Destroying ALL Books printed Pre 1985?!?

Has anyone seen this:

http://www.city-journal.org/2009/eon0212wo.html

It’s
an article about the new consumer protection act that basically blocks
ALL Children’s books created before 1985 from being resold?

Pretty much, that’s every book I ever owned.

Apparently,
they’re recommending to libraries, thrift stores, and schools that they
be tested for Lead paint and/or destroyed….

Since the cost
of testing is Very high, apparently most places are simply pulling them
off the shelves and destroying them and/or sending them to the
Landfills.

I don’t know about you, but I’m shocked, appalled,
and concerned that many out of print books will be lost by this
action. Please, before you destroy these books, think!

I was born pre 1985, and loved to read. I read books upon books – and turned out just fine- as have most of my generation….

Contact your Congress person and tell them that this Knee Jerk Reaction is NOT appropriate and that they MUST amend this ASAP!

Interesting evening at the Movies

(This is a very old imported from my space blog. Not all of the links may work.)

The other night, Scott and I decided to go see the movie Benjamin
Button. Before the movie even got underway, it had started out to be a
strange evening. He was late, and I bought the tickets, finding
out that the ticket price had gone up by another 2 Euros. It’s now
10.00 per ticket – for the cheap seats on Fridays. OUCH.

Once
he arrived, we went, got popcorn and a drink and headed into the
theater. The advertisments commenced, and this is one of them that
came up on the screen – in German. I’ve put up the english
translation, but it busted me up laughing as I realized this would
NEVER ever be played in the US. Oh – and it’s much funnier in a
language you don’t understand…. Yet… scary too.

Not
long after the commercials started, a cinema employee came down the
stairs and hooked up a microphone. I didn’t think too much about it
because the Berlinale started on Monday, so I figured the setup was for
that.

Turns out, I was wrong. In between the previews and
the movie, an older chap came up with a musical instrument and started
singing a lovely song in Polish. What I could get of it was sort of
that it was a love song lamenting the loss of a friend. I turned to
Scott and said someone’s getting proposed to.

Sure enough, after the song ended, the gentleman a few rows behind me stood up, took the microphone and proposed.

Everyone clapped, and then waited breathlessly for her answer. She said yes, and everyone cheered again.

Fortunately,
I was fast with my camera. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to get
the settings switched around. *sigh* Oh well, at least it’s something,
and a sweet story at that.

Such is life on a random Friday Night in Berlin!

Priesterweg Photo Walk

Sunlight and Shadows

Recently, a group of people and I who participate on the Berlin Ex-patriot website here (www.toytowngermany.com)
have started making weekly and bi-weekly photo-walks in and around the
city. We’re learning from each other and sharing ideas and best
practices. We’re even going to the extent of visiting famous exhibits
and art when it’s too cold or too wet to go out. (Is there such a
thing for a “true” photographer? Ahh… don’t ask.)

This week’s
trip started out going to a place in the city – where I snapped a few
images of an abandoned building, and a few pieces of random Berlin art
(and graffiti) which were “ok” (you can see them in the photostream on
flickr). but, in my opinion, not really worth posting to the blog.

What
was worth posting, however (the pictures that made it here in the
blog), was that we did a nice little trip down to Priesterweg Sbahn
before attempting the Cemetery in Stahnsdorf.

It
was there that the sky started blue up – and the sun came out for a few
short minutes (about an hour and a half) – as we walked along through
the nature walk and sculpture park.

It
really made the day great – and I got a few photos that I would call
“quality”. So, Berlin’s terrible gray, fog and clouds do still exist
in January – but for a few brief moments – in freezing temperatures –
the sun comes out – joy arrives in my heart – and I have to make a few
abstract memories.