Berlin blog

It turns out the global economy is so bad that nobody escapes from its rough effects, not even super-heroes, like Marvel’s icon Spiderman.In the next issue of the popular comic book series ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ number 623, coming out this month, Spiderman’s alter ego, Peter Parker, will be fired from his position as photographer for New York City Mayor J. Jonah Jameson.

Who could imagine Spidey ending up on the unemployment line? And on top of all, he will have to hear the words ‘You are fired!’ from his cranky, long-suffering boss. Worst still, Jameson not only sacks Parker, who makes his living as a photojournalist, he blacklists him with every news organization in town. Fans of the Spiderman movies might remember J. Jonah Jameson as Parker’s boss at the tabloid newspaper The Daily Bugle. A few months ago (in comic book time), Parker returned from an inter dimensional journey with the Fantastic Four, Marvel’s superhero team, to find Jameson had been elected mayor.

How will he pay his bills?

Struggling with unemployment is very hard at these times. But calm down! The web-slinger will still be keeping New York City safe from Venom and Carnage and any number of other dastardly villains he’s tangled with over the years, but he’s going to have to do it between trips to the unemployment line. Poor Peter! This of course raises all kinds of interesting questions, such as how will Parker maintain his Spiderman costumes? Dry-cleaning bills alone must run to several hundred dollars a year. Or, for instance, how will he keep buying the stuff he uses to spin those industrial-strength webs needed to hop from building to building? Surely he doesn’t pick that up at the 99 Cents Store. And what about his rent? He can barely afford to keep a roof over his head!

Well, we hope this ugly situation gets better for him, and for all unemployed people in real life.
At least we can find some consolation in the thought that even super-heroes with super-powers are not perfect.

If you are a true Spidey  fan, when you go to Berlin get a hold of the new comic issue. And to get a perfect stay –without making your pocket suffer, like poor Peter- book Apartments in Berlin.

To find out that your boyfriend is having an affair is already painful, but if on top of that you find out that he has a fling with a friend’s wife or girlfriend, it must be crazy. And imagine the deceived friend! A British dating website has revealed that half of the unfaithful men it polled for a survey on affairs admitted to having a fling with a friend’s partner.

The fact is that attractions develop very easily between men and women who see each other frequently, in the same circles. And, it is often easier to be together without arousing any suspicions.
The poll showed that of the more than 5.000 men surveyed who admitted to being unfaithful, a staggering 47% confessed to having committed adultery with a friend’s wife or girlfriend.

Do you mistrust your friend?
And what do we have to do now? If you notice that your friend is too friendly with your partner, is it a reason to become suspicious? Being an excessively jealous person is not such a good thing, but maybe there is no harm in being alert. You know they say that one self is the last to discover these sorts of things, and you will not want to make a fool of yourself, will you?

The same advice is used for the other side of the deceived: the adulterous’ wife. Now we’ll have to watch out for that philandering friend, and maybe going out with other couples will be too much of a risk! That’s all it needed!

As if a relationship wasn’t sufficiently complicated, then a poll like this gets published…But don’t panic! The best thing you can do is to trust in your partner…and in his friend’s wives, don’t forget it.

Ok, here is some advice: take your partner and have a romantic trip…without others couples, just in case.
You should book Apartments in Berlin, an ideal way to make the most of your stay. So, whatever happens, you’ll always have Berlin!

Up to 20,000 women take the morning after pill, buy condoms and adopt children. So far, this is not a big deal. But this is not an ordinary woman we are talking about, but a video game for girls where they must create a female adult profile. So up to 20.000 girls play as if they were adult women in the Internet. It seems that the parents are the only ones concerned with this issue because the game creators and the girls are in paradise.

Virtual Life

This game called My Minx, has the knack of making millions of girls happy. Those girls that want to be women, with all that involves: go shopping, buy sexy lingerie, drink alcohol in a nightclub with some friends, take the morning-after pill or buy some condoms, and even adopt children from Haiti. There is no age limit, but it seems that the seven year old girls are the most common players within the 20,000 registered profiles. They dream of a life like that of Angelina Jolie or Madonna, perfectly assimilated by the creators.

