cats that look like

that austrian man who's name i don't want to write down here. this is something i found there. i once had a cat who also looked like a kitler. maybe i should send a photo, too.

and the oscar goes to...

the lives of the others. as for me, i haven't seen the film so far

oscar night

will the german film "das leben der anderen" (the lives of the others) win an academy award (best foreign language film) today?

new name?

researchers figured out that my first name is unsexy and associated with a bad social environment. parents which were led by popular foreign-language songs or films in their choice of baby names are supposed to belong to the uneducated underclass. in my case it was an english song. the professor said that my first name (together with Cindy, Kevin, ...) is ok for a hairdresser but lawyers, designers, doctors or other academics will have a hard furrow to plough with this name. i am broken. please help! i won't get a prestigious job in the near future. and who's to blame? my name? absurd.

old fashioned church fellow

according to walter mixa, a german bishop, women who give their children to a kindergarten because they want to work are also "birth-giving machines" (see an earlier post here). it's always the same old story: women who work are callous and cruel mothers. what a freak he is. this just can't be true. his pension will look rather small if women don't work anymore and stay at home. germany has an enormous child problem like japan and many other western countries (due to the one child policy and male preference china will have a problem soon, too), everybody knows that. in germany, it is due to the incompatibility of work and children, just because there are not enough child care offers, no child care facilities - no children. now the government intends to increase the number of facilities so that women can make career and have a baby. and this old, discriminating man is against it. for him self-fulfilment of women is a sociopolitical scandal. i can't believe it. what an intellectual splendid achievement - welcome to the 19th century. i guess he's never heard of early education and the studies that it's not important how much time you spend with your child, it's the intensity of time which counts. and just an addition: imo, it is completely understandable that some women/men would like to stay with their beloved baby for the whole first six years but on the other hand, there are those you love their job and can't live without it and those, who are a single parent and are just forced to work - and the latter shouldn't be discriminated.
by the way, i loved kindergarten as a child and i loved working there as an adult!!

moated castle

it was such a beautiful day (see blue sky) that i went to a moated castle to see a photo exhibition organized by the german association of photographers. the photos weren't that spectacular but outside... mmh, fresh air, sun, spring plants...
and as we have ash wednesday today, i had some donuts which are called "pfannkuchen" here but in the rest of germany they are called "berliner" and "pfannkuchen" is something like pancakes for them and again, our pancakes are called "eierkuchen" (egg cake). strange, isn't it? never mind, it was yummy!

a murder in my neighbourhood

choconet plays sensational reporter: *shocked* just a few hours ago i was bothered by lots of police horns. now i read the news and i know why. if i had looked out of the window earlier, i would have known that there's something going on (but i'm not an old curious grandma so i didn't). there's been a murder in a house just 50m from my house. frightening. a 48-year-old man (drunk with 2.68 per mille) killed his 45-year-old girlfriend with an axe (relationship problems). aargh!
by the way, i just want to add that i'm not living in a criminal neighbourhood. it's quite a posh one. all houses are from the 1920's and have been recently completely refurbished. there are beautiful parks with sculptures and pavilions. i often go out and take photos from the beautiful houses. well, a nice apartment alone cannot make you happy.
and, of course, the house is surrounded by people staring at it. there's nothing to see but i'm sure if they could, they would go in to see the dead body. stupid onlookers.

onlooker choconet's view from the balcony

carnival floods media

is there something else going on in the world than just monday before lent? i'm fooled by the tv into believing that carnival is the only thing which happened today *confused*

