elvy's little world

That Interactive BBQ Party

2009-05-05T11:31:00.003+02:00

Yeah, we joined another interactive bbq party from SWR3 on May Day. As entrée we had chicken satay with peanut sauce and arugula salad, then fish and shrimp soup (using fish broth and coconut milk as base), pork chop with pineapple-tomato salsa and baked potatoes as main course, then sweet calzone with chocolate and walnut sauce to round up.

The entrée was quite good, although the chicken and the peanut sauce were a bit too dry for my liking.

The soup was interesting. It should be cooked inside the pineapple 'shell' but we didn't manage that because it took too long for the 'shells' to get hot. So we pour the soup into a tin pan instead and placed it on the grill. Apparently we weren't the only ones who failed this quest. ^_^

The main course was delicious: pork chop filled with dried apricots mixed with chopped garlic, shallot and chilli; plus the pineapple-tomato salsa. *drools*

Dessert was okay, but I was already full by that time (especially since I had a big lunch that day) so I probably should give it another chance. ^_^
The sauce was really good though.

If you're interested, you can find the recipes here.

Hmm... I just found a really nice bbq blog, many new recipes to try for our next BBQ.

Spring, Time for Asparagus

2009-05-04T20:16:00.007+02:00

A girlfriend from high school just got transferred (from Bogor) to Mainz in January. Now that we live close to each other, a get-together is a must! And we finally made it on May Day.

:: Tips ::

If you are purchasing fresh asparagus look for firm, crisp stalks with compact, brightly colored, closed tips.

The best way to store fresh asparagus is in the refrigerator upright in a drinking glass or jar filled with about an inch of water. Place a plastic bag loosely around the top. It should last three to four days stored in this way.

For our lunch I wanted to make something easy but tasty, so I settled for asparagus and fish. I'd already tried this fish recipe before and it was a hit for our family dinner. As usual I got these recipes from chefkoch.de and tweaked them a bit. ^^

White Asparagus
recipe

Ingredients for 4 Portions:
1.3kg white asparagus
salt, sugar, butter

Baked Pangasius* in Parchment Wraps
recipe
* according to wikipedia they're called tra, swai or striped catfish in english, but I've no idea which one is the usual term used >.<

Ingredients for 4 Portion:
300g potatoes
2 Zucchini, green and yellow (or 1 Zucchini and 1 red or yellow pepper)
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
16 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
1 clove garlic
4 Pangasiusfilet*, à ca. 200g
salt, pepper, olive oil
juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:

Peel the asparagus and cut away the bottom, hard part of the stalks. Set aside the good parts; wash the rest and put them into a pot, add water (about 1 liter), cook until it boils. Let it cool.

Meanwhile peel the potatoes, cut them and the zucchini into 1cm cubes. Mince the garlic. Heat the olive oil in the pan, add the garlic, cook and stir for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the potatoes and zucchini cubes, cook for 10 minutes until tender. Add salt and pepper to your liking.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Arrange the asparagus in double aluminium foil, about 5 asparagus in each packet. Add salt, pepper, butter and 2-3 tbs asparagus stock. Wrap the packets tightly and put them in the oven.

Prepare 5 sheets of baking paper. Put each filet in each packet. Add salt, pepper, the potatoes-zucchini cubes, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, sprigs of rosemary and thyme, and the olive oil. Put them in the oven.

After 15 minutes, the fish should be cooked and the asparagus tender.

Serve with baguette, ciabatta or focaccia. Yummy!

As dessert we had panna cotta, bf and sis were so delighted. ^_^

Thomas Nast Nikolausmarkt

2008-12-09T16:08:00.009+01:00

On Saturday I went to the chrismas market in Landau. They have the traditional booths selling food, Glühwein (normal and ones made from Dornfelder), christmas decorations and presents (ranging from toys to jewels) and a merry-go-round.

They also have a craftwork market, located in two closed, climated tents where the craftsmen show off their skills and works. They're using many different materials, ranging from rattan, wood, clay, metal and textile.
A booth showcasing beautiful mills for pepper, salt, nutmeg and cumin has a slogan

Mahlen Sie schon?
... oder reiben Sie noch?

