The House of Mirth

I've seen some weird entry stamps at clubs, but this has to be one of the... er, funnier. (Irrenhouse at Geburtstagsklub).

Wedding Crashers

Friday
Balikci Ergün is a Turkish fish oulet in a vault under the overground S-Bahn by the Bellevue station in Wedding/Berlin. They used to have a half-legal eatery as well that you entered through the store, but since a while back you can now enter from the other side into a charming restaurant. From the ceiling hangs a thick forest of cryptic notes from friends and customers, praising or complaining. And a whole fresh fish, grilled to perfection and served with a salad for around €10. Great for watching football as well. They should just fire the fiddler.
Drinks afterwards at Green Door, fighting with Haifish to be the best cocktail bar in town.

Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie

Wednesday.
Back for a day in Malmö. Seminar at Plan B with very posh British columnist Jonathan Power at Herald Tribune about the historical background to the Western/Muslim conflict (I believe I enjoyed his upper-class English more than the content). He was generally Bush-bashing and launched some old-fashioned theories about integration (well, he is old) but I had to leave before the anti-thesis was delivered (a hardcore Swedish female conservative defence politician) which must have been quite challenging for the mainly female crowd.
A short coach-chat at Minc with designer Jonas Hultquist (the creator of cool rubber boots for Tretorn). I told him it's time he did his own thing. Then back home to Berlin.

Celebrity

Monday

Missed Gentry Lane’s celebrations in Paris tonight after she got her garments on the cover of Women’s Wear Daily. Gentry, I’ll come when we celebrate the Fortune cover next year instead! (More about Gentry in my January 5 entry - ha, that rhymes.)

Mission Impossible 1

Easter

Spent at mum’s house in Sweden (yes, it’s just as picturesque as it looks). My sister brought husband, 2-year-old son (immensely cute and my godson, but, you know, 2 years old...) and her American statistics professor, Kip, who seemed to enjoy the weird behaviors and eating disorders of a Swedish family. My granny, 92 now, joined us for Saturday dinner. More family pics on my mom’s blog (probably one of the best Mom Blogs around).

Airport

Monday
Took the morning flight to Copenhagen from Tempelhof, Speer's airport for the 1936 Olympics (and "the mother of all airports" according to Norman Foster). It's the only thing from Speer - together with the lightposts on 17. Juni - that still stands in Berlin, and one has to admit it's a beauty. It closes soon for traffic, so hurry...
Had a lunch meeting in Kävlinge (don't laugh, I grew up there) about them wanting to set up a business incubator there (don't laugh about that either, tiny Framlingham in Suffolk has an excellent technology centre, so...). Even the lunch chicken wasn't bad. (But it does feel a bit weird to be back - at age 16 I was very happy to leave...)
Afternoon chat with Kristian Bengtsson of Fivestarday about the future of just about everything. You expand my mind, man.

Das Schloß

Friday:
Strolled by Brandenburger Tor where Audi showcased their new TT. They had also dumped a 2,5x plastic replica of the car there. Not bad at all - but for cool German cars, wait for the Loremo instead. Smart design and it only uses 1,5 litre of diesel per 100 km. It started as a student research project, but being so ingenious it looks like it actually will come into production. (You'll have to waut till 2009 though, but you can queue up now on their website.)
Saturday:
Hung out for hours at the huge Hugendubel bookstore by Kudamm. In a very Berliner manner, the whole place is filled with sofas and armchairs where you can read any book for as long as you like without anyone complaining - and without having to buy anything. (I even see people come back several times to finish books they've started.) I did my normal routine: gathered a good pile of books and sat down next to a latte and a muffin (both among the better in town) in the café. They have a considerable department for books in English and the prices are even lower than in the UK. Good fun.
Sunday:
Took the train to Grünewald with its many impressing villas (passed the "Swedenborg Zentrum" - amazing that people still remember that wacko) and had royal tea at the Schlosshotel. Not cheap (€27) but the rooms are both imposing and cozy, the service impeccable and you get as much cucumber sandwiches and fresh scones as you like. Just make sure you save space for the cake buffet...

