Non-Fiction:
Stephen Castles, Mark J. Miller: The Age of Migration.
Fiction:
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Threshold.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Blood Red Moon.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Silk.
Kate Atkinson: Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
Films:
Bobby (2006, Emilio Estevez) ***.
Alice in Wonderland (2010, Tim Burton) **.
Art School Confidential (2006, Zerry Zwigoff) **.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1989, Beeban Kidron) ***.
The Runaways (2010, Floria Sigismondi) ***.
Dorian Gray (2009, Oliver Parker) *.
TiMER (2009, Jac Schaeffer) ***.
Kinky Boots (2005, Julian Jarrold) ***.
Rushmore (1998, Wes Anderson) ****.
Series:
Leverage, Season One.
Music:
Blumfeld: L'Etat Et Moi.
Blitzen Trapper: Destroyer of the Void.
Titus Andronicus: The Monitor.
An Horse: Rearrange Beds.
Kid Harpoon: Once.
Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles II.
Foals: Total Life Forever.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The film I most look forward to...
Although the last one was a great disappointment, trying to draw in an audience that was more interested in the ridiculous and superfluous teenage hormone stuff than the actual STORY, and I have some issues with the last novel (mostly the epilogue though, so that won't really become an issue until Summer 2011, when the second half comes out) - it looks fabulous, traumatic, and already gives a sense of the breathlessness most of the novel has, with the protagonists running away and never really having time to rest.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Linkliste unbehandelter Themen
As the US Congress seems to have agreed on a 2000-page-long new bill to overhaul the regulation of the financial market, the G-20 summit in Toronto didn't bring any substantial agreements, but you can read the final summit declaration here. Protests against the summit remained peaceful until yesterday, when several arrests were made after police cars were set on fire.
General Stanley McChrystal, who became combat commander of the US troops in Afghanistan in June 2009, was replaced by General David Petraeus after McChrystal openly critisized members of the Obama administration in a Rolling Stone article.
I wonder whether the FIFA will introduce some kind of mechanism to reverse game-deciding calls by referees that later turn out to be very, very wrong.
DerStandard, on the other hand, covers the winners of this year's "Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur" as if they'd just played and won a football tournament, which is fitting (especially since the nationality of the authors is usually pointed out more often than what topics they write about, or who their influences are).
German actor Frank Giering, probably most widely known for his portrayal of Andreas Baader in Christopher Roth's "Baader" and Peter in Michael Haneke's original "Funny Games", died this week.
random mixtape - though try as you may but you will always be a tourist
titus andronicus. A MORE PERFECT UNION. oh no! oh my! BE A STAR (Daytrotter). shugo tokumaru. GREEN RAIN. say hi. OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH. taraf de haidouks. HORA CA LA URSARI. joy division. TWENTY FOUR HOURS. the cure. PLAY FOR TODAY. an horse. SHOES WATCH. blitzen trapper. THE MAN WHO WOULD SPEAK TRUE. simon & garfunkel. ANJI.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Wettlesen 10
Das ging dieses Jahr furchtbar an mir vorbei (ich fürchte, wegen der WM, ein trauriges Eingeständnis), aber ich sehe gerade auf der detailreichen Website die Diskussion über den Text von Dorothee Elmiger, und irgendwie scheitern da Kritiker über 40 heftigst an einer Autorin unter 30. For future reference: die "apokalyptische Folie" des immer noch schwelenden Kohlefeuers unter der Stadt ist keine Erfindung, und während ich den Text las, erinnerte ich mich an meine erste Reaktion auf "Silent Hill": mine fire in Wikipedia eintippen. Vielleicht morgen mehr? Ich finde, man lernt in Kärnten mehr über den Zustand der Literaturkritik als über den der deutschsprachigen Literatur, aber vielleicht habe ich auch nur die falschen Erwartungen.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
People disappoint me.
Marc Blucas' moustache doesn't even get an honorary mention by the New York Times' slating review of "Knight and Day" although it's probably the scariest and therefore best part of the movie.
Also: best thing to come out of the World Cup so far - discovering "The Weakest Link" on BBC Entertainment (in-between matches). Oh you British people with your sadistic, creepily ageless game show hosts.
Friday, June 18, 2010
An evening at the movies...
- I don't remember "The Picture of Dorian Gray" having that many sex scenes, but I read it a long, long time ago. Or probably, the makers of the movie were like "this is the 21st century, so let's make all the subtle hints blatantly graphic so that those kids get it, too". Said kids, particularly of the male kind, did not very much care for it though.
- I saw the "Inception"-trailer for the first time on the big screen. It looks awesome. Is that Ellen Page's character screaming "Wake me up" at the end? (yeah, I saw the movie dubbed, which means that the one thing that might have redeemed it was missing)
- That "Twilight" trailer was more amusing when followed by Robert Pattinson's interpretation of Kurt Cobain in "Remember Me". And Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning were WAY more entertaining in "The Runaways" (I think I'd be much less creeped out by the 14-18 year olds if they were obsessed with that movie).
- Rebecca Hall's character was very endearing until the grand finale. Was there really a suffragist in Wilde's story?
- I also don't remember that the ending took place during WWI. Considering that Wilde died in 1900, it probably DIDN'T.
- The movie worked very well as a horror film though.
- MARC BLUCAS HAS A MOUSTACHE IN "KNIGHT AND DAY"!!! (Naturally, I was the only one at the theatre recognizing that it was Marc Blucas)
- Seriously, that disturbing image is going to haunt me longer than the actual picture of Dorian Gray.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Markets and culture in principle do not respect the gravity of territory.
