Hallo Ihr Lieben, I think you already know that I love making lists so today I decided to make one with my favorite movie characters. Some really touched my heart, some just make me laugh, some are my heroes. I want to start with these guys:
In case you have read my previous posts you know that "The Boondock Saints" is my all-time favorite movie. And the McManus brothers are just so damn cool. I can watch that movie all over again and every time I think "Hell yeah!". You just have to love them. I know, I know....they kill lots of people but they just want to get rid of all evil guys in Boston. They have a reason to be brutal. So, Connor and Murphy: you are my heroes. And how can you not like this guy?
I am so in love with his grandmother's pet lama Tina. Napoleon is hilarious. Just look at him! You must love all the characters in the movie. The way they act makes me laugh so much every time I watch it. Napoleon's brother Kip searches for his dream girl on the internet and wants to be a cage fighter. Their grandmother loves quad-biking. Their uncle is a former athlete who lives in a campervan and has a girlfriend named LaFawnduh. Napoleon's friend Pedro is also a school outcast but wants to run for class president. All you can do is to take them into your heart and wish for a happy ending.
And Yoda.
Let's just make it short: He is the man.
(David does not agree with me on that.)
All the characters from Dodgeball make me laugh so hard but Fran Stalinovskovichdavidovitchsky freaks me out. She is the only "woman" in the team. Look at her. She is adorable.
George Clooney as Seth Gecko. So cool.
And George Clooney as Matt King in the Descendants. He touched my heart.
Two completely different characters but George Clooney is one of my favorite actors. He completely convinced me as Dr. Doug Ross in Emergency Room.
And you must love these guys:
Tucker and Dale.
The guys from Nacho Libre.
Maybe my taste is weird. But what are your favorite movie characters? Who makes you laugh? Who makes you cry?
I can't get enough of movies. I prefer to watch the original (English) version of a movie or a show because the German dubbing is terrible most of the time. Plus the voices sound really weird. I remember that I started to watch Friends in German. Then I watched it in English. And now I just can't watch it in German anymore. Most of the jokes are just not funny or they are translated in such a bad way that it doesn't make sense anymore. And the voices sound really really weird. I don't know why but they just don't fit to the characters.
I will never understand why some German movie titles are completely different to the original title. Sometimes they even use an English title but not the original one. That doesn't make any sense to me. You just have to shake your head because it's so weird.
That's why I want to tell you about some really strange German movie or tv show titles today.
Okay, first I want to start with an expression you all know. At the end of Dirty Dancing Johnny Castle says "Nobody puts Baby in the corner". I think that's the most famous line from the movie. In the German version he says "Mein Baby gehört zu mir, ist das klar?" which means "My Baby belongs to me, is that clear?". Hmmm. Why do they do that. I just don't get it. You can see the scene here:
At least the German title is Dirty Dancing too.
Another weird one: I guess you all know the show "Saved by the bell". In German it is called "California High School". I guess Saved by the bell was too complicated for Germans.
I always watched a show called "Eine starke Familie" (A strong family). In America it is known as "Step by step". Why, Germany? This title is not very complicated. You can just translate it into German.
And why is the German title of the movie "The Departed" just "Departed"? Because Germans can't say a "th"? I am not sure.
"Pirates of the Carribean" is called "Fluch der Karibik" (Curse of the Carribean).
One of my favorite movies is "The Boondock Saints". Its German title is "Der blutige Pfad Gottes" which means "God's bloody path". Hmm.
The TV show "Boy meets world" is called "Das Leben und ich". "The life and me". Okay, Germany. Good job.
There is also a German show called "Mein Leben und ich", "My life and me".
I love to watch "The Holiday" every December. It is the perfect Christmas time movie. The German title is "Liebe braucht keine Ferien", "Love doesn't need a holiday". Germany, you could just use the easy title.
I would love to show you videos of all the Phoebe Buffay songs in German but I just can't find any. That's sad because they are really weird in German. And don't make any sense.
Sheldon and Penny's "Soft Kitty" song from The Big Bang Theory is "Das Katzentanzlied" (The cat's dance song) in German. You can listen to it here.
So yeah, a completely different song with completely different lyrics. Why is that necessary?
"Meet the parents" is called "Meine Braut, ihr Vater und ich" (My bride, her dad and me).
