How my paper is going so far

Concerning my paper, the biggest difficulty I face is research. When I type "political cartoons" into Google Scholar, I only find short abstracts and have no access to any document. It is really frustrating because I need a basis of information as a source for my topic. I do not plan to simply describe the political cartoons I have chosen to deal with;I want to use arguments and valid reasons why certain aspects are important for caricature. The library at the ITAT seems to have no books dealing with this topic as well.  Anyway, I have to search the Internet properly grabing any useful arguments I come across wirh. I want to approach my topic in an academic way and present it interestingly for my readers.

ze summary (from Dropbox) and my comment on it

SUK3 Europe already has one foot in ‘Japanese’
deflation
SUMMARY OF EUROPE ALREADY HAS ONE FOOT IN ‘JAPANESE‘ DEFLATION

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in the Telegraph of October 23, 2013, discusses the aspects of
the European Debt crisis while suggesting potential pertinent solutions. He dissects this
economic dilemma by providing a wide range of specific examples to expose its nature.
Evans-Pritchard proves that such a crisis is not preliminary by illustrating his article with
examples of events such as the American Revolution and the US agrarian revolt of the late
20th century, which according to author were induced by the economic policy errors. These
errors are being committed even nowadays.
Accordingly, the risks of deflation are highly underestimated, particularly in low debt
countries. While the inflation has been subsiding, there has been an upsurge of deflation. If
the latter exceeds 300%, severe consequences are to be expected. The Eurozone countries
are on the verge of experiencing the Japanese-style deflation.
Moreover, the symptoms are already there but attempts to eradicate the deflation problems
are not undertaken. Although, there are potential solutions such as forcing Germany to
accept inflation, the country is tentative to do so, due to its strong economy. Therefore,
apathy is chosen with a hope for a salvation by the next global growth.
193 WORDS NOT INCLUDING TITLE


The first part is well written as it mentions the author, the newspaper and the date. It gives us an overview of what the article is about. I would have left out the dates of the American Revolution and the US agrarian revolt as it is not really necessary, you either know it or you look it up when you're interested. It is important to mention these events and not the dates.
I wouldn't mention numbers like 300% (in second part of the text). It's enough just to write "exceed", as this verb already suggests higher numbers. I don't think you have to mention precise numbers in a summary.
The last part includes three linking words, avoid them!
The anonymous writer could have explained one argument a little more or could have mentioned which countries are affected. That way he/she would have reached the 200 words.
All in all, I really like this summary. It provides enough information, and not many unnecessary arguments.

EU individual paragraph

Brainstorming

Why is 2013 the European Year of Citizens? --> mention 20th anniversary

Maastricht Treaty ---> why is it important? What was invented? Was it a big change for the people?

Mention EYCA --> what is their aim? Mention new law proposals!

What does the European Year of Citizens stand for? --> one big EU community, interests of citizens, European citizen need to be aware of the regulations they can benefit from, the meaning of being in the EU

2013 - The European Year of Citizens

When looking back at the year 2013 people will mostly reflect on what they have experienced in the past months. However, 2013 bears a relevant meaning in connection to the EU as well. The year 2013 is named “The European Year of Citizen” and thus is significant for the citizens of the European member countries. The reason behind this title is first and foremost the 20^th anniversary of the European community which was established through the Maastricht Treaty. This treaty led to the foundation of the Euro and introduced new regulations for the EU concering policies and, of course, citizenship. This particular treaty made traveling and living abroad and many other affairs for EU citizens easier. On that account this year’s focus of interest lies on civil rights and many organisations such as the EYCA (European Year of Citizen Alliance) are zealously making an effort to convey the meaning of being a European citizen to the people. One of their aims is to make people aware of the many ways they can benefit from the EU. They also want to put forward many new law proposals for the citizens’ interest. In the end it is very important for us to use these great opportunities that the EU offers.  

Feedback summary 1

• Topic sentence should connect to the topic --> Mention the EU in the topic sentence already
• Replace "However" because you want to say that it was an important year for the EU as well.
  However suggests right the opposite!
• Connect the second and third sentence: "2013 bears a relevant meaning....as it was named...thus is significant"
• After "On that account" --> comma!!
• "...to convey the meaning of being a European citizen to the people." --> replace "to the people" with to the outside world --> much broader
• Register: write "several new law proposals" instead of "many new law proposals" as it is higher register
• "In the end" doesn't suggest a conclusion sentence.
  Write: "To sum up, ... " 

rewritten paragraph

The year 2013 bears a relevant meaning in connection to the EU as it was named “The European Year of Citizen”. As the name suggests, this year is very significant for the citizens of the European member countries. The reason behind this title is first and foremost the 20^th anniversary of the European community as it was established through the Maastricht Treaty. This treaty led to the foundation of the Euro as well as new regulations for the EU concering policies and, of course, citizenship. This particular treaty made traveling and living abroad and many other affairs for EU citizens easier. On that account, this year's focus of interest lies on civil rights and many organisations such as the EYCA (European Year of Citizen Alliance) are zealously making an effort to convey the meaning of being a European citizen to the population. One of the EYCA's aims is to make people aware of the many ways they can benefit from the EU. The organisation also wants to put forward several new law proposals for the citizens’ interest. To sum up, it is very important for us to use these great opportunities that the EU offers.  

