Frau Gunther's Shiny Castle

black is beautiful

2009-02-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

i have been meaning to post this for a while, but in all honestly, i was waiting till i had something worthy to say about it. i don't. and i don't think i will ever understand the article published in blick on january 20, 2009 - the swearing in of obama.

as my colleagues explained, this is a great example of bad swiss humor. ironically, i am finding it hilarious. if the most important man in america is black, so should be the most important swiss politicians and promis. that is, before we start undermining their authority/power as result of their white skin.

* note the name changes: roger federer = barack federama. out of control.

(photo taken at the switzerland for obama inaugural party in züri)

music & advertising

2009-02-06T02:57:00.000-08:00

slumdog millionaire

2009-02-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

absolutely amazing examination of the slums of world: the places we live

via good (boing boing & neatorama)

the art of happiness, or lack thereof

2009-02-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

as usual, i am on a new business project. i have spent the last several weeks exploring one of the most over-examined, over-analyzed and over-pursued human emotions: happiness.

i am not about to begin tackling the topic via blog post, but i couldn't help but be intrigued by an article in the new york times (2003) . Harvard psychologist, Daniel Gilbert (among others), says that we as humans often have trouble determining how we will feel in the future. in other words, the decisions we make today might not necessarily produce the effect we are looking for, or we "overestimate the intensity and the duration of our emotional reactions." so our major long-term life moves: education, career, love, etc - are more often than not, made in vain.

on one part, it is a bit depressing. but it's also not so surpring. i think of it like our eyes adjusting to the darkness. after flipping the light switch from on to off, we experience total disorientation. yet within the following minutes, we begin to adapt to the change, slowly we are seeing shapes. similarly, our ideas of happiness adapt, evolve and take another form.

and i can't help but to reflect on my own experiences. i find so often that the material i happen upon or people i talk to ultimately add to my own growth moments. in respect to this article, i think about the decision to study communication planning, to move to minne, to climb the ladder, to drop everything, to move to zürich, to to to...it always seems to be about the next step, as the last one gets so comfortable so quickly.

i am interested to see how the financial crisis affects this mentality - in me and my fellow millennials. as young americans, we were taught that "the future is in our hands," but for many people, this no longer possible. you need a means to dreams, and the reality of the situation is growing bleaker. the options for jobs decrease, travel plans falter, the down payment on a house dissolves. perhaps we will slow down and finally just be happy with what we have the moment.

switzerland is not sweden

2008-12-19T01:08:00.001-08:00

i would say one of switzerland's biggest beefs with the us is that americans often mistake switzerland for sweden. that and europe's churches for castles. i couldn't help but laugh when i came across this recent swiss blog post:

Dear US-Citizens
Switzerland and Sweden are not the same. Even though they are both in Europe. The small one in the center is Switzerland (That’s the one with the watches, the cheese and the banks). The big one in the north is Sweden (That’s the one with only blond girls, knäckebrot and Schwedenzpanzer Volvo).

via pixelfreund

phantom of the opera

2008-12-19T00:57:00.000-08:00

one thing about living in a country full of skiers and snowboarders is spontaneous freestyle shows. that's exactly what happened last night after zurich turned into a winter wonderland. swiss freestyle-snowboarder markus keller flügel rocked the opernhaus.

via 20 minuten
for more on zürich in the winter check out ron orp's anleitung für die stadt

sleep before you drive

2008-12-17T09:51:00.001-08:00

i am currently doing research for a nb pitch and came across this intense campaign out of new zealand. clearly they have a problem with sleepy people behind the wheel. it is an interesting new take on the ole crash scene tactic - people often distance themselves from crash protrayals by demonizing the driver as a drunk or an speed-hungry idiot. however its hard to ignore the message in this execution.

well done.

stifler's mom

2008-12-17T02:51:00.000-08:00

mom jokes will never get old.

gifting

2008-12-13T01:42:00.000-08:00

while shopping around for the "perfect gift" for everyone i know, i came across this amazing hoodie. the insight hits way too close to home.

via dieselsweeties

love in the 90's is paranoid

2008-12-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

one thing lead me to another this morning and i landed here:

one stellar piece of distracted videography. ah, damon. one day we will meet...

but it all comes down to coincidence. spin mag reports blur reunited last week, plus they kissed & made-up with oasis after a decade long feud after noel deemed the quarrel "pathetic." woohoo (sing it like song 2).

geographical coordinates

2008-12-10T08:12:00.002-08:00

when living abroad, you are constantly reminded of your geographical coordinates. it could be in the language people speak, subtle/blatant cultural differences, or literally physical location (should we go home for xmas or stay on this side of the pond?). i couldn't help but be amused when i stumbled upon this fine piece of insight.

via mixx

peinlich auf deutsch. embarrassing in english.