"Meet the Fockers" is "Meine Braut, ihre Schwiegereltern und ich" (My bride, her parents-in-law and me).
I guess Germans like long titles.
"Braindead" is called "Braindead - Der Zombierasenmähermann". (Braindead - The zombie-lawn-mower-man). Hell yeah.
"Evil dead" is "Tanz der Teufel" (Dance of the devils).
"Bend it like Beckham" is called "Kick it like Beckham" in German. I can't explain it.
And "Spongebob Squarepants" is called "Spongebob Schwammkopf" (Spongebob spongehead). That makes a lot of sense.
Okay, I could go on like that forever. But what is the weirdest movie title you have ever heard?
It is Friday! That means it is time to link up with sweet Heather from Blonde...Undercover Blonde for the Book Club.
You all know that I love reading. And I love traveling. So it makes sense that I love to read about traveling. This is one of my favorite books about traveling: Long way round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
I guess you all know Ewan McGregor. He was Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars 1-3 and Mark Renton in Trainspotting. But he also loves adventures so in 2004 he decided to travel with his best friend Charley Boorman (also an actor) from London to New York. On their motorcycles. The traveled eastwards through Europe and Asia, then flew to Alaska and continued by road to New York.
That's the overview wikipedia gives:
From 14 April 2004 to 29 July 2004, McGregor, Boorman, motorcycle riding cameraman Claudio von Planta and their support crew travelled from London to New York, via Western and Central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada, for a cumulative distance of 18,887 miles (30,396 km). The only sections of the trip not undertaken by motorcycle were the 31-mile (50 km) passage through the Channel Tunnel, 580 miles (930 km) by train in Siberia, which circumvented the Zilov Gap; several river crossings and a short impassable section in eastern Russia, which were undertaken by truck; and a 2,505-mile (4,031 km) flight from Magadan in eastern Russia to Anchorage, Alaska.
Upon encountering numerous swollen rivers and a serious lack of functioning bridges while travelling along the Road of Bones to Magadan, the riders got their BMW motorbikes through some fairly deep rivers. The summer run-off from the Siberian winter was in full flow and after a valiant effort, the bikes eventually had to be loaded into the trucks of passing drivers and ferried across a few of the deepest rivers.
The journey visited twelve countries, starting in the UK, then passing through France, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, USA and Canada, ending in New York.
The team mainly stayed in hotels while travelling in Europe, North America and populated parts of Russia but frequently had no option but to camp after reaching Kazakhstan and Mongolia. They took time to visit a variety of sights and landmarks while travelling, including the Church of Bones in the Czech Republic, the Mask of Sorrow monument (described as the "Mask of Grief" in the show) in Magadan, Russia and Mount Rushmore in the USA. They ultimately arrived in New York on schedule and rode into the city accompanied by a phalanx of bikers, including McGregor's father Jim and the Orange County Choppers crew.
They were on the road for over three months so a lot of catastrophes happened on their trip. McGregor got some petrol in his eyes, the motorbikes broke down, a badly swollen forehead because of a mosquito bite, a car accident of the camera team (there is a documentary about the trip too), a theft, a shoulder injury, scary gun-loving Ukranians and lots more.
I haven't watched the documentary yet but I will definitely check it out.
The books also contains some pictures that they have taken on their trip and you can see how much McGregor and Boorman enjoyed this trip.
So if you like to read about travelling and adventures I highly recommend this book to you!
Hallo Ihr Lieben, it's me again. Talking about the differences between my two favorite countries. The topic I want to talk about today is "driving". I have never thought that there would be so many differences. It starts with the car. As a German I am used to drive a car with a gearshift and a clutch. I have never driven an automatic car before. You should think that it is easier to drive an automatic car but NO. It isn't. At least not for me. It was hard to get used to an automatic car. And it still is. I feel so redundant because I don't really need to use my right hand, I don't need to use my left foot. It drives me crazy. I mean, every time I stop I want to use my left foot but then realize that I don't need to do that. I want to change the gear all the time. But I don't have to. I think I will never get used to it. I love driving a German car because I feel like I am needed. I have to do things. It keeps me entertained. Another thing that freaks me out is that it seems like there is no such thing like "Rechts vor Links" (left yields to right) in America.
