Reading List: Juli

I'm embarrassed because it's summer and the list of books is short and the list of films is terribly, terribly long. I re-read King's "It" every four years and that usually means that I don't read anything else. It's a ritual. 

Fiction: 

Stephen King: It.
Juli Zeh: Schilf.
Pretty Little Liars.


Films: 

Persepolis (2005, Vincent Paroonaud, Marjane Satrapi) ****.
Mysterious Skin (2004, Gregg Araki) *****.
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about his Father  (2008, Kurt Kuenne) ****.
The Runaways (2010, Floria Sigismondi) ***.
Laurel Canyon (2002, Lisa Cholodenko) **.
Foxes (1980, Adrian Lyne) ***.
The Doom Generation (1995, Gregg Araki) **.
New Rose Hotel (1998, Abel Ferrara) **.
It (1990, Tommy Lee Wallace) ***.
Hellraiser III - Hell on Earth (1992, Anthony Hickox) ***.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001, Chris Columbus) ***.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002, Chris Columbus) ***.
Monsters, Inc. (2001, Pete Docter, David Silverman) ****.
Charlie Wilson's War (2007, Mike Nichols) ***.
Thirteen (2003, Catherine Hardwicke) **.
Puccini for Beginners (2006, Maria Maggenti) **.
Shank (2010, Mo Ali) ****/*. 
The Girl Next Door (2007, Gregory Wilson) *.
An American Crime (2007, Tommy O'Haver) *****.
Broken (2006, Simon Boyes/Adam Mason) ****. 

Series: 

Dive.
Merlin: Season 2.

Music: 

New Model Army: Vengeance.
New Model Army: No Rest for the Wicked.
Blumfeld: L'Etat et Moi
M.I.A.: /\/\ /\ Y /\
Blakroc: Blakroc.
Tocotronic: Kapitulation.
Tocotronic: Schall und Wahn.
Sufjan Stevens: Come On Feel the Illinoise.
Le Loup: The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly.

Randomness, etc.

Surprisingly, only seven banks failed the test that was supposed to determine how safe banks in the European Union are. Also surprisingly: While Greek banks did pretty well, five Spanish ones didn't make it.

Dissent Magazine notices a shift in German discourse concerning the involvement of troops in Afghanistan.

This Congressional Testimony of "Center for A New American Security" fellow Richard Fontaine sums up the importance and dangers of contractors for the American military.

Brigitte Schwaiger, author of "Wie kommt das Salz in Meer", died last week. I found the personal essays on depression that were published in "Spectrum" extremely haunting.

pop culture...

The Westboro Baptist Church, infamous for their anti-gay protests, chose to target the San Diego Comic Con this year, and were met with very creative reactions from the geeks and nerds who've had years of highschool terror to learn how to deal with stupid bullies. 

Probably one of the best thing to come out of comic con (apart from shots from "Super" that united Ellen Page, Nathan Fillion, Rainn Wilson and Liv Tyler): Joss Whedon was officially confirmed as director for The Avengers movie, and the cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson,  Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo. Gasp.

The A.V. Club interviews Leonard Nimoy, who quit acting a couple of months ago, about his work as a photographer.

The new cast (the third generation) of "Skins" will be revealed next Thursday. I fear for them, I really do.

From my window I will shut my eyes and let go

"After the marriage ended she turned to writing children’s stories, gaining special fame by turning two of them into television series — “Poly,” first broadcast in 1961, about a boy and a horse, and “Belle et Sébastien”  (1965), about the friendship between an orphan boy and the dog he finds wandering in the mountains. Both series starred her son, Mehdi, as did a later series she wrote about the tribulations of a teenager, “Le Jeune Fabre.”
“Belle et Sébastien” was dubbed for English television (as “Belle and Sebastian”) in 1967 and adapted in 1981 for a Japanese animated series, “Meiken Jolie,” which was itself translated into English. The Scottish rock band Belle and Sebastian took its name from Ms. Aubry’s tale as well."

NY Times: Cécile Aubry, Actress and Writer of Children’s Stories, Dies at 81

That's what she said.

Ellen Page, interviewed by Craig Ferguson. I've heard good things about "Inception" from people who've seen it, but most of the reviewers I usually trust aren't too enthusiastic about it. I'll go and see it for the casting alone anyways.

"Probably more than people would think because of this face". Oh Ellen.

Oh also...

for some reason, I'm the happiest lying in the shadow, hearing the wind through the leaves of the trees, listening to Tocotronic and Le Loup and Kante and Sufjan Stevens. I'm not a summer-person, but that was quite brilliant. 

Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!

