Good combination

Essentials: very good and sunny weather, and a big green park not far away from home

Take: one Spanish, one Portuguese, one French, one British and one German, add some beers and ice cream

And enjoy a perfect Sunday afternoon.

And already the time has come

where it is better to shut the mouth while cycling. Flies, fruit flies and more of our insect friends are flying around, bumping into the eyes or mouths of cyclists. In case you were wondering, fruit flies have a taste of pepper when you swallow them involuntarily. (File under: unnecessary knowledge)

And in case you were wondering why I have the mouth open while cycling, this is either because I am singing or because I am insulting car drivers…  

Have a nice weekend!

Advertisement

Memorable day

A taxi driver gave me the priority; meaning he let me go ahead. Not only that this is remarkable anyway but I was also driving in the wrong sense of a one-way street… Could this be a sign for something? Like in the old Rome where Ravens or Eagels flying in this or that direction could mean going to war or not going to war?

Just wondering.  

Questions – answers

1. Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times
Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel, certainly. Every Christmas again. And of course, even if it is not a film “Dinner for One”

2. Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theatre
Memory research result: Lord of the Rings

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie
Denzel Washington, Jack Nickelson, Bully, Paul Newman, Jodie Foster, Robin Williams, Clive Owen, since Kill Bill: Uma Thurman

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie
To many names coming to my mind; small selection: Nicolas Cage, Jessica Alba, Sandra Bullock, Steve Martins, most German TV actors

5. Name a movie you can and do quote from.
The Ring must be destroyed (If my memory is right, you cannot find this in the book)

6. Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs
I can’t stand musicals. But the only film in which I probably now most of the lyrics for most of the songs is Walk the Line. But for the songs I know the lyrics for I also know the chords for… Does this count?

7. Name a movie you have been known to sing along with
”Walk the line”, Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel

8. Name a movie you would recommend everyone see
Everyone? Difficult. Ok, because it is really heard warming: Drei Haselnüsse for Aschenbrödel.

9. Name a movie you own
For the last time Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel and several films I own together with my sister like Sister Act

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops
Uma Thurman, and what could I not stand this woman at the beginning…

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?
I have not even been in an open-air theatre…

12. Ever made out in a movie?
First love, first date, no place to go (parents), no privacy… Guess!

13. Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet
I have not been in the cinema since December last year. I still want and have to see Das Leben der Anderen and probably a lot of other films I missed too.

14. Ever walked out of a movie?
NO! I have paid for watching! Walking out is even worse than not finishing a meal in a restaurant. At least in a restaurant you can tell the cook that your meal was awful, disgusting or nauseating but in a cinema, whom would you tell? I continue watching most on the films on TV even if I do not like them. My problem is that I always want to know the end. One exception I can remember was Chicago. Hell, was this boring.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theatre
In einem Land vor unserer Zeit when the dinosaur mum died. That is sooo sad!

16. Popcorn?
YES, but only fresh. Basically this means that the only cinema where I would eat sweet popcorn is the Woki in Bonn. Salted, when I am hungry, but it is better than I always thought before tasting it.

17. How often do you go to the movies
In good movie years, I would say around 10 to 15 times. This year is going to be a bad one, at least it seems so… No movie since January

18. What’s the last movie you saw in the theatre?
Children of Men. In Cape Town, South Africa. One and only film I saw there, I enjoyed it very much.

19. What’s your favourite/preferred genre of movie?
Action, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Animated films, small production films advertised by critical newspapers (Le petit bulletin), Drama and horror only when I am in the mood, films with favourite actors…

20. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theatre?
I am not sure. I remember a Russian film (Hase und Wolf) we watched at school when I was ? years old. Does this count?

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
X-Men III. I only went to see it because I saw the two others and because I am a sequel freak. But that one was bad, really bad. The thin but still recognisable thread leading through the first and second part was completely cut, the special effects were awful and ahhhhhhhh just forget about it.

22. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
Adams Äpfel – Adam’s apples. What a nice weird film seen at the Fantasy Film festival in Berlin last year. The story tells basically the classical fight of the forces of evil against the power of Go(o)d. Only that the evil is the normal while Go(o)d is completely crazy. Best film of black humour and political incorrectness in a very long time.

