January 2008

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2008.

A sunny winter’s day in Lausanne…

January 22, 2008 in La vie à la Suisse | 2 comments

… which turned out to be very warm! Last sunday, the needle rose as high as 12C, and that in the middle of January! So, I took the opportunity to take a walk through Lausanne, stopping at some nice vantage points to take pictures. Check out my picture page to see some nice panoramas of Lake Geneva (ou Lac Léman en français)!

Otherwise, things are rather quite around here. January is almost over, with an even quieter February looming up. For the time being I am getting my kicks by folliwng the American Presidential candidate nomination process. Don’t worry, I am not going to turn this into a political blog. There are a lot of smart people out there commenting and analyzing the race, with my rudimentary knowledge I wouldn’t be really adding anything to it. The only thing I wanna mention here is this amazing web page called The Green Papers, which gives not only clever and interesting comments, but also has all th etechnical information how the nomination process and later the actual election works. And while you are browsing around, check also their list of presidential hopefuls… There are some really crazy goofballs under them! If you are lucky, they might even have a webpage.. 🙂

While a lot of people are aware of the American election process, surely only Germans are following the election craziness in Hessen, if at all. Again, Iwill restrain from any deeper commenting/ranting (at least at this point), I will just say that I am hoping feverishly that this election kicks Koch out of power! He is one of those yucky arrogant bastards who always conjurer up an evil, evil foreigner to get themselves elected. The political landscape will be a better with him out of power, and right now it looks as if there is a real chance for voting him out of office! So, all you guys living in Hessen, don’t forget to cast you vote next Sunday! I am counting on you!

I should also mention that Hamburg is electing a new Senat in February. And as always, there is this uneasy feeling that really doesn’t matter who is elected mayor, since the main two parties, CDU and SPD, don’t differ so much in Hamburg; somehow the party in power ends up being pro business and pro millionaires. And the water keeps flowing down the Elbe….

Ok, so much for today. Before you close your browser, check out the Oscar nominations! I for my part have seen almost none of the movies, because most of them haven’t been released in Europe yet! Bummer!

Movie Week III: Gone Baby Gone

January 16, 2008 in Take me out to the Movies | Permalink

Ben Affleck directs? Sounds scary at first, but “Gone Baby Gone” is a fantastic movie with an uncomprosing and grim feel story to the very end! After the disappearance of a small girl, Casey Affleck and his partner Michelle Monaghan, both PIs that are speciallized in missing people, are asked by the aunt-in-law to help find her. The police captain, Morgan Freeman, teams them up with two experienced cops played by John Ashton and a brilliant Ed Harris. Investigating together in Boston’s poor neighborhoods, they quickly find out that the missing girl might have actually been abducted, with drugs and stolen money being the key reasons… Sure enough, things turn out not to be what they seem at first or at second, and after some very well placed surprises and twists, the movie concludes quite low-key and with a bitter taste.

What I found most intriguing at the end was that after our “heros” all tried to do the right thing, what they thought was the best and most ethical, they all pay the price in a real world, where the right thing to do isn’t necessarily the best. None of the good guys choices is too outrageous, making their motivations accessible to the viewer throughout the whole film, thus underlining the moral ambiguity at the end. All in all I would say that this is a very interesting movie and a must!

Movie Week II: Rendition

January 16, 2008 in Take me out to the Movies | 2 comments

Well, this is going to be a short post. There isn’t really much to say about this movie. The (main) story is pretty much straight forward: After a CIA operative is unintentionally killed during a suicide bombing, an Egyptian-American is taken and sent to one of the many secret interrogation cells the CIA has in cooperation wioth local agencies. Allegedly, he has received phone calls by the very terrorist whose organization claimed responsibility for the bombing earlier. To make the whole thing spicier it turns out that the target of that bombing is the very same Egyptian police officer that conducts the interrogation…

Now, the setup is good and could have led to a very important movie about the US’ decent into the lowlands of terror and torture. Instead, the plot above that I would consider to be the central story of this movie is told in paralled to two more (sub)plots: There is for one the obviously super pregnant wife of the abductee that is starting her very own investigation efforts without achivieng anything except triggering the birth of her child; and secondly, the daughter of our police officer has fled from home and is mingling with a boy that has a secret agenda… While trying to balance those three threads into one narration, the movie looses its main objective and message. Rather, the whole mix looks and feels like a not so succesful copy of 21 grams or Babel: Different characters, all connected with each other through a violent event. But here, one will not find Iñárritu’s artful links between his protagonists: the chracters that are linked just meet or know each other. Period.

After two hours or so, the movie left no memorable moment, no lasting impression with me…

Movie Week I: Into The Wild

January 15, 2008 in Take me out to the Movies | Permalink

Looks like as if I am going to write my second post today! Truly shocking! Anyway, there is a good reason for this outburst of creativity: To discipline my feeding frenzy in the evenings, I am going to go to the movies every evening this week! That way, I stay away from my fridge and get to catch some flix that seem very much worth watching!

