RWC 2007: The minnows close the gap

When I watched a rugby match for the first time the year was 1995 and the World Cup was taking place in South Africa. I didn't have any idea about what the game was about, I didn't know the rules, but I had a lot of fun watching the match on my telly. I can't even remember what game it was, but a lot of points were scored and one team was dominating their opponents.
When I watched the RWC in 1999 I had a little idea about the game and the different levels of play on the world stage. There were very good teams, good teams and teams who just can't keep up with the rest. I saw crushing defeats for smaller nations and close games between the top teams. So I noticed the huge gap between the first and the second row of rugby teams.
Then in 2003 the RWC was shown on German TV, at least some matches, and I was still able to see 100+ point matches of the big names against smaller teams.

Now it's 2007 and I am thrilled about the perfomance by the minnow teams. I was watching the Wallabies play the Brave Blossoms and I really liked the Japanese way of playing. I watched the Canucks carry a half time lead against the Welsh Dragons. I watched the American Eagles play really well against England. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the close matches of South Africa against Tonga, of Wales against Fiji, of Scotland against Italy or Japan against Fiji. But all those matches seem to have been really great, close and exciting. And that's something a World Cup needs. Sure there's a difference in waht teams can do, but it's always nice to see when smaller nations can give a hard time to the big names. And maybe we will see an upset in a shroter time than we all expect right now.

So Wales are out of the tournament and Fiji have earned their place in the quarterfinals. I'm really looking forward to the knock out stages.

Bundesliga: Day Eight - Bayern keeps rolling, Bremen storms over Bielefeld

FC Schalke 04 - Hertha BSC Berlin 1:0
Werder Bremen - Arminia Bielefeld 8:1
Bayer Leverkusen - Bayern München 0:1
Hamburger SV - VfL Wolfsburg 2:2
VfL Bochum - 1. FC Nürnberg 3:3
Karlsruher SC - Borussia Dortmund 3:1
FC Hansa Rostock - VfB Stuttgart 2:1
Hannover 96 - MSV Duisburg 2:1
FC Energie Cottbus - Eintracht Frankfurt 2:2

Things seem to settle down a little bit as the favourites in the Bundesliga get wins. Bremen e.g. crushed Bielefeld, who were the surprise team for the past few weeks. 8:1 marks the highest home victoty for the northern side, at least that's what they said on the radio. Meanwhile Bayern seems to be unstoppable. Leverkusen were playing really well the past rounds but without their midfield ace Bernd "Schnix" Schneider ("The White Brazilian" as they call him) they went down 0-1 at home. Dortmund completely lost track after winning three straight now losing two in a row, this weekend end against Karlsruhe. At the bottom of the table Rostock seem to have found their strength beating champions Stuttgart. It reamains to be seen if this is because of Stuttgart being in a new situation where they have to play a match every three days (Champions League and Bundesliga). Schalke moved closer to the top winning against Hertha Berlin who lost their second straight match.
So the table at the top looks like this:

1 Bayern
2 Schalke
3 Karlsruhe
4 Leverkusen
5 Bremen

Karlsruhe shouldn't be up there but all the other teams were expected to climb up sooner or later. Let's wait and see how long promoted Karlsruhe will stay there.

The Gaslight Anthem says goodbye in style

I was able to catch up with the guys one more time last night when they were playing Dortmund's FZW with Turbostaat. It was great to see them again after what seemed to be a long time. We hung out before the show and had lots of fun. The concert itself was rather dissatisfying. All of the TGA's were sick and tired from a month long tour and there were some minor mistakes here and there. But it seemed that a lot of people they had met on the tour were present yesterday and this made the atmosphere very friendly. Anyway, the boys seemed to have fun and so we decided to drive to a disco after the show. Still it was a long struggle to settle on one place and so it tooks us long minutes to get everybody moving. The venue we went to wasn't that good, I was tired as hell and just kept sitting on a bench while the others were dancing all night long.

Back in Cologne at around 5 am I fell straight into my bed. So everything that's left for me now is to say: Thank you, Brian, Alex, Alex and Benny for coming to Germany and playing those awesome shows. And I really look forward to meet you again!

