Poseidon provoking swirl in the Deutsche Oper

September 25th: the Deutsche Oper, one of the three Opera houses in Berlin, decides to cancel the 4 performances of Idomeneo scheduled for November. After the very last note, Idomeneo, King of Crete, comes back on stage with a bag full of blood. Instead of the head of his son, that Poseidon required in order to allow him to set foot on his island, those of Jesus, Buddha, and Mahomet appear. The setting of Hans Neuenfels which already took place in 2003 may today awake reactions among the German muslims.

The Company's Director, Kirsten Harms, has been told a few weeks ago that the police received an anonymous threat. The police, asserted it had not been informed of any threat, it just received a call in June from someone who went to the performance 3 years ago and who was kind of worried of its impact today.

This rather surprising decision of the Deutsche Oper raises a load of questions:

What about the freedom of speech?

Are we now living in such an era when fear wins before any kind of debate even starts?

This cancellation is really odd all the more that Berlin seems to be one of the places around here where the integration of muslims works pretty well. At least better than, let's say in France for instance. According to the foreign ministry, 3,2 to 3,5 millions of Muslims live in Germany; just 10 to 15 % would be related to muslim organisations. Most of them hail from Turkey. 80% of them are sunnis, 17% alevites, and 3% shiites.

Much more surprising is also the fact that on the one hand Mrs Harms has been flaid by the critics, and on the other hand, one of the only supporters of that decision has been the President of the Islam Council which represents those 3 millions of German muslims. Ali Kizilkaya would have wished that Idomeneo, in Neuenfels' setting never took place.

September 27th: Actually the whole thema about cancelling or now maybe rescheduling Idomeneo is happening at a time when Berlin wants to elaborate a social contract.

A conference is taking place and 30 people, members of the State Administration and Muslims, are now brainstorming. They are dealing with three kinds of subjects: "German social order and values consensus", "Matters of Religion in the comprehension of the German Constitution" as well as "Economy and Media acting as a bridge". This meeting hold by the Minister of Interior Department, Wolfgang Schäuble, is a "première" in Germany, and seems to have been inspired by a similar French approach which began a few years ago with Nicolas Sarkozy. This conference is supposed to meet at least for 2 years, and come to a "social order". The recent state of thing with a progressive immigration of Muslims, is widely accepted, but german people acknowledge they don't really know anything about Islam, and those new inhabitants are settling on the German ground in a climate of indifference, or mutual incomprehension.

September 28th: After the opening of the Islam conference, Wolfgang Schäuble presumably willing to give evidence that the round of meetings is starting well, indicates that the 30 members would go to a performance of Idomeneo.
For a start, imagination has a ringside seat: one of the muslim members suggests to build a Mosquee instead of the Castle which is to be rebuilt instead of the Palace of the Republic, the old symbol of the GDR. That would bring a Mosquee just opposite to the Berliner Cathedral...

My dear Wolfgang Amadeus, if only you knew, all that fuss...

When art is tendencially morbid.

What does plastination consist in?

Plastination I learned, is a method of preserving perishable biological specimens by replacing the tissue water and lipid with a curable plastic polymer. The specimens preserved in this manner are permanent, clean, non-toxic and dry. Plastinates retain textures and structures of tissue and are therefore an invaluable teaching resource in anatomy. Plastinated specimens have none of the usual hazards and restrictions associated with the study of anatomical specimens eg. use of gloves, toxic fumes, contagions etc, and are more robust than the original specimen.
In this way I guess this is one of the many progresses in terms of technology adapted to science, and one can easily imagine how useful it may be as a teaching tool or learning exercise. Speaking of tool I just would like to remind you ... yes we're still talking about human bodies, Komisch.

Voyeurism? Or Anatomy lesson?

Behind this academic use, some people have seen in the plastination method an artistic niche...

Dr. Gunther von Hagens alias Dr. Death is travelling around the world and shows his "dead" babies in most of the big cities.

"The BODY WORLDS exhibitions are first-of-their-kind exhibitions through which visitors learn about anatomy, physiology, and health by viewing real human bodies, using an extraordinary process called Plastination a groundbreaking method for specimen preservation invented by Dr. von Hagens in 1977."
This exhibition is a collection of about 200 real humans, organs, healthy and diseased ones. Just look at muscles and joints relating, look at another you sitting, playing chess, swimming, riding a horse, even look at a 8 months - pregnant woman and her foetus.

