So it’s the last day of the year. Sentimentality is still in full effect and I’m thinking about the last 12 and of course the upcoming 12 months. Even with all the melancholy inside of me I still feel really excited about what’s coming in 2009; looking back I think 2008 was really great.
My highlight this past year was definitely the new Lil’ Wayne album.
Yeeees, I know that that’s kinda played out, but hey… I really love it. I love the attitude, it’s cockyness, the swagga. And this said, here comes one thing that annoyed me a bit in 2008: the extensive use of the word “swagga”! Seriously – it existed before and all of a sudden it was everywhere! Everybody was using it on every occasion possible! Swagga this, swagga that.
No one in the corner had swaaga like Britney. For real! Who would’ve guessed that the girl would come back like that?! Definitely not me! Homegirl worked out, grew some hair on her head and *boom* was back in business. I love it! Not necessarily her, but definitely the entire story!
A guy I grew to love, adore, admire and somewhat desire is Barack Obama. I mean, how could we think of 2008 and not mention HIM. Outragiously good looking, smart, and so far more than trustworthy. It’ gotta be: Yes, he can!
Other things I loved this year: Givenchy and Balenciaga shoes, Acne shirts, Nudie Jeans, GHD flat iron, the return of the baggy pants for girls, my great new fragrance by genious perfumer Mark Buxton, Mavala nail polish, Digital Gravel, my first trip to Paris, doing real touristy stuff, hosting MTV Designerama, hosting the MTV Game Awards, my new tatoo etc. I could go on forever – 2008 was great!
The one thing I’m really looking forward to big time in 2009 is “The Blueprint 3″. Jay Z is releasing the 3rd and probably last part of the Blueprint series. I’m really hyped, kids – it’s gonna be epic! The EMAs are coming to Berlin in fall. I’m super excited and hope to be really close to the action! I promised myself to got to Eritrea this year, spend less money on unnecessary stuff like more shoes, bags and stuff in general (Givenchy and Balenciaga shoes don’t count!). I really want to get some great chairs for my living room, want to deejay and work out more. I want to go Asia or the Caribbean, have a blast at my best friend’s wedding, have the biggest birthday party ever and create my own universe with actually not a little but a lot of help from my friends! I guess that’s enough, huh? This ishow we roll….
I took some time off from blogging. I enjoyed my wonderful stay back home, had great food, ate waaaay too much and now I just love, love, love being back in Berlin.
It’s funny. Going back home is always a trip to your past. I saw people I haven’t seen in years, saw how they developed and kept on wondering how I’d be, had I stayed in Goeppingen. Who would I date, what would I do for a living, what would I look like? I guess it’s absolutely useless to ask all those questions, because there’s obviously no way they could all be answered but they just linger. Maybe because the year is coming to an end and we all start to look back in general, maybe because I had some major flashbacks involving some people that once meant a lot to me! I have no clue. But I’m really sentimental these days…
That said, a song that brings back craaazy memories: Usher “You Make Me Wanna” (1997)
I’m flying home to see my family tonight. Goeppingen I’m coming! And I am happy. You guys have no idea how much I am yearning for this break. This year, a vacation just wouldn’t do, the past 12 months have been so crazy, that I need some quality mommy-and-daddy-brothers-and-sisters-time. I need some my-favorite-Eritrean-breakfast-in-the-morning-time. Some let’s-make-it-a-family-affair-and-have-us-four-”kids”-go-out-time.
At times, going back home for Christmas can be annoying. This year I am going to avoid bigger crowds, because I see all kinds of questions and comments coming my way (“so, how is tv?” or “do you still like berlin?” or “so what shows do u do again? u know i don’t really watch mtv, only arte tracks.” …..) but I’m definitely looking forward to some people I still care much about. I’m gonna see old friends and on the 25th I’m having an old school 90s christmas party, with aaaaaaall the homegirls and homeboys from back in da day! Waaaaaaaah!!! So excited about it.
