There are actually a significant number of productions that you come across, from Germany, France, the UK, and various countries.....so it's not a simple task for an American to pick one favorite. My choice is a four set production out of Iceland.
Naeturvaktin (the Night Shift). It's a short season of twelve episodes....surrounding three Icelandic guys who work or pretend to work at a gas station in Iceland. There's the Marxist-over-educated manager (Georg) who probably should have moved to the old Soviet Union to be happy. There's Daniel, the failure at life guy who acts as a clerk but just can't cut it. And then there's the immature adult pretending to be a 12-year old kid....Olafur. Nothing really happens much at the gas station and it's more of a Seinfeld-type-Icelandic comedy. I don't think anyone on the production team ever expected for this to cross lines and become popular in the UK and across Europe itself.
Dagvaktin (the Day Shift). Things were so successful with the first series of twelve.....that they repeated the formula again. The trio had gotten themselves hired in at some small hotel operation. Georg was the Marxist-manager, Daniel served as the cook, and Olafur....well....he was working on a mega deal to be a successful business man. In this season, they introduced the hotel owner.....an Icelandic gal who was sex-starved and desiring of Daniel. This season went for eleven episodes.
Fangavaktin (the Prison Shift). Shocked at the success of season 1 and 2, they took the trio (minus the Icelandic gal) and sentenced them to prison. Georg now serves as a Marxist-prison-wing manager always trying to wear a prison management uniform and being told that he's an inmate, not a manager). Daniel goes through relationship issues. Olafur.....well....he is still trying to be a successful businessman. There were only seven episodes to this season.
Mr Bjarnfreoarson. This is the last of the four and was a 109 minute movie to wrap up the entire series. Basically, all three have been let out of prison and finding it hard to adjust to life, but truthfully....they just never were going anywhere much before they went off to prison.
Oddly, the whole series consists of only 30 episodes (around a 22-minute production each) and one movie to tie it all up.
If you can find it....it's typically in Icelandic with English-sub-titles, and I would highly recommend it.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
German Sodas
I used to be an addicted soda drinker (Pepsi and Mountain Dew were my drinks of preference). And one day, I came to say enough, and I barely consume a dozen sodas a year now. So I was more or less an expert on sodas and the hype around individual brands....both in the US and Germany.
This is my essay on the choices that you commonly find on the shelf in Germany, and my 'rating':
- Mountain Dew (German style). Around ten years ago, Pepsi finally got around to introducing the drink to Germans. Someone suggested I should try it because it wasn't the same taste. So I tried it.....it is a different 'sweet' taste than regular Mountain Dew. Oh, it's got the caffeine to it.....but it taste more like a Fanta than the regular US-made Mountain Dew.
- Coke and Pepsi. Both have been around since the mid-60s and do a brisk business.
- Fanta. It comes in a couple of different tastes, and it's very sweet.
- Fritz-Cola. Well, I think if you took Coke, Tab, and flatten the sweetness a bit....you'd get Fritz. It's not a bad drink.....but it's not one that you find on every shelf. A number of the Brat-wurst stands offer it.
- 28-Black. One of the newer high-energy drinks, that comes in a large can and features high content of sugar and caffeine. Lot of school kids drink it.
- Club Cola. At some point in the mid-1960s....DDR (the old East Germany) came to realize that people wanted a big-name soda like Coke. So, they invented Club Cola. Up until the Wall came down....it was a major player in DDR. Today? It's still around and you can buy it under some regional soda company. From the one brief taste of it that I had.....it's kinda like Coke but missing something. If your circle of travel is mostly around the Pfalz or Hessen....you probably won't see it offered much. Further east, it's common.
- Vita-Cola. Basically, it tastes like 50-percent Coke, 10-percent lemon, and 40-percent fruit. It was another one of those DDR sodas that somehow survived and does some business today. Same deal....if your circle is Hessen and Pfalz....you might not bump into it. Further east, it's common.
