Brüller!

a documentary by Katharina Klewinghaus (English language, produced by Totho, Spring 2007)

How does society look at the horrorfilm and where do gender studies come in? Starring John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Bruce Campbell, Carol Clover, Tom Savini, Rachel Talalay, Brian Yuzna, Linda Williams, Judith Halberstam...

I'm currently co-working on this great project which will come out in 2007 as a dvd-package including a book with lots of bonus-interviews.

SCREEN TERROR - Homepage

“The Red Elvis” is the first complete biography of Dean Reed with striking new facts about his mysterious death in the cold war. The book is based on four years of research and interviews with former friends and colleagues of Dean Reed and Ex-officials of the GDR who used Dean Reed for their state-propaganda, including his second wife Wiebke, Peter-Michael Diestel (formerly minister of interior in the GDR in 1990), Isabell Allende, Armin Mueller Stahl, Egon Krenz, last state-leader of the GDR and former head of the youth-organisation FDJ, Eberhard Fensch, formerly in charge of East-German TV-entertainment and also a former friend of Reed...

The author also managed to get hold of large parts of Dean Reeds lost Stasi-files, personal documents and his last letter which was locked in the personal safe of East Germanys former state-leader Erich Honecker until 1989.

The book is accompanied by a documentary, directed by Leopold Grün, distributed by Progress and produced by Totho from Berlin (totho.de) and it will come out in 2007. The German edition of the book came out in 2004 (Publisher: Aufbau Verlag) and will have around 380 pages plus 50 pictures, a filmography and a discography. A paperback version in German comes out in August.

I'm still looking for publishers who want to put the book out the book in foreign countries. The documentary based on the book will come out in 2007

THE RED ELVIS

© Stefan Ernsting (Publisher: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Germany, 2004)

Introduction: The Unknown Cowboy:

“From the Berlin Wall to Siberia – Dean Reed from Colorado is the biggest star in popmusic. Reed is called the most prominent American after President Ford and Henry Kissinger by Russians and other East-Europeans.” (People’s Magazine, 1976)

East Berlin, 17th of June 1986 Zeuthener lake on a hot summer-day. Hundreds of Eastern cops and agents of the East German secret service Stasi stand around the waterside. Everyone is waiting for a little police-boat crossing the lake and carrying the drowned body of singer, actor and director Dean Reed, the most unknown superstar ever. The man from Colorado, as his TV-show was called behind the wall, had played in countries like Iraq, Nicaragua, Cuba or Bangladesh, burned star-spangled banners in front of American embassies and posed for the media with a machine gun and a palestinian scarf in Lebanon. He was a friend of Yassir Arafat, Dr. Salvador Allende, Victor Jara and Daniel Ortega and he kept protesting against military juntas, atomic power and the war in Vietnam. It had taken the Stasi five days to find the swollen corpse. Two days before the body was found in the lake, Dean Reeds car had been discovered close to the lake and only ten minutes away from his house. Two days later he was supposed to start shooting Bloody Heart on the Krim, a movie about the siege at Wounded Knee and the foundation of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1973. The final contracts had been signed three days before. A crew of ninety people was waiting for him. Dean Reed had fought for many years to finance the project. He wrote the script himself and also signed as director and leading actor. The Stasi claimed, Reed accidently drowned in the lake after hitting his head when he was trying to wash his hands after having had a little accident with his car. East Germanys Head of state Erich Honecker personally supervised the investigation and glossed over the real story. The exact details of Dean Reeds death remained unknown. Crime didn’t exist under socialism. Nobody in the east believed the official version. Rumors about a mysterious last letter and a wet job carried out by either CIA, KGb or Stasi started to spread at the same time. Dean Reed became the protagonist in the former eastern blocs favourite conspiracy theory. When the wall came down in 1989, Dean Reed was forgotten already nonetheless. After people were able to buy any record they wanted. Nobody was missing the marxist crooner. Without the state propaganda he was a complete nobody again. Reeds success in the seventies and his downfall during the early days of perestroika, represented the failure of a helpless placebo-culture initiated by state officials. The story of socialism’s favourite popstar is the american dream upside down, the tale of a con man who managed to become famous only because he was american. In 2003, Tom Hanks announced a movie about Dean Reed for Dreamworks: ”Comrade Rockstar”. After Dean Reed has already been made a hero by socialist propaganda, Hollywood can turn his story into a melodramatic conspiracy-thriller. It wasn’t easy to tell propaganda from pop, promotion, make believe and political intrigues to get the big picture. The story of Dean Reed turned from a popmodern research into a spy-thriller. Stasi-files were lost and most witnesses pretended they knew more than they could say. Has the socialist superstar really been killed, die he die in an accident or did he commit suicide? What‘s the real story and what was just a legend? When the facts were clear, the author had to ask himself whether he shouldn’t also print the legend instead of the truth.

Chapter 1:

Wheat Ridge, Colorado, 1948 The ten years old Dean Reed is sent to a military school by his father. He hates the drill right away and drops out a year later to go to his local high school where he becomes a good athlete. Dean Reed learns how to play guitar and starts making a living singing country songs on a tourist ranch and in local bars. His parents can’t afford sending their second son to college too, but Dean Reed manages to finance his studies on his own by playing small gigs around Denver.

Arizona, 1958 Dean Reed drives to California, Rock’n’Roll blasting from the radio. In the middle of the desert he picks up a hitchhiker called Roy Eberhart. Reed talks about his youth and how he desperately wants to make it in Hollywood as a singer. He is a naive boy from Colorado who likes Roy Rogers and has worked as a cowboy on a tourist ranch. Dean Reed sings one of his songs to Roy Eberhart who offers him a deal. If Reed pays his motel-room in Los Angeles, he can get him a date at Capitol Records. A week later Dean Reed signs a contract with Capitol for seven years. Eberhart becomes Reeds first manager. Capitol also signs him up for Warner Brothers “school of stars”, where Dean Reed makes friends with Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers and his new teacher Paton Price. Price is a godfather of the old era and a mayor influence for former students like Kirk Douglas, Don Murray, Roger Smith or Bob Conrad. He is a radical pacifist who had been in jail for refusing to join the army in WW II and becomes Reeds first real friend. Paton Price introduces him to the theatre of truth and realism as defined by Konstantin Sergejewitsch Stanislawski in Moscow. Dean Reed stays with the Price family after having lived with Roy Eberhart in one of Shirley Temples old houses.

