Blogging from Tegel Airport Terminal D

The air conditioning is down. It is like a sauna in here. (Like last time in the Air Berlin terminal). Security handling went swiftly, though. Logging on takes forever (T Mobile Hotspot), however, with credit card overcharging. You are paying through the nose and it takes forever. Come on! The airlines should put money in a pot for free Internet access for all passengers in the airport. We - the customers, remember us? - will be so much happier, waiting and waiting and waiting for the always delayed airplanes (that do not offer Internet service. Anymore. Oh, I miss that so much on the long hauls. I remember chatting and buying music on iTunes flying over Moscow. Those were the days).

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Originally uploaded by Ronnie Rocket

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New York City Subway

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The Gutter Twins

I watched the performance by The Gutter Twins on The Dave Letterman Show today. The were awesome. I always loved the music of The Afghan Whigs as well as Screaming Trees, so it feels natural to dig the new music made by the frontmen Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. Cool music by cool dudes. Web site here. MySpace here. Record label here.

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New Museum

From the tall tower in Dubai to a contemporary art museum on New York's Lower East Side, noteworthy architecture is springing up around the globe. Conde Nast Traveler's April issue picks seven designs as the "new seven wonders of the architecture world." Among them are:

New Museum of Contemporary Art, designed to resemble an off-kilter stack of silvery rectangles, located on the Bowery on Manhattan's once-seedy, now-trendy Lower East Side.

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Danfoss, not Honeywell, thermostats in Empire State Building

Tandem Umbrella For Clingy Couples

Skullphone hijacks digital billboards in Southern California

Southern California is all abuzz the hijacking of digital billboards.

Silenced Majority Portal, reports that last Thursday, 18 year old graffiti artist Skullphone hacked into 10 of ClearChannel's digital billboards in Hollwood, Culver City, and elsewhere around LA, putting up his logo in between the more normal ads.

According to SuperTouch Blog, "Hacking into the billboard’s computer network today, Skullphone positioned his trademark imagery in between the array of flashing movie, TV, and auto company ads that make up the normal paid advertising barrage on the giant illuminated monitors."

More images here. Skullphone's profile on MySpace.

[Also reported by textually.org, marshallastor.com and Crubed LA]

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Blogging from Newark Liberty International Airport

Two weeks in one of my favourite places in the world seems to end on some good notes: I got upgraded on the plane (again!), the bowl of hot chili I am eating right now is actually good (oh man: the food in New York City!), the Californian Pinot Grigio is also excellent. I am quite content for a fella waiting in an airport. (I hope I can watch "I Am Legend" on the plane ride home - get another shot of NYC impressions). Ah, and the music system in the bar is playing The Cure's "In Between Days" mega hit, which brings back sweet memories from Rome a couple of months ago.

Big love to all my readers. (I do not usually write stuff like that. Is it any good?).

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Read Barry Sonnenfeld's review of the Sync voice software for cars

Last week, I test-drove a new Ford Edge into Manhattan and repeatedly got into the same conversation with strangers. The toll lady at the Midtown Tunnel: "Jeez, what kind of car is that? It looks great. An Edge? I'm gonna buy one." I had the same exact conversation with a garage attendant. With an aggressive front that looks like a Nissan Murano and a better-looking back end than J.Lo, the Edge makes its competition look stodgy. Sweetie (the wife) claims that I love every new car I test -- "the honeymoon period," she calls it -- but the new Edge really is great.

I was loaned the car to test Ford's new Sync system, a Microsoft-engineered, voice-controlled environment that automatically integrates phone and music. Sync comes standard on the luxury-model Edge I tested but is also available as an option on most new-model Fords for about $400.

After plugging my iPod in to the USB port located in the armrest (which also powers and charges the player), I was soon commanding Sync to play my music. "Play track: 'Eve of Destruction.' " Or "Play artist: It's a Beautiful Day." No matter what I threw at it, Sync got it right. (Sweetie was in hysterics listening to the car voice pronounce "Mott the Hoople.") Unlike the clipped, angry voices on some of the GPS systems I've tested, the Sync's female voice was welcoming, helpful, and friendly. And she never judged my song selection.

