I'm taking a brief break from our regularly scheduled programming, to share this with you:
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/07/11/aerialist-performs-stunt-from-williamsburg-bridge-tower/?mod=wsj_share_facebook
This is an article about my fantastic friend Seanna Sharpe, performing an amazing feat from the Williamsburg Bridge!
And here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G4rTaftAiY&feature=share
Rock on, Seanna!!!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Berlin: 7.1.11
Thank you for last night, Berlin. That's exactly what I came to you for.
We decided to spend Thursday trying to find a good club - not a little bar, but a big rocking danceclub. Jon mapped a few on his phone and off we went, in search of adventure
Adventure eluded us at first. The bars all seemed quiet, empty, and smaller than what we were looking for, but we decided to have a drink at a brightly-colored joint called Blond that I'd read about. It wasn't big, nor was there any dancing, but it had customers, at least. I sipped a tasty prosecco and creme de cassis drink, while Jon downed a gin martini.
We decided to move on when our drinks became empty glasses, still itching to find somewhere we could dance - but everywhere we looked was either small, empty, or closing. Eventually, only two options remained: a thoroughly deserted bar named El Dorado, or a bar called Tramps that had no windows, so we couldn't see if it was busy, but that sounded as though it had customers. We settled on the latter, and entered.
Jon ordered a beer from the bar as a man named Harkhan introduced himself to us and began telling us all about life in Berlin. Then we met Marcus, who stumbled over to apologize for being so drunk, and added that he was friends with Alex, the bartender, so his intoxication was perfectly acceptable. He could hardly remain upright on his barstool, and the table he was leaning against nearly tipped over countless times.
But best of all, he was missing a very prominent tooth and had only one good eye - the other was mostly closed at all times, and no iris could be spotted no matter how hard I looked. Just pure white, and pure insanity. He asked my name repeatedly throughout the night, gleefully shouting "Alice in Wonderland!" each time I told him, because my name sounds like "Alice" when said with a German accent. He also decided that shoving ice down Jon's and my shirts, over and over again, was a good way to pass the time.
I talked more with Harkhan, who introduced me to the bartender as "Alice in Wonderland" without even having heard Marcus call me the same, and met a girl named Rishi who introduced me to her gang as - you guessed it - Alice in Wonderland, before buying Jon and I shots. I admired a necklace she was wearing, so she put it around my neck, told me to keep it, and wrapped my grey, leopard print scarf around her neck in return.
From there things went straight downhill, in the best possible way. Marcus bought Jon and I a few rounds of Jager shots and told me that I reminded him of a female Johnny Depp. He never explained why. He told us that he's a chef, and attempted to explain why that made him an alcoholic and a cocaine addict, but the reasoning was quite unclear (or maybe I was just too focused on his crazy, rolling eye to care). He offered me coke, but I told him that I don't do it. He offered me speed instead, and I declined. "Do you do anything?" he asked. "Weed?" I told him no. "Ecstasy?" He probably could have gone on forever, offering me drugs I'd never even heard of, so I simply laughed and returned to other conversations.
Jon and I started talking to another man - whose name now escapes me - who had lived in Atlanta, Georgia for many years and had spent 18 months in prison there for dealing drugs (coke, ecstasy, meth). He proudly showed off his tattoos ("Easy money" across his fingers, and something else I couldn't decipher on the backs of both hands) and his prison ID. He was only 28, but he looked much older. Drugs and incarceration do no favors for the aging process, as it turns out. We discussed the girl he'd left behind in America and their daughter together, as well as Berlin's infamous nightclub scene.
In the background, Marcus petulantly grabbed every glass ashtray he could find on the bar and hurled them, one by one, at the floor.
Then Rishi announced that we were all going to another establishment nearby called Blue Boy. I said my goodbyes to Alex, who said I was welcome back any time, to Marcus, who announced that I was very cool and gave me a very clumsy kiss on the cheek, and to Harkhan.
We walked around the corner and Rishi buzzed the door of a nondescript building. She spoke briefly with the bouncer, clearly a regular, and he waved us in. "Lady Gaga!" exclaimed the bartender, whose name, I later learned, was Tequila. Rishi lead us to a large table in the back where 3 other men were already sitting. "Alice in Wonderland," she said, by way of introduction. "Lady Gaga!!" shouted Tequila.
We sat down and Rishi ordered a round of vodka and Redbull for everyone. Jon chatted with the 3 other men about the beginning of our night, while Rishi and I used an odd mix of German and English to discuss my relationship with Jon and how expensive the drinks were. She said she's seeing someone, pointing to a ring on her right hand, and showed me pictures of her honey.
At some point she left to take a phone call, and I joined the boys' conversation. One asked if I could speak Spanish, so I responded with "solo un poco." He seemed thrilled at my extremely basic use of the language, so I added "et je parle un peu de francais," "und ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch," "и я говорю немного по-русски." He became even more excited. "по-русски?" he shouted. "я говорю по-русски!" Suddenly, all 3 of the other men were speaking Russian with us. "Nostrovia!" I said, as we all clinked glasses.
Rishi had completely disappeared by this time, so a man who had been sitting across the room took her seat next to me. He was Romanian, he explained, and had never been to the United States despite his fluent English and American girlfriend. We discussed music, education, psychology, and writing, while Jon went in search of Rishi, who had run off with his sunglasses. He returned a short while later with the glasses in hand and the announcement that he had seen Marcus outside, surround by 3 police officers. That seemed like as good a time as any to call it a night, so we bade farewell to our new friends and made our exit into the blindingly-bright light of the Berlin morning, and home to bed.
