This is just normal loveliness and style-done-well in Paris and I really need to spend more time there. Thank you, The Sartorialist via On the Street…Rue du Renard, Paris:

In The Daily, there is an op-ed called The Cost of Tourism by Diana McCaulay about how tourism has destroyed Jamaica.  Is this anything new? Jamaica is one of seniors when it comes to having become a tourist trap.  Jamaica and Hawaii are the elder statesmen of tourist exploitation and the defilement of nature.

Can’t put the genie back in the bottle. The horse is out of the barn.  Insert your cliche of choice.

I grew up in Hawaii and this is the same thing. Truth is, tourism is the worst thing for any economy and the worst thing for any ecology. Even eco-tourism opens delicate and sensitive areas to way more traffic — and even considerate traffic is traffic.

OK, but tourism is also like organ transplant. In Hawaii, agriculture gave way to tourism; trade gave way to tourism. Pineapple and cane sugar were industries of the islands — some might say just as exploitative, if not more so.

But once the transplant occurs, not only are you committed to the new organ but there is a whole host of associated new problems.  Call them unintended consequences.  Once you get the new organ, you have to commit to taking all the anti-rejection drugs forever.  Tourism is like that. Yes, it saved your life and the life of your economy in a time of need, but at what cost?  Additionally, tourism is fickle — both in terms of where people go as well as whether they go at all. Maybe it isn’t ‘not Jamaica’, but it can always be ‘not anywhere’ as the 2007/8 crash proved: people weren’t going anywhere, even if they had the money. (It just looks bad).  And, when they were, they were going someplace super-exclusive where nobody would see them, as in ‘not Jamaica’.

Jamaica and the rest of the islands — including Hawaii — around the world have very little hope of reforming unless they pull a Cuba.

Myself? I guess I have never thought of Jamaica as anything but someplace completely ravaged already by tourism and exploitation. A lost cause, in much the same way that many people see Hawaii. In many ways, Jamaica has already been lost to addiction. I doubt the economy could survive the loss of tourism. Hasn’t it already?

Back in the 80s, Hawaii became addicted to Japanese money. When Japan coughed, Hawaii got the plague. When I was growing up, we realized that the Hawaiian islands were forever going to be a service economy — serving tourism and serving the military.

And then there’s the drugs. Hawaii and Jamaica have quite a few things in common:their own native animist cultures and a love of marijuana. But that’s another story for another time – the ravages of the war between drug-producers, drug-buyers, and state & federal law in the context of marijuana being illegal. Oh, what a terrible tale.

Oh, and Diana McCaulay: stop being so bloody nostalgic.  Are you serious?  D’you only want the travelers, and the people who engage with the culture, who engage with the people, who are interested and curious?  And if we American travelers are not up to snuff — if we only want a sunny place with warmth, booze, relaxation, entertainment, some Reggae, and the ocean — then shouldn’t we just stay within our own borders?

Not bloody likely – but guess what?  I guarantee you that that is the best idea anyone has had: spend vacation money at home, in our own economy, putting it into our own businesses!  Now, that’s what I like to hear.  Unfortunately, American travelers won’t even consider Jamaica any more.  The elite 1% that you’re so hungry for has moved on to Cambodia and deep Asia and is hot and bothered for Cuba.  What gentle 1% elite traveler is going to Jamaica any more?

In Hawaii, we called to the 99% of Americans that were left — the Americans who go to Hawaii and Jamaica on package tours, and are exactly like the 99% of Britons who go to Majorca and fight with the 99% of the Germans over sun beds at their all-inclusive package holidays.

You’re not being terribly realistic, Ms McCaulay but I forgive you — as I beg you to forgive me — because I grew up in the paradise known as Hawaii, on Oahu, and I can tell your heart is broken.  I have not been back to Hawaii since 1998, partly because I cannot bear the sort of heartbreak that comes from seeing the reefs I dove on destroyed, or the fish I swam with gone, or the paths to the waterfalls I used to walk with bare feet cursed with bottles and cans.

