The Downside of Sexiness Now see here - here's the downside of all that lasciviousness I was speaking about yesterday - a museum exhibit comprising only items directly connected to the end of a relationship. I bet the Berlin section of this, in the future, contains more than a few dozen pairs of really diaphanous ladies pants and the odd nipple clamp or stainless arse-balls...

The Hyena Men

When TSO was researching Blood Diamond, I remember her showing me a picture of an African man with a Hyena on a battleship-weight chain. It was a strikingly primitive and thuggish scene, in washed-out tones that really stuck with me. A colleague, this morning, was telling me about these photos by a guy called Pieter Hugo. I then looked up his images at a gallery that sells prints of his work, Michael Stephenson. The picture was part of an original series of which there is a subsequent second here. There's a really good story about the series under the pictures way down on the second series page - read it first then look at the images. Awesome stuff.

Harrumph! Quick, what's your stereotypical view of an average German? You're probably really wrong unless you've been here for any length of time. I was and I'd even lived here for a bit in the late '80s. Gone is the hard working, unquestioning, wurst-chomping, sober-faced, short-back-and-sides German of yore. In his place is a new, sexy young thing who enjoys his bun as much as his sausage. For a kick off: my my, what do you think of this? A 50% discount, if you don't mind?!! Oh, it's onlt the thin end of the wedge too. They're becoming quite a lascivious lot here, if the sex shop on every corner even in residential areas is anything to go on. My local smut convenience shop is a branch of a nationwide chain called LSD (Love Sex Dreams). And you know what else? I've never seen so many males shopping with their wives for a nonstop parade of unstintingly brief and diaphanous underwear. The women themselves, unless I'm mistaking concentration for disinterest, don't seem as into it as the men who appear to attack the task with relish and gusto. The things they hold up as possibilities would water an eye. Oh, and in my neighborhood there's also a shop selling exclusively sexual jewelry. Noow I'm an open minded individual myself but even so, my eyes fairly water at the thought of what some of the stock in their window might be intended for. There are jewels and stainless steel apparatuses designed for places that I never thought anyone would need a bauble or window dressing to attract business. Who'd have thought it eh? you hate to say it but.....if only there'd been more of this kind of action 50 years ago......

The Rag Trade

One thing about this job is I'm learning to appreciate a nice bit of gear. As part of my position, I have to keep a list of all expensive items purchased by the dept. which involves finding and photographing them. Through this, I'm developing an eye for dear stuff. I can pretty much spot a well cut bit of cloth in the passing now. I believe I'm even developing a little bit of recognition skill with some brands. I'm also (and say this quietly) developing a bit of an ambition to own a Brioni suit and perhaps even a Prada shirt.

I used to think that designer branding was the biggest fucking rip-off going and to be honest, I still have a bit of that in me. But there are some truly beautiful things around here that just could not have come from anywhere but the vision of someone with great taste and experience. I also now know enough to know that I'd not thank you for a Versace suit - there's something gaudy about them, almost coarse, that I reckon would be more at home on the back of someone who wants to look like they're wearing a label.

See? It's not time wasting here, I'm picking up skills

Prague Jazz
On the weekend, in Prague, I was struck by the amount of elderly, be-whiskered gentlemen playing trad jazz. I thought the first lot were a bit of an anomaly but then I bumped into two or three gangs of them. They were all, it has to be said, very accomplished musicians and held things together very well. They had great old faces though and, juxtaposed with their modern leisurewear, it made for an arresting sight.

Aural Upgrade
I'm listening to a lot of music at work these days, mainly KCRW online out of Santa Monica, California, which has been a love of mine for many years. It's sent me out on a few errands to pick up new sounds as it always does. The new album from Band Of Horses is due out and the first 'single' has become the anthem of my last month, really. "Is There A Ghost" can be downloaded for free from the band's Myspace page and I'd encourage you to do so. It's a haunted, echo-y ballad, or mantra of a few choice words, sung over a building guitar pop background. The singer's voice has me floored - a Neil-Young-ish falsetto that occasionally trails to a throaty rip at all the right moments. You can watch a session with the band on Morning Becomes Eclectic with the inimitable Nic Harcourt and it's a pretty good session. There's a pretty decent article on the band here as well.