2008-12-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

so i realized recently that it has been almost a year since i last posted. the megablog project got postponed and then postponed again. my new years resolution is to jump-start my activity. consider this my reentry into the blogosphere.

getting back into the swing of things

2008-02-15T04:58:00.000-08:00

so this post and many others are long over due. my only excuse is three weeks out of my last month and a half have been spent in the u s of a. plus i got a job (!!!), which is tending to take up some of my time these days. on top of that, i'm just starting to think about my fluency exam before its too late! either way, i will be back to posting by the end of the weekend. for now, enjoy the matterhorn:

in celebration of change (obama)

2008-01-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

i can't help but post this:

a weekend in zermatt

2007-12-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

so its almost been a full year in switzeraland (with all extenuating circumstances aside) and i finally saw the matterhorn. we spent the weekend in zermatt celebrating a friend's birthday with 30+ people. this shot of the most famous mountain in europe looking pretty fierce was taken from gornergrat.

we stayed in at the theodul apartments on a side street in the middle of town. the rooms were clean and the balconies were big. the skiing was decent for december (so i'm told). and the group was full of energy and good cheer.

on friday, we hung out this awesome bar - cinema - gallery called vernissage. it had some pretty amazing modern paintings of the matterhorn in different lights. and the cinema had this incredible old school movie projector. the place was rad and i recommend it to anyone passing through town.

saturday night was even better. we hiked 40 minutes up to a friend's bergrestaurant for an outdoor apero of gluweine and processco, and then continued on to the bergrestaurant blatten. there we ate a traditional swiss meal of salad, rosti, desert buffet and lots of wine. it was cosy and good. by the time we left, there were huge chunky snow flakes falling from the sky and all the snow machines were doing their thing. we walked back to zermatt in the dark.

subprime crisis...

2007-12-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

brian is going to kill me, but i just can't help it. one of many ubs spoof ads making the rounds in various inboxes today.

how the markets really work

2007-12-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

for anyone who's looking for clarification:

story of my life

2007-12-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

zeughauskeller has grenades

2007-12-03T06:22:00.000-08:00

so it would be advised not to smoke there (sorry - its a bit hard to read). my favorite part is that they've chosen to communicate this potential devastating danger on a laminated sheet of paper taped to the wall. (photo: zeughauskeller, paradeplatz - zuerich)

but the BEST part is that when they say "stored here," they actually mean "we like to keep grenades directly under this sign." (you can find this on your left when you come in from the left-side entrance.) nothing says bon appetit better than instilling the fear of live ammunition mistakenly firing after that sign is swept away by an updraft caused by the door on any given windy day...but i guess that's the price you have to pay for turning the old armoury into a restaurant.

anyway, i'm sure they aren't real. just like that cheap replica of a 17th+ century canon they have inside - that thing's totally plastic ;)

cadbury and its spoof

2007-12-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

for those who haven't see the cabury gorilla commerical, check it out here:

and now the spoof:

weinachts markt

2007-12-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

of course zuerich dresses their xmas tree top-to-bottom in swarovski crystals. what else would they do? shiny...(photo: zuerich, hauptbahnhof)

burger king

2007-12-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

on the hunt for the "best burger of all time," we ventured out to rappersville on friday night. after getting the ultimate burger tour of nyc, our swiss friend maintains that dirty joe's burgers are unequivocally #1.

i give their farm burger a 6. i am certainly a picky burger eater and i can't say the swiss do it better than some of my preferred haunts in the us. as for a spot outside of zurich, dirty joe is a hip, thrifty dive. the music is loud and the decorations are kitsch - they even have some half-dressed mannequins with fro-wigs popping out of corners. if you are ever trying to get a taste for zuerich's surrounding villages, its definitely a cool place to kick it.

