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Your Weekend: Friday the 13th – Part Spew

Time to practice your pronunciation of "friggatriskaidekaphobia", or fear of Friday the 13th, since the only one this year is upon us. Of course, if you speak even a drop of German, that word may not be as daunting at the actual day itself (I, for one, couldn’t give much of a shit). Still, even the superstitious may want to tempt fate this weekend, since it’s packed quite tight…

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Image by Walter Crasshole

Time to practice your pronunciation of “friggatriskaidekaphobia”, or fear of Friday the 13th, since the only one this year is upon us. Of course, if you speak even a drop of German, that word may not be as daunting at the actual day itself. (I, for one, couldn’t give much of a shit since my only connection to the phrase is a passing teenage interest in the terrible series of splatter films.) Still, even the superstitious may want to tempt fate this weekend, since it’s packed quite tight… so much so that if I were superstitious, I probably wouldn’t be telling you what to hit up for fear of jinxing it.

There’s plenty of beautiful monsters out on the actual night: try revelling in the return of Ich Bin Ein Berliner (Fri, Aug 13 @ SO36), MC Andreas Schwarz’s pick of the raddest Berlin-based performance and music. On stage tonight are Rummelstuff, Italoporno, The Sound of Fridge and Femme Façade. If you’re in need of more beats than freaks but still want to embrace the darkness, check out Fright Night 4 (Fri, Aug 13 @ Bar 25): chances are, the trust-fund-kid tourists will be either scared away or cool enough for you to get lucky. Your other weird-dance-music option is the completely mystifyingly named Krake Festival, with its acts Plaid, Bogdan Raczynski and Transforma (Fri, Aug 13 @ Suicide Circus). I have no idea what most of those words mean – even the word “plaid” is foreign to me, but I’m keen to check out anyone who has consorted with Björk and Goldfrapp.

On Saturday, if you’re into the “audacity of big” or just audacity in general, it’s your last chance to see the Damien Hirst and Michael Joo exhibit Have You Ever Really Looked at the Sun? (Sat, Aug 14 @ Haunch of Venison Berlin). Hirst, at least, got a bunch of dead animals and dipped them in various chemicals. The point being? Hey, these animals are dead… If you want to take a 180 from pompousness and take a look something that’s a little more “real” Berlin, the Miss U-Bahn pageant and fashion show (Sat, Aug 14 @ Spreewaldplatz) sees 12 Berlin designers design couture gowns and swimsuits inspired by individual U-Bahn stations. Heroin chic for Kottbusser Tor anyone? Later on, you can continue the psychotic streak that is the Krake Festival (Sat, Aug 14 @ Suicide Circus) – Cristian Vogel and Radioactive Man top off this night’s far-out ambitions. It should be killer, but if for those who prefer a little less thudding and a little more charisma, Gustav (Sat, Aug 14 @ Festsaal Kreuzberg) will also be in town for a live gig.

Sunday may seem a little dreamy/sleepy in comparison, but there’s still a bit to do. Especially if there’s a chance to do it for free. EXBERLINER (that’s us) is giving away free tickets to The Whale Watching Tour (Sun, Aug 15 @ Admiralpalast). Just email [email protected] with the answer to the question “When (year) did the prohibition of “strong” beer end in Iceland?” and you could save yourself €30 by winning a pair. Or you can hit up the Austin, Texas-based indie band Harlem (Sun, Aug 15 @ Magnet Club) and watch one of their purportedly great live shows. You may not get in for free, but the title of their debut album does promise “Free Drugs” (sorry, I couldn’t stop myself). Otherwise there’s always one of Freiluftkino Kreuzberg’s few remaining nights, since the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man (Sun, Aug 15 @ Freiluftkino Kreuzberg) is playing and I don’t think it’s possible to see that film too many times.

And now I’ve gotten through the entire Friday the 13th blog and haven’t even mentioned hockey masks. Hockey masks. Speaking of weirdos with sports fetishes, there’s also the World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships, if you can squeeze it in somewhere.