They'll not make too many friends with "Braun bis ins Mark" ...
1:42 PM

Sunday, February 24, 2002  
Swiss comedy duo, Ursus und Nadeschkin, winner of this year's Deutscher Kleinkunstpreis, have a synchronicity-problem (they've played together for so many years now) which they poured into a sweet little online-cartoon.

They also tidy up art, so in case you have any messy pictures around your house ...
1:26 PM

Thursday, February 07, 2002  
Addendum During dinner with friends tonight I was put right: While I was away over the week-end, the nation had been shaken by the death of Hildegard Knef. Obviously, she's been the last German diva. I didn't know. So the first part of the previous comment is ill-grounded. The latter, however, still stands ...
12:31 PM

 
German entertainer (I think is the right term) Hildegard Knef died six days ago. Today, German public TV dedicated most of the day to programs in her memory, mainly the broadcast of the funeral service.

Knef was given one of about 500 tombs of honor in Berlin, her hometown. I wasn't aware that she'd been such a prominent figure of public merit that she "deserved" special honors - but then I don't really mind. It's probably a question of generations - Knef used to cause quite a stir in the time when movies where still black and white. Also, I think her evergreen Für mich solls rote Rosen regnen (red roses shall rain for me) was in the gay hot 100 for a while - though in the cover version by Neue Deutsche Welle-band Extrabreit. It seems that the senate only granted the privilege after extensive lobbying by Klaus Wowereit, major of Berlin.

Klaus Wowereit started his pre-election campaign with the meanwhile often-quoted statement: Ich bin schwul. Und das ist auch gut so. (I am gay and that is a good thing, too.) Officially, he did this in order to prevent the yellow-press from digging this (known) fact out as a "dark spot". There are others who say that this was a much-needed publicity stunt to give the otherwise rather bland candidate some iridescent telepresence.

Anyway, the memorable event of the day happened during the ceremony, when Wowereit got up to say some words about the deceased. Among the mourners, a guy got up and yelled how abominable it was that a gay man was allowed to be let alone speak in a church.

How bigoted can you get? Wouldn't a Christian perceive a funeral service as a sacred event and refrain from desacrating it by attacking someone who is currently performing in this event? (Not to mention un-Christian intolerance, general rudeness etc.)
8:50 AM