I can see that your naivete was just the result of the little girl remembering Negril coming out, and that I understand. I am so sorry and my heart breaks for you. The state motto of Hawaii speaks to the land, the defilement of which breaks our heart:

Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono — The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness

I hate to admit it but when it comes to the general health and wealth of the people, one often pushes to the side the land, the other beings, the pride of the native people and culture. I have seen Hawaii nei with loads of tourists from around the world and I have seen the opposite and I prefer the tourism with a caveat that will drive you nuts, Diana. I want a contained tourism in Hawaii.  I want the tourists in Waikiki or on the Kohala Coast or safely contained in the tourist traps of Maui than have them tramping the rest of the land.

I believe that the unintended consequences of eco-tourism and the curious footprints of the 1% traveler — the sort of which you approve — is unbearable.  For it is this traveler who brings his photos and experiences back home and conveys the true beauty of the land to his friends, thereby ruining it for real.  At least in Hawaii we can hide the most beautiful bits from the 99% tourists — it is in the bold 1% that absconds with the true gems and true secrets.

I hate those people.

Mein gespräch, meine lieder,
Mein haß und mein glück,
Mein tag, meine nacht, mein vor, mein zurück,
Meine sonne und schatten, zweifel, die ich hab,
An dir und in mir bis zum letzten tag.
Deine straßen, wo ich fliehe, stolper und fall,
Deine wärme, die ich brauch, die ich spüre überall.

Verkauf dich nicht,
Berlin,
Jung bist du nicht,
Du alterst so schnell,
Buckelst zu sehr,
Trägst an den geldern der freier so schwer.
Die werden gehn,
Dich sterben sehn,
Berlin,
Geliebte berlin.

Deine ecken und winkel, deine höfe ungezählt,
Wo der dreck und die armut nach veränderung bellt,
Dein rausch am morgen
Riecht nach haschisch und bier,
Und rotz fällt gelassen auf gassen von dir.
Deine märkte, die weiber, ihre ruhe, ihre list
Und manchmal ein witz, der mich in den magen trifft.
Verkauf dich nicht,
Berlin,
Jung bist du nicht,
Du alterst so schnell,
Buckelst zu sehr,
Trägst an den geldern der freier so schwer.
Die werden gehn,
Dich sterben sehn,
Berlin,
Geliebte berlin.

Deine häuser mit fluren,
Wo man prügelt, wo man lacht,
Wo man, wenns dunkel wird,
Neue mitbewohner macht.

Deine räume, in denen der schlaf ungern kommt,
Weil die luft zum atmen fehlt,
Wo der sensemann wohnt,
Doch wo du freisein erfährst in dieser großen stadt,
Obwohl sie einengt und preßt und viele mauern hat.

Verkauf dich nicht,
Berlin,
Jung bist du nicht,
Du alterst so schnell,
Buckelst zu sehr,
Trägst an den geldern der freier so schwer.
Die werden gehn,
Dich sterben sehn,
Berlin,
Geliebte berlin.

Mein gespräch, meine lieder,
Mein haß und mein glück,
Mein tag, meine nacht, mein vor, mein zurück.
Dein halbtotet bahnhof, wo ich unter denen steh,
Die morgen, schon morgen in bessre städte gehn.
Wo ich dich verlassen will,
Immer wieder, immer noch,
Ich schaff den sprung auch,
Ich schaff den sprung doch.

The day after Returning to My Second Life in Berlin, there was a lot of amazing snow and Berlin was under a cozy white blanket. Little did I know that Berlin was completely caught unawares and while I was walking gently hither and thither while taking this video, my colleagues from around the world, en route to a conference, were stuck out.  Well, let’s not go there, let us just enjoy a walk in the snow in Berlin and then a massive number of black ravens in the white snow (and everywhere else): A Snowing Snowy Day in Berlin on 9 December 2010 and A Murder of Crows on the Snowy Snow of Berlin in December:

Took a walk from my Berlin apartment to Berlin-Hauptbahnhof across lots and lots of snow and beneath a snowy snowfall. It is quite beautiful even in the middle of the city. Even the snow couldn’t muffle the ubiquitous sound of city construction and pile-drivers. From snow to crows to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to one stalled Porsche 944 getting ready to tow another broken 944 through the snow. A very cool little Berlin snow-covered vignette.

When I was walking back from grocery shopping at the Berlin-Hauptbahnhof Kaiser’s and Rossmann, I came upon this murderous land war of Berlin ravens or crows or whatever they are — very ominous and very foreboding and also maybe a terrible omen. Is this a good omen or is it an open at all?