Hollywood, 1959 Dean Reed keeps raving about the evil in show business after Eberhart has sold his contract to another company. He calls Hollywood a ”prostitution camp” and refuses to compromise. In 1959, his first single, ”The Search”, enters the billboard-charts on no.96 and stays there for a week. In 1960, “Our Summer Romance”, Reeds fourth single, becomes a surprise-hit in South America. Capitol Records books him a tour through Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Peru. Dean Reed is stunned. He never thought about making it in foreign countries, but it appears to be an interesting opportunity. He leaves his friends behind and doesn’t tell anyone where he is going.

Chile, 1960 In South America, the one-hit-wonder Dean Reed is more popular than Elvis, Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles or Cliff Richards for a short time. Thousands of fans welcome him at the airport Santiago de Chile and dozens of bodyguards have to protect him whenever he leaves his luxurious hotel-room.

Chapter 2:

Buenos Aires, 1960 After a show in Brazil Dean Reed vanishes for a week. He follows a group of locals deep into the jungle of the Amazons. He hangs out with a tribe of natives and plays music with them. When he continues his tour, the Argentinean press is waiting for him in Buenos Aires. “You ask me whether the Indios have something against the Americans and I have an easy answer for you”, Reed tells them. “They have nothing against Americans. But it was the first time that I didn’t see any signs saying ‚Yankee, go home‘ in all of South America.” Capitol Records considers Reeds statements a lapse, but the singer didn’t feel comfortable in his country anymore anyway. Dean Reed moves to Chile and starts a new life as a singer, actor and agitator. He becomes a political icon singing love-songs and rock’n’roll-classics. People love him in South America while he remains completely unknown in the US. Especially in Chile, Dean Reed makes a lot of new friends within the countrys opposition. They call him “the Red Elvis” or “El Sympatico”.

Chile, 1962 On May 22nd 1962 the “Los Angeles Times” reports that a singer from Hollywood causes a lot of trouble for officials in Washington, Santiago de Chile and Lima in Peru. Dean Reed had written an open letter to a paper in Chile, asking people to write a letter to Kennedy and Chruschtschov to stop nuclear testing. He had just received a warning from the American ambassador in Santiago due to his friendship with Lew Jashin, goalie of the Soviet Union’s national soccer-team. Since he was also starting to take symbolic actions now, the US-government thought it was about time to interfere. The US-ambassador in Lima enforces that Reeds upcoming Peru-tour is cancelled. A member of the US-embassy in Chile threatens him to confiscate his passport if he wouldn’t stop agitating. Dean Reed makes the threats public and the affair becomes a scandal. Paton Price, Marion McKnight, the Miss America 1962 and lots of actors officially protest against the sanctions. Lincoln White, spokesman of the US-ministry of foreign affairs denies everything in an public announcement. But he also states that Reed “should better not do anything against the interests of his country.”

Mexico, 1964 Dean Reed moves to Mexico where he marries his first wife Patricia Hobbs in 1964. He shoots his first movie “Acapulco En Verano” which receives two prizes at the Acapulco-filmfestival. The young couple stays for a few more months in Mexico before they move to Argentina where Reed gets a role in the teen-comedy “Mi Primera Novia” plus his own TV-show.

Argentina, 1965 “The Dean Reed Show” is a huge hit until the entertainer invites Valentina Tereschkowa, the first woman in space. A charming communist showing propaganda for soviet space science is a little bit too much for the young democracy. The argentinian secret service shows up to interrogate Reed for a day. The agents want him to confess to having been paid by the Soviets, but the singer laughs at them. After the official threats didn’t work, somebody hires a few hooligans to try something else. When Dean Reed returns from work to his house in Buenos Aires a few days later, somebody is shooting at him for twenty minutes. Reed runs for cover and calls the police, but nobody is interested. Windows break and neighbors wake up. At some point the invisible gunman gives up and vanishes into the dark. The day after, four armed men are waiting for Reed in front of his house. They are members of the militant left and offer him and his wife protection. For two months they patrol the streets. The killers return a few times and the house becomes a fortress. The radical pacifist Dean Reed has to arm himself for the first time. After the local press starts writing about the late-night shootings they stop.

Chapter 3:

Helsinki, Finland 1965 Dean Reed joins the international peace-movement, which had just started to become a global network. Asked by writer and journalist Alfredo Varela to join the Argentinean delegation of the Peace Council, Dean Reed travels to the World Peace Congress 1965 in Helsinki. At the conference, Chinas Maoists claim that world peace couldn’t be an issue before the world revolution was over. Dean Reed grabs the hands of two other delegates and starts to sing “we shall overcome”, the hymn of the peace movement. After a while everybody except for the Chinese delegation joins the choir and holds hands. The conference is a mayor success and Dean Reed is made a permanent member of the World Peace Council. After the conference he is approached by Nikolai Pastoukhov, head of the soviet youth organisation Komsomol. Pastoukhov asks Reed to do a tour in the Soviet Union. The Beatles had taken the east by storm too and the Soviets desperately needed real popstars to please their youth. The same night, Reed leaves with Pastoukhov to Moscov. They make a stop in Leningrad where Dean Reed performs with the band of a local hotel. Pastoukhov is pleased. He has finally found a Marxist who knew how to sing proper medleys of Elvis and The Beatles.

Moscow, 1966 With his set of Rock’n’Roll-standards, romantic ballads and a Beatles-medley, Reed quickly becomes the most popular foreign star in every socialist country. He keeps touring the USSR and other countries in the eastern bloc for years. Dean Reed performs with big renowned classical orchestras in the background or just on his own with the accoustic guitar he got from his friend Phil Everly. For a lot of people like Michail Gorbashev he is the first rockstar they see in their life. In the meantime Arturo Illfa is replaced by General Ongania in another Putsch in Argentina. In a silent agreement with diplomats in Washington, Dean Reed is exiled to Spain in 1966.

Rome, 1968 Since he couldn‘t get any jobs under Francos fascist regime in Spain, Dean Reed moved to Rome where he signs a three year contract. He does eight Italian movies with stars like Yul Brynner, Anita Ekberg or Nadja Tiller. Most of them are Spaghettiwestern like “Adios Sabata” or cheap genre-flicks like “The cousins of Zorro” and “Karate, Fists and Beans”.

Chile, 1970 After his daughter Ramona is born in 1968, Dean Reed and his wife Patty hobbs divorce. He appears in Chile again to sing in the slums, support the Unidad Popular and shoot a documentary. For a whole year he helps out his friends Salvador Allende and the folksinger Victor Jara supporting the Unidad Popular. In May he gets arrested for washing a bloody Star-Spangled Banner in front of the US-embassy in Santiago.