This exhibition is said to have an educating role. Death: the cessation of life, deprives a body of its humanity, the corpse being nothing more than just a thing. Dr. von Hagens wants to "break taboos". Breaking taboos about human's inside? About death? Did our grand- and their forefathers wait for this anatomist to break the taboo of death, or is it just that death remains one of our main intimate fears and a reason why we have cemetaries or crematoria? Dignity, rest and peace.

Make people face death and the nudity of our inside

This Body Worlds exhibition seems to be a unique opportunity to discover the inside of each one of us. But this also an artistic way of turning a dead human being into a sort of living dead thing. Nice one though.

An exhibition of corpses, as an honor for those corpses allowed to re-live through the look of the visitors. An alternative to burrial or cremation? Would you give your corpse a treat ... 1500 hours to turn your mere dead body into a plastinated dead being... Massages, hair- and nerves- and whatsoever cut... Have a nice death.

What annoys me a bit in this thing is not the scientific background, use or interest of such an anatomy study whatever you may call it, nor the methods used. This is rather the commercial aspects relying under it. People dying, deciding to give their corpse to Dr Von Hagens, who is then going to earn millions of dollors, thanks to your donation,thanks to DVDs, Books ,Toys and so on, it's ok ... But why is he working on all those corpses, in China? He claims that it is because China is the worlds' factory place, and that there are plenty of skilled graduated students, looking for a job after they are done with Med school. The problem is maybe not him but the others like him who started copying his method and finding the business both interesting and ... lucrative. China: a growing economy and a new industry...How to use human and animal remains...Unclaimed Chinese bodies? Medical school graduates, working for much more little money than somewhere else in Europe or US? At first an artistic niche. Now a corpses' trade niche.

"Know yourself. Know your body. Inside out." Such a good commercial ... Love it.

More infos: Gunther von Hagens / Body Worlds

Plastination Gallery

In french: a swiss article...

France Belgium a big no-no story

Last week...
There exist so many jokes about Belgian people in France and vice versa, that there must be a reason. I should have tought about it a bit... before. Before I accepted that a guy that I barely know comes to my place and stays for a week. But how did it happen?
Once upon a time, in the Alps... A pretty bored girl, tired of chastening her boyfriend and a couple of friends who couldn't stand each other, decided to escape and take a few hours of rest. That's how she ended up taking a snow board class. And that's how she met Olivier ... The Belgian guy. He seemed nice, funny and all. They even might have become friends if it wasn't just a 3 mornings class, and if they didn't leave in two different countries. On her way back to Paris, she received a text message on her cell with his instant messenger address. And that should have been a WARNING SIGN... Who wants to keep in touch with someone you barely know, a lovely wanna-be-your-friend, or a lovely freak-with-no-friend?

That was two years ago. Since that time we kept in touch just the strict minimum, saying "hi" via Internet (how nice are the relationships nowadays?) once every 6 months, and that's how it happened. Two months ago he just started asking me a few questions:

-"Wassup, Were are you now?"

-"In Berlin"

-"How is it?"

-"Cool..."

-"Can I come and visit you, how long may I stay?"

My little voice appeared to me and told me what the hell? I don't know him, anyway he doesn't know me by the same occasion, I guess he won't ask fore more than a weekend or so...

-"Ten days is it alright ? At the beginning of August."

Whaaaaaaaaaat? ten days? what does he think? Is he trying to avoid the costs of an hotel? What is this urge to visit me or Berlin? No way he's gonna stay for ten days...

-"Hmm...Well, I have to go back to Paris at the beginning of August, why don't you come at the end of July, I've got another friend visiting me until the 29th, why don't you come after her?" It It was pretty clear, wasn't it?

- "Well, ok then , I'll come from the 27th until the 6th of August...
Is he deaf or what?

-" No I can't, I'll be back to Paris by that time..."

- "Ok, I'll leave on the 3rd then. "

I guess ok then...

And there he is, staying at my place for a week. First night my roomate, my other friend, and I celebrated his arrival with a bottle of champagne... after two glasses, he was completely drunk, singing and yelling in our appartment and after two hours like that my brain seemed like a jam of stupid pop songs. Just after that another friend of mine arrived at my place, and that's when Olivier decided to set his heart on my house guest, smelling that a competition game with the newcomer could be funny. Whereas the newcomer played the cool guy card who doesn't care too much, he played every single card he could. Massages, jokes (the best being: what's green and goes up and down? Snivel...) singing, sex accomplishments and exploits, shames and prides, a 3 hour-long monologue. Everytime one of us wanted to phrase something, he simply cut us off and went on telling one more story about... himself of course. What else could he talk about. Maybe I should depict him a bit more. The 28 year-old Belgian had already been: a professional singer, French teacher, actor, chiropodist, photographer (of nude girls exculsively). He has been with his girlfriend for seven years, is but on a break for two months (oups ... but wasn't he also on a break two years ago...) because she dumped him for a girl. But they are doing fine and both go together next week to a shrink appointment, to start allover. No comment.

