A language of ideas?

German? Whose idea was that? Keine Ahnung. A language of ideas maybe, but not of very much action.

Anyways, according to man-spricht-Deutsch-Guido Westerwelle, German “is the key to more than 350 German universities and colleges, to Europe’s largest economy. It grants access to German literature, music, philosophy, and science, to the wealth of great European cultural traditions and, not least, it is the key to realizing one’s own goals and ideas.”

That’s true, I guess. Sort of. But let’s be honest, Guido. German is also the key to more than 350 German universities and colleges that nobody wants to attend, it grants access to German literature that nobody wants to read anymore, to German music that, well OK (the old stuff was pretty good) and to German philosophy that’s not much more than high speed mysticism if you ask me (which you’re not). I don’t know what German science is so I’ll just assume that it’s really cool. And if you have to learn German just to know what your own goals and ideas are, then they’re probably not worth knowing in the first place. But maybe that’s just me.

“In Deutschland ist es üblich, dass man Deutsch spricht.”

I saw the light(s), and they were flashing

Frau am Steuer (und besoffen dazu), das wird teuer.

“The leader of Germany’s 25 million Protestants was stopped for running a red light while driving under the influence of alcohol, the Hanover state prosecutors office said on Tuesday.”

Wer mit mehr als 1,5 Promille Alkohol im Blut Auto fährt, gefährdet Gesundheit und Leben anderer Menschen.

I`m 18 (not) and just don`t know what I want

“That’s right, and the sexagenarian shock rocker’s got a hammer. He calmly smashes out the Plexiglas face part of the spaceman’s helmet. Fruit juice drains out, problem solved.”

Mr. Cooper’s success as a pitchman is doubly surprising because the stringy-haired 62-year-old takes over as Saturn spokesman from a sexy female cyborg who looked like the kind of adolescent-boy fantasy who turns up so often in Mr. Cooper’s songs.

Why are they booing?

And what are they booing?

The first movie? The big-budget remake with a message because it wasn’t low-budget enough (the movie, not the message)? History?

Or was this flick, like most of the other films that get shown here every year at the Berlin Film Festival, was it like, well, too political? Nah, that can’t be. What’s more political (or politically correct) than the Berlinale?

I know, maybe it was just another really lousy movie. I mean even by Berlinale standards lousy.

“Ein antisemitischer Film, wie wir ihn uns nur wünschen können.”

Too hot in Afghanistan right now

Ich kann so nicht arbeiten! I just can’t work under these conditions!

This just keeps getting better, people. Now even Northern Afghanistan is too dangerous for the Germans. Too dangerous to train Afghan police, that is. I mean it’s not like anybody’s taking part in any of the fighting going on down south at the moment or anything.

SPD Politicians are serously proposing that the few police trainers Germany is currently utilizing to train Afghan police (wow, they’re actually going to increase that number from 120 to 150) do the training in a more peaceful working environment. Up here in Germany, that is.

Taliban attacks in Germany are acceptably low at the moment and will allow German police trainers to concentrate more fully on their work and maybe even actually start getting a few Afghans through their rigorously thorough and near-never-ending training program. Already.

Angesichts der Sicherheitslage am Hindukusch wird diskutiert, wie die Arbeit der deutschen Polizisten mit der größtmöglichen Sicherheit ablaufen kann.

Teheran has visions of its own

And it hears voices too, for that matter. But just like with YouTube, it doesn’t do cinematic visions.

Nix Berlinale for you, buddy. The Berlin Film Festival is just too political, I guess.

“We are surprised and deeply regret that a director (Jafar Panahi) who has won so many international prizes has been denied the possibility to take part in our anniversary festival and to speak about his cinematic visions,” Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick said in a statement.

On July 30, Panahi and members of his family were arrested in a Tehran cemetery at an opposition protest in memory of demonstrators killed in street violence after the election.

The times they are a-changin’

Even in Germany, sort of. It’s been a long time coming (damn, a whole year already). From here…

To here.

Happy Karnival time or something. Oh yeah, it’s already over (for a lot of folks it is, anyway).

US-Präsident Barack Obama als gefallener Engel. Der Heiligenschein liegt am Boden.

Welfare schmellfare

Oh boy, another non-issue that nobody here is ever going to tackle.

People are all up in arms here about a comment made yesterday by FDP boss/foreign minister Guido Westerwelle. They’re upset because he pointed out that nearly 60 percent of Germany’s federal budget is spent on Sozialausgaben (welfare/social-security payments) and that the whole damned system needs to be properly addressed and debated.

So why is everybody so upset? That’s easy: It’s because early 60 percent of Germany’s federal budget is spent on Sozialausgaben (welfare/social-security payments) and the whole damned system needs to be addressed and debated.

It’s just that they don’t like to be reminded of this, you see. This “debate” he’s talking about should have started some thiry years ago, of course (think, say, of what Bill Clinton did to welfare in the 90s). But it won’t be debated in Germany now either.

And this is just a proposed debate, mind you. Imagine the uproar if somebody here ever actually tried to change anything.

Wir dürfen nicht zulassen, dass der, der arbeitet, der Dumme ist.”

Fawning reviews are fawning reviews

Despite the, well, you know. Hey, plagiarism was gestern (yesterday). Today they call it mixing.

The publication last month of her novel about a 16-year-old exploring Berlin’s drug and club scene after the death of her mother, called “Axolotl Roadkill,” was heralded far and wide in German newspapers and magazines as a tremendous debut, particularly for such a young author. The book shot to No. 5 this week on the magazine Spiegel’s hardcover best-seller list.