Last week I had to leave the post-graduate college’s summer school Technologies and their Environments: The Circulation of Materials, People, and Knowledge at the St. Jakobsberg monastery early – to my regret, because there were quite a few people who were as charming as they were clever. However, the lure was big enough to make me leave: I was accepted as a participant who can show a video presentation for the conference InEvidence, hosted by CRASSH and the German department of Cambridge University. The conference was a big success – many excellent presentations by both big names and people working on their PhDs, and, in addition, we also had some art going on, in particular the very impressive and well done performance of the duo Martin Nachbar & Jochen Roller with mnemonic nonstop. A cartographic duet. The atmosphere between the participants was very relaxed and open, too.
The only drawback was the density of the program – the pauses were short. Too short for people to actually be able to take enough time to watch the video presentations that were offered. Therefore I decided to upload the video that I showed during the conference. It is called subtle. Evident. Encountering the materiality of the Potsdamer Platz. The video is almost 12 minutes long, the file 180 MB big and formatted as .mp4. It can be played using recent versions of QuickTime Player, VLC, Real Player and probably also a few others. I hope you enjoy watching it.
Archive for 2007
Live Free or Die Hard – as good as it could be.
Friday, July 6th, 2007Well, it was a surprise invitation: Kerstin and I were asked if we want to come along and watch Die Hard 4.0 in Oslo. We decided to come along – and both of us decided that it was a good decision. The cinema was huge (the Colosseum in Oslo), filled to the last row, and very much adequate to the effects in the movie which were also: huge. Other than that, the script was fast-paced, did not have any leaks, and the acting was fitting. Bruce Willis may be an evil right-wing conservative, but being that makes him a perfect fit for this role, and Justin Long is a good counter-character. So if you are in for pure entertainment with a lot of action: go for it, because much to my surprise this movie is an equal to the first Die Hard.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – entertainment, nothing more.
Sunday, June 17th, 2007Not much to say about this one. The most remarkable fact is probably that I saw it in the cinema on an island (Juist, of course). If you enjoyed the previous movies, you’ll enjoy this one too. There are some nice scenes, but I think that the story of the first movie was better, while the second one had some funnier aesthetic ideas (think of Johnny Depp’s eye make-up) – in this one, however, Keira Knightley is prettier than in the first two movies, so it kind of equals itself out. It’s a Jerry Bruckheimer production, so it just can’t be really good.
IMDb entry | Trailer
2 Days in Paris – mischievous disorientations.
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007The french actress Julie Delpy takes Woody Allen into a 21st century international couple staying for a few days in Paris setting. When Julie Delpy as Marion appears to be utterly confused, helpless and at the same time talkative and constantly probing her relationship with an architect with whom she lives in New York, a transformed version of Woody Allen talks, loves, and cries her way through the movie. As the movie continues it constantly reproduces clichés about Americans and French in general, and about Parisians and the creative class in particular – sometimes these clichés seem a bit too thick, but most of the time the product is fast paced, funny, and generally entertaining because of two reasons: (a) often enough it links into things I have experienced myself and (b) the characters remain lovable even in their absurdity.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Nacht über der Choriner Straße.
Monday, May 28th, 2007Was man viel zu selten tut: Nachts auf dem Balkon stehen und schauen. Meistens putze ich dabei meine Zähne, was der Situation womöglich etwas von ihrem Charme nimmt…
Unwetter.
Sunday, May 27th, 2007Hier ein kleines Chat Protokoll:
ozean [17:38:19]: tröpppel
ozean [17:38:27]: weh tröppel
ozean [17:38:32]: leichtes geblitzel
ozean [17:39:26]: tropf weh blitzel
ozean [17:39:39]: plädder
ozean [17:39:42]: wehhh
du [17:39:45]: hihi
ozean [17:40:14]: rrumpel
ozean [17:40:19]: *plock*
ozean [17:40:23]: (hagel?)
ozean [17:40:32]: plickediplock
ozean [17:40:38]: prassel!
ozean [17:40:42]: blitz!
ozean [17:40:45]: PLOCK
ozean [17:40:49]: PRASSEEL
du [17:40:52]: krass, wo plockt es denn
ozean [17:40:52]: WEHEEEEHHH
du [17:40:53]: ?
du [17:41:11]: noch da?
du [17:41:18]: weggeplockt?
du [17:43:31]: øh?
ozean [17:44:10]: uff
ozean [17:44:17]: krassus
du [17:44:20]: was denn?
ozean [17:44:25]: musste hier erstmal einsatz machen
Full Metal Village – Nähe. Und Distanz.
