London calling

Linda and Rachel are coming to Britain at the end of October, or so I have been told.

I have not seen either since 2004, so now I am planning a trip to London myself.
Since I have not had a real vacation this summer (No, going to my parents' place does not count. At all.), I do not even have a guilty conscience for leaving Berlin for a few days.

This summer was rather eventful in university-politics. Therefor I did not dare leave Berlin too long. But by now I reached a point at which I could not care less. Work can eat my pants.

Also I am very much looking forward to seeing the two again.

So now I just need to find cheap tickets. Or rob a bank.
Since London is so expensive, I will probably need to rob a bank anyway...

And now my cake should have cooled out enough so I can go to the birthday party. Yeah!


Currently listening to: Dvorák's Cello-Concerto in b minor

because of repeated requests from a young lady...

... here a video of our choir's Verdi-project this spring...

Maybe you can find me (but hopefully not hear me out of the choir).

Verdi-Requiem from Cantus Domus on Vimeo.

I wanna tell you 'bout a...

...film, not a girl. Though a girl will play a part in it and also the song from which's introduction the header for today's post is taken...
Most of my friends from Germany (not necessarily my friends who are german citizens) probably know by now about my obsession with the film "der Himmel über Berlin" (Wings of Desire in english), so they may safely skip this entry.
Unless of course they want to find out about one of the best films ever made.

The story is told in a few seconds and - to be honest - is not so important.

In the Berlin of the 80es, angels walk amongst humans, but are unable to interact with them. They can hear our thoughts and feel echoes of our emotions, yet are insubstantial.
Children sometimes notice them, but grown-ups have lost this ability.
Through the monocrome city, two angels, Cassiel (Bruno Ganz) and Damiel (Otto Sander) walk. They fullfill their role as celestial archivists, giving testimony to the lives of humans and nature alike. They have done so for billions of years, since the beginning of the world.
Now they grow ever more weary of their existance and ever more curious for the sensations of human life. Just knowing what it must be like to come home to feed the cat or for once not knowing everything has become an attractive prospect.
Then one day, Cassiel falls in love with Marion, a trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin) in a small circus.
With the help from a stragne american filmstar (Peter Falk, basicly playing himself), who seems to know the angels are around him, even though he is long grown up, Damiel crosses over into the mortal world and eventually finds Marion at a Nick-Cave-Concert (now we have returned to the words in the header). The end.

Sounds vaguely familiar? Well, there was an american remake in the 90es, city of angels. That was a revolting piece of sugary romance and I will not lose any more words on it.

So what makes Wings of Desire into such a great film?

Firstly, it is not an easy film to get into at first. The first 20 minutes or so go on without any plot-progression at all, it is just a sort of meditation.
But the pictures!
The camera is controlled by Henri Alekan, the grand seigneur of the camera and he shot some of the best shots ever done in cinema.
As long as we follow the viewpoint of the angels, the picture is in monocrome, showing how detached the angels are from the world.
Only when the point of view switches to humans and after Cassiel "falls", the film goes over to colour.
Add to that the superb music (some of the best contemporary music ever written for the cello) and the composition is unbeatable.

A big part of the dialogue was improvised and the rest was mostly done by playwright Peter Handke (this was before he went completely Bananas).

Peter Falk plays himself as a former angel, celebrating the little wonders of life. "To smoke, and have coffee - and if you do it together, it's fantastic." Even if you disagree with smoking, it does not change the point...

Alltogether this is a very poetic piece of cinema.

To those of you you care for this stuff: the film is rated PG-13...

And now three little videos to give you an impression of the look and feel of the film:



The official trailer



the man on the bridge - right from the middle of the film



The scene at the Nick Cave concert, once again we return to the header of this posting

And now, go get this film and watch it!

PS: there is a sequel, Farawy so close, which is a lot more standard fare when it comes to storytelling and not as good as the first one, but still quite OK.

I want to siiiiiiing!

The bad news arrived yesterday. My choir's next concert will be in a rather confined place and too many basses wanted to sing it, so two had to go. Since i did not sing the last project (I did not have the time thanks to just taking over a new office with the student administration and I did not like Brahm's Liebesliederwalzer that much anyway), I am out. At least for this project (and I really looked foreward to the Messiah). Oh well.
More time for other things, one might think. But the problem is, I really miss singing.
So now I have to embark on a quest for a new choir.
This should be easy, we are in Berlin, after all. There are very few places on Earth with more choirs. Alas, I have a few expectations.

• The choir has to fit my timetable. A timetable I more or less build around the other choir's rehearsals.
• The average age in the choir should not be too old. I have sung in three choirs in the past, where most people were 50 years old and older. While the music was good, the social life inside the choir happened without me.
• The choir should perform with a certain amount of quality. I am used to sing in a very good choir and do not want to lose that.
• Last but not least, after singing in a rather big choir focusing on oratories, I now want a smaller ensemble for a capella works.

This narrows it down quite a bit.

Well, next saturday, a friend of mine is celebrating her birthday and since she sings as well, there might be a few people there who could help me out with suggestions.

I will keep you informed on any new development.

Currently reading: "The Hippopotamus" by Stephen Fry. Review shall follow as soon as I am done.

just a few basic things

First of all, why did I start this blog?

Well. I do post on two other blogs, with a different user-name (Ajaw). Those two blogs are purely political, both concerning themselves (one of them more so than the other) almost only with university-politics.

I wanted an own blog, mainly for the entertainment of friends (and maybe family), to keep people updated on what is going on in my life. Since I have known myself now for most of my life, I predict that I will not be able to keep away from politics completly. It is just so ingrained in my personality to think in political categories.
I hope you can bear the occasional rant. I promise to try to keep it short.

Since I already have a blogger-account, why do I not use that one and instead create a new one? Well, I do not want my political life to interfere with my normal life more than necessary. I know for sure that some people I consider my political opponents do read the other two blogs. In fact they comment on them. I do not want them to transgres on my private ground. Period.

Why is this blog in english? Well, my friends all speak at least reasonably good english, while none of my non-german friends bar one or two speak any german at all.

Will there be photos? Yes, but (at least in the beginning) very few.
I will not post pictures of my friends (let alone my girlfriend - anyone who wishes to see a picture of her may email me) unless they allow me to do so.
I will also not post many pictures of myself, simply because there are almost none (and even less good ones) which show my current appearance.
For the moment I have no good digital camera and I certainly lack the funds to by one. Since I also have no access to a good scanner I can use privately, there will be precious few pictures of the city. At least until I scrounge up enough to buy a new camera. Then there will be pictures aplenty.

That is prettymuch everything for the start. A short update on my personal affairs will be online tomorrow.

Good night,
Gerrit

here we go...

First post, nothing worth reading, yet... (More) content will come. Eventually.