musical ignoramous

berlin is a mecca for 'alternative' music types. and apparently they are particularly mad for this electronica business. i met a number of people there who were in berlin exclusively for the 'scene' and i was even fortunate enough to be presented with a copy of a datafreq album by the artist himself. though looking at hismyspacepage makes me think i might not ever unwrap it (wtf is pure analog synthpop?)

as i was bound to come across some hardcore music types, i suppose i should have brushed up on some obscure bands to name drop, or at least shut up about music for the duration of the week..

not possible.

penny and i were in the 'coolest' (according to time out) bar on kastanienallee. we had eaten enormous plates of turkish deliciousness and were knocking back the vino when penny recognised the cat empire being played. we had a bit of a bop along and penny reminisced about a show she saw them play. later when we were paying our bill i drunkenly decided to impress the impossibly cool bartender with the tintin hairdo (who had put on the music!!) by claiming we were friends with the cat empire.*

me (lecherously): do you like the cat empire? they are friends of ours
impossibly cool bartender with tintin hairdo (disdainfully): oh.. cool
me (persistently): you played them before
impossibly cool bartender with the tintin hairdo (derisively): yes, but.. they are a bit too ... mainstream ... for me

so much for ingratiating myself with the berlin 'scene'. i shouldn't even try, berlin is way too edgy for me. i couldn't stop laughing all the way home..

*actual friendship based purely on meeting one of the members once in an airport when he stopped to talk to petey who is actually friends with the cat empire

some thoughts on internment

while i was in poland i visited Auschwitz, something i couldn't decide if i wanted to do or not since i decided on the trip. i was tormented with thoughts on whether is was 'responsible' to go - should nazi sites become tourist meccas? or are they ultimately about educating people and remembrance?

well, i decided to go anyway, not really knowing what to expect but thinking that i might be able to use the experience in my teaching somehow. also i wanted to compare it to Sachsenhausen, the german concentration camp i went to a week earlier. they certainly were different, the most obvious difference in how they were 'presented'. the german one had modern, slick entrances and an audio tour and relics in glass boxes lit from the inside. in contrast, the entrance to Auschwitz is confusing with no instructions for the visitor telling them where to go or how to move around or where to obtain a map, and the english explanations on exhibits are full of proofreading errors. this is more of an observation than a complaint though, and i thought that the way they had rooms full of confiscated glasses and shoes and suitcases and rows and rows of inmate photographs was very effective. it reminded me a lot of the S21 museum in phnom penh.

i'm not sure why but the visit didn't move me as much as i thought that it might. being the serial over analyser that i am, this worried me a bit. was it because i've been fascinated by the holocaust since i was 12 when i read the diary of anne frank and since then have read so much and seen so many pictures and had read/seen even more in the last week in berlin, so that when actually confronted with the location of this calculated death machine i was beyond being horrified by it all? i am perfectly aware of how capable the nazis were of committing these atrocities and on what scale they did so, so am i now incapable of being shocked? maybe it was because it was a beautiful day and as i walked down the railway that runs between that infamous building i was feeling the sun on my face and couldn't help but feel positive?

i don't know.. i thought i would feel more haunted maybe... to be able to feel the presence of millions of dead. maybe i'm an insensitive freak but the most shocking thing i found was the fact that if you signed up for a tour of the camp they gave people a little square to wear on your shirt, the colour depending on which language you took the tour in. it seemed a little to close to the way the nazis would classify prisoners with coloured triangles on their uniforms (yellow for jew, black for gypsies, purple for jehovah's etc...) i wondered if they were doing it for effect or if i was just a massively inappropriate system.. it made me laugh anyway and i didn't really feel bad about doing so. like i said, it was a confusing day.

things to like about berlin

• like japan, it seemed like a city of contradictions which makes the place a particularly interesting place to visit..
  
• the pavements are nice and wide so you can walk at your own pace without fear of irritating those behind you

• unbelievably tasty turkish food
• german boys are very handsome
• the city has so much fascinating history it's thoroughly absorbing for a history nerd. this is the topography of terror museum situated in ruins of the gestapo headquarters with a length of the berlin wall just behind it
• people aren't as intimidatingly stylish as they are in london
• the city is fairly flat and has lots of bike lanes so its enormous fun to ride around on a bicycle (not as much fun when you're nearly killed 8 times because you're expecting the traffic to come from the opposite direction)
• the way they have managed to sensitively and powerfully memorialise aspects of a pretty unpleasant past. this is the holocaust memorial and walking through it makes you feel as disorientated and confused as the prisoners in concentration camps must have felt
  
• you can fall asleep in a museum and are not disturbed by some over-zealous museum employee.. the poorly laid out and confusing checkpoint charlie museum would send anyone to sleep.. though it might also have something to do with the cold and flu tablets and the beer i had with lunch..
• german is quite satisfying to pronounce, particularly 'ich möchte ein glas weiβwein bitte'
• amongst the enormous amounts of graffiti there is some that is lovely
• there is a lot of open, public space perfect for falling asleep on the grass on a sunday afternoon
• the germans seem like a very honest people, there are honour systems everywhere which makes for a lovely sense of community
  
• the efficient public transport system THAT DOESN'T STOP AT MIDNIGHT!
• 'art' that reminded me strongly of 'gloomy the naughty adult bear'

all in all i had a lovely time in berlin despite staying in the strangest hostel/hotel in the world.. i have more to say but have a load of marking to get through before i can indulge in blogging. but lastly, just for linley: my best joel northcott impression (my 'hollywood' sunglasses would particularly impress mr marx and mr engels methinks..)