Anyway. Next day in Berlin, we are going out in a club: same protagonists as the day before, plus some other friends. After a few minutes dancing on the low beats of a rather good mix, my two friends are kissing. That's when Olivier starts to freak out. He definitely has to find someone to hook up with. The hunter looks around, seeking for his prey...The raptor realizes then that everyone around is German. Now the poor guy is scared. How is he gonna be the Don Juan of the club if destitute of his main force, words... Thank god his guardian angel keeps an eye on him and sends him the hunted. Olivier catches the eye of Virginie. And the plan of action is already all set up. He won't leave her all night long, will blahblah her for hours, about everything and mostly nothing. Too bad ... Nothing happens that night.

And that's when the nighmare starts. The next day he keeps asking me to call her see what she's doing, if she wants to go out with us, have a drink somewhere... and so on.

He keeps asking me what he should do, how he should do it, telling me by the way that he has forgotten how to flirt and that his threesomes, his girlfriend, his few other dates, never started like that. Most of the time he doesn't know the girls, hooks up with them, and then maybe tries to know a bit more about them. If they are worth it. Well this girl who ended up going out every night with us, avoiding him at the same time by talking to everyone but him, was just one example. He tried everything with her. Treating her in bars, trying to stay over at her place, a red rose in another bar, a dinner of home made sushis... Who wouldn't have fallen in love with such a chef... I at least would have... If there wasn't something wrong.

What was wrong? Everything. Everything in his behaviour, in his way to turn out any subject in a personal experience, in his whistling 24 hours a day, in his self esteem, in his way to tell you that he envies you and your life here, and in his way to be both so proud and so complicated. After noticing that it wouldn't work out with that French doll, he invited his ex to come to Berlin for a few days. But he did not invite her at my place because discussing it with a friend of mine who told him I wouldn't be so pleased, he invited her to stay at my friends' place. Strangely enough, she didn't come.

By the end of the week I think I had a better insight of his personality.By the end of his stay, he basically didn't see anything of Berlin. I think the only thing he visited was the Didim Döner, around the corner, having a Kebab there at almost every meal when I wasn't home. And of course as for being Belgian, he was compelled to criticize the German fries and beers. Telling me "come and visit me in Brussels, with all my new friends that I met this week in Berlin with you, and you will all test the best." He wasn't able to go alone anywhere to see anything, and always counted on my friends to take care of him while I was working. No curiosity, no independance, his sex leading the way unsuccessfully...hided far behind a shit load of words.

Thank god it's over.

No more strangers.

Exhausted.

World Cup, overview of a football anti-fan

3 weeks already...
Germany has experienced a lot of changes for months now, trying to get "ready" for this huge event, which would bring so many tourists during 4 weeks...The new Berlin train station, the biggest one in Europe successfully opened a few days before the kick-off. Each city taking part in this Fussball Weltmeisterschaft had its own way to party and celebrate what would be the next unique discussion motif during the 4 weeks to come.
Whitunday, Frankfurt am Main: the Skyline is covered with huge pictures from football players, a light show based on the feelings brought by this sport. 1 hour long show, and many hundreds of thousands of people sitting along the Main river to watch it. Not a word. People remain silent as if it were a spiritual celebration. Music, comments dating from the very firsts world cups, blue- red-yellow lights are illuminating the Main. Actually even for non-football fans the show is pretty nice. But do people come for the show because its the celebration of the World Cup opening or because it's a great event :"Where you already here yesterday?" "yes of course, but it's so great, I couldn't miss it today" "but I mean, it's exactly the same as yesterday, isn't it?" "well, yes it is, but you won't see such a thing in years..."