The polar express

Thursday:
Strolled over to the Nordic embassies with Modesty (my insider at the Uzbekische Geheimdienst) for the opening of the Northern Cities photo art exhibition. I've seen too much contemporary art to be generally optimistic, but some of this was quite good. It's a workshop project with stops in way-up-north cities like Oulo, Tromsö and Murmansk. Most interesting, contentwise as well as technically, was Swedish Julia Peirone. She's already been picked by Swedish gallerist Andreas Brändström. Not surprisingly, since he has a very good eye. Congratulations, she'll sell. (Check her book "Blind smek min kind", beautiful.)

Just friends

Wednesday
Lunch by the stammtish at hip Modellhut in Mitte (serving a perfect Wiener schnitzel) with Jürgen of Rugstar, one of the world’s (yes) most interesting deliverers of innovative floorbased designs. The Ikea braille (blind-alphabet) carpets are his design, but it’s in his shop in Mulackstrasse that the real masterpieces are found. (Like the huge forest-green Nepal wool treasure I have on my floor at home, with the outline of the Berlin logo-bear in silver silk thread.) He’s had his first buy-out offer (took four years, reasonable) which he of course politely declined, but he’s on his way of making it very big.
With us at the table, hat createur Fiona Bennett. We talk about Berlin’s increasing appeal as a base for whatever innovative work you want to develop. It’s big, creative and buzzing, the standard of food and housing often fantastic, and – unlike any other world metropolis – inexpensive (where else can you get a fantastic city-centre one-bedroom flat with for under €500 without any effort?). The only drawback is that you probably won’t find your clients here, but with travel getting cheaper by the day, who cares?
Coffee with Civan, talking about starting up a network office a la United Spaces in Berlin. Let’s see…

Me And You And Everyone We Know

Monday
Bikram yoga at Mehringdamm in Kreuzberg with Karsten. I don’t care if Madonna has raved about this thing, all I got was a headache and a wet t-shirt. Will stick to my hatha yoga.

Tuesday
Farewell reception at Tristesse in Kreuzberg for my benefactor and fellow aquarius Susa Pop, off to tour Eastern Europe for three months with her Mobile Studios project. A good gathering. Ruthe (doing cool media/art under Walkscreen) was there, so was Antje (Style & The Family Tunes fashion editor, the magazine even better now after an editorial and graphic boost). I’ll miss Susa. Hope to go visit her in Sofia in June.

Good Night, and Good Luck

Friday
Madame Butterfly at Staatsoper with Christian. With three opera houses in town, there’s always something on – and you can usually get decent balcony seats for under €10. No need to worry about dressing up either – this is Berlin, not Vienna… Tonight, Madame B did a good job (though I wouldn’t call her a butterfly…) but the rest was a bit mediocre… A perfect after-opera snack at the Tadschikische Teestube across the street didn’t happen, all the low tables were crowded. But Gloria Viagra and Sherry Vine and rocked the house in Big Eden with their club Squeezebox and their in-your-face act. Fucked up my tinnitus but made me feel I was finally back in Berlin.

Saturday
With Civan at Solar. Finally Berlin has a stylish sky bar where you can bring visitors. Two floors, bar and eatery, with white leather sofas swinging in chains from the ceiling and panaroma views in three directions. Rounded the night off at Vagabund on Knesebeckstrasse/Savignyplatz, a round-the-clock tanzbar classic, labelled outside as “private gay club men only” but in reality just very mixed. Weird in a great way, from the mature and imposing lady with tinted glasses in the bar to the sinister doorman.

April fool

So… April first... Back on track! Have been looking for a new blog tool, but will continue here for now (come on Fivestarday, didn’t you promise something was coming?).

And back in Berlin (more about that later) from Asia. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia. Wrap-up?

Thailand: People-driven capitalist mania softened by buddhism and massage, both accessible and incomprehensible. Bangkok 40% dreadful (mainly daytime) and 60% true magic.

Singapore: Neat and clean, proudly (and eagerly) contemporary, air-conditioned gourmet paradise, though strangely un-exotic. Mentality governed by the strive for the official five C:s of Singapore (Cash, Credit-card, Career, Car, Condo).

KL: Government-driven capitalist experiment , challenged by the Malays’ complete lack of interest for careers and development, compensated by local Chinese and Indian eagerness. Chaotic and inviting expat heaven with Asian values softening Muslim dogma.

Will I go back? Definitely. Both for pleasure and work, if I get my way.