Considering how unhappy I've been with Microsoft's operating software for smart phones, I'm impressed at what an excellent job it did designing Sync. It's simple and intuitive. Using Bluetooth, the system quickly located my BlackBerry and downloaded my phone book. One cool feature (that doesn't work on my Verizon BlackBerry but works on many other phones) is Sync's ability to read text messages aloud. I had my assistant Joi send the following message to an AT&T RAZR phone I was borrowing: "U R LOL funny. XOXO Joi." The car chimed that I had received a text message, I pressed a button on the display screen, and Sync's lovely voice said, "You are laugh-out-loud funny. Hugs and kisses, Joi." Dang, I loved this car!

I've had the Edge for a week, and I still love it. I've been driving Chloe (the kid) up and down the main drag of East Hampton, New York, windows open, telling Sync to play Kanye West, showing the local boys how cool we are.

Barry Sonnenfeld is the director of Get Shorty and Men in Black.

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Cheyenne Diner, 33 Street and 9th Avenue, New York City

I used to eat eggs and hash browns for breakfast at this diner, when I first came to New York City in the early eighties. For the first time in more than 25 years, I went back yesterday for a late breakfast. The food was the same, but the staff was different. The place is now run by hardworking and superfriendly Mexicans. They seem to like my good friend, Mads Mikkelsen.

Oh, this is my personal blog posting number 1000 - one thousand - in a network of almost 100 blogs, who are all still just sketchy notepads. I am considering turning all or some of them into professional blog media ventures.

Yes, I want to be a Blog Star.

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"Hilda's Garden", Chelsea, New York City

So You Want to Be a Blog Star?

MARK CUBAN, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has a full plate. Besides his basketball team, the busy billionaire also owns part of a media company, and serves as chairman of the TV channel HDNet. He recently competed for five weeks on “Dancing With the Stars” on ABC. How on earth does he find time to blog?

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Environment Furniture Showroom @ Broadway, New York City

Environment Furniture Inc. propels eco-conscious design out of the aesthetics doldrums, creating breathtaking, environmetally sustainable furniture for a diverse array of consumers. The relatively new company boasts an impressive gathering of believers, including interior designers, architects and esteemed publications. The flagship retail store ERA is located in HD Buttercup in Los Angeles. The Peroba Collection, which combined 100 year-old reclaimed wood from Parana, Brazil from a diverse array of new materials, (recycled/harvested wood has already become a recognized trademark of the company) has quickly established EFI as a
groundbreaking design pioneer.

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New York City Sounds

I think I heard this song in the hotel lobby last night.

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EMS synthi AKS tee-shirt on eBay

Mika Rottenberg @ 2008 Whitney Biennial

"Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday

Asia Argento and Michael Madsen in "Boarding Gate" (2008)

The new film from acclaimed and adventurous French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, BOARDING GATE is an erotic noir-thriller boasting an exciting international cast.

Asia Argento plays sexy ex-prostitute Sandra, who is forced to flee London after a steamy S&M encounter with a debt ridden ex-lover (Michael Madsen) ends in violence. Fleeing to Hong Kong in search of a fresh start, she becomes involved with an attractive young couple, Lester (Carl Ng) and Sue (Kelly Lin), who promise to help her obtain papers and money. But nothing turns out as expected for Sandra, and she finds herself trapped in a sordid game of manipulation.

An Official Selection of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. HD Trailer here. YouTube trailer here.

UPDATE! The New York Times just posted their review of the movie today.

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ZX Spectrum 48k v Toshiba Libretto 110 Mash-Up

The ZX Spectrum laptop is a combination of two old computers: a ZX Spectrum 48k and a Toshiba Libretto 110. The Spectrum is an iconic British computer from the 1980s, selling in huge volumes, and the Libretto was one of the first truly tiny x86 laptops, quite amazing when it appeared about a decade ago.

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Theme from The Warriors - Barry de Vorzon

The Warriors Trailer

Adolf Wolfli (1864 - 1930)

Josef Matthias Hauer (1883-1959)

Josef Mattias Hauer (March 19, 1883 – September 22, 1959) was an Austrian composer and music theorist. He is most famous for developing, independent of and years before Arnold Schoenberg, a method for composing with all 12 notes of the chromatic scale.

Hauer wrote prolifically, both music and prose describing his methods, until 1938, when his music was added by the Nazis to the "degenerate art" (Entartete Kunst) exhibit. Wisely keeping a low profile, he stayed in Austria through the war, publishing nothing; but even after the war he published little more, although he probably wrote several hundreds of pieces which remain in manuscript. [Order CD here].