Feedback summary 2 

• Watch out! --> "an" European citizen
• Conclusion sentence:  doesn't sum up! Mention the whole idea of the EYOC, then you can mention it is important for us to use the opportunities as we are EU citizens
• Still too many "many"s --> replace with great deal of
• in connection WITH the EU
• foundation--> introduction
• concering --> concerning

Final version

The year 2013 bears a relevant meaning in connection to the EU as it was named “The European Year of Citizen”. As the name suggests, this year is very significant for the citizens of the European member countries. The reason behind this title is first and foremost the 20^th anniversary of the European community as it was established through the Maastricht Treaty. This treaty led to the  introduction of the Euro as well as new regulations for the EU concerning policies and, of course, citizenship. This particular treaty made traveling and living abroad and a great deal of other affairs for EU citizens easier. On that account, this year's focus of interest lies on civil rights and organisations such as the EYCA (European Year of Citizen Alliance) are zealously making an effort to convey the meaning of being an European citizen to the population. One of the EYCA's aims is to make people aware of the many ways they can benefit from the EU. The organisation also wants to put forward several new law proposals for the citizens’ interest. To sum up, the EU citizens are truly at the heart of this year's concern. 

Feedback from teachers

• First sentence suggests that 2013 was the only year which was given a name
• Replace "the reason behind this title" with "The reason why this theme was chosen"
• It takes very long to get to my point --> delete the introduction of the Euro f.e.
• "This (particular) treaty --> don't repeat yourself!
• use "term" instead of "affairs"; following word order is incorrect
• I suggest replace "easier" with "facilitate"
• Replace the underlined "on that account"
• "focus of interest" --> Leave it to "focus"
• write the whole name of the organisation and the abbrevation in paranthesis
• "zealously making an effort" --> no Coll. 
• Replace "the meaning of being a.." with "what it means to be"
• "for the citizens' interest" --> use "to benefit the citizens"
• Conclusion sentence is not strong!

Second Final Version

Each year bears a relevant meaning in connection to the EU and this particular year was given the name “The European Year of Citizen”. As the title suggests, this year is significant for the citizens of the European member countries. The reason why this theme was chosen is first and foremost the 20^th anniversary of the European community as it was established through the Maastricht Treaty. In honor of this treaty, which facilitated traveling, living abroad and a great deal of other terms for EU citizens, this year's focus lies on civil rights and organisations such as the European Year of Citizen Alliance (EYCA) are making an effort to convey what it means to be an European citizen to the population. One of the EYCA's aims is to make people aware of the many ways they can take advantages of the EU. The organisation also wants to put forward several new law proposals to benefit the citizens. To sum up, it is not without reasons that the EU has given 2013 a special meaning as it affects everyone who resides within the borders of the EU. 

5 topic related to the EU

In the last few days I was thinking about some topics which are related to the EU and of which I would gladly write a paper about. The first idea that came to my mind was to relate different hobbies or interests of mine to the EU. The following are my five brilliant topics:

1.) "Caricature and the EU" - As photography is my favourite hobby I tried to come up with an idea which is related to photography. Political cartoons, also called caricature, seems to be just the right topic for me. When I typed in the word "EU caricature" into Google I found large amounts of caricatures which describe different events within the European Union in a cynical and sarcastic way. I plan to analyse some of them.

2.) "Why is Brussels the center of the EU?" - The reason why I came up with this topic is because I love travelling and I've even been to Brussels once. Seeing these huge buildings and a lot of men in suits have left behind an impression. I've always been asking myself why the EU decided to take up residence in Brussels and not in another city. The paper would be a great opportunity to answer this question.

3.) "Requirements to be a translator in the EU" - How many languages are we required to speak if we want to be future translator or interpreters in the European Union? I chose this topic because most of the students at the ITAT want to work in the EU and it would be beneficial to know what exactly is required from us.

4.) "EU and the connection to the Arabic World" - The second language I study is Arabic. It would be interesting to know whether the EU cooperates with Arabic countries and whether there exists a future chance for me to work as a translator in this field.

5.) "When does a country become member of the EU?" - Why are there still countries in the European territory which are not yet part of the EU? What makes a EU country a EU country?

My topics for the KGP

Students scurrying around, the lack of enough feedback sheets and listening comprehensions and the struggle to maintain the time schedule - this is a perfect description for the culture days :-). However, the topics were well chosen and every presentation was informative.

On Wednesday I've seen these presentations:
America: Oprah Winfrey

Ireland:  The life of Irish Traveller Women, Bloody Sunday for the GAA, Gaelic and its use in Northern Ireland

On Thursday I've seen these presentations:

America: Harlem, Scientology

Ireland: Operation Demetrius, Patrick Nee, Oscar Wilde and William Yeats, the Integration of Islam in Ireland, Witchcraft in Ireland, Homophobic Bullying in Irish schools, Kilmainhaim Gaol, the Children of Lir, Gulliver's Travels and Pro-life

I was very indecisive at first concerning what topics I'll chose for the KGP. These are the ones I'd like to be questioned about in the KGP:

1. Operation Demetrius - I'm highly interested in the happenings of Northern Ireland and its history. Furthermore, it relates to my own Culture Topic as the Guildford Four were arrested 4 years after that. 
2. The life of Irish Traveller Women - I've never heard of "Irish Travellers" before so that's why I want to    know more about it.
3. Kilmainhaim Gaol - I myself have been to this jail in Ireland and its story really fascinates me.
4. Pro-life - This issue is currently very controversial and I'd like to be more aware of arguments against abortion
5. Oscar Wilde and William Yeats - As Oscar Wilde is one of my favourite authors, I'd like to get to know more about William Yeats in connection with Oscar Wilde. 

Shocking words

"Gerry Conlon" - A man who is willing to reveal the truth about victims of miscarriages of justice by reflecting every pain he himself had to go through!
In preparation for the presentation of my culture topic I have seen many interviews of Gerry Conlon. It appears to me that he still remembers every moment of these horrible 15 years in prison. When he talks it seems that he puts himself back into prison. He recalls the exact date and time of certain situations and his face becomes extremely terrified by these memories. Have a look at these 3 interviews of him! When I saw them for the first time I almost started to cry. It's quite unbelievable that human beings are able and willing to act in such cruel ways.