my best wishes

wie man leute in den wahnsinn treibt

sorry, only for german readers

1. Verlasse das Kopiergerät mit folgenden Einstellungen: Verkleinerung: 200%, Papiergröße: DIN A5, Anzahl: 99 Kopien.
2. Setze dich in der Mittagszeit in dein geparktes Auto und ziele mit einem Fön auf die vorbeifahrenden Autos, um zu sehen, ob sie langsamer fahren.
3. Fülle drei Wochen lang entkoffeinierten Kaffee in die Kaffeemaschine. Sobald alle ihre Koffeinsucht überwunden haben, gehe über zu Espresso.
4. Falls du ein Glasauge hast, tippe mit dem Kuli dagegen, wenn du mit jemandem sprichst.
5. Schreibe 'Für sexuelle Gefälligkeiten' in den Verwendungszweck all deiner Überweisungen.
6. Befestige Moskito-Netze rund um deinen Schreibtisch.
7. Singe in der Oper mit.
8. Rufe dich selbst über die Sprechanlage. (Verstelle dabei nicht deine Stimme.)
9. Finde heraus, wo dein Chef/deine Chefin einkauft und kaufe exakt die gleichen Klamotten.
10. Trage sie immer einen Tag nachdem dein Chef/deine Chefin sie getragen hat. (Dies ist besonders effektiv, wenn der Chef vom anderen Geschlecht ist.)
11. Schicke eMails an die restlichen Leute in der Firma, um ihnen mitzuteilen, was du gerade tust. Zum Beispiel: 'Wenn mich jemand braucht, ich bin auf der Toilette.'
12. Bestehe darauf, dass du die eMail-Adresse 'Xena_Goettin_des_Feuers@firmenname.com' oder 'Elvis_the_king@firmenname.com' bekommst.
13. Bestehe darauf, die Scheibenwischer in allen Wetterlagen laufen zu lassen, um 'deren Leistung zu erhöhen'.
14. Antworte auf alles, was irgendwer sagt, mit 'Das glaubst du vielleicht.'
15. Übe das Nachmachen der Fax- und Modemgeräusche.
16. Hebe irrelevantes Material in wissenschaftlichen Artikeln hervor und sende sie deinem Chef.
17. Ermutige deine Kollegen, in ein wenig Synchron-Stuhltanzen einzustimmen.
18. Stelle deinen Mülleimer auf den Schreibtisch und beschrifte ihn mit 'Eingang'.
19. Jedesmal, wenn dich jemand bittet, etwas zu tun, frage, ob er Pommes-Frites dazu will.
20. Entwickle eine unnatürliche Angst vor Tackern.
21. Beende alle deine Sätze mit 'in Übereinstimmung mit der Prophezeiung.'
22. Signalisiere, dass eine Konversation beendet ist, indem du die Hände über die Ohren legst und laut anfängst zu singen.
23. Nimm deinen Füller auseinander und schnippe zufällig die Patrone durch den ganzen Raum.
24. Rufe Zufallszahlen, wenn jemand am zählen ist.
25. Stelle die Farbe am Fernseher so ein, dass alle Leute grün sind, und erkläre, dass du es so magst.
26. Benutze Heftklammern immer in der Mitte des Blattes.
27. Erforsche in der Öffentlichkeit, wie langsam du ein krächzendes Geräusch machen kannst.
    Hupe und winke Fremden zu.
28. Lehne es im Restaurant ab, irgendwo an einen Tisch gesetzt zu werden, und iss nur die Bonbons an der Kasse.
29. ScHrEiBe AbWeChSeLnD GrOßE uND kLeInE bUcHsTaBeN.
30. Kaufe größere Mengen von orangen Kegeln für den Straßenbau und stelle sie an der ganzen Straße entlang auf.
31. Wiederhole diese Unterhaltung einige Dutzend Male mit dir selbst: 'Hörst du das?' — 'Was?' — 'Ach, vergiss es, schon vorbei!'
32. Hüpfe so oft wie möglich anstatt zu gehen.
33. Versuche, die Willhelm-Tell-Ouvertüre (The Lone Ranger Theme) auf deinem Kinn zu klopfen. Wenn du fast fertig bist, sage 'Nein, warte, ich hab es versaut.' und wiederhole es.
34. Frage alle Leute, welchen Geschlechts sie sind.
35. Während du eine Präsentation machst, zucke gelegentlich mit dem Kopf wie ein Sittich.
36. Stampfe auf die kleinen Ketchup-Beutelchen.
37. Gib beim McDrive an, dass die Bestellung zum Mitnehmen ist.
38. Gehe zu einer Dichterlesung und frage, warum die Gedichte sich nicht reimen.
39. Frage deine Mitarbeiter mysteriöse Fragen und schreibe die Antworten auf einen Notizblock. Murmle etwas über 'psychologische Profile'.
40. Sage deinen Freunden schon sechs Tage im voraus, dass du nicht zu ihrer Party kommen kannst, weil du nicht in Stimmung bist.
41. Wenn du Leuten etwas ausleihst, rufe sie täglich an und erinnere sie daran, dass sie im Falle eines Defektes das Gerät zahlen müssen.
42. Schicke diesen Text per eMail an jeden in deinem Adress-Buch, sogar wenn er dich gebeten hat, ihm keinen Schrott zu schicken.

indifferent

no sun. no snow. just rain and clouds.

watch out

...the serial kisser can be everywhere!

fits me

Your Inner European is Swedish!

Relaxed and peaceful.You like to kick back and enjoy life.