Bundesliga: Day Seven - Ahead of the pack

Borussia Dortmund - Hamburger SV 0:3
Hertha BSC - Hansa Rostock 1:3
VfL Wolfsburg - Werder Bremen 1:1
MSV Duisburg - FC Schalke 04 0:2
VfB Stuttgart - VfL Bochum 1:0
Bayern München - Energie Cottbus 5:0
1. FC Nürnberg - Bayer Leverkusen 1:2
Arminia Bielefeld - Hannover 96 0:2
Eintracht Frankfurt - Karlsruher SC 0:1

Of those games I haven't seen anything. Maybe because I was too busy but I just can't remember what I was doing. Oh, yes, yesterday I was watching rugby instead. Let's be honest, this goes to show that the title will go to Bavaria this year. Bayern plays consistent. Just take one out of the pack trailing behind them. Say, Hertha Berlin. They thrashed Dortmund last weekend and were up 1-0 against Rostock, a team from the bottom of the table. But just when you think things clear up everything takes a turn to the complete opposite direction. It seems that teams like Leverkusen, Schalke and Brmenen might be in it this year. I don't see Hamburg there, although a 0-3 away against Dortmund looks convincing, but the BVB was just horrible.
Well well well, seems this season just isn't on track at the moment. Downwards things look brighter. SC Fortuna Köln are in the 3rd spot in the 5th division with al chances for promotion. And they seem to play well winning the last twio matches 4:2 and 5:2. I have to go to a match some time soon again...

A Modest Proposal + Ultrafair - "Karnevalsmetropolentour"

A Modest Proposal played two shows this weekend with Düsseldorf's finest Ultrafair. We kicked off on Friday witha a show at Cologne's Bauwagenplatz, some sort of open air squat. The setting was nice and although not many people showed up the show was fun. Ultrafair were really good and we rocked as well. Kalle, our singer, even destroyed the microphone stand.
So after working on Saturday morning I was picked up by our guitarist to travel a few kilometres up north to Düsseldorf where we were supposed to play at the "Linkes Zentrum Hinterhof". By the time we got there the guys setting up the show were preparing for a little barbeque in the backyard. From time to time a few people dropped by and by the time we got up on stage a few people had shown up. We didn't really play well this time, but it was fun nonetheless. Ultrafair were great again, although their singer had some problems with his voice because he was up partying until 8 am the night before and then went on to watch a football match before the afternoon the show. The main act were the Ramonas, a female Ramones coverband who played Ramones songs on flutes. Something which might get a little boring after some time but they really pulled it off. They only did four or five songs which was completely enough to thrill the crowd. Great way to end the evening.

It just wasn't over for us yet. There was the idea to shoot some band pictures aftzer the show and our guitarist Batman thought because we have a sample of a subway on our CD we should do this in a streetcar. So we jumped on the next train that passed us and did a few shots and some more on our way back. Let's wait and see how they turned out.

Bundesliga: Day Six - Up and down

Hannover 96 - Bayer Leverkusen 0:3
Karlsruher SC - Bayern München 1:4
FC Schalke 04 - Arminia Bielefeld 3:0
SV Werder Bremen - VfB Stuttgart 4:1
Hamburger SV - 1.FC Nürnberg 1:0
Hertha BSC Berlin - Borussia Dortmund 3:2
FC Energie Cottbus - VfL Wolfsburg 1:2
FC Hansa Rostock - MSV Duisburg 2:0
VfL Bochum - Eintracht Frankfurt 0:0

This time of the year the German media usually tries to compare German football to other big nations on the continent. The main device to evaluate the position of German football in the world are the European cup competitions. And because of the poor performance of the German teams during this week it seems that the world will crumble eventually. At least that's the feeling you get when you read the newspapers. In the Champions League Stuttgart (1-2 against Glasgow Rangers) and Bremen (1-2 against Real Madrid) both delivered strong persomances on away matches against strong teams. Schalke was disappointing at home against FC Valencia (0-1). In the UEFA Cup all German teams had their share of the game. Hamburg played miserably but won (vs Litex Lovetch 1-0) just as Bayern did (vs Belenenses Lissabon 1-0). Nuremburg failed to score at home (vs Rapid Bukarest 0-0) and only Leverkusen seems to have a comfortable lead over their opponents (vs Uniao Leiria 3-1). But things look dim if you believe what you read in the press.

It seems that all the ups and downs that so many teams in the Bundesliga experienced last season came back to haunt then this time around again. Teams lose, teams win, and it's all very much on one level. Except for Bayern of course, who stormed to a comfortable win against Karlsruhe today. The Karlsruhe goal came from a mistake by Oliver Kahn though. It's really time he steps back and makes way for another goalkeeper at Bayern.
Bremen crushed champions Stuttgart sending them deep down the table (13) while Brmen themselves climb up. Schalke stopped Bielefeld sending them home with a 3-0 defeat. Dortmund lost to Hertha 2-3 who at least for one day climbed on top of the table after the lost their first two matches in the season.
Deep down it looks like the east of football Germany is going down to the 2nd division together. Both Rostock and Cottbus just can't seem to find their pace.