Real Life

My Minx aroused a virulent polemic in English homes. Faced with the success of the game, many parents criticized the initiative: “the developers take advantage of the young audience for the money, without care about their moral responsibility toward the girls”. Maybe it is favourable for the girls to be aware of the sexual dangers, and to know how the poor people live, but don’t you think they should not be exposed to adult problems or issues? Each age has its concerns! It is not good for a seven year old girl to “play” the life of an adult woman because in the real life, you don’t resolve problems by few mouse clicks.

Perhaps you think that the responsibility does not lies with the creators, but with the parents that should take a look at what their kids are playing in the computer.

If you really want to be distracted with the family, escape a few days to savour the simple pleasures in life. A book, a sunset, or watch how the people walk from a terrace… Rent Apartments in Berlin and enjoy your life.

Over the past few years we got to know the metrosexual man, the softies, the yuppies, the retro man and the lipstick lesbian. But 2010 announces the arrival of a new term: the hasbian. A hasbian is a woman who has been (or still is?) a lesbian, but who is currently maintaining a heterosexual relationship. The greatest example is the actress Anne Heche, who had a relation with Ellen Degeneres for more then 3 years before switching back to men.

It’s the dream of every egocentric macho man: to ‘convert’ a lesbian woman. But what is the difference between a hasbian and a bisexual? Some hasbians say they are just no longer attracted to women. Or they are equally attracted by males and females. It appears that most hasbians reject the term bisexual: it scares away lesbians because they don’t trust bisexual girls (who often just want to ‘experiment’) and it scares away men because they cannot live with the fear that maybe someday, she’ll fall in love with a woman again. Bisexual girls always bite the dust.

‘So let’s call ourselves Hasbians!’…someone must have thought. But this term was actually first used in 1989 (more than 20 years ago!), by the feminist magazine ‘off our backs’. So it’s hardly a new phenomenon. But how does a lesbian suddenly become a hasbian?

Some stated that maybe the novelty of gayness has worn off, after the big boom in the eighties and nineties. Others suggested that these women feel their biological clock ticking, their hormones go wild and suddenly men seem a lot more attractive. Two explanations that are rather disrespectful, as if gay people cannot be happy without achieving the idealistically hetero-image. Imagine that you came out of the closet some years ago, but now you fell in love with a wonderful man. Does that mean you have to out yourself again, as a heterosexual this time? With the risk that your grandmother will say: ‘I knew that one day she was going to change her mind and start a normal family life’.

And what about gay men who start dating women again, do they exist? I have never heard of such a story. Women don’t feel threatened by gay men, nowadays it’s even trendy if your BFF is a homosexual guy. Are we somehow more comfortable around gay men, who strut their stuff and are proud of it, than around gay women – who are less open about their gayness and prefer to keep their private life private?

In the end, does it really matter if we are gay, heterosexual, bisexual or asexual? As Anne Heche once said: “I fall in love, not with a man or a woman, but with a person’. If you want to meet a lot of hasbian, come to Berlin. Rent apartments in Berlin, the city of sexual tolerance, gays, lesbian, hasbian, fetish………

Gay, transgender, bisexual, drag queen, lesbian… Most of us have seen a gay couple (boys or girls) walking hand in hand through the street. Many of us have a friend who knows one whose brother has changed sex. And probably, we have also witnessed a drag queens spectacle, how could we resist? But it is almost certain that no one knows of or has ever seen a Drag King.

The Drag Kings are performance artists, mostly women - many of them lesbians - who dress in men’s clothing and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their spectacles. The most common activities include dancing, singing or playback, but also may include monologues and jokes. Generally, they get into the role of celebrities like Elvis Presley or interpret exaggerated male characters: the macho man par excellence. Many British Drag Kings became big music hall stars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

But the term Drag King goes far beyond the simple transvestites. This term also applies to women who simply wear men’s clothing in their everyday lives. Thus, some transgender people - not all - will identify themselves as Drag Kings. Instead, there are women who just enjoy dressing in menswear, without identifying themselves as a man.