Who's" Your Inner European?

traffic thoughts

ooorrrrh, definitely too many cars in this country (and too many elderly people by the way)! don't wanna talk about elderly people driving cars... *annoyed*

english breakfast

made myself an english breakfast today *urrgh*, fortunately, it was not a full english breakfast because i only had scrambled eggs, toast, baked beans and bacon. for a full english breakfast you need to add mushrooms and sausages but that's just too disgusting... exotic in the morning! felt amused by eating this in germany *g* should you miss england or just wanna try something else, give it a go, it's fun!

the result

home berlinale

what have i been doing at the weekend? watched (actually still watching) lots of dvds with a borrowed video projector. having this luxury of a home cinema is so fantastic (wanna have it forever!)! technically, we have the projector coz we wanna do a presentation of our usa photos from september last year - that's already our 2nd presentation so if you're interested in seeing the photos, too, then we can certainly arrange a 3rd presentation, i will have the projector for the next 2 weeks (also feel free to watch films with me). :)

our video marathon is also an opposition to the german film festival "berlinale" taking place at the moment.

here watching "open water"

...my home cinema is my castle...

snowmen rising

58th annual sapporo snow festival in northern japan: the festival features 300 snow and ice sculptures and is expected to draw more than 2 million visitors.

link and image: usa today

seems as if i have the wrong eye colour

Your Eyes Should Be Brown

Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

nonreflective consumer society?

watched an austrian film about food at the cinema today. actually, it was a documentary (my 2nd documentary about food after "super size me") called "our daily bread" without comments. it showed an appalling picture of our modern food production and consumer society: monotonous assembly belt production, penned up chickens and beef... sorry, cows which were maltreated with cartidge hammers - everything in a very sterile environment. on the other hand, they showed the mass production of fruits and vegetables with lots of fertilizers. it wasn't scandalising but still a film to think about your eating habits.

the film was supported by (among others)

greenpeace

slow food

“Devastating! A must-see!" The New York Times

schon "unser täglich brot" im kino gesehen (kommt nur in ausgewählten kinos)? mein zweiter dokumentarfilm nach "super size me" hat mich zwar nicht zum vegetarier gemacht, aber doch zum nachdenken über unsere alltäglichen essgewohnheiten angeregt.

www.unsertaeglichbrot.de

looked at in that light

if you're an addicted video game player like me - don't worry. researchers at the university of rochester have found out that it can improve your vision. get a better eyesight by playing computer games:

"In an article to be published in Pyschological Science, they have shown that people who played action video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved by about 20 percent in their ability to identify letters presented in clutter—a visual acuity test similar to ones used in regular ophthalmology clinics. In essence, playing video game improves your bottom line on a standard eye chart."Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information," Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, said. "After just 30 hours, players showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see figures like those on an eye chart more clearly, even when other symbols crowded in.""

Source: press esc

With regard to me, it seems as if i didn't play early enough coz my eyesight is very bad.
seen at the games convention

caught me

oops, all our lectureres at uni got a mail that jogging at the cemetery is no longer allowed for students (yes, instead of a park we have a cemetery close to the uni which is quite nice - with lots of trees etc.)! i can totally understand that some people feel offended by joggers but students are also in a plight by not having a park/forest nearby. ehm, i feel a bit accosted coz i did that before, too. caught me...


ups, alle dozenten unserer uni haben folgende mail erhalten:
"Zur Information
Der Friedhofs- und Bestattungsbetrieb der Stadt... hat die Universität um Unterstützung gebeten, da das Gelände des Friedhofs an der ...Straße erneut und zum Teil in organisierter Form zum Joggen genutzt wird. Aus diesem Anlass wird darauf hingewiesen, dass sich jeder auf Friedhöfen der Würde des Ortes entsprechend zu verhalten hat und dass der Friedhof nicht für sportliche Aktivitäten zu nutzen ist."
ich fühle mich ja tatsächlich angesprochen, da ich das auch schon gemacht habe, aber wir haben nunmal keinen park oder wald in der nähe! *grummel*

handball world champs III

hooraay, the third time! germany won the handball world championship! they beat poland 29:24 (17:13) in cologne. i knew it!
places:

• germany (1st)
• poland (2nd)
• denmark (3rd)
• france (4th)
• croatia (5th)

although it is called world championship i think this sport is quite a european sport as i can only see european winners, tunisia is the first non-european on the list which achieved the 11th place... particularly, my beloved australia was very bad. :(

die deutsche mannschaft hat die weltmeisterschaft im handball gewonnen! nun sind wir doch noch papst und weltmeister! die plakate der fans waren zwar originell, aber doch etwas vorurteilsbehaftet "uns're autos könnt ihr haben, den titel aber nicht!"... ich fahr dann mal mein auto in die garage...

emma

emma is a german feminist magazine and not worth reading it! now it's in the wastebasket with the lidl-ad...
p.s. being emancipated and then having a pink layout?