"They have begun to shake the dirt / Wiping their shoulders from the earth / I know, I know the nations past / I know, I know they rust at last / They tremble with the nervous thought / Of having been, at last, forgot"

I'm back...

I'm not really in the mood to elaborate but we found the best restaurant in the town we stayed and might return just to eat there (it's just about an hour away from Vienna, so that's not nearly as crazy as it sounds). If you ever find yourself in the proximity of Podersdorf in the summer, consider eating here. It has the best atmosphere, food and the nicest staff. They also have a small petting zoo, not that people over 8 should get too excited over this (but I totally want a pet goat now).

These are some of the important things that happened while I was completely cut off (and the week before, because I couldn't figure out how to write about it): Carinthia has three new bilinguial gateway signs (apparently there is no commonly understood term for "Ortstafel"?) that meet the constitutional requirements, which the Landeshauptmann likened to World Cup referees making the wrong call. The United Nation's highest court decided that Kosovo's independence did not violate international law, but five member states of the European Union still don't recognize it and Russia and China are opposed to independence as well. Eurozine has a thematic focus on last year's internet-based University protests that started in Vienna and discusses internet-based activism in Europe.

In other news, I've filled the empty hole in my life that used to be "Skins" with "Pretty Little Liars" (I even read the books which were quite terrible and so far the tv series isn't following them too closely). I feel about eight years too old for the show, but Heather Hogan over at afterellen recaps it which is always a good reason to follow even the campiest of shows and Bianca Lawson, who is one of the six (I think that's about right?, not counting Kirsty Swanson or the Potentials) people who've ever played a vampire slayer in the Buffyverse, is a supporting character (a teenager, but she pulls it off way better than some other 30somethings who've tried).

How did I not know?

Dedicated and incredibly talented fans. They are the salt of pop culture.

This is what I'll convince my friends is the most awesome thing next week, when I'll be bitten to death by mosquitoes / die of a heat stroke. Burgenland, here we come.

Vertrauenverhältnis - mit einem Fremden

Eine Standardsituation im Theater sieht so aus: Fünf oder zehn Schauspieler verwalten gemeinsam ein Stück, einen Text, zu Neudeutsch eine Textfläche.
Das ist so, als nähme sich ein Callcenter des Stücks an. Wechselnde Sprecher schlüpfen mit trügerischer Verbindlichkeit in eine Situation, streifen eine Rolle über und wenig später wieder ab. Sie sind immer in Eile, denn sie haben mehrere Figuren zu betreuen.
So reiht sich das Theater ein in jene modernen Flexibilitätsterrorinstitute, in denen jeder alles können und keiner ein Gesicht haben muss. Die Flexibilität, welche der Markt vom Arbeitnehmer verlangt, sie zeigt sich wieder in den Anforderungen an den modernen Schauspieler.

DieZeit: Es war einmal? Schluss damit. Es ist!, 16. Juli 2010

A mill cannot grind with the water that is past.

"Der UVS sieht dies allerdings anders. Er stellte fest, dass die Aussagen der Tschetschenen und nicht jene der Polizisten glaubwürdig seien."Innenminister Ernst Strasser, der Leiter der niederösterreichischen Fremdenpolizei, seine Grenzbeamten, die Dolmetscher - im Ergebnis ist herauszulesen, dass sie alle vor Gericht nicht die Wahrheit gesagt haben", wird UVS-Richter Marzi in der Wochenzeitung zitiert. Ein gerichtliches Nachspiel wegen Amtsmissbrauchs drohe aber keinem der Genannten, denn das Delikt sei verjährt. Strasser wollte laut "Falter" keinen Kommentar abgeben."

DerStandard: Ex-Innenminister Strasser hat Asylwerber "nicht gehört", 13. Juli 2010

Beruhigende Dinge, die wir daraus lernen: es gibt keine Garantie dafür, dass ein Urteil erfolgt, bevor die verhandelten Tatbestände verjährt sind. Aber Hauptsache, der Staat beweist anderswo seine Prinzipientreue.

Falter: Strassers Tschetschenenlüge, 14. Juli 2010

I'll just leave this here...

Mostly because I feel that some people from "Skins" didn't get enough love for what they accomplished in their roles (Lisa Backwell!!). Plus, I hear this stuff is really gross, but I couldn't possibly know since nothing comparable exists here. 

Ollie Barbieri tries Vegemite. 

Also, still no confirmations for the movies, ffs.
Also also: what would we be without our shared grief for prematurely cancelled tv shows? (most recent entry: "Better Off Ted")

Musik, erste Hälfte 2010

Since I seem to be unable to write more than one coherent sentence about music, I thought I'd round up some of my favourite records of this year so far. It's video-heavy as usual, hence the cut.