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Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" (1997)

10 tips for international hotel designers

1. The showers are always too low

Why do I always have to stand in a bathtub, when I shower? I know the Japanese require a bathtub, but I claim a good, roomy shower is primary, a bathtub secondary. Everything else can be Japanese-themed, however.

2. Clean, comfortable floors

Wooden floors, please. Nobody likes old, dirty carpets. Or new ones for that matter. Throw on a rug, when needed. Eliminate static electricity.

3. Cool keycards that actually work

Make sure the keycards work. Too often you are stuck in the hallway with a non-functional keycard looking like an idiot. Make it work and make it into an attractive artifact that the customers will keep as a souvenir and a reminder to come back. Maybe even give points to people returning recharging the old ones?

4. User-friendly safe positioning

The safe is for frequent use and should not be hidden away. Some of us place our mini laptops, Sony Ericsson Walkman® Phones and Sony Ericsson CyberShot® Phones in our safe along with maxed-out but hopefully soon-to-be-filled-up-again American Express credit cards in the safe along with various bundles of cash currency and documents. We need to access this stuff. Don't place the safe at the bottom of the closet.

5. Rock Star Mini Bar

Customize the minibars. The MB's are money makers, so why not make the most of them? We all book our rooms online and usually get a choice of king- or queensized beds, when doing so. Let us stock up the minibars in advance and check into a room with a small refrigerator packed with our favourite drinks, not just random, overcharged mainstream products. You may suggest a list of choices and you may charge extra for this service. Make the customer feel like she/he is a rock star filling out their rider.

6. Free wireless.

Charging for Internet access is so nineties and so rude. Don't do it. Instead, offer additional e-services like a audio/video server, back-up services, printing services, etc. Oh, and remember to have plenty of multi-country adapters for everyone.

7. The bed is not only important for a good nights sleep

Hard beds. Soft beds are for morons. Real duvets (not a disgusting blanket with sheets!) and organic linnen, if possible. A complimentary toothbrush and toothpaste is a must and should be put on the pillow during turn down services instead of the usual piece of chocolate. Just put the chocolate on the bed table with a glass of water and a condom.

8. No dirty RC's!

Do regular check-ups of batteries and anti-septic cleaning of the remote controls. It's so annoying when you really want to check that news broadcast, sports event or just need a dose of crime show and the RC doesn't work. And even if it does work, it is such a hotel turn-off if it's greased in food from previous guests, which it usually is.

9. Help me drink the right amount of water

Plenty of high quality drinking water from a local supplier at a reasonable price. And fresh flowers are always nice.

10. Smart, streetwise, local guides (print-on-demand)

Exclusive, localized tips, not just a copy of a printed guidebook or event magazine. It makes you feel so special and it can make your stay 200% better than without, when you don't fall into tourist traps or worse. Call me, I can help you out in several cities around the world :-)

One more bonus tip: put cool art on the walls. Or no art at all. Cheap art makes you feel...well, cheap. You want to feel cool.

Check 1-11 and you have a cool hotel, where most of us would love to stay and come back again and again.

Do you have good ideas on how to make a hotel a better place. Leave a comment, please.

Illustration: Hotel Everland.

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Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" (2008)

Webster Hall

305 East 50th Street

Arhur C. Clarke R.I.P.

Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name.

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6 Columbus Hotel

A sister property to Jason Pomeranc’s 60 Thompson, in Soho, 6 Columbus nails the trendy-boutique formula perfectly. You’ll see flashes of fashion-mag savvy everywhere, from the serious-faced front-desk clerk in a skinny Rag & Bone suit to the sexy, Steven Sclaroff–designed guest floors and mood-lit hallways. In fact, the crowd here—fashion-obsessed, largely single, often European—deviates not one bit from the demographic at Pomeranc’s other jet-set hangouts. 88 mod rooms are splashed with blue then embellished by Guy Bourdin’s fashiony art prints. More downtown cool than downright luxurious—especially considering the top-flight price—the hotel still deserves kudos for taking a formerly rat-infested budget lodging from 1920 and whipping it into starlet shape. And speaking of stars: Either of the $4,500-a-night signature lofts (part of a new addition built on top of the old building) seem specifically designed to attract bold-faced names. So do the in-house amenities, like the Blue Ribbon Sushi off the lobby. An inspired design, with lots of color and imagination; the small size means lots of privacy and a VIP feel.