I have mentioned the lovely Sarah Obraitis a number of times on this blog: All’s Well at M. Wells Diner in Long Island City,  Sarah Obraitis is Thinking About Meat, Love Me Some Heritage Meat Pies for the Holidays, and Slow Food Radio Network from Heritage Foods — I think I have a crush.  Now, she, her hubby, and their foodie Long Island City diner, M. Wells, is up to win the 2010 Eater Awards!   Please vote for M. Wells early and often over at the New York Eater website!

The national dish of Brazil: Feijoada!  From Zebu Grill. A delicious Brazilian food dinner with digital marketing and marketing visionary B.L. Ochman.

I can see this building from my hotel room and up-close it is enormous! This is one heck of a General Electric factory building in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana — I need to look it up when I get back to my room and update you.

I actually am preferring my  new Amazon Kindle a lot these days for a) small thin form factor b) singleness of purpose c) Whispernet 3g d) simple ordering from Amazon e) cheapness of Kindle titles f) extreme battery life g) linear nature of reading papers (from front page to last) h) text-focused I) new issues of my Times’ subscription pushed to my device automatically!

Breakfast of almond croissant, raisin swirl, bowls of coffee and a fresh Financial Times shared on a foggy San Francisco Friday morning before David goes to work and I go to cafe to work. In California, I always feel 3-hours behind when I wake up instead of 6-hours behind like I always do in Berlin.

Thanks to the gang from Marketing LIVE 2010 who sponsored me over to speak at their conference.

I met some amazing people and connected with a canny Brit by the name of Mark Brill (is that a stage name, Mark?) and endured perfect weather and some excellent times for such a brief visit.

I think I have the bug now which is good because there is expected to be a lot of travel for me this year! Also, I think I have gotten over my almost debilitating travel anxiety — not of flying but rather just of the prep: packing, having everything, getting there in time, etc…

I am as cool as a cucumber now; however, not I have to just work on my debilitating public speaking anxiety! I can’t wait to tell my therapist! Ha ha!

Well, in short, I had such a great time with the amazing ladies of In Form Slovakia, who took Mark and I to a traditional Slovakian dinner of, amongst other things, bryndzové halušky! Delicious.  Sort of like gnocchi with sheep cheese, small pieces of bacon.

Here’s the gorgeous-and-restored Bratislava castle — Bratislavský hrad — as Bratislava is a very historically-important and ancient city!

Last night, the men of the conference took Mark and I out to a restaurant that sat right next to Strkovec Lake, the closest and most popular lake, near an airport, but where all the super-amazingly-beautiful people go during the summer to bask in the sun and play in the water.

Besides, it is worth returning to Bratislava because the women are phenomenally beautiful, sexy, confident, smart, powerful and are strangely obsessed with high-heeled white stilettos

What a lovely evening I had last night as Mark Brill, CEO, Formation — a fellow SCUBA diver — and I were taken out for a lovely traditional Slovakian dinner (especially bryndzové halušky) and an evening tour of the old city.

Today — in a couple-few hours — I will be presenting to the attendees of the Marketing LIVE 2010 Conference here in sunny, warm, beautiful, historic Bratislava, Slovakia.

Looking forward to it since I had such a great time speaking to Slovakian IT and marketing professionals back in 2008, Daily Web Conference 2008 in Bratislava, Slovakia, so this is my second time in Bratislava.

Nevtieravé spôsoby využívania internetu

28. apríl 2010, Falkensteiner Hotel Bratislava

08:15 – 08:50 REGISTRÁCIA vo foyer Falkensteiner Hotela Bratislava.
09:00 Za?iatok prednáškového programu
13:00 – 14:00 Obed
16:00 Závere?ný raut

Po?as celého konania konferencie je zabezpe?ené ob?erstvenie formou bufetových stolov.
?asy sú orienta?né. Zmena programu vyhradená

Základné informácie

dátum: 28. apríl 2010

miesto: Falkensteiner Hotel Bratislava

po?et ú?astníkov: 100 – 150

cena: 195,- EUR bez DPH  online prihláška

Komu je konferencia ur?ená

• marketingoví riaditelia a kreatívni riaditelia

• brand manažéri, špecialisti marketingu

• media planneri a media buyeri

• event manažéri, PR manažéri

Program :

Moderátor: Daniel Duriš, senior konzultant, Pizza SEO, Slovensko

Potenciál internetovej reklamy pre Slovenské firmy

• Kate?ina Holcmanová, marketingová riadite?ka, Google, ?eská republika

Nákupný cyklus spotrebite?a na internete

• Mgr. Juraj Stankay, ex – Senior Account Strategist, Google EMEA

Ako realizova? efektívnu multikanálovú komunikáciu?

