The Iceman Cometh! Oh wait, that’s just James… So we may not have had a white Christmas in Berlin, but we had the next best thing – a pleasant drift of the white stuff a few days later, and then streets clear of sludge by New Year’s Eve. Just in case there isn’t more snow to come, we made sure to get out in it, with Olive and our awesome visiting friend Adrian in tow. Both of them seemed to have fun!
“Nina relajada” by inthesitymad, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
We’ve said it before: Nina Hagen is the queen. So we’re going to give her the spotlight on this Christmas edition of Music Montag, for a couple of naughty and nice renditions of Weihnachten-themed songs.
First up, enjoy her doing what she does best, getting sacrilegious (ish) over the top of some bonkers acid techno. Then, watch the post-punk icon get visibly outside of her comfort zone, and still nailing it, singing a traditional hymn with an orchestra for French TV. Merry Christmas, everyone!
Naughty: “X- Christmas”
Nice: “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night)
Tis the season! While all the other bloggers are seeking out the quaintest, most traditionally festive Weihnachtsmarkts in Berlin, we thought we’d go to arguably the worst and take the best photos of it! Wintertraum, which stretches from Alexanderplatz to Jannowitzbrücke, bills itself as Berlin’s biggest Christmas market, but really it’s a funfair – complete with candy floss vendors, vomit-inducing rides to test the stomachs of adventurous candy floss eaters, and what seems like a billion flashing lights. So what better place to test out the steampunk-y Petzval lens I had on load from Lomography?
The Petzval comes in stunning gold, and apparently “is a stunning reinvention of the legendary Petzval Lens, which was first conceived of in Vienna, Austria, in 1840.” It works with both analogue and digital cameras, and allows you to take photos with a narrow depth of field, producing a trippy bokeh effect in the background. I really enjoyed using it to capture the insanity of the Wintertraum Christmas market, including the creepy clowns, retro rides like “BREAK DANCE”, the possibly-BER-inspired “Chaos Airport” … and James’ beard! A photo opportunity if ever there was one. 
It’s (nearly) Christmaaaaaaassssssss! überlin favourite Phon.o is providing the calm before the seasonal storm with this 36 minute (!) edit of Wham! crimbo classic “Last Christmas”. Download it for free now and save it for when your family really start to get on your nerves. Headphones on – Happy Christmas y’all!
papaerk says: And merry Xmas to the Uberlin mob as well.
Love O’s little snow beard