trendy and cool and a must-do in america, but who needs to export it?

diane arbus

there is no one who could capture the absurd moments of humanity quite as good as diane arbus – my favourite ever photographer – her photos, always with a little bit about the disturbing about them, make me want to go out and photograph people – she was able to combine the extraordinary with the incredible – her photos express the wide expanse of human nature and she has never been afraid to show the beauty in the unusualness of people – she took “portraits of people on the fringes of society, such as transvestites, dwarfs, giants, prostitutes and ordinary working class citizens, in unconventional poses and settings” – once upon a time in new york city, in the incredible metropolitan, i saw her life’s works exhibition and ever since, nothing has quite reached up to that – it is simply hard to top

identical twins, 1967

the junior interstate ballroom dance champions, 1963

a young brooklyn family going for a sunday outing, 1966

child with toy hand granate in central park, 1962

jewish giant at home with his parents, 1970

blaze starr at home, 1964

untitled, 1970-71

double self portrait with daughter doon, 1945

the shocking downfall of brad pitt – pornstache, the third

it’s just ewwwwwww – he’s lost anything ever remotely attractive

eccentric ascot

every girl’s dream – if horse girl or not – to attend ascot and show off your hat, which, of course – must be extraordinaire and with a touch of the eccentric about it – i looked around the internet to chose this year’s favourite and get some more ideas as to which one i’d wear, would i ever have the chance to get to ascot – or the queen’s garden party, for that matter, i am not particular – it’s a tight draw between those two, but a definite decision for feathers, not flowers!

n

funny or not?

me think – very funny

hot or not?

i just don’t know, really? – i am speechless, for once

IKEA – style

summer breeze

with príncipe socorrido off sick – assumably with swine flu, i was next in line for a special treat last night – an exclusive dinner with important people from all over the world – i was the least important, only the little intern, but i enjoyed it so much – i met so many interesting people and it felt very nice to be talking in english again for a change

so, we took a bus to the wannsee, south of berlin and then moved on to be shipped across the lake in the “royal louise”, an exact replica of the ship that used to take five generations of royal prussians around the potsdam lake systems – fancy that add champagne and sunshine and you get one happy me

we landed at the villa thiede – right next to villa liebermann (where max liebermann lived and painted, probably my favourite “der papageienmann” as well – link, link, link – there it was dinner music, more champagne, some speeches by people i am still amazed at having now actually met in person and a rather nice dinner with bbq, salad, lemon butter and bread, sweet little nothings for desert and a choice of red and white wines – at ten o’clock the bus took us back to berlin and me, intoxicated with the day’s events into bed, where i slept soundlessly for the first time in days

spotted

angela merkel – about two meters away from me – on her way to attend the ceremony of the unveiling of a memorial tablet, which we attended with our boss – exciting!

i love … that line

best thing about the movie, the book is so much better anyways

ron-dezvous

not a pretty idea indeed – first we learn, he is going to quit manchester – ugliest city in the world – to go to sunny spain, whatever good that might bring – england surely will miss him

but now this – sucking faces with paris hilton in trendy hollywood? – duh, he snubbed her only last year (poor thing), but somehow the 80 million and some alcohol did the trick and now we’re all just grossed out by images like this one

oh dear, no – some news we just don’t want to know – and the last bit of hope for ronnie’s saneness is gone flushing down the drain – he seems your ordinary brainless, vain …  uhm, sportsman? … uhm, footballer? … uhm, male? whatever, here’s our favourite memories of dear old ronnie during good old manU times

more ronnie tantrums, sulks and dives? – follow the link below

http://www.ronaldos-greatest-ever-tantrums-sulks-and-dives/

just my luck

as always it starts raining just when i have left home and am well on my bike to work – and today i was so very tired – but then, just like that, luck changed – i saw not one, but just about fifty chimney sweeps, congregated right beneath the brandenburg gate – due to majorly eating and drinking excesses that lasted well into the night before, i wore glasses instead of contacts and those were clouded with rain, so i almost did not believe my four eyes – almost because there they really, really were there

must-have item of the month

in black, please

can’t wait

Billie Piper returns to Doctor Who to see David Tennant bow out in all-star show

Their on-screen pairing as Rose and The Doctor made both Billie Piper and David Tennant household names. So it was only fitting that new mother Billie should return to Doctor Who for Tennant ’s final two episodes as the Timelord. The 26-year-old actress joins an all-star cast for  the emotional send-off of the popular star. Yesterday Tennant, dressed in the Doctor’s signature suited style, was seen filming some of his last scenes from the sci-fi family drama. Billie had earlier filmed scenes nearby, wrapped in scraf and gloves, and the two were seen chatting together in a break from filming. Tense scenes: David Tennant walks through air swirling with snow as he films his last moments for a two-episode finale to his time in Doctor Who. The final two episodes will be broadcast over the Christmas period and will see Tennant regenerate as Matt Smith, who replaces him as the 11th Doctor.