^_^

My favorite booth is the one selling handmade dolls. I don't like those pretty dolls which look so real; I find they're creepy. Now these dolls aren't pretty at all, but they're very interesting. I especially like the pirates and the witches. A man-size doll of a homeless person were sat on the right side and people looked twice to see if it's a real person or a doll. At first I thought it was a real person wearing a mask. ^_^

The whole market is called "Thomas Nast Nikolausmarkt" in honour of Thomas Nast, a famous American caricaturist born in Landau, who first drew the Santa Claus version known today: a bearded, plump man in red and white apparel. White Rock Beverages used this figure first in their ads in 1915, but it was Coca-cola ads which made this figure famous worldwide.

Before leaving the market, I bought a pair of reindeer antlers with small bells. The booth is also selling these santa claus salt and pepper shakers.

A Tiny Update on Alice

2008-12-07T01:48:00.002+01:00

in Wonderland, from an interview with Alan Rickman.

IH: Have you started Alice in Wonderland yet?

AR: I have, yeah. I was here yesterday because it’s just in the next sound studio.

IH: Is it warmer there?

AR: Yeah, although not a lot, actually.

IH: You are doing a voice for a character?

AR: I’m a voice, but I have been filmed because it’s my face who will be on the end of something that will be the caterpillar. So it’s the first time that they’ve mixed three disciplines, I suppose — live action, animation, and stop motion. I think I’m part of the animation bit, and I saw Helena [Bonham-Carter] and Crispin Glover yesterday. They’re a mixture of the two, actually, because there’s Helena in a costume and in makeup but her head is going to be made three times bigger than it actually is on top of the costume.

IH: Since we’ve read the book and seen the Disney version, how is Tim Burton’s caterpillar different?

AR: I don’t know yet because I don’t know what it looks like, so I’ve only done the first stage of it, which is them recording me saying these lines quite badly. Then, somewhere down the line, they’ll have animated it and I’ll redo it.

IH: Are you working with Mia [Wasikowska]?

AR: They’re shooting with her and Helena, although Helena finished yesterday. I don’t really know what they’re doing, to be honest. I just visited yesterday. I think they’re all just blinded by the color green. It must be quite something to be surrounded by that much violent green all day long, but the costumes — one or two I saw — are incredible. I’m sure it’ll be visual genius again.

Bangkok Foodland

2008-12-05T00:51:00.006+01:00

After reading the positive reviews on qype, which place it at the first rank in category thai restaurant in Karlsruhe, I got curious. So we went there for dinner a couple of days ago.

Lucky that I read all those reviews, because otherwise I might've went back out after seeing the front room. It looks like one of those dingy pubs with its big, dark counter. There's a room to the left but it was quite full so we went to the room in the back of the counter.

It is slightly better than the front room.
It's brighter. There is a TV with thai music videos playing non-stop and some 2 and 4 seat tables which are placed close to each other. A bit too cramped IMO.

But we were there for the food.
Spring rolls are obviously not housemade, so we ordered samusa instead for entree. Then I ordered beef in green curry and Philip beef in red curry.

Seemed that the samusa aren't housemade either, so next time I'm going to give the soups a try. The green curry was very delicious although the sliced beef were a bit hard and the eggplant wässerig, dunno how to explain that in english. Hmm... spongy and absorbed much water. They should've taken only the outer (ca.) 1cm part, the inner part is not very suitable for this kind of dish IMO. But it was still very good, better than the red curry. ^_^

Dunno if it deserves the #1 place since I haven't been to other thai restaurants, usually I had thai dishes in chinese/asia restaurants. But the food are very good for the price they charge and they're not modified to suit the german palate. Definitely worth many more visits. Or takeaways. ^_^

Links

My First Mulled Wine Mug of the Year

2008-11-28T11:02:00.001+01:00

This time I had Glögg, the Scandinavian mulled wine, instead of the german's Glühwein. They taste very similar, but some marinated raisins are added to the Glögg. Powerful stuff, those raisins. ^_^ (Un)fortunately I only had one since I had to go back early to send my next chieftains.

After sending my attacks I went out to the supermarket to get something to eat. There I saw these Christmas beers, so I had to get them too. ^_^"

Went to bed early with a headache.

Spread the Word

2008-11-19T08:58:00.005+01:00

During blogwalking yesterday I stumbled upon this site called FreeRice, a charity website where users play a various educational multiple-choice games in order to raise money to fight world hunger.