• Gerry Conlon 1
• Gerry Conlon 2 (Part 1)
• Gerry Conlon 2 (Part 2)

He wants to raise people's awareness for Gary Critchley and Shaker Aamer who both have become victims of flawed courts. They are falsely condemned prisoners in the 21st century!

I really recommend watching these interviews as I didn't have enough time to show them to you at my presentation. I guess it's a good way to bring yourself back down to earth and realise what a blessed life we lead. 

First time on a flea market

Last sunday I decided to go to a flea market with my mother. I had always wanted to see how a flea market looks like and especially what the people sell. I think it is a very personal thing to sell your own items. Through the years you collect a number of things and they somehow define your character. People give things some kind of meaning and that's the special part of a flea market. So many different people want to get rid of their stuff and it's actually very interesting to see what they posses and give meaning to. You automatically create a picture of the person's character. Anyway, I saw some really cool things there. Rummaging around I found old books, antique furniture, loads of records and some cool clothes. Most of the items were very special and unique. I don't quite understand why people are so reluctant to wear clothes from other people. Why not? If it's something very exclusive that you can't find anywhere nowadays why wouldn't you buy it? That's why washing machines are there for! :-)
However, I have to admit that some people wanted to sell their trash too. Well, it was worth a try :-)
The atmosphere was very great as all people were in search of something different and unique. I'll definitely will go to a few flea markets more often, you just never know what you can discover :-)

I extended my book collection by buying three books on the flea market. One book from 1942! is written by an Austrian author called Grillparzer. It is just about to fall to pices as it is very old. The other book is a thick one from 1944 and written by Nietzsche. It looks very dusty and really antique. The third one is a newer book written by Mario Puzo. I only spent three euro for these books. Unbelieveable! :-)

A Chocolate Factory without Oompa Loompas

The marvellous Riegersburg

Zotterchocolate - This is the name of the only real Austrian chocolate. Some members of the English group felt peckish and they made their way ahead, including myself, towards the chocolate factory which is located not far away from the magnificent Riegersburg. It took us only one hour to reach the destination. The drive was very entertaining and an auspicious start for the trip. We chatted the whole driving time through and that somehow distracted our great driver Julia from keeping track. Anyway, we arrived there before the others :-)

After paying the entrance we got a little spoon which we used for all the very delicious chocolate fountains. Before the tour began a film was shown to us. It was about the owner of the factory, Josef Zotter, and about the whole process of importing the cocao beans from India where the weather conditions are more than perfect for growing cocao beans. The concept of the Zotterchocolate is what makes the chocolate so special. The Zottercompany really tries to treat the farmers in India very fair and provide them with food and good salaries. This is not so common in the rough world of food companies. So, while eating a Zotterchocolate you can be sure that the farmers are treated well in comparison to other companies, where the poor farmers don't earn enough money and therefore live under deprived conditions. After the short film we couldn't wait longer and stormed into the real factory. We stuffed ourselves with every chocolate we came across, some of them were good but a few were a little yucky. Two chocolate fountains were heavenly delicious to me - nougat chocolat and caramel chocolat. I couldn't help returning to refill my spoon. In the end a few of us had to rest because they were too full to move on :-)

Then we continued to the Tiergarten and stroked some lovely animals. The weather was sunny and we enjoyed the mountain air which smelled like the scent of cows :-) We even saw Josef Zotter smilling at us but I couldn't react so quickly and so there's no picture of him :-(
After a while we got back in the cars and visited a typical Autrian Buschenschank at the foot of the Riegersburg. We had a marvellous view to the castle. We had a really great time while eating freshly made bread with different spreads and salads and while drinking fresh juices. But it eventually began to flash and we had to return back home.
The Zotterfabrik-trip was a good idea to stuff our bellies with great chocolate and to get to know each other a little more. We really had a great time :-)

By the way, I'm sure there were Oompa Loompas in the factory but they were too shy to come out :-)

Being in a fantasy world

The cinema hall was full and all seats were taken by Freaks :)

Yesterday was a very special evening for me. An event took place in the KIZ Royal Cinema in Graz and I had the opportunity to be part of it. The event was about the well-known Tv Show called "Game of Thrones". Since I'm a dedicated fan of this show I obviously couldn't skip such a great occasion. The icing on the cake was the fact that the entrance was for free. The event was organised by the Tv company "Sky". For the release of the show's third season on Sky they gave us the chance to get a preview of the first two episodes. I took two friends of mine with me and we really enjoyed it. They also played the opening song of the show and that made the whole atmosphere better. Some people were even dressed in costumes of their favourite Game of Thrones characters and I realised what a big fan base this show already has (for good reasons!).


Before the episodes were shown to us, the hosts of the evening gave the dressed up people present bags. Luckily, the other one in the cinema were also able to get one of these bags by answering a question correctly regarding the show. And so I did!! I encouraged myself and answered one question. I had to enumerate the countries in which the show was filmed. Now I'm a proud owner of a T-shirt, a mug and a poster, each with sigils of different houses. I wanted to buy them anyway, but fortunatelly I got them sooner than I thought.

I really recommend watching this Tv show as it is a phenomenal production of HBO. It basically tells a human story about intrigue, deception, family honor and betrayal. It is a drama with complex characters and it got themes run through that everyone can relate to. But they've put some magic and fantasy on top of it and that makes it so special.

The very Great Gatsby

Two weeks ago I saw the very entertaining movie "Great Gatsby" by Baz Luhrmann in 3D. I don't quite understand why the movie has been so controversial and caused mixed reactions. I was very overwhelmed by the way the director has put it on screen. Even though the book "Great Gatsby" is a piece of classic literature, Luhrmann managed to portray it in an unusual fantastic way for the people in the 21st century. He wanted to take the movie audience to a journey through the Golden Age of America, also dubbed "Jazz Age", but to create a connection to the 20's as well so that the people could really FEEL the spirit of this time. Therefore he put in some elements to back this idea up.
Firstly, the dresses and costumes are created with a mix of elements of the 20's but also nowadays fashion details such as jewelry. The hairstyles are inspired thoroughly by the Golden Age.

