German designer Wibke Deertz studied sculpting in the Netherlands and never really cared that much about fashion. And then she co-founded a clothing label called A.D.D. in 2000. Sadly for you girls, she recently switched to menswear and just opened up her first flagship store, A.D.Deertz, in the heart of Prenzlauerberg--right across the road from that cool jeans store, next to that hip Lebanese food joint and the not-quite-so-hip drums bar on Kastanienallee--but at least you can finally force the shopping thing on your boyfriend. As soon as Wibke returned from her recent trip to Bangkok, we visited her Berlin atelier to find out why she quit making ladieswear and whether the world outside of Berlin is really that interesting.
When I heard a whole bunch of noise outside of my window in my Neukölln flat Saturday night, I thought, yeah, it’s probably the Sufis and Seventh Day Adventists once again, trying to drown each other out on one of their religious missions around my neighborhood. It turned out to be the police though. Germans have started approaching squatting as a mass event that's publicized, like a rave. So on the occasion of the hyper-marketed mass Tempelhof airport squat--which attracted Europeans from all over--the masses of cops were acting as if the squatters hadn’t opted for grassing a vacant airport, but instead were planning to burn down the Reichstag or something. Since I had to run some errands, I decided to get out there and follow them and their escort of photojournalists, who seemed to be desperately waiting for someone to finally start lighting stuff on fire…
A distant relative of mine who goes by the name The Omid (yeah, it's weird, whatever) just sent me these photos from Iran. He’s a photographer and described the current situation as chang, which means "war" in Farsi. When some of my family members hit the election booths on June 12th, the ballot-boxes were already overflowing with fake ballot papers. The Omid's been going to the protests every day since.
Well, it looks like they've uncovered another Nazi treefort in the sand dunes of Denmark, fully furnished and available to move into on the first of the month! Wicker chairs, remote fireplace, rotating minibar, you name it-they had it! I knew Hitler's boys had taste! It's also comforting to know that Boyd Rice and Death In June fans will have brand new stroke material to help conjure up their hateful Nazi noodle sauce to feed their dying, invalid mothers just before crying themselves off to sleep.
It might be too late at this point for you to do anything about it tonight, but if you're in Germany tonight and you're just sitting on your duff trying to come up with evening plans for the next couple days, may we recommend going to see the European premiere of our feature-length version of Heavy Metal in Baghdad at this year's Berlin Film Festival? It's playing tonight, tomorrow, and Tuesday, then one last time on Saturday. Catch it now if you've got the chance, because after that you'll have to wait for either the American premiere at this year's SXSW or the film's wide release god knows when.
We know the United Nations is dedicated to the brotherhood of man, and we don't keep meaning to callbullshit on them, but WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY THINKING? A new ad by UNICEF Germany sees white kids smearing their faces with mud to show solidarity with African kids without access to education. One kid says: "I'm waiting for my last day in school. Children in Africa are waiting for their first one." Another says: "In Africa, kids don't come to school late, they don't go at all."
For 362 days a year, Wacken is a sleepy German hamlet, population: 2000. But for three days every August, 70,000 headbangers descend on the village to attend the biggest festival in the heavy metal universe. Now in its 18th year, Wacken: Open: Air has become an integral part of village life, with the community embracing their annual invaders. Local families drape their houses in banners that read "Welcome Metalheads!" and turn their gardens into makeshift bars serving beer and food to passing revelers. We went to Wacken and asked the fans what they thought about this heavy metal hamlet.
Berlin witnessed its first ever festival last weekend. It was a massive two day party five minutes from Hauptbahnhof with two stages, including a Vice stage. We had WhoMadeWho, The Presets, Princess Superstar, Shitdisco, Uffie & DJ Feadz, Late Of The Pier, Boss Einstein, X Vectors, MIT, Kilians, Diskokaine and Jolly Goods. Thanks to our sponsors: Nokia Nseries and Activision’s Guitar Hero II. Photos by Lisa Wassmann.
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