Berlin,Germany

What does it mean...

When someone sends you this:

"Christin Nichols is his current girlfriend".

Then she says this:

"I am a happy single", she said.

Between January 15-17, they follow the same account. In case you don't know, it's a hotel, a very luxurious one.

When a person has a panic attack, they need to rest and be off social media. I think that's why Christin traveled to Bradenburg, to be his nurse. I guess that was their "meeting point", as Mr. Letkowski likes to say.

hihihh vou por isso aqui também! ainda não sei o tumblr de todo mundo D: Então dps etiqueto certinho~

La Rioja is from @lou-art

as anyone who's read Alexis Hall's Something Spectacular would know, this is a queer novel which namedrops a lot of Baroque music. as someone with a Lot of Thoughts about music (albeit with no claim to expertise), here's the compiled results of the frantic youtube searching I did to find out which pieces he was referring to. Plus bonus commentary on the likelihood of the piece sending someone into raptures. May this be a help to anyone mixing up Artaxerxes (Arne), Artaserse (Vinci), and Serse (Handel).

(Yes, all three of these works do appear in the book, a curse on baroque composers and their recycled libretti)

Sonata no. 1 Book 1 in F For Piano Four Hands: II: Allegro (Burney)

Quote: "'Oh no.' Peggy elbowed Sir Horley urgently. 'I haven't heard Sonata no. 1 Book 1 in F for Piano Four Hands: I. How will I understand the plot?'" (45)

Commentary: I thought Alexis Hall had made this one up when reading the book. That's too much title, put some back. This one is actually legitimately tiresome*, 2/10. Highly unlikely to send someone into raptures.

Mozart's Flute Concerto no. 1 in G major

Quote: "only to be replaced by a long-nosed gentleman who subjected them to the full thirty minutes" (47)

Commentary: Cmon, this is Mozart, Peggy! please don't disrespect his divine name. 6/10. I could see how it would fail to send someone who doesn't like music into raptures, especially if we account for the fact it was apparently performed sans orchestra and possibly by an amateur performer.

Artaxerxes, "Still Silence Reigns Around" (Arne)

Quote: "As her clear, crystalline voice filled the room, Peggy wondered if anyone else was sensible of the irony of a two to three hour piece of musical theater opening with the line 'Still silence reigns around.' It was all she could do to prevent herself from muttering 'We should be so lucky' under her breath." (48)

Commentary: I was extremely skeptical that any concert would subject people to straight recitative, a convention designed to jam as much plot as inhumanely possible into thirty seconds of half-sung Italian. But no, Alexis Hall says this piece was so overplayed at the time that Jane Austen complained about it in a letter, and I believe him. 1/10. It takes a very good composer to make this stuff rapturous and this is not it.

"Come Fill, Fill, My Good Fellow" (Beethoven)

Quote: "the name of which reduced Sir Horley to a fit of giggles that had to be stifled in Peggy's handkerchief" (48)

Commentary: okay now this one was definitely put in just to make the obvious joke, but it's actually quite a fun drinking song, 6/10.

Cello Concerto in A Major (CPE Bach) (probably)

Quote: "the CPE Bach concerto he played sounded like someone sobbing under their bedclothes in the dark, but it spoke to her present mood." (48)

Commentary: Now THIS is more like it. Surely this would touch the heart of even the most hardened music hater, if only briefly. 7.5/10.

Serse, "Ombra mai fu" (Handel)

Quote: "There were no vocal tricks, no embellishments, or flourishes: just the performer's voice merciless in its power and perfection like nothing Peggy had ever heard before." (51)

Commentary: Okay, yeah, that would do it. I'm skeptical that this would make someone faint OR give them a spontaneous orgasm (especially since it's already been established that their hearts are hardened to the glories of Mozart), but it's a gorgeous piece. 9/10. Almost makes you want to forgive Handel for writing that wretched Hallelujah Chorus.

Artaserse, "Vo solcando un mar crud" (Vinci)

Quote: "Orfeo's voice rose and fell like the waves in a storm, gathering power and breaking afresh" (125)

Commentary: This is so extremely tiresome and unlovely. In fact it was so bad I had to double-check that the author actually meant this opera and not the five other Artaserses, but no. This is it. 0/10, bad even for the excesses of Baroque music, there's no way that an accredited Music Hater would enjoy this, no matter how hot they found the singer. If you want to hear what really good Baroque opera sounds like, try Joyce Didonato** chewing the furniture in this fantastic performance of "Pensieri, voi mi tormentate" (Handel again).

Germanico in Germanium, "Parto ti lascio, o cara" (Porpora)

Quote: "They surged through a dizzying series of rapid trills and flourishes, half-desperate, half-furious, the melody almost stumbling to keep up with them." (259)

Commentary: Perfectly passable if not precisely to my taste (<- baroque music disliker). I could see it having an effect if you already thought the singer was hot, 7/10.

Also mentioned: Minuetto (Boccherini)

*in my personal opinion as number 1 piano disliker

** for those of you who are musically uninclined, she's also singing a role which would be conventionally described as an "evil MILF" while dressed in black lingerie.

Bradenburg gate - Berlin

mighty nein origins: fjord stone / finja bradenburg / rae armantrout / jeanette winterson / frank bidart / richard siken / silas denver melvin

Ok, another "biggie" - this time on German Jewish life from the Enlightenment to the rise of Nazi rule.

The German Enlightenment began around 1650 when Germany was a group of absolutist kingdoms (Prussia, Hamburg, Bradenburg, Pomerania, etc.) 

The rulers of these kingdoms realized it was not economically feasible to constantly expel their Jews, who had proven to be a valuable “commodity” wherever they were tolerated.

So, the expulsions slowed, but anti-Jewish attacks remained.

One infamous German mob attack took place in 1699 against the Jewish Quarter of Bamberg. As the mob attacked, one Jew poured a basket of ripe plums on top of them. For some reason, this caused panic among the rioters, who fled. This bizarre event is still commemorated every 29th of Nisan as the Zwetschgen-Ta’anit (“Prune-Fest”).

The 1700s in Germany saw the “reforms” of Frederick II, the king of Prussia (who Hitler would later call a “heroic genius”). 

Frederick II felt his kingdom had “too many Jews.” But rather than expel them, he wanted them to essentially “make themselves useful” on the Polish border engaging in trade. 

Beginning in 1750, Frederick II issued various anti-Jewish edicts aimed at keeping the Jewish population to an absolute, fixed minimum. He named a small number of “protected” Jewish families who could stay in specific cities provided they abstain from future marriages lest they "transform it into complete Jerusalem."

In the 1760s, Frederick II also issued edicts precluding Jews from various occupations. Then came the oppressive taxation. Frederick II would not permit Jews to fight in the Seven Years War – instead, he required Jews to pay extraordinary sums to fund his war while keeping the Jewish community poor.

Decades after Frederick II, however, in 1812, Prussia became the first German state to grant citizenship to its Jews. 

However, the problem of the European “Enlightenment” was that “full rights” for Jews came with the condition that they discard all that made them Jewish. In other words, you could be accepted as a German citizen or you could choose to remain a Jew. You couldn’t be both.

Of note, 1812 was also the year the Brothers Grimm published Rumpelstiltskin. This treasured fairy tale along with various others by the Brothers Grimm, including Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel are loaded with thinly-veiled antisemitism. Other works by the Brothers Grimm were not so subtle. Antisemitism was the express theme of their stories The Jew in the Brambles, The Jew Among the Thorns, and The Good Bargain.

In fact, in Nazi Germany, all German households were required to own a copy of the “sacred” Brothers Grimm tales, and schools were required to use their antisemitic stories as educational literature.

1817 saw the rise of the Reform Judaism movement, which was intended both to "modernize" Judaism and make it palatable to German Christians. 

Some German Christians, however, were not impressed by these assimilation attempts.

Have you ever said the words, “hep hep hooray?” Well, I’m sorry to tell you that phrase has antisemitic origins. 

During the series of “Hep Hep” riots in 1819, violent anti-Jewish mobs used “Hep Hep” as their rallying cry. The term had a double meaning. It was an acronym for the Latin phrase “Hierosolyma est perdita” meaning “Jerusalem is lost” and said to taunt Prussian Jews. It was also what German sheep-herders yelped to their sheep to keep them in order. Basically, the phrase came naturally to Prussians who hated Jews, and it was even used more than 100 years later by Hitler’s stormtroopers when they went on the prowl for Jews.

Despite widespread antisemitism, the bilateral efforts of German Enlightenment thinkers and Jewish assimilationists led ultimately to the Revolution of 1848, when all German states proclaimed Jewish emancipation.

Again, however, any gains by the German Jewish community were always met with antisemitic backlash.

One of Germany’s most famous composers, Richard Wagner, was a virulent antisemite and one of Hitler's inspirations. 

In 1850, Wagner began speaking out against what he called “Jewish decadence” and influence in music. Wagner was one of the original faces of racist antisemitism in Germany such that “Jewish blood” was all that mattered for that person to be worthy of scorn and to be considered "dangerous" to "pure" German blood. 

Wagner would later write, “I hold the Jewish race to be the born enemy of pure humanity and everything noble in it. It is certain that it is running us Germans to the ground.”

On November 1, 1867, all remaining restrictions on Jews’ right of residence, real estate purchase, and choice of profession were abolished in the North German Confederation.

A gain for the Jewish community? Yup. So, now the backlash.

Also in 1867, the German journalist Wilhelm Marr coined the phrase “antisemitism” for the purpose of being able to discuss Jew-hatred in “polite society.”

Then, in 1871, a German constitution was passed that granted Jews full equality.

Three cheers for … wait a minute.

Violent backlash against German Jews took-off again in 1881. First, a petition calling for the removal of all Jews from public life, containing 250,000 signatures, was delivered to the Reichstag (German parliament).

Then, the pan-German Austrian leader and virulent antisemite Georg Ritter von Schönerer developed a following where (tell me if this sounds familiar) he was referred to as "Führer," and he and his followers used the greeting "Heil!"

April and May of 1881 saw popular antisemitic riots against Jewish homes in Berlin.

While German antisemitism persisted, the 1890s and early 1900s gave way to Jews finally being able to actualize some of the promises of emancipation.

Germans looked down at the “barbaric” Ukranian pogroms that were occurring and thought themselves above such things now.

In fact, by 1912, 12 of the 100 members of the Reichstag were Jews.

On the eve of World War I (1914), antisemitism was all but a fringe political force. Though there remained antisemitic parties, they never received more than 4-5% of the vote. And more than 100,000 German Jews fought for their country during the Great War (12% higher than their population ratio).

At the war’s end on November 11, 1918, there were 20 million dead.

The Treaty of Versailles that ended the war placed all blame for the war on Germany and required Germany pay reparations to the Allies. This led to the collapse of the German economy, hyperinflation, depression, and mass discontent.

Hitler and his Nazi Party attempted to take advantage of the discontent via an unsuccessful coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch on November 9, 1923. Hitler was arrested, but his prominence and popularity only increased, and in 1925 he published his raving antisemitic manifesto entitled Mein Kampf (My Struggle).

Meanwhile, the United States stepped in to try to save the German economy beginning with the Dawes Plan. Essentially, the United States agreed to provide Germany with loans with which it could pay reparations to France and Britain. Suddenly, the Germany economy thrived. The "roaring twenties" began to roar for Germany as well.

But, when the Great Depression hit in 1929, America was no longer willing or able to provide any aide to Germany. The payments stopped, and Germany took the most devastating hit of all from the Depression.

In this time of turmoil, the brash German nationalist Hitler, who could rouse crowds big and small and bend them to his will, began to gain wider public support. His blaming of the Jews as a singular "boogeyman" for all of Germany’s problems became a simple explanation for Germans to accept, and his vague promises to remake the great German empire brought him a wildly devoted fanbase.

German elections on September 30, 1930, saw the Nazis become the second-largest party in the Reichstag with 18% of the vote.

Another election took place on July 31, 1932, where the Nazis won more than 37% of the vote and became the largest political party in Germany (but still not a majority).

So, in early 1933, Hitler called for more elections and launched into an intensive and violent campaign pushing Nazism and pushing Hitler as a messianic figure who would "save" Germany.

Then, on February 27, 1933, the Reichstag was set on fire and burned down. Confusion, panic, and terror spread among the German public. The Nazis used the hysteria to their advantage.

Elections took place only days later on March 5, 1933, with an extremely high turnout of 89%. The Nazis remained the largest party in the Reichstag and made major gains after securing 44% of the vote. Meanwhile, another extreme right-wing, nationalist party allied with the Nazis (the DNVP) won 8% of the vote, in effect giving Hitler his majority.

On March 23, 1933, the German government passed the Enabling Act by a landslide, which granted the government dictatorial powers. Hitler now had the power to govern by decree.

Yet another election on November 12, 1933, sealed the deal with the Nazis receiving 92% of the vote. Germany was now Hitler’s country.

Captain Allen

i'm listening to the bradenburg concertos and writing aivide the prequel :))

Could you tell me more about Nadia? Based on your RP posts, I love her!

She is actually a canon character from the sci-fi horror movie, Pandorum. But there was little info to her background and life before she joined the Bradenburg Institute as a geneticist, except that she has an older brother. Didn't say a name, so I gave him one -- Bruno Shariff.

I make her heavily AU / cross-over based. I could put her in any verse easily.

She's the type that takes no bullshit, prefers to work alone often because she has an immense distrust of people and hates it when someone slows her down. Generally, she can be an asshole but when you, God Forbid she even likes you enough, get close when she allows it... you'll see she is fiercely loyal and passionate when it comes to loving you.

Fair warning, cross her once... may God have mercy on your soul. It takes A LOT to earn her trust. Even if you saved her life, she still would be hesitant and distrustful... but less of an asshole to you. The privilege of having her warm up to you is entirely on you, tread carefully and choose your words & actions wisely if you care enough. However, if you were to hurt her brother, she'd probably kill you. Or at least attempt to if you can fight back. He's her best friend.

I wouldn't say she's 'egoistic', she just has a lot of that sexy confidence and pride is her strongest trait (and also a weakness). She just knows she looks damn good and that she can get shit done just as good, and better.

Yes, she does have a huge fear. Being claustrophobic. Because of an accident when she was sixteen years old, a big rig accidentally pushed her and her father off a cliff on the road and into the river. She almost drowned, but her father managed to get out and save her. Since then, she hates riding in enclosed vehicles -- preferring motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles over anything. Any other small and confined spaces will make her freak the fuck out to the point where she is bound to get violent and fights till she is out of the space. She doesn't even use the elevator, always the stairs. Another fear is being powerless and a failure, she always has to be in control and dominant. If she let you take the wheel and becomes the passenger, that's how you know she trusts you and it's quite a feat in itself.

She's a knife / cloak and dagger woman. She fucking hates guns, any type of firepower... because they can jam, they're loud and if you're not careful, it can go off and blast your face into pieces. She relies heavily on knives because they can make one's death slow and painful. They're not just 'business', they're personal and she likes to make her target know they crossed the wrong woman. She likes to leave her enemy bleeding from the inside out, instilling fear in them and drowning in their regrets. Crossbows and bows are definitely okay in her book if she wants to get the job done quickly, just an arrow or bolt to the head and no one will ever hear her.

Oh, and she doesn't like coffee much. She hates fast food, or any food like such. She's a lover of exotic foods and any food that provides plenty of nutrition. She has eaten crickets before for 'protein' in Pandorum.

Today was the third day of competition at the Santa Claus Cup.

Tamir Kuperman of Israel won the Junior Men's event. Anastasia Bradenburg of Switzerland leads the Junior Women's event.

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Virtual Sketchbook #3

The painting titled Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg as Saint Jerome by Lucas Cranach the elder is an oil painting on wood that is currently on display at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. The painting is 45 1/4 inches by  35 1/16 inches and is displayed at eye level as you walk into this section of the museum. The walls of the museum have been painted a very similar color to the walls in the painting and the candelabra hanging from the ceiling atop of the painting is also very similar to the one drawn in the painting. This unique display of the painting  transports the viewer as though they are in the study watching Cardinal Albrecht at his desk. The oil paints used were able to develop rich reds that make the garments look plush, velvety, and regal. The green of the walls is pronounced and gives the illusion of importance and serious nature of the study. The glow created on the windows brings light and shadows into the room making the room look very realistic. The simple natural wood colored furniture represents the modest lifestyle of a servant of God during that time. The room is contained with a coffered ceiling that has a repeated rectangular pattern and this similar rectangular pattern is also repeated with the window panes.The large rectangular desk brings balance to the room by giving the painting a midline and causing a visual effect of depth in the picture. The painting has Cardinal Albrecht von Bradenburg resembling an early portrait of Saint Jerome. Painting oneself as a Saint or leader was a common practice during this time period to give the viewer inference about oneself. The painting is balanced by a large Lion and a family of pheasants on the right to a multitude of smaller animals on the left such as a young deer, a beaver, a hare and a macaw. The painting being in a single room and using repeated rectangular shapes shows unity. Variety is displayed through the animals and religious artifacts painted around the room. The religious artifacts consist of a picture of the Virgin Mary holding her child, a crucifix, and the large Bible in front of the main subject the Cardinal. The candelabra which is centered in the painting is also used to bring the eye down from the ceiling to the Cardinal. Emphasis is definitely placed on the big study to show importance, the big Bible showing important work, the big desk to show how much work is being done. Another emphasis is the color red being used on the garments that are placed to lead your eye from the bottom left all the way to Albrecht who is adorned in red. The painting is in proportion giving it a very realistic look even though the animals are quite a contrast being unrealistically in a study and are also unnaturally tame and out of place. The animals are all representative messages such as the Lion being Saint Jerome’s follower and friend for having removed the thorn. The deer represents gracefulness, the pheasants represent a bird that is considered a problem solver and is non-migratory, the beaver is an industrious animal, and the bird signals the annunciation. During the Northern Renaissance artists used animals and artifacts to give subtle messages about the person being portrayed. 

This painting was visually interesting to me because of how it was displayed at the Ringling museum. As I approached the painting, the richness of the deeper oil paint colors  contrasted the glowing sunshine of the windows. This light effect gave shadows in the room and was a beautiful sensation of colors, light, and dark that made me pause. As I continued looking at the painting the realistic proportion contrasted with the fanciful yet realistically drawn animals really made me sit back and begin to guess what each animal and artifact meant in the painting. I knew that messages were being given but I didn’t understand what was being said just yet. Another aspect that took my breath away was the contrast of the rich velvety garments to the hard stark cold minimalist furniture. The painting had so much push and pull of emotions yet it is so balanced with your eye being constantly brought back to the middle to see the important Cardinal. 

