I'm baaaaack. Not for long, on Tuesday I have to go to the US, but that will be the last trip for a while - I should be home in August in case anybody wants to drop by.
Frankfurt recap:
Met E. for coffee in the city. Found out that her apartment is situated right next to the hotel. Duh.
Got lost in a Frankfurt park which was fenced in with barbed wire - I crawled through a hole and did not find an exit on the other side. When I found one I had to basically travel through the whole city to get back to where I started.
Met B. who was really nice and we had a good time, even if we never DID find the Maintower. Then again, there were enough towers to go around and we saw a couple. And we did see the club the Preluders had their first show at. Ahem. Maybe I shouldn't know casting shows as well as I do.
Went back with crazy train service personnel ("Speisen auf Reisen - Snacken auf Strecken").
Picked up my car today - yay!!! It's just beautiful. Drove around looking like a blonde chick in a convertible. Which I am. That's why.
Now I am back on the couch and for this reason and that my mood is kind of mopey.
Friday, July 16, 2004
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Monday, July 12, 2004
Today I got up rather early to go through the whole city to take another look at my potential new car. Turned on the radio: "Traffic jam in the direction INTO the city." Went there, stood out in the cold (what is it with the temperature? It's July, for Christ's sake!) then decided to buy it.
And there it is: The Yay For The Day! New car! Yippee! Here it is, my precioussss:
Anyhow, went back. "Traffic jam in the direction OUT OF the city" now. Phoned the bank and was told I need to pay interest when I want to withdraw my money from the bank. Why? "It's in the small print". Oh, yeah. Great. Charge me for withdrawing MY OWN MONEY. Apparently that's the law (or so they said) if it's not on a checking account. Right. Of course they didn't TELL me that when I asked whether I could withdraw my money at all times. They just said "yes", which is correct: I CAN withdraw my money at all times, I just need to PAY for it. Bah humbug.
Also, my hand smells like the perfume of the lady I am buying the car from. Yuck! How can you douse yourself in perfume like that? Poor little car, being exposed to that.
And I want to say that I don't understand people who drive a Smart car. WTF? It's like driving one of those little bumper cars on the fair. Since it's so small, every little bump in the street makes it bob up and down so I was afraid I'd get seasick. And if that wasn't enough, it's motor isn't the best, so when you stand at a light and want to start driving, usually people start honking behind you because you can't get moving really fast. Then it waits until it's in really high gear (WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW) until it shifts with a jerk(WWWWWWWWWclunkhophophopWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW). If you're going from 0 to 100 that means being thrown around like somebody riding a Bronco in a rodeo. Whoa!
I mean, don't get me wrong, they're pretty big inside, lots of space for you and your passenger and they're ideal for parking. Plus, the ashtray's really big (not that I was smoking but I've always hated those itty bitty ashtrays you can only hit under great difficulty while scattering ash all over the place). But other than that? Try it if you ever get the option but for heaven's sake don't consider buying one! Terrible. Terrible.
Which reminds me that I went to see Spiderman II and it wasn't too good. I mean it was OK but not really great - but I've heard a lot of dissenting opinion so you might want to check for yourselves. Let me give you a list:
Good Things
Overall great comic-book-ey look and feel, some scenes were executed very well (the "Raindrops are falling on my head" sequence was a thing of sheer beauty).
Bad Things
If Sam Raimi had just toned down the pathos at times and turned up the wisecracking I think I might have enjoyed it more. As is, it teetered on the brink of Do I like it?/Don't I like it? So I'd not really recommend it.
And there it is: The Yay For The Day! New car! Yippee! Here it is, my precioussss:
Anyhow, went back. "Traffic jam in the direction OUT OF the city" now. Phoned the bank and was told I need to pay interest when I want to withdraw my money from the bank. Why? "It's in the small print". Oh, yeah. Great. Charge me for withdrawing MY OWN MONEY. Apparently that's the law (or so they said) if it's not on a checking account. Right. Of course they didn't TELL me that when I asked whether I could withdraw my money at all times. They just said "yes", which is correct: I CAN withdraw my money at all times, I just need to PAY for it. Bah humbug.
Also, my hand smells like the perfume of the lady I am buying the car from. Yuck! How can you douse yourself in perfume like that? Poor little car, being exposed to that.
And I want to say that I don't understand people who drive a Smart car. WTF? It's like driving one of those little bumper cars on the fair. Since it's so small, every little bump in the street makes it bob up and down so I was afraid I'd get seasick. And if that wasn't enough, it's motor isn't the best, so when you stand at a light and want to start driving, usually people start honking behind you because you can't get moving really fast. Then it waits until it's in really high gear (WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW) until it shifts with a jerk(WWWWWWWWWclunkhophophopWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW). If you're going from 0 to 100 that means being thrown around like somebody riding a Bronco in a rodeo. Whoa!
