due to a new policy where i work against blog’s – i’ve decided to close down ap!.  while i never specifically talked about who i worked for, it certainly wouldn’t be too difficult from reading some of my posts, or knowing what i do for a living – to figure out the company behind the man.  and there are a few people at work who know of the existence of this blog…

and i can’t take that risk.

i’ve started a new blog – and if your interested you can email me to get the address, or leave a comment here and i’ll forward you the new site.

for those that don’t come along to the new site, thank you for reading – it’s been a blast.

#1. the vacant lot next to the theater in east berlin. in the background you will see friedrichstraße station. i fell in love with the station (and the german train stations in general… something about the use of glass and iron) – just ask cb, he saw like 20 pics of this station.

#2. another shot of the station. there’s some interesting history on the station from during the cold war… check it out: friedrichstraße station

#3. the fernsehturm (tv antenna/tower) in alexanderplatz from a distance. i particularly like the puffy clouds in this pic. it turned cold and rained shortly after this pic

#4. shot of the sony center in potsdamer platz. the glass and metal structure is supposed to resemble mt. fuji.

#5. nondescript gold building somewhere near potsdamer platz. i have no idea what this is, but i dug it. i love the scale of the building and the clouds in the background.

#6. the jewish museum in berlin. i didn’t get a chance to visit it, but it’s on my list if i ever return to berlin.

#7. soviet styled plaque and part of the “wall” located next to checkpoint charlie

#8. look ma, the europeans have tacky shit too, not just americans! this is snackpoint charlie next to the checkpoint. let’s see, we have doner’s from the middle-east, pasta from italy, sushi from asia and good ‘ol subway from america. aint’ we proud?!

#9. the brandenburg tor (aka gate). love the scale in this shot, with the clouds in the background. very interesting history involving napoleon. maybe it was common knowledge, but i didn’t know it.

#10. the quadriga detail

#11. the memorial to the murdered jews of europe.

this is the single most impressive thing i saw in berlin & wished i had had more time to explore it.

some facts:

• there are 2,711 stelae in the monument
• the stelae are all different heights and stand on wavy/uneven ground
• the underground bunker of hitler is not as is commonly speculated underneath the memorial (tho’ it is 300 meters away). however, the underground service villa of propaganda minister goebbels is underneath the northeastern corner of the memorial
• there is an interesting quote at the information center: “it happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say.” – primo levi, author of ‘the drowned and the saved’. levi was born in 1919 in turin and was a member of the italian resistance. he was arrested and deported to auschwitz in 1944. after his release in 1945 he begin to write. in 1987, he committed suicide
• the memorial was designed by american architect peter eisenman
• the stelae are treated with a special chemical which resists spray paint and graffiti. the company that created the chemical also manufactured the gas that was used in the death camps

#12. with the tiergarten in the distance

#13. detail

#14. inside the reichstag dome. the mirrors reflect light into the reichstag building. the dome itself offers a 365 degree view of berlin. unfortunately, it was a weird weather day and when i was doing my 365 shot, the rain was just too much.

#15. the top of the dome is open so that the voices of the german people can flow into the reichstag. or so said my tour book. it’s still pretty cool.

#16. it’s amazing i’m not in some german police cell right now – this beautiful graphic/art representation of the german flag is in the lobby of the reichstag, right next to lots of signs that say “no pictures”. i had to sneak one. and i’m glad i did. love this shot.

#17. a drive by shot of a sex store called love – sex – dreams. how can you not love?

#18. tacheles. i was so psyched to see this building, but the only time i could visit it was when it wasn’t open. i’m still glad i saw it. tho’ wish i could have bought some cool art. the building has an amazing history – including a prison for french war prisoners in 1943, a movie theater and the german version of general electric. now it’s an artists enclave.

#19. bike in the lobby of tacheles. note the chumbawamba poster. get your tickets now, they’re playing berlin. i hear they’re all the rage.

