Fashion tourists

This week I've discovered a new favourite song . Although it's been doing the rounds for a while now, it really is a must-see. And, it's acted as a bit of an inspiration for this week's entry.

I think the reason this song struck such a chord with me (if you'll pardon the pun) is because living in Berlin full-time, I've started to notice an influx of very confused fashion tourists entering my adopted city over the last few years.

Take a look at the chap above for instance. Now, he's clearly making too much effort. The hi-top shoes and the embroidered jacket are already pushing the envelope. But the shoulder bag just takes the game too far. No genuine Berliner would ever do this. He is either a footballer for Hertha BSC and earns way too much, or he is a "fashion tourist" from out of town. I'm tipping the second option.

The thing about Berlin is: it's fashionable, because it is liberal in it's attitudes. Locals wear crazy combinations of things either because they don't have anything else to wear in their closet or because they have designed the clothes themselves. Most of the time they get into the clubs and bars wearing whatever they want, because people here appreciate a bit of originality. Now, that's cool.

I'm no fashion guru, but buying a full wardrobe of "cutting-edge" stuff in Shoreditch before you come across on your 29 pound Ryanair flight for the weekend is, I think quite clearly, not cool.

"Das Derby"

Just in case you've had your head in the sand the last few months, Berlin's biggest football club, Hertha, are back in the second division this season.

Euroblog's hard working journos have determined that Berlin is the only European capital without representation in it's national first division football competition. We're pretty sure this news is an exclusive.

How did it all happen? After loving Lucien Favre to bits in 2008/2009, Hertha Berlin dumped him early last season after a string of bad results and signed up Friedhelm Funkel. Things went from bad to worse with him at the "helm" and - before you could say Marko Pantelic - the team from the capital was the laughing stock of the country and got demoted.

Hertha's traditional rival meanwhile, Union Berlin, has come from the other direction. The Köpenick-based club has worked its way up from the regional leagues to the second division in three years. After starting strongly last season, they ended their debut period in the middle of the table.

So, what most people thought could never happen, is now reality. Union v Hertha - in the 2nd division. Adding a little bit of extra spice to the all too predictable media beat-up, is the fact that Union come from the former communist east, while Hertha are the traditional West-Berlin club.

The first derby of the season was on Friday. The game, played at the "Stadion an der Alten Försterei", ended in a drab 1-all draw though. Bit of a let down really....especially after such a long article.

Berlin Music Week

So Berlin Music Week has been and gone. The city's biggest celebration of modern music of the year... and I attended none of it. Not even with one of my favourite bands playing, Hot Chip. Now that takes some doing. Working on Friday and Saturday, I then also missed the final day on Sunday due to "the most important cricket game of my life" - the German national club final.

For the past few weeks, the Berlin radio stations were pushing this city-based music festival until we couldn't really take it anymore. On Saturday night they then had to close Tempelhof Airport - the main location of the event - due to overcrowding. Ironic really, considering it was once one of the largest buildings in the world.

The new event is a winner for the city's coffers though. The council has already said it's going to happen again next year. Nothing like a bit of tourist dollar!

what's that sound?

I've talked about it before. It's tricky to know what to do on Sundays in Germany. Things are always shut, and the weather generally isn't very good. In Berlin though, thankfully, there's always SOMETHING going on. Today for instance I was just moseying around my local area when I stumbled across a cheeky sound installation in an ex water reservoir ....as you do!

The project inside, from Belgian artist Pierre Berthet, was called "extended drops". Set up around the inner walls of a barely-lit, labyrinth-like water reservoir, the first thing I realised was: this was going to be spooky. In the end, after being bombarded with low rumbles and high-pitched twangs for 20 minutes, I was confused as to how the sounds were even being made. This is what the flyer said:"...steel wires cross the room and are attached to membranes on loudspeakers and special resonators on the reservoir walls. The anologue drops and the resulting electronic pulses create a wide rhythmic and sound spectrum - a seemingly timeless, atmospherically-rich combination of tones in space."

Yes, well... There was only one thing to do after all that ofcourse. Head outside into the sunshine for an ice cream.