I mean, don't get me wrong, they're pretty big inside, lots of space for you and your passenger and they're ideal for parking. Plus, the ashtray's really big (not that I was smoking but I've always hated those itty bitty ashtrays you can only hit under great difficulty while scattering ash all over the place). But other than that? Try it if you ever get the option but for heaven's sake don't consider buying one! Terrible. Terrible.
Which reminds me that I went to see Spiderman II and it wasn't too good. I mean it was OK but not really great - but I've heard a lot of dissenting opinion so you might want to check for yourselves. Let me give you a list:
Good Things
- Comic drawings telling the backstory at the beginning of the credits (might be only a plus if you're a Comic Book Geek like me)
- Tobey Maguire just fits the role perfectly
- Ditto Alfred Molina. A great actor and a great villain.
- Choice of villain and execution of Dr. Octopus. Go go robotic arms!
- Bruce Campbell as "Obnoxious Usher". Bruce is Da Man!
- Spot Stan Lee! (I like to do this in any Marvel film)
- JJJ also is a perfect casting decision and the scenes in the Daily Bugle are great.
Bad Things
- First of all, lack of decent story. Just drawn out and pointless at times. Some loose ends, but that might be resolved with Spiderman III, who knows.
- Wrong casting decision: MJ. I am sorry, but Kirsten Dunst just clashes with the picture of MJ I have in my head.
- At times crappy, overwrought dialogue. Come on, whose grandma gives a speech about Being A Hero Inside? I heard some gagging noises and sometimes laughter around me, so there were some other people of that opinion.
- Ties in with crappy, overwrought scenes that overdid the comic book thing. (the "People passing Spiderman over their head" scene comes to mind, every scene that stars little kids and/or the American Flag)
If Sam Raimi had just toned down the pathos at times and turned up the wisecracking I think I might have enjoyed it more. As is, it teetered on the brink of Do I like it?/Don't I like it? So I'd not really recommend it.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Friday, July 09, 2004
Are you evil? Are ya?
I usually don't like to post links to those quizzes, but this one looked like fun AND I'm Agent Smith which is kind of cool:
N'other couple of fun links
Look at what math can do. Pretty pictures inside!
Are you bored? Why not look at ah..somebody's or others list of Wonders of the World. I doubt that the Las Vegas Strip is on the official list. Or is it? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Other than that, I'm basically the only person working at my company now and thus rather busy. Did meet up with my ex boyfriend yesterday and am meeting T. and M. today who are leaving the country, apparently. (I'll be asking you tonight about that, Mr M., I didn't get the whole story yesterday :)
And I am looking at a little Mazda MX-5 tomorrow morning. Seems like a good bargain. Keep your fingers crossed - the owner said there had been only one guy to look at it so far and he said he'd think about it. Roommate, by the way, has bought a little blue Mini with white stripes.
I usually don't like to post links to those quizzes, but this one looked like fun AND I'm Agent Smith which is kind of cool:
N'other couple of fun links
Look at what math can do. Pretty pictures inside!
Are you bored? Why not look at ah..somebody's or others list of Wonders of the World. I doubt that the Las Vegas Strip is on the official list. Or is it? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Other than that, I'm basically the only person working at my company now and thus rather busy. Did meet up with my ex boyfriend yesterday and am meeting T. and M. today who are leaving the country, apparently. (I'll be asking you tonight about that, Mr M., I didn't get the whole story yesterday :)
And I am looking at a little Mazda MX-5 tomorrow morning. Seems like a good bargain. Keep your fingers crossed - the owner said there had been only one guy to look at it so far and he said he'd think about it. Roommate, by the way, has bought a little blue Mini with white stripes.
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Jawoll, mein Herr!
Just an observation: When you're speaking English and people say: "Wow, you have no accent!" I guess what they actually mean is: "Wow, you don't speak like the Germans they show us on TV".
Why I have no money
Just wanted to rent a cheap little Smart car for the week-end. At the last moment I decided to look for something on the webpage and opened another window, browsed around in it and also changed the date. Then I went back to the original page and blindly clicked OK. Now I am the proud renter of a Smart for a whole month and set back around 500 Euros if I can't get them to change my reservation but nobody's answering the friggin' hotline. Grr-Argh!