How To Play

* Click on the right answer in the middle of this page.
* If you get it right, you get a harder question. If you get it wrong, you get an easier question.
* For each answer you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance...

The games are in art (recognizing famous paintings), chemistry (basic and intermediate), english (grammar and vocabulary), geography (map and capitals), math (multiplication table) and basic knowledge in some other languages (French, German, Italian and Spanish).

I managed to reach level 32/60 in english vocab, mostly thanks to my fondness of Snape's fanfictions. As for famous paintings... I can only recognize Monet and a tiny bit of Van Gogh, Renoir, Rembrandt and Klimt, otherwise I'm in the dark. I already struggled in basic chem, so I didn't give intermediate a go. The German test and multiplication table are very easy. ehehe... I've 'donated' about 8k grains of rice so far, which is very little since an adult needs about 20k per day.

It's quite addictive, but at least this time it's for a good cause. ^_^

Sighting: Tim Burton?

2008-11-18T10:20:00.006+01:00

In the last few weeks I've seen so many news and rumours about Burton's next project Alice in Wonderland, that when I saw this professor at my sister's graduation party I just had to take pics of him. He does look similar to Tim Burton, don't you think? ^_^

But what is it with all of the hype and buzz around this new movie of his? That Johnny Depp got a role in it wasn't exactly a surprise, was it? This will be their 7th!! collaboration after Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd.

This time Johnny Depp plays as the Mad Hatter and this is their version of him. Quite mad indeed. I hope parents won't be taking their children to see this movie or they'd get nightmares. ^_^ (pic found in dlisted)

Helena Bonham Carter is the red queen and Anne Hathaway is the white queen (apparently they throw Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass together as a movie; *note to self: listen to the sequel before movie*) I think HBC is perfect as the Queen of Hearts.

Some more casts already announced: Michael Sheen as the Cheshire Cat. He looks perfect for it too. ^_^

Mia Wakikowska (never heard of her before but apparently she's really good and wow, such a hard name to pronounce!) plays as Alice and rumour says that there will be a character created as a friend (or was it a rival? ^_^) to Alice, a Fiona Chataway, which is gonna be played by Eleanor Tomlinson.

And Alan Rickman plays the hookah-smoking Caterpillar!!!
Weeeeee... I'm so gonna watch this movie!

Hm. Christopher Lee is on the list but no role assigned yet, I hope he won't be so scary like on this pic. >.<

Now the most curious thing, ZDonk visited the set a couple of weeks ago but the article is removed 'due to sensitive information'. What could it be? Google cache doesn't work, but luckily MarketSaw quoted most of the article.

"The set itself was insane - the whole soundstage was draped in green-screen material, and there were dozens of motion capture cameras hanging overhead - it seemed like half the crew was there just to figure out how to make all the technologies work together.

Ah, I forgot to mention that this movie will be in 3D like Beowulf.

This version of Alice In Wonderland won’t be your fluffy lollipop Disney movie. With Tim Burton directing, and Johnny Depp starring as the Mad Hatter, expect to see a darker, more twisted take on Lewis Carroll’s original narrative. Luckily Johnny Depp was working that day, and I got to see him in character. He looked startlingly crazy - Burton’s take on the Mad Hatter was pretty wild.

And he's right, as we've seen the pic above.

Linda Woolverton adapted the screenplay and I am told added some socio-political context to the film’s narrative. No doubt there will be several drug references and crazy mind blowing visuals, but the story will actually have some significant meaning. I don’t want to give away the framework of the story, so all I will say is that Alice and Neo from the Matrix have a lot in common in Disney’s 2010 release…but what does it all mean?!?!"

Hmmm... Alice and Neo?

See photos on the set of Alice in Wonderland

I'm Lizzy!

2008-11-17T12:47:00.002+01:00

Found this quiz via this post. I want Alan Rickman too! -_-

Take the Quiz here!

But Colin Firth is not bad either. ^o^

Another Gathering

2008-11-17T00:10:00.005+01:00

Last Sunday I met up my old flatmates (and our boy/girlfriends) for brunch in Kaisergarten at around 11am. We ate, and talked and drank and talked and drank some more... till 8pm. Yes, you read that right. We were there from 11AM to 8PM! And then either Flo or Rixin came up with the idea of visiting our old flat. >.< That's it! Next time I'll suggest some place far away from our 'penthouse' for our gathering. :p

But it was fun though, seeing what's new in the kitchen--which also functions as the common room--the bathroom, the small hall leading to the rooms... I'd love to see my old room, but the current tenant wasn't there so I didn't have a chance to look. -_-

At least we made a very nice photo in the kitchen. ^_^

Right to left: Rixin and his walking stock, Sella, Flo and me.

See more photos here.

A Weekend with Alan Rickman

2008-11-04T18:18:00.001+01:00

I spent the weekend indulging in my AR fondness, starting with one of his latest movies Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It's a musical, but dark--a typical of Tim Burton's movies--and bloody. After Evita, this is the second musical that I've ever watched. It took some getting used to, but I quite enjoy the experience. And this morning when I woke up there's one song that keep playing in my head. "I feel you, Johanna / I feel you / ..." ^.^

As usual Johnny Depp delivered a great performance, but the one who stole my attention was Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett. Before this I only know her as "Bellatrix Lestrange" in Harry Potter movies, a small role which doesn't give her much chance to show her talent. In Sweeney Todd she's a brill!

Alan as the antagonist Judge Turpin doesn't make much appearance. Pity, that. Alan looks really good, especially as the older version of Turpin. My favorite Alan's scene in the movie is when he berates Anthony in his study. Another one is where he shouts to the young sailor

"You'll kill me boy? Well here I stand!"

I craved more of him in this style of customes, so next was Emma Thompson's adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Alan expressed the emotions well, but Col. Brandon is a calm, quiet person and quite reserve. Compared to his other roles that I've seen so far, it's not so much fun seeing him here. Okay, I probably swooned a bit over him, especially during the scene when he saw Marianne for the first time and then when he was so desperate and helpless while waiting outside of Marianne's sickroom.

"Give me an occupation, Miss Dashwood, or I shall run mad."

(I saw a familiar face that I couldn't place. He played as Mr. Palmer here, great voice, nice posture. I had to check IMDB to find out that he's the guy who plays as Dr. House. ^^;)

And then the movie that made Alan famous among Hollywood movies buffs, Die Hard. He played as a German ex-terrorist Hans Gruber, which made me realize that this is probably the first time I saw this movie in original version here in Germany. There are many lines spoken in german and I was delighted that I can understand both languages spoken in this movie. ^.^

The Die Hard series have been a sort of favorite of mine for this genre. I like how John McClane is very human, unlike the typical super action heroes. But this time I paid special attention to Alan's Hans Gruber and it's a pleasure to watch him here. He's a ruthless man who won't stop at anything to reach his goal, but he's also witty, intelligent and refined. It's hard not to like him though he's the villain, especially when he looks damn sexy in his suit. ^.^

Alan was so good here. It's like, by watching his facial expressions we can read his thoughts. My favorite part is when he met McClane, especially at 5:51 there. He's bloody cool! *fangirling*

There were two more movies that I watched, but I'll write about them in the next part. Now I'm going to have dinner and watch them again. ^o^

Links:

A review of "Sense and Sensibility" here; he put in words my thoughts about Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman in the movie.
A review of "Die Hard", written just a few years ago here.

Rosemary Panna cotta with Rose Pesto

2008-09-14T15:44:00.004+02:00

Last weekend we went to Landhaus Lang in Landau for dinner. It's a small restaurant with a beer garden at the front and a dance club + cocktail bar in the basement.

We had flammkuchen for entrees, a classic and another one with pepperoni and feta cheese for the six of us. I then had pasta with whiskey cream sauce. Was okay, but nothing special about it.

Then the boys asked for a dessert menu.
I'm not a big fan of panna cotta, but the waitress told us that they have a couple of desserts on the menu and one of them was Rosemary Panna cotta with Rose Pesto! Eventhough I was quite full, I couldn't resist to order one. ^_^

I've read about many varieties of panna cotta, but with rosemary? It's a new one for me, though perhaps not so new for the food lovers. If you click on that link, you'll see the recipe on the bottom of the page. He used a sprig of rosemary, the one that I had used chopped rosemary. Not a good idea, that. The panna cotta was interesting, but once is enough for me.

