Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain)
Posted: March 23, 2011 Filed under: Eggs, Lost in Berlin | Tags: Andreas Juetterman, Andrew Flohr-Spence, Berlin, Berlin Wall, Cold War, echelon, Hartmut Gruhl, History, nsa, photos, ruin porn, ruins, Teufelsberg, video 1 Comment »
[Two videos and random other photos below!]
The name Teufelsberg, ‘Devil’s Mountain,’ is a misnomer all around.
The Berliner-beloved hill on the city’s western edge is neither a mountain, nor should it be blamed on some demon. Teufelsberg should be called, “Humanity Heap.” That mound of dirt is owned by us.
The hill is perhaps best known for its Cold War spy history–the former CIA listening post perched on top–but the creepy spook ruin is only the bright cherry donning the whipped-cream-chocolate-fudge-triple-chunk History Sunday. Teufelsberg’s gooey history comes in layers.
Alas, as everything good in this world…under constant threat from redevelopement, including a new plan with new investors…Teufelsberg’s days as it is known now are numbered. Read the rest of this entry »
Like this:
Night lights
Posted: March 20, 2011 Filed under: Lost in Berlin | Tags: Alexanderplatz, Andrew Flohr-Spence, Berlin, Karl Marx Allee, night, photos, Plattenbau Leave a comment »
In light of all the havoc let loose by the so-called Super Moon, I figured it best if I spend today taking pictures.
Libya. Fukushima. Bahrain. Morocco. Syria. Owsley. Knut. Even news junkies can get sick from too much bad news jammed in the vein.
I think it was the bear that put me over the line…the cute type, not the dancing.
“Super Moon” sounds so appetising, but now I know. Super moon is bad mojo. Too much vibe for humans to jive on. Lunar vibe overload.
The Super Moon apparently makes humans break out in fits of stupidity. Read the rest of this entry »
Moon test
Posted: March 19, 2011 Filed under: Lost in Berlin Leave a comment »
Keeping your gizmo clean is constant battle. Sisyphus reality, really.
Really hard for a klutz like me who likes to stick his camera in every puddle that happens my way; I like to catch rainwater in my lens and lick it out to quench my thirst in the field; use my camera to break windows to crawl into abandoned buildings, as a battering ram to open doors.
So I got the housing and sensor and everything cleaned this week. 50 Euro bucks it cost me.
And then I had to go and buy a cleaning kit.
All the dirt was gone except one hair.
One fucking hair right in the middle of the screen. Jesus.
And the hair is now gone. Read the rest of this entry »
Naming Squares after artists, humanitarians, revolutionaries and…Ronald Reagan.
Posted: March 7, 2011 Filed under: Eggs, Lost in Berlin | Tags: Berlin, Berlin politics, Berlin Wall, Cold War, German Democratic Republic, Germany, politics, Ronald Reagan, streetnames Leave a comment »
Except the first nine or so shots taken around my neighborhood (United Nations Square and Strausberger Square) the pictures are mostly from my wanderings around a rather imposing Plattenbau settlement in the middle of infamous Marzahn, centered around the Anton Saefkow square, where I was happy to find a market day.
Saefkow was a German commie who plotted underground in Nazi Germany to sabotage and undermine the regime. After trying unsuccessfully to assassinate Hitler with yet another cliché briefcase bomb (at that point, Hitler had to be leery toward anyone with a briefcase, duh) he was arrested and executed. One of the many revolutionaries the GDR named things after. And top it all off, the square even got to keep the name after the wall fell. Read the rest of this entry »
An open letter to Detroit from a confessed Ruin Pornographer
Posted: March 3, 2011 Filed under: Eggs, Lost in Berlin | Tags: Berlin, Detroit, disease fiction, Plattenbau, ruin porn, ruins, travel writing, urban planning, urban renewal Leave a comment »First of all, People of Detroit, take a pill and calm down. You seem upset. We Ok? Ok.
While I have never visited you specifically, Dear Detroit, I feel accused for what I do in Berlin: take pictures of the city’s ruins. Ruin Porn is your name for my fetish, I learned recently.
Ruin Porn…I guess then that makes me a Ruin Pornographer.
The more I say it actually…it does have a certain ring.
But name-calling and fighting each other is not needed at this point…we have greater problems at hand. Dragons.
Yes, Dragons. Pictures of the feeding dragons follow the below screed. Read the rest of this entry »