• Michal Metli?ka, Regionálny riadite? pre technickú podporu predaja EEMEA, Adobe systems, ?eská republika

Prediktívne behaviorálne cielenie alebo ako cielite reklamu Vy?

• Ing. Eva Mohylová, marketingový špecialista, Internet BillBoard a.s., ?eská republika

Príklady nesprávnych požiadaviek zo strany klientov s oh?adom na ich neznalos? problematiky

• Mgr. Mat?j Novák, senior SEM consultant, Ataxo, ?eská republika

?o bude fungova? v online marketingu v blízkej budúcnosti?

• Jan Horák, marketingový riadite? pre SR a ?R, mBank, ?eská republika

Viral Marketing v sociálnej sieti Facebook

• Daniel Kremsa, zakladate? a CEO, Kremsa Design, Inc., USA

Psychológia zákazníka digitálneho veku

• Tomáš Jind?íšek, Managing Director, OgilvyInteractive, ?eská republika

Aby mobilný marketing fungoval

• Mark Brill, zakladate? a CEO, Formation, Ve?ká Británia

Online PR and Marketing – Pre?o má pre business zapájanie sú?asných aj budúcich zákazníkov zmysel

Chris Abraham, CEO, Abraham Harrison LLC, USA

This is my presentation, if you want to take a look:

The best Mexican restaurant in Berlin, run by a proper Mexican, called Maria Peligro (Skalitzer Strasse 81, 10997 Berlin), part of the year-old Maria empire of awesome Mexican restaurants, starting with Maria Bonita, in Berlin. Next, opening next Wednesday, I think, at 6-8, is Santa Maria on Oranienstrasse. On Facebook you can become fans of Maria Peligro and Maria Bonita as well.

I wanted Mexican food last night and since I was grabbing coffee at Nollendorfplatz in Berlin after dropping by the Winterfeldmarkt Schöneberg to pick up Mark Harrison’s letterpress business cards from Buchdruckwerkstatt Christian Schöppe I invited Frank, a life-long Berliner, to a Mexican dinner.  Where?

I knew about the tiny Maria Bonita, which was delicious, but Frank told me that the same guy who opened Maria Bonita recently opened a sit-down restaurant named something which was somewhere in Berlin-Kreuzberg.  Well, we locked out bikes up at the Nollendorfplatz U-Bahn and jumped on the U1 and Frank used his ESP superpowers to divine where the restaurant was — and he hit it in one: Maria Peligro at Skalitzer Strasse 81, 10997 Berlin — U1 at Schlesiches Tor.

We sat down outside and ordered a couple Corona beers and a plate of very fresh guacamole. Fresh avocado, sweet lime, koriander, and serrano chile.  Beautiful start. We then ordered our meals.  I just checked the menu and our meals aren’t on there but I ordered Tacos Adobo.

Then, when it got cold, we went inside to two new fresh and cold Corona beers with line in the mouth. When the order arrived (sorry, I forgot to take pictures, I was too hungry and it slipped my mind!), the Taco Adobo was basically three marinated meat tacos in soft, coaster-sized, corn tortillas. Very savory and the cuts of meat were perfect.

Frank had something else, but it was more like a proper taco, and I think it was chicken but the 3 taco tortillas were crispy and flat, rather than a typical American envelope-style taco shell. His tacos had more stuff on them and we traded our last taco and it tasted a lot more complex, with I think cheese and a sauce and I think shredded lettuce, maybe.