- Fassbrause. There are a couple of brands which use the label Fassbrause. Basically, it's a soda that can be non-alcoholic or alcoholic.....depending on the brand. Fruit, malt and spices, thrown into the mix and is usually delivered either in kegs or bottles (no cans as far as I know). Sometimes, a German will refer to it as 'apple-bier'. You find this mostly manufactured and consumed in the Berlin region. The key to the taste? It's always fruity.....apples, raspberries, strawberries, etc. Some Germans will comment to some health positive with it.....I'm not exactly in that belief because of sugar content.
- Afri-Cola. From 1945 to around the late 1960s.....this was "the" soda of West Germany. Then Coke and Pepsi came in full force, and Afri became a minor player. It was loaded with caffeine with the old receipe, which ended with version one of the drink in the late 1990s. Version one had 250 mg of caffeine compared to what Mountain Dew has today with roughly 55 mg. Version two, dropped to roughly 150 mg of caffeine, but lost customers. After six years of the lower caffeine level....they went back to version one and are still there today (having regained some customers). If you really needed a heavy dose of caffeine.....this would be the drink to ask for.
- Sinalco. There are at least a dozen drinks under this brand name. The two that you might bump into are the cola or the orange. The orange Sinalco tastes like the US Orange Crush.
- Mezzo-Mix. It's a combo soda, with a cola taste and orange taste. Typically, it's more popular with women (my humble opinion).
- Schwip Schwap. Another combo soda, with cola and orange mixed, with a company owned by Pepsi.
- Bionade. This is a drink developed in the 1990s in Bavaria, which took the idea of fermentation and stayed with standard ideas of beer production....making a natural drink....thus claiming it to be bio in some way. They marketed this originally at fitness studios and wellness centers, and built up customers via that direction. The selling point of this is the claim that it's more healthy to drink than regular sodas, but has a sweet taste. There are at least four flavors to the drink, and I will admit that it's not a bad taste (it is sweet).
- Spezi. This came out of the Bavarian region (made in Augsburg, I think) in the 1950s. It's another cola and orange mix. If you were ever stationed in Bavaria or passed through the region, the odds are that you had this on a couple of occasions.
There are probably another dozen-odd soda brands around in Germany, to a lesser extent. If I were to make a serious observation about the long-term trend.....Germans like a mix of orange and cola.
This is my essay on the choices that you commonly find on the shelf in Germany, and my 'rating':
- Mountain Dew (German style). Around ten years ago, Pepsi finally got around to introducing the drink to Germans. Someone suggested I should try it because it wasn't the same taste. So I tried it.....it is a different 'sweet' taste than regular Mountain Dew. Oh, it's got the caffeine to it.....but it taste more like a Fanta than the regular US-made Mountain Dew.
- Coke and Pepsi. Both have been around since the mid-60s and do a brisk business.
- Fanta. It comes in a couple of different tastes, and it's very sweet.
- Fritz-Cola. Well, I think if you took Coke, Tab, and flatten the sweetness a bit....you'd get Fritz. It's not a bad drink.....but it's not one that you find on every shelf. A number of the Brat-wurst stands offer it.
- 28-Black. One of the newer high-energy drinks, that comes in a large can and features high content of sugar and caffeine. Lot of school kids drink it.
- Club Cola. At some point in the mid-1960s....DDR (the old East Germany) came to realize that people wanted a big-name soda like Coke. So, they invented Club Cola. Up until the Wall came down....it was a major player in DDR. Today? It's still around and you can buy it under some regional soda company. From the one brief taste of it that I had.....it's kinda like Coke but missing something. If your circle of travel is mostly around the Pfalz or Hessen....you probably won't see it offered much. Further east, it's common.
- Vita-Cola. Basically, it tastes like 50-percent Coke, 10-percent lemon, and 40-percent fruit. It was another one of those DDR sodas that somehow survived and does some business today. Same deal....if your circle is Hessen and Pfalz....you might not bump into it. Further east, it's common.