Chapter 4:

Leipzig, 1971 Dean Reed is invited to the Leipzig film-festival where he shows his movie about the workers and farmers of Chile. He has heard of the wall separating east from west, but he has never been to either side of Germany before. At a welcome-party he falls in love with his second wife Wiebke. Reed moves to the German Democratic Republic and receives an overwhelming welcome by state officials and his fans behind the wall. He becomes a regular guest on East German TV and easily gets a record-contract with the state-owned labels in the east. In 1972, he plays the title-role in the East German film “From the life of a good-for-nothing”. It‘s his first serious movie, which isn’t just another adaptation of an old genre-formula. Dean Reed is made famous because the media claims he had been famous in other countries before. The propaganda in Moscov creates the legend that he used to be a big star in the US who had to escape the country due to his protest against the war in Vietnam. His single “Our Summer Romance” is referred to as a former no.2-hit in the US-billboard-charts which it never was. The myth of the cowboy behind the iron curtain is born.

In 1973, Dean Reed is invited to meet Yasser Arafat who spends a few days in East Berlin and turns out to be a fan of Reeds italian movies. Dean Reed promises to visit Arafat in Lebanon and to support the Palestinians. As a member of the World Peace Council he travels to Bangladesh. He keeps protesting against the war in Vietnam while General Pinochet takes over Chile, Salvador Allende committs suicide and Victor Jara is murdered. A lot of Reeds friends die and depressions start to bug him. He marries Wiebke and in 1976 their daughter Natalie is born. Two years later he insists on another divorce out of nowhere. The same year also sees the siege of Wounded Knee and the foundation of the Oglala Nation. The American Indian Movement (AIM) starts fighting for the rights of the native americans. Dean Reed sympathizes with their struggle and starts thinking about a movie originally called “Wounded Knee”. He changes the title to “Bloody Heart” later and tries to raise money for a film.

East-Berlin, 1974 Dean Reed is approached by the Stasi to infiltrate the US-embassy in East Berlin and report on any suspicious hints connected to western intelligence. Reed agrees and adopts the alias “Victor” for his reports. The Stasi keeps trying to use him for the following two years, but Reed turns out to be a bad spy. He only reports that “unknown US-diplomats had been singing along” after personally inviting the entire embassy-staff to one of his shows.

Chapter 5:

Dean Reed is at the peak of his career. He meets actress Renate Blume on the set of the East German Jack London-adaption “Kit and Co”. Later she becomes the love of his life. When he met Renate Blume, she was still the girlfriend of Gojko Mitic, who was Reeds partner in “Blood Brothers” (1975), a socialist western which became one of the most popular movies behind the wall ever. It was part of a subgenre called “Indianerfilme”, Western from the point of view of the Native Americans. The GDR kept trying to come up with copies of whatever western popculture came up with and in the case of the “Indianerfilme” they were even successful. Like the Spaghettiwestern the subgenre produced it’s own generic conventions and most of the movies were just cheap copies of an original success.

East-Berlin, Cinema International, 1977 Dean Reed uses his popularity in the east to do “El Cantor”, a movie about his dead friend, the folksinger Victor Jara from Chile. For the first time he also signs as writer and director. At the premiere he introduces the audience to a ritual from Chile. “If you don’t jump, you’re a fascist”, he yells while jumping up and down like a pogo-stick. The audience follows the charismatic entertainer and within a few minutes even the old men of the politbureau have to jump up and down until they almost collapse. “El Cantor” is a critically acclaimed success all over the world except for the US where only a handful of Hollywod-insiders get to see the movie.

Chapter 6:

Lebanon, 1977 Dean Reed keeps his promise and visits Arafat who was staying in the South-Lebanon at this time. The Feddajin provide Reed with a machine pistol and a few hand-grenades to defend himself and he stays in the Warzone for a few days until he meets Arafat again. The head of the PLO asks him to do a movie about the situation of the Palestinians. Reed agrees and returns to East Germany to write a script, but the movie never gets finished. Before travelling to Lebanon, Dean Reed is approached by the Stasi again to check his contacts with the PLO. Reed refuses to work against the Palestinians and asks to speak with spymaster Markus Wolf. He starts to ignore the Stasi like he ignores the tickets he gets for speeding on the East German autobahn.

Havanna, Cuba, 1978 Dean Reed manages to use the Stasi for his own course instead. He suggests that he might get arrested in the US and asks for a big solidarity-campaign put up by the East German youth organisation FDJ in that case. Reed travels to Mexico and on October 29th 1978, he appears at one of the rare US-screenings of “El Cantor” in Minneapolis/St.Paul.

Minnesota, 1978 Hundreds of farmers supported by workers and students, marsh through the city to protest against the agrar politics of Minnesota. Dean Reed is right in the middle. Surrounded by 49 police cars he starts singing until he is taken away in handcuffs. 20 people get arrested and put on vans to Wright County Jail in Buffalo. On their way the prisoners manage to cut off the handcuffs. When the guards open the door in the prison-yard, they get out, clapping their hands and singing “We shall not be moved.” For the first time, Dean Reed is in prison in his own country. Instead of paying 1000$ caution he goes on a hungerstrike and some of his fellow prisoners even join him. He demands that all political prisoners in the US should be set free. Reed specifically referrs to the case of AIM-activist Russel Means and the rights of the Oglala Nation. The local officers consider the whole affair a minor incident. To their surprise they are swamped with letters and telegrams from all over the world. The campaign Reed had asked the Stasi for, started right away. Children in eastern schools write collective letters to “save Dean Reed”. Even government-officials from other countries call up the police in Buffalo and the White House to support the singer. International news agencies send people to follow the trial ten days later. VIPs like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez demand Dean Reed to be set free. Egon Krenz, head of the East German Youth Organization FDJ, states in an official telegram: “We‘re at your side any time. Friendship!” President Jimmy Carter wants to avoid a scandal. Nobody has ever heard of Dean Reed, but all the villain-states were going crazy. So, all charges are withdrawn after Carter had a talk with Judge Harold Dahl and all 20 people are released on November the 13th. The case was a precedent. Lawyers of people in prison who were just standing up for civil rights still rely on it. Dean Reed travels back to East Berlin and he is welcomed like a national hero. The cowboy had come home after winning against the United States of America. The propaganda of his heroic victory spreads around the eastern bloc like a disease. He is a good man for public relations and he has the best connections a man could have within the system of the GDR and the Soviet Union. In 1979, Dean Reed receives the Lenin ribbon for arts and literature. No other American had ever received this honour.

