VICE Party Berlin

Well, if you judge cities by the quality of their Vice parties then Toronto and Montreal are in trouble. Not because their parties are necessarily bad, but just because I didn't understand how good a Vice party can be. Teaming up with American Apparel was a neat idea for pretty obvious reasons unless you don't have eyeballs (see crowd, above).

The music was good and I really wish that I had videotaped the bartenders - people would just come up to the bar and hold up fingers (usually between 3 and 5), and the bartenders were just: open, pass, open, pass, repeat - as fast as they could. It was incredible. Their hands must be aching today.

Berlin House Party...

So once the tab finished so did we and it was off to this house party in Kreuzberg. As you can see, no hands in the air. It was definitely a solid house party. They had the foosball/chatting/brighter light room, they had the dancing room, and they had the getting smashed in the kitchen next to all the alcohol room.

And they had enough booze that you could have yours stolen and then have no problem stealing someone elses.

House parties in Berlin are nice because they are vanishing beasts once you pass the 25 year mark in North America. However, in Germany it seems like at least 50% of the population is still students until they are about 30, which provides the perfect ingredients for great parties. Free time and not enough money on hand to turn them into annoying "so, what do you do" parties. Just come to Berlin and check it out. It's nice.

And the girls photo on the left is part of a new series I am working on. You charge the flash on your camera and then flash it in a random girls face. You get expressions that are unposable.

Norwegian Berlinale Party

This was the Norwegian Party at the Berlinale at Hakescher Market - my friend Frederic (from, suprise, Norway - thats him in the second photo...and the reflection is from one of those bicycle-pant-cuff-savers that you had to wear on your arm to get in the party, but which, apparently, some people continued to wear for the whole party...actually kind of a good gift, as it is one of those things that you always mean to get but don't) scored the invites and as is usual at these types of events (at least up until this point) we were two of the youngest at the party. But I should have taken a photo of the real star of the evening which was, undoubtedly, the food. If I was totally rich (and getting enough exercise for it not to kill me) I think I would have expensive appetizers around 24/7. I love those things. Everyone loves those things.

The dancefloor was, as you can tell by the "arms in the air", nothing great. I am automatically suspicious of any dancefloor in which people are putting their hands in the air (other than, maybe, briefly, at the beginning of a real great song). I mean, it feels as unnatural as it looks, except maybe for some extremely hot small girls - but those are the same girls who look good even if they are puking in the corner.

The other thing that was not great was the "cutting off of the tab". So at some point after 12:30 when I went up to get another beer everything went as per usual except that as soon as they handed me what I assumed to be another "free" beer, the bartender held up 3 fingers. Yikes. Thanks for the warning. They should do one of those dimming the lights 15 minutes before things or something. I mean, they already opened it, I can't return it.

Berlin PhotoAutomats

One of the good things about Berlin is the Photoautomats. I have seen the future of Photoautomats in Sweden and it was 50SEK (about 6€) and gives you a single shot four times - which you get to choose from a number of shots beforehand. And it looks like a digital photo printed on the type of "photo paper" you buy for your printer. Of all of those not great things the one that stands out as terrible would have to be the single photo x4. Whoever designed that feature must have never in his or her life visited a Photo Booth.

In the traditional Photo Booth what you get is basically an ultra slow motion flip book of your life. Four moments in time - none of which, generally, you were really ready to have your photo taken in - captured on film. And when you add friends, all hell breaks loose.

And in Berlin all this is for the taking - for the extremely reasonable price of 2€ you get four seperate black and white photos taken. Just go to Rosenthaler Platz next to the Kebab guy who is always playing Johnny Cash (across from the Circus Hostel).

And then there are the Purikura booths all over Tokyo and Asia which are like photo booths on acid, and also totally fun. I mean, they have arcades with ONLY these things inside and they are packed with Japanese teens.

Wednesday = Absinth Day

2€ for Absinth. It doens't really deserve inclusion in the "insane" category, but it is pretty good. Plus there is a little fairy on the poster.

I am still waiting to have an "Absinth" experience. Of course I have had Absinth before, but it has always just seemed kind of like any other alcohol. Except that everyone gets excited because it is Absinth and you end up drinking more because of that. Maybe that is the magical effect of Absinth.

FM3

Saw and talked to FM3 at Transmediale. I won't write much about Transmediale because I am sure tons of other people have, but it was okay. FM3 interested me for a couple reasons. First, I like their Buddha Box. I think it is a nice idea. It is simple, and, really, the loops are pretty nice.

But what I find even more interesting is the fact that the Buddha Box has made these guys rich. And I might suspect rich beyond any expectations they might have had. These guys, I am guessing, are in their mid-30s and spent the last numerous years touring and making music as an experiemental music group. I think I can fairly accurately speculate that during this time they did not live a life of luxury. Basically, my guess is that they made enough to get by and decided that that was good enough for them. That they liked what they were doing.

Then came the Buddha Box. And just like that life changes. The Buddha Box costs 20€ and this past December they sold 10,000 of them. And speaking with one of the members, he told me that that they had likely sold over 50,000 in total. 1,000,000€. Incredible. So, welcome to your new life.

You can read more about FM3 here, and here and here (talking about how Brian Eno uses a Buddha Box).

Pimp Pizza

Saw this hanging in the kitchen the other day. Pizza Pimps. The website is worth a look. I would have loved to have been in the brainstorming meeting when they came up with the concept. And, as we are in Germany, you can also order a bottle of red wine with your pizza for 5€. Yeeeah bitch.

Worlds smallest foosball table...

...is at Dr. Pong. 0.50€ for 10 balls. Which is both annoying and nice as it allows the possibility of a tie.