"If space becomes irrelevant for the flow of capital or information, the territorial state becomes irrelevant too. This is the meaning of globalization in relation to the state: the state, immobile and fixed to a territory, is incapacitated to control hypermobile, deterritorialized economic and cultural flows. The underlying assumption is that in the past economic and cultural transactions had been territorially fixed, and thus controlled by the state. This is a most problematic assumption, because capitalist markets are inherently globalizing and decoupled from territory, while cultural innovations, from the cognitive invention of advanced mathematics in ancient Egypt to the moral invention of universal human rights in the European Enlightenment, had never been limited to their place of birth. Markets and culture in principle do not respect the gravity of territory."
Christian Joppke: Immigration Challenges the Nation-State, p 12
I am way too easily swayed by British accents.
"Never Let Me Go". Director: Mark Romanek. Screenplay: Alex Garland. Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.
I read this a couple of years ago, but somehow, I believe the language of the novel irritated me? I don't quite remember what I did not like, because the idea behind it is brilliant, and even more significant after watching "Dollhouse" - but maybe I'll pick it up again, as I usually enjoy discovering how my perception of things changes over time. Anyways, the movie looks amazing, and has one of the most interesting list of of actors and actresses I've seen in a while. Andrew Garfield played the comic relief in "Sugar Rush" but did incredibly well in the first part of "Red Riding" (a three-part series about a fictional serial murderer in Yorkshire during the 70s and 80s, based on the real case of the "Yorkshire Ripper"). Carey Mulligan was brilliant as Sally Sparrow in "Doctor Who" and "An Education" was a movie I watched knowing nothing, which happens way too little lately, that took me completely by surprise. Keira Knightley is Keira Knightley. Finally, a movie to join the very small list of films I'm excited about (so far: the first part of the last "Harry Potter" and "Inception", also because of the rather brilliant casting.).
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
I laughed.
"The English monarchy, as has been said, reigns but does not rule. From the aesthetic point of view it will matter a bit, because the prospect of a morose bat-eared and chinless man, prematurely aged, and with the most abysmal taste in royal consorts, is a distinctly lowering one. And a king does have the ability to alter the atmosphere and to affect the ways in which important matters are discussed."
Slate: Charles, Prince of Piffle, June 14, 2010
Also, in case you haven't noticed, hot weather does not really contribute to my ability to deal with serious issues, such as the oil spill, ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan or the latest concerning election results in the Netherlands and Belgium.
(and one of my best friends has organized a massive project that will result in a concert at a prestigious venue and be broadcast live on the radio and I am a bit giddy and excited about that...)
Friday, June 11, 2010
...and before you know it, they got their facebook all up in your twitter.
I'm not sure whether I've said this on here before but "Parks and Recreation" is one of the most brilliant new comedy show and apart from being funny, it is also about small-town politics. It's like a small-scale version of "The West Wing" (well not really but it does have Rob Lowe now). And one of the reasons why it's so amazing? The cast, and particularly Aubrey Plaza.
Also: Corin Tucker announced a tour to promote her solo album, "Torchwood" is going to return for a fourth season, set mostly in North America (American cable channel Starz produces - Cardiff gets "Being Human" starting next season), starring John Barrowman and Eva Myles, and io9 has a smart article that praises "made it up as they went along" over "the grand masterplan", although I'm not sure whether Joss "Be back before Dawn"-Whedon really qualifies.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
UN approves new Iran sanctions
"But Iran has defied repeated demands from the Security Council to stop enriching nuclear fuel, and immediately vowed to disregard the new sanctions as well. Despite earlier resolutions, Iran has built new, sometimes secret, centrifuge plants needed to enrich uranium — and has enriched it to higher levels of purity."
NY Times: U.N. Approves New Sanctions to Deter Iran, June 09, 2010
Foreign Policy: In the aftermath of UN sanctions vote, Iran warns of "reduced" cooperation, June 10, 2010
Zeit: Neue Sanktionen gegen Iran, 9. Juni 2010
The Guardian: UN sanctions on Iran: A gift to the regime, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
I didn't expect that to happen
"Das Staatsoberhaupt bedauerte in seiner Erklärung, dass es in seinen Äußerungen zur Rolle der Bundeswehr "in wichtigen und schwierigen Fragen zu Missverständnissen kommen konnte". Köhler hatte auf dem Rückflug nach einem Besuch der Bundeswehr in Afghanistan dem Deutschlandradio ein Interview gegeben, in dem er Auslandseinsätze der Bundeswehr auch mit der Wahrung deutscher Wirtschaftsinteressen begründet hatte.
Die Äußerungen hatten eine heftige Debatte ausgelöst. Später ließ Köhler seine Äußerungen präzisieren. Ein Sprecher sagte in der vergangenen Woche, die Afghanistan-Mission sei nicht gemeint gewesen. Kanzlerin Merkel hatte am Freitag über eine Sprecherin deutlich gemacht, dass sie zu den Äußerungen Köhlers keine Stellung nehmen will. Der Klarstellung durch Köhler sei nichts hinzuzufügen."
Die Zeit: Bundespräsident Köhler tritt zurück, 31. Mai 2010
I don't really follow political debate in Germany, but was their a wide-spread demand for a resignation? This took me completely by suprise, although I guess it is relevant that this was the GERMAN president indicating that the German military would not just get involved in conflicts for national security and humanitarian causes. New elections have to take place within the next 30 days; former Federal Minister of Family Affairs and current Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen is a possible candidate.
Die Presse: Die Rücktrittserklärung von Horst Köhler, 31. Mai 2010
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Bundespräsident Horst Köhler ist zurückgetreten, 1. Juni 2010
FAZ: Der Fahnenflüchtling, 1. Juni 2010
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