- Fassbrause. There are a couple of brands which use the label Fassbrause. Basically, it's a soda that can be non-alcoholic or alcoholic.....depending on the brand. Fruit, malt and spices, thrown into the mix and is usually delivered either in kegs or bottles (no cans as far as I know). Sometimes, a German will refer to it as 'apple-bier'. You find this mostly manufactured and consumed in the Berlin region. The key to the taste? It's always fruity.....apples, raspberries, strawberries, etc. Some Germans will comment to some health positive with it.....I'm not exactly in that belief because of sugar content.
- Afri-Cola. From 1945 to around the late 1960s.....this was "the" soda of West Germany. Then Coke and Pepsi came in full force, and Afri became a minor player. It was loaded with caffeine with the old receipe, which ended with version one of the drink in the late 1990s. Version one had 250 mg of caffeine compared to what Mountain Dew has today with roughly 55 mg. Version two, dropped to roughly 150 mg of caffeine, but lost customers. After six years of the lower caffeine level....they went back to version one and are still there today (having regained some customers). If you really needed a heavy dose of caffeine.....this would be the drink to ask for.
- Sinalco. There are at least a dozen drinks under this brand name. The two that you might bump into are the cola or the orange. The orange Sinalco tastes like the US Orange Crush.
- Mezzo-Mix. It's a combo soda, with a cola taste and orange taste. Typically, it's more popular with women (my humble opinion).
- Schwip Schwap. Another combo soda, with cola and orange mixed, with a company owned by Pepsi.
- Bionade. This is a drink developed in the 1990s in Bavaria, which took the idea of fermentation and stayed with standard ideas of beer production....making a natural drink....thus claiming it to be bio in some way. They marketed this originally at fitness studios and wellness centers, and built up customers via that direction. The selling point of this is the claim that it's more healthy to drink than regular sodas, but has a sweet taste. There are at least four flavors to the drink, and I will admit that it's not a bad taste (it is sweet).
- Spezi. This came out of the Bavarian region (made in Augsburg, I think) in the 1950s. It's another cola and orange mix. If you were ever stationed in Bavaria or passed through the region, the odds are that you had this on a couple of occasions.
There are probably another dozen-odd soda brands around in Germany, to a lesser extent. If I were to make a serious observation about the long-term trend.....Germans like a mix of orange and cola.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Where Legal and Illegal Satire Meet
Here in Germany over the past ten days.....we've had this battle brewing with a state-run TV comedian, Turkey's Erdogan, and the Mainz prosecutors.
Jan Bohmermann is the comedian from NEO, a state-run TV network.....who did a piece that laid heavy criticism upon Turkey's supreme leader (Erdogan). The satire used (because Bohmermann's entire show is satire) is said to have crossed the line and been insulting....which is a big deal on German legal situations.
So, yesterday.....Jan Bohmermann decided to take this all a step further.
He sent an email to the Chancellor's office (actually the Chancellor's chief of staff.....Peter Altmaier....who originates out of Mainz), asked them to define what can be satire and what cannot.
As Bohmermann wrote: "I would like to live in a country where the exploration of the limits of satire allows desired and can be the subject of a civil society debate."
It's put the problem back into the lap of the government because they have never sat down and wrote some complex 10,000 page code on what is satire and what is an insult.
The Mainz prosecutors? Oh, they may huff-and-puff a bit, but when you drag Bohmermann into a court room and the judge asks about the charge....well....how do you explain your charge with no written definition on paper and approved by the Bundestag.
If Bohmermann wrote a piece that questioned the nature of the Catholic Church and suggested that the Pope was a nut-case....would that be cynical and legal or cynical and illegal?
Dragging Peter Altmaier into the middle of this? Of all German political figures with common sense and the ability to sit and do a live question and answer forum.....with sharp witted nature, wit and insight.....Altmaier is absolutely the best at forums. I'm guessing that he's sitting there this weekend....grinning over the question....he knows that the government can't possibly write a law that centers on satire.
I'm guessing the judges in the Mainz region are hoping this doesn't come to their courtroom because Bohmermann might decide to test the judges and see how they can define legal satire and illegal satire, and their patience might be tried on this little 'test'.