But how does the “trans” community feel when they see a group of women playing at being a man? Typically, the transgender people are Drag King friendly, because many of them identify with the transvestites.

Unlike the Drag Queens, which often create an individual character, many drag kings gather in small companies. These are created with desire in a strong and cohesive unit.

The Drag Kings face similar drag queens’ challenges when creating their character… Usually, they have to hide her breasts with bandages, place a dildo that looks like a penis under the trousers and hide their feminine traits to look more masculine using all kinds of tricks: fake beards, makeup, shave hair, etc.

There is a long tradition of female artists who wore men’s clothing. In the theatre and the opera it was very common. The actress and playwright Susanna Centlivre appeared in male roles in 1700. The first drag king was Annie Hindle, who began acting in New York in 1867.

Why should the Drag Queens become the legend of the transvestites? The Drag King scene seems to be slowly taking roots. The girls have realized how much fun it can be being a super macho… You should also discover the fascinating world of the Drag Kings. Berlin is the specified capital for it! Book your tickets for the German capital and rent the best Apartments in Berlin and enjoy the experience!

When was the last time you took your time to listen exclusively to music? We all have experienced the power that music beholds upon our state of mind, but its properties go beyond people’s imagination.

Listening to our favourite songs could be healthy for the cardiovascular system, according to researchers from University of Maryland (USA), who have proved that lively music has benefits on our blood vessels. But, obviously, each person has his own taste in music, so the thing is to choose our favourite hits, those songs that we love and can’t live without.

The study has confirmed that listening to that kind of music provokes positive emotions, like euphoria, due to the fact that we release endorphins, which come from mind and heart. In such a way working while listening to music stimulates us, uplifts our mood, avoids boredom and helps us work at a steady pace.
On the other hand, sounds and rhythm help adults to control stress, neurosis, mental blocks, depression and music also gives us a connection with the environment.

There are many other benefits that experts also point out: increase in memory, concentration and the release of adrenaline. The recommended music for health improvement is soft music, with gentle rhythms, without shrillness, like classical music, chill-out, bossa nova, jazz or new-age. Musical rhythm has an influence in our cardiac rhythm, so that is why hardcore, punk or heavy music is not recommended if we want to relax body and mind.

Also for babies, music has very miraculous effects. Besides stimulating their brain, increasing numbers of studies have confirmed that children who listen to music tend to be more sensitive to any kind of art and are more expressive in their body language.

So, you know, when you come and book your apartments in Berlin, enjoy every exciting thing that this great city has to offer, but take a moment to listen to your favourite songs to help distress yourself a little bit. Tourist’s life is hard! Your body and mind will be grateful!

Many people wonder what the people are made of who jump out of planes with parachutes or who throw themselves off a bridge with some elastic tied to their feet, etc. The truth is that extreme sports are more fashionable than ever. People are hungry for an adrenaline rush. The endless working hours, the monotony, the sedentary life all play a part. There are too many things that make our lives a string of boring and routine events so what better way to get it out of your system than with extreme sports?

Bungee jumping, kite surfing, skydiving, extreme skiing… All these disciplines are not new but they have become the latest trends! The extreme sports move record amounts of money worldwide and everyday there are more and more fans who practice them. Here are some of the most popular extreme sport practices:

Bungee Jumping: the bungee jumping consists of leaping into the void from a considerable height with rope and elastic tied to your ankles. The elasticity of the string dampens the fall and saves you from crashing into the ground! It can be practiced from a platform, from a bridge, crane and other spots. This idea originates from the village of Bunlap on the Pentecost Island, where the young boys jump from about 25m with vines tied to their feet to become an adult. These boys actually graze their heads on the ground. Incredible! Bungee Jumping was introduced in the 80s in countries like New Zealand and France, and then it spread around the globe. Today it is one of the extreme sports that has most fans.