East Berlin, 1981 Reed shoots another movie in the GDR: “Sing, Cowboy, Sing”, a mild Western Comedy Musical which is another blockbuster-hit in all socialist countries. Paton Price supervises the project and as a parody of singing cowboys like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry it even works. Reed considers the movie a mistake afterwards. After he had just been accepted as a director with “El Cantor”, he was back to being the grinning cowboy again. Reed keeps trying to get an international hit like a manicac, but he never comes up with anything original. He has a talent for integrating elements of folkmusic from other cultures, but his material is just plain terrible. John Denver sounds like a dirty punk compared to Reed who likes Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers. His records consist of cover-versions most of the time and his country-songs are too old-fashioned to find any western buyers. He keeps pretending that he used to be a big star in the US and lives a lie he can’t escape from. Various times he tries to commit suicide. His proud father had committed suicide after he couldn’t afford a wooden leg and Dean Reed is convinced this was the right thing to do if you were stuck with your life. After Paton Price dies, he tries to commit suicide again.

Chapter 7:

Nobody really likes the cowboy anymore. Dean Reed is one of the privileged few who support the socialist wall as an American citizen who is free to go somewhere else at any time. Every single one of his symbolic protests would end with years in prison for a citizen of the GDR. People are fed up with hearing about his heroic deeds and meanwhile they consider him a salon-Bolshevik. His shows are far away from being sold out and his audience has gotten older with him. In the end he only plays to women in their fourties who never heard of the Rolling Stones. During his last years Dean Reed can‘t find work as an actor anymore. He is considered a joke inside the movie-industry and even in the eastern bloc his songs are out of time.

West Berlin, 1983 Dean Reed gets a job in another odd movie produced in Japan and West-Berlin called “Races” in 1983. ”Races” also features a young Patrick Steward (StarTrek) who looks like he needs the money as badly as Dean Reed who had to make some real dollars to pay for his first daughter in the US.

Chile, 1983 On August 15th, Dean Reed returns to Chile. When he leaves Moscow to South America, he knows that 17 people had already been shot during three days of riots following a demonstration against the regime of Augusto Pinochet. After changing planes in Buenos Aires the body count is 27. Hundreds were injured, thousands had gotten arrested. Reed is accompanied by American filmmaker Will Roberts who does a documentary about him: "American Rebel: The Dean Reed Story". The chilean press at the airport welcomes him and helps him get into the country again. The trade unions of Santiago de Chile booked a show at their headquarters and Dean Reed sings “Venceremos”, the banned hymn of the Unidad Popular. The day after he plays the song again at the university. The cops attack people leaving the show and Dean Reed runs for his life. A few days later, 60 cops arrest him and kick him out of the country again.

Nicaragua, 1984 Reed appears again in Nicaragua where he plays a show in Jalapa in April. He has a long talk with Daniel Ortega who becomes president half a year later. Reed plays a song about the struggle in Nicaragua in front of the US-embassy. He addresses it to Ronald Reagan and holds a speech against the USA supporting the Contras. In autumn he gets arrested in Montevideo, Uruguay for supporting the Frente Amplio and its leader Liber Seregni who had just been released from nine years of prison. Reed is caught singing his song "No nos moveran" with about 100 people in front of the US-embassy a little later.

Denver, Colorado, 1986 Dean Reed speaks a lot about moving back to the US and visits old friends in Colorado. His buddy Johnny Rosenburg writes a song called “Nobody knows you back in your hometown” for him after Reed is surprised that nobody in the US has ever heard of him. He rarely speaks English anymore. Over the years he has also lost touch with the trends of the western popworld and under Gorbachev he appears like a relict from old times. His childhood-friend Dixie Schnebly does some promotion for him in America and he wants to do his first US-tour in 1987 after having toured through 32 other countries. When “60 Minutes” airs a special about him, the american dream is over. In an interview with Mike Wallace, Reed compares Reagan to Stalin and claims the wall was still necessary. The program also shows a scene from “Blood Brothers”, where Reed breaks an american flag while standing in the middle of burned down tippis. Reed receives lots of death threats from the US. Baskets full of letters arrive at his house around the Zeuthener lake. He is commercially dead and any sort of homecoming seems to be impossible. He locks himself in his bedroom In East Berlin and reads the letters full of hate over and over. He tries to commit suicide again by cutting himself with a machete and gets more and more depressive every day. Dean Reed is still working on “Bloody Heart” with director Günter Reisch and manages to raise the money for an East German-Soviet co-production. AIM-activists Russell Means and Clyde Delacourte agree to play themselves. The movie about the siege at Wounded Knee in 1973 and the roots of the American Indian Movement is finally green-lighted. One week before the filming of “Bloody Heart” is supposed to start, the final contracts are signed in Moscow on the 10th. Dean Reed is excited and sends his crew to the Krim, but the production is still very shakey. Some american actors cancelled due to chernobyl and a lot of props were still missing. But Dean Reed even managed to get a real tank from Vietnam and he was committed to do the film. On the night of the 12th he leaves his house around 8.30 p.m. to see his producer Gerrit List and talk about the final details of the production. List had just returned from Moscow with the contracts and waits for Dean Reed who never shows up.

Chapter 8:

London, June 15th 1986 The contracts for the film “Bloody Heart” were cancelled on the 15th already, two days before the body was found. On the 19th, Reed was supposed to be interviewed by Russel Miller of the “Sunday Times” who had just finished his controversial biography of L. Ron Hubbard: “Bare-faced messiah”. Miller never met Reed who promised the journalist to tell him some secrets the public wasn’t supposed to know without being specific. After having arrived in East Berlin, Miller was told that Reed was in a hospital. After coming back to London he was approached by a detective called Peter Comras who claimed Miller was responsible for Reeds death. Comras also claimed to work for Reeds family who denied to have ever heard of him.

East Berlin, Crematorium Berlin-Baumschulenweg, June 24h 1986 The memorial service reminds Dean Reeds friends and family-members from the US of a state funeral with dozens of eastern VIPs and representatives of the state attending. Some people wonder why it took the Stasi so long to find the car which was parked ten minutes away from Reeds house. Some had heard about a last letter, written on the back of the script for “Bloody Heart”. The US never showed any interest to look into the case of one of the most famous Americans ever. When the wall came down in 1989, Dean Reed was forgotten already, but the mayor part of his Stasi-files was gone nonetheless. In the wild days of anarchy in 1990, the last government of the sinking ship which used to be called GDR started another official investigation. The officials came to the conclusion that Dean Reed had committed suicide. It was written by former members of the Stasi who had just switched sides in the middle of Germanys reunification-process. They mentioned the letter, but the the original copy disappeared from the ministry of interior which had taken over Honeckers personal safe. A little later that year, somebody sold a copy of the letter with Dean Reeds suicidal notes to the press. But some people kept the conspiracy theories going. Like Elvis Presley, Reed appeared to be larger than life and his petty death didn’t seem to fit the legend. The story of his life was too good to be true and the mysterious ending was an important element.