Thursday, May 24th, 2007Nachdem der erste Versuch gescheitert ist, weil es keine Karten mehr gab, hat es gestern doch noch geklappt und wir sind in die Spätvorstellung des als Heimatfilm
untertitelten Dokumentarfilms Full Metal Village gegangen. Eine sehr gute Entscheidung, denn dieser Film ist wirklich hervorragend. Er macht genau das, was ich zu häufig bei Dokumentationen vermisse: die DokumentarfilmerInnen werden mit in den Film einbezogen. Die Gefilmten reden mit ihnen, sind darüber verunsichert, wie die Filmenden sie beziehungsweise das, was sie sagen, finden, schauen sie an und scherzen mit und über sie. Da die Filmemacherin Sung Hyung Cho genauso viel Respekt wie Interesse zeigt, öffnen sich die Menschen, ohne sich entblößen zu müssen. So entsteht eine sehr feine Balance zwischen Nähe und Distanz, eine Balance, die das Anschauen und Anhören dieses Films zu einem großartigen Erlebnis machen. Es gibt viele schöne Momente, es gibt wirklich witzige Momente, in denen das Kinopublikum mit großer Lust gelacht hat, und es gibt Momente in denen klar wird, wie die Menschen auf dem Land dazu kommen, nicht bloß konservative, sondern auch (mehr oder weniger latent) rechte Positionen einzunehmen. Und das alles tun sie in sehr intimer Weise gegenüber eine Filmemacherin, die aus Korea kommt. Und dann gibt es noch die schönen, traurigen und stillen Momente. Momente, die tiefe Sympathie für Menschen wecken, die einen Lebensstil pflegen, von dem meist so getan wird, als gäbe es ihn überhaupt nicht mehr. Alles in allem wird es schwer, diesen Film in diesem Jahr noch zu toppen. Für mich ein wichtiger Film, den ich allen nur empfehlen kann. Wer das Landleben aus eigener Anschauung kennt – und sei es auch nur als daneben stehender Bekannter – und wer das Herz im Norden trägt, die/der sollte diesen Film unbedingt und wenn irgend möglich auch auf großer Leinwand anschauen.
IMDb entry | Trailer
The Curse of the Golden Flower – From single colors to complex patterns of richness.
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007For me, Yimou Zhang’s movies are about style, about aesthetics, about colors, movements and emotions. Hero has been particularly strong in this department. I really cannot judge The House of Flying Daggers, since I have only seen it in bad quality on a small screen – seeing Yimou Zhang’s movies on the big screen is a must. In this movie, colors do signify solidarities and they also speak of the clash between gold and silver, the clash between the reigning sun and the silent but still present moon. Martial Arts only appear sporadically in this movie – it is more of a theatric play, showing the subtle moves in a game of life and death, in which words are not spoken loudly – and thus the silence is contrasting with the regular announcements of the hour of the day and its meaning by a herold who is walking through the scenes again and again, introducing another drip of poison in the relations between the main protaginists everytime he appears with his bell and his ritual announcements.
I am still somewhat undecided about how I would classify this movie. Which is probably a good sign. Expecting simple but clear messages and colors alike– as in Hero – in was overwhelmed by the richness of colors, the many flowing, rain-like silk curtains, the patterned carpets, ornate dresses, relief-overgrown armors, and bejeweled hairdoes (does this word really exist? does or dos?). I also was unsure about the huge slaughtering scene close to the end of the movie. However, this movie is from China and when I try to perceive it in that context, it seems more plausible and more interesting. The only problem is, however, that I know very little about China. I guess that is why the movie has left me wondering…
IMDb entry | Trailer
Der richtige Rahmen für das richtige Buch.
