Today

Meeting Jonathan Coe

A couple of years ago, I discovered through a dear friend the works of Jonathan Coe. The first encounter was powerful and definitive: I liked the style and the ideas of this writer and spent hours discussing about his books. My expectations about life then were modest and I was not expecting or thinking about having him in the front of me, listening him writing from his works. 

But, thanks to Berlin and my courage to go beyond the bourgeois comfort, I had the occasion to see him, at the Steglitz-Zehlendorf Library, reading from and talking about his book, The Rain Before it Falls, in the front of an audience who studied it so deeply that they identified precisely how often the author used the word "to occur" (but the author himself was not able to specify the reason behind this apparently serious phenomenon from the point of view of some readers). 

It was a very good incentive to start my writing week.

Color Fields exhibition

It was free entrance Monday at Deutsche Guggenheim and a new exhibition opened. I visited the place the last week, around 15.30, and the hall was full of tourists, visitors and young students. The exhibition is including works of Frank Stella, Gene Davis, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Hans Hoffmann, Kenneth Noland and Alfred Jensen. Good distribution of the paintings and lots of very nice young guides, ready not only to show you who's who but keen to start a very deep conversation about the nature and messages of the paintings. For more than one hour I felt like being part of the colorful artistic enthusiasm of from New York City, the place of birth of this abstract expressionist artistic movement, in the 1940s-1950s. 

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Amir Katz @ Konzerthaus

A wonderful Saturday evening at Konzerthaus, for Amir Katz's Chopin piano recital. The concert hall was full of people unsuccessfully trying to be quiet. The interpretation was wonderfully mesmerizing. And because I discovered this morning that I am unable yet to write about music, here is an example of Amir Katz's miraculous work, from another concert.

Shopping Sunday

Berliners, are you ready? For spending your money and shopping as crazy? Here is a short list of the shopping program for this Sunday. Despite the opposition against this practice expressed by religious leaders, there are still opportunities to enjoy the lures of capitalism. 

Good luck and inspiring shopping, Berliners!

A week in words or how to survive the weather in Berlin

Image by hint of plum via Flickr

Another week is about to finish - in almost two hours - and nothing new to share about Berlin? There are many things to say and write about the city and, as usual, I carefully documented the outposts of interesting life. More posts and pictures to come in the next week. 

After some intensive party-time at the end of the last week, I needed more than 1 day to recover - blame it the age, or blame it Berlin and my entourage. And when rehab was over, the to-do-list was already twice overloaded with emergencies, deadlines and missed opportunities.

The week was generally quiet, with many free days, when theoretically I was able to set up my writing plans. But, it was the first week when the clock changed to the winter hour and I am hardly getting accustomed with the long nights with evenings starting around 15.30. I need some light therapy, but what you can do when the light bulbs from your home, for reason of energy savvy, are offering beams with the same intensity as the candle-lights. Very romantic, but not when your boyfriend is out of town - to the volume of daily work you add the usual house management plus a kid - for a week and you spend more than 10 hours in the front of the computer.

Anyway, I was hardly going to sleep before 3 o'clock in the morning - the most ridiculous was a couple of days ago when I was up at 5 o'clock and until the kid went out to school I already finished to read three articles on foreign affairs and a book. The wonderful bad weather - rain, wind, rain, rain, rain as now - kept me away of wanderings on the streets and for good shoots I need to have more time during the day, when I am usually working. Others complains: the traffic is messy, the gym is again overcrowded even after 21.30, when I am in a bar and want to smoke I am freezing. 

I wish all the Berliner a creative indoor party week-end and will be back with fresh new posts by Monday.