After a long hiatus, I am starting a regular blog-go series again, this time on a dying institution, cinemas, in this blog in particular those in Berlin! I will always post a pic of one cinema and caption it, then blog other stuff...

CINEMA
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Yep, this cinema is so old & respectable, it's just called "Cinema". It's a miracle it still runs - I've never seen it fuller than a quarter - mainly showing movies for German pensioners, I guess. Some snoring may occur, but other than that - simple and dear!

On the media
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(Sorry, I couldn't stop myself with that sub-title, referencing the famed US radio meta-journalistic show.) Whenever Great Pretenders like the heads of (already old & wasted) USA and (newly elected, greedy) U.K. say or tweet something outrageous, the media immediately follow & comment & analyse, endlessly. Am I really to believe that they don't see the manipulative side, intended to manipulate esp. them? When Trump tweeted Greta Thunberg to go "chill", he wanted to divert from the impeachment debacle, which does seem to bother him just a tad (as witness his usual 180°-logical written letter (!?) attack on Mrs. Pelosi yesterday).

I would like the media to concentrate on the failed election systems in the named two countries, and how those affect political disengagement over decades. Majority-winner-takes-all voting mechanisms in local boroughs, towns and (parts of) cities are simply way out of date in the 21st century, I feel.

Hermits
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German government is setting up a task force on loneliness. I wonder what will be achieved at such a far-above-ground level with something that most people have to deal with very personally. Cities may greatly increase personal freedom, but they do also further isolation.

One alternative, I suppose, is to develop a kind of modern form of hermitism. (Is there such a thing? I herewith define it as the state of a positive hermit, if not!) Rejoice in the many chances one has to develop paths of interest/study/timepassing. Get grounded in oneself ("in sich selbst ruhen", Germans say). And then try not to preach too much at all those extroverts running around above, outside the hermit hole, when you do venture outside...

[Toodle-oo, till the (happy!) New Year...]