London, Aug 1st 2015

On this day i embarked on my London adventure. And an adventure it was! It was the 8th time that i visited my most favourite city in the world. True to the motto:

But was it also a good idea to go there with ... my boss?? And that was the element of uncertainty in an otherwise really fantastic idea. Now, i know my boss for a very long time, next year we have our "silver anniversary" which means we have been working together for 25 years. We are on pretty informal terms as well. We have been through a lot of things together. So the idea is not as bizarre as it may sound. Nonetheless i was pretty nervous about it. But it turned out much better than i could have ever hoped! And with hindsight it was one of my most fantastic London trips so far. 

Crimson Peak

Compared to some of my friends it is actually pretty rare that i watch a movie. i often lack the patience to sit through a whole movie and so i really choose very carefully which movie i deem "worthy" to go and see in the cinema. Last year the 2 movies i really wanted to see in the cinema were "Only Lovers Left Alive" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" which both fully met my expectations. This year i was excited about "The Imitation Game" but was pretty disappointed by it. (To make it clear ~ i am talking feature films here and i don't take into account documentary-style movies like "20.000 Days on Earth", "I Am Divine" or "B-Movie"!) And then it was Crimson Peak i really wanted to see on the big screen. I really waited for this one! 

When it finally opened Mid October it turned out a pain in the ass to actually get a chance to see it in the cinema. No joke! One cinema only showed it at ridiculously late hours and only on very selected dates. Another cinema is not to reach without a car. The third cinema actually is a drive-in cinema, so again no option without a car. I was seriously frustrated by this. I wanted to go with a friend and a colleague. It was simply not possible. I was getting pretty nervous about it because i was afraid it will be out of the cinema very quickly. Seriously, for once i wanna see a movie in the cinema and then this. 

My colleague and me grabbed the chance today. My friend wasn't up to come along on an early Sunday evening. I think it might have been my only chance to see it and so i went with my colleague. And i didn't regret it for one moment!

The movie is visually beyond stunning and as a lover of all things Goth and Victorian i was utterly delighted by the elaborate and lavish settings and costumes. It is a feast for the eyes and i was entranced by the scenery and atmosphere. Nothing seemed cheap or artificial. It was all so very beautiful. 

Happy Halloween

What will come first?

So the question i ask myself is this: What will come first? Benedict Cumberbatch doing the ice bucket challenge OR Sherlock season 4?

The Empty Hearse, BBC Sherlock 3/1

Last night i was seeing the 1st episode for the first time when it had its German telly premiere and i was writing down my thoughts quickly, in the heat of the moment. i was really excited to see it, finally. After really waiting for the German premiere, after avoiding all spoilers as best as i could, after accidentally stumbling over the Sherlolly kiss just a few days ago .. i really had my delayed gratification today and was it worth it?

Not since Twin Peaks have i ever been so much looking forward to a bloody TV show. Mind you, Twin Peaks premiered on German TV in 1991!!! Which means, never since the frigging last century have i ever been so excited to watch the sequel of a tv series. ;)

Was it worth it? First .. new opening credits which clearly show we are in for a new Sherlock. The writers have pointed out that it would be utterly stupid if a character like Sherlock would not evolve. Which i completely subscribe to even though it is a walk on eggshells to actually try and make their character evolve in a way which is basically alien to him. In the days of the world-wide web we have forums, personal blogs and the like and even though i don't really have indulged into it, i did read here and there. In this day and age people just take a movie character or even a plot and just do with it what they want. They project on that character, they drool over it, they fantasize over .. in short, they take the plot, the characters and make it their own. I have seen a blog about Sherlock coming across as having Asperger's Syndrome and he became a canvas for people who actually really suffer from it and they feel understood or somehow represented (nothing wrong with that but was it really the writers' intention? .. just saying). Mr Cumberbatch himself said that he was approached by people (or maybe just one person, doesn't matter) who thanked him for what he was doing in that role for the asexuals amongst us. (nothing wrong with that either .. again, don't get me any wrong here!) . There are people out there writing fan fictions and they basically ship ALL kinda possible constellations. The most obvious ones are of course JohnLock and Sherlolly but i am sure there might also  be .. what would we call it? ... Sheriarty? Sherstrade? Sherirene? .. i am sure, all these options are out there :P

A journey back in time part 2

I have some kind of a personal relationship to that factory because my daddy used to work there. And during summer holiday breaks from school i also sometimes worked there to earn some cash for the holidays. The house complex i was sent to was quite obviously not newly built but it must have somehow belonged to the factory before. I could not find out what it has been before. I was overwhelmed by such a melancholy because i can not ask my daddy about it, anymore. He could have told me what it was. I am sure. He would also be so interested in in the change-over of the buildings and the whole former factory area. Such are the moments where i really miss my beloved daddy tremendously.My daddy had told me about that factory several times, what it had been like when he learned his trade there. I was listening to these stories from another time with great interest. I wish i could hear them again and ask specific question but alas ...So here come my research results with all the flaws and missing links:

A journey back in time ~ part 1

The other day a job obligation brought me to some address here in my hometown and that instigated a journey back in time. And it instigated some research on my part which actually wasn't as successful as i would wish but here are the results.

The address to which i was sent has a very lovely sound to it. It is called Am Pralinenhaus which would translate into At the Chocolate House. The word "chocolate" here relates to the tempting candy in a box of chocolates like this.

The reason for this kind of a "sweet" address is that there had been a chocolate factory on that area before. More about that later though. 

As i said it instigated a journey back in time and it turned out that this was not a journey following a straight line but it started to sidetrack and meander. 

There are different aspects to this story, as diverse as historical, architectural and personal aspects and i would like to address them all. It turned out a difficult task to really structure that story and so it is now for days on end that i try to write that blog. I wanted it to be a whole but the more i tried the more it slipped away from me. My research brought me more and more details and info which i wanted to use and it became a big mess. As recent as yesterday i was still determined to write it all in one blog entry. I thought giving it subheaders would provide the much needed structure. As of today i have to discard that idea. It is not really working. 

If i don't divide it into several parts i will never come to a result. 

So i made the decision to split it into several parts. And this here is .. of course .. part one. 

1. The situation today