Worst attempt to cover up a Nazi symbol ever

This is a bell from the bell tower of the 1936 Olympic games, hosted by Berlin, in the early years of Nazi Germany. So obviously everybody in Germany wants to forget about the Nazis - so the bell came down and this is the lame attempt to conceal the fact that this is a swastika. Come on guys!

Owl Love -Silver chain

I splurged a bit today and bought this chain for €18.70. But it's amazing - check out the fabulous indents and lines. I don't have much silvery jewellery so I couldn't really pass this by. It's rather Art Decor looking don't you think?

Ariel Pink live at Lovelite

Having just about managed to get myself into the gig at a sold out Lovelite, here's a video of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti as they play a hit off their new album, 'Before Today'.

I really do love the album and imagine I'll be listening to it a lot more this week after tonight's gig. I really love it when people experiment with their vocals, which is exactly what Ariel Pink enjoys doing too. He's totally not afraid to go from rock star vocals up to the high pitched lulls of a female.

I love him. I love his sunglasses. I love his beautiful long hair. I love how slight he is. I love his striped jumper. I love how he dances. I love his checkered pants. Love, love, love.

Check out the video anyways if ye have time.

Jew not like the way I look?

I had been avoiding going to things to do with WWII mainly because it's such a damn heavy subject line. Everybody knows that Nazi Germany kicked the Jews about to no end. But did you know that ignorance was such at the time that they involved science into findings that the Jews were an inferior race? Below is the accompanying diagram for this statement. All the photos are from my visit to Haus der Wannsee Konferenz - where they made the decision to chuck all the Jews into gas chambers.

So these anti-Semitic reactions were backed up by 'science'. They did a lot of genetic tests at the time - studying eyes, making a giant point about Jews having bigger noses. The Nazis anti-Semitic campaigns then tried to scare people about mixing with the 'inferior race' - with unflattering pictures of Jews, comparing them to parasites. On a poster about TB, you'll see the 'sick' face of a Jew. There are mock-ups of what the human race will turn into should we mix race.

It's absolute daftness to look back on and in another light I'd probably laugh at the unenlightened thinking of it all. But unfortunately the travesty is that these racist studies were backing up the all out attack on Jews.

It wasn't only Jews that were attacked as an inferior race in Hitler's time. The sick were also a major target. Hitler agreed to euthanasia, which should have been more controversial than it would appear to have been at the time.

Take a look at this poster -- it's advertising that all the sick be killed off. It's saying that a sick person is costing the German taxpayer 60,000DM a year - and they even go on to use the slogan 'It's Your Money Too'. Whatever about propaganda hiding truths and getting people to think a certain way - this poster just goes a little too far over the edge. It's blatantly saying to kill off anyone with a bit of a sickness. All in the name of trying to create a superior race. It was a mental concept to kill off other races and 'inferiors'.

Schlesses Tor Video

I completely forgot that I had taken this video after the first World Cup game. Have a look at the wonderful atmosphere. Pity there wasn't anything to celebrate about after Saturday's game.

Germany 4, Australia 0

What an awesome start to the World Cup - Germany certainly brought the goals that were lacking in other games!

In the lead up to the game you could see the German patriotism slowly creeping it's way onto every street and every Wagon. There are flags everywhere and a general feeling of pride too.

I went to a bar to watch the match, with two Aussies, an American, and a Dane. I'm backing Germany to win anyways, since there's no point getting patriotic about Irish football during the World Cup this year.

After the match was great, I was on my way home and seriously, you would think that Germany had just won the final of the World Cup with the amount of bonkerness that abounded the streets. I stopped to bask in the atmosphere at Schlesses Tor, where there were drummers out on the street, commanding crowds down on their knees until they built up the beat. Then everyone went mental, waving flags, jumping, and singing 'Ole Ole Ole Ole'.

Looking forward to the next Germany fixture already!

Bearlin

And yes, every tourist shop here makes an overuse of that pun. Anyways, this is a rather stupid looking bear that I saw in Volkspark Friedrichschain when I went for my weekly run recently.

Apart from that, the park is rather lovely. Take a look: