XKeyscore, Prism, Fracking, GM Corn, Drilling, Torture, Guantanamo, Homophobia, Goldman Sachs, that‘s old hats, you think!?

Well, that‘s why Friday is to become my Gossip day, anything goes, anything that‘s fun and doesn‘t have too much to do with problems and worries. I‘d also like to publish some articles or stories from other writers or story tellers. A friend of mine from my study times in Göttingen used to write wonderful stories. He once wrote one for me, I still have it stored somewhere in the Frankfurt region, maybe I will publish it in the future. He also used to make custom Audio Cassettes with special mixes of favorite songs. We met on a rooftop in Friedrichshain the other day to enjoy some lovely Berlin night with music and wine and he told me that he actually still records those Cassettes for his friends, cool huh!?

Well, I may also put texts like the one of the little bird online, a story that happened last autumn in Switzerland. But Friday may also be the day where I compile some of the hottest stuff from a different world, a glamour world, a world of no worries, a world of pure fun. Here in Berlin we are quite lucky that some of this fascinating glam and VIP craziness is coming to us, too. Berlin's increasing appeal, thanks to artists and interesting entrepreneurs from all over the world, has brought some of the wow factors over. A lot of money has been invested into Berlin and it really has some international atmosphere to it now. It also attracts a lot of German stars and b-and-c-list celebrities. During the Fashion week a couple of weeks ago there‘s been a huge show of fashion designer Patrick Mohr (I didn‘t know him before) right on the other side of the street in the wonderful building of the old department store Jandorf, that used to be the institute of fashion design in the GDR times.

But to stick to the topic, beside maybe 1.000 people who wanted to see the fashion show I also spotted the Ochsenknecht sons, two extroverted kids of German actor Uwe Ochsenknecht. They come from Munich originally, the town so many foreigners love most out of all German cities, even my best Kiwi friends. Munich is very cheesy, but in a good way, it‘s tidy and rich, hosts a lot of Germany‘s famous industries, like BMW or Siemens and also a lot of Movie and TV productions, it has an attractive geographical location being close to lakes, the Alpes, Italy or Switzerland, and many fashion designers live in Munich. Well, I never really got why Uwe Ochsenknecht became such a „famous“ German actor, I don‘t think he is a good one, but there‘s a lot of Popstars as well who can‘t actually sing. The Ochsenknecht sons have something special to them, though, I have to admit. It may have to do with their height, both around 1,90m tall, but also with their styling. I prefer Wilson Gonzales (what a wonderful name!), his brother is called Jimi Blue, oh well. Wilson Gonzales happens to be a friend of designer Patrick Mohr, so the Ochenknecht entourage, lots of crazy friends, at some point of the early evening got up and edged themselves through the crowd to the entrance of the show. Wilson Gonzales was wearing a leather vest with a self-applied banner on it‘s back saying „Wir Kinder vom Kottbusser Tor“ (We kids from Kottbusser Tor).

It‘s remarkable in multiple ways. First he may live in the very admired neighborhood of Kreuzkölln now, but actually he is from Munich, right, so it‘s a bit presumptuous to call yourself some kind of ghetto kid of that area. Especially as there‘s a famous autobiographical German film and book he‘s referring to with the slogan called "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" (We children of Bahnhof Zoo). It‘s about kids in West Berlin in the 1980s, most of them addicted to heroin or other severe drugs making money as sex workers. That‘s not really compatible when you grew up in rich and tidy Munich yourself, don't you think!?

But, not to do Wilson injustice, I somehow quite like him and he may actually really wanna break with conventions he is so used to. Anyway, he and his brother and all the people joining them impressed me in a way, a positive way ...

It‘s been a lot of talking now with little content but that‘s quite appropriate for a Gossip Friday. Two more things that impressed me as well this week, Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab for the sixth time now and she looks good, have a look ;-) I once was introduced to an American Pop Artist called Richard Phillips who did quite an interesting exhibition with artworks related to Swiss painter and naive artist Adolf Dietrich. Phillips did a short film with Lindsay Lohan in 2011 trying to show her in a different way compared to how the public wants to see her, he also did that with former porn star Sasha Grey. You may decide how you like it.

And last I wanna show you an image of an all so famous singer who changed her look entirely. Guess who she is!

photo credit: Getty Images

Till next week, happy weekend!

KIKI

Update:

I had a long walk through the neighborhood this evening starting with my beloved Weinbergspark. I was a bit late, there has just been a Flashmob with tents short before I arrived occupying the Weinbergspark to protest against gentrification.

I walked along Linienstraße and found the old squat close to Rosenthaler Straße still to be there and alive. But to my horrors most of Linienstraße completely changed with new buildings being super polished luxury apartments now. That has been very different over eight years ago when I moved to this area. These new streets are part of the deal with Berlin becoming kind of a metropolis ...

And one last one from Dircksenstraße, those are Berlin's famous S-Bahnbögen (Overground arches) most of them housing shops, bars, clubs and restaurants ...

Happy weekend from Mitte ...