Would Jesus have used Social Networks?

This question is difficult if not impossible to answer and so people like to answer this question according to their own preferences. I don’t know the answer either, but it is still funny to see what could have happened if social networks had already been there 2000 years ago :)

End of Summer Break

This song goes well with the topic, I think… ;)

I can hardly believe I haven’t posted anything here for so long. However, taking a break from my blogs did not mean taking a break from life, of course. I have been busy with two novels – published one meanwhile, still busy with the second. This was okay, as we didn’t have much of a summer this year – or rather, we had the summer in spring, with a lot of sun and warm weather, but since June it has been more or less a mixture between autumn and spring. Sometimes cold humid weather, sometimes warm humid weather. I wouldn’t have cared so much, if this humid weather had not caused me pain. My head was aching often and so were the scars and adhesions inside my body. My body needs dry weather to function reasonably well, so this summer was not for me :(

Crime Time

I’m a great fan of criminal stories – both as books and films. One of my favourite crime series at the moment is “Criminal Minds”. This is mainly because of two special characters, Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness). Both are hyper smart and have special gifts – Reid has got an eidetic memory, for example. Here are some scenes of the series with both of them:



There are other crime series with freaks and nerds (when I use these expressions, I always mean this in a positive sense), like Navy CIS (McGee and Abby), Psych (Shawn) and of course Numb3rs (Professor Charlie Eppes a.k.a. David Krumholtz):



I think I like them, because all of them – regardless how big the difference is – are closer to my own self than any of the “normal” characters :)

The Nazi King

75 years ago today, on 20th January 1936, the British Empire got a new king. It was Edward VIII who became most famous in the world for his tragic romance with the twice-divorced US-American Wallis Simpson. He was only king until December of the same year when he stepped down and later married Mrs. Simpson. Many people still admire his loyalty to the woman he loved or at least pity him for the “cruelty” of his family and government.

Yesterday I watched a TV documentary which showed the story in a very different light. Obviously the affair with Mrs. Simpson was not the main problem the British government had with him and when they forced him to step down this affair was only secondary. The main reason was that the King proved to be an admirer of Adolf Hitler and tried to influence the British policy accordingly. Even after he had stepped down and left Britain he continued to give all information he received about his country’s policy and military decisions to the Nazis. In return Hitler invited him to Germany and addressed Edward’s wife as “Royal Highness”, a title which the Royal Family denied her. There is evidence that Edward tried to get back on the throne with the help of the Nazis and wanted to establish an absolute monarchy in Britain. After the war he denied his admiration for Hitler and support for his regime.

Fortunately for Britain and the monarchy, his younger brother and successor, King George VI, was a very different sort of man. He was sensible and brave, happily married with two daughters - the older one is now Queen Elizabeth II – and he refused to leave London with his family, even when the German bombs hit the palace, because he wanted to stand by his people. Just recently he became a “film star” by “The King’s Speech” – actor Colin Firth (“Mr. Darcy”) was awarded a Golden Globe for this role.

2nd Sunday of Advent

Waiting again

Right now we are waiting again – this time there is a delay regarding the loan. Just a formal thing really, but it seems to be a problem. Everything else goes smoothly at the moment, so we hope that the loan problem will be solved in time, so that we can buy the apartment as soon as the other formalities are completed.

Meanwhile the whole house selling and apartment buying business reminds me very much of a dance like this one:



You move forward, backward, to the side, in circles, and by this slowly reach the end of the line. A dance is much more pleasant most of the time, though ;)

Movie Evenings

The carnival season is in full swing now and therefore Hermann has to spend many evenings at the various events for the newspaper he is working for. This means that I’m alone at home all those evenings which gives me the opportunity to watch movies that Hermann wouldn’t want to watch – like the Jane Austen adaptations, for example. In his opinion, nothing ever happens in those movies *lol*

Yesterday I watched “Pride and Prejudice”, the famous BBC adaptation of 1995 with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. It is so beautifully made – just right for a romantic evening on one’s own ;)

Monty Python's Flying Circus

This is completely bizarre humor – enjoy :)

Patrick Swayze (1952 - 2009)

This morning I heard on the radio that he had lost the battle against cancer. I find this particularly sad because he was one of the few celebrities who despite having been one of the “sexiest men alive” he remained married to Lisa Niemi who had been his wife since 1975. The video below shows the couple dancing – very beautiful:

Extreme Shepherding in Wales

I found this on Sayori's blog and just had to show you :)

Good Bye, Lenin!

Hermann and I are currently watching the movie “Good Bye, Lenin!” which is comedy and tragedy at the same time. Here is the description from Amazon:

The movie starts in East Germany before the fall of communism; our hero, Alex (Daniel Bruhl), describes how his mother (Katrin Sass), a true believer in the communist cause, has a heart attack when she sees him being clubbed by police at a protest. She falls into a coma for eight months--during which the Berlin Wall comes down. When she awakens, her fragile health must avoid any shocks, so Alex creates an illusive reality around his bedridden mother to convince her that communism is still alive.

The scene above shows Alex’s mother how she “escapes” from her room and gets a glimpse of reunited Germany – and obviously feels as if she was beamed to another planet!