Asbestblog

Since August 9th it is possible to read the diaries of George Orwell online. Each entry belongs to an entry of his diary that was written 70 years ago.

I am waiting at the Vancouver airport for my flight back to Germany. My flight to Frankfurt is two hours late but that is not a pain in the ass like at other airports. Here is free wireless everywhere and the building and its interior is also worth a visit. It is bright everywhere because of a lot of windows. There are a lot of small statues and even a small artificial waterfall. In comparison to the airport in Frankfurt where there were not enough seats to sit down in the waiting halls, the airport here is dimensions better and quite inviting.

This Monday was a bank holiday here in Canada such that we have got a long weekend. I used this chance to go to Seattle. Except for sometimes long and annoying border controls it takes usually only four hours by Greyhound. Here is a picture of Downtown taken from the Queen Anne Hill. In the foreground is the famous Space Needle. But Seattle has also got a great art museum that I really enjoyed yesterday.

I have been in the Contemporary Art Gallery here in Vancouver. At present there is an amazing performance about a robotic chair. This chair falls apart and puts itself back together. It is really impressive. Great engineering, great art!

Last saturday I was again in Downtown Vancouver for sightseeing. My first stop was the Police museum. Oddly enough, this museum (together with the main police office) is located in East Downtown, an area which is populated mostly with homeless, drug addicts et cetera. This museum is quite interesting because it has several rooms showing the history of the Vancouver police and also rooms where you can see different weapons, different (illegal) drugs and even an "autopsy" room which shows brains and skulls with bullet-holes. (see the pictures below) I also went to Stanley Park. It's one of the biggest city parks in North America. There are the famous totem poles, one of the most often photographed sight in Vancouver. Yesterday we went to Whistler, a famous ski resort north of Vancouver. Whistler will play an important role during the 2010 Olympics.

I am desperately looking for the works of Thomas Ligotti, especially his essay "The conspiracy against the human race". This essay was online for a while but not anymore, unfortunately. Perhaps some visitor of this blog can help...

Last Saturday I did some sightseeing in Downtown Vancouver. The first picture shows the Lookout-tower from where I have taken the picture of the Downtown skyskrapers. The third one shows the public library which was built after the Colosseum in Rome.

I arrived in Vancouver 4 days ago. I am again in a solid state although I could not completely cure my cold before the flight. Vancouver seems to be really worth a visit although I could not do much sightseeing yet. I took the above picture today's evening. The university campus where we stay is located in a district called Burnaby and the picture was taken on a hill in a nice park that is near the campus. More to come soon.

Ich war gerade in der Apotheke. Vor mir standen zwei junge Männer "alternativen" Aussehens, die Spritzen gekauft und zudem nach Ascorbinsäure gefragt haben. Nicht nur das Aussehen der Jungs hat mich an Trainspotting erinnert. Die Beiden verbringen wohl heute einen Abend, der nicht von dieser Welt sein wird, zumindest am Anfang. (Ascorbinsäure wird laut Wikipedia zum Erhöhen der Löslichkeit des Heroins in Wasser beigemischt.)

"Die Liebe eines Liebhabers nimmt ab wie der Kubus der Entfernung von seiner Mätresse und wie das Quadrat der Länge seiner Abwesenheit."
(Quelle: Lehrbuch der Analysis von Harro Heuser)

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could ...

Perhaps half of the blog contains music recommendations but this time the band is really a pearl - Choir of Young Believers. I put them already in my favourites of 2007 (I got to know them at the end of last year). If you have not heard of them until now, I strongly recommend to listen to them.

If you want to know why your imagination is sometimes going wild and why the US-government has to nuke our imagination, then watch the "imaginationland" trilogy of South Park (Season 11 - Episode 10-12)!

Sigur Rós have released a new record and they will be on tour in Germany in August. The concert in Berlin will provide seating. Because I am travelling on this day, I will go to see them in Dresden. However, their concert in Dresden will not provide seating. That is a pity because I really prefer to sit... ...by the way, you should not wait to long to get a ticket, I assume there are not many left.