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Museum Of Modern Arthur

NYPOST.COM: JOSEPH Arthur has set up his own arts utopia with a gallery in DUMBO, creating the perfect place to paint, play and perform - and sell the results on Internet. The Brooklyn gallery opened about a year ago and sits just steps away from the East River, in a 2000-square-foot spot on Jay Street. He playfully dubbed it MOMAR - the Museum of Modern Arthur.

The airy room is filled with his abstract paintings, with titles - such as "Dream of Eternal Life" - scribbled on the wall. The rocker's art studio is through one door, cluttered with canvases. Farther back is his music studio.

The new setting must be inspiring indeed. Arthur, an Akron, Ohio, native, plans to release four EPs and one album this year. The first EP, "Could We Survive," comes out today on his own label, Lonely Astronaut (Download the disc's "Rags of Babylon" on nypost.com.

"The approach that suits me - the approach the Internet is dictating - is more output," says Arthur, who lives in Manhattan.

"Andy Warhol's approach to art is an ideal for me; make art and while people are deciding whether they like it or not, make more art."

It's not a factory in either sense of the word, but that idea fits in with his belief that making music is becoming more like a blue-collar job. He considers MOMAR a business venture as well as a creative hub. On Friday, he'll hold "The Resurrection Show" at the space (25 Jay St. at 8 p.m. $40; josepharthur.com).

At times, the 32-year-old is more of a performance artist than musician. At the Bowery Ballroom a few years ago, he performed songs, taping and looping himself, then stepped away from the mike to paint on a canvas.

Arthur's prolific output was one reason for him to move away from a label, where an artist typically releases only one album every two years. "I love recording and making lots of music. To have it sit and collect dust is disheartening," he says.

Although his Ohio hometown was no artistic oasis, Arthur made the best of it, playing bass in a blues band in high school. The group opened for the likes of Albert Collins and Stevie Ray Vaughan in Cleveland. He made $50 a night. For a teen, "I was loaded," he says. "I was living an adult life."

He moved to Atlanta, where he continued to play bass in bands - one a fusion band and another a rock band. That was no utopia, either. "I realized there was more to music than trying to get people to mosh," he says. He quit playing live, picked up an acoustic guitar and worked on songs on an eight-track recorder.

In 1996, his first cassette of demo tracks ended up with Peter Gabriel. Eventually Arthur became the first rocker signed to Gabriel's label, and the Genesis founder invited him to "Recording Week" at Gabriel's Real World studios in the English countryside.

He found other inspirations, eventually moving to New York, where he has lived on and off for 12 years. And now, with MOMAR, it looks like he's finally has settled into another utopia - this one self-made.

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Joseph Arthur

The Pogues @ Roseland Ballroom, 52nd Street, New York City

Experiencing "Fairytale of New York" live in 52nd Street on St. Patricks Day sorrounded by drunk, dancing, singing and puking Irishmen was actually quite moving. Roseland Ballroom is a legendary dancehall of days past. It was like an unreleased bonus scene from John Carpenter's 'Escape from New York', where the prisoners celebrated St. Patricks Day!

Blogging from Tegel Airport Berlin

Plane delayed again. Ordered a 'Ofenkartoffel mit Hausgemachte Krauterquark' in protest. Updated my Twitter Services. Checked my e-mail accounts. Read local Berlin magazines (in German, yes. My third tongue now). I am looking forward to my new apartment there. It is next to Fasanenstrasse, which is probably the most beautiful street in Berlin. Still no call. Hmm, I gotta go home. I have to leave for New York City early next morning!

I wonder how many blog entries have started with "Plane delayed again". They seem to get more and more frequent :-(

Oops, they are calling me now. Personally.

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Blogging from Copenhagen Airport

Plane delayed again. Met old friend Bjørn Bruun in the airport lounge. He nows run a successful fashion business, Bruuns Bazaar. He was going to Cape Town with his family for Easter vacation. I am going to New York City for Easter. Today, I am heading to my new bonus home town, Berlin.

Hell, I don't want to blog tonight. I want to eat seafood!

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Vivienne Westwood Shop in Conduit Street

2008 World Championship Cheese Contest

"You've Got Art Mail!" (Literally..)

Labyrinth… And We Shall All Die Trying

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Patrick Blanc's Vertical Garden @ Pershing Hall, Paris

Derek Jarman @ Serpentine's Gallery