Monday, May 7th, 2007Bevor das Wetter wieder schlechter wird oder ich mir wieder den Rücken derart verreiße, dass ich nur so wenig sitze wie irgend möglich, habe ich mich heute endlich mal wieder am Nachmittag auf dem Balkon niedergelassen um ein bisschen zu schmökern. Die Szenerie schien mir angemessen genug, um sie auf einem Foto festzuhalten. Mottogebend hier: Michel de Certeaus Die Kunst des Handelns (im Original L’invention du quotidien). In diesem Büchlein geht es um die vielfältigen Taktiken, mit denen Menschen im Alltag die Zwänge der Gesellschaft unterlaufen, sie überlisten und mit ihnen spielen – soweit es ihnen möglich ist. Eine feine Inspiration. Ich habe das Thema gleich aufgegriffen und die Zwänge des allmählichen Bananenfaulens geschickt umschifft; die gelben Früchte kurzerhand samt Milch, Zucker und einem Hauch von Zimt in den Mixer gehauen und zu einem feisten Shake verarbeitet. Dazu dann noch ein übergebliebenes Marzipanei und ein frisch angespitzter Bleistift und schon haben wir einen feinen Lesenachmittag, bei dem man dann und wann mal den Blick über das Geschehen unten auf der Straße oder in den Baumwipfeln schweifen lassen oder etwas Shake in sich hineinkippen kann.
Spider-Man 3 – too many conflicts.
Saturday, May 5th, 2007While I liked the beginning of the most recent (and last?) part of the Spider-Man movies, it did not really grip me. For me, the first movie had style, charm, and romance – in the two follow-ups these magic ingredients were lost somewhere in the mix. Were the performances of the main actors not good enough? Maybe, at least not good enough to make up for the overly complex and many-threaded plot that was not resolved in a very convincing way. In the last part of the movie, one emotional moment had to follow the other too quickly to be savoured for itself and to develop its own taste. This is a pity, since I like both the main characters and the main actors… Nonetheless, there are certainly many superhero movies that are much worse.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Weltrevolution?
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007Sollte man in Berlin sein und nicht mitbekommen haben, dass heute Walpurgisnacht ist und morgen der erste Mai: spätestens jetzt sollte der Groschen fallen. Die Rotorblätter des Polizeihubschraubers dröhnen über der Stadt. Dann wollen wir mal sehen…
Sunshine – Roasting skin and popcorn.
Friday, April 27th, 2007I entered the cinema like I prefer to do it: not knowing what the movie I am going to see is about. I only knew the title. Sunshine. Not very telling, isn’t it? And I knew that someone said it’s good. Equipped with popcorn and a beer and being in good company, I passed a poster that told me the director (Danny Boyle) also is responsible for Trainspotting. Exciting news. The near-apocalyptic, space ship setting of the movie took me by surprise. The well-told story and a range of interesting characters created a good base for a good film. All of this is set into scene with a good camera and several well-cast actors (we know Michelle Yeoh from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). If you are into sci-fi movies that at least try to present natural laws and physics as they should work, you should better forget all of this kind of knowledge before watching. The story-telling and the search for interesting scenes has dictated what is possible, how quickly people freeze in space and makes fun of the concept of gravity. On the other hand, this has produced some beautiful, some eerie and some shocker-style effects. Taken together, this is a solidly entertaining, well done (that is: not a-point) movie.
As the crew of the space ship gets closer and closer to the sun, trying to nuke it back into activity, we lost sound in the Rex cinema in Darmstadt. The movie lost its voice, the crew was getting closer to being roasted every minute, and we were recompensated with a popcorn voucher after the movie. Stay tuned if you want to know the occasion during which I consumed the free popcorn.
IMDb entry | Trailer
300 – hmpf.
Thursday, April 19th, 2007I do not know how the German comic language expression hmpf
should be translated to English. It expresses a certain discontent, mixed with a dose of frustration and recognition of the fact that the cause of the hmpf
will not easily be removed. This describes my feeling towards this movie pretty accurately. I went to see it because of the aesthetics. Comic style – since it is an apaption of a graphic novel by Frank Miller. Who is known for his violent style. Well, the movie is violent too, of course. One thing that was interesting to me was to experience a qualification in my attachment to grittiness. I think I may have written gritty is good
in some other movie reviews here. This is not necessarily true. The Spartans were dirty, their helmets, shields and weapons were dented and dirty too. The was a lot of soil and blood. But it was not good. Maybe, I could argue that this was not really gritty: there was dirt and blood – but there was no pain. The 300 Spartans died. But they did not feel actual pain. Or confusion. All characters and emotions were clean. That is not what I mean when I say I like gritty. Too much perfection. And don’t get me started about the politics and philosphy of this movie. There is a measurable degree of fascism going on. There is a lot of really bad stereotyping of minorities of all kinds. And no irony. If this would be the next thing after postmodernism: I don’t want it! I can only recommend this movie to one group: those who have an interest in representations of violence. (By the way, the story is not exactly gripping either.)