Tags: Dean Reed, Red Elvis, Tom Hanks

I got metafiltered!

"In recent years, members of the clergy have begun competing with MTV, video games and the Internet by jazzing up sermons with image magnification systems and large-screen video displays, a la Apple Computer's Steve Jobs at a product launch. The trend has evolved, and churches now are Webcasting to distant parishioners with sophisticated multicamera operations and pumping up the volume inside worship areas with state-of-the-art sound systems." Cnet

(Reblog von 2003)

"It's not the way it was, it's the way it ought to be." -John Ford über einen seiner Western-Filme

"Western sind Filme über Konflikte an der Grenze Amerikas. Die Staatsgrenze ist nicht gemeint. Vielmehr the frontier, die Grenze als der Raum, in dem Amerika sich schafft und wiedererschafft. Diese Grenze ist nicht nur ein geographischer Raum, und sie gehört keiner bestimmten Zeit an. Wie sie auf der Landkarte der USA von den Küstenstaaten des Ostens zum Pazifik wandert, bewegt sie sich als politischer, wirtschaftlicher und gesellschaftlicher Entwicklungszustand und als Modell durch die Geschichte der USA, von den Zeiten des frühen Ideologen John de Crevecoeur, der 1782 die Indianer als eine Rasse beschreibt, "die dazu verdammt ist, vor dem höheren Genius der Europäer zurückzuweichen und zu verschwinden", bis zu den Tagen des John F. Kennedy, der seine Politik unter das Schlagwort der "New Frontier stellt." -Joe Hembus (in "Western Lexikon", München, 1976, S.8)

Der Western erzählt wie man es gern gehabt hätte und rechtfertigt die allgegenwärtige Gewalt in den USA am Ende des 19.Jahrhunderts. Die saubere Gewalt im Kampf um die frontier diente schließlich noblen Ziele und dem Fortschritt.

Der Gunman aus dem wilden Westen ist ein mystischer Held innerhalb der realen Geschichte. Er hat seine eigene Geschichtsschreibung, die von Ghost Writern für zahllose Schundromane aufbereitet wurde und oft, vor allem in den Vereinigten Staaten mit der Realität verwechselt wird.

Western bilden die Grundlage des amerikanischen Verständnisses für die eigene Geschichte und den Umgang mit "the rest of the world". Die Einsamkeit der eigenen Existenz in irgendeinem Provinznest bekommt dabei noch etwas mytholgisches und der Glaube an einen Kampf um die frontier ist ungebrochen. Das Leid anderer Menschen hatte sich dem unterzuordnen, was gern als der Amerikanische Traum bezeichnet wurde und die frontier erwies sich im Laufe der Jahre als ausgesprochen mobil.

Der Kampf um den Kontinent

Von 1754 bis 1763 tobte ein Krieg zwischen Franzosen und Engländern um die Herrschaft über Nordamerika. Die Mohikaner und andere Stämme der Irokesen-Konföderation kämpften an der Seite von Frankreich. Unter ihnen auch Häuptling Pontiac (oder Ponteach), der immer wieder mit einem gewissen Robert Rogers aneinander geriet. Nach dem Krieg suchte sich Rogers 1766 einen Ghostwriter um seine Idee von einem Bühnenstück namens "Ponteach: or The Savages Of America" zu realisieren, ein Drama, was sehr viel später auch mit Spencer Tracy unter dem Titel "Northwest Passage" verfilmt wurde

Mit großem Geschick baute sich Rogers selbst zum Helden auf. Er beschwor die Wahrheit seiner Schilderungen und strich die Stärken seines Erzfeindes Pontiac heraus um seine eigenen Taten zu überhöhen. Mit jenem Mr. Rogers begann ein spezifisch amerikanisches Geschichtverständnis, bei dem Jägerlatein und Revolvergeschichten mehr Gewicht hatten als historische Fakten.

Nach dem Unabhängigkeitskrieg wurde George Washington am 30.April 1789 als erster Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten eingesetzt. 1800 bezog sein Nachfolger John Adamin das frisch fertig gestellte Weiße Haus. Er erstand für 15 Millionen Dollar von Napoleon das Gebiet zwischen Mississippi und Rocky Mountains und nach kleineren Scharmützeln mit den Engländern entstand 1823 die Monroe-Doktrin, der Grundstein für die Hegemonie der USA. Die Eroberung des Kontinents war beendet und der Patriotismus der "selbst erkämpften" Nation kannte nun keine Grenzen mehr.

1823 begann James Fenimore Cooper den "Den letzten Mohikaner", zunächst nur als Fortsetzungs-Serie für eine Tageszeitung. Er schilderte den Kampf der ersten Pioniere, die Gefahren der Wildnis und die Grausamkeiten der "Indianer" als endlose Folge von gefährlichen Abenteuern, die seine Leser meinten nachempfinden zu können. Die Alten hatten diese Zeit noch erlebt und bestätigten stets, ja, so sei es gewesen. Man verklärte die eigene Geschichte und wartete gespannt auf jede Fortsetzung.

Der rauhbeinige Trapper Lederstrumpf wurde schnell zu einem der bekanntesten Westernhelden aller Zeiten. Auch in Buchform war der Roman bald ein internationaler Erfolg.Der Titel von Coopers Bestseller war dabei Programm. Die Ureinwohner hatte man im Laufe einer Generation in seine Schranken verwiesen oder massakriert. Fortan hatte der weiße Mann in Amerika das Kommando.

Die ersten Westernhelden

1845 legte der New Yorker Kaufmann Asa Whitney dem Kongreß einen Plan für die Pacific Railway vor. Whitney, der im Orient ein Vermögen gemacht hatte, träumte von einer zweiten Seidenstraße. Man wollte nicht in den Westen, sondern durch den Westen. Die Pioniere, die sich mit ihren Planwagen nach Westen aufmachten, betrachtete man nur als Vorabkommando für einen Expansionismus nach Asien. Es kam der Begriff der "pacific frontier" auf und als langfristiges Ziel steckt man sich die Eroberung Asiens, "dessen morschen Leib neu zu beleben die geschichtliche Pflicht der USA ist." (Senator Thoman Hart Benton, ca.1820, zitiert nach Joe Hembus "Western Lexikon", München, 1976, S.13)

1858 kam ein gewisser Erastus Beadle aus Buffalo nach New York. Er revolutionierte mit neuen Massenprodukten das amerikanische Pressewesen. Ab 1860 erschienen seine wöchentlichen Dime Novels mit Auflagen von 60000 bis zu einer halben Million, Schundromane mit festen Serienfiguren Beadle hatte die Fortsetzungsserie als eigenes Medium erkannt und die Abenteuergeschichten fanden vor dem immer gleichen Hintergrund statt: dem wilden, wilden Westen. Ein früher Erfolg war Deadwood Dick von Edward l.Wheeler, der schnell als reale Person akzeptiert wurde. In Deadwood, Süd Dakota, der Heimat des fiktiven Helden, machte sogar jemand mit Deadwood Dick-Kostüm gute Geschäfte mit Autogrammen und Souvenirs.