emma gibt es nun bereits seit 30 jahren und da alice schwarzer derzeit irgendwie in jeder talkshow auftreten muss, um werbung für ihr blatt zu machen, hat sie es bei mir geschafft und ich kaufte ihre zeitung. resultat: zu teuer, zu unwitzig, zu unwissenschaftlich, zu männerfeindlich, nicht zu empfehlen. in fast jedem artikel schreiben die autoren, dass sie von ihrem kampflesben-image wegkommen wollen, schreiben aber teilweise genau in jenem stil. fazit: viele artikel waren so langweilig, dass ich sie nicht zuende gelesen habe. da schrieb doch tatsächlich eine leserin: "wieso gibt es die emma nich jede woche?" hallo? natürlich bin ich auch für gleichberechtigung und manche artikel geben schon stoff zum nachdenken, aber vielleicht ist es auch einfach die jubiläumsausgabe, die mir missfällt.

übrigens gibt es ab donnerstag erstmals die deutsche ausgabe von "vanity fair" , also dem ziemlich erfolreichen us-magazin. die erste ausgabe könnt ihr euch hier kostenlos bestellen, danach wird sie wöchentlich erscheinen.

stupid lidl-ad

excuse me, but who's got a wellness temple at home?

wer bitte schön hat denn einen wellness tempel zuhause?

gesehen in der heutigen lidl-werbung

i love the clarinet!

after having some communication problems due to modern technology i finally met my friend and we went to a concert which stood under the title "from classic to klezmer" which reached from traditional klezmer songs, jazz and soul to classical compositions of old masters (gustav mahler, franz schubert). it was the first time i saw the world-famous giora feidman (*1936, argentina) and matthias eisenberg (*1956, germany) live and it was great, loved it. after all, i became a groupie and got an autograph from him which you can see in the picture. long lives feidman, the "king of klezmer", as he is called in new york.

for those, who don't know feidman: he's a very popular (if not the most popular and the best) clarinetist all around the world. among others, he composed (and played) the music for "schindler's list" and got an acadamy award ("oscar") for it in 1994.

ein konzert von giora feidman, dem meister der klarinette, kann ich jedem nur empfehlen, denn jenes habe ich heute besucht und mir zum schluss sogar noch ein autogramm ergattert. weltbekannt wurde er durch seine musik zu "schindlers liste", wofür er 1994 auch einen oscar bekam. aber auch in filmen wie "die comedian harmonists" oder "jenseits der stille" hatte er auftritte. er bekam bereits 2 mal den echo und wurde 2001 mit dem bundesverdienstkreuz ausgezeichnet. wer sich für jene musik interessiert, kann aus 31 alben wählen, die er veröffentlicht hat. und vergesst nicht, euch tickets zu kaufen - bis ende 2008 ist er in deutschland auf tour.

Ein Lied, auf das man nicht tanzen kann, ist keines.
Ein Tanz, auf den man nicht singen kann, ist keiner.
giora feidman (bei dem ich zum groupie wurde) *g*

haven't put photos into an album since 2004! busy right now

ich habe es seit 2004 tatsächlich nicht geschafft, fotos in ein album zu kleben und damals hatte ich noch nicht einmal eine digitalkamera. tausende fotos warten nun darauf, einsortiert zu werden und tausende andere von 2006 warten erstmal darauf, entwickelt zu werden. was für eine arbeit! werde mir noch überlegen, ob ich das wirklich fortführen werde.

not sporty

if you think that i might have too much time drawing a handball here. well, ehm, yes, but for my defense:

• i’m a student (actually excuse enough)
• i wrote an exam today and
• in the morning i went jogging for the first time of this year and tomorrow morning i’m going to play squash, so i need relaxation now.

should you get the impression that i’m a sporty girl i have to disappoint you: no, i’m not. but i have to start doing some fitness otherwise i’ll end up like this.

handball world champs II

hooray again, germany beat france today! anyway, it was a nice match (not as boring as i thought it would be), only watching football in an english pub is even more fun. i don’t know any of the guys but good and hard game, boys! welcome to the finals against poland or denmark! as a symbol of my sympathy for the french, i draw a handball with the french colours – how sweet is that? if anyone should be interested – it was drawn with landscape soft pastels.
hey, even our president showed up with a handball-scarf around his neck and said that he played handball in former times and grinned like a chesire cat when germany shot a goal. what a nice president we have – i like him, well, he’s more likeable than our chancellor who has no charisma at all! however, i think that presidents are always more popular than chancellors, aren’t they?

deutschland ist im finale bei der handball-weltmeisterschaft!