I just love Toerleß by Robert Musil. Together with Richlers Duddy Kravitz and Stephen Dedalus by Mr. Joyce this forms the triumvirate of youth in literature (i‘m givin‘ lectures right now! – It’s almost mandatory to know and worship these books!). And then i came across Volker Schloendorff (yep, the dumbass who did „Strajk“ and calls Angela Merkel a friend; the only thing of interest is his debate with Constantin about TV and film) and his adaption of the book by Musil. You know, i‘ve a copy of this flick for quite a while now and i always hesitated watching it not ‚cos i think the film might just ruin this great piece of literature, no no, it’s the main actor MATHIEU CARRIÈRE – a perfect example of germanies leading role in spitting out some of the worst actors in the history of cinema (we‘re talking about big shots like Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu and Til Schweiger as well as the new breed with representitives like Daniel Bruehl & August Diehl). But i had hopes, hope Carrière might had his full scale of stupidity not reached at this time (he was young, very young, only 16!). But no chance, he already was the smugly piece of wannabe actor he is today – incredibly bad! But not just him! I/We made it only half through and the actors were fucking bad, the story and everything was shrinked without adding anything, perfect example of a bad adaption! You can‘t just go and take some astonishing material turning it into a movie and proclaim it as a piece of art as well, you gotta do something on your own and i don‘t mean shrinking a brilliant book to a 90 minutes amusement and say it’s art as well. This is shit and you‘ve never been Kluge nor Fassbinder, you‘re the friend of Angela Merkel and that’s pretty much it.

Am Samstag beginnt die letzte der 3 grossen Rundfahrten des Jahres, LA VUELTA.
Hablo castellano? Un poco!

PS: Da habe ich schon eine spanische Tastatur (warum auch immer), aber das Fragezeichen will sich trotzdem nicht recht auf den Kopf drehen lassen – MALDITO!!!

The Nick Cassavetes Show.

I‘ve always been a great fan of the films by John Cassavetes. His films made, next to Anna Magnani, Gena Rowlands my fave actress. Just love her presence & intensity in the movies of her husband.
Next to Alexandra and Zoe Nick is the third child of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. Nick is an actor, writer and director himself and cos of my admiration of his parents i gave three of his films a shot.
First one was John Q (2002) with Denzel Washington and probably the worst one to start with. Nick is obviously influenced by his fathers cinema verité but he reduces it to absurdity and this film is the best example for it: overwhelming emotional-affectionate cliché cinema (long live sloganism!).
Alpha Dog (2006) with Justin Timberlake which is his most recent work was the next one to examine and this is high quality medicore shit. Probably his biggest film and it doesn‘t take long to realize it’s a safe bet. He might have had a capable producer this time, someone who took care that everything is just smooth: consistent characters, glossy pictures, groovy music and “quality” camera work. If it wasn‘t for the fascinating Anton Yelchin (Zack Mazursky – the hostage), his fine acting but also his voice and apperance in general there would be no reason to watch this movie except for a quick sunday afternoon entertainment.
The last one in line is The Notebook (2004) starring Gena Rowlands. It’s a cliché movie again but at the same a very strong love story. It’s hard to escape the passionate and tragic love affair, their ardent love when they first meet as teenagers, the pain when class tears them apart and finally when they meet again after years. It’s part of the cliché but also one of the strengths of this film that you can really feel the presence of their love and at the same time how fragile it is…
Nick Cassavetes directed to two more movies which i‘m going to see soon (one is with Gena Rowlands again) and then i‘ll give another sprout of the Cassavetes-Rowlands Clans a try, Zoe R. Cassavetes and her feature debut Broken English with Gena Rowlands and Peter Bogdanovich.

PS: I‘ve been on narcosis earlier today – might still be under THE influence.

I know i haven‘t been contributing much to an ongoing interest in that blog lately. That’s why ‚cos there’s simply not much to talk about. Played a lot of online poker when i was home which wasn‘t that often. I finally made to see the sea this year which was very nice even though it is was for a few hours only. Did neither see lotsa movies (one to definetely check out is GRINDHOUSE!) nor studied that much. At the moment i‘m reading another book by Franz Werfel called DER VERUNTREUTE HIMMEL. First got to know Werfel ‚cos Jean Améry recommended his book BARBARA ODER DIE FROEMMIGKEIT which pretty much relates to his situation of being lost in a world with no place home. This book is fairly interesting as well and i‘m really looking forward to listen to an audiobook just got today (might upload it later).
I‘ll be back. Watch out. In the meantime check out my other blog where i occassionally put up things of interest, nice music and stuff.

Once upon a time there was a little boy. Actually, he wasn‘t that „little“. The saying goes: At the age of 14 he was already as tall as he is today. In school teachers ordered him to stand in the back when annually pictures were taken cos he was taller by a head than the rest of the class.

History: Die Geschichtsschreibung beginnt mit der Friedensfahrt und Uwe Ampler. The Dreamer hatte nie ein richtiges Rennrad, aber(!) sein Standard-Herrenrad bekam eine Gangschaltung nachgeruestet und als Besonderes einen Rennlenker (so wie die Fahrer der Friedensfahrt). Lenkerband hatte er natuerlich auch, aber das hielt nie so richtig. An den Enden hielt der Klebstoff ueberhaupt nicht und auch an anderen Stellen loeste es sich sehr bald. Neues Band hat er nie bekommen, wollte er wahrscheinlich auch nicht. Aber er war jeden Abend da draussen in seiner Stadt und ist fiktive Rennen gefahren. Er war Fahrer und Kommentator in einem. Es gab schwere Anstiege, die er als Uwe Ampler mit Bravour, aber auch unter groessten Anstrengungen und dem Atem seiner schlimmsten Kontrahenten im Nacken, meisterte. Und es gab manchmal auch Sprintankuenfte, die er als Olaf Ludwig meistens fuer sich entscheiden konnte.

.::::::music: still the stones::::::.