here's a list of my all time burger favorites, in no particular order:

corner bistro, nyc
ruloff's, ithaca, ny
dinosaur bbq, syracuse, ny
matt's bar, minneapolis
rick's cafe, chagrin falls, oh
in-and-out burger, san fran
electric house, london
white trash fast food, berlin

ohh that tinguely feeling

2007-12-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

last week, we went to basel for the cornell alumni club thanksgiving feast. on saturday, before our annual meeting and dinner, we had a guided tour through the tinguely museum. it was awesome.

jean tinguely lived in basel and was a leading participant in the parisian avant-garde movement of the 1950s-60s. he is most famous for his installation, kinetic works like the one pictured below. the museum was particularly interesting for its design. it was meant to resemble a factory space, similar to the workshop where tinguely built his pieces.

he spent much of his time scouring flea markets and junk yards for inspiration and material. one of the most striking series was one created from the wreckage of a fire-consumed barn. morbid at times, it incorporated animal skulls and charred farm equipment. just goes to show you, one man's junk...might be a world renown artist's treasure and admired in a famous museum one day.

he has some mechanical fountains that can be seen in and around basel. and he is also responsible for the lake-side statue "eureka" in zurich, near the china garten (vintage pic below).

jean tinguely is considered a swiss hero and graces the front of the 10 franc note. and now here's a real knee-slapper: the swiss claim that they portrayed tinguely with his glasses on his forehead so the austrians wouldn't mistake 10 for 1000...!

more to come on swiss money. probably some of the coolest currency i have seen. just another reason not to join the european union and adopt the euro.

little things make me happy...

2007-12-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

so naturally, i'm digging the little people project.

lingustic adventures

2007-11-30T05:10:00.000-08:00

whenever i'm feeling a bit laughless, i tap into robin williams 2002 live on broadway performance. that and bill cosby, himself always make me smile.

today, i dedicate this post to a dear scottish friend of mine, who recently found himself surrounded by french people. obviously, he deserves some humor. if people in the us couldn't process that accent on conference calls, i can only imagine how many times he's asked to repeat himself by his parisian colleagues...mon dieu!

into the mountains...

2007-11-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

one of the things i adore about switzerland is that you can decide at your leisure to drop everything and head into the mountains. and if you feel like staying in the mountains (literally), it's not a big, backcountry camping production. at least for the kind of hiking we do.

in mid-september, a couple friends visited from the states and requested a truly authentic experience in the european alps. we opted to spend our time in chamonix (technically in france) and hiked 5 hours+ up to the refuge chalet du lac blanc at 2352 meters to spend the night.

we slept at the base of a glacier, surrounded by jagged peaks, alpine lakes and ibexes. the berghut is stocked and resupplied by helicopter only, it has bunks for 20, and its only open during the summer season (we were there the last week). they fed us a hot dinner, and served breakfast in the morning. we met mountaineers from france, an american couple on a 14-day trek across the range (who had chickens as pets in their seattle apartment!), among others. here are some pics:

it was like taking a walk out of the world one day to stand above, watch and reflect. the next morning we walked back into it. amazing feeling.

dancing makes people happy.

2007-11-30T02:58:00.000-08:00

that's why i love this guy. his name is matt. he's just a regualr guy that had the opportunity to travel the world. he danced everywhere he went.

to find out more about matt, check out his site: wherethehellismatt.com

why put money in your bra...

2007-11-29T19:43:00.000-08:00

when you can store chopsticks there instead?!

i mean, i see where they are going with the sustainable/reusable/environmental thing - but honestly, who is going to wear that?

1. sexy? it's absolutely heinous!
2. how would you fit a shirt over it? it's huge!
3. who stores utensils in their bras? as if i'd be caught shoving a spork down my blouse post-business lunch...

memysefandi

2007-11-29T18:47:00.000-08:00

i am obsessed with this polish band, me myself and i:

There are three of them and they do almost everything with their voices.