It is confusing. I mean, in Germany the blue car is allowed to drive first in that case because there is no car on its right. Then the yellow car can drive and finally the red one. But how is it in America? I asked David about it but it really seems like there is no rule. So is the biggest car allowed to drive first? The most expensive car? The fastest car? The driver who can yell really loud? I really don't know. But no, I never had an accident. And I really hope it won't happen because of all the confusing rules.
It drives me crazy that cars are allowed to pass other cars on the right. It is forbidden in Germany. The slow cars drive on the right and then you can pass them on the left. In America everybody drives the way she/he wants and you have to be careful not to run into another car when you change the lane. Dangerous.
I am allowed to drive as fast as I want on the German Autobahn.
(By the way, David has the exact same shirt. He got it from his Dad who went on a business trip to Germany a couple of years ago)
As far as I can see you are allowed to drive 65 miles per hour on most highways in America (I have seen 75 mp/h in Colorado). That is only 104 km/h. So slow! I have to admit that on some German Autobahnen you are only allowed to drive 120 km/h. But that is still a lot faster than on every American highway. Most times I drive around 130-140 km/h on the German Autobahn and I am definitely not the fastest driver. But 65 mp/h on a road that is completely straight and has 4 lanes? Come on! Maybe you think that the Autobahn is more dangerous than the American highways and that there are more accidents but I don't think so. I have read that the Autobahn is pretty safe.
And why are your traffic lights on the other side of a crossroad? That's confusing for Germans.
Here is a German traffic light.
And here one in America.
And why do some of the American cars look like they are not able to drive 2 more miles? In Germany we have an institution called "TÜV" and they check your car every two years. If something is wrong you are not allowed to drive that car until you have fixed the problem. But it seems that something like the TÜV doesn't exist in America. Some cars are just rust on wheels. I'd say that's not safe at all! We are allowed to drive fast in Germany but at least we have secure cars. I guess that's why you are only allowed to drive 65 mp/h in America.
At least there is right-hand traffic in both countries. I think left-hand traffic would overcharge me.
as you already know I love reading a lot. Lovely Vanisha from Vanisha's life in Australia told me about her 30 days of books challenge. I think this is a fantastic idea so I want to participate! Thank you, Vanisha! Like her I want to eliminate the work related books. I just want to talk about all the books I read for fun and entertainment.
Day 1 - The best book you have read last year
I think I have finished this book in 2 days. I am completely addicted to crime novels. Especially Skandinavian ones. I have read all books of Hakan Nesser, Henning Mankell and Ake Edwardson at least 2 times. They are so suspensefull.
Hakan Nesser is a Swedish writer and he published two different crime book series. The first one takes place in a city called Maardam. He never mentions where the city is located but it sounds like a Dutch city. The main character is Inspector Van Veeteren. I love Nesser's characters. They all have their faults but you must love them.
Nesser's second main character is Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti. "Die Einsamen" is Barbarotti's latest case. It starts with a road trip of 6 friends through Europe in the 70's. 40 years later one of the friends was found dead. At the same place a young girl was found dead 35 years ago. A difficult case for Barbarotti.
I wasn't able to stop reading. If you like crime novels you should consider reading this book.
Day 2 - A book that you've read more than 3 times
Actually, this is a series of books. In German they are called Crazy Days, Crazy Nights and Crazy times. They have different names in English and I have no idea why. It is a German thing to give English books and movies really weird names. But whatever, the first one is called "Youth in revolt" and I have learned that there is a movie! The first book was published in 1993 and they made a movie out of it in 2010. I am not sure why they waited that long but okay. The protagonist of the books is the 14 year old Nick Twisp whose life is a complete mess when he meets Sheeni Saunders on a camping trip and falls in love with her. There are sex and drugs and crime and you will definitely laugh a lot. I read the series at least once a year. I loved them as a teenager and I can't get enough of them. You don't want to see how my books look....
Day 3 - Your favorite series
Okay, I can't talk about one book. I just can't decide. The Nick Twisp series is definitely one of my favorites. There is also the Adrian Mole series. I have talked about that one before. I can read them over and over again.
As I have told you before, I am a huge fan of crime novels. My favorite writers are Henning Mankell, Ake Edwardson, Arnaldur Indridason and Hakan Nesser. I have read all of their books, some of them two or three times. They are all very thrilling and you should definitely check them out.
