Kat's Got Your Culture

Kawiarna Filmowa is fairly small but has a little movie theater in the basement and lots of quirky old furniture. Czarnia Magia is one of the nicest cafes in the center. It has a whimsical courtyard where you can get out of the rush and sit reading with your coffee.

So many good ones! Shakshuka is a good laidback brunch spot. I liked the quiet, airy feel and how a lot of people were there eating by themselves with a book. Grain is a cozy corner spot with nice couches and comfortable chairs. Naleśniki Babci has great international-themed crepes and pierogis (even if it's sometimes hard to understand what the crepe has to do with that country). Nothing special about the coffee so only go for the food and nice little patio. ARTCAF has a good brunch menu, good indoor and outdoor seating and an artsy vibe as the name suggests, including several exhibits. El Gato is one of the more central ones on this list. Good iced lattes. I appreciated Gniazdo's peaceful interior courtyard. ParaLab was a bit out of the way but maybe the best iced latte. They also have brunch. Smallish, quiet and relaxed.

Wow, this movie is fantastic! The tension and dramatic irony the whole time as you know how it will go bad and the protagonist keeps trying to tell himself he can make it work. I have a thing about doppelgangers et al so I found Inde Navarrette's performance incredibly creepy (also just incredible like all the actors in this). It does a great job taking the feel of an unhealthy relationship and then slipping into horror before you notice. I found that it also draws on the horror of becoming unrecognizable to yourself in a relationship where you feel insecure and how an obsessive relationship is more about the obsessee than the object of their obsession, although the literal plot is different of course. From the feel of the movie, I think fans of Talk to Me or Weapons would like it. As we know from Truth or Dare or the Smile movies, a creepy smile can go along way and wow Navarrette's smiles are creepy. There's a little gore that I found cheap when the actual social-interact...

Not to say I didn't enjoy the first Evil Dead with all it's oatmeal-based special effects, but 2 is way better. I was confused at first because ED2 sort of rewrites history like Ash has never been to the cabin before, but then it made sense (as much sense as it was going to make). This is definitely in the category of Comfort Horror – not at all scary and I didn't expect it to be (as opposed to disappointing horror movies I go into expecting and wanting them to be scary). The screenplay is weaker than the rest, like how they cram Ash's whole tragic love story into the first 5 seconds, but there are great camerawork, in part innovative even for today, and visuals (the physical form of the the Kandarian demon is 100%). Although most of the funny parts may be unintentional, the part with A Farewell to Arms made me laugh aloud for 10 minutes (you'll know it when you see it!). Just a lot of fun and many iconic scenes. I still have to watch the rest of this francise.

It was really hot out when I went here, and this café felt like a cool, quiet refuge from the loud street outside. Black Point is spacious with lots of comfortable seating, including a good peoplewatching window. They had good iced lattes and serve breakfast all day. Also, since so many places in Berlin are so stingy with tapwater, I always appreciate cafés like this that offer you an unlimited supply. It's the kind of café where you could sit a long time with a book and not feel crowded out.

I spent some time in Wrocław, Poland lately, so drifting away from Berlin posts for a few! By the way, I spell it like vrote-swaff in my head to help with pronunciation. It's a lovely city, a little sprawling in some parts so best either for a weekend if you only want to see the very center with the old town, or for a couple weeks if you want to explore different neighborhoods. Overall, it had lots of great cafes, so you can imagine what I spent most of the time doing (recommendations to follow!). It also has very affordable public transit and is on a beautiful stretch of the Oder with boat rides aplenty. In a nonrepresentative survey of having asked random people on the street things, most people speak English. There are more and better iced lattes on average (as compared to many parts of Berlin) and drivers are really good at stopping at crosswalks and not doing a rolling stop or worse towards pedestrians. Since it's been pretty hot lately, I also noticed a little more air-co...

Ivallan's in Kreuzberg is one of the best and most interesting English bookstores in Berlin. I'm not just saying that because I had my last book launch there and they carry my books, although of course it's a bonus! (Another bonus is that it's around the corner from Pia, so you can get an iced latte afterwards). Even though it's small, they have a good selection of new and used books. The books are sorted into creative/obscure thematic categories and on random surfaces in shelves, drawers, suitcases, etc. so it's a fun place to browse, and you always stumble upon something unexpected.