Tuesday, March 25, 2014

"Good bye Lenin" Cultural References

WORLD CLOCK IN BERLIN
The world clock in Berlin is somewhat of a cultural icon in Germany and a landmark that nearly everyone is familiar with.  The clock is located in Alexanderlplatz which is a big open public square and transport hub in Central Berlin.  The park square is often referred to as “Alex”.  The square began as a cattle market outside the city walls.  It was named after the Russian Emperor Alexander I when he visited Berlin in 1805.  The world clock was built in 1969 as part of the squares redevelopment.  The clock is cylindrical in shape and revolves in circles, displaying the worlds 24 time zones with major cities in each time zone listed beneath.  There is also a moving circular map of the world with light projected onto it, showing which part of the world is in daylight.  On top of the entire structure is a model of the solar system that rotates once per minute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_clock

SANDMANNCHEN           
Sandmannchen was a children’s bedtime television program that began airing while Germany was still divided.  There were two versions of the show, a West and East version.  The Original idea actually originated from Ilse Obrig of the West Berlin TV and radio station SFB.  The first episode was shown in the West on December 1, 1959 and was called “Sandmannchen’s Greeting to Children”.  Only three weeks later, East Ferman TV DFF began broadcasting their own show with a character that happened to be called Sandmannchen.  The Eastern show was about everyday life, adventure, and tavel and often included futuristic flying machines.  After the wall fell the show was taken over by the corporate Western TV companies, much to the disappointment of former GDR citizens.  Production of the show ceased altogether in 1991 after the unification of Germany.  However, episodes of the much loved Easern show still run every night on TV.  Sandmannchen has become a very popular German pop culture icon.


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