O perfil de stevedix

“Chill-Out Comedy Club” is the Open mike night of the Cologne-based Comedy Academy, and features both newcomers and experienced comedians. Normally, comedians must register beforehand, but performers have been known to literally walk in and get a spot on the night. The show takes place at the Zin-Zin bar in Friesenwall, just around the corner from Friesenplatz, and just over the road from “Päff”.

The show is moderated by up-and-coming young comedian Christian Schiffer, well-known for his ability to impersonate various stars like the rapper “Bushido”, Joachim Koenig, and even the occasional Liam Gallagher. Schiffer manages to keep things fresh, pulling both new and old routines out of the hat, but without overwhelming or competing with the acts as some other moderators do.

The audience itself is a young one, mostly comprising students. This is no surprise as similar talent shows, with no entry fee, such as the legendary “Nightwash” have popularised comedy with the young student crowd. The show therefore tends to angle itself to the currently-popular American/English stand-up comedy styles, rather than the more traditional german “Cabaret” style acts. However, the audience is also somewhat less critical of acts than the audiences of some of the more estabilshed open mike nights, and so gives virgin acts a bit more leeway.

The show has been running weekly, on a Thursday, since late 2008, and really started to gain an audience in the last two months. Things are going from strength to strength, and the show is beginning to attract attention from more-established performers.

The Cinedom is a large multiplex Cinema at the centre of the mediapark in Cologne, a former Railway siding converted into a futuristic park. The Cinedom itself has three floors of cinemas, as well as a pizza hut and “Casablanca”, a small open restaurant themed round the Humphrey Bogart classic. As well as this various stands sell the more typical cinema fare, such as popcorn, nachos and drinks, and a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stand. The Cinedom has been chosen for a number of German and international film premieres, with the likes of Tom Cruise attending.

The Cinemas themselves are comfortable, and feature the latest technology, including digital projection and hi-fi sound. They’re fairly clean as well, which is a nice surprise compared to some multiplexes where, if you pick a late show, you have to wade through a sea of popcorn left by previous inhabitants.

Although it is very much a “mass-entertainment” kino, they also host a number of film and TV festivals, including the Fantasy film fest and the Cologne Comedy Film fest, and limited-run Art-house films are catered for by the “Black Box”. If you’re looking for English-languages films, though, you’re best-advised to look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, as it has become the main centre for film-going in Cologne, it suffers from its own popularity. Long queues are often common, for both the tickets and for food, and if you’re thinking of getting a meal there you best set aside enough time, otherwise you’ll have to rush to catch your film. Tickets can also be expensive, and so you best look out for mid-week specials.

Cyclo is a Vietnamese Restaurant in Martinstr, not far from the Heumarkt and Intercontinental hotel. Despite being on one of the busiest roads in Cologne, the place is quiet - we visited on a Saturday afternoon. Service is good, and the food is fantastic. We had never tasted vietnamese food before, and this was an experence.

Prices are good and portions are satisfying, with most main dishes costing about 8-10 Euro, and appetisers at 2-3 euro. You can also ask for an extra piece of rice pastry so you can wrap your own rolls as part of your meal. Various teas are available (try the honey and ginger) as well as “kölsch vom fass”.

The only downside to the place is that it’s opposite the construction site for one of the new U-bahn stations, and that will go away soon enough.

Seaworld is an excellent day out, but with a few caveats for the average cynical European like me. Firstly, if you don’t like performing animals, then you’re really in the wrong place. Seaworld has performing animal shows coming out of its gills. Secondly, the place has the typical American streak of sentimentality and commercialism combined, which can be a little overbearing. The Killer Whale show, viewed after the dolphin/fake killer whale show (no, it’s not a dolphin in a killer whale suit, there are such things as fake killer whales. Don’t ask me how they got the name : presumably they just swim about acting dead hard, but when it comes to the crunch they just give sealions a painful lovebite and leave it at that) tends to be a bit repetitive (there’s only so many tricks the average sea mammal can do, I suppose). In the dolphin show this is cleverly covered up with acrobatics from the trainers/performers and additional surprises such as a flight of macaws, whilst the whale show relies more on treacly sentiment, with slogans such as “Believe” being flashed up on large screens behind the aquarium. The star of the whale show, the legendary Shamu, recognisable by his floppy fin, just cruised the aquarium flicking water at the audience with his tail (not really a surprise as the whole auditorium is split into wet and dry seating)

On the bright side, Seaworld provides an unequalled opportunity for “hands-on” experience with the animals. You can actually get close-up to manta-rays, dolphins and sealions, and you are allowed to purchase food to feed to them. It’s possibly the only time you’ll be allowed close enough to a dolphin to touch it. If you don’t want to do the touchy-feely stuff you can still watch many of the species under water in their natural environment - dolphins, beluga whales, sealions, penguins etc. One of the highlights is the baby dolphin pool, where you can watch the young dolphins watching you.

Altogether a good day out, and thoroughly recommended.

When your first language is English, some times you don’t particularly want to see a film translated into German : especially when it’s a comedy, and half the jokes get dropped by the translators. That’s why the Metropolis Cinema is important for English expats, as well as being an alternative to nearby more-expensive mainstream Kinos. The Cinemas themselves, though small, are well-equipped with good seating - the only time I’ve ever come out of there feeling sore was after the first episode of “Lord of the Rings”, which I defy anyone to sit straight through - and the staff are friendly and helpful as well. Thursdays are only 4 Euro as well!