illustrations: Sophia Halamoda.
Barbecuing on Tempelhofer Feld seems to be an inherent part of the classic Berlin lifestyle. As with most things in this town, everyone has a different vision and approach to this particular activity. This often results in a quite interesting scene made up of the most diverse Berlin inhabitants who don’t seem to have much in common other than some (however fleeting) fondness for outdoor grilling.
For her new comic, illustrator Sophia Halamoda (who some of you might know from the Berghain comic) looked at the most popular types of folks at the barbecuing area of Tempelhofer Feld – which one can you relate to?
Read on…
by Michalina | People
illustrations: Sophia Halamoda
They say every city can be a bittersweet experience, but Berlin has a penchant for taking everything to the absolute extreme; it’s syrupy like Glühwein and pungent like take-away coffee from a Turkish run späti. No mouthwash – not even Pfeffi – could ever make you forget its taste.
How did you feel when you realized Berlin is the World’s Greatest Circus, and upon moving here, you could leave the audience and get on stage? Everything is improvised, it can get ugly – and the only character that’s even trying to be funny is the BVG. But you stayed, watching others, trying to learn the cues, and ultimately you fell in love with the beautiful mess around you.
How well do you know it now? Can you tell the cliches from the truth? Have you been to the wild side? Are you even vegan?! In other words: how much of a Berliner are you, really? Let our quiz be the judge.
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by Michalina | People
Hello stranger! So you really want to live in Berlin? Getting a room here is such an uphill struggle with high rent, mould, and German bureaucracy that finding the right flatmate is usually left to the workings of fate. Our Flat Roulette game – being a simplified version of this real life scenario – introduces you to some of the most characteristic Berlin personalities and gives you a sneak peak into what you sharing a roof with them will really mean.
The game is a collaboration with illustrator Sophia Halamoda that many of you will know from the Berghain, Real Berliner and Bürgeramt comics. It’s part of our upcoming book “Like A Berliner” that comes out in 2018. Stay tuned for more games!
Click here to play the game!
by Michalina | Misc.
With the cold and wet days we’ve just experienced one thing is for sure: Winter is coming. What am I saying it’s already here! The heatings are running, and we have to face it: We will all have to suffer through months of this now. Well, at least the ones among us that don’t escape to a warm island like scared chicken! The cold season in Berlin has only just begun and if you haven’t lost your mind yet, you could still lose it in the weeks to come, even though sometimes we get thrown a bone or two with a few rays of sunshine here and there.
For those of you who want to maintain their sanity in the Winter in Berlin our Blogfabrik colleague Sophia Halamoda, who also brought as the famous Berghain, Bürgeramt and Real Berliner comics, has created a fantastic comic: A Winter Survival Guide that also explains a lot of the secrets of the grey and cold seasons and how the real Berliner deal with them.
This comic, along with a whole lot of unpublished new material is part of the new book “Like A Berliner” – a collaboration of Sophia and us. You can order it here in our webshop.
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by Frank | Stories
What might give the impression as merely a piece of entertainment, might include another layer, less bright and light-hearted than the first one. This is what I think every time I see a film or a play. The time, the effort and the mental resources one has to invest as a creator, are often nowhere to be seen in the final product. The same applies to this blog as well; behind the – digital – scenes things happen sometimes which we bravely tackle, in that we grit our teeth and make the best out of the hardships, so that we do not pester our readers with the unpleasant.
“Stay Strong” is a major theme for Actimel. In cooperation with the well-known drinkable yogurt we dealt with the topic of when one needs to stay strong here in Berlin a few weeks ago. The result is a humorous comic, created with great love by the illustrator and our colleague here at Blogfabrik Sophia Halamoda. Take a look at it below.
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by Frank | Videos
illustrations: Sophia Halamoda
After how many years can you say that you are a real Berliner? Five? Maybe ten? Or maybe 20? Some people even say that only the people who were born here have the right to be called “real“ Berliners. But what about if you were born in Berlin but left at the age of 10 and never came back? Would you be a real Berliner then?
I would like this nonsense about real Berliners and not real Berliners to stop once and for all. Most of the people now living in Berlin came from elsewhere and might even leave and go somewhere else after a couple of years. The Berliner-DNA is not defined by your birth certificate, your current Geo-Tag or the length of time you have spent in this city. As kitschy as its sounds, being a Berliner is a matter of your heart.
But sometimes listening to your heart is not as easy as it sounds on paper. To give you some help in discovering the (not so) secret essence of this lovable city, we joined forces with our favorite cartoon artist Sophia Halamoda. As a creative contribution of the #LiveThere exhibition by Airbnb we created a semi-serious guide to how to become a real Berliner. Go and discover after the jump.
UPDATE (Nov 2019): If you love the illustrations and sense of humor by Sophia you will love the new book Like A Berliner that we made in collaboration with her that will get you even further into the Berliners’ way of life.
Read on…
by Claudio | Stories
Berlin is generally known as an easy going, relaxed happy place to have fun and take things slow. As much as we enjoy this reputation, it’s not all roses and unicorns here after all. We have our moments of struggles as well, some are Berlin specific and some are the same as in many other big cities in the world. It’s a part of life I guess. Sometimes you just have to stay strong.
The new campaign of the yogurt drink Actimel is all about these moments when people have to bite their teeth, make the best of it and stay strong. It’s quite a relatable sentiment, but as diverse as our world is, everyone gets to these moments quite differently. So the guys from Actimel asked us: when do you have to stay strong in Berlin? The question made us immediately think of the hilarious illustrated comics of Sophia Halamoda who showed us how to get into two of the most impenetrable institutions of Berlin: the notorious Berghain night club and the feared Bürgeramt. So we extended the question to her and together we came up with a list of some typical struggles that we face here in Berlin. We’ve all been there at some point! After the jump you’ll find 7 moments when you have to stay strong in Berlin.
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by Frank | Stories
I don’t know why, but in the last week I have seen so many postings on Facebook complaining about the struggle of going to the Bürgeramt (registry office / citizen center) that I felt it was such perfect timing when illustrator Sophia Halamoda sent us her latest comic: A guide on how to get an appointment at the dreaded office. Her illustrated guide on how to get into Berghain was such a huge success a couple of weeks ago that it makes a lot of sense she would do another one of the one place that is apparently even harder to get into than the infamous techno cathedral. In her guide, she once again pokes fun at all the little urban myths and cliches surrounding this special temple of German bureaucracy. Mixed in with a lot of typical bad experiences and classic missteps, she also gives some helpful advice that might make your next visit more successful 😉 Enjoy her witty new guide after the jump.
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by Frank | Art, Stories
