German Chat: Glittering opulence
SO what do you do when you earn $300,000 a week and have a heap of spare time between work? Go shopping, of course. And what's the big deal in buying a $150,000 watch, particularly after you have been handed $2.9 million to promote a computer game for three years? Welcome to the world of David Beckham, captain of the England soccer team, hero of English Premier League club Manchester United and husband to pop star Victoria (also known as Posh Spice).Beckham this week - after...
German Chat: Germans warm to tales of 'baby brother' Kohl
AS a gesture of support for the increasingly beleaguered German chancellor, Hildegard Getrey decided to give Helmut Kohl a surprise last week. Ein kleine s Geschenk she called it - a little present. Her gift was to reveal to the world that she is the Iron Chancellor's sister.Not many Germans even knew Kohl had a sister. In fact, they know next to nothing about the obsessively secretive chancellor's private life. By talking at length about her "baby...
German Chat: A Virtual Pop Star On the Rise
THESE days, pop stars are so carefully packaged that critics constantly harp about artificiality. But a new German crooner is reveling in it. No, Ricky Martin is not German. But E-Cyas is. According to its creators, E-Cyas -- for Electronic Cybernetic Artificial Superstar -- is the first fully virtual male character to release a hit recording and video. The avatar's recording, which has entered at least one German Top 100 chart, has the appropriate if colloquially awkward...
German Chat: Most Signposts Are in English Along the Info Superhighway
The globalization of the Internet, common wisdom says, will make our world smaller.And the growth of the Net worldwide, experts add, will only speed the spread of English as the common language of the globe.In the aftermath of World War II, English surpassed French as the official language of Western diplomacy. And in the ensuing decades, it also became the unofficial language of world commerce. Now, as the Japanese cybersurf, China adds its own Internet backbone and commercial online...
German Chat: Rooney not as revolting as I was, says Ferg,
SICK AS A PARROT
WAYNE Rooney's No.1 fan (his employer) says his, erm, exuberant temperament is a result of his age. Apparently, being 19 is an excuse for being a dickhead. King Ferg, Rooney's master at Old Trafford, certainly thinks so. "What 19-year-old has maturity?" Ferg asked last week. "Jesus Christ, I was trying to start a workers' revolution in Glasgow. My mother thought I was a communist. She was down on her knees praying every...