#20. the graffiti was simply amazing. side note, our hotel is in what was west berlin. i was kinda shocked to see how clean it was and how there was virtually no graffiti. tacheles (and the theater we did the show in) were in east berlin. you would not the believe the amount of graffiti. reminded me of milan.

anyway, i loved this girl. so angry. but fun!

#21. a poster glued to the walls inside tacheles main stairway. again, the graffiti was everywhere – literally, but i thought this was a cool graphic image. if any of my german readers can translate, i’d be much obliged.

#22. the main stairway. ya, the smell of piss was pretty strong – but the overall building was impressive as hell. i must go back someday.

#23. the main trainstation in berlin. note the glass and iron. i love this stuff. if we’re at the trainstation, we must be on our way to prague.

to be continued….

today is the second anniversary of this blog. yay me! who’d have thunk it possible?

the traditional gift for the second anniversary is cotton. send prezzies

the first installment (today’s) is all about the big show (aka, the reason i was in berlin to begin with).

#1 – things sound so much better in french.

#2 – goodie bag’s for the attendees.

#3 – cool as shit light bulb.  the theater was swimming with these things…. they were all about 12-15″ long with a single filament running through them.  i loved these bulbs.

#4 – my job on this show was stage manager.  next to my post backstage was a mirror ball.  how can you not love a mirror ball.  they rock.  i call this “self portrait with mirror ball“.

#5 – this may very well be my favorite pic from the entire show, and keep in mind this is still in rehearsals.  the finale for one of the acts was to have his models come out in black under a boat-load of white netting/fabric (they were wearing black sheath dresses) and then they were illuminated with black light.  it was incredible and otherworldly.  they had these kick ass wigs on too that you only saw at the very end of the segment.  i love the movement in this pic.

#6 – i call this one “charlie’s angels shadows“.  you should of seen it when they were in full hair/wardrobe (hey, what can i say – i have more free time to take pictures during rehearsals).

#7 – ok, i’m completely in love with this woman.  seriously – i think i would switch teams to be with her.  she had the most kick-ass walk i’ve ever seen.  and the boots – the boots were amazing (ok, maybe i really am too gay if i noticed the boots… i have a pic of them somewhere).  she was just so damn sexy walking down the catwalk.

#7a – ok, here are the boots.  rock on!

#8 – rehearsing the men’s hairdressing segment.  ummm… can we say “gun show”?  i had the pleasure of having this guy change clothes down to black bikini briefs right next to me.  ummm… i need a moment.

#9 – for obvious reasons.

#10 – ok, now were on show day… i like the look of this pic, tho’ i wish the one girl wasn’t wearing a sweater.  it was pretty cold backstage tho’.

#11 – obvious reasons pt 2.  they just got done “spritzing” the boys to give them that “just worked out” look that’s so popular.  by the way, they were wearing shorty athletic shorts too.  double drool.  i love my fucking job!

#12 – this is the same girl as the above (the one with the boots).  great do, no?  pure sex.  behind the girl you’ll see someone with white and black face paint – that’s one of the girls that’s pictured in the above charlie’s angels shadow shot.

#13 – bringing the afro back baby.  and trust me this chick (all 6’2″ of her) was working the fuck out of this hair.  nice.

#13a – here’s another shot of her

i haven’t forgotten about you.  this has been a helluva week already.

for the record, i don’t actually suffer dramatically from jet lag.  until now.  this last trip has completely kicked my ass.  i’m completely not capable of focusing.  on anything for more than about 23 seconds.  it’s pissing me off.  the jet lag is acting out with a complete inability to sleep past 5 am no matter what time i go to bed.

on top of that, had a bit of trouble in the personal life (short story; i’m back on the market.  i may post the longer story someday.  or not.  net/net; if anyone knows a single guy who likes beefy, hairy, tattooed guys who are nuts about pop culture and music send ‘em my way), and a bit of a mini health issue (no worries, all will be better by friday) and it means i haven’t had time to blog (or the where-with-all to actually put thought to keyboard.

