If you are interested in watching some of the Fifa Soccer World Cup matches in a sports bar in Los Angeles, there is a nice collection on the web of places you can do that. The site is called WorldSoccerBars.com. Although the domain name is currenly quite misleading as it only covers cities in the US, it has potential to grow in the future. Check out what Los Angeles has to offer. Note: most of these bars are general sports bars with tons of screens broadcasting several different sports simultaneously. In most cases they are not specialized ’soccer’ bars..

Let me know which one is the best….

A very common drink during Christmas time in Germany, especially at its infamous ‘Weihnachtsmärkte’ ( Eng. Christmas Markets ) is ‘Glühwein‘ ( Eng: Mulled Wine ). Creating some Christmas spirit in California is quite challenging and making some home-made ‘Glühwein’ definitely helps a lot. I found a nice recipe on a German web page. Yesterday, I gave it a try and I can say it turned out fantastic. Here is the translation of the recipe into English to share with you. Give it a try…

Ingredients

• 3 Bottles of Good Dry Red Wine
• 3 Oranges
• 1 Lemon
• 1 Apple
• 3 Small Cinnamon Sticks
• 1 Star Anise
• 4 Cloves
• 1 String of Saffron ( pricy but worth it )
• 3 Table Spoons of Raisins
• 8 Table Spoons of Sugar ( or sweetener to avoid next day head ache )

Pour the red wine into a big pot and heat up slowly. Do not let the wine cook! Wash the apple and one orange. Cut the orange into slices. Remove the core and cut the apple into slices. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon and remaining oranges. Put all remaining ingredients into the pot ( except the sweetener ) and let them simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Taste the concoction and slowly add the sweetener. Remove the cinnamon sticks and star anise when the spice reaches your desired intensity. The fruit can continue to stew. When serving, the fruit should not be poured into the mugs ( strain if needed ). Pour the hot ‘Glühwein’ into pre-warmed glasses or mugs and the cold will be taken from your bones. Serve with a piece of dark chocolate to round out the experience. Guten Appetit!

There is currently a really nice exhibition on data visualization at the PCMA in Pasadena that I can recommend. The displayed pieces include art work of Dan Goods, Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima. You’ll find the latest Radio Head video “House of Cards”, which was made completely without film cameras. But instead with digital scanners. One of those scanner is set up, which allows you to experience your movement in front of the scanner on a huge screen. Live, direct and interactive. Really neat.

Last Wednesday, I had the chance to see the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at The Mint in L.A. This was a truly amazing band performance bringing the Soul of New Orleans straight to the heart of Los Angeles. The unbelievable talented musicians turned The Mint upside down and brought every piece of Mardi Gras they could bring on the tour bus to the Los Angeles audience. An amazing party over all and Jake Eckert on the guitar simply rocks! If your watching the Grammy’s this weekend, then you’ll see them perform together with Lil’ Wayne. Enjoy the show…

check out their webpage for more tour dates. Australia is next. Shows are almost all SOLD OUT. I bet they’re touring the world and ending in USA shortly before elections…

A nice example of this is what Geni.com implemented using ActionScript. Their usage of the scalability makes the whole web application actually interesting and is the core of their user experience. The basically same application was implemented in Flex by verwandt.de (or the English version itsourtree.com).

Unfortunately most browsers don’t support vector graphics without a plugin, like Flash Player or a Plugin for the SVG-Format. You also have to use some tricks if you are dependent on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But sometimes it’s not necessary, too. Think about it.

The “Black Book on Brand Companies” gives a deep view on how leading brand companies operate in the world economy. The scary truth behind the scenes with tips of what every single one of us can do about it. Unfortunately not in English yet, but some information in English is on the official homepage of the book. There you can also find a good link list for more background information on brand companies and organizations fighting for a better world.
Amazon.de