So in the next couple of days get ready for some small town action. Cause that’s how we get down in da derty derty!
Charles Hamilton, New York’s hottest boy wonder, and his wonderful ode to the girls of Brooklyn. You gotta love his cockyness, the attitude, his charme and and his wit. The boy’s got balls. He’s f*ckin’ pretentious and I love him for that. Verifies my theory: Ain’t nothing wrong with a certain amount of ego. As long as you can back it up, be as braggy as you wanna be! That’s aaaalright with me! Definitely alright when we’re talking about Charles. The video is full of wonderful shots of Harlem and of course Brooklyn which is by faaar my favorite place in NYC!
So, I’m obviously still sick, slowly starting to curse myself for going over the top on the weekend. But oh well…. at least I had fun and I think I would’ve gotten sick anyways. Being sick is reeeeeaaaaally annoying.
a) You feel miserable.
b) There’s absolutely NOTHING on the telly.
and because of a) and b) you
c) sleep too much.
Most of my sick time I spend on the computer. I feel like I know every single video on youtube, have checked every unsigned band on myspace, deleted every unnecessary friend from my facebook-contacts, visited all of my favorite online shops, answered all the unanswered emails, know all the news on bossip.com, people.com and perezhilton.com. and now I’m moving on to sitcoms and movies I always wanted to watch. I’ll start with “30 Rock”, then watch “In Bruges”. I’m happy about any recommendations, because sick life is booooooring as hell.
…was off the hook. Well… at least Saturday. Sunday was… let’s say not so good. And now I’m sick. I guess, that’s what I get.
First: Hertha won, bitcheeeeez!!!! And who’s going into winter break 3rd? Yep, Hertha is! Saturday afternoon, we got picked up from home. Paul was our driver and I must say he was cool as hell.
We got to the Olympiastadium a bit early, so there was enough time to eat. Schööööön Gänsebraten mit Rotkohl und Klößen.
We had great seats.
And since Hertha won 4:0, you can tell how I grew happier by the minute!
Thanks to Benni, Gregor and Paul for the great afternoon!
I do not wanna talk about the performance of my beloved VfB Stuttgart. All I’m gonna say is that they were great! They actually deserved to win. But we all know Fussballgott (that unreliable, ungrateful son of a gun and we’re not talking about Jürgen Kohler here!!), so I guess we should glad about the last second tie, otherwise Bayern would be Herbstmeister!
Back to more pleasant things. After the game, and of course a quick stop at home, we headed to the Peter Fox concert. *SOLD OUT* Columbiahalle!!! Atmosphere was amazing, so was the concert. If you’ve listened to the album you’ll know that drums play a big role in Pierre’s music. So he had Cold Steel with him on stage, four drummers from North Carolina that know their drumming business! I tried to take pictures, shit just turned out waaay to blurry. But, what the heck…. you do get the idea!
The afterparty was fun. But we didn’t stay too long: Still had a birthday to go to! And this is the hot b-day kid! My lovely Joy! Happy B-day, hon!
4 o’clock in the mornin, where we gonna be? Not outside on the corner, but on our way to Cookies to dance. And we did. Skism played and Artoo played. Henne had me dancing for an hour!
I was home at 5.30AM. Tired as hell, already knowing that going out for that long was not a good idea. Turns out I was soooo right. Yesterday was bad already. Today I feel horrible. My throat is soar, my head feels like it’s about to explode. And still. Saturday was a great day and so far I feel like it was worth it. If I have fever tomorrow, I’ll probably curse myself for being that careless, but hey… right now… whatever!
…is a busy day. 1st: Olympiastadium where Hertha is playing KSC (Gooooooo Hertha!!!). Then Peter Fox who is playing at the *sold out* Columbiahalle. After the show is the afterparty. After the party is not the hotel lobby, but Rodeo where my girl Joy is celebrating her birthday. After that maybe Cookies where our beloved SKISM is playing. After that definitely home.