Skydiving: the skydiving is one of the most striking risk sports. If you want some excitement, this is your sport. It consists of parachuting from a plane, helicopter or balloon. In just 10 seconds into the jump you reach almost 200 km per hour! The jumps can be made from about 3,000 metres approximately, until they reach about 760metres from the ground by which time the parachute is opened. This is not suitable for weak hearts! This sport came about because of military parachuting, but it was not until 1950 that the International Aeronautical Federation accepted it as a sport.

Kite surfing: some people say that if you practice it once, you’ll practice it forever. It is much easier than other extreme sports – though no less rewarding. To practice it you need a kite, a board, direction bar and a harness that holds you to the kite. Now you just have to get carried away by the wind and the waves, jumping several metres in height. It’s as if you were flying! Come on!

Do you love strong emotions? Classic sports aren’t your thing? If you need to feel alive and enjoy your leisure time like never before, travel to the German capital and discover the best in extreme sports. Rent Apartments in Berlin to get the best accommodation. You’ll need somewhere to rest after all the emotion.

The biggest Erotic Museum of Europe is located in the heart of Gemanys capital. In 1996 it was founded by the famous Beate Uhse, who founded the first sex shop in Germany in 1962. The museum, called The Beate Uhse Erotic Museum, is a three storey building with over 5.000 different articles of sexual pleasure chosen by Beate Uhse herself. Discover over 2000m2 – a paradise of the most beautiful things on earth.

Each year more than 300.000 guests visit this spectacular museum for discovering all those impressive objects, sculptures, asccessories, paintings and sex toys created throughout history. By the way, it´s one of the most visited museums in Berlin. Everything started with the opening of the Venus Temple in Amsterdam in 1985. From that day on, many cities around Europe founded their own erotic museums.

The Berlin Museum offers you just an impressive and unique exposition: wood carved phalluses from India, Fotos of 19th century chinese brothels, silk paintings of the 18th and 19th century, chinese porcelain of the 20th century, the Phallus of Bali, african masks of fertility, ceramics from Peru… While discovering those treasures of the world, all your senses and sexual drive will be stimulated with special slides in large format.

Futhermore, you´ll find a special area dedicated to aphrodisiacs where products from China are on show. Do you want to try some? Tibetan worms, Ginseng, tiger penis, sea horses, snails, deers, scorpions..and many more! For getting to know each detail of this museum you´ll have time until 24h midnight. On the first floor you´ll find the famous Beate Uhse Sex Shop.

Literature also enjoys a special area in this erotic museum. Important scientifical pioneers of sexology like Iwan Bloch, Albert Moll, Magnus Hirschfeld and Max Marcuse are extensively honored. Due to the wonderful work of those scientists, sex was democratized at the beginning of 20th century and with the opening of erotic museums around the world, sexual taboo subjects were dealt with more and more.

The variety of the different creatons will undoubtedly impress you and your imagination. How can you resist all these seductive and erotic topics? Chinese books about marriage guidance, Indian Kamasutra, medieval whips, phalluses made of stone, woode or metal…as you can see, it´s a really special museum. Futhermore, different expositions will transform your visit into a incredible discovery voyage

Are you already exploding out of curiosity? Discover all the interesting sex secrets in the Beate Uhse Erotic Museum. Rent the cheap and comfortable apartments in Berlin for a great stay in Germany’s capital.

When we think about body modification, we think about piercings and tattoos. Some people love it and see these decorations as a way of expressing who they are, others simply hate it. But the desire to make ourselves more attractive through body modifications is far from new. Since ancient times, people have had a mental image of perfection. And even though the image has changed somewhat throughout the centuries, it has showed us that people are willing to suffer for beauty. No pain, no gain.

Around 45,000 BC, it was really fashionable to have an elongated skull. The Egyptians did it as well, and less then 150 years it was still done in some parts of Africa (especially the Mangbetu tribe in Congo) and South America. When a baby is born, the skull is still soft and not fully-grown. So they wrapped the baby’s head in cloth or rope, and add wooden splinters for extra pressure. This practice was called cranial binding.

