Tear Down This Wall

celandine

This'll probably be the general politics thread in ten minutes, but it is 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and so you should all probably watch these videos.

Leonard Bernstein, Beethoven Symphony #9, Berlin 1989

Bernstein, Berlin 1989: Moar Freiheit

Bernstein changed the words so it's "Ode to Freedom" not "Ode to Joy." He cries like a baby. This is the most hopeful thing I have ever watched.

I'm not crazy about all the 20-years-later triumphalism floating around from people who think they're the heirs to Reagan. I just like the Beethoven, and the thought that there was a moment in my lifetime (barely) when things really seemed to be looking up for the world.

Clint Eastwood

I'm imagining deacon blues making a post.

He is sitting at the computer in his underwear with a ronald reagan mask on.

Mr. Buttons

I suggest that as this turns into a political thread, the posters have these videos playing at the same time... it will set the proper atmosphere


also
something something tort reform

Clint Eastwood

Cloudman wrote: »

I'm imagining deacon blues making a post.

He is sitting at the computer in his underwear with a ronald reagan mask on.

also, he has an erection

mnoll

the college republicans at my campus had a big mockup of the berlin wall to commemorate the day

complete with an inlaid speaker blaring Reagan's speech

they were handing out little leaflets and everything

while this 6 foot high 10 foot wide brown cardboard wall sits right in front of the campus cafeteria

Bad-Beat

Wasn't this yesterday?

Barcardi

mnoll wrote: »

the college republicans at my campus had a big mockup of the berlin wall to commemorate the day

complete with an inlaid speaker blaring Reagan's speech

they were handing out little leaflets and everything

while this 6 foot high 10 foot wide brown cardboard wall sits right in front of the campus cafeteria

Matches, throw matches

Liiya

BBC radio 2 was in Berlin yesterday live talking to people about their first-hand experiences. It was quite interesting.

mnoll

7306 days motherfuckers

ne'er forget!

all hail Reagan

celandine

Bad-Beat wrote: »

Wasn't this yesterday?

Hey, it's a big wall! It takes a while, okay?



yes it was yesterday.

Kusuguttai

mr larlar, tear down this thread

Run Run Run

We Germans owe the Fall of the Berlin Wall solely to the efforts of David Hasselhoff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zXiClnK8oE

Staleghoti

The first video is out of synch and it is really annoying

autono-wally, erotibot300

I remember watching it live, as 6 year old, 20 years ago.
Asking my father "Dad, why are these people so happy?"
and he replied "Because they got their freedom back, son"
I don't remember much from that age, but this scene is forever burnt into my brain

I can remember how the living room looked, with the TV in it.
How my father woke me up, telling me "You've got to see this, son!"

Those people, in their trabants.

Quoth

wally i have a similar memory

i actually wrote a poem about it that i should probably do something with one day

here it is, if anyone cares

fag

j/k, here it is

To Berlin, From Miami

I watched the Berlin wall dissolve
in stilted slow motion, pebble by rock,
from five thousand miles away.
Propped up on the kitchen counter
at my grandparents' house with feet
dangling, I asked my mother
why no one stopped them.
I thought it was vandalism.
She tried to explain how sometimes
people put up walls to keep things
separate, and after enough time
other people come to pull the walls down
and put everyone back together.
I didn't understand. My room had walls,
the house, the backyard, my school,
the playground where I ran around
pretending to be a super hero.
They kept me safe, I thought.

My grandmother watched, too,
stirring a pot of black beans,
waiting for oil in the big frying pan
to heat up enough for breaded steaks.
Her tears salted the food because
she knew something that I didn't,
that no one had wanted to believe
as they climbed portable stairs
into a small plane and watched the ground
fall away beneath them--sometimes,
you can't put people back together,
you never see the other side again,
you leave graffiti when you can but
it's only lines drawn in the sand.
Some walls are ninety miles wide
and made of water.

Fiz

One of my directors was talking to me about the time he got to work with Bernstein. The guy rehearses the orchestra to the point where he doesn't actually need to conduct them, just so he can dance around and have a great time during the actual performance. I saw a dvdi last year of him doing just that back in his final years. Super awesome.

MrMonroe

I remember watching this on TV

of course I was five at the time

I just wanted to watch my cartoon but my parents were all "NO, THIS IS IMPORTANT AND WE'RE WATCHING DAN RATHER"

Zoel

that's p. good quoth even if it makes me want to strangle rae armantrout by reflex

but you can't help that she's terrible

Staleghoti

Did you say

"I'd Rather not"

Cause that would have been perfect

Kusuguttai

MrMonroe wrote: »

I remember watching this on TV

of course I was five at the time

I just wanted to watch my cartoon but my parents were all "NO, THIS IS IMPORTANT AND WE'RE WATCHING DAN RATHER"

rather than what

Zoel

my parents learned this lesson the hard way when I was upset about having to watch the challenger lift off instead of the smurfs

JohnHam

My mom is a hella conservative and attended one of Reagan's Inaugural Balls

I love to make fun of Peggy Noonan in front of her. She calls me sexist.