Have I mentioned that I’m sick and would like to stay at home?
Gentrification. Big word. Easy to explain. You have an urban area. Sometimes crime-ridden, definetly run-down and straight up poor. But: rent is low so, among drug addicts, criminals, the homeless, regular factory workers and those people that just can’t afford another place to live, you’ll find many artists, young designers, just a bunch of creative people. This peculiar mix creates an energy everybody wants to be a part of. So along with the artists come galleries. Those attract a crowd interested in art. This crowd again has money. The area becomes hip, trendy, vanguard. And because everybody wants to be hip and different, everybody wants to live there. Rent starts rising. Long-established tenants can’t afford to live there anymore. So slowly they leave. The area changes. Oversimplified.
If you live in Berlin you are most likely to have heard of this term “gentrification” in connection to Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. The formerly young, cool, creative, hip, trendy areas of Berlin. When you talk about New York City, Brooklyn would be a good example. And most recently the Lower East Side.
CLAYTON PATTERSON is someone who witnessed the gentrification of the Lower East Side. Since 1979 he has documented the change brought to this infamous neighborhood, armed with only his camera and the will to show the world that what sounds so nice and innocent can actually be a violent process. Film makers Ben Solomon, Dan Levin and Jenner Furst made an impressive movie not only about an inveterate lateral thinker but also about the “downfall” of a neighborhood feared and famed for its creativity, lawlessness, art, music, vibrant energy and headstrong characters. This is the trailer for CAPTURED:
And here come the good news: CAPTURED will premier in Berlin on January 3rd at the Babylon on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz! It’s a must see, people! So let’s all go together! Until then, you might as well check out CAPTURED’s myspace-site!
…. was 13 when she delivered this incredible performance at the 2006 Urban Word NYC Annual Teen Poetry Slam. I’ve watched this about 17 times and I can truely say that I have never NEVER seen anything more powerful done by a 13-year-old than this. Artistically speaking of course. The title of her poem is “Bi-Racial Hair”.
Before you watch it let me explain what is so difficult and complicated about black hair. There’s good black hair and there’s is bad black hair. Good is when it’s wavy and curly, easy to comb and soft. In short: good hair doesn’t look a bit like black hair. Bad hair is kinky and nappy. It’s hard to comb has everything about it screaming “there’s no way you’ll ever tame me!”. As you might have noticed, black women especially in the US tend to relax their hair. This means they process it chemically to make it softer, straighter. If not, they will wear a weave or a wig. The issue of black hair is very sensitive. It has a lot to do with beauty ideals, images projected in Western media. I guess it’s kinda hard to understand, but the way you wear your hair is actually a big deal in America, wearing it in it’s natural nappyness could be taken as something like a (political) statement.
I have what you would call good hair. It’s curly, it’s soft, I can wear curls, I can wear it straight, I can wear an afro without too much effort. But my hair, to me, has always been just my hair. I’m glad I can do a lot with it (after all girls like to experiment) but that’s about it. So here we have a poem, that starts with just silly hair-talk and eventually rises to talk about racism, bi-racial tensions, slavery, the issue of rape during slavery and the confusion of what race to belong to. Both of my parents are Eritrean. I grew up with many other Eritreans surrounded by our language, our music, our food. To me there was never a question of what I am and where I belong. I was always an Eritrean girl that happened to live in Germany. And still,what Zora says touches me. Maybe it is how she starts funny, makes you laugh in the beginning and then slams her truth in your face. Hits you with rage and anger, attacking both blacks and whites. The poem gives me goosebumps, her performance makes me shiver.
This girl is automatic, supersonic, hypnotic, funky fresh, works your body so melodic and she goes right through your chest! Other than that she is MTV on your telly, Fritz on your radio, Juice on your newstand and now: artschool vets on your computer! Yessir!