<3
We decided to spend Thursday trying to find a good club - not a little bar, but a big rocking danceclub. Jon mapped a few on his phone and off we went, in search of adventure
Adventure eluded us at first. The bars all seemed quiet, empty, and smaller than what we were looking for, but we decided to have a drink at a brightly-colored joint called Blond that I'd read about. It wasn't big, nor was there any dancing, but it had customers, at least. I sipped a tasty prosecco and creme de cassis drink, while Jon downed a gin martini.
We decided to move on when our drinks became empty glasses, still itching to find somewhere we could dance - but everywhere we looked was either small, empty, or closing. Eventually, only two options remained: a thoroughly deserted bar named El Dorado, or a bar called Tramps that had no windows, so we couldn't see if it was busy, but that sounded as though it had customers. We settled on the latter, and entered.
Jon ordered a beer from the bar as a man named Harkhan introduced himself to us and began telling us all about life in Berlin. Then we met Marcus, who stumbled over to apologize for being so drunk, and added that he was friends with Alex, the bartender, so his intoxication was perfectly acceptable. He could hardly remain upright on his barstool, and the table he was leaning against nearly tipped over countless times.
But best of all, he was missing a very prominent tooth and had only one good eye - the other was mostly closed at all times, and no iris could be spotted no matter how hard I looked. Just pure white, and pure insanity. He asked my name repeatedly throughout the night, gleefully shouting "Alice in Wonderland!" each time I told him, because my name sounds like "Alice" when said with a German accent. He also decided that shoving ice down Jon's and my shirts, over and over again, was a good way to pass the time.
I talked more with Harkhan, who introduced me to the bartender as "Alice in Wonderland" without even having heard Marcus call me the same, and met a girl named Rishi who introduced me to her gang as - you guessed it - Alice in Wonderland, before buying Jon and I shots. I admired a necklace she was wearing, so she put it around my neck, told me to keep it, and wrapped my grey, leopard print scarf around her neck in return.
From there things went straight downhill, in the best possible way. Marcus bought Jon and I a few rounds of Jager shots and told me that I reminded him of a female Johnny Depp. He never explained why. He told us that he's a chef, and attempted to explain why that made him an alcoholic and a cocaine addict, but the reasoning was quite unclear (or maybe I was just too focused on his crazy, rolling eye to care). He offered me coke, but I told him that I don't do it. He offered me speed instead, and I declined. "Do you do anything?" he asked. "Weed?" I told him no. "Ecstasy?" He probably could have gone on forever, offering me drugs I'd never even heard of, so I simply laughed and returned to other conversations.
Jon and I started talking to another man - whose name now escapes me - who had lived in Atlanta, Georgia for many years and had spent 18 months in prison there for dealing drugs (coke, ecstasy, meth). He proudly showed off his tattoos ("Easy money" across his fingers, and something else I couldn't decipher on the backs of both hands) and his prison ID. He was only 28, but he looked much older. Drugs and incarceration do no favors for the aging process, as it turns out. We discussed the girl he'd left behind in America and their daughter together, as well as Berlin's infamous nightclub scene.
In the background, Marcus petulantly grabbed every glass ashtray he could find on the bar and hurled them, one by one, at the floor.
Then Rishi announced that we were all going to another establishment nearby called Blue Boy. I said my goodbyes to Alex, who said I was welcome back any time, to Marcus, who announced that I was very cool and gave me a very clumsy kiss on the cheek, and to Harkhan.
We walked around the corner and Rishi buzzed the door of a nondescript building. She spoke briefly with the bouncer, clearly a regular, and he waved us in. "Lady Gaga!" exclaimed the bartender, whose name, I later learned, was Tequila. Rishi lead us to a large table in the back where 3 other men were already sitting. "Alice in Wonderland," she said, by way of introduction. "Lady Gaga!!" shouted Tequila.
We sat down and Rishi ordered a round of vodka and Redbull for everyone. Jon chatted with the 3 other men about the beginning of our night, while Rishi and I used an odd mix of German and English to discuss my relationship with Jon and how expensive the drinks were. She said she's seeing someone, pointing to a ring on her right hand, and showed me pictures of her honey.
At some point she left to take a phone call, and I joined the boys' conversation. One asked if I could speak Spanish, so I responded with "solo un poco." He seemed thrilled at my extremely basic use of the language, so I added "et je parle un peu de francais," "und ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch," "и я говорю немного по-русски." He became even more excited. "по-русски?" he shouted. "я говорю по-русски!" Suddenly, all 3 of the other men were speaking Russian with us. "Nostrovia!" I said, as we all clinked glasses.
Rishi had completely disappeared by this time, so a man who had been sitting across the room took her seat next to me. He was Romanian, he explained, and had never been to the United States despite his fluent English and American girlfriend. We discussed music, education, psychology, and writing, while Jon went in search of Rishi, who had run off with his sunglasses. He returned a short while later with the glasses in hand and the announcement that he had seen Marcus outside, surround by 3 police officers. That seemed like as good a time as any to call it a night, so we bade farewell to our new friends and made our exit into the blindingly-bright light of the Berlin morning, and home to bed.
<3
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