Secondly, the music was overwhelmingly great. The director didn't want to play slow Jazz-music during the movie. He cooperated with artists like Jay-Z, Florence and the Machine, the Xx and Beyonce to create a timeless soundtrack for the movie. I personally believe it's one of the greatest soundtracks I've ever listened through. Although each artist follows completely different music genres, they do mach perfectly together because every song has some kind of an element which relates to the movie.
Listen to this song by Jay-Z. The jazz component to this hip-hop song works incredibly good.

100 dollar bills -The Great Gatsby soundtrack (Do you notice the similarities between Jay-Z and the Great Gatsby?)

Besides the very well acting by the great Leonardo Dicaprio, the amount of effort which was put into the movie to make it perfect is just incredible. The director really proved the greatness of the Great Gatsby.

The movie is actually about a tragic love story. 

The importance of being creative

The last month of this semester is just about to end and everbody's busy with learning for the final exams. So was I but at one point I realised that I'm not quite fulfilled with what I'm doing. I noticed the importance of being creative. Instead of being too focused on studying desperately in order to achieve the best marks, we, especially students, should get away from it all and get a moment for ourselves. I know that the university's obligations sometimes prevent us from pursuing our hobbies. However, we should all realise that life's not only about studying, it's about fulfilling your happiness and personal hobbies. It is very important regarding mental activity. I've noticed how relaxed and happy I'm after doing some creative activities such as photography or writing texts. Same as with studying, we sometimes have to conquer our weaker selves and force ourselves to be creative. It does very good on our contentment and happiness to life.

Anyway, that's the reason why I've decided to put an extra blog up to post about things which interest me highly and to post my own "creative" work but as well as some work by other people. I hope it's going to be an exciting and productive summer :-)

Our deepest fear

This wonderful poem above is one of the most inspirational quotes of all time! Most people often mistakenly think that it is a quote by Nelson Mandela. He cited this quote at his inaugural address in 1994. But the real writer is a woman called Marianne Williamson and the poem is a short cut-out from her book "A return to love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles". This intellectually stimulation quote has been recited in many movies and has become widely known.

"Our deepest fear" - movie: Coach Carter 

The wisdom underlying this poem is broadening and helpful as well. It says that by being unconfident and insecure you make yourself shrink. This is neither beneficial for your development as well as for the people's around you. You need to shine and be strong-minded in order to do something for your own good which might have an effect on other people too.

Read this poem slowly and soak in this inspiring wisdom :-)

My trip to the chocolate country - Switzerland

In march my sister and I made our way ahead to Switzerland to visit our relatives there. Even though it was only a short trip we made the most out of it and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The main reason why we went there was that my little sweet cousin just turned one year old and it is Bosnian custom to organise a celebration for this occasion. The evening after we arrived this lovely celebration was scheduled. We really had a great time as we were able to meet our relatives all at ones. Besides, the cake was simply delicious ;-). Due to the fact that the day after happened to be a Sunday, we relaxed, went for a walk and in the evening we were invited for dinner to my cousin's place.
On Monday we went to see the great city Basel. We went sightseeing and saw the magnificent town hall of Basel, Basler Münster and the Fasnachts fountain and many other sights. Our cousin served very well as a tourguide :-). Unfortunatelly, the weather wasn't really co-operating but we fell in love with the city anyway. My aunt really made sure we wouldn't stay hungry after dinner :-). Afterwards, we decided to go for a drink. We slurped our cocktails at the highest point of the town tower. It was quite a creepy experience, but the view to Basel at night was stunning.

Tuesday, the last day, arrived quite soon. Our destination was the picturesque city Luzern. I immediately fell in love with this city as it is surrounded by a big lake and wonderful mountains. We basically walked through Luzern and saw everything which was important. The whole arrangement of the city is very idyllic and beautiful.

We drove back home and enjoyed our last hours with the family.
My sister and I went home with tearful eyes and a bag full of delicious chocolate. :-)

View out of the plane. 

Favourite Food Blog

When I was searching  through the Internet for a good food blog, I came across one which is called "bitedelite". It was created by Joanna Siemek who lives in Poland. The blog is in English but there is also an option to switch to the Polish language if you want to. Here is the link in case you want to have a brief glimpse of the blog: http://bitedelite.com 

I really like this particular blog for different reasons:

1.) The whole arrangement of the blog is very eye-catching. The use of bright colours makes reading every recipe very refreshing for the eyes. And apparently, with the colours the creator wanted to indicate that her recipes aren't just ordinary and boring, but lively and fresh. This leads me to the second point.

2.) The recipes in general are all very unique. Joanna tries to abandon doing her recipes the old-fashioned and boring way, in other words, my grandmother’s way of cooking and baking J
J. garnishes every single creation of hers with lovely and innovative decoration. I’m amazed by the fact that she pays so much attention to all the details. Here’s an example: bunny-cupcakes

3.) I'm kind of thankful that she attaches a lot of pictures to her recipes. For a seldom baker like I am it is useful to actually see how every step is being made and how it should look like. When there are no pictures I often do wrong things and the result is far away from "delicious". In the end she always takes pictures from different perspectives so that the reader can admire her creations and probably be motivated to take the cooking spoon and get to work :-)

4.) Joanna does not only post about recipes, but she also gives "Kitchen tips". These are tips which are very useful to improve cooking processes or to preserve food. 

All in all, it is without doubt a very lovely and creative food blog. It seems that she really makes an effort and gives thought to her recipes. I totally recommend trying out some of her recipes :-)

I've recently tried this one out: panna-cotta

I've always wanted to taste a self-made panna cotta and I thought it was a good occasion to do it in connection with the food blog :-)

The only thing I changed was the fruit. I had no pomegranate at home and so I took some strawberries as an alternative. 