Columnize your Randomness

One of the "Pictures of the Day" on the WSJ on June 29 is of a Greek police man hitting a woman in the face with his fist. On Tuesday, there were violent protests in Athens as a reaction to the strict austerity measures proposed by the government.
.

A wacky woman who is miraculously also a doctor has developed a drug that is meant to prevent "lesbian and masculine daughters". What, and if it doesn't work you get a refund? Or would your child have been even gayer? "The study, with just 26 participants, was too small to be definitive". One way to make sure that your kids aren't gay would be not having kids. Just saying.

The A.V. Club has a series of conversations on Philip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly". This one is about the film adaptation by Richard Linklater that I still find amazingly well-done considering that the source material seems impossible for the movie screen.

There's an interview with playwright and scriptwriter Jack Thorne on afterellen. He's responsible for some of the best episodes of "Skins" ("Chris", "Effy", "Sketch" and the second finale from the first generation, "Naomi" from the second). He's also writing the script for the "Skins"-movie scheduled to come out in 2011 (presumably only in British cinemas?), but he can't talk about it yet. His answers are short, but "it's a love story about a girl who doesn't want to be in love." is the shortest, most eloquent and beautiful way to sum up Naomi's path in "Skins".

Since there's barely any tv shows on at the moment (the phenomenal fifth season of "Doctor Who" is done), I gave "Leverage" a second shot, and it surprised me by turning into one of those small, really loveable shows that have such an amazing cast that it's irrelevant whether there is a greater mystery and if the stories make any sense. I've had troubles getting into "Chuck" or "White Collar" because something was missing - and apparently, the thing that is missing from both of these shows, to make them as dear to me as "The Middleman", was a complicated, flawed female character. Beth Riesgraf's Parker is like a different version of Anya from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer": she's socially awkward, obsessed with money, and a brilliant thief.  

SHARKER!

Also, remember a couple of weeks ago when I talked about how Andrew Garfield had developed into a serious actor since "Sugar Rush"? He was just cast as the new Spider-Man (in another re-boot because it's already been, what, four years since the last one?) If this means that more people will watch "Red Riding", "Boy A" and "Never Let Me Go" I'm all for it.

I feel horrible posting this but...

Favourite bits: 

HE IS SITTING IN HIS BASEMENT. 

"She is smiling, although she is crying on the inside"

"That always makes me laugh"

"Y'all just ain't gonna believe it"

"We are going to let a lesbian vampire comment on America?"

Dick Cheney, Vampire Slayer.

I'm half-heartedly convinced that this is a satire but YOU CAN NEVER BE SURE. Sometimes I'm almost sad that the wackiest people in this country haven't figured out how to use the internet yet, I am sure we are missing out on a lot of fun. 

Also: I probably wouldn't be so entertained by this if I lived where this guy can vote in an election.

At least they wrote a formal letter this time.

My mayor just sent me a letter saying he is helping migrants to battle patriarchal structures in their families. Considering that his party can't figure out how to fight them in non-migrant families, I REALLY WONDER HOW THAT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK OUT. 

Maybe I'll ask. 

This won't go anywhere, but...

"Die 17 Richter der großen Kammer des Europäischen Gerichtshofs für Menschenrechte (EGMR) haben sich in Straßburg mit der Beschwerde einer italienischen Mutter beschäftigt, die in erster Instanz erfolgreich gegen Italien geklagt hatte. Kruzifixe in Schulen seien eine Verletzung der Religionsfreiheit, befand die Vorinstanz des EGMR damals. Ein Urteil der großen Kammer wird in einigen Monaten erwartet.
Bei der Anhörung wies die italienische Regierung jede Verletzung der Grundrechte entschieden zurück. Kreuze seien "Ausdruck der Tradition" und "volkstümliches Symbol", sagte der Vertreter der Regierung in Rom, Nicola Lettieri."

Die Zeit: Streit um Schul-Kruzifixe erreicht Europa-Ebene, 30. Juni 2010

There is more than one side to this argument. I am an atheist, and I would feel more comfortable in a state that did not openly display Christian symbols in official buildings and class rooms. Back in school, when I was about 14 or 15, I remember having an extended argument over this, and I believe at some point someone just took the cross down and it remained that way until I graduated and nobody protested. Something tells me that this whole issue would be better solved on a local level, but then there is no guarantee that this works without any proper official conflict solving mechanisms in place.

On the other hand, every time the "culture and tradition" argument comes, and it always does, I wish someone would pop up and explain the significance of the separation of state and church for the modern democratic republic - and our CULTURE, and for science, for rational thinking and for human rights. Some of those things are important too and make life enjoyable.