I haven’t written a new blog in ages. Working on a book has kept me close to home this past year. But I took an afternoon away from my desk last week to check out an exhibit on the painter Max Beckmann at Potsdam’s Barberini museum. I was interested in Beckmann because of his influence on Die Brücke, that group of German Expressionist painters whose bold lines and strange colours remind me of...
I still remember where I was when Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered. I was in Canada visiting family on my first trip home in over 3 years. I caught up on work early that morning, and read Daphne’s most recent batch of articles, as I did every day — including the piece which ended with what would be her last words, “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.” The...
My other reason for visiting Dresden was the art. We stopped at the Albertinum on our first day in town to immerse ourselves in contemporary art, from the Romantic period to the present. As we entered the cavernous main hall, past the staring heads of fragmented sculptures, I learned of two special exhibitions. The first was on a German Expressionist painter I’d never heard of: Carl Lohse. His...
I took the train down to Dresden a couple weeks ago. It was very clean there, and at first this unnerved me. There wasn’t any litter or graffiti around the main station either, or in the old town. A very un-Berlin sense of order reigns. I really didn’t know much about this city before my visit, apart from the devastating Allied incendiary bombing on February 13, 1945, so vividly described in Kurt...
If you came to my work through the personal freedom or lifestyle design articles I’ve written here and in publications like Early to Rise, then this is a book you’ll want to check out. Dr. Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life provides an antidote to the cultural divide that’s destroying the West. It’s kryptonite to shoddy social justice warrior “thinking,” and the bane of Postmodern Neo-Marxist...
Once upon a time, cocktail hour was an occasion. A sacred space. When the work day ended, you visited your favourite bar to put a little distance between the office and home. This was not excess; it was ritual. A quiet moment of reflection. I love classic cocktails, and I make a habit of seeking out historic bars and pubs whenever I travel. The only thing that comes close to sipping an ice cold...
“It must be up here somewhere,” I said, struggling through undergrowth that clung to my knees and shins. “The satellite photos showed a path running off to the left…” I could hear Tomoko crashing through the trees somewhere behind me, her progress punctuated by the occasional pause, followed by the click of the camera’s shutter. We had just passed a cemetery where the dull clink of the...
Today marks a small anniversary in my world. It was exactly one year ago — January 8th — that I moved to Berlin and started a new life-after-Malta. Life in Malta was barely tolerable at the best of times, and at the beginning of 2017 it was spiralling down into an increasingly ugly mess of political and societal corruption. I sensed that violence wouldn’t be far off, and I didn’t want to be there...
It’s that time again. I typically read about 100 books a year. Everything from travel literature to poetry, history, psychology, fiction and memoir. I love reading lists and recommendations, and I bet a few of you do, too. So at year’s end, I like to take a moment to share my top reads of the past twelve months. They made my list because they were either memorable, important, or just thoroughly...
The Christmas Market tradition goes all the way back to the Late Middle Ages in the German-speaking areas of Europe. It’s normally held during the four weeks of Advent leading up to December 25th. I’m an unapologetic Scrooge when it comes to all things Christmas — especially the overhyped North American consumer craze version. And you won’t catch me making a yearly appearance at a church just for...