More common is the neck-stretching, practised by some Burmese-Thai tribal groups. When a girl is five years old, she receives her first ring. Gradually they add more, up to 37 rings that weigh more then 20 pounds! The women are called long-necks or giraffes, but all these rings actually do is crush the collar bones, so the neck looks longer. In the old days, only girls born on Wednesdays or on a full moon were to wear the rings, but now most girls undergo the process because it provides them with an income: whole villages were constructed were tourists pay to go see these long-necks. Some young girls who wanted to go to college took off the rings in their twenties, without any problems. But women who have worn them most of their lives simply cannot: they would choke as the muscles have weakened so much.

Other extreme examples are the Mursi and Sura tribes in Ethiopia. When a girl has reached the child-bearing age (around 16 – 17), and incision is made in her lower lip. They insert a ceramic dish, and replace it each time with a larger one until the lip is about 4cm in diameter. At this point, between 2 and 4 front teeth are extracted to accommodate a clay lip plate. The ideal is to wear a lip plate of about 15 – 20 cm in diameter. Talking, eating and drinking is of course extremely uncomfortable, that is why the women wear them only around men.

In China, for centuries long, it was custom to bind the feet of young girls to prevent them from growing. Small feet were seen as elegant and perfect. When girls were between 3 and 8 years old, their mother would break their toes and bind them underneath the soles of the food with linen bandages. Sometimes the girls were forced to walk long distances, so their own weight would crush the bones of the feet. Every week the wrappings were taken off (if necessary the toes broken again) to wash the feet, and then applied even more tightly, until eventually the arch of the foot is also broken. Unnecessary to say that is was a painful process, but one hundred years ago it was impossible for a girl with normal feet to find a husband. The greatest danger was the risk of infections, gangrene and rotting flesh.

You want to find out more about Chinese customs and traditions? An excellent place to start is the Centre for Chinese Culture in Berlin, inaugurated in 2008. Rent the best apartments in Berlin and enjoy a perfect mix between east and west!

Any excuse to go to Berlin is good! Here are a few good reasons: how about a selection of the best concerts that will be held in the coming months? They will surely make you vibrate.

You know, you should not buy the concert tickets from one day to another. Unless you find it out very late and buy it on the web or at the box office the same day (much more expensive, of course). To avoid spending a fortune, take notes of the following artists who will play in the capital, and buy your tickets now!

We start with a French group called Le Peuple de l’Herbe, which will be in Berlin on 2nd March presenting its latest jewel, Tilt, their fifth album. The six band from Lyon play the most original music : a mix of horns, rhythms of hip-hop and dub, with English lyrics, electronic sounds and movie pieces… An original collage that will make you move around the dance hall without any difficulty!

We change the style with Eros Ramazzottti who’ll be in Berlin on 11th March. He will be travelling without a break while on his your tour 2009-2010, “Ali e Radici”. Probably the tickets will sell pretty quickly, so…buy yours now!

The Red Hot Chili Peppers will act on April 15th! Since 1983, the members of this legendary band just do not stop dazzling the masses with their guitars and electrifying voices. Come and sing with them Californication, By the way, Dani California and many other famous songs!

Some Andalusian sounds will also come to Berlin with the Flamenco Festival on March 20th and with the Osterflamenco Festival on April 3rd. These two appointments will raise your blood pressure!

For more Latin rhythms, Gotan Project will come on May 22nd. Since 2006, the three members are very famous thanks to its new proposals: electronic tango. Fascinating!

If you want a dose of passion, the Portuguese Fado Festival will be held on April 10th. For the younger crowd PINK will take the stage with her unbridled punk look on June 8th and for the most nostalgic rockers among us, AC / DC will appear on June 22nd.

These are just a few good ideas! Don’t be late; the German capital is so attractive that the tickets will sell like hot cakes. Don’t worry about the accommodation either, rent Apartments in Berlin, the cheapest and more comfortable way to stay in the German capital.