I'm a Tubian

You wonder what Tubian actually means? This term was created by Yousef Erakat, who is an Arab living in America. His hobby is to make videos of basically everything in his life :-) So a fouseyTubian is a dedicated fan of his, as I am :-)

1.) FouseyTube
- Here he uploads funny videos dealing mostly with Arab culture.
He runs a video series which is called "Middle Eastern family". He slips into the role of every family member and shows the funny Arab culture. There is baba, mama, his sister, her lover, his grandmother, his uncle - they are all played by him and he does an incredibly good job! He creates so many funny scenes where for example, his parents force him to find a good girl to marry. Additionally he shows how exaggerated his mother is concerning proper clothes or behaviour. It really is worth seeing :-) And I guess everybody can realte to his problems at home :-) And he also covers some cultural prejudices and makes fun of them :-)
2.) FouseyVille
- that's the channel where he uploads videos of his daily life. They are also very humorous. A lot of his friends appear and you really gain an insight into his exciting life!
3.) FouseyFitness
- As he  is on a trip to gain muscles he records himself during his sport activities. I guess that's only interesting for sportive people :-)
He took a brake from filming because he wanted to concentrate more on collage. Only a few weeks ago he made his comeback with a very touching message where he describes how he felt in the time where he had to do life-changing decisions.

Fascinating family

In one of my paragraphs about fascinating people I've written about my host family in Ireland. I'd like you to also know something about this lovely family :-)

It was on my school trip to Ireland a few years ago. The family lived in a residential area named Dún Laoghaire, which was not too far from Dublin. The very first minutes with the lovely mother were really promising as she drove me around and showed me the picturesque parts of the district. We arrived at their house and I was friendly welcomed by the rest of the family members. We got to know each other a little more and I gradually got an insight in their lives and interesting personalities. We mainly talked about the Irish and Bosnian history, which was one of the greatest conversations I have ever had. It was really fascinating to hear each other perspective to the dark history of our countries. We all recognized the connections between our homelands as both of them suffered decades of terror. Despite the fact that the family memebers were very set in their ways, they had very open-minded views to life. And this characteristic impressed me most!

I will definitely go back to Ireland and visit these fascinating people again :-) 

The luck of the Irish (part 3)

In the last part (assumed that I will not come up with another idea) of "The luck of the Irish" I will write about the Murals in Northern Ireland. My goal is one day visiting this place in order to see them in reality. It is such an interesting topic and the historic background makes it even more exciting. As we know already, the Murals are big paintings on buildings which were made by Catholics or Protestants. Both of them tried to express their point of view about different incidents which took place. They often show violence and therfore the government tries step by step to paint them over, which in my opinion is the wrongest thing they could do! Why not just face the bitter truth of the country's history? As a matter of fact, people are really able to learn something about these Murals as they also illustrates real incidents that took place. But generally, Catholics illustrate how they were surpressed and on the other hand, the Protestants glorify Oliver Cromwell and the British invasion in Ireland. 

I've found some youtube videos which show some of these Murals (the first one is a song from "In the name of the father")

Easter Egg in Lord of the Rings

Good morning :-)

As I'm a huge fan of the movie series Lord of the Rings I've done a lot of research about them. I've came across an interview between two cast members, Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry). The last one actually played a trick on Elijah Wood and pretended to be a German journalist. He succeeded to make a fool out of Elijah because they could't see each other, the interview was held via satellit. Elijah, sitting in New York, couldn't imagine being tricked by his friend and this makes the interview so hilarious. Dominic used this oppurtunity and asked him the most stupid questions ever!!!! :D With his German accent and his incorrect English Elijah couldn't believe it was him in the end. Simply great :D Have a look at it!

 

One funny question:
Dominic pointed out that Elijah's hair changed in big photoshoots he did for several magazines (He obviously changed wigs many times)

Dominic: In the photoshoots you do (!!!) with Vogue magazine and Cosmopolitan and Entertainment Weeky Timemagazine your hair changes dramatically from short to long. Do you wear wigs?

Elijah: No I do not.

Dominic: Have you worn wigs?

Elijah: No I have not.

Dominic: Will you were wigs?

Elijah: Maybe.

Dominic: When will you wear wigs?

Elijah: Laughs :D 

 

Hilarious! :D
The name "easter egg" was a project by the Lord of the Rings producers. Only few people were able to "find" this interview or other things which they prepared. But this super funny interview spread and now we are all able to see it :-) 

I can't help but show you more funny videos of the LOTR cast and crew, they really had fun on set and everytime I see these videos I laugh as they make fun of each other :D

 

B.A.N.K.S.Y

Those of you who have visited London have surely seen the murals of the streetartist Bansky!?
As far as I'm concerned, I've never been there and seen them in reality, but when I first saw the pictures in google I was overwhelmed!! Every single mural of him has a deep significance and wants us to think! They often reveal his personal opinions about politics and wants us to be aware how the society "rules" affect our lives. One theme often appears in his art work: Murals which illustrate that we're constantly observed by the government. 

Nobody really knows how Banksy looks like because he obviously wants to be anonymous. In his movie "Exit through the gift shop" (I will not write about it...now! :D) he also doesn't show his face. 

Have a look at some of his murals, they are really meaningful and great! Even so, I often question myself if the things he's illustrating are too exaggerated? Or is it really that way in our society and we simply are not aware of it as it seems normal for us? I can't answer it, but I see what he's trying to tell us and the more I think about it, the more I believe it!
 

See the full gallery on Posterous

He is one of the artists who has done a lot of work on the Israeli West Bank Barrier, you know the wall which seperates Palistianian and Israeli territory (I've already mentioned this in a blog). That's his way to express his feelings about this issue!