The rose pesto? They're heavenly.

DB and Their Confusing Tickets and Offers

2008-09-13T21:34:00.006+02:00

On Thursday I went to the station to get a ticket to Kiel. Usually I buy them either online or at the ticket vending machine, but I got a "Nutella Ticket 25". With this coupon I'd get 25% discount but I had to buy the ticket at the counter.

Here in Karlsruhe station, there are more than 10 counters available in the DB travel centre. One is reserved for the bahn.comfort customers who get special fast service by competent and qualified personnels. *g*

Although there are about 10 counters left, usually only 3-4 of them are open. So there's always a long queue, at least everytime I was in there or had a look when I was passing by. That's one of the reason why I avoid it.

Another reason is that they charge extra for special offer tickets.
For example, a normal price for ICE ticket from Karlsruhe to Kiel is 121€. But if I get it early I could get a special for only 59€, if I bought it either online or at the TVM. If I get this ticket at the counter, I have to pay 5€ extra.
Well, at least they listened to the huge protest and cancelled the plan to charge 2.5€ extra for all tickets one way (so they'd charge 5€ for return tickets), imagine those poor people who can't used computer or TVM, like old-age pensioners and the illiterates--there were about 4 millions of them in 2004--and have noone to help them with it.
Wonder if there will be even less counters open in DB travel centres from now on. ^_^

Anyway, back to my story.
After waiting in line for more than 15 minutes, the fourth counter was open so the queue went a bit faster. When it was finally my turn, I told the girl at the counter about the details and showed her the Nutella coupon. She asked me to fill in the coupon and told me the ticket price. 94€ something. It took me a few seconds to realize how bloody expensive that was, so I asked again to confirm. She said that it's the normal ticket minus the 25% from the coupon, so I asked about the specials. She said that she's not sure if there's still some available, which means that she wouldn't check if I didn't know about this offer. I guess the competent personnels are only available for that one special counter.

After checking, she said that it'd cost me 68€. Hmm. And what about the 25% discount? She said that it's valid only for the normal tickets. So I rechecked the terms and conditions for this nutella coupon. The first one mentioned that it's valid for both normal and discount tickets, but close to the bottom it said that it can't be combined with other special offer. Huh?

So I told her I'd just get my ticket from the TVM, thanks.

Such a waste of time.
All just because I thought that special offers tickets are included in Sparpreis tickets (Sparpreis ~ budget price, reduced price) Blah. -.-

Oh well, even Philip made the same mistake. At least now we know the difference.

Being Illiterate

2008-09-04T13:05:00.009+02:00

A couple of days ago I read a harry potter fanfiction where Snape retired from Hogwarts, lived in a cottage in a countryside... and getting bored. So he picked up a new hobby: reading muggle books. Harry Potter was gone from wizarding world since the final battle where he killed Voldemort and lived in muggle world as, you can guess, a bookshop owner. ^_^

Snape incidentally lived not far away from Harry's bookshop. One day he wrote this shop's owner/manager for a recommendation of books to read... and then a list of, I suppose, famous books and authors ensued back and forth.

Reading all these titles and names, I feel so illiterate. Of that list, I own only a copy of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", not sure if I've read her "Persuasion" nor "Mansfield Park", I've heard a couple names and titles, but otherwise I'm in the dark.

I want to remedy this, so I started with the first book mentioned in the fic: Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" aka Prince Myshkin. (I remember that a cat in Noir #6 "Lost Kitten" was given this name, now I know where it came from. ^_^)

I really enjoyed the fic, but I'm not sure that it'd make a good guide for books to read. Google gave a few lists and I think I'm going to use this one as my guide.