Day 4 - Favorite book of your favorite series
I know, I know....I repeat myself. But I can't get enough of the Adrian Mole books. "The secret diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4" is the first book of the series and I have honestly read it at least 20 times. And it is still funny. Trust me.
Again: Thank you Vanisha for giving me the opportunity to talk about my favorite books.
I love making lists. I have dreams that I want to achieve. So i thought it would be a good motivation to have a bucket list.
This is the bucket list of my life. So I don't want to achieve all of this in a year.
1) Have a vacation house in Amsterdam. A house boat would be amazing!
2) Live on a farm in Ireland with rescued animals. Donkeys, chicken, cows, pigs, cats, dogs, bunnies, sheep....
3) Sell a painting.
4) A ride in a hot air ballon. We planned to surprise my Mum with it for her birthday. It is heart-breaking for me that we weren't able to fulfil this wish.
5) Learn how to speak Dutch. The language is adorable. David's favorite word is 'Staatsloterij'. We have to laugh a lot every time we hear that word. I can speak a little French and Italian and it would be nice to improve my language skills.
6) Be a lawyer for animal rights.
7) Have the library I talk about all the time.
8) Play saxophone again. I played it as a child but sold my saxophone to get a bass.
9) Learn how to play the bass. I had lessons but I am NOT good.
10) Travel to Australia and New Zealand.
11) Don't worry so much.
12) Try 50 new recipes.
13) Strive against my fear of deep water. It is really bad. I never go swimming because I am too scared.
14) Get a really fancy camera.
15) Adopt a blind cat.
16) Adopt a dog.
17) Spend a night in a haunted castle in Scotland.
18) Buy all kinds of antique furniture. I am absolutely in love with old wardrobes and tables. Combine it with something new and you have the perfect house.
19) Organize all the files on my computer. It is bad. Really bad.
20) Go to a Smashing Pumpkins concert. And a Minus the Bear concert (David just told me that they will be on tour in July. Yeah!)
21) Find time to read all the books I want to read.
22) Travel to Japan.
23) Eat every edible fruit in the world.
24) Plant a tree.
25) Go white water rafting with David. We went rafting once on the Colorado river. I guess all other people thought it was not wild at all but I was scared to death.
26) Visit Iceland and see geysers.
27) Ride a mattress down a staircase.
28) Spend a night in an ice-hotel.
29) See the Christmas island red crab.
30) Rescue all animals that need help. ......to be continued.
Reading is one of my most favorite things to do. I can spend hours doing nothing else, I can stay up a whole night for a good book. I forget (almost) everything around me when I am reading. I have hundreds and hundreds of books. I am dreaming of my own library. It should look like this:
But with this chair
in front of this fireplace:
But now the most important part. I am not sure if everyone else in this world is dreaming of one of these but I MUST have one. A couple of years ago I saw one at a flea market but did not buy it. I still don't know why. It's kind of sad. It was perfect. I am dreaming of it since my childhood...I am not sure what that says about me because you use it to store alcohol. But anyway...this is it:
Isn't it fabulous? So someday I need to have a library in the tower of my house with a fireplace, an old barock chair and a house bar that looks like a globe.
1. It is hard for me to stop talking when I watch a movie or a show with David. I know that he doesn't like it but I just can't stop. I can't wait until the movie is over. I need to share my opinion.
2. I think I have watched Pretty Woman at least 50 times. I was 10 when I watched it the first time. I did not understand that Julia Roberts is a prostitute in that movie. I just thought she is poor.
3. My handwriting is a mess. One of my professors once told me that he wasn't able to read my paper and that it would be nice to improve my handwriting.
4. I can watch the bloodiest horror movies. But I start to cry when I see a dog that needs to get an injection.
5. I always fall asleep when I try to watch a show or a movie alone.
Hallo Ihr Lieben. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! You already know some random facts about me, you have learned that I am married to David, that we have 4 pets and that I have lost my Mama when I was 19. Maybe you want to learn some more about me....that's why I decided to make a list for you that contains some of my favorite things. And the things I dislike. Favorite smell. I love the way it smells after a rainstorm. And the smell of vanilla. And David smells absolutely incredible. Worst smell. Onions!!!