Every single person is kind of compelled to be up to date with what's going on. First game of the pool, I'm sitting in a café in the trendy district of Berlin. You think people there are not so into Football. Well, you're wrong. It's 3pm, sun shines and makes everyone smile after months of rain or even hailstorm on June 1st. You want to enjoy this and sit in a calm café in a sun-kissed terrasse. We sat there for half an hour, 5 minutes before the game started, the waitress asks if we would like to sit inside to watch the game. Poor girl, she couldn't understand that our answer was no. Two anti-football people, how come?A woman passes by our table, and asks "wieviel steht?" (what's the score?). She looked at us in such a condescending way when we answered "no idea". I mean... the game didn't even started yet! 5 minutes later, the waitress comes back with the check, and : "but, reeeeeeaaaally?Are you sure you don't want to watch it?" Well it's now time to go, I cannot stand it anymore.
But how does it look like right now, one week before the end? Now that the pool games are over how is it?
People sitting in every single bar in front of TVs, getting crazier and crazier at each game. After each one the streets are turned into party places, with people shouting, yelling "Deutschland wird Weltmeister", chanting "Fina-le Finale...hohahaho..." (reinterpreting volare, in a subtil football manner). Horns are ringing for hours after the game when Germany wins. Funny how when I got out from work yesterday - during the 5 last minutes with the penalties of Germany and Argentina- streets around the Sony Center (usually overcrowded place) were just empty, sort of dead, and every two minutes, fans howling and waking up the few lethargic passers-by.

What remains still astonishing is the silence or kind of taboo concerning violence, arrests and so on among the hundreds of thousands of fans in open-air viewing areas, ''There have been some fights, but nothing big,'' said Berlin Police spokesman Hans-Joerg Draeger. ''With that many people and alcohol, that's only natural.'' Should we conclude that Hooligans are just not taking advantage of this worldcup, or that German authorities have everything under control, that the police is just perfectly spread over ?On the evidence of the newspapers or of TV there are just some kinds of after-game incidents with beer bottles, thrown out causing light injuries. Nothing more.
Besides all those aspects, one should also stress a new strange feeling among German people. After 50 years of shame, of discretion, of silence of all but patriotism, this country is now kind of rediscovering a new sort of National Pride. The left extremists shy away from this new behaviour, from this new wave of Flags flapping allover the streets, or worn by every single citizen. Some say football creates an environment in which for example nationalism and sexism are especially aggressive and abrasive. Tonight the French and Brazilian Team are going to play and winners will be semi finalists. I just kind of wonder how the next days are goind to be like. It's interesting to see how the French team here, is just neglected. It seems that everyone here (except of course the few French people living in Germany), couldn't care less about what is going to do the oldest team in the competition.

To be continued...

Somewhere inbetween

Too much time already that I've been waiting for this moment.

Waiting for the time I would take the opportunity of this "new"(not so new anymore) blogging wave...What for? try to share some of my experiences somewhere on the old or on the new continent.

Now I'm lost. I have this awful feeling of having to fill up a white sheet of paper. Well, it's not exactly that... Thanks to new technologies, it's now a stupid look at my screen, with those lines not going any further and my cursor which keeps on coming back and forth. I must say I prefer when its back than when its forth, because I think I still have time until I have to type the next word.

That's it, that's exactly what I imagined, blogging is like a synonym of blahblahing?

It's too easy. Actually I don't have any idea of what blogs are, or should look like. I never read one... oups. I just heard about it and felt this urge of creating one. Maybe in order not to be fully outdated, old fashioned or whatsoever. But I couldn't start before... before what?

I had this dream a few weeks ago with a very clear conception of how mine would look like, and what was the point for me adding one more blog to the "I don't know how many already"

existing ones. I won't disclose it yet, I want to keep the benefit of the surprise.

- Why Parisnyberlin?

Native French, I now live in Berlin after having spent one year in NY. I could not decide between one of those three cities. I guess I kind of fall in love with each city I live in. Well, then I should rather write Paristoulousenyberlin, but then it's too long... Falling in love I said. Well yes falling in love, in every sense. That's why I don't want to move in somewhere else now, because everytime, I feel torn apart, leaving a piece of my heart somewhere. Each city I lived in is full of thousands of wonderful things, and I would like to help (as far as I can) at least someone to see it. I mean, this will be based on one particular opinion, but who knows? Maybe one of you will see what I have to say, will like it, and tell me later on, well I share your idea on that point or I just don't get you... And I'll be pleased in both cases. Don't get me wrong I won't blog a new guidebook for any of those cities, what would be the point? Anyway you'll see.

- French why are you writing in English then?

Maybe because I don't have enough of this worldwide known "French pride"? Well, no use to go so far, I just like and miss writing in English. The French language still doesn't have any translation for "blog","blogging" and so on. Based on that... I'll write in English. But, I swear, as soon as "l'Académie Française" will aprove a new french translation, I'll switch from English to French. Surely for the good of the readers, who between now and then, will have more than enough time to be fed up with my poor English.

That's it for today, this was just the first few words calling on for many many more.

...Coming soon!