Last Saturday I went to the Atlantic Theatre Company to see the play Offices, written by Ethan Coen – without his brother. I’m still not sure if I liked it. I thoroughly enjoyed Burn after reading by both Coen Brothers, which was wonderfully ridiculous and the 2nd part of the play was pretty close to that. I have no idea what the point of the play was besides 120 minutes of sheer fun of watching amazing actors rendering witty dialogues. So I walked out there rather satisfied, without being able to see a meaning and with no clear idea about the message of the play. It took me a while to understand: The medium meaninglessness is the message!

Then, a bit later I realized something else: When comparing the play to American TV shows or movies, I realized that one thing was different. The entire cast of the theare play was white. The boss was white, the homeland security officers were white, the secretary: white, the wife: white – the ones who hired, those who got fired: all white. The bum was white. Every single person was white! What a contrast to something like LOST, which is more diverse than Noah’s ark… They even have an Iraqi, even better, an Ex-Republican Guard – and the 1st season is from 2004! Now that’s diversity!

Ok, this is about 2 years old but I just found this and I think it’s an amazing idea:

Payphone warriors!

So when reading my emails today I noticed that Nada Surf‘s new song “Whose Authority” is currently #1 on CampusCharts. (Reminds me of Kanal-C…).

Must be all part of their latest campaign for the release of their next album “lucky“. They also got a new website. I feel like Nada Surf’s site gets a complete overhaul with each album release. I’ve been listening to the few new songs on their website for quite a while today…

Years ago, I’ve been to two of their shows (München & Southside) which were both amazing. Francesca pointed out that their lyrics are not very deep, which is probably true. But I still like their songs a lot. The singer has a high pitch voice. They use guitars after all. That’s basically all I need. Anyways, looks like all their shows are sold out already. We got lucky and got tickets for the show in Williamsburg. OK, no we were not lucky – we ordered 2 months ago.

So I googled for the song title and now watch this video by one of my all time favorite bands:

Nada Surf, New York City and fast bikes.

I likes.

I started to love bikes with slim wheels ever since I bought a Cross bike in Bologna a couple years ago and rode it in the Vespa-infested streets of Bologna, up and down sunny Tuscan hills, through the chilly forest valleys of my German home and on the beaches and hills of Genoa. That particular bike actually traveled quite a bit together with me and saw the following places: Bologna > Bad Mergentheim > Augsburg > Genoa (by train & plane) > Augsburg > Bad Mergentheim. That’s where it’s living now if my brother hasn’t sold it yet. Now I actually thought of taking it with me over the Atlantic when coming home from my Christmas visit but a.) I had enough wine to smuggle into the US and b.) it just seemed very wrong. Now over the recent days I’ve been contemplating buying one… Which one is it gonna be? A cross bike? I’m a bit reluctant to go for a pure road bike considering the dire state of the roads in NYC.

Should I get a Tommaso Monza?
Or a sturdier fitness/commuter bike like the Iron Horse Transit?

Or a K2 Mach 2.0 Roadbike?

Even though those Kamikaze-Trackbikes look damn tempting, too. Must be Frank’s dream bike.

I’ll try keep you posted on subjects such as:

. Nada Surf

. New York City

. Fast Bikes

. Spring

Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s.

Oder lest doch gleich den Text bei der Deutschen Welle.

Die Website wurde von einem halbwissenden Studenten designt – weil der Laden ja kein Geld hat. Die Kassen sind aus braunem Holz gezimmert.

Trader Joe’s Jute – Starbucks Kreide. Und zerfetzte Denims vom Designer. Der leicht angehippiete Look ist vielleicht das amerikanischste was es momentan gibt. Reaktion als Reaktion auf Künstlichkeit.

Wer südmanhattanische Bohemians sehen will, der muss nicht in Lower-East-Side Bars suchen, in denen eh nur noch Jerseyaner und Longisländer anzutreffen sind. Nein, den echten New York City Dweller kann man nirgends so gut beobachten wie beim Einkaufen. Beim Einkaufen, nicht beim Shoppen. Groceries. Lebensmittel. Jeder zweite ist Deutscher. Deutsche verstecken sich gut in New York. Besser als die Franzosen. Aber irgendwie ist jeder zweite ein Landsmann. Oder Schweizer.

Unglaublich, wieviele Sweatshirt-in-Lederjackenträger sich für billig-gute Produkte eine ewige Wartezeit antun. Ok, ich ja auch:

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Wenn Die wüssten…

Möchte nur noch wissen, was für Geheimdrogen die Mitarbeiter kriegen. Ach ja genau, die Mitarbeiter sind die mit den einfarbigen T-und Sweatshirts mit der weissen Blumenscherenschnittmusterborde. Die, die so unglaublich froh sind, in einem Supermarkt zu arbeiten. Geheimdrogen – die T-Shirts allein können es ja nicht sein…

Beim nächsten Mal gibt’s möglicherweise die Kart-Kam vom kompletten Einkauf…

Two kiwis in New York: Flight of the Conchords.

Definately watch their live show on Stage6. Do that right now!

Then also watch their TV show also on Stage6.

Thanks to Rainer for the hint.

Definitions :

FOP = F.O.P = Fresh Off the Plane

FOB = F.O.B = Fresh Off the Boat.