Each does something different. Magdalena has a pure, emotional voice, totally committed in every millisecond of her performance. Her total involvement in music on stage seems incredible. Zgas does the human beatbox, changing completely the meaning of traditional hip-hop beatbox style. He produces a palette of sounds that has probably never existed before. Michael, surrounded by equipment, uses his bass voice as a background for the others. He uses all sorts of strange effects, including Alessis AirFx which he operates without touching, just in the air. The music is a fresh mixture of Jazz, Hip-Hop, Ethno, Rock, Blues, Reggae and Classical style.

find them here. i don't know how to add music to my posts yet, but i suggest going to the audio section of the site (listed under media) and selecting the IMS REMIX: MMI Takadum Lalin Purist ECFS Remix. sit back. listen. enjoy.

if you want a cd, just contact them and they will mail it to you for 10 euros. it is not available in stores.

ole!

2007-11-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

who says you can't get mexican food in schweiz? tonight we hung out and ate at mexicano. the food was decent, the portions were big, the service was zuerich standard: shoddy, but the atmosphere was up-beat and fun. the restaurant was deceptively large. the entrance is a tiny cuban-type bar area serving cocktails & tortilla chips. you walk through the back hallway and it unexpectedly opens up into a big, colorful space with markered graffiti walls. there was even charango ("the mandolin of the argentine cowboy!") player. i give the nachos a 5 outta 10, but recommend it if you are looking for something different in neiderdorf.

it's aSmallWorld after all...

2007-11-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

when there is something for the masses, there is inevitably something for the high & moneyed. and vice versa. nightclubs with VIP guest-lists, highly sought after golf club memberships, business class/first class and american express centurion cards...it's not like it stops at social networking.

riding the facebook phenomenon, comes aSmallWorld.net. businessweek defines its users as "the glitterati" and deems the network "facebook for the fabulous" (aug 20 & 27, 2007). however you like to define it, the copy on the homepage makes no mistakes that they require a picky-click-y (cliquey) crowd:

We have imposed certain criteria in order to keep the network exclusive. To join, you need to be invited by a trusted member.

If you have not received an invitation, you can ask your friends to invite you. If you have no friends who are members yet, please be patient.

and its no surprise that its real-world scene is alive & kicking here in zuerich.

non-members are calling it "snobbery", but i (currently a non-member) find it genius. as far as i know, they have 260,000 members across the globe with a 647-person waiting list. and to control their online population, aSmallWorld constantly monitors your site-activity. word has it - if you are denied a "friendship" connection three times from different members, you are kicked-out of the network. damn gina! it recalls the disgrace of being the last kid picked in dodgeball only virtually.

but the obvious-inevitable part is that as the membership count grows, competitors are launching new sites with even more exclusive-promises. my favorites are beautifulpeople.net, modelshotel.com, and diamondlounge with a core audience of millionaires, undeniably botoxed people, and of course, all those ladies & gents who sip top-shelf martinis in A-list lounges admiring one another's diamonds. the nytimes is referring to this new breed of community as "the gated social network." there's no neighborhood friendliness here: apparently, you can be denied membership on looks alone.

(sigh) maybe one day when i build-up some social capital and a substantial net-worth, i too can be one of the cool kids. ah, the day when my conversations start revolving around my subzero refrigerator, how BMW's iDrive is still scheisse and the mind-blowing return on my swiss bank account...

peaceful nights

2007-11-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

some moments will be forever trapped in time.
(photo: zuerich, dreikonigstrasse)

in other words: stop, drop & roll

2007-11-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

germans are about as literal as it gets...
(photo: munich, deutschland. any random beer garten)

the myth of bill's libido lives on

2007-11-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

i love stencil graffiti. this is one my favorites that i've seen in a while. it always makes me chuckle. (photo: berlin, deutschland. any random street.)

worm poop!

2007-11-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

how great is this: princeton university student drops out of school to invest in worm poop, also known as TerraCycle. basically it's all a bunch of garbage...their product is made from trash, packaged in trash, and yep, shipped in trash.

the concept was developed from a compost container full of worms. it's simple: when you feed worms trash, they absorb the ickiness and excrete nutrient-packed fertilizer. as for their shipping and packaging, its all made out of recycled material. genius.

the even cooler thing about their worm poop is that they have used it as a launching pad for community-based development projects. one that i find particularly interesting is their graffiti jam - an event meant to raise residents spirits and promote the beautification of neighborhoods in urban trenton, nj. they had over 50 graffiti artists from all over the country in attendance. check it out:

they are also designing urban art flower pots. check for more details on their site.

gridskipper: zuerich correspondent needed?

