Riipas Blog

A week ago it occurred to me that I had some spare money to spend for a new gadget. I couldn't decide whether to buy a lens for my camera or a Blu-ray player. Now a few days of indecisiveness later I don't have to make a decision any more. Yeehaaaw!
Not only did Vattenfall send the electricity bill for 2009 claiming some hundred(!) Euro of additional payment, but also did my winter jacket break just when the Siberian hell with 10 to 15 degrees beneath zero broke loose in Berlin. Greetings to you fate. I feel honoured about you caring so much to make my life miserable! I hate you too!
Anyway, I bought myself a new parka and of course it had to be a nifty one. This parka seems to be the thickest, heaviest and warmest parka on earth and I want to stress the point, that I didn't pay as much for it as the website recommends. Not even half as much. All hail to the mighty winter sale!

This one goes out to all the people who think it's absolutely necessary to annoy us by constantly changing their relationship status on some community sites or even tweeting about it.



Lads, please get it: We are not interested! You know, in every relationship there are good times and bad times and some ninety percent of the time it's somewhere in between. There is no need to report each and every of your relationships indigestions via Facebook, Twitter or whatsoever.

So be warned! The next time I recognize somebody setting his relationship status to "It's complicated" I might come around and stab him in the face. No seriously, I will!

One of the many things I particularly hate about Berlin is the winter maintenance program. Being grown up in the foothills of the Erzgebirge functioning winter maintenance is a matter of course to me. But obviously this isn't the case in the lowlands. One day of snow does always mean something like a decade of icy walkways.
While at least the most important streets are free of ice and snow after two or three days, the sidewalks continue to be death traps for weeks. After a few days of people helplessly sliding over these walkways the former snow evolves to a massive icy plating that crushes each and every human bone it gets hold of. I need a car and I need it badly!
But now for something completely different: Yesterday I learned about the Leica S2 a mid format DSLR with the size of a 35 mm DSLR. Since I used my holidays to read a lot about photography I think this is a good time to start over with a brand new camera. Is there anybody out there willing to buy me this little beauty? With a flash light and two or three lenses it shouldn't be much more than 35.000 Euro anyway.

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't to forget make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."
— Neil Gaiman

It's Christmas time. The time to sit in the parlour and sing carols along with your loved ones. So on Saturday we went all the way to Dresden to sing along with the Eastside Boys. Even though I do not only work with some of the guys but also run around wearing their shirts and own every album they've released, I didn't make it to any of their gigs until now. Shame on me!
We started the evening with a dinner at Manu's preferred Italian restaurant, which is not exactly a "punk" thing to do, but then again we aren't punks and it was nice anyway. The music part of the whole thing began with Lord James who were doing a pretty good job as a support act. If you're into the whole US punk/skater punk thing you'll prolly like them.
The boys themselves played a set of 20 songs including two new ones and a cover of Cock Sparrer's classic "Riot Squad". Of course the mighty watering can filled with "Pfeffi" came into operation when the boys played "Pfeffi macht den Punk kaputt".
Altogether it was a nice evening with an amazing show. If you're into punk and aren't afraid of some grim looking yet friedly Oi!-Skins then I strongly recommend you to attend their show if the boys are back in (your) town. For the time being you might want to check out their music at MySpace.