23. What is the scariest movie you’ve seen?
Scary like being afraid afterward? Well, then it was I know what you did last summer. After the film, I checked the car boot for at least two weeks every time before taking the car. But I also looked for several weeks under my bed after reading The red death from Poe (for my excuse: I was 14 or something like this)

24. What is the funniest film you have ever seen?
Funny like laughing every time I see it? Like hilarious? I guess that it would be animated films like Chicken Run or Shrek (one of the very few films where the sequel is at least as good as the first one, I am waiting for the three)

Stolen here. Links will come tomorrow. I am too tired now.

Survival rules for cyclistes in Brussels

1. Look out for taxis and buses. Try to stay out of there way. Never assume that they will brake for you.
2. Look out for all other kind of cars, trams, and trucks. Try to stay out of there way. Never assume that they will brake for you.
3. Look out for traffic lights but cross the streets when free. It is often safer to cross a red light then to cross a green light too close to a bus/taxi/mad driver.
4. Never ever expect from a driver of whatever kind of car to take a look in the rear view mirror before turning; and even less to look about his/her shoulder.
5. Never ever expect from drivers to signal before turning; and neither that they will turn in the direction they signaled.
6. Be the first one to brake down, you will live sensibly longer. Still, use free space when you get some, speed can be live saving too.
7. Arrive alive (That is actually the slogan of publicities from the South African Department of Transport, a country in which cycling and respectively traffic in general are much more life threatening than here)

Only because there are the elections tomorrow

Found through the most French friendly German newspaper.

Good to know: To 56%, I think like Frédéric Nihous. Here are the others:

2/ François Bayrou > 52%

3/ Ségolène Royal > 48%

4/ Nicolas Sarkozy > 44%

5/ Marie-Georges Buffet > 28%

6/ Dominique Voynet > 28%

7/ Philippe de Villiers > 28%

8/ Jean-Marie Le Pen > 16%

9/ Olivier Besancenot >16%

10/ Arlette Laguiller > 16%

I seriously do not know what to think about it. I mean, it is nice to know who of all these candidats thinks to a little bit more than the half alike to me but the problem is that this guy does not stand a chance against Bayrou, Royal and Sarko… And of course, I do not have the right to vote. Still, I am curious to see the results and I only hope that the French are not going to do the same thing as in 2002…

Weekend

Laziness has kidnapped my mind and my body. A long list is written of things waiting to be done. Only urgent things of course like buying groceries, updating the homepage I am webmaster for (the other one), lying in the park, reading books and much more.

Biggest tendency: sleeping, surfing, watching TV, daydreaming… Being lazy, quoi 😉

Wrong and right

“There are no stupid questions only stupid answers”, said the person asking the stupid question…

Earworm

One of this wonderful German words you can translate into English if you absolutely want to but which is so much more beauti- and meaningful in its original language. What does it mean earworm (this is particularly destined to French and English friends)?

An earworm that is when you have a song in mind you have to keep on singing. Your mind is switched to the “Replay” mode if you like the song or not. Of course, the whole story is extremely annoying if you can’t stand a song. I was once in a supermarket in Bonn (already not known for outstanding music) and they played the same sh** song three times (“Tanze Samba mit mir, Samba, Samba die ganze Nacht”). Not only that this is torture but I had the song for four days in mind.

Today, fortunately, it was a song I like which accompanied me throughout the day. I am singing in the office, singing on the bicycle, singing in the elevator, singing, singing, singing. Only appropriate way to work actively against the earworm is to have a look for the lyrics and the chords online and to learn playing it on guitar. Than, usually after two to three weeks, it passes away…

Been too much time in the sun

Love is the triumph of imagination about intelligence.

This is of course not true, at least not in my case. Can’t be. Never. The only excuse for my current state of mind is the weather. 27°C and sun in mid April – can’t be good. I ironed all my summer clothes yesterday – can’t be good. I see things flying others don’t see – well, you know.

Never mind,

la puce