Yesterday we visited Vienna in 1896. (And on Monday we visited London in 1931. It’s been that kind of week.) Today we’ll watch an AI colorization of a few mintues of ‘Berlin–Symphony Of A Metropolis’, a documentary film by Walter Ruttman shot in 1927. Click here for an excellent Wikipedia article discussing the film. I find the images, styles, people and attitudes deeply fascinating and dearly wish I could jump through my computer screen and join them. On the other hand placing this in context in terms of where it fits in European history gives it a heartbreaking poignancy. Remember, this is six years before the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the arrival of Hitler, Goebbles and all that that reign of terror brought (and destroyed). So watching this has a special bittersweet quality, knowing that the people pictured had absolutely no idea of what awaited them just a few years down the line. I’ll refrain from offering any comparison to what we currently may have facing us in about the same amount of time down the line.  Although I guess I just did.