Jan Bohmermann is the comedian from NEO, a state-run TV network.....who did a piece that laid heavy criticism upon Turkey's supreme leader (Erdogan). The satire used (because Bohmermann's entire show is satire) is said to have crossed the line and been insulting....which is a big deal on German legal situations.
So, yesterday.....Jan Bohmermann decided to take this all a step further.
He sent an email to the Chancellor's office (actually the Chancellor's chief of staff.....Peter Altmaier....who originates out of Mainz), asked them to define what can be satire and what cannot.
As Bohmermann wrote: "I would like to live in a country where the exploration of the limits of satire allows desired and can be the subject of a civil society debate."
It's put the problem back into the lap of the government because they have never sat down and wrote some complex 10,000 page code on what is satire and what is an insult.
The Mainz prosecutors? Oh, they may huff-and-puff a bit, but when you drag Bohmermann into a court room and the judge asks about the charge....well....how do you explain your charge with no written definition on paper and approved by the Bundestag.
If Bohmermann wrote a piece that questioned the nature of the Catholic Church and suggested that the Pope was a nut-case....would that be cynical and legal or cynical and illegal?
Dragging Peter Altmaier into the middle of this? Of all German political figures with common sense and the ability to sit and do a live question and answer forum.....with sharp witted nature, wit and insight.....Altmaier is absolutely the best at forums. I'm guessing that he's sitting there this weekend....grinning over the question....he knows that the government can't possibly write a law that centers on satire.
I'm guessing the judges in the Mainz region are hoping this doesn't come to their courtroom because Bohmermann might decide to test the judges and see how they can define legal satire and illegal satire, and their patience might be tried on this little 'test'.
Tight Spaces
I sat on a bench in the middle of the Mainz shopping district yesterday, with a shop or two in front of me, and this two-door glass entry.
A guy drove past the end of the street, into the walking zone and pulled precisely up to the door. He was in a VW Polo, which is one of the smallest cars you can buy in Germany.
So I sat and watched him open the glass doors and proceed ever-so-gracefully through....with maybe two inches of room on both sides of the entry way as 'free'. He had to pass these doors, and a end point of the building.....all of which I could observe. There at the end, you could notice a two car garage that lay maybe five meters (16 feet) beyond the end of the structure. The garage door that was open.....was to the right and I judged it just about an impossible thing for the car to exit....twist.....and make it into the garage entry.
Well....as he exited the back of this hallway....you could see him making an extreme twist of the steering wheel and with maybe an inch between the car and the building concrete structure.....he twisted and twisted.....until he pulled into the car garage. It was a feat of precise driving.
The thing that I pondered upon....when tomorrow comes and you have to back the car out.....will he repeat this whole process, and turn at precisely the right point, and back-out of this tight parking spot?
Parking in urbanized areas of Germany is hard to come by. When you do find an apartment that offers parking....you seize it....no matter how difficult it fits into your lifestyle. In this case, the guy has a remarkable few cars of the right width and length....that would fit into this parking scheme. I'd take a guess that fewer than eight such cars would fit his parking situation.
And to go through this day after day, without bumping the car against concrete? It would try my patience.
Downward Immigration Numbers
One of the little news items from Channel One (ARD) from yesterday is a statement by the German Interior Minister (de Maiziere) that immigrant numbers per month are spiraling downward.
From January, there were around 92,000 asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees.
From February, there were around 61,000.
From March, there were around 20,000.
For 2016 so far, the total is around 181,000. If you remember the statistical number for all of 2015, it was 1.1 million.
If the trend would hold steady at 20,000 per month....this would actually be the average that existed prior to 2013....and considered 'normal' for Germany. With that normal trend for the rest of the year and the bump-up for Jan/Feb.....Germany could be sitting at 350,000 at the end of year. Well....maybe.
It is pointed out that for this first quarter of 2016, it's double of what came in for the same quarter of 2015. So, it's hard to say how one should review the numbers.
Politically, they really need that 350,000 number to be the high-end for the year.....or face a tough challenge for the national election in 2017.
