Bot'Ox darling !

Südblock

Finally a bit of sun. So let’s enjoy with a bit of shopping in the center (It is still sales) and in the evening meeting friends for drinks at this new place : Südblock. The idea comes from the guys of Moebel Olfe and I can tell being there once that we had a very good time until … early morning. Don’t make it wrong and follow the program because firiends of mine went there last Saturday and It was girls night, so I understand they were a bit disappointed ! Nevertheless a wonderful place to spend the second part of the night.

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Rollin'

Skybar

There are places in the city where you can enjoy a nice view. Take for example the Fernsehturm or the Sigessaüle. But with the weather we have now, countless snow falls and temperature under 0°C since weeks, I would recommend something more comfy and from another point of view : why not enjoying the city from top floor because the one of the Park Inn at Alexander is closed. So outside the Fernsehturm for which you have to pay for the lift, I prefer to drink a cocktail at the Andel's hotel, not very in the center but easily reachable. A bit expensive though.

'tis Autumn (of my life)

Since I read today in English, let me introduce you the book : Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel. Written by Armistead Maupin. You all know him, famous with the San Francisco chronicles and the colourful characters leaving at Barbary Lane. The serie was good too, unfortunately not covering all books. One of the main character, Mary Ann, after a 20 years’s city absence, is now back to San Francisco to her friend Mouse, Michael Tolliver. She is at what we call her life’s autumn and she will have to deal at the same time with renewal of long time lost friends and health problems. I can’t give you the whole story because I’m reading it at the time but the thing is that I have the feeling that I lived all those years with those characters. They are a part of me and I am happy Mr Maupin wrote another one because the style never changed, is easy for me to read and I can only close the book when I fall asleep. Last evening, like many others, I woke up the light on and the book fallen from the bed. Those people are like the family you don’t have, the friends you want to cherish at all times and protect. I didn’t miss at all the tales because I knew somehow that It will carry on coming up from time to time.

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Wir Sind Helden - Aurélie (Video)
Hochgeladen von EMI_Music. - Musikvideos, Sänger Interviews, Konzerte und mehr.

