Dennis DeSantis :: Journal Archives



		Friday, July 25, 2003 We went to the Beate Uhse Erotikmuseum today. Only in Europe. Don't follow that link if you're under 18. Posted by Dennis DeSantis @ 05:06 PM EST Thursday, July 24, 2003 As many of you know, I'm no flag-waver. I have been and remain extremely critical of many aspects of both American political and social policy. Living in Germany for the summer has, in many ways, taught me how much more comfortable life can be in a country that clearly values liberty over security, and in general I've had few complaints about my experiences so far. But there is one very disturbing thing here, and I'm going to vent about it. I don't really understand it, and perhaps a native German (or more experienced ex-pat) can explain it to me a little better. But until then, I'm aggravated about something - and that thing is pfand. What's called "pfand" in Germany is roughly analogous to the notion of "returnable bottle deposit" in the US. In the US, when you buy beverages in returnable containers, the following things are true: The amount of the deposit is clearly marked on the container. The amount of the deposit is the same on all returnable containers throughout the entire state. The deposit amount will be paid to anyone who returns the container, regardless of whether or not they were the purchaser, regardless of whether or not they have a receipt, and regardless of whether or not the container is returned to the store where it was originally purchased. In Germany, however, the pfand system appears to be almost completely arbitrary. The amount of deposit varies from container to container and from store to store. Often, identical containers purchased from different stores will yield different amounts of pfand. Or no pfand at all. Or pfand one day and no pfand on the same container from the same store the following day. The only aspect of the process that isn't arbitrary is that the deposit is almost always payable only upon presentation of a receipt. This last aspect is the one that's the most curious to me, as it seems to suggest that pfand isn't really meant to encourage recycling (as it is in the US), but is instead nothing more than a profit-earning racket. For a nation that works so hard to encourage recycling (there are green, white, and brown glass collection bins every few blocks), it seems strange that the one system that seems to work to this end in America has been abused and distorted so severely here. The system is so bad that "ohne pfand" ("without deposit") is actually used as a selling point, and is often seen in beverage commercials. Germany, I beg of you - stop the madness. Posted by Dennis DeSantis @ 05:23 PM EST So far, this journal has been used primarily as a professional resource. I've generally only chosen to write about gig or release information, and have rarely addressed issues that weren't directly related to my electronic music projects. But this has resulted in both a pitifully small number of entries and a geologically slow update rate, which makes it more like just another web page than like a proper journal. So the time has come for me to update more regularly and less formally. Expect updates that aren't necessarily focused on what I'm doing musically, but are instead focused on what I'm doing in general. This should be more fun for all of us. Posted by Dennis DeSantis @ 05:15 PM EST Friday, July 11, 2003 Love Parade weekend is here again, meaning that electronic music people are congregating on Berlin in droves. Yesterday we went to the Musik und Maschine conference, which was a very different experience from last year. Now in the substantially more comfortable (and somewhat smaller) 12\|34 Club at the Universal Music building, it definitely felt like the setting was better suited to the number of guests. But the panels were still strangely unfocussed. For all that money spent on free champagne, perhaps translators should be hired. That way, panelists who wanted to speak in their native language could do so and everyone could understand what was happening. Furthermore, the corporate sponsorship thing was just bizarre. It's fine that the conference needs operating funds, but the T-Mobile Powerpoint presentation about downloadable ringtones that suddenly emerged in the middle of the panel discussion about distribution was horrifying. More than anything, I felt bad for the T-Mobile guy, who was certainly aware that no one was paying any attention to him at all. Jeff Mills' set in the evening was really fantastic; no techno at all - just a mix of old disco and soul tracks. Posted by Dennis DeSantis @ 07:29 AM EST [Archives]