I'm a total sucker for eye candy and colourful things...kinda like a magpie. Japanese packaging really hits the spot: it's fantastically multi-coloured and cute, it often has wacky cartoon-like characters splashed all over it and it's so different from what you can see on the supermarket shelves in Europe. The packaging in Britain and Germany sticks to the rule of "it does what it says on the tin". Japanese packaging on the other hand is far more adventurous. Even the most boring of products can have the most pleasing aesthetical charm. Just take a look at this carton of banana juice (yeah the contents are pretty disgusting, but the packaging is a beauty):
I just wish I had enough money to fly to Japan. I would just take an empty suitcase and fill it with colourful Japanese stuff. However, there are ways of getting Japanese products without getting on a plane. Cybercandy is a site (the company also has shops in London and Brighton) that sells sweets from around the World including Japanese candy. My best friend once bought me lots of things from there and it was the best birthday ever! I've also got a bit obsessed with Korean stationary at the moment after the friend mentioned above bought me some totally cute birthday candles and a mini birthday card. The stuff by millimeter/milligram is particularly hot right now. Notice all the matroyshka themed stuff and the quirky English phrases on their notebooks. Love it! :)
Created: 2007-09-27 19:34,
Tags: design,
japan,
stuff,
Comments: 0
It was just an ordinary autumn's day in Germany...grey skies, drizzle and no food in the fridge. When we got to the supermarket, we knew something was up. They were giving out some kind of cake, there was free coffee and balloons! I couldn't really work out why all this was happening. Maybe it was because the supermarket chain had just opened their 333rd store (not a particularly famous milestone)...well, who cares? Party in the supermarket! We bought the usual: bread, vegetables, chili con carne mix, fish fingers, cheese, but at the checkout something strange happened. The woman on the checkout gave me a rose! I wasn't expecting that!
Created: 2007-09-27 17:15,
Tags: germany,
life,
shopping,
Comments: 0
I first ate these perfect pancakes with bacon and eggs at my boyfriend's family's datcha near Vilnius. Cook this recipe as a quick snack or for a Sunday morning breakfast. It's so tasty, filling and easy to make.
So, let's start with the ingredients:
for the pancakes:
3 cups of flour
1 egg
2-3 cups of water (enough so the batter is smooth and runny; you can also use a bit of milk instead of water)
pinch of salt
tablespoon of oil (so the pancakes don't stick to the pan)
Making the pancakes is very simple. Put the flour in a mixing bowl, add the egg and then gradually stir in the water (it's best to use a whisk for this) until there are no lumps left and it has the consistency of soup, i.e. relatively thin. Finally, add the salt and the oil and give it a last mix. You need a fairly good non-stick frying pan or it can get a bit messy. Get the pan really hot and add oil if necessary. You're ready to make the pancakes!
for the filling:
as many eggs as you want, perhaps 3 or 4
lots of streaky bacon (the fattier the better :) )
salt and pepper to taste
Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add the salt and pepper. Get another frying pan hot and add the bacon. When the bacon has slightly browned add the eggs and stir until the eggs have cooked. It should look a bit like this:
Once the pancakes and the egg mixture are ready, you can eat! Take a pancake and fill it with the mix. Guten Appetit!
Created: 2007-09-27 16:37,
Tags: lithuania,
recipe,
Comments: 2
On my many wanderings in cyberspace (how uncool am I?!) I came across a blog that caused me great concern. The girl who writes it seems to be worryingly obsessed with magazines. Monthlies, quarterlies, rare publications, mass publications, Vogue, Dazed and Confused, ID. You name it, she buys it. She works to get money to buy her magazines, she eats less so she can get her hands on the latest issues, she goes into Stockmanns every day just to see if they have anything new, she knows exactly (probably to the hour) when the fresh copy of French Vogue will be on the shelves. Somehow I totally admire her willpower, her passion and her 100% devotion to her obsession. It's a true skill. The thing that worries me with her is the sheer amount of money she spends each month. (Of course that's her business, not mine.) International magazines are never cheap, but totally satisfying to buy. The whole thing got me thinking about magazines. I found some pretty nice ones out there that you may be interested in. I also decided to do some research into online magazines, which are free to download and a good source of eye candy and inspiration.
Somewhere out there I found an online directory of loads of magazines published in Europe and the rest of the World. There are listings for independent publications and for the more well known ones as well. I also found an online directory of PDF magazines. My search (as usual) seemed to take a Baltic/Scandinavian direction (they have the best taste, after all :) ) and I came across a new glossy magazine called B EAST dedicated to fashion/design/general coolness in Eastern Europe. Then I found Bulgaria magazine (some of which you can access online), which is an annual Finnish publication dedicated to life/stuff/weirdness/design/ art/Scandinavianess (which I love). On this note I found a directory of Swedish magazines, many of which you can browse through online. Some other graphic design/arty/fashion publications online are Candy magazine and Stockholm New. The last link goes along the crafting/fashion/objects tangent and is a pretty magazine called Neet that I came across a while ago.