Ein früher Vorläufer war Kid Carson, der ab 1835 seine Abenteuer bei der Eroberung von New Mexico und Kalifornien erlebte. Carson hat im Gegensatz zu Deadwood Dick tatsächlich existiert und er ritt noch 1863 gegen die Navayos, die er nach dem Sieg der Bleichgesichter auf den "long walk" in eine von hungernden Apachen überfüllte Reservation verbannte. Kid Carson wurde der Held verschiedener Romane, die ihn stets als romantischen Herzensbrecher und eine Art Heiligen mit übermenschlichen Fähigkeiten schildert.

Ghostwriter dichteten Bettgeschichten und Taten für die Massenmedien. Merchandisinghändler und Medien-Mogule machten ihren Profit. Junge Mädchen schwärmten für rauhbeinige Idole: Amerika war bereit für den Erastus Beadles erfolgreichste Erfindung.

Der Erfinder des Showbiz

1869 wurde der Schundschreiber Edward Z.C. Judson alias Ned Buntline von der "New York Weekly" engagiert um einen neuen Helden zu finden, der die Auflage steigern könnte. Buntline spielte selbst gern den Helden, brauchte aber ein Opfer. Er versuchte es mit Mayor Frank North, dem Helden der Schlacht von Summit Springs, ein Superstar-Kanidat, der wie geschaffen schien um eine neue Legende zu stricken. Aber North zeigte dem wieseligen Autoren die kalte Schulter.

Unter einer Kutsche findet Buntline den 23jährigen William Frederick Cody, einen verwahrlosten Scout und Büffeljäger. Über Codys Vorleben ist nichts bekannt. Er war perfekt für den ganz großen Western-Mythos: Buffalo Bill.

Buntline wurde der erste Ghost Writer für einen Mann, der schnell vollkommen mit seiner Rolle verschmolz. Am 23.12.1869 erschien die erste Folge von "Buffalo Bill, the King of the Border Men - The Greatest Romance of the Age" in der "New York Weekly". 1872 wurde die Story auf die Bühnen gebracht und weitere Stücke wie "Scouts of the Plain" oder "Life on the Border" folgten.

1872 stand Cody mit seinem Kumpel Jack Omohundro in Chicago erstmals selbst auf der Bühne. Das Stück, "Scouts of the Plains", war mit einem Minimum an Dialog und reichlich Geballer auf die beiden perfekt zugeschnitten. 1875 trennte sich Buffalo Bill von Ned Buntline und wechselte zu Beadles Verlagshaus. Er wurde der neue Star der Dime Novels und tourte 1876 mit "The Red Right Hand or Buffalo Bill's first scalp for Custer", einer Nacherzählung der Schlacht am Little Big Horn. Wenn Cody seinen großen Auftritt hatte und zum sterbenden Custer eilte, leuchtete eine Tafel auf: "Too late!"

Cody wurde zu Amerikas erstem Superstar. Das neue Showgeschäft funktionierte über die Massenmedien landesweit und Cody erkannte schnell das Potential seiner eigenen Legendenbildung. Auf Rodeos, die seit 1850 eine eigene Zirkustradition entwickelt hatten, suchte er sich die geschicktesten Artisten und heuerte eine Truppe von Kosaken an, die als die besten Kunstreiter der Welt galten.

1883 feierte Omaha die Premiere von "Buffalo Bills Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World". Die Show wurde zu einem riesigen Erfolg. Cody tourte mit seinem Zirkus rund um die Welt. Zwanzig Jahre lang prägte er in vielen Ländern der Erde das Bild vom wilden Westen als billige Zirus-Revue mit tollkühnen Reitern und grausamen Eingeborenen.

Die Geburt des Western als Weltanschauung:

1894 entwickelte W.K.L.Dickson, ein Angestellter von Thomas Edison, das Kinetescope.In diesem primitiv wirkenden Guckkasten liefen auf 15 Meter langen Endlosstreifen die ersten richtigen 'Filme'. Ende des Jahres brachte es der Edison-Katalog bereits auf 53 Titel. Die meisten dieser Streifen zeigten die Jahrmarkts-Eskapaden von Buffalo Bill.

Kino und Western wurden erfunden während die letzten Pioniere jenseits des Mississippi noch um ihre Ranch kämpften. Viele Pioniere waren durch dubiose Verträge vetrieben und wirtschaftlich um den Ertrag ihrer Ernte gebracht. Die Populisten-Bewegung zog gegen das Kapital aus dem Osten, eine Episode des wilden Westens, die gern unterschlagen wird, aber das Genre verdankt den Populisten das dringend notwendige Rachemotiv.

Die Einsicht in das Scheitern des Amerikanischen Traums und die Unmöglichkeit einer Rache wurde vom Western übertüncht. Die Schönheit des Landes und die Einsamkeit der Männer wurde romantisiert um den spirituellen Hunger der Einsiedler in der Wildnis zu füttern.

Amerika mußte sich seine eigenen Volkshelden schaffen. Es existierten einfach keine und es galt die europäische Vergangenheit zu überwinden.

"Ours is a moving frontier." (James Hall, Tales of the Border, 1835)

Der Western kennt keine Vergangenheit. Die Westernstadt ist ein spezielles Setting um universelle Geschichten über Mut, Gerechtigkeit und Rache zu erzählen, die auf der ganzen Welt auch für Kinder einfach zu verstehen sein sollten. Die Helden wurden für die Zeit und den Ort gefeiert, nicht für etwas, was sie vollbracht hatten. Um ein wahrer Westerner zu werden, mußte man den Grünschnabel des Ostens überwinden und sich dem Kampf um die frontier stellen. Die bloße Anwesenheit an der frontier machte jeden Pionier zu einem Helden. Der Begriff der frontier war dabei die Beschreibung eines Bewußtseinszustand als es mit der Eroberung Asiens nichts mehr wurde.

Der Westen wurde zu einem mystischen Schlachtfeld, wo sich die Männer als solche zu beweisen hatten. Das Ringen um das Land schien die aggressiveren Patrioten zu besseren Landbesitzern zu machen. Das Land schien irgendwie mehr ihres als das, was einem Pazifisten gehörte. Je stärker der Patriotismus pochte desto schwieriger wurde es natürlich sich zu beweisen. Dies bedeutete vor allem, daß man keine Scheu vor dem Töten haben durfte.