Complent of the French living in Germany

After years of " suffering " (!), the French journalist Alain-Xavier Wurst decided to publish a book about the German woman, entitled " Zur Sache, darling " (" By the way, darling "). The foreigners living besides the Rhine are confronted with the same rebuffs. The male Germans show themselves shy, cold, even mutes. The native rarely ventures to approach a fellow woman below two grams of alcohol level. The ultimate date ? watching on TV the series " Tatort " (police series of Sunday broadcasted for forty years) in front of a liter of beer in the bar next corner. And it can last: passive and pensive, the German will prefer to sacrifice himself to Jägermeister ( a liqueur) by quoting Schopenhauer, rather than to admit its feelings. And if, by magic, you succeed in shoeing one, I wish you courage with the phobic of the commitment! In Berlin, European capital of " trendy arty ", there is one cursed word that nobody ever has to pronounce, at the risk of being transformed into döner kebab: it is the term " beziehung ", that means "relationship". During parties in the area Kreuzkölln, speaking about "relationship" is more taboo than to evoke its sex experiences " Gruppensex " in Brandenburg. Even our unlimited sex trips in the cheap "brothels" on the river Spree. Let us return to the department flirt. According to a survey of Times, the Germans would consider the precoital forthplay as an extreme sport. Risk-taking, adrenalin gone up and fear of reject : to take the initiative of the conquest is for them pure madness. The successful pop group Wir Sind Helden sang it for the first time with « Aurélie », its song about the frustrations of a French Girl in Berlins. Which girl (or boy) coming from abroad did not identify to Aurélie and her solitude ? “Aurélie, It’s not working like that. You’re expecting too much, the Germans flirt with subtility (???). But Aurélie does not understand, she’s asking herself every every evening : but when someone will finally love me ? ». No blink eye, no invitation, 0 compliment, no dissoluteness. Clearly, when a German is interested, he does nothing, nada, nichts. And if A French asks him out : “he flees, you must know that here, we don’t do it like that ». The German woman does not want to be considered as a woman but as an individual. A Frenc man never felt so stupid as by trying to flirt with girls in this country. The flirtation here is an enormous misunderstanding. Exit wit make up, eye lashes, high heels that appreciate the French male. the German woman shows seriousness and pragmatism, to her evening meetings: there are lots of nice girls but rarely sexy girls because sexy, is already considered as sexual. Cause or consequence, the “flirt Schulen” (schools to learn how to flirt) or flirt camps during summer in Majorque are full. Trainings, seminars to learn how to talk warmly (warmrede), trained by flirtexperts. Cause ou conséquence, les « flirt schulen » (écoles de drague) ou « flirt camps » estivaux à Majorque affichent complets. Training de décodage, séminaires de « warmrede » (parler chaleureusement), menés par des « flirtexpert ». A date doctor explains that most of men make the mistake of flirting only with people they think fitting 100% their criterions for a serious relationship. But you must exercise yourself with some others ! If you look at the advices of a web site specialized for men, The French need to make a cultural revolution if they want to have contact with a German : keep a meter distance, minimum, avoid direct visual contact, don’t do any compliments, that would bring the confrontation way too personal. The myth of the tall blond German guy exists only in your dreams : number of bachelors is always increasing up to 16 millions these days and it is 20% of the population.The German, contrary of the French, has the nostalgia of the soulmate. Autumn 2010, the weekly Spiegel published an article about the question that haunt the German society : « why men await always too much of the women ? » if you read this article, almost any girl wouild think to put her head in the oven. And to buy herself a poney. Between fifty’s something always fan of video games and young completely lost, the male identity seems real bad. The mistake, it seems, comes from the movement of feminist, like Alice Schwarzer, anti-porn, but also to History. The Second World War has created generations of men lost, powerless, dispossessed, and the trauma has deeply printed German society. The excess population of women in the population by the cumulative effect of the death of men at the front and the absence of prisoners, feminized German society, both sociologically and culturally. Germany defeated and humiliated nation was emasculated. And the communist system did nothing to fix things : with absolute equality and the many "voted" rights for women in the GDR in terms of contraception, access to abortion and a range of services and social services (childcare, canteens, family allowances), the male has suddenly lost its secular bearings. Between the monochrome suits of the Chancellor renamed Mutti Merkel (Merkel mom) or rapper from Bremen, Lady Bitch Ray, who along the day slab refrain abut her "vagina style", men today have some reason to hold up behind their beer. Far away of the speech KKK ["Kinder-Kirche, Küche, children, church, kitchen] of the Third Reich, neo-feminism" Made in Deutschland "is devastating, especially embodied by Charlotte Roche. The one we call the "alpha Mädchen"-the alpha ladies, are everywhere. Uninhibited, dominant, ambitious and far from them any desire of the cooking, knitting or kids that affect thei counterparts from France. 34% of German women aged between 35 and 49 and holding at least a five year university degree, have no children. And at this rate, Germany could be gone in twelve generations.

