Ramoooooooooo!!!! RAMOOOOOO!!

OHHHHHHH I sooooo should'nt have done it but I did! Basically I bought loads of random DVD's the other day coz Im not really goin out out every night so Ive been havin my own lil film nights with ppl from the hostel- n one of them was Beat Street, which I have never seen before- ok I know I know I'm soooooo behind! but yeah I was feeling the Pumas hard! so I went n bought these beauties today! AHHHHHH i do LOVE them!! they aint gona stay that freash for long!

I went to Alexander Plaza today which is like the shopping centre complex thing in Berlin, and i stumbled upon this lil Michael Jackson shrine- which sadly actually nearly brought me to tears- yeah to some of you that sounds ridiculous! BUT I cry at EVERYTHING n have yet 2 shed a tear over MJ- but to put in to words what I feel you should read this-

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=214032136

courtesy of Amelia from www.putmeonit.com (which btw is an amazing site for info on non commercial type music)


OKAYYYYYYYY so here we go with the shop reports for the day-so I went to an area in East Central Berlin called Friedrichshain which is wicked- full to the brim of independent retailer's- LOVED IT!

First off we have Nur Tut (Proskauer Str.38, 10247) a small but well stocked womenswear shop with real friendly staff and some really good streetwear garms!- oh n i loved the way they had the clothes displayed!

Next up we have Yard 5 (Samariterstr 5, 10247) which is mostly a graff store selling every colour and brand of spray paint but it had some good trainers in there aswell and some nice tee's that they screen print in the back off the shop- they guys here all look like Hispanic gangsters from LA but are so nice and friendly, well worth a neeb!

Seen this wicked building on my travels today- I wana live here please!

Right someone please inform me what these tubes are for man- they look like their from the Visa advert u know that shit one where he's on a big slide??? but yeah random!

This was another trainer shop that was run by hispanic lookin gangster who were well safe- but OMG it has the biggest collection of t-shirts I have ever seen- any men who go to Berlin need to go here and get some tee's!!

its called Skid Row (Kopernikusstr 18, 10245)

When I lived in Brooklyn Id go to work everyday n this dude would go past me on his bike- exactly like this one- seeing this again bought back the pangs of jealousy!

This place is called Big Robot (Kopernikusstr 19, 10245)
Its a bit of a skate shop kinda place but with an AMAZING selection of books and magazines and well good cuddly toys!

This place is called Latte wie hose (Kopernikusstr 13, 10245) it solda really good mix of girly clothes- going out, jeans, shoes, trainers etc- and again well friendly staff- some wicked labels like Gortez and True tee- which are my new favourite ppl- check them out!

Sunset Star (Kopernikusstr 11, 10245) had so many quite rockabilly style clothes, and some well good shoeeeeeeees!!

Rocs Skateshop is full of good skater shit- boards, trainers, clothes, records!

Fumanchuch (Kopernikusstr 9, 10245) is a good girly shoe shop with a good interior that showcases local artists work every month!

OK girls if u need some new jewellery this THE PLACE!! its amazing!!!! i couldn't get it all in in one pic but oh my god-so much jewellery it hurt me and nearly my bank balance till I walked away and just said NO!
(Blackdoorbeauty Kopernikusstr 7a, 10245)

Unrelated

OK no one in my hostel gives a shit about Michael Jackson dying and its pissing me off man, dont get me wrong he was a bit of a dick- hanging babies over balconies, claiming his lil white kids are his, always wearing masks oh yeh and the pedophile allegati0ns- BUT all that said its MICHAEL JACKSON!!!!! he was part of the Jackson 5, he helped define a whole music generation, he taught us the moonwalk- he made epic videos- remember the time with eddie murphy n iman???? the guy as an entertainer was and is unmatched!! Being in Berlin when this is happening is well annoying to (dont get me wrong im very hapy to be here) but this is such a historic moment I just want to be in England- talking this to death and watching old MJ videos with Tasha! WAH WAHHHH WAHHH!!!

Oh yeah and anyone can now comment on my posts- for yous who tried and had 2 sign up to some rubbish, I changed the settings so comment away!

Sunday

In remembrance of where the wall once stood they have laid cobblestones along its original track and also little plaques (below) of what area it is, its CRAZY to think this was here only 20 years ago, 163 people lost theirs lives trying to cross the wall, the last death being just 3 months before the wall came down in 1989. Along the original track of the wall there are also random bits of political art (above).

Sundays in Berlin are real slow- just how I like them, so today I went to Mauer Park for a flea market, which looked alot like a car boot sale- it basically sold absolute rubbish but good rubbish, i managed to buy 2 solid gold plated bracelets, 2 dvds, 4 pairs of earrings ad a book for 20 euro, its def worth a visit if your willing to trawl through the mounds of crap!

I visited the Reichstag building (kinda like the german verson of the houses of paliment) the other day which has ALOT of history, so much I cant even remember it all but at one point the place was burned down by a left wing activist group (apparently) which then gave Hitler more ammunition to 'watch over' the public more- least I think thats the story- dont quote me, so anyway it was then renovated by the English architect Norman Foster, who added a cool glass bubble type structure to the top where you can see 360 views of the city.

The exterior of the Reichstag

I also went and seen the holocaust memorail which is mental- as you can see below its loads of concrete blocks at different heights with walk ways in between them, as you go further in the blocks become taller making you feel more enclosed, I did not like this AT ALL, and freaked out a lil n had to go and stand at the edge, it basically had the effect on me the designer Peter Einsenman wanted-

'Eisenman hoped to create a feeling of groundlessness and instability; a sense of disorientation. Most will agree that he succeeded'

The monument has caused alot of controversy mainly because the company who supplied the anti-grafitti paint are a sister company of the people who supplied the gas for concentration camps during Hitlers rule.

Random remaining part of the wall.

More arty stuff

So heres the rest of my pics from my lil alternative tour. The building above is called Tacheles,a group of artists took over the building around 1990 and turned it into a live in studio/gallery space, its a mental place with loads of history behind it, the statues in the entrance way had all their heads blown off by SS soldiers who then took over the building and used it to interogate people who didnt comply with Hitlers regieme, and then apparently when that all went wrong the flooded the basement where lots of important files were kept and to this day its still full of water! They do that alot over here, like theres still buildings and train stations that were blown to pieces over the years (mainly in world war 2) that they have just left and not restored, its a lil weird.

Internet is dead

and so is Michael jackson and Farrah Fawcett and my camera- today is a sad day!!!

but when the internet is alive again Ill post the rest of the pics!!!

Street art

So me n some guys from the hostel decided to do an 'alternative' walking tour of Berlin- yes very geeky n touristy i know- but it was free and well worth it!

We were taken to loads of abandoned buildings that have been squatted or just graffed up- it was crazy coz they dont have security cameras on every building like the UK you can just basiclly do what the hell you want- so everywhere n i mean EVERYWHERE is tagged the fuck up man, its mental, they dont give a shit- but some of it is pretty bad, like they'll tag really beautiful historic buildings n public art n churches with shite tags which i dont agree with- this lil lot tho i agree with, a bit more effort!
Obviously all you sreet art/graff heads will prob recognise the artists work but there was just 2 many for me 2 take in- so sorry cant really tell u whos who!

Sick skate park in a wicked club/bar/activity centre called Cassiopeia

What u talkin bout willis??? sorry had 2 say it!