This project is just about to begin. It will be full of surprises. While you follow Apollon, the story slowly evolves. »Die erste Tat im Leben Apollons war die Tötung des Drachen Python, des Feindes seiner Mutter Leto. Einmal wagte es Apollon sogar, gegen seinen Vater Zeus zu rebellieren. Als er sich nach Zeiten der Ruhe, der Hingabe zur Muse und dem Studium der Heilkunst vornahm wieder etwas göttliches zu unternehmen, brauchte es bloss 11 Versuche bis er es schaffte den ersten Homo sapiens auf den Erdtrabanten Mond sicher zu landen. Diese bahnbrechende Leistung sicherte ihn Ruhm und Ehre in den Anfängen der Fernsehpioniere am gesamten Erdball. Das 21. Jahrhundert begann am 01. Januar 2001. Wir schreiben heute das Jahr 2009. Das Jahr, in dem sich Apollo erstmals zusammen mit einem Freund auf neue Abenteuer begeben wird.« »Four days after his birth, Apollo killed the dragon Python, enemy of his mother Leto. Once Apollon even dared to stand up against his father Zeus. After a period of quiescence, devotion to the muse and the study of medicine, Apollon was convinced that he had to undertake some divine action. Amazingly enough, it only took him only 11 attempts to send the first homo sapiens to the moon where he/she/it landed smoothly. This breathtaking event guaranteed him fame and honor in the very beginning of the new age of television all around the globe. The 21st century began on January 1, 2009. Today we have 2009. This is the year Apollon decided to set out for new adventures with a dear friend .

On the weekend we decided to free the BIEST from its destiny as a logo captive. It is now free to move through the biestmilch universe that is soon about to be relaunched. Currently, an exciting process of re-definition, re-invention and redesign takes place.

After a total system collapse shortly after its launch because of an unexpected flood of visitors the European library is online again. Europeana is testing currently newly configured hardware. The site is therefore open to use but the user experience may not be optimal in this test phase e.g.: the number of users will be limited in peak times.

The New Yorker, now I make it officially, was the inspiration for our website. I never quoted it until today, not on purpose, I don't know why I didn't. Today, at the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Ox or cow respectively, when I started googling, I had to realize that I couldn't absorbe this culture so very different to ours in such a short period of time. I returned back to our culture and I ended up at a book review published by The New Yorker about the invention of the air. I think it fits the day. Air, we take it for granted, we don't think about it any more, it became a fact. But there was this guy called Joseph Priestley in the 18th century who actually discovered oxygen. Steven Johnson wrote a book on this guy who was thinking out of the box and gave us the air. Johnson offers a clear-sighted and intelligent exploration of the conditions that are propitious to scientific innovation, such as the availability of coffee and the unfettered circulation of information through social networks. Okay then, anyhow, we welcome the Chinese year of the cow/ox, because the cow is so essential to our business, to our wonderful biestmilch.

It is not him anymore, he became it, the brand »Obama«. And nevertheless Barack Obama is a real person for all of those who admire or love or follow him. Even though, it may be that the Obama behind Obama is a very different person. But he allows us to project our hopes and expectations onto his ample versatile body. Barack Obama was built a brand in the shortest period of time (shorter than Google). Obama, Apple, Coke and very much same of a kind. They share a lot of attributes the say way the president is presenting himself. They're meant to look transparent, empowered, hopeful, accessible and democratic to a certain degree. Non-intimidating and trustworthy. At its heart, authenticity is about practicing what you preach; knowing about who you are and what you do best. The citation of the week

And again a post on design. This time it is David Carson giving a quite amusing and easy-going talk at TED's. I think it is a nice round-up of the design series. We are currently redesigning the biestmilch universe including the packaging. Therefore the blog became so design-prone. It won't take long anymore and we shall allow you a glimpse on the new biestmilch stuff. David Carson's boundary-breaking typography in the 1990s, in Ray Gun magazine and other pop-cult books, ushered in a new vision of type and page design -- quite simply, breaking the traditional mold of type on a page and demanding fresh eyes from the reader.

As loyal readers of »Courrier International« we received an Obama calender as a present this week. We definitely have not been aware of the fact that this thing is a very precious good much sought-after. A friend passed by yesterday and told us how difficult it was for him to get a piece of this limited edition. And here a photo of the Thing :-)

On the weekend while I was trying for the umpteenth time to find comprehensible words to express the power and versatility of biestmilch, and while I was struggling to find these words, I took a break and listened to this talk of Peter Reinhart and was thrilled. A vague feeling crept into me that this had something to do with our beloved biestmilch. Bread is stapel food for people all over the world, it belongs to the essentials of human life, it is full of myths and it is science, it is nature and it is man made... the art of making bread reveals traditions, beliefs and science. Reinhard's talk made me happy because it shows in a wonderful way presented by a brilliant brain how the process of baking bread can be seen, if one pays attention to it, analyzes it and doesn't take it for granted, if the scientific knowledge we have is applied to it without forgetting the metaphoric power of bread.