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Craving you

My French film festival

MyFrenchFilmFestival.com is an innovative concept, a new way of sharing your love of French cinema with Internet users all over the world. For the first time, an entirely dematerialised festival enables you to vote for your favourite film. Don't hesitate to make your voice heard!
When?
From 14-29 January 2011, film lovers all over the world will be able to access all the films proposed by the 1st edition of the online French Film Festival.
The principle
Ten features and ten shortsby young French creators are in competition. You are invited to vote for your favourite films and leave your comments on the website.
How
The festival is available in 10 languages. Both the Internet website and films (available via video-on-demand for a fee) are accessible inGerman, English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, et Russian. The Korean version is available on the website of our partner in Korea,KT. As of the opening of the website My French Film Festival, you'll be able to watch free of charge the films' trailers as well as exclusive interviews with the directors and casts.
Prize-winners
Six prizes will be awarded at the end of the festival (three for features, three for shorts): the Internet Users Prize, the Foreign Bloggers Prize, and the International Press Prize. The winning feature films will be shown on board all Air France planes as of 1 April 2011 for a duration of 6 to 9 months.
Rates
Worldwide:
• Rental of a feature film: 1.99€
• Rental of a short: 0.99€
• Features pack: 9.99€ for access to eleven features
• Shorts pack: 4.99€ for access to ten shorts
• Full Access pack: 13,99€ (access to entire programming of the festival)
In France :
• Rental of a feature film: 3.99€
• Rental of a short: 0.99€
• Features pack: 24.99€ for access to the seven feature films available in France
• Shorts pack: 4.99€ for access to ten shorts
• Full Access pack: 27.99 € (access to entire programming of the festival)
All the festival's films are accessible free of charge in Russia and Latin American countries.
Play and win
• - A trip for two to Paris in 2011 by playing « French Film Epidemic » to become the best ambassador of French cinema abroad (via the page Facebook de My French Film Festival).
• - A trip for two to New York in March 2011 upon the occasion of the French Cinema Festival by betting on the film to be awarded by Internet users on the Facebook page of Air France.
• - As well as many free screenings and other surprises by playing on these two Facebook pages!

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Another fallen hero

Why German men don’t flirt

My friend Anne, who is French living in Berlin, keeps on looking for en in Berlin and because she does not find any man, she believes, like most of the people assume, the fault was her own, until you realize you are not the only one to have experienced such blatant indifference to your charms. For, as it turns out, every one I know in this city has suffered the same disinterest. This one, who’s been living here for 2 years, wasn’t at all surprised when I suggested that it was difficult to get to know men in Berlin: “Oh absolutely, you have to be really pushy here – German men never make the first move.” And Manon told me that in all her life, she had never once been chatted up by a German man: she is a native French as well. Men here simply do not approach strangers. And she not even being very demanding here. After all, her standards are based where flirting mostly consists of clumsily sidling up to a girl at the bar and stuttering something incomprehensible, or later on, perhaps, drunkenly lunging at her on the dance floor. Her flirtatious encounters to date have been mostly unmemorable and rarely romantic. (The low point would have to be: “I like the way your hair blows in the breeze” when she was sitting in the living room at the time.) But even those goofy lines or leery gestures, cringe-worthy as they are, give you something to work with, and at least let you know where you stand. In Germany, that serious-looking man sitting just over there may be passionately in love with you, and you would never know. So what is actually going on here? Is it that German men don’t want to flirt – or is it a matter of being physically unable to do so? Some kind of genetic thing, much in the way white people can’t rap and Europeans can’t dance? Did the emergence of the Italian Stallion and French charmer all those centuries ago cause the German species to evolve in the other direction – nature’s way of balancing things out for the women of Europe ? The evidence of a German incapacity to flirt is rife, at least on an anecdotal level. The numerous “flirt schools” and flirting workshops across the country would barely survive the close of a business day somewhere in the Med. And recently, an article that appeared in several publications compared flirting habits across cultures. German men, found it, “see the conquest of German women as an extreme sport…. The charm thing doesn’t really come into it”. Clearly German men aren’t much into their high-risk sports; according to the author, they may even be victims of “Venustraphobia” – the fear of chatting up beautiful women. Some see this fear as having been provoked by an excessively emancipated female population, who have now taken over the predator role in the sexual hunting game. But could it simply be a matter of men behaving in the way that society expects them to? German women, it is claimed, expect their menfolk to show restraint. The Spiegel Online, in the run-up to the German World Cup in 2006, provided some guidelines for foreign fans looking to “score a German” after the game. Would-be seducers should be cautious, it warned, since saying hello to a German lady “comes across as overly forward”. Saying hello? What is this, the 19th century? The Deutsche Welle (international broadcast), offering advice to international students on the subject of flirting, also advises caution. Apparently, “eye contact and good manners” will get you much further than “exaggerated macho posturing”. It seems the definition of flirting auf Deutsch is still limited to a stony-faced stare from across the room. So why don’t men here flirt? Partly it’s about conforming to standards: getting a wolf whistle as you walked down Unter den Linden (one of the famous street) would be a bit much. But I don’t believe any German woman could justifiably be offended by being approached by a friendly stranger – that’s just an excuse. Basically, men are afraid to make fools of themselves, because that’s precisely the risk that flirting entails, and Germans don’t go in for risks. They like to do things properly and thoroughly, not spontaneously or irrationally. Forget genetic predisposition, or even cultural conditioning. Germans just aren’t into extreme sports. Oh, and by the way, if you're asking yourself ; It is the same with gay men.