Favorite TV show. Uhhh....there are so many. The Big Bang Theory is hilarious. I think I watch too much TV but here are some of the shows I love to watch: Castle, How I Met Your Mother, Black Books, Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, Game of Thrones, Das perfekte Dinner, The Mentalist, Cougar Town, 30 Rock, Der kleine Vampir, Six feet under, Friends, That 70's Show, Emergency Room....oh my God, I am addicted. This is not the end of my list.... Worst TV show. Talkshows. Especially when they do paternity tests. Please!
Favorite movie. The Boondock Saints. Best movie EVER. I could watch it again and again. I also like Napoleon Dynamite, Dirty Dancing, The Descendants, Reality Bites, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Into the wild, Earthlings, Die hard, Wayne's World, 127 Hours, Dodgeball, Before Sunrise, The Sword In The Stone, all kinds of Horror movies, Love actually, High Fidelity, Nacho Libre....I just love spending a day with David on the couch watching shows and movies. Worst movie. City of Angels. So boring.
Favorite city. Amsterdam. The city has such an amazing atmosphere. I love being there, everybody is so relaxed, I love the canals, I love the people. Can't get enough of it. Worst city. Hmm, that's really difficult. I mean, there are nice places even in the ugliest city. So I am not sure. I guess I have to say Völklingen. It is a German city, located in Saarland. I guess there aren't many pretty things in Völklingen. So don't go there!
Favorite sport. Fußball! I am a German. It is the best sport ever. I think every country in the whole wide world loves Fußball. Except of America. I think they just don't get it. And they don't have any good players. I like American Football too. I have been to one game with David (Cleveland Browns! Woohoo!) and it was so much fun. I have to admit that I have no idea about Baseball. I just don't understand the rules. Worst "sport". Dog racing. Horse racing, Hunting. No sport. It is just cruel Favorite game. Poker. And Monopoly. On my phone: Words with friends and Scramble with friends. I am addicted. Oh, and Draw Something. So much fun. But I have to admit that it is a little difficult to draw on the little iPhone screen. Worst game. Mikado. I guess in English it is called "Jackstraws". Or "Pick-a-stick". I just can't play this game because my hands are too shaky. I have never won this game. And that makes me sad.
Favorite magazines. Neon (a German lifestyle magazine) and Glamour. Worst magazine. Anything about hunting.
Favorite colors. Black. Blue. Green. Pink. Brown. And all kinds of minty colors at the moment. Worst color. Hmm, I like all colors. But there are colors I can't wear because they make me look sick. Light yellow for example. But it looks awesome on other people.
Favorite things to do. Spending time with David, reading, playing with the pets, writing, blogging, crafts, watching shows and movies (surprise, surprise), going to flea markets, having coffee, being in book stores, being at dm (a German drug store), daydreaming, reading blogs, cooking, hiking, painting, drawing, sleeping.... Worst things to do. Ironing. It just sucks.
Favorite drink. Beer and wine. And Dr. Pepper. And tea and coffee. Worst drink. Ouzo. Sambuca. Anything with anise in it. Jägermeister. Pepsi.
Favorite flower. Gerbera Worst flower. They are all pretty for sure. It is nature.
Favorite band or singer. David, Tocotronic, Beatsteaks, Minus the Bear, Ash, Refused, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Suede, The Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins, Mew, Robbie Williams, Die Sterne, Death Cab For Cutie, Muse. Oh, and my favorite boy band was Take That. But they are not America-famous. David never heard of them. Worst band or singer. Andrea Berg. A German Schlager-singer. My Dad likes her music. It is awful. And every song sounds the same.
Favorite TV show from my childhood. The Snorks. Pumuckl. I don't think that there was a show I hated as a child.
Favorite computer game. Maniac Mansion, ZakMcKracken, Day of the Tentacle. Fantastic games from the 80s/90s. The Sims. Worst computer game. I can't play any shooting games. As I said, my hands are too shaky.
Favorite fruit. I really like all kinds of fruits. But I guess I would say cherries, strawberries, pomegranate, peach. Worst fruit. I have read about a fruit that smells really bad but tastes fantastic. Has anybody ever tried it?
Favorite beauty product. Nailpolish. I have soooo many. Worst beauty product. Anything tested on animals.
Okay, I guess that's enough for now. What are your favorite things? What things do you hate? Anything else you want to know? Have a lovely Saturday!