The odd thing that de Maziere mentioned? There are roughly 400,000 refugees in the line and no decision by the state agency on whether they can stay or they have to leave. These....are people left over from 2015. These are people sitting in various camps and refugee centers around Germany.....perhaps for six to eight months, and having some hope that they will be granted a visa.
From January, there were around 92,000 asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees.
From February, there were around 61,000.
From March, there were around 20,000.
For 2016 so far, the total is around 181,000. If you remember the statistical number for all of 2015, it was 1.1 million.
If the trend would hold steady at 20,000 per month....this would actually be the average that existed prior to 2013....and considered 'normal' for Germany. With that normal trend for the rest of the year and the bump-up for Jan/Feb.....Germany could be sitting at 350,000 at the end of year. Well....maybe.
It is pointed out that for this first quarter of 2016, it's double of what came in for the same quarter of 2015. So, it's hard to say how one should review the numbers.
Politically, they really need that 350,000 number to be the high-end for the year.....or face a tough challenge for the national election in 2017.
The odd thing that de Maziere mentioned? There are roughly 400,000 refugees in the line and no decision by the state agency on whether they can stay or they have to leave. These....are people left over from 2015. These are people sitting in various camps and refugee centers around Germany.....perhaps for six to eight months, and having some hope that they will be granted a visa.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Kretschmann Factor
ZDF, Channel Two from the public-run TV empire of Germany.....runs a polling service on individual political figures in Germany, and who is 'popular' at present.
They closed out the poll today, with a Green member from Baden-Wurttemberg now ranked as the most popular politician in Germany today (PM Winfried Kretschmann).
What can be said is that the election of three weeks ago finally pulled some national attention for Kretschmann.
Kretschmann is presently 67 years old, and there is a possibility that the Green Party at the national level might pull him up for more public forum appearances, and he might be the 2017 Green Party candidate for chancellor.
The slam that might go against him? In his youth, after doing the mandatory military service period....he joined up with the Communist League of West Germany for two years. After that period, he signed up with the fledgling Green Party as they were going through their early years in Germany.
On the positive side, he's argued against the Green position of heavy taxation on industry or business operations because of the position that it affects jobs and growth.
The Greens in Berlin would likely argue that they've got several faces which are popular with the public. The counter-argument is that some people might be willing to vote Green Party if they weren't so far to the left....which Kretschmann represents that moderate figure that people can find something positive to support.
They closed out the poll today, with a Green member from Baden-Wurttemberg now ranked as the most popular politician in Germany today (PM Winfried Kretschmann).
What can be said is that the election of three weeks ago finally pulled some national attention for Kretschmann.
Kretschmann is presently 67 years old, and there is a possibility that the Green Party at the national level might pull him up for more public forum appearances, and he might be the 2017 Green Party candidate for chancellor.
The slam that might go against him? In his youth, after doing the mandatory military service period....he joined up with the Communist League of West Germany for two years. After that period, he signed up with the fledgling Green Party as they were going through their early years in Germany.
On the positive side, he's argued against the Green position of heavy taxation on industry or business operations because of the position that it affects jobs and growth.
The Greens in Berlin would likely argue that they've got several faces which are popular with the public. The counter-argument is that some people might be willing to vote Green Party if they weren't so far to the left....which Kretschmann represents that moderate figure that people can find something positive to support.
Germans and the 'Under-18' Situation
Focus did a piece today which involved an interview with a guy who is the head of the Children's Commission (under the Bundestag)....Herr Norbert Muller.
He's decided to comment on the German Army (the Bundeswehr) and note that 1,500-odd members are under the age of 18 when recruited.....which adds up to 7-percent of the German Army.
The current law in Germany allows for recruitment and training....but no weapons-related training until after 18. Signing a German kid up while under 18? You have to have the parents sign the slip.
The push by the Children's Commission is that they want the practice of signing kids under eighteen to end. 'Adolescents' are possibly affected by the "trauma" is the hyped-up discussion.
