Twitter & the STASI

My brother just Twitted me from Triest, he’s watching tonight “The lives of others”, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s incredible movie  on RAI1.

We saw the film at the cinema when it came out and then I bought a DVD in the Original Version. In German of course it’s more impressive. Since then I’ve collected and listened to the RADIO2 and RADIO3 STASI programmes over the past months (See Wall section) and more importantly, I’ve read Anna Funder’s book, Stasiland.

I was wondering tonight, what the STASI would have been like, if Twitter had existed back then. A STASI Twitter, where Erich & Erich would be the sole administrators, being able to see all sorts of tweets from unofizielle Mitarbeiters...”Frau Schumann now out with her grey shopping bag – Herr Peters entering the ironmongers’ – Official: Erika Schmidt has an affair with her professor” and so on…

…and now some techno per se

Paul van Dyk will be spinning the records on December 19th at the Kesselhaus…wonder at what time our flight lands in Berlin that day…

Remember? it was in 1995…

roman museums swinging and humming along

A statue from the Centrale Montemartini is the logo of tonight’s music performances in several museums in Rome and Latium …one concert will be broadcast online. If you want to know more about Centrale Montemartini, check Venus, Apollon and Diesel.

(right…in the end we opted for the walking-distance venues and kicked off with Flamenco at the Acquedotto Romano, now Casa dell’Architettura. We followed then with the Classic Music Orchestra MuSa, playing in the Terme di Diocleziano Prokoviev, Shostakovich, and…Yann Thiersen’s “Goodbye Lenin” theme. The musicians composing MuSa are all students, professors, researchers and employee of the state university La Sapienza…toll!)

Techno Luxury in Berlin – part 2 – the engaging power of social networks

Key points covered by Suzy Menkes as opening remarks and philosophical guidelines to the conference, followed by a conversation with Gucci’s Frida Giannini…

“Let’s stretch our minds and think how those movie stars of the early XX century felt, when all of a sudden the industry enthusiastically embraced sound and abandoned silent movies.

We are in front of a similar evolution right now, with the phenomenon of social media. A new generation without deference for the legendary brands and stores is approaching the luxury industry.

Soli blues

Breaking news on The Local…

Court rules “reunification tax” unconstitutional

smart invaders

For decades they were sitting pretty at the bottom of stiff cartons d’invitation. Good, old fashioned smart dress codes. Smart like in Cary Grant. Smart ass!

Then came management by objectives and project management science. MBO. PM. And other acronyms. Such as S.M.A.R.T. objectives. Challenging…

The brain child of a car- and a watch-maker. Colorful and small, they colonized Rome and other maze-like Italian cities. Not so sure about the rest of the world. They were not made of chocolate, but they could be parked like thrash bins. They took up roughly the same size. Smart Mercedes Benz cars. Wow!

Then also cars became obsolete. Enter the smart cards. We can now check-in with them and unblock ubiquitous car-sharing vehicles. Cool.

Yes, you can liaise with the office from home, and the office liaises with you just everywhere else. Smartphones. Multitasking. (Or the end of cool).

Since a couple of years we’re reading more and more about them. Now we’re understanding better what they are. MeinMann is working now on their costs/benefits, who still protect their mystery fiercely, though. Smart grids are coming. They are the future. Awesome.

De Mazière, the new Interior Minister of the Merkel government, said stop to Aufbau-Ost. He said now innovation is needed. And growth. Guess what? A smart one. Ach so…

Suzy Menkes in Berlin, Techno Luxury Conference. Guess what the bikers-cum-entrepreneurs guys from Vexed talked about. Injury protection and moisture management. Smart materials. Urban.

Well. There has been a moment for all thing new. New Look. New Deal. New Romantic. New Economy. New Town. For thing high. High Tea. High rise. High Fliers. High Fidelity. High Octane. Highway. High protein. High yield. High Net Worth Individuals. And also things low had their heyday. Low Carbs. Low Fat. Low Cholesterol. Low Calories. Low Income. Low cost.

Now it’s the time for things smart. It ain’t be particularly strong or heroic. Nor depressive and minimalist. It has to have a good return on capital. Not maximising. Second-best maybe. Moderate investment, acceptable return. Low risk. No weigh restriction – within reason – must fit in 20×30x50. Like easyjet luggage.

Welcome to the new thrifty, also known as “smart”.

Photo: The Guardian

…talking about things techno…eMAG!

…lupus in fabula! We’re just in the middle of our klein reportage on Techno Luxury from Berlin and yesterday Monocle’s Monocolumn covered the new evolutions on the media scene.

Guess where do the news come from? Berlin!   Markus Albers reports…

The new Berlin wall

November 22, 2009 — Berlin
Writer: Markus Albers

I’ve spent the past few days tucked away in a secret hideaway in the headquarters of the German publishing house Axel Springer, helping create what the company thinks could be the salvation of newspapers. I’m not allowed to tell you everything that’s been debated but I can tell about the outcome of all that work: today the company launches eMag – an electronic magazine that will be part of the Berlin-based national quality Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag.

Compounded addiction: Techno+Luxury in Berlin, part 1

I’m back after having spent 2 days in Berlin for…work. Wow, that was exciting! Kein leisure this time!

The Ritz-Carlton was hosting the Herald Tribune conference of the luxury industry in Berlin. This conference has been traditionally hosted in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo. But this year Suzy Menkes, the venerable fashion editor of Herald Tribune, picked Berlin because the flirt between luxury and technology is becoming something serious. And surely Milano, Paris or London felt a bit passé when it comes to technology.

It was kind of odd to talk luxury in Berlin, the anti-luxury town. Or the über-luxury town, if you think that a cleaner air, using the bike and nature at your doorstep are the real luxury now. But Suzy Menkes has antennas, and they are tuning in on new themes: technology, CSR. After all the New York Times offers one of the best online media experiences, we started to see during the US election campaign how its Lab was exploiting all the potential offered by multimedia and the mixture of graphic/text/photo/interactivity. Plus the US are pushing smart grids, greener technology: sign of the times. And Berlin is a good example of sticking to environmental commitments.

Technology + luxury is indeed an intriguing combination and the concentration of interesting speeches and conversations provided abundant food for thought.

burst of the bubble

IlGatto and friends were in Berlin last weekend…from what I can see from her pictures they had a good time! These pictures were taken by IlGatto at Brandenburger Tor, with passers-by mesmerized by a guy making bubbles.

all photos by IlGatto…

Neues Museum: MAXXI

A celebration for the completion of brick-and-mortar works: that’s rare in Rome!

Tonight, at the new Museum for the Arts of the XXI century, Sasha Waltz and Guests celebrated Zaha Hadid’s first work with a site-specific performance…

We followed the tortured process leading to the MAXXI creation during our Sunday morning winter walks in Rome. The building site has been up for 10 years. At last it’s over. I quite like the result. In this area of Rome, on both sides of the river, too many barracks still eat up space and at last one of them is gone, and an urban area is now open and free for the citizens to enjoy it.

Effimero, dinamico, alieno Maxxi icona dell’arte che verra’

Laura Larcan – Repubblica