See the full gallery on Posterous

There are so many other great murals but I think these above have given you an idea of his art work. :-)

 

13th Amendment - Aaaaaj!

I'm sure you've noticed all these posters of Steven Spielberg's new movie "Lincoln". As the title indicates, the movie is about the 16th president of America Abraham Lincoln, more precisely it is only about his last years of presidency during the American Civil War and it also shows the struggle Lincoln had to go through to pass the 13th Amendment, which meant the abolishment of slavery in the 19th cenutry.                

I will not write about the plot now because I've covered the topic above. It is more important to talk about his major role in establishing a law, which changed the entire America at that time. We have to consider that people at these days couldn't imagine a society where coloured people could vote or do other things except being slaves. If we keep this in mind, it is very beneficial for us to understand the whole situation. So, there was a president with a great vision, to preserve the Union and to give every citizen of America the right to live freely, so he basically wanted to bring out the best in the people of his country. But there were some difficult problems he had to face while being determined to reach his goal. All the Republicans didn't fully agreed with him and the Democrats as well wanted slavery to be kept as it was an economic and crucial help for them. However, the very human Lincoln managed to persuade the people of his idea and finally he reached the vote majority and the 13th Amendment was passed - Aaaaaj!
You wonder why I write Aaaaj? At the elections for the Amendment, the members of the House of Represantatives could either vote  "No" (Naaaaaaaaaj) or "Yes" (Aaaaaaaaaj). 

But the most interesting part of the whole story is the fact that Lincoln had to do some life-changing decisions and sometimes he was caught between what is good for the nation (make peace with the South) and what should be done (abolish slavery). So he basically suffered from moral doubt. And this dilemma is perfectly conveyed in the movie. 

One thing I found out is that Daniel Day-Lewis (plays Lincoln and is the protagonist of my previous blog "In the name of the Father") refused to play this role for 8 years!! Can you imagine that? He didn't want to put himslef under pressure and portray the most beloved president of America, but luckily, in the end he agreed. Day-Lewis adopted the American accent and obviously proved again his excellent ability to play the part of another person so well! 

I guess if you are not well informed about Lincoln and the whole slavery issue of that time, I wouldn't recomment to watch the movie. I myself watched the great movie but sometimes it was really hard to catch up, although I felt pretty confident in American history. 
Anyway, there are also some funny scenes in the movie because Abraham Lincoln used to tell crazy stories which didn't have any relation to the issue of a situation :-)

Go and watch the movie, it is absolutely worth seeing! :-)
Here's an interview of Dany Day-Lewis where he speaks of his experience acting Lincoln:

 

Ps: I'll try hard not to write too many blogs  about movies anymorein the future ;-)

 

 

Plans for holiday

Hey you out there! :-)

Now that the holiday has finally arrived you're surely out and about to celebrate. As for my part I have my last exam on monday so I guess I'll stay home tonight :-)
But have you given thought to your plans for holiday yet? I have:

Basically, I'll remain in Graz and I'll study for all the exams I've put back or do other things for university. I'll meet some friends of mine and go out for a drink with them. I really have neglected this as we've had too many things to do recently. I have to make a good use of the free time I'll have :-)

As far as English is concerned, I'll go again through all the vocabulary we've learned so far. I'll watch one of my favourite series "Gilmore Girls" in English, even though I've watched every episode about 10 times ^^ (I obviously need a hobby :D). And every evening I plan to watch a great movie all by myself with some good food :-) Moreover, I'll read the last 300 pages of "Game of Thrones" and begin to read the third book. That's basically what I'll do for English :-) And I hope I'm going to stick to the strict plans ^^ Maybe I'll just end up watching movies, that would be me :D

As we have a group on Facebook, what do you say about meeting each other more often during holiday? This would be great, I'd love to :-) Just leave a comment :-)

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday at the Office Pub! 

xoxo 

The luck of the Irish (part 2)

The second part of my “The luck of the Irish” blogs will be about the movie „In the name of the father“, which is truly one of my favourite films. Not only has the director managed to create such an emotional, touching and heartbreaking movie, but he also managed to show us how the British police forces unreasonably tended to accuse a lot of Catholics of being members of the IRA, especially in the time of Internment. Through the very great storyline you really get to “feel” the pain the protagonist has to go through while fighting to prove his innocence. What’s shocking is the fact that the movie is based on a true story, the story of the Guildford Four. I didn’t know that before watching it for the first time and when I got to know this fact, I actually started to cry! Admittedly, I was full of loathing and I hated the British the same way the Irish do, but who wouldn’t? I was so fascinated about the movie that afterwards I spent quite some time to collect additional information about the movie.  

The plot is set in Northern Ireland and young Gerry Conlon, who is a Catholic, causes some trouble and to prevent being getting too involved, he is sent to England. There, he finds some Hippie friends and lives his life freely. One night a bomb explodes at a pub in Guilford, which is a town in England, and five people get killed. Gerry Conlon, not being informed about this incident, makes his way back to Northern Ireland in order to share the money he found with his family. All of a sudden, he and three of his friends get arrested by the British police and by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which, we know already, is the British police force in Northern Ireland. They are immediately sent to the UK and are blamed for having fired the bomb. After being physically tortured and mentally exhausted, they do not have the power to be resistant anymore and finally they admit to have committed the crime. After that his father as well gets arrested and they are all sentenced to life imprisonment. In custody, they all have to face some problems. Gerry’s father dies and his son wants to fight for justice in the name of his father (hence the title of the movie!). Gerry gets help from a lawyer who investigates the matter and finds a whole paper record which is not meant to be shown to the Defence as it proves the innocence of all these people. In the end, they are all freed.