2007-11-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

i recently returned from a 2.5 month stint in berlin, where i lived, studied and breathed all that is deutsch. and in that time, i fell in LOVE with the city. it recalls what the east village was 20 years ago without all the crime (or at least what i experienced).

and around every corner there is a new surprise, and on any given night you can find yourself outside of your typical MO. in a city so large, with so much untappable coolness seeping from the seams - i found my prize navigating resource: gripskipper berlin.

gridskipper is nothing new. it was even voted as one of Time's 50 Coolest Sites in 2005. but i found such satisfaction in rediscovering it (despite the fact that would have done me a world of wonders this summer after hitting 13+ european cities in 2 months...Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring lost my attention after budapest). to the traveling public's good fortune, gridskipper has a plethora of cities listed all over the world.

but some of the city info is much more comprehensive than others. and that's when i realized where the sense of satisfaction came from: i was using it in the city i lived in. therefore, i was disappointed to find that the zuerich pages resemble a blog vs. the useful coolness superimposed on maps that the berliner pages have and that gridskipper promises. perhaps they need a local correspondent...? we gotta sell this city!

recommendations from nyc

2007-11-28T05:22:00.000-08:00

i'm not sure if i should feel pathetic or not when friends from nyc email recommendations for MY weekend plans here in zuerich. regardless, i am happy to report i will be attending "3 non-stop hours OF turntable theatrics by 3 OF the best DJs in the game!!" wha, what?!? the opening dj combo includes the x-men and the x-ecutioners, + rob swift, totally eclipse, & precision.
stay tuned for the review...

besame mucho. sat 1 dez. 22:00 bis 5:00. for more details, click here.

guerilla art kit

2007-11-28T03:53:00.000-08:00

i love books of compiled inspiration, whether it be a photography book of nyc street art or anne lamott's classic bird by bird. some are more functional for mere creative exploration, while others are more instructional by offering processes in which ideas might be cultivated. this year, i am digging keri smith's book guerilla art kit. it does a bit of both.

i am drawn to the idea that through art & self-expression, each and everyone of us have the opportunity (if not obligation!) to change the world. not to mention, i am a sucker for her illustrations and art direction. it's definitely worth a look - regardless of whether you are planning to start a neighborhood wish tree, or just looking for new angles into daily life.

now the real question is: who gets one for xmas this year...?

via fred flare & wish jar journal, keri smith's blog

i'm back

2007-11-28T03:25:00.001-08:00

it has been a long time coming, but i've finally gotten motivated about the blog. i spent last night html-ing until i was crossed-eyed. i don't love it yet, but its a new work-in-progress project. aside from reformatting, i redefined the purpose and essentially kicked bri out as an administrator...

there will be some old & new for a little while, a lot has happened since i last posted. until soon.

ah, the eighties...

2007-05-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

the day/year i was born:

"endless love" by lionel ritchie & diana ross was #1 on the billboard charts
bill murray was on the cover of rollingstone
roger sperry won the nobel peace prize for the specialization of cerebral functions
the average price of a dozen eggs was 90 c

i love the internet. and i love sites like this.

photos from the swiss rivera

2007-05-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

i can't figure out why these won't line up, but you get the point...

i went to lausanne and all i got was this lousy crepe...

2007-05-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

SLASH - it was awesome! i had almost entirely forgotten about the french crepe-ry tradition, until i moved here that is. we went to this little crepe place (la creperie d'ouchy) down by the lausanne-ouchy dock and i would recommend it to anyone traveling around lake geneve. they have the standard "must haves" as well as a variety of their own pancake creations.

(pictured: beef carpaccio, ruccola, tomato & melted parmesan)

it's blog time

2007-05-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

its memorial day weekend and bri had monday off. we took a trip to the swiss rivera and got to talking about setting up a blog. it seems right. we both have trouble keeping up with email and phone calls - plus, all our pictures are digital, so what better way to document our lives in der schweiz than electronically?

we cordially invite family, friends and whoever cares to actively participate in our experiences in this tiny, neutral country across the atlantic. we will do our very best to keep it interesting, updated and above all else true.