 This Northern Renaissance painting by the artist Lucas Cranach was commissioned by the Roman Catholic Cardinal, Albrecht von Brandenburg, to make a portrait of him. The movement that was happening was the Reformation. People were leaving the Roman Catholic church and were moving towards the Lutheran Church. Albrecht von Brandenburg was perhaps known for his un-Cardinal ways of women, luxury, and over spending. The cardinal wanted to portray himself like Saint Jerome. The artist Lucas Cranach used a well known piece of engraved art by artist Albrecht Dürer of Saint Jerome as his inspiration. Cranach essentially reversed the engraving and added a more fanciful and luxurious touch to his painting and replaced Saint Jerome's face with that of  Cardinal Albrecht. Cranach using a well known piece of art from his contemporary reflected that he was a fan of Dürer and he was giving his client a well respected Saint to be thought of as similar for bringing the Bible to the world by translating it into Latin. Although Cranach was part of the opposing Lutheran movement he still made Cardinal Albrecht a piece of art as was commissioned. Cardinal Albrecht may have chosen Cranach because he was known to be soft towards the Luthern movement but ultimately stayed with the Roman Catholic church. In addition the Cardinal may have chosen Cranach to bring him popularity with the Reformers since he was the main artist that was creating their propaganda. Thus, the Cardinal in choosing Cranach would have the Reformers admiring his portrait from their fellow Lutheran. The artist was definitely trying to portray the Cardinal as Saint Jerome and show his subjects religious excellence, importance, and faith. I believe Cranach did an excellent job since his painting really played homage to the original Saint Jerome and the characters and in the painting as well as the study are a perfect homage to the original, but with an added flair of richness and fancy which was Cranach’s style. The artist gets his message across beautifully with his technique of drawing the eye to the Cardinal and choice of placement of animals and artifacts that surround his subject.

The importance of this piece of work to society is multifaceted. This Northern Renaissance painting during the Reformer period is important since it was the first break away from the Catholic church. Historically, it is a religious time period that shows how important religion was in daily life and what the people wanted from their Cardinals. Cardinal Albrecht was trying to influence upper society to believe in him that he was righteous and important. Albrecht was also using art to display his message and to form his narrative. The artist Cranach is also interesting in that he had Reformed yet was willing to make this piece of art for Cardinal Albrecht. We can not know if it was for the money alone or because Albrecht was soft towards the Lutherans. It is suspected that  at one point the Cardinal may have been inclined to jump ship as well. This is an interesting piece of history in which religious division and loyalty lines were moving and each side was trying to present themselves in the best light. As a piece of art this piece is essential since portraying oneself as another was a common practice and the use of animals and artifacts were meant to signal meaning. None of these elements were for simple decorative art purposes; they actually had meaning that told a story about the person being portrayed. This was a form of communication known only amongst upper society since they had the knowledge to decipher these codes. The use of the oil paints also enhanced the art with rich colors, texture, and glow that really hadn’t been seen before. This makes this time period exciting for how realistic paintings could look almost like a photograph. I picked this painting because of all the unanswered questions I had as to why this man is being portrayed with these animals? What was happening during this time period that he needed to be portrayed in this fashion? Lastly, the overall emotion that the painting made me feel when I sat and absorbed everything in the picture. I must admit that the placement at Ringling of the painting really made me feel as though I was standing in the portrait and I had so many questions for the man sitting behind that huge Bible. Finding the engraving by Dürer was interesting to see his restraint and clarity and how it contrasted with Cranach and his more fanciful and lush depiction. Although the reasons behind creating these two pieces of art were for completely different reasons, it is interesting to compare each artist's rendition and use of materials since the artists were contemporaries. 

2018 (hier: Bradenburger Tor) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjqwbLZpDCn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Barbara Zápolya (1495–1515) was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the first wife of King Sigismund I the Old from 1512 to 1515. Marriage to Barbara represented an alliance between Sigismund and the House of Zápolya against the Habsburgs in succession disputes over the throne to the Kingdom of Hungary. The alliance was short-lived as the renewed Muscovite–Lithuanian War forced Sigismund to look for Habsburg allies. The marriage was loving, but short. Barbara was the mother of Hedwig, Electress of Bradenburg, but died soon after the birth of her second daughter Anna.

Το γεγονός ότι παίζει στο MP3 το Βρώμικο από Ρόδες στο repeat, ίσως θα έπρεπε να με ανησυχεί.

Berlin / 2021