Hi guys,
after a brief period of no internet (that was a scary 15 hours!) I'm back and blogging to you live.
Today I'm going to tell you about yet another museum. I hope you like these stupid things, cause I sure don't.
Actually, I'm excited because today I'm talking about Filmmuseum. I love movies and apparently Germany has enough to do with them that they have a museum.
First and foremost, the filmmuseum is located in Potsdamer Platz, a very cool area. Kind of like a German Times Square.
Specifically it's in the magnificent and entirely un-germany-like Sony Center.
An enormous and dazzlingly lit (at night) complex that contains not only a huge all-english-language multiplex and an imax theatre, but also LegoLand
Where was I? Oh yeah, the museum.
It covered German contributions to motion pictures and had a very cool layout, from the moment you stepped into the first room you could tell you were entering THE WORLD OF FILM.
And then you stepped out of the first room and it was pretty much like any other museum. Interesting stuff though.
It's been kind of a while since I've been there so I will remember what these pictures are of as best I can. This is Max Linder, a German Film Pioneer. Maybe like the first or second?
Did you know that the film camera had it's origin in Germany? It was simultaneously invented in a much more efficient way in some other place though, so they lose a lot of the credit. However, the first public showing of a film was right here, in Berlin.
It wasn't long before movies were being made, like this one, here. Dr. Cagliari's Amazing Moving Castle, or something. They had a lot of these neat little models. I wonder who makes them
Because this is a German film museum, they spent a lot of time on Fritz Lange. What, you don't know Fritz Lange? Metropolis? Die Spinnen? M? Well he's really good ok?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_LangWatch his movies.
They also had a lot about Marlene Dietrich, a 20's movie starlet, including these incredibly racist little dolls that she always took with her when filming.
Other objects d'interest included this, the very first Academy Award. For Emil Jannings and his work on god-only-knows-what.
By the time I left the Museum Patsdamer Platz was humming with activity- it was a big German movie premier! This is where they do those things.
Wall-E! I loved that movie. And, oh my god, there are some celebs. This is now a celeblog. Just check out this girl, she looks like she's probably famous, right?
Seriously, I don't know who this is, but the crowd was going crazy for her. If anyone knows pls let me know in the comments section.
That's all for now people, here are some of the first movies ever shown, by
Max Skladanowsky here in Berlin
Serpentine DanceBoxing the Kangaroo2 more days in Berlin!
Ginger is not to be used in candy! It is not a pleasant flavor at all and has nothing in common with other candy-standbys like chocolate, fruit, caramel, or nougat. No matter how much sugar or chocolate you put on it, it is still not a candy.
Hi guys,
Specifically it's in the magnificent and entirely un-germany-like Sony Center.
An enormous and dazzlingly lit (at night) complex that contains not only a huge all-english-language multiplex and an imax theatre, but also LegoLand
Where was I? Oh yeah, the museum.
It covered German contributions to motion pictures and had a very cool layout, from the moment you stepped into the first room you could tell you were entering THE WORLD OF FILM.
It's been kind of a while since I've been there so I will remember what these pictures are of as best I can. This is Max Linder, a German Film Pioneer. Maybe like the first or second?
It wasn't long before movies were being made, like this one, here. Dr. Cagliari's Amazing Moving Castle, or something. They had a lot of these neat little models. I wonder who makes them
Because this is a German film museum, they spent a lot of time on Fritz Lange. What, you don't know Fritz Lange? Metropolis? Die Spinnen? M? Well he's really good ok?
They also had a lot about Marlene Dietrich, a 20's movie starlet, including these incredibly racist little dolls that she always took with her when filming.
Other objects d'interest included this, the very first Academy Award. For Emil Jannings and his work on god-only-knows-what.
By the time I left the Museum Patsdamer Platz was humming with activity- it was a big German movie premier! This is where they do those things.
Wall-E! I loved that movie. And, oh my god, there are some celebs. This is now a celeblog. Just check out this girl, she looks like she's probably famous, right?
Seriously, I don't know who this is, but the crowd was going crazy for her. If anyone knows pls let me know in the comments section.
These are the official Berlin Bears, they are everywhere and decorated in various ways
In front of the Humbolt University library
In a mall, right outside a grocery store
In the Volkspark
On the street
On a bus
On Unter den Linden, the Pennsylvania Avenue of Germany
in Prenzlauer Berg, my neighborhood
In fancy Moabit, on a bridge
In Tiergarten
Lesson 2: Nefertiti's head is a really big deal.
Lesson 3: They had a lot of (funny looking) gods.
Lesson 4: Alligators love to party
Lesson 5: Oh god, someone get that child out of there
For more exciting pics check out this album, it's got mummies by the armful.
The exhibition was called, roughly, Babylon: Truth and Myth. A neat idea to be sure, it was divided into two areas; one historical the other more focused on the Babel myth and legend. This was held in the famous (?) Pergamon, an antiquities museum on museuminsel (museum island) in the heart of Berlin.
In case you haven't yet figured this out, this update will use the word 'museum' a lot.
Anyway, it was a really cool museum, having one section for ancient artifacts (think greek and roman statues) and another for Islamic art in addition to the two Babylon areas. I checked out the history first, which featured a lot of actual babylonian relics. It was fascinating at first but eventually became a little bit borring somewhere around the 'farming and agriculture' section (isn't that always where a thing becomes borring?). Lotsa statues, lotsa drawings of Marduk, lotsa tablets with inscriptions by Babylonian kings. Very cool overall.
(ex. The land that does not bow to Marduk I defeat him with my strong weapon -Some King, Babylon, A Really Long Time Ago)
What's the deal with the Tower of Babel? The fall of Babylon? Etc. Etc.
While it was totally awesome to see my favorite Bruegel paintings in their original form, the modern artistic interpretations were easily the most interesting.
Now picture that things are being shouted at you in different languages from all around the room and you'll get an idea of what it was like.
So some of you may know that Babylon was in modern day Iraq, and some of the people who knew that might know that Saddam Hussein attempted to create historical ties between himself and ancient Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. This piece was created from US magazine covers detailed Sadam's fall from power, glitter, and semen. Yes, semen.
I'm dying to see a movie, but all they've got is this shit (in German). Wall-E had its big Germany premier today at the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz, maybe I'll see that.
Sand castles that is!
But really though, it's very cold. If someone wants to send me a hat or something that would be nice.
Finally I got to scratch my nostalgia itch a bit by attending my very first AMERICAN MONSTER TRUCK SHOW.
It was right in my neighborohood too, albeit to an area I had not yet been to. It was held at the Sportpark Velodrome, some kind of immense soviet sport structure.
Oh boy, hell drivers! Just like we have in America! This is gonna be good (after 3 or 4 drinks).
American Monster-Truck Motor Euro-Tour?
I had assumed it would be inside the drome, but it was actually a rather smallish event, and outside in the german cold no less.
Still, it ended up being pretty awesome. This is some of the aftermath. Boy, they really ran over those cars...
