A Media Markt opened (as in Grand Opened) here on Alexanderplatz this morning with all the hoopla (cheap crap) that would draw trailer trash from miles around on the other side of the pond. The irony is that the trailer trash here are some of the few citizens self-respecting enough never to be caught dead in such a house of ill repute.
Anyway, such a crowd had gathered before the store could even begin their countdown, that the doors had to be opened early. Then, the people crammed the place too full to move, not that that stopped them; the fittest bargain hunters bulldozed their way to the cell phones and laptops and navigation devices, which, from the sound of it, would've come in handy, as the hired help were immediately bombarded with screaming, panicking customers: "VO ZEEND DEE LEPP-TUPPS!!"
Remember when The Who fans got suffocated and trampled to death twenty-eight years ago in Cincinnati? Well, no one here was killed (only six injuries) so maybe things have actually improved. After all, the lucky recipient of one of those laptops can watch eleven different versions of 'My Generation' on YouTube.
Speaking of media: I've read complaints that the AP (and those who follow) have just been spun by the White House. It's said that the copy being run off by the press is that the administration is shifting policy by pulling out some of the troops in response to recently completed analysis. Now the criticism of this reportage is that, in reality, they aren't pulling them out until next year, and that even after that the level will remain at pre-surge. Despite the unspin, I hear nary a concern about the bases, as if those stationed at them won't count once it's triumphantly declared that the troops've been brought home, probably by the *first female US president ever. 'Mission Accomplished II and III', anyone?
*Update: Make that the first Black US president ever.
So nearly 4000 dead soldiers of Cheney's fortune and those surviving have to fight in the middle of a civil war? Now that ain't progress; at least the survivors in Cincinnati got to see Pete Townshend in his prime.
Speakin' o' which, here's another priceless tune by the man himself. And more pictures of the event "after the fold".