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald (6)
ULYSSES by James Joyce (6)
1984 by George Orwell (6)
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger (6)
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac (6)
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck (5)
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller (5)
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov (5)
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley (5)
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh (5)
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner (4)
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee (4)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien (4)
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce (4)
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell (4)
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf (4)
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison (4)
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess (4)
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell (4)
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner (4)
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway (4)
A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster (4)
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding (4)
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London (4)
DAVID COPPERFIELD by Charles Dickens (3)
EMMA by Jane Austen (3)
TESS Of The D’URBERVILLES, Thomas Hardy (3)
THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne (3)
WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte (3)
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers (3)
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (3)
JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte (3)
BELOVED by Toni Morrison (3)
ANNA KAREINA by Leo Tolstoy (3)
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway (3)
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright (3)
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3)
NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad (3)
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad (3)
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry (3)
THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford (3)
HERZOG by Saul Bellow (3)
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame (3)
U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos (3)
FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce (3)
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser (3)
WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence (3)
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton (3
THE WOMAN IN WHITE by Wilkie Collins (3)
THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe (3)
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller (3)
MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather (3)
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner (3)
THE MAGUS by John Fowles (3)
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving (2)
DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes (2)
TOM JONES by Henry Fielding (2)
WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy (2)
MOBY-DICK by Herman Melville (2)
MADAME BOVARY by Gustave Flaubert (2)
WINNIE THE POOH by A(lan) A(lexander) Milne (2)
GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens (2)
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Feodor Dostoevsky (2)
TRISTAM SHANDY by Laurence Sterne (2)
LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa M. Alcott (2)
VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray (2)
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen (2)
IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME by Marcel Proust (2)
THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James (2)
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand (2)
GRAVITY’S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon (2)
THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin (1851-1904) (2)
DUNE by Frank Herbert (2)
A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute (2)
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll (2)
CLARISSA by Samuel Richardson (2)
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams (2)
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving (2)
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas (2)
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Henry James (2)
OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck (2)
ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren (2)
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin (2)
CHARLOTE’S WEB by E. B. White (2)
ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe (2)
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Feodor Dostoevsky (2)
THE STAND by Stephen King (2)
REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier (2)
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves (2)
HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster (2)
TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald (2)
THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence (2)
BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens (2)
ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand (2)
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner (2)
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James (2)
AUSTERLITZ by W. G. Sebald (2)
THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka (2)
WISE BLOOD by Flannery O’Connor (2)
FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley(2)

So far I've read only... 5 out of 100! Pathetic. >_<

KDrama: Coffee Prince

2008-09-03T16:27:00.007+02:00

romance, comedy
17 episodes

.storyline
Go Eun Chan (Yoon Eun Hye) is young, but she's been the head of the family ever since her father died. After she finished school, she lives solely to earn money for her family: her mother and her younger sister. She has many jobs, she doesn't care about her look. In fact, she's such a tomboy that many people think that she's a guy. ^_^

Choi Han Kyul (Gong Yoo) is the heir of a big food company. He's carefree and is not serious about his life. He lives abroad, far away from his family, until his grandmother calls him to get back home for good. She plans to have him settle down and take over the company, so she sends him to many match-makings to get him a wife.

Han Kyul realizes what she's trying to do, but he doesn't want to settle down yet. He's been in love with Han Yoo Joo (Chae Jung Ahn) since ages ago. Yoo Joo is the ex-girlfriend of his cousin Choi Han Sung (Lee Sun Gyun), and he knows that Han Sung still loves her very much.

During one of the match-makings, Han Kyul bumps up with Eun Chan. Thinking that Eun Chan is a guy, he offers her money to act as his gay lover in every match-makings so he doesn't have to reject all those girls.

Since her plan failed, the grandmother gives Han Kyul an ultimatum: he's to take over an old coffee shop and increase its sales within 3 months, otherwise he'd loose his apartment, his car and his money. He comes up with "prince" theme and hires good-looking boys to attract female customers. Since he thinks that Eun Chan is a boy, he hires her as one of the servers.

Working together, they get to know each other better and start liking each other. Han Kyul, still not knowing that Eun Chan is a girl, is getting confused if he's a homosexual and tries to distance himself. While Eun Chan is confused if she should tell him her real gender. She's telling all of her problems not to her family, but to a friend who she liked before, Han Sung. She doesn't realize that Han Sung is starting to like her more than just a friend. ^o^

.comment
This series is quite funny at the beginning, but later on there are too much crying.

Eun Chan doesn't look pretty in her normal attire, but there's one scene where she's sent to a beauty salon and dressed up for an art exhibition opening and wow! you'll see how the right make up and clothes can really change a girl into a beauty.