Für viele Amerikaner gibt es immer noch eine frontier und so lässt sich auch die Waffen-Obsession der USA erklären, die von Michael Moore in "Bowling for Columbine" sehr treffend charakterisiert wurde. Die Bewunderung für die Gewalt ihrer Ahnen verleitet die meisten Amerikaner zu dem Irrglauben, daß eine Waffe der Unabhängigkeit und nicht der Verteidigung diente. Man meint, eine Tradition am Leben halten zu müssen und verweist stets darauf, daß es ohne die Pioniere und ihre Waffen keine USA geben würde, was man als Nachfahre der Ureinwohner heute vielleicht nicht mal schlimm finden mag. Aber der wilde Westen ist nicht Amerika und die Ethik der Revolvermänner ist heute nicht mehr aufrecht zu halten.

Amerika glaubt trotzdem weiter an aggressive Helden, die sich mit dem Colt Gehör verschaffen und lieber schießen als verhandeln. Man glaubt in vielen Landstrichen auch immer noch, daß man von "denen da oben in Washington" betrogen wird. Paramilitärische Einheiten, die waffenschwenkend von anarchischen Zuständen in den USA faseln, gibt es dort in jedem Dorf. Und viel hat sich für die meisten Amerikaner auch nicht verändert. Die Mehrzahl lebt immer noch fernab von jeder Zivilisation. Bildung bezieht man aus Fernsehserien wie "Bonanza", "Rauchende Colts" oder Actionfilmen, die nichts anderes als Western in einer globalen Prärie sind. Die frontier ist beweglich.

Links: Virgin Land: The American West As Symbol and Myth, by Henry Nash Smith

Buffalo Bill Historical Research Center

Dime Novel (full text): Adventures of Buffalo Bill from Boyhood to Manhood

A good guide to Buffalo Bill on the web by one of his relatives!

"Die WM-Spiele in Kaiserslautern könnten ausfallen: Verdi will das Stadion während des Fußball-Weltturniers bestreiken, wenn die Arbeitgeber im laufenden Tarifstreit nicht nachgeben." Story in der Netzeitung

Trailer for Mel Gibson's Maya-movie

Jede Menge Videos der beliebten Puppen aus RTL Freitag Nacht...

"The original title of this short (7:35 min.) was 'Donald Duck in Nutziland.' A German "oom-pah" band parades through town extolling the "virtues" of the Fuehrer with the title song. They awaken Donald Duck who has to go to work in a Nazi munitions factory, much to his regret. Luckily in the end, after a frantic workday trying to alternate between making bombs and saluting Hitler, he finds that it has all been a nightmare and that he is still living the the good old U.S.A. Director : Jack Kinney"

Related stories:

-EDUCATION FOR DEATH (THE UNKNOWN DISNEY) -DONALD DUCK: THE SPIRIT OF 1943 / POPEYE : SPINACH FOR ENGLAND (Videos) -Hansi: The girl who loved the Swastika -Disney Propaganda remastered -It's a small war after all!

Tags: Disney, cartoons, censorship, Banned Cartoons, Propaganda, comics

"The beats were the major turning point in twentieth century artistic, literary, and cinematic practice. Further, from the mid '40s onwards, they explored new ideas and new ways of living - embracing a politics that was queer, anti-nuclear, ecological, and libertarian. Beat cinema ranges from the classics of the underground to bio-pics and documentaries, from adaptations of beat literature to the most gleefully absurd exploitation b-movies. Some of these films seek to find an authentic voice, others attempt to jump on a cult bandwagon, most of these films are rarely - if ever - screened, and all demand to be viewed if only to give an insight into the massive influence of the beats on global culture over the last sixty years."

From an essay by Jack Sargeant over at that excellent site Senses of Cinema.

"To expand ad sales, especially to big brands, Mr. Levinsohn plans to supplement the MySpace staff with a second sales force linked to the Fox TV sales department. He wants to expand one of Mr. DeWolfe's advertising ideas — turning advertisers into members of the MySpace community, with their own profiles, like the teenagers' — so that the young people who often spend hours each day on MySpace can become "friends" with movies, cellphone companies and even deodorants. Young people can link to the profiles set up for these goods and services, as they would to real friends, and these commercial 'friends' can even send them messages — ads, really, but of a whole new kind."

Long story in the New York Times

"Evidence seized in raids on 18 factories and warehouses in China and Taiwan over the past year showed that the counterfeiters had set up what amounted to a parallel NEC brand with links to a network of more than 50 electronics factories in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the name of NEC, the pirates copied NEC products, and went as far as developing their own range of consumer electronic products - everything from home entertainment centers to MP3 players. They also coordinated manufacturing and distribution, collecting all the proceeds."

IHT via Slashdot

A forgotten movie starring FM Einheit, Trini Trimpop, William S. Burroughs, Genesis P.Orridge, Alexander Hacke, Christiane F. and many more...

"A trashy little low-budget underground movie, Decoder reflects the zeitgeist of its time. The 1984 of Orwell is imminent, and apocalyptic signs can be seen everywhere. In Decoder, muzak represents indisputable evil, the totalitarian, multinational brainwashing masked under an anonymous, seemingly neutral façade. Or, as the producers so succinctly put it: "Decoder shows that film can be more than two dimensional pictures plus the spoken word. Before the script writers Maeck, Muscha, Schaefer, Trimpop started to shoot in slums and fast-food chain-stores they did quite some research on the phenomenon of muzak: music recorded with special filtering and mixing techniques for stimulating productivity and employee morale as well as the comfort of the consumer, used by big industries, warehouses and department stores, restaurant chains and hospitals. This art product of doctors, musicians and marketing experts is only known as background music, whose subliminal effects no one is usually aware of."

From a long review for the Avanto Festival 2003

"Um gegen die Muzak der Hamburger-Ketten eine Waffe zu finden, sucht der Decoder (F.M. Einheit von den EINSTÜRZENDEN NEUBAUTEN) an seinem Mischpult nach neuen Tönen, die er subversiv gegen die manipulative Beschallung einsetzen kann. Sein Ziel - mit seiner Musik Angst und Panik-Reaktionen auslösen zu können. Psycho-Akustik nennt man das wohl. - In diesem Kultfilm geben sich Realität, Medien- und Musiktheorie, Industrial-Gedankengut und surreale, alptraumhafte Bilder die Klinke in die Hand. Dazwischen immer wieder verwebt: Musik, literarische Word und Statements. Mit Christiane F., William S.Burroughs, Genesis P.Orridge (PSYCHIC TV, THROBBING GRISTLE) in weiteren Hauptrollen. Die Musik stammt von Dave Bell (SOFT CELL), Genesis P. Orridge, EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN und THE THE. Ein Industrial-Kult-Film der 1980er Jahre, auch heute noch sehr sehenswert!" Rezension von Videodrom, wo man den Film als VHS leihen kann, womit wieder bewiesen wäre, dass der Laden tatsächlich einfach alles hat...