so, as i finish culling through all of my berlin/prague pics to show all of ya’ll – here’s a lil’ precursor…  i call it the men of eastern europe.

these are some of the guys who caused me to stop in my tracks, or drool, or – ahem, other things, at one point or another during my trip.

none of them look as hot here as they were in person.

first up – sleeping beauty.  he shared my cabin for part of the journey from berlin to prague.  you can’t tell here, but he was hung.  massively. 

next up, prague tram boy.  oh my god woof.  hot guy, great hair.  nice body – killer eyes.  yum:

next, – and this picture so does not do him justice – waiter boy.  he served me the beer that accompanied the meal referenced here.  he had a great face and a killer butt.  mmmm.

hat boy is up next.  i’m pretty sure he was a local praguian (?!), he was on one of the trams i road quite a bit.  of course, you can’t see his czech smoldering good looks in this pic – you’ll just have to trust me.  i knew it was going to be a good trip whenever he was on my tram.

i’m pretty sure this next guy is my destiny.  and again, you can’t tell – but sexy as fuck.  woof.  i even think he was cruising me a lil’ (tho, i never really can tell).  lots of furtive glances.  he and i shared 3 subway transfers one afternoon – culminating with the one that brought us closest to my hotel.  alas, he didn’t get off at my stop.  .  if you read this – subway man.  email me.  we have a very bright future together.

ok, this may be cheating – but the palace guard… i’m pretty sure he wanted me too.  see that glint in his eye?  that was for me.  i’m convinced if he didn’t have that pesky czech military service thing going on, he would have jumped me right there in his lil’ guard shack.  (fun fact, his uniform?  it was designed by the guy who did the costume design for the movie amadaus).

]]> http://atomicpop.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/the-men-of-eastern-europe-drool/feed/ 7 atomicpop! http://atomicpop.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/northwestdelta-merge-eek/ http://atomicpop.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/northwestdelta-merge-eek/#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:58:44 +0000 atomicpop! http://atomicpop.wordpress.com/?p=853 ]]> nwa and delta have announced that they are merging and will create a “new global airline“.  sounds good on paper/website, but we will have to wait and see….

i really hope my miles are safe.

boo.  hiss.

so while i fight off the sandman’s efforts (for fucksake, it’s 1:51am in berlin) let me just state for the record here and now it should be a law punishable by castration (for the males of the species) and continual forced viewings of all dolph lundgran films back to back (for the females) that you must wear deodorant whilst in a plane.

to add to that – i would like everyone in the czech republic and germany to also have forced deodorant applications each morning.  i swear there’s an aversion to pit guard in those two fair countries.

ugg.

full post tomorrow.

cheers.

show ended yesterday (monday) – was a smashing sucess (albeit a logistical fuck-show in a number of ways, but the audience didn’t see any of the chaos which is all that matters. thank god it’s over. i have a very tiny charity fashion show in dc at the end of april and then that’s it to our mega show in september in minneapolis. it will be good to get home for a few months.

did the yellow bus tour of berlin today – there are some great things about this city, but it just hasn’t grabbed me… ton’s of pics to share when i get home. right now i’m typing in a wine/beer induced fog and it’s almost 1am. time to pack as i leve for prague tomorrow.

i fried my power cord/adaptor (fucking european electrical-current) so i have very little juice, so not much of an update until i’m back in minneapolis on sunday or monday.

send me good vibes/karma as i’m really excited to get to prague.

in the meantime, here’s a shot of me in front of checkpoint charlie earlier today

:

cheers.

today was load in day (audio/visual, props, equipment etc. brought into the theater) and it went very well, a little too easily i think (tomorrow will be a bear [pun intended]).

front door to the admiralspalast theater where we are doing the show.

view from outside one of the buildings that makes up the theater complex

my lunch of salted meat, sausage, fried egg, fried potatoes and sauerkraut – mmmm… tasty as fuck.

arty-photo of the day – wardrobe.