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Trouble

Oh là là !

French girls…! No matter how hardcore punk alternative they are, they can’t resist the temptation to wear cute polka-dotted dresses and sell tummy-tempting baked-goods in a pretty environment. This new café offering a daily selection of homemade Tartes is pretty and pink (matching the proprietress’ hair), with bits and pieces of French nostalgia as deco. Well-rooted in the queer alternative scene, owner Clarissa (aka Mademoiselle Kla) is already known for her burlesque performances and her handmade nipple accessories she once famously sold at the Mauerpark flea market… topless. She now sells them in the shop among a daily selection of savoury quiches and sweet French pies. On the opening night in September, the all-girl crew sported pink moustaches. Following two years of odd-jobbing, the 30-year-old Parisian social worker decided last year she and Berlin needed a real quiche-shop. To that aim she set herself to gain proper experience which comprised training with France’s top patissier Lenôtre and internationally famed cooking school Le Cordon Bleu (which Julia Child memorialised in her book). That experience paid off in the form of recipes and baking savoir-faire noticeable in everything they make.The quiches (€2.70 a slice, €4.50 with salad) are some of the best we’ve tasted in Berlin. When we dropped by on a quiet Tuesday, they were serving the following flavours: Parma ham-gorgonzola, spinach-Roquefort-walnut and a puff-pastry salmon-leek tourte (similar to English pie, topped with dough). The selection differs daily and is announced on their Facebook page. The portions are refreshingly generous, and the small side salad comes with a grainy French mustard vinaigrette. There’s always a vegan option. “A good French tart is all about the dough,” says Clarissa. It’s why she leaves it to rest two or three days and never destroys it by microwaving it; you’ll have to bear the 3-4 minute extra wait in order to get your slice warmed-up to crusty perfection. The dough is in fact perfect: crunchy edges, soft underneath, the right balance of salt and butter. Even their butter-less vegan dough made of margarine, soy milk and almond powder (their invention) has just the right consistency. On the sweet front, flavours range from the French classics like meringue-lemon tart or caramelised apple tart known among the natives as La Tatin, to the more experimental – fresh figues covered in a mascarpone cream, velvety chocolate and hazelnuts, tiramisu (€2,30 a slice)… They’re even working on their take of the Parisian tearoom Angelina’s world-famous Mont Blanc – meringue, whipped cream and chestnut, anyone? A few blocks away from Boxhagener Platz, this is a great spot for a post-flea market bite or just some organic coffee or real hot cacao made with melted dark chocolate to which you add as much milk as you like. And let’s not forget the homemade croissants on Sundays, and on any day, the mini-baked goodies: cute brownies, chouquettes (mini pastry puffs, sprinkled with coarse sugar), baby-meringue and nougat. Last but not least: don’t leave without your free Carambar – a caramel candy with lame jokes in the wrapper: the ultimate French touch ! You will find it here : Mainzer str 18; 10247 Berlin Fridrichshain, open Tue-Sun 12-19:00. Bon appétit !