IMDb entry | Trailer
Balcony with a view.
Sunday, April 15th, 2007Just in case you are wondering why the balcony topic
turns up every year around April: to the left you see the explanation. I have neither fiddled with the colors, nor did I go to any length to get at this perspective. Just come over and visit me these days, walk out onto the balcony and take a deep breath… The anticipation of finally experiencing this view helps me get through the winter.
In the lower left (behind the blossoming cherry tree) you can see the newly built Waldorf Kindergarten.
From Fog to Frühling.
Friday, April 13th, 2007This morning at 6:15, Kerstin and I left our cozy apartment on Juist, entering the thick fog outside. During the walk from the Loog to the harbor, we collected dew on our brows (and sweat on our backs because – surprise, surprise – we were somewhat late-ish). The fog started to lift while we were riding the train through East Frisian meadows. When we made a stop in Oldenburg, the sky was clear and the sun showed off its regained strength. We have never been to Oldenburg before, but it seems nice enough to visit even when the sun is not shining. In Bremen we split: Kerstin is testing the newly established Ryanair connection Bremen–Torp, while I continued on to Berlin. In Hannover Hbf I stowed away my jacket. Arriving in Berlin I encountered people in T-Shirts, realized that the cherry tree is opening its first buds, and now at 19:20 I am sitting here on the balcony and am astounded by the fact that I do not freeze even though the sun is setting on the other side of our house. And the best thing is: this summer I won’t have to stay inside, sweating into the towel wrapped around my chair and writing my dissertation! Ah, mercy to those poor souls who still have to finish their dissertations… (The word chuckle
comes to mind.)
Sich beblasebalgen.
Friday, March 30th, 2007Mal wieder ein neues Wort für die Rechtschreibkorrektur. Ein verbreitetes Missverständnis bezieht sich auf den Blasebalg. Man denkt nämlich, der diene bloß dazu, Sand, Staub und andere unliebsame Partikel fort zu pusten. (Und zwar ohne sich darum zu kümmern, wo der kleine Wind die unerwünschten Kleinigkeiten ablegt.) Nach dem Spaziergang entlang des bestürmten Strandes: blas, blas! Fort mit dem Sand von der Kamera. Fort mit der Erinnerung an Salz und flatternde Ärmel. In den Momenten, in denen man sich noch nicht aufraffen kann, weiter zu tippen und einen neuen Gedanken zu fassen: blas, blas! Fort mit den Resten der alten Brötchen, die zwischen den Tasten hervorlugen. Vielleicht schafft das ja Platz für eine feine Idee.
Damit könnte man den Balg dann wieder an seinen Platz befördern. Ab in die Schublade, die Fototasche oder den anderen düsteren Ort, in dem der Balg sein Dasein fristet. Da liegt er dann und wird nicht mehr Verbalgt. Das Ventil geschlossen. Die Düse in stiller Luft. Ein tragisches Schicksal. Ein Schicksal, das die Existenz des Balges links liegen lässt. Ein Schicksal aber auch, das Potentiale schlummern lässt, die in diesem Gegenstand bereit sind. Denn nicht nur Tastatur und Kamera brauchen gelegentlich einen gut gezielten frischen Wind. Nein, auch der werte Autor mag sich manchmal etwas eingestaubt fühlen. Sitzend im eigenen Dunst. Steht aber ein Blasebalg bereit, so kann der träge Schleier vertrieben werden. Einmal links, einmal rechts wird der Balg gedrückt: blas, blas! Fort mit alten Gedanken, die sich niedergelegt haben. Etwas hand- und hausgemachter Wind im Antlitz, schon geht es weiter. So einfach ist das. Und vielleicht erinnert der kleine Wind ja auch an seinen großen Bruder und ist so Anlass, mal wieder vor die Tür zu gehen. Ab mit dem Balg in die Lade! Oder man erfreut sich doch einfach nur an diesem Gegenstand, der nicht nur total haptisch ist – nein! – er trägt auch noch so einen famosen Namen, dass er einfach der Niederschrift bedarf. Aber am besten hält man es mit dem Namen so wie mit dem Ding. Man füllt ihn mit Luft und bläst ihn in die Welt. Und wen es erfreut, der macht den Namen zu einem selbstreflexiven Tuwort.