So, tonight I kicked off with “Into The Wild”. Sean Penn directs an adaption of Jon Krakauer’s book with the same title about the life of Christopher McCandless: After graduating from college, Chris severes his ties with his hitherto life, abandoning his family, most of his possessions, and his prospects of an ordinary life, to embrace his own version of Thoreau’s Walden project. After being two years on the road, criss crossing the US, he ends up in Alaska, spending there the last four months of his life before he dies of starvation.

Chris’ journey from his childhood home to a bus wreck made shelter in the Alaskan wilderness is twofold: There is his own quest; and there is him touching the lifes of the people he meets on the road. These two apsects are interlinked by the very philosphy that drives Chris:

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
— Henry David Thoreau

However, I think that this is also the source of the tragedy in his story. As much as his search for truth and profoundness changes the people he meets, he does not seem to find his answers till the very end. Always on the edge of being driven away from or compelled towards something, his journey outward is an adventure to uncover his inner self. And it is in the solitude and the bitter fight for his own life that he seems to find the truth about himself.

What I liked most about the movie is that it withhelds (almost) any kind of judgement on the characters. Certainly, we get to know Chris’ family through his and his sister’s eyes, a view that passes a strong judgement on their parents. And there is the scene in Los Angeles, where Chris watches the rich and beautiful hanging out in a bar, underlining the contempt he has for their life style. Besides that the camera remains neutral: we don’t have to choose between Chris the hero or Chris the fool nor do we have to understand his choices. It is up to each viewer himself if Chris’ outlook on life does reflect on his. And that, in my opinion, makes this a great movie…

New Year, New Host, New Look!

January 14, 2008 in La vie à la Suisse | Permalink

Well, well, well, it has been a loooong time! Too long, some of you may say, but the creative mind behind those razor-sharp comments and analyses had to rest awhile, get adjusted to the new surrounding and its challenges.

But before we celebrate the return of the traveller, I might add that I will be very busy in the near future, so don’t expect the post count to sky rocket! I will try to do some more frequent updates here, that’s all I can promise right now…

As you can see, not only has the design changed a bit (and might be subject to more changes), I am also now part of the wordpress.com family. The old blog was hosted on a friend’s webpage, and he decided to discontinue it. But don’t worry, all your ol’ and favorite posts made it safe and sound through the import/export process. Concerning the title and the “About” page, I haven’t really thought of anything witty yet, so feel free to give me your opinion about it. I might even consider it… 🙂

Meanwhile, I have returned from my Xmas vacation. Leaving around the 21st, I spent two weeks in Hamburg and London to relax and celebrate the reunion with friends and family. Tradition like the legendary Xmas eve video session as well as food and drink cravings were honored. In Hamburg, I was very pleased to see that the Xmas market at the Jungfernstieg was still around after Boxing Day, so I could indulge in some Glühwein and Schmalzgebäck. I also dropped into the new Europapassage, but it was very full, so I just paid a short visit to a book store and then fled the masses. Another thing I was looking forward to, but didn’t do, was going to the movies in one of my ol’ places. But shockingly enough, the selection of movies in general and movies in english in particular were awful and in comparison to Lausanne (sic!) even outdated (SIC!). Who would have thought that? It seems that we are getting movies even earlier than Britain, at least in some cases (I am Legend, for example, started here a week earlier).

London was more visiting people than doing sight seeing, but I did make it to the Tate Modern. I must say that I wasn’t as awake and attentive as I wanted to be, which is probably why I dismissed the “crack on the floor” in the Turbine Hall right away, but as I had to admit afterwards to my increasingly irritated company, it did make us discuss itself and the cocept of art in general. A lasting impression, however, was caused by a totally different work: “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion” by Francis Bacon. Mind that the version at the Tate is the 2nd version, which is described near the end of the Wikipedia article. I would have loved to see a complete crucifixion by him…

Anyway, that was my vacation, and I have been back to Lausanne for a week now. The biggest change is that it somehow seems a bit less frightening and overwhelming here. Sure, the language barrier is still high as the Great Wall, and sure enough there are tons of things I have to do to get my job rolling. But leaving for some longer time and coming back has given me a bit more perspective on this place. And I do notice now more than before, that Lausanne is fairly international, you do hear all sorts of languages being spoken in the streets. I guess I wasn’t listening too carefully before. And things do change for the better, as I realized two days ago when I noticed that the rules to book the laundry room had changed! Maybe there is hope for me here after all! Besides, even in the winter Lausanne (and surroundings) has lots of nice things to offer. There is the Festival de Ballons coming up, for example, so stay tuned for my coverage. Of course there are still a lot of things to be learned and done (my apartment still looks a bit empty…), but over time it’ll all play out well, I believe!

Ok, this is all for now. I will end this first post in 2008 with a very fond Happy New Year to you all!