Well, I'm sure all this is just the tip of the iceberg. Feel free to send me more links via comments. I like eye candy as much as the next crazy obsessive :)
Created: 2007-09-22 21:33,
Tags: baltic,
links,
magazines,
media,
scandinavia,
Comments: 0
Since 1995 the Salzfest (Festival of Salt) has been an excuse for excessive amounts of fun, frolicing, beer and sausages in Halle. The town has always had a strong connection to salt as salt harvesting was once a major industry here, but the festival itself has nothing to do with actual salt. The weekend long festival is just an effective way of bringing the town together, giving it identity and attracting visitors. For me, it's just nice to see the Germans letting their hair down and not being too serious for once!
There was a real carnival atmosphere in town yesterday night and tonight. Both market squares were full of stalls, beer tents and various attractions such as a fire eating show, live medieval music and some guy balancing on a 62m high pole (without any safety ropes). They even managed to squeeze in a huge ferris wheel! Tomas and I just wandered round, taking in all the sights and had a really nice night. We also went back today for a while and bought a small snack:
Created: 2007-09-22 20:24,
Tags: fun,
germany,
life,
Comments: 2
The only reason I bought Neon magazine in the first place was because there was an interview with Franka Potente inside. What I didn't know back then was that this was the pilot edition of what was to become a brand new, radical and innovative concept in the German magazine market.
If somebody were to ask me what was wrong with the magazine market in Britain, I would say that there were too many lifestyle magazines, too many women's magazines telling me what I should be wearing and most of all too many celebrity magazines full of pointless information. When I took a closer look at the copy of Neon I bought back in June 2003 I realised that I couldn't define it, I couldn't work out what it was trying to tell me. And that's the brilliance of the concept. After a bit of research I discovered that the target audience was young people aged between 20-29. An audience that takes a lot of interest in their future, but still wants to hold on to their past. Another unusual and refreshing concept is that it's aimed at neither men nor women, it's written equally for both. Content-wise it covers all areas of life such as politics, love, travelling, jobs, studying, shopping, philosophy and other random stuff that really captures the zeitgeist. It's informative, well-written, stylish, colourful, got some lovely photography work inside and best of all it's actually readable. Since the pilot was released Neon has become has huge success with a large circulation in Germany and Europe. No wonder, there's nothing else quite like it.
I want you all to get a better picture of what I'm talking about so I thought I'd do a mini dissection of this month's edition of Neon.
Let's start with the front cover:
The title cover has the same format and layout every month with the feature articles and main article summarised for the reader. This month's issue is as follows:
Fear of immigrants: 15 years after the arson attack: what's changed in Rostock-Lichtenhagen?
An interview with Michael Moore: the filmmaker talks about aggressive opponents and self doubt
Warning snake pit! Why rumours spread in the workplace and how you can defend yourself against them
My heart is jetlagged: Tricks to take that holiday feeling back home
Title story: How long does true love last? How to stop a relationship from becoming just a boring routine
The main body of Neon is always split into four main categories: "Savage World" (short stories/interviews by and about people and every day life), "Seeing" (topical themes relating to politics and society), "Feeling" (about love, friendship, sex and psychology), "Knowing" (about jobs, health, the body and day to day life), "Buying" (fashion, things, travelling) and finally "Free time" (everything you want to know about TV, cinema, music, literature, gaming and the Internet).
"savage World"
pages 8-9: "nur eine Frage": this is a regular feature which asks for people's responses to a question. This month's question was "which bank holiday would you like to create?"
page 10: "How do you actually...smoke a peace pipe?". This feature always gives useful tips on how to do something that you've (perhaps) always wanted to do but not known exactly how. Previous topics were "how do you actually...build an igloo?" and "how do you actually...diffuse an atomic bomb?"
At the bottom of this page is another regular feature called "German stories". Readers can write in and retell a funny story that they have witnessed in their town. However, they have to do it in 50 words or less.
page 12: Each month a celebrity creates their own mixtape and explains what their chosen songs mean to them. This month it's Dave Grohl's turn.
page 14: every month 20 facts are published that you'll remember forever even though they are all fairly random and generally useless. For example, wind turbines always turn anti-clockwise, up to now no American president has died in May and architecture was an Olympic discipline between 1912 and 1948.
At the bottom of the page is the feature "myth and truth". This month the myth that Hitler is to thank for building motorways in Germany is put to the test.
"Seeing"
pages 18-26: one of the title stories: an investigative article about the attack that happened against asylum seekers near Rostock 15 years ago.
pages 28-32: an interview with Michael Moore and his new film Sicko about the American health care system.
pages 36-37: a collection of short articles about topical political and social issues in Germany and in the rest of the World. This month, for example, there's an article about how students in Freiburg with an IQ above 130 don't have to pay tuition fees.
pages 44-51: an article about the brand new British pressure group who want to stop us travelling by plane.