Interesting information:

1.) Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Gerry Conlon, did a lot of things in preparation for his role: He lost 30 pounds, spent nights in jail and the cast threw water at him and insulted him. All these things were necessary for him to adjust to the time and to the troubles. He also kept his Irish accent through the whole filming process. In my opinion, he did a remarkable performance!

2.) All these jail scenes in the movie were not shot in a jail in the UK, but in the Kilmainham Goal in Dublin. I myself have visited this jail on my school trip to Ireland and it was all the more shocking. I really could feel this strange atmosphere there. The leaders of the Irish war of Independence were also executed there.

3.) During the movie you will notice the wonderful music. Most of the songs were produced by Bono (from U2) and Gavin Friday. Other artists from the 70’s and Sinead o’Connor can also be heard.
Here is a song by Bono and Gavin Friday, they have put in some Irish elements

4.) The movie was nominated for Seven Academy Awards, but it didn’t win any of them. How dared they didn’t give the movie at least one award??? Obviously, the Academy does not have a good taste.
 

My favourite quote of the movie:
It is a scene between Gerry Conlon and the lawyer

Gerry: You are very good at the English, aren’t you? You see, I don’t understand your language. Justice, mercy, clemency – I literally don’t understand what those words mean. You see, I’d like to put an application to get all my teeth extracted and that way I can put my fist in my mouth and never speak another word of fucking English so long as I live.

I hope I have awakened your interest for this movie because I highly recommend it to you! Maybe we could persuade Fiona to watch it together in the next semester :-) 

See the full gallery on Posterous

 

 

 

 

Another great piece of art

Yesterday afternoon I watched the new movie of Quentin Tarantino "Django unchained" in English. I am generally a great fan of the director and I've watched all of his films over and over again, but his new movie just blew my mind. I was again incredibly impressed by his talent and I am hardly able to put my excitement into words. 

Here is a short summary of the topic: The plot is set in the Deep South, during the time of slavery in America. Django (played by Jamie Foxx) is bought by Dr. Schultz (played by the great actor Christoph Waltz) who turns out to be a bounty hunter. They both make their way ahead to save Django's wife Broomhilde. They finally arrive to one of the biggest plantations "Candyland" and the owner of it, Calvin Candy (played by famous Leonardo DiCaprio), is a barbaric man who has a lot of slaves working for him, including Broomhilde. Basically, what follows are a lot of bloody scenes, but it is important to say that Django and Broomhilde are united in the end :-)

As I gained an insight into the time of the American Civil War for the third PC, this movie was all the more exciting. The director had the courage to deal with the tough "slavery" issue which Americans try to avoid talking about because it is the darkest part of their history. But the interesting part of it is that Tarantino's goal was actually to put the audience in the time of slavery and to show them all the circumstances and troubles of that time. I have to say I was a bit shocked as there are some scenes which illustrate how slaves where treated. For example, they had to wear kind of a headgear of chains and when they were punished, they were hanged head first for hours or were put nacked in a bunker. Another brutal thing is that all these owners let slaves fight until one of them was dead, the only purpose of this was entertainment. You see, it is a very complicated topic to deal with but it's a way to get over the past and to learn from the mistakes people made. 

What fascinated me a lot was the incredible good acting. Christoph Waltz made a brilliant performance and Leonardo DiCaprio was so overwhelmingly into his role that after he had injured himself in one scene and had began to bleed, he kept on acting. 

It doesn't actually matter which one of Tarantino's movies you pick, they all have like a common theme which runs though them and this is what makes his movies so unique. He's such an intelligent and talented director. Have you ever seen one of his interviews? I have the feeling that his behaviour is very special and ... weird?  
 

 

I am again speechless of his new great piece of art! 

Btw, the soundtrack's as well great! Here are two songs which I like best. I love Johnny Cash anyway :-)

 

Winter in Bosnia

I did not want to write too many blogs about Bosnia, but I can't resist. As you've probably read from my previous post, I spent one week in Bosnia during the Christmas holiday. One thing I noticed the moment I came back to Graz was the absence of snow and cold. In Bosnia, this was not the case. As Travnik is surrounded by a mountain called Vlasic you can obviously conclude that there was a lot of snow and cold as well. Just the mention of it makes me think of the beautiful landscape :-)

I'd like to tell you something about the very famous mountain "Vlasic", which I already mentioned above:

It's located (as Travnik) in the heart of Bosnia :-) 1,969m is it's maximum height.
Vlasic is a very  famous tourist attraction and winter destination for people of the Balkancountries. Every free gab or place was used by Bosnians, Serbs as well as Croatians to build cottages. In the winter months they use to stay there over the weekend and go skiing or do other winter activities. My family is currently building such a cottage house as well. Even if it's not a long way for us to the top of the mountain, we think it's pretty valuable to have one :-)
When you go more off the beaten track, into the wood, it's like a magical place. Everything seems so quiet and peaceful. You do only hear the scrunch of snow. There are loads of restaurants and hotels there as well. The main slope for skiing is long enough.
I do find it a very lovely place to go not only in the winter, but also in the summer months. There are unspoiled areas only few people have been to where you can go hiking.
 
Vlasic is almost more famous for it's cheese. Farmers use to rear sheeps and make white cheese of their milk. A common Bosnian proverb has it's origin from that:
"Bijel si k'o Vlasicki/Travnicki sir." --> This is said to someone who has a very pale complexion :-)

I wanted to show you some pictures I've made. The frost on leaves fascinated me a lot

On the following picture the frost has left a beautiful pattern on a window

Bosnian wedding

One week has passed since my cousin celebrated her wedding. My whole family assembled and we really had a great time :-) 

In this blog I'll try to bring the many traditions of a bosnian wedding closer to you.
Even though Bosnia is not a big country, the traditions vary a lot from one province to the other.
The wedding took place in a beautiful Bosnian city named "Tuzla". It's located in the northeastern part of Bosnia. Maybe you already know that my family comes from Travnik, but this doesn't matter. The wedding happens in the hometown of the bridegroom, which, in this case, was Tuzla.
Well, this was already the frist point of my long list of traditions :-)

As you see on the picture my cousin wears a veil due to the fact that all the members of my family are Muslims. So I guess the traditions vary a lot between the religions as well.

