Call him the Black Kennedy, the Tiger Woods of politics, or the Second Coming. The epithets used to describe presidential hopeful Barack Obama (D-Ill) are a testimony to an election that is so much more than politics.
There is something close to biblical about rain, when the skies give way to an almost cathartic downpour, draining off the drudge, sins and conversation-residuals clogging the streets. In any Hollywood movie (especially considering the writers’ strike) it could have been a Second Coming scenario, yet it was an unassuming Monday with weather more befitting of an unassuming British city pronounced Gloomster (but probably spelled Gleucmcester) in the midst of Berlin. The prophesized savior of American politics, Barack Obama, drew close to a 100 people, who sought shelter in the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung on this rainy, borderline-suicidal Monday evening, to learn about the self-professed harbinger of a new era – in a country so far from theirs.
Two and a half months into the writer’s strike and the first late night shows are back on the screen. In the first week of January, David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien all returned to restore nightly TV routine. A week later, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show followed suit. How did Jon Stewart do? Did he survive out there without the scripted gags of his humoristic elves and their mighty pens?
To find out, we tried to get into the studio and watch the taping of his first show back on air. Unfortunately, about 500 other people had the same idea. Instead of lining up at the end of the queue around the block, we talked to one of the protesting writers in front of the studio. [Read more]
In case you didn’t notice already – it’s christmas season! Here at the tapmag headquarters, the team is eagerly awaiting the festivities. We are happily humming christmas songs all day long and the air is buzzing with anticipation of all the presents to come. [Read more]
FOX Business News launched yesterday; the channel has been on air since 5am EDT, same for the website. Here is how they kicked it off:
A Business News Station had been in Rupert Murdoch’s sketch book for quite a while, although FOX Business Networks (FBN) has to share the market with CNBC – reaching almost 90 million households alone – and Bloomberg. FBN will only be broadcasted to 30 million homes in the beginning. So what’s it going to be? A conservative, big-business friendly PR-machine? [Read more]
Who is the one-man-wonder from the USA who had a whole generation of fräuleins screaming at the top of their lungs? The sex symbol with the schmaltzy pop-tunes and the trademark hairdo? Quick, time is up. No! Not David Hasseloff, there is one pop star who Germans love even more: [Read more]