DJ Eebs

Run Run Run wrote: »

We Germans owe the Fall of the Berlin Wall solely to the efforts of David Hasselhoff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zXiClnK8oE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CdqsUOCpfc

celandine

Zoel wrote: »

my parents learned this lesson the hard way when I was upset about having to watch the challenger lift off instead of the smurfs

I got the news bug early.
At oh, age 10 or 12 I used to fight with my little sister over the remote. Cartoon Network vs. C-SPAN. I never won.

BigDes

James May from Top Gear was in my town recently build a Meccano bridge over a canal.

I missed it because I didn't know but it looked pretty cool.

Zoel

if you listened to c-span you would think that the world is populated by werewolves and aliens

really it's for the best that you got to see interesting werewolves and aliens rather than listened to callers who were concerned by werewolves and aliens that had opinions about gross domestic product

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCpdCsj9Nqs

skip to 1:00

celandine

Yeah, yeah, it gets dumb and I learned better.
The quick cuts between Powerpuff Girls and Senate hearings were kind of surreal; it's a wonder I didn't grow up thinking the Speaker of the House was Mojo Jojo.

SirToasty

FACT: Leonard Bernstein was bisexual.

He was also ridiculously awesome.

Zoel

From Atlantic Beach Florida, the ballad of Long Dong Silver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZaKhw2XCw

From old person to crazy old person in less than 60 seconds

MacGuffin

I've been born in the GDR and was about 8 months old when this happened, so I can't really remember it.
But I know quite a few stories about it.
My father worked on a ship back then and had just left us to do his job. My mother told him that the wall would be gone when he comes back.
He called her crazy.

The Otaku Suppository

A Berlin Wall? NOT ON MY WATCH.

Fishman

celandine wrote: »

Yeah, yeah, it gets dumb and I learned better.
The quick cuts between Powerpuff Girls and Senate hearings were kind of surreal; it's a wonder I didn't grow up thinking the Speaker of the House was Mojo Jojo.

Don't be daft, he's clearly a Republican.

Fishman

Seriously though, that was awesome.

lostwords

So the dc sniper is getting executed tonight. Probably just got done with his last meal. That was kind of crazy living in Maryland when that all went down. Good riddance. Also death penalty lol

Nuzak

lostwords wrote: »

So the dc sniper is getting executed tonight. Probably just got done with his last meal. That was kind of crazy living in Maryland when that all went down. Good riddance. Also death penalty lol

took them a while to off him didn't it?

god i can barely remember him

ZeroFill

Quoth wrote: »

wally i have a similar memory

i actually wrote a poem about it that i should probably do something with one day

here it is, if anyone cares

fag

j/k, here it is

To Berlin, From Miami

I watched the Berlin wall dissolve
in stilted slow motion, pebble by rock,
from five thousand miles away.
Propped up on the kitchen counter
at my grandparents' house with feet
dangling, I asked my mother
why no one stopped them.
I thought it was vandalism.
She tried to explain how sometimes
people put up walls to keep things
separate, and after enough time
other people come to pull the walls down
and put everyone back together.
I didn't understand. My room had walls,
the house, the backyard, my school,
the playground where I ran around
pretending to be a super hero.
They kept me safe, I thought.

My grandmother watched, too,
stirring a pot of black beans,
waiting for oil in the big frying pan
to heat up enough for breaded steaks.
Her tears salted the food because
she knew something that I didn't,
that no one had wanted to believe
as they climbed portable stairs
into a small plane and watched the ground
fall away beneath them--sometimes,
you can't put people back together,
you never see the other side again,
you leave graffiti when you can but
it's only lines drawn in the sand.
Some walls are ninety miles wide
and made of water.

I must admit I laughed at the 1st spoiler

I have a piece of the berlin wall!

lostwords

Nuzak wrote: »

lostwords wrote: »

So the dc sniper is getting executed tonight. Probably just got done with his last meal. That was kind of crazy living in Maryland when that all went down. Good riddance. Also death penalty lol

took them a while to off him didn't it?

god i can barely remember him

its actually pretty speedy compared to other executions in virginia, i think. they put it on the "fast track" and all

DrIanMalcolm

Man I love the 9th Symphony

Alpine

The world needs more cities with walls

If we all hated the guy down the street, there wouldn't be enough hate left over for other countries

This is a foolproof plan and will win the next nobel prize

lostwords

i just want a house with a moat

and battlements

freakish light

lostwords wrote: »

So the dc sniper is getting executed tonight. Probably just got done with his last meal. That was kind of crazy living in Maryland when that all went down. Good riddance. Also death penalty lol

dude people went nuts in fairfax

to the point of hanging up tarps at local gas stations