Documenta XII - A visit

I visited a good friend the past weekend and since she lives in Kassel I grabbed the opportunity to stroll around the art exhibition which was taking place. The Documenta is organised once in five years and because of that a lot of people invade the small city to have a look at the latest in modern art. This not only takes place in the museums but there are also installations all over the city, some even remain from former Documenta editions. E.g. German artist Josef Beuys planted a lot of trees all over the city as a work of art and Swiss musician and artist Dieter Meier made a plate which was build into the floor in the inner city which was saying that he would be standing there at a certain time on a certain day in the future. Which is what he did when the day and the time arrived. So this is Documenta and I took the chance to pay it a visit. This is what I saw...


The first thing you notice - but that might be because of the weekend - are the masses who are running around the place where most of the museums and public installations are located. Since the Documenta takes place every five years the attendance rate is very high. People stream into Kassel from everywhere, from all over Germany and Europe. Some even travel from across the oceans to see the art displayed in the museums. Now I wouldn't consider myself to be someone who really knows something about art. I stand in front of something and I have my own opinion on it but I don't feel like I can talk about the whole thing in detail. I just percieve it as beautiful or ugly. Or just "there". But there's other people who can't stop talking about what is in front of their eyes and sometimes it gets hilarious when they talka and talk and talk and they sound like a bunch of weirdos who are just trying to sound cool because they think they understand what the artist wanted to express with his work. And, you might have guessed it, there were lots and lots of people like that everywhere around Kassel. When walking past some installations or pictures I was able to overhear a few conversations. I had to surpress a loud laughter at times.
Oh, the thing in the middle in the picture on top is a poppy field, by the way. Yes, this is art as well.


So when you buy your ticket at one of the numerous shops which are located at all central parts of the city (you can get day tickets, two day tickets, group tickets and so on) you get these plans to guide you around Kassel and the Documenta. As you might be able to see the different places are located at one central place, but there are also some places which are farther outside of the city. I didn't visit those since I didn't have that much time. This should just give you an impression on how huge this whole thing is...


This is another installation. That thing you can see in the back of the picture. I guess it is supposed to be some point where you can have a view on something and this thing there is supposed to be a frame for the picture you see.
The thing in the left back is the Documenta Hall, the first museum I went into. There was a moderate queue in front and I had to wait for about 30 minutes to get in. Inside was stuff this...





Don't ask me who the artists are, I have no idea. But what struck me was that I waited for half an hour to see just one rather small room full of art and packed with people. The most fascinating thing was a room competely in bright red light with a buzzing sound. I didn't make any pictures because it was impossible to capture that experience on film. That was the only thing that was interesting there, as for the rest, well, it's art, huh?
So I moved on to the Aue-Pavillion



Located at the former residence of the local ruler in the 18th century, the Orangerie, this was rather easy to get in to. Still there were lots of people inside, as you can see here.


This was bigger than the one I've been to before, but because there was so much to see I somehow had a slight information overload. Here are some impressions.













That's just random stuff that caught my attention. I won't go into detail, just have a look and decide for yourselves. The next one's were the one's in found most interesting...


This was a room in which there were only those guitars with amplifiers. While watching them I was thinking why they all had those round things on top of the strings, but, hey, it's art, right? So while I was trying to take the picture exactly at the moment I was pressing the shutter the guitars make sounds. The round thing had a plectrum and there were capodasters so each guitar played a different chord. That sounded almost like bells and chimes on chrches. But only with a guitar sound. This was great.


The other one was a video installation which showed little asian kids being sprayed with a white liquid. Although this might sound a bit cruel it was fun to watch since the children were laughing themselves when they were hit by the liquid. I don't know whether it was milk or paint. But the funniest thing were some of the reactions by the spectators. Although you can clearly see that the children knew that they were about to be covered by something some of the audience was disgusted saying that they hope the artist will experience the same thing sometime in the future.

So, off I went to explore the location and it turned out to be a beautiful baroque garden with a channel and a lake. Here are some impressions.





The most interesting thing though for a football maniac like me was the stadium located behind the building of the Orangerie.


I went on to visit one more museum, the Neue Galerie, but that was definetely too dark to take any pictures in there. By the time I got there I was tired as hell and I just went through the rooms rather quickly. There was an interesting installation though, a movie which had Harvey Keitel reciting something, but I didn't really get what it was. But it was a huge thing, almost like a cinema.

The thing that I enjoyed more was the exhibition me and my friend went to the next day. The "Caricatura" was a display of caricatures by different German writers. Great stuff. We took a very close look at each one of the pictures hanging there. This was completely different from what I had seen the day before because each picture actually had a meaning and it was easy to understand. Well, at least most of them. There were three different rooms with lots of stuff to see. On the top floor they had a small documentation about what caricatures can cause when they are misunderstood. This was a nice way to end the exhibition.