Both were delicious — until I asked for some hot sauce.  The waiter — and all the wait staff are generous, responsive, friendly, and very cool — brough me a salsa dish with a lot of salsa in there. He warned me that it was hot so I put only half a demi-spoon of the stuff on my taco… and after biting down, chewing some, heat exploded in my mouth, my face turned beet red (according to Frank) and tears started streaming down my face.  Awesome.  I would recommend that Maria Peligo maybe not serve so much in the salsa plate because I only used, total, one demispoon-sized 2 Euro-cent sized dollop and I almost died.  It must have been pure pureed and spiced habanero chiles.

We stayed on well past our meal — our waitress was cute — and had more beer and then ordered a couple margaritas, which smelled strongly of tequila — good tequila — and then the owner dropped off a couple shots of some very high-end tequila, wich we prosted to and drank gladly.

All of the folks who ate there alongside us were expats.  Most were American hipsters.  They all had the same desire that I had — that both Frank and I had — which was to find some awesome authentic Mexican food to replace a steady hipster diet of döner, noodle boxes, lentils and wurst.  If you come to Berlin and miss English and American and home-spun foodstuff, Maria Peligro is a perfect thing.  Oh, that and I made some videos of the Saturday nightlife at the bar at Maria Peligro…

To be honest, this video isn’t unique because buskers and busking is absolutely normal and common in Berlin, especially in U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains, especially at night and on weekend when people are a little drunk and a little more willing to get caught up in the moment and drop a prized 2 Euro coin into the hat.

So, the timing was perfect on this one. I was trying out my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 as a video camera in HD and I was farting about with it, seeing if I could get some nice video of the U1 train at night after getting pretty well lubricated myself with my buddy Frank Merfort of Limemachine fame, coming back from dinner and drinks at the best Mexican restaurant in Berlin, run by a proper Mexican, called Maria Peligro (Skalitzer Strasse 81, 10997 Berlin), part of the year-old Maria empire of awesome Mexican restaurants, starting with Maria Bonita, in Berlin. Next, opening next Wednesday, I think, at 6-8, is Santa Maria on Oranienstrasse. On Facebook you can become fans of Maria Peligro and Maria Bonita as well. However, I really should be posting this to a separate post about these two places, which I will do soon when I get the photos uploaded. Where I will talk more about the delicious food and what hot sauce to please beware of.

Traveling with My Bike in Berlin, originally uploaded by Chris Abraham.

I love having a solid, tough, aluminum, single-speed book here at my disposal in Berlin, Germany, my second — and current — home. This is my Specialized Langster “Gangster” that I scored a couple-few years ago from Conte’s Bicycles in Arlington for only $600 because it was last season’s model. That’s very expensive to my friends in Berlin who buy dodgy second hand bikes from flea markets for like 25 Euros, but for a German new bike of high quality, there’s really nothing for under 600 or 700 Euros, which is more like $1,000 US. So, I take it a bike like this will last a while since it is aluminum and I take OK care of it… if it doesn’t get nicked, that is. It is pretty. If you’ll notice, I have set her up for city-living, with 25c tires, mud guards / fenders, a bell, and hooks for front and rear lights.

Enjoy my attempt to show you around Berlin during the Winter a little bit, using my wee but super-cool Creative VADO HD.

Here I am doing something stupid and doing a ride-time video at night on my Specialized Langster Gangster that has been pimped to be acceptable in Germany: fatter tires, a bell, fenders, dual brakes, and front and read lights. It has become a Berlin bomber. My Berlin bomber.

In an embarrassing richness of school pride, I am jumping around the Berlin apartment just gushing about making it both onto GWToday and now onto the front page of hallowed GWU.edu as you will see from the screen capture below.  Thank you so much to Menachem Wecker for considering Abraham Harrison, Mark Harrison, and me good alumni-fodder for the online magazine.

Via Autoblog via The Sun: “Nicolas Cage is suing his former manager Samuel Levin for $20 million for gross negligence of his finances and for lining his own pockets at the actor’s expense. Cage is moving to sue the former manager due to the actor’s sudden cash crunch, which includes a boat load of debt and over $7 million in back taxes. But Levin has a story of his own to tell, and it involves excess on a scale that we can hardly imagine. According to Levin, the actor purchased a scad of really expensive stuff. Like a $7.5 million island in the Bahamas, 15 mansions, four yachts, a Gulfstream, 47 pieces of art and even nine Rolls-Royce Phantoms.”