"Feeling"
pages 54-63: the main title story: how to keep a relationship going without it becoming boring.
pages 66-67: an interesting take on a personal ad where the singles tell the entire truth about themselves: what they like in bed, what their faults are, what their ex partners say about them... I'm surprised that anyone wants them after this :)
pages 68-72: the A-Z of insulting from arsehole to compulsion (Zwang).
pages 80-81: explanations of why humans do certain things. For example, why we find photos of ourselves horrible.
pages 88: why some women act as sweet as sugar and what men think of it. Two writers explain from a male and female perspective.
"Knowing"
pages 109-110: how the Chicago Sun Times let a monkey pick shares and why his investments have made a 37% profit.
pages 118-119: the most useful health questions. This month: Can the oxygen supply run out during a conference? How do anti dandruff shampoos work? Why do some pregnant women have bigger baby bumps than others? Can you drink too much water? All answers are verified by experts :)
pages 120-12: a report about the new wave of moon research and the new space race between Russia, China and America.
"Shopping"
pages 158-159: all the products you need for a rainy autumn's day.
"Free time"
books reviews, film reviews, music reviews, a look at the state of the German charts, an interview with ex-Moloko singer and lots more.
Once every 4 months a fashion supplement is also published alongside the main magazine. It always includes lots of photos, interviews and clothes that no one can really afford (which is my only complaint).
Created: 2007-09-19 13:09,
Tags: germany,
media,
review,
Comments: 0
My life is pretty uneventful at the moment (but is going to perk up soon) and the only thing left for me to do is take comfort in other people's creativity. Here are some of the sites that bring me the most pleasure.
Take one camera and hundreds of cool Helsinkians and you have the recipe for a totally addictive site. Hel looks is a site which documents the imaginative, individual and sometimes downright strange styles and fashion on the streets of the Finnish capital. If you love the idea of FRUiTS, then you'll love this site too and probably start getting a bit angry when they don't update the site often enough. If you're lucky, they also add links to Finnish fashion/design related pages. Of course all the best ideas around are bound to be copied. A number of inferior ripoffs of hel looks also exist. I think one of the best clones is manchesterlooks, which also seems to have received quite a lot of critical acclaim.
About a week ago I found out (via my boyfriend) about a simple yet brilliant site called colourlovers. All you have to do is combine 5 colours to create a colour palatte. Other users will review and rate your colour combination and let you know whether you have taste or not. Here is my first attempt:
You feel like you're actually creating something amazing, yet it is one of the most basic things in the world.
I also came across a lovely cupcake baking site, which made me want to get in the kitchen straight away. The only problem was that we had no bun cases and my plan was foiled. The woman who creates the recipes is a true genius. I mean look at these chocolate truffle cupcakes :)
Created: 2007-09-16 15:44,
Tags: baking,
blogs,
life,
stuff,
Comments: 1
About three years ago I came across an interesting website called postcardx. It's simply a collection of addresses of people who like to send post to total strangers. The whole thing is a lovely idea. You can search for an address and send something nice to a person you are probably never going to meet. You can add your own address and wait for your postbox to fill up with exciting letters from all over the world. It is a basic concept that works. As the name of the website suggests, most people like to send postcards. In the past I've received postcards from Canada, America and the UK. People also send more imaginative packages filled with dried leaves, tea bags, stickers, maps and so on. The whole concept makes me believe that it is still perhaps possible for people to be generous, altruistic and to be happy making other people happy.
Lots of people on postcardx are also looking for long term penpals. Having a penpal is a wonderful and rewarding experience. The fact that someone makes the effort to write a thoughtful letter about their life, put it in an envelope, seal it, go to the post office, post it makes you feel good. There seems to be a certain satisfaction from keeping a friendship going by post. It's also a great way of gaining an insight into a totally different way of life or perhaps learning a new language. My longest friendship started in March 1997 with a girl from Estonia. Amazingly, we are still in touch and continue writing as much as we can. As we've grown up the content of the letters has gradually changed: from stories about school friends and hobbies, to our first boyfriends and first jobs and now to our careers, university life and living away from home.
I've already exchanged a number of letters with a girl from Lithuania who found my address on postcardx.
By some stoke of luck we were actually able to meet up this summer
because I was going to Lithuania for my holidays. It may seem a bit
strange to meet someone you only know through letters, but if you take
the plunge you can find out about new ideas and see things from
different perspectives.
Created: 2007-09-13 21:12,
Tags: friends,
life,
lithuania,
Comments: 2
Well, I've arrived in Germany and maybe this is the start of something great.
On the way to Ikea the other day we had 40 minutes to wait for a bus connection in Merseburg. Wandering around the town we came across a four storey high mosaic homage to democratic socialism. Socialist realism always somehow manages to awake the communist in me, but at the same time reminds me that it probably is a good thing that I haven't just moved to the GDR. However, I found it a bit curious as to why the artist included a (possible) representation of Adam and Eve. If it really is Adam and Eve up there then the artist has created a very bizarre mix of nuclear power and the Garden of Eden.
Hopefully, this will also be the start of a great blog. I'm not sure where exactly sure what the finished product will be, but I'm sure you'll be able to put up with my ramblings and observations for the time being.
Created: 2007-09-12 20:04,
Tags: blog,
germany,
life,
Comments: 1
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