tapmag

Last night on Rachel Maddow, Kent Jones went for a little cultural superiority talk, when discussing the Eurovision Song Contest:
“You ever wonder what happened to countries that didn’t invent Blues or Jazz or Rockabilly or R’n'B or Funk or Hip-Hop? This happens!”

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The very first seminar hosted by the tapmag crew has seen a few sessions already, so it’s time for a short update! Preparing the course has kept us all busy, so please excuse the low frequency of postings at the moment.

Highlights from “Reporting America” so far:

• We had Michael Dobbs of the Washington Post visit the seminar. We are still thankful that he took the time to meet us and shared anecdotes and insights with the seminar. More on his visit will follow, stay tuned.
• The first two workshops turned out great as well. We had an introduction to blogging, wordpress and the like, and recruited about ten new members to the blogosphere. The results from our first writing exercise will also be published soon.

The next few sessions promise to be interesting too:

• Next week the marketing and PR directors of CNN Germany are at the JFKI (see poster above).
• In three weeks time we will have Joerg Wolf from Atlantic Community join the seminar.
• In the following sessions Scot Stevenson of USAerklaert.de, Jerry Gerber from Democrats Abroad Berlin, and Dalila Nadi, an Al-Jazeera reporter, will meet the seminar. For more consult the syllabus (pdf).

If you are interested to attend, stop by at the John-F.-Kennedy-Institue, each wednesday, 4-6 p.m. at room 201. See you soon.

So many newspapers, magazines, TV shows, blogs, and other news sources comment on transatlantic issues every day. If you want to keep track, Atlantic Review might be the press digest of choice. The site picks the best, highlights the worst and corrects the plainly wrong of the many transatlantic news stories.

It is highly recommended reading for everyone trying to keep up with transatlantic culture, global politics, and European and American perceptions of the significant other. Edited by a three men team, including an alumnus of the Free University of Berlin, Atlantic Review has drawn a sizeable audience, as evidenced by the lively discussion surrounding each post in the comments.

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Die schrecklichen Ereignisse von Winnenden wurden inzwischen medial verarbeitet und hundertfach durchgekaut. Was dabei heraus kam, war definitiv keine Sternstunde der deutschen Medienlandschaft. Auseinandersetzungen mit der Berichterstattung über den Amoklauf findet ihr unter anderem hier bei Spreeblick und hier bei Stefan Niggemeier (via Medienelite).

Die Tagesschau rühmt sich derweil, das Video mit den letzten Minuten des Täters nicht gezeigt zu haben – wohl aber ein verstörtes junges Mädchen – während das ZDF erklärt, das “Fälschen im Internet kinderleicht” sei (Video). Na sowas. Fast alle Medien haben inzwischen Fotos des Täters, Bilder seines Elternhauses, nennen teilweise die Adresse eben jenen Hauses, und Bild schießt wie immer den Vogel ab und druckt am Tag nach dem Amoklauf Bilder angeblicher Opfer (!!).

Viele Politiker ergehen sich ganz betroffen in Verbotsideen – Sportwaffen verbieten, Ballerspiele verbieten, Einlasskontrolle an Schulen. Einige dieser Ideen mögen sinnvoll sein, doch die tieferen Ursachen einer solchen Tat berühren sie nicht. Wie es mit 17 war, daran können sich viele scheinbar nicht mehr erinnern.

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Americans have a lot of stereotypes about the beer brewers in lederhosen from Germany. Germans know that. They love to tease Americans for their “narrow” worldview, and like to tell them that in fact, if it hadn’t been for one vote, German would be the official language of the Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika today. Well, not really.

It is these misconceptions and misunderstandings Scot W. Stevenson likes to target with his blog USA erklärt. Scot explains everything from humoristic differences, administrative particularities, and popcultural references that Germans have a hard time to understand. Post after post, using his (and his parents’) wide knowledge about German and American culture, his readers are lead towards a more accurate picture of America.

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Opening today at Berlin’s world renowned Bauhaus Archive “Andreas Feininger – New York in the Forties,” an exhibition which includes many of the artists own favorite shots. Having given his main body of work to the CCP in Tucson Arizona, Feininger held those few personal favorites back and finally gave them to the later founded Andreas Feininger Archive in Tübingen. Now they are on display in Berlin.

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Yesterday, activists/comedians/artists The Yes Men headed to Kreuzberg’s Betahaus to present their latest feature film “The Yes Men fix the World“.  The culture jamming anti-consumerists are in Berlin due to the currently underway Berlinale film festival, in which their picture is running as part of the Panorama section. Betahaus housed the Museum of Capitalism that night, an exhibition that tried to comment on the current economic woes. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno delivered their gospel to the style-abiding, feel-good leftists while standing, rather fittingly, in a shopping cart. Mike provided us with further enlightenment.

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After we’ve heard lots of talk of this Web 2.0 invention, we’ve decided to join the pack.

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Soon to be inaugurated President-elect Barack Obama might make a comeback to Berlin, the German weekly Focus reports. And this time it might be nothing less than the Brandenburger Tor for Germany’s favorite US President since the days of JFK. [Read more]

As the days of George W. Bush as President of the U.S.A. draw to an end, every part of the transition process takes on historic proportions. Nobody knows how many people will turn out on January 20 to see Obama take over the White House. It will probably be the biggest crowd ever at any Presidential Inauguration, which will also make it the costliest Inauguration ever. We tell you where to watch the celebration in Berlin!

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