germany’s pirate party enters state parliament

last sunday germany’s pirate party, launched in 2006, entered their first state parliament with almost 9% of the vote and with 15 seats. in a state that has 149 seats–this means the pirates have 10% of the the votes in parliament an impressive sum.

this is not a joke party, contrary to what the english speaking media has been writing (since most can only read german with the help of google and yahoo babelfish).

pirates celebrate win in berlin

the pirate party was launched in sweden from the ashes of the filesharing website the pirate bay. a few years back the swedish version of the party picked up its first seat in the european parliament but failed to enter the swedish government.

the germany version of the party focuses on issues close to the heart of libertarians such as data protection and privacy. over the years, they have expanded their platform to include the push for universal access to the internet (aka, free wifi–which exists in sweden), a minimum wage (which germany does not presently have –except in some industries such as construction) as well as education reforms for public schools.

lars von trier in berlin

lars von trier, the self-proclaimed provocateur spoke yesterday in berlin at the babylon theatre about his career and his future projects. in regards to his being banned from cannes he said ‘you know at cannes, they give out this one prize every year–the palm d’or but persona non grata is very rare.’

lars von trier

melancholia trailer

here’s a HD version of Melancholia, the latest film from lars von trier. in this manic depressive science fiction drama, the planet Melancholia is on a crash course to earth. lars von trier who was declared persona non grata by the cannes film festival earlier this summer speaks today in berlin at the babylon theatre.

michelle bachmann can she win

the answer is ‘yes’ if we’re discussing the republican primaries in the u.s. the answer is ‘maybe’ if we’re discussing the u.s. presidential election in 2012.

british historian david starkey says whites have become black

this was no gaffe as he repeates the phrase ‘the whites have become black‘ at least once and then elaborates.

oslo killer anders behring breivik’s manifesto

olso killer anders behring breivik wrote a 1,500 manifesto. you can find it here. but as the site writes, the manifesto is in english. so perhaps it is a hoax?

apparently it’s real. and you can download it here2083AEuropeanDeclarationofIndependence. it is of course the crazy rantings of a madman. but as we know from last century and the book meinkampf. we shouldn’t brush over such things and ignore them.

amy winehouse dead

singer amy winehouse has been found dead in london, the new york times reports. now it’s the main story on the drudge report with a link to the associated press. but we don’t link to ap stories here. they’re like the blogger police. it’s also on the daily mail website clocking in with 813 comments.

scotch and soda berlin fashion week

berlin fashion week kicked off yesterday with all sorts of fun-ness. the opening night shindig was sponsored by grazia. scotch and soda, the amsterdam-based fashion forward label–which we always thought primarily catered to men, launched their first store in berlin tuesday night in the hackescher market area of the mitte district.

Scotch and Soda Launch First Store in Berlin During Berlin Fashion Week

huffington post rewrites miles copeland down on his luck story

the original post on the huffington post talked about miles copeland putting his house up for sale. this 80s throwback, who once managed the police and later sting and owned the seminal record label i.r.s. records must’ve got in touch with them, because now the headline is all about raymond burr’s hollywood hills home. the original article looked more like this. the new one looks like this and still has the url address ‘miles copelands hollywood.’

michael ballack gegen joachim löw

ballack gegen löw: einer lügt! ballack versus loew: a liar!