The problem I see with this logic is that you already have the the THW folks (the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief......the rescue department) recruit kids and have roughly 80,000 members across all of Germany. They accept the under-18 crowd as well, and they are put into a training environment where they might be faced with some trauma-events as well.
To also be honest, there are a fair number of people who at age 21.....they might not be mature enough to handle trauma-events. I've been around people who were in their 30's and not able to handle a trauma-event.
Oddly, Germany allows driver's license applications and permits....with parent's permission....at 17. Maybe the trauma-hype might be suggested in this case as well?
Nursing schools and EMT-type training for German kids under 18? There's trauma in this work as well.
It would seem.....if you open up this door....a number of jobs or fields would have to be examined....if you ask me.
He's decided to comment on the German Army (the Bundeswehr) and note that 1,500-odd members are under the age of 18 when recruited.....which adds up to 7-percent of the German Army.
The current law in Germany allows for recruitment and training....but no weapons-related training until after 18. Signing a German kid up while under 18? You have to have the parents sign the slip.
The push by the Children's Commission is that they want the practice of signing kids under eighteen to end. 'Adolescents' are possibly affected by the "trauma" is the hyped-up discussion.
The problem I see with this logic is that you already have the the THW folks (the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief......the rescue department) recruit kids and have roughly 80,000 members across all of Germany. They accept the under-18 crowd as well, and they are put into a training environment where they might be faced with some trauma-events as well.
To also be honest, there are a fair number of people who at age 21.....they might not be mature enough to handle trauma-events. I've been around people who were in their 30's and not able to handle a trauma-event.
Oddly, Germany allows driver's license applications and permits....with parent's permission....at 17. Maybe the trauma-hype might be suggested in this case as well?
Nursing schools and EMT-type training for German kids under 18? There's trauma in this work as well.
It would seem.....if you open up this door....a number of jobs or fields would have to be examined....if you ask me.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Update on Koln Riot from New Years Eve
We are a hundred days past the Cologne (Koln) riot episode of New Years Eve. You'd kinda expect the thing to have burned out in terms of information and updates. Well....no, it hasn't burned out yet.
Today, we learn that a confidential police document exists which said during the events of the evening.....that the term "RAPE" in police reports was not to be used in any report generated by the cops there in Cologne.
Who gave the order? The state interior minister...Ralf Jager. At least, that's what the local newspaper is saying.
Jager had more or less rode out the wave of criticism by firing the head of the police. Now?
It's hard to say. Jager is a SPD Party member and the opposition will stand up in the state assembly to ask questions. Jager may deny the order given, but it'll just force someone to bring the cops in and ask them by oath to cite who gave the order. I think Jager may be forced to resign from his post as head of the state interior ministry.....but stay around as a political member.
Why give an order like this....not to use the word for rape? There are probably a dozen words or phrases now that journalists, politicians, and intellectuals can't use or utter.....when talking about immigrants, asylum seekers or refugees. That word is simply one of the dozen. A German can rape a German.....an immigrant cannot rape a German....oddly, that's the logic of the current crisis and why Germans are slowly losing confidence in the situation working itself out.
Today, we learn that a confidential police document exists which said during the events of the evening.....that the term "RAPE" in police reports was not to be used in any report generated by the cops there in Cologne.
Who gave the order? The state interior minister...Ralf Jager. At least, that's what the local newspaper is saying.
Jager had more or less rode out the wave of criticism by firing the head of the police. Now?
It's hard to say. Jager is a SPD Party member and the opposition will stand up in the state assembly to ask questions. Jager may deny the order given, but it'll just force someone to bring the cops in and ask them by oath to cite who gave the order. I think Jager may be forced to resign from his post as head of the state interior ministry.....but stay around as a political member.
Why give an order like this....not to use the word for rape? There are probably a dozen words or phrases now that journalists, politicians, and intellectuals can't use or utter.....when talking about immigrants, asylum seekers or refugees. That word is simply one of the dozen. A German can rape a German.....an immigrant cannot rape a German....oddly, that's the logic of the current crisis and why Germans are slowly losing confidence in the situation working itself out.
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