The Bosnian and Islamic way of a wedding happens as follows:

1.) While the bride is getting ready for her big day, the bridegroom makes his way ahead to "pick her up". The number of cars depends on the number of the invited people. If it's a long way to drive, about 7 cars follow the bridegroom.

2.) When they arrive to the place of the bride, the bridesmaid and a few other girls begin to decorate the cars with beautiful roses and cloths. After that, they begin to put small, white roses of synthetic material on the jacket of every invited guest. While doing that, one girl carries a box in order to collect money. This was my job, by the way :p

3.) In the meantime they're having coffee and a snack.

4.) The moment the bride walks out of the house, all the men begin to sing an islamic type of a holy song/hym. It is called "ilahija" in Bosnian. Then candies are thrown in the air. I don't quite get the purpose of this tradition. It's done on every wedding! 

5.) The bride says goodbye to her parents and gets in the car. Funny people set off fireworks and all the cars (including the cars of the bride) drive away hooting the car horns. It's really loud. They keep on doing that through the whole drive. The parents of the bride usually stay home and do not participate in the celebration. Instead, they grieve for their daughter :-) 

6.) What comes next is an important part. They go to the register office and become husband and wife. But for an islamic couple this is not a big deal. The real marriage ceremony takes place either in a mosque or in the house of the bridegroom. 

7.) Before the couple is allowed to enter the bridegroom's house, they have to do different things. Firstly, the bride has to hold the holy islamic book "Qur'an" with self-made bread in her hands. This tradition is very common. Secondly, the couple has to either drink something out of the same glass or eat honey with the same spoon. This tradition varies a lot. It basically is a sign of "togetherness". After that the bridegroom throws the spoon from one site of the house across the other. If the spoon doesn't end up on the other site, they will not be happily married.
In some parts of Bosnia the bridegroom has to rise his arm and the bride has to make the first step into the house under his outstretched arm.

8.) The islamic ceremony begins in the house as the "Imam" or "Hodza" (islamic type of a priest) acknowledges their wedding. Both the bridegroom and the bride sign the paper and then all the guests start to congratulate them. Some guests even sing an islamic verse to seal their wedding in front of witnesses.

 
9.) Hand in hand the couple leaves the house to celebrate their wedding. Usually a big hall is rented where the celebration starts. 

The music begins and the guests start dancing. This takes quite a long time :p I, of course, was unstoppable :D 

10.) As usual, the bride throws her bridal bouquet to the following bride ;-) 

11.) The bride goes around and serves coffee. Again money is being taken by the bridesmaid. 

12,) The final tradition is the cutting of the wedding cake. They usually daub themselves with the cream of the cake, which is pretty funny :-) 

The cake was delicious!!! :-) 

That's it! I hope you like the way Bosnians celebrate their weddings. It was both a touching and a wonderful wedding. 

Some more pictures of the couple. I do find them cute together. They are now in Istanbul on their honeymoon trip :-) 

See the full gallery on Posterous

 

 

 

 

The luck of the Irish (part 1)

Since we have to know the most important issues of the Irish history for the second PC, I was again (!) very eager to find some movies, songs or paintings which deal with the Irish problem. 
They really help you understand the enmity between the British and the Irish. I've always been very interested in this topic as it is one of the biggest injustice that ever happened. I will write more than one blog, so follow them ;-) 

1.) The luck of the Irish

 

It is a song performed by John Lennon and (annoying :P) Yoko Ono . The title is obviously sarcastic, because throughout the history the Irish had no luck, had to struggle to keep their country and their freedom. 

"Why the hell are the English there anyway as they kill with God on their site? Blame it all to the kids and the IRA as the bastards commit genocide"

John Lennon is stating his opinion in a very emotional way. He put in some rhetoric questions or sarcastic statements to emphasize the ridiculousness of the English invasion in Ireland. 
He mentions "genocide" deliberately, which indicates that millions of people were killed while fighting for justice. 

"...you wish you was English instead."

This part of the song in the end is quite daring. I think he wanted us to understand that the Irish would have chosen to be of another citizenship due to the brutality in their country.  

LOTR marathon

Hey guys!

I am quite a nerd regarding fantasy books and movies and obviously a devoted fan of the film trilogy Lord of the Rings. When I heard that the cinema is going to make an event and show all of the three films I immediately bought two tickets and went to see them on the 9th December with a friend of mine. 

It began at 12:15 and lastet until 01:00. Unfortunately I had to study for the second PC and therefore made a compromise with myself. I didn't watch the last one, though I could! (I regreted it afterwards) 

Believe it or not, it was kind of a dream come true for me. I've always wanted to see the movies on a big screen since I was too young to see them when they were released. 

It was absolutely worth it! The cinema showed the extended version of all the three movies and some scenes I've never seen. In paranthesis, I've watched all of them around ten times :-)

At the moment I am still excited about the experience. My arse hurt afterwards but I didn't care at all. I saw the beautiful world Peter Jackson created on a big screen.

I am very thankful such movies do exist. They allow you to enter in a dream world and forget the ugly one around you :-)

I have a lot of favourite scenes but one of them gave me the goosebumps in the cinema: It is the moment when the Nazguls ride out of Mordor for the first time and try to find the ring. It was sooo amazing! 

Who is as brave as Frodo? I would be as greedy as Boromir, who can resist such a powerful ring? :P

With this in mind, do not forget: 

One ring to rule them all,
One ring to find them.
One ring to bring them all
and in the Darkness bind them
in the land of Mordor
where the Shadows lie.