Links:

• Decoder Homepage
• IMDB
• Torrent
• More links for downloading this...

Great comic by Patrick S. Parley!

"Newsflash reports that pressure group on Manila is trying to get the upcoming Da Vinci Code movie banned, and all copies of the book in the Philippines destroyed.

The Philippine Alliance Against Pornography (PAAP) also wants author Dan Brown, whom they compare to Adolf Hitler, to be declared persona non grata in the country."

More at Mediawatch

Tarantino denkt überhaupt nicht daran, einen Film über Jimi Hendrix zu machen. Den Weg, den diese Ente genommen hat, sollte man mal zur Quelle zurück verfolgen...

"Viele Erwerbslose befürchten in Zukunft sogar noch mehr Druck und weitere Einschränkungen. Der Grund ihrer Besorgnis trägt den unverfänglichen Namen Optimierungsgesetz. Der Entwurf der großen Koalition soll in wenigen Wochen im Kabinett verabschiedet werden und schon im Herbst 2006 in Kraft treten." Story bei Telepolis

-Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture Part 1 | Part 2
Documentary by Chris Rodley. Starring John Cale, Salvador Dalí (archive footage), Crispin Glover, Dennis Hopper, Mick Jagger, Udo Kier, Lou Reed, Donatella Versace, Andy Warhol, Mary Woronov.

This program offers the definitive look at the life and creative world of a revolutionary who influenced the 20th century in everything from painting to film to music. Capturing the essence of Warhol's strobe-lit, amphetamine- fueled 60s "scene" are rare audiotapes and films from the Warhol Foundation Archives and recollections of friends and colleagues like Debbie Harry and Dennis Hopper.

- Andy Warhol - TV Commercial Braniff Airlines

- Andy Warhol - TV Commercial TDK

- CIAO! MANHATTAN Lost Footage
Filmmaker David Weisman recently discovered over 30 hours of pristine 35mm outtake footage from the film, believed lost for decades.
"The 'Citizen Kane' of the Drug Generation." - Village Voice

- Edie - Mo Tucker singing "After Hours" by The Velvet Underground

Ausgezeichnete Doku über den großen alten Mann der amerikanischen Literatur.

"The engaging documentary ‘Born Into This’ peers beyond the myth of lovably cantankerous counter-culture author-hero Charles Bukowski.

'When you get the shit kicked out of you long enough...you’ll have the tendency to say what you really mean,' states Charles Bukowski in the engaging new documentary 'Bukowski: Born Into This.' That terse observation hints at the brutality of Bukowski’s childhood, when his father would beat him with a razor strop. It also affords a context in which to view his famously stripped-down, no-nonsense literature, charged with autobiographical detail, an urgent, acerbic world-view and that balls-to-the-wall take on booze, sex, poverty and the daily grind.

The documentary marks the filmmaking debut of John Dullaghan. The former advertising copywriter felt such a kinship with Bukowski that he devoted seven years to making what is, at heart, a loving tribute to a writer, his craft and, above all, the idea of living and dying by one’s own creed. 'Born Into This' manages to peer beyond the Bukowski Myth to arrive at something far more layered and fascinating."

From a review at LA ALTERNATIVE PRESS

Torrent (AVI DivX- 772 MB)

Übrigens spricht man den Mann korrekt Bukauski aus, das -kow wie in Cowboy!

1 Search request: sex 15 1 Search request: job türsteher 1 Search request: Heisse Hosen 1 Search request: elektro sex 1 Search request: Doitschland den Deutschen von den onkelz

"Members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 34 to 22 against a Democratic sponsored Internet neutrality amendment that would have prevented congress from abolishing Network Neutrality. If the act is removed by congress, it would allow the formation of a tiered Internet on which service providers would be able to “tax” content providers for fast delivery of data to customers." (Shoutwire)

More at savetheinternet.com

"There are two reasons why we need a new creative strategy. Audiences are changing. And technology is changing. In a way, everyone knows this of course. What's surprising - shocking even - is the sheer pace of that change. In both cases it's faster and more radical than anything we've seen before."

Mark Thompson (The Guardian) via plasticbag.org

Die anderen Stammgäste in meiner Lieblingskneipe im Kiez sind da ja manchmal ein ganz anderes Kaliber, also, entweder nur weich oder hart und schwul. Das kann so auch nicht weiter gehen.... Wir hatten gerade trotzdem und überhaupt echt guten Spaß. Und die Scheiße namens "Zwei Engel für Emily" (ARD), die da derzeit an der Ecke gedreht wird... Avril heißt wieder Engel, alter Schwede, wie Scheiße ist die Welt tatsächlich? Die schnuckelige Kostümdesignerin wusste es auch nicht...

Gestern: Dienstags ist im Tommy-Weißbecker-Haus (gegenüber vom SPD-Hauptquartier by the way, ha, ha...) übrigens seit 15 Jahren jede Woche 1 Euro-Disco für graue Punker. Spaß für wenig Geld. Das fand auch das "We are Scientists"-Kollektiv unter der allseits anerkannten Leitung von Relativitäts-Patrick (seines Zeichens legitimer Erbe von Jack Marvel You-Know-Who....), der nebenbei sein Wiegenfest zu feiern hatte. Grasowska Galore! Cheeers.

Heute dann Treffen am Potsdamer Platz mit dem feinen Herren von der Regie und ansonsten jede Menge "Screen Terror"... Dazu mehr in Kürze...
Alles ist gut und rechtschaffen müde...

Hit beim Fooligan! Als würde sich Herr Wiebusch selbst parodieren!

Via Spreeblick

Funny!

"Fox News’ Tony Snow is expected to be named White House Press Secretary. Here’s some of what he’s had to say about the President:

– “George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.” [11/11/05]

– Bush has “lost control of the federal budget and cannot resist the temptation to stop raiding the public fisc.” [3/17/06]

– “No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives.” [9/30/05]

More at thinkprogress.org

Future White House Briefings will probably be a lot of fun with this guy!

Watch people imitating that famous Beatles pose

Indymedia mit interessanten Informationen über die Provinzstadt, die Konstantin Wecker lieber nicht auftreten lassen wollte.

"Du bist Deutschland"