Just an observation: When you're speaking English and people say: "Wow, you have no accent!" I guess what they actually mean is: "Wow, you don't speak like the Germans they show us on TV".
Why I have no money
Just wanted to rent a cheap little Smart car for the week-end. At the last moment I decided to look for something on the webpage and opened another window, browsed around in it and also changed the date. Then I went back to the original page and blindly clicked OK. Now I am the proud renter of a Smart for a whole month and set back around 500 Euros if I can't get them to change my reservation but nobody's answering the friggin' hotline. Grr-Argh!
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
I'm on a business trip (again, yay me ...) but I just wanted to drop by here to tell you that I am reading The Da Vinci Code and I don't know who made this book the huge bestseller that it was because it's a *yell* HUGE PIECE OF CRAP */yell* (*pantpant* thankyouverymuch for letting me vent) I mean come on - the author introduces his leading people as really smart cryptologists. Then he puts riddles in the book that a three-year-old could see through and they are hemming and hawing. In the chapter I am reading now they are looking at a piece of paper that has backwards written English words on it and are musing about whether it's Hebrew or some unknown language. Please.
Also, the whole concept of the book is ridiculous - this guy gets shot and has 20 minutes to live but he still devises this INGENIOUS set of codes that ONLY his granddaughter can see through (the aforementioned puzzles for three-year-olds - then again, the granddaughter apparently is as smart as a sack of beans). That's not the point here, though, but because even if they're totally easy they're rather elaborate and in no way would anybody find the time to think about devising such codes, writing stuff on top of the Mona Lisa (yeah right) and then positioning himself in a certain way so that the leading expert in symbolism later on has NO IDEA WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO MEAN and spouts off stupid drivel about female/male symbolism even though the reader is pounding his/her head on a wall in near frustration and yelling "Think Leonardo, you dumbass!!!". Oh, he also writes a number on a piece of paper (lateron the protagonists need an account number and go "Duh. We haven't got a number. No number at all. If he only had left a number." Hello?? Brain?? Anybody home? About an hour later they think of it.
In addition the book is written in a way I absolutely hate: Building up towards a secret and then not telling it to keep suspense up when there's no reason (within the confines of the story) not to tell it. Like: "The secret of the Holy Grail is really shocking. It will shock you a lot. Very shocking, that. I can't tell you know because saying the one sentence that would tell you about it would take too much time and you know we are in a truck going somewhere for hours but if I tell you know you'd be so shocked because it's a really shocking secret. SHOCKING!! Not telling you though. Later. (Did I tell you it was shocking?)" And almost every chapter contains one of those "shocking" secrets that people DO NOT TELL. Grr-Argh!!!
Need to go now - my time is running out on this internet café thingy. If I can think about more I will post more on this piece of shite later (hopefully they will have divulged the SHOCKING secret - which, to me, is crystal clear anyway and not at all shocking, but hey, what can you do).
Also, the whole concept of the book is ridiculous - this guy gets shot and has 20 minutes to live but he still devises this INGENIOUS set of codes that ONLY his granddaughter can see through (the aforementioned puzzles for three-year-olds - then again, the granddaughter apparently is as smart as a sack of beans). That's not the point here, though, but because even if they're totally easy they're rather elaborate and in no way would anybody find the time to think about devising such codes, writing stuff on top of the Mona Lisa (yeah right) and then positioning himself in a certain way so that the leading expert in symbolism later on has NO IDEA WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO MEAN and spouts off stupid drivel about female/male symbolism even though the reader is pounding his/her head on a wall in near frustration and yelling "Think Leonardo, you dumbass!!!". Oh, he also writes a number on a piece of paper (lateron the protagonists need an account number and go "Duh. We haven't got a number. No number at all. If he only had left a number." Hello?? Brain?? Anybody home? About an hour later they think of it.
In addition the book is written in a way I absolutely hate: Building up towards a secret and then not telling it to keep suspense up when there's no reason (within the confines of the story) not to tell it. Like: "The secret of the Holy Grail is really shocking. It will shock you a lot. Very shocking, that. I can't tell you know because saying the one sentence that would tell you about it would take too much time and you know we are in a truck going somewhere for hours but if I tell you know you'd be so shocked because it's a really shocking secret. SHOCKING!! Not telling you though. Later. (Did I tell you it was shocking?)" And almost every chapter contains one of those "shocking" secrets that people DO NOT TELL. Grr-Argh!!!
Need to go now - my time is running out on this internet café thingy. If I can think about more I will post more on this piece of shite later (hopefully they will have divulged the SHOCKING secret - which, to me, is crystal clear anyway and not at all shocking, but hey, what can you do).
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