Lee Sun Gyun has a great voice, is he also a singer?

Btw, Yet, have you seen this series yet? Tell me if Gong Yoo also reminds you of a friend. ^_^

.links
@mysoju
coffee-prince.com

Another Quiz

2008-09-01T23:02:00.004+02:00

Another classic riddle for you.

~~°~~

An airplane is standing on a giant conveyor belt.
If the plane then moves to one direction and the conveyor moves to the opposite direction with exactly the same speed as the plane, can the plan take off?

~~°~~

The answers for the water jug riddle:

Fill the 5 litres jug with water, pour the water into the 3 litres jug. You'll have 2 litres left in the 5 litres jug.
Pour away the water from the 3 litres jug, then pour the 2 litres water from the bigger jug to this one.
Fill the 5 litres jug again, pour the water to the smaller jug. Since the smaller jug contained 2 litres water before, you can only pour 1 litre in, which left 4 litres water in the bigger jug.
Another option:
Fill in the 3 litres jug with water, pour the water into the 5 litres jug.
Fill in the 3 litres jug with water again, pour the water into the 5 litres jug (which had 3 litres water before, so it could only take 2 litres now). So you have now 1 litre water in the smaller jug.
Pour away the water in the 5 litres jug.
Pour the water from the small jug into the 5 litres jug. Fill in the 3 litres jug and then pour the water into the 5 litres jug. Now you have 4 litres water.

Movie: The Dark Knight

2008-08-27T17:50:00.002+02:00

action, crime, thriller
2 hrs 32 mins

Last week Louis sent a round mail asking if we're interested to join him watching The Dark Knight in original version (instead of german-dubbed, the version running in most of the cinemas here). Philip and I put our names on the list and then rented the Batman Begins on Saturday to get ready for this movie.

As the title suggests, Batman Begins is about the beginning of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman: what led him to this path, the rigorous training he endured, why he chose bat as his symbol, etc. For a comic-turned-into-a movie, it feels so real... Bruce Wayne is just a human! Disgustingly rich, but just a normal person with all the fears, hopes, wants and needs.

It's a great movie. Action-thriller, dark, but there's a touch of comedy throughout the movie to make it not angsty. I especially like the butler Alfred and his dry humour. ^_^

Just like the prequel, TDK is full of action with lots of suspense and drama and a touch of humour here and there. But it's a bit darker, both in the story and the ambient.

.storyline
Ever since Batman started running around in Gotham to bring out justice, the small criminals are too afraid to act, which leaves the big mobs and the psychos, like Joker.

Unlike ordinary criminals, Joker is not motivated by money, he just likes to spread chaos, experimenting on human's psychology and pitting people against each other. In a way he reminds me of Hannibal Lecter, that psychology side, the meticulated plannings and the ease they perform the violent acts with.
Joker is especially interested in Batman.

"You just couldn't let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever."

[...]
"You complete me."

But this movie is not about Joker, this is a Batman movie.

Bruce Wayne longs to live a normal life with Rachel, but he can't quit his Batman persona (in Batman Begins Rachel told him that she's going to wait for him until Gotham doesn't need Batman anymore) until someone else showed up to fight the criminals and bring justice to Gotham.

With the increasing popularity of the District Attorney Harvey Dent, he begins to hope. Dent is the Gotham's "White Knight", he's inccorrupt and determined to fight the criminals.

.comment
A must-see movie!

My favourite scene is when Joker chased the van holding the "Batman" and tried to destroy it. The huge truck chasing the van, the Batmobile chasing the truck and Joker's goons eliminating the rest of the convoy. Wuiihiii!!!
Watching a movie like this, I'm always in suspense if there's anything remotely suspicious, waiting to see if I guessed right. In this case, the driver of the van. I thought that he's part of Joker's gang, so I kept waiting to see when he's going to show his true colour.

Another scene which made me grip the armrests was when Batman stood on the top of one of the skyscrapers in Hongkong, looking down, shot those timebombs and then jumped. Ugh.
It's freaking high and the view is just so real! >.<
I guess I'm getting old. ^_^

.links
@imdb
@rottentomatoes

Cow Tipping

2008-08-25T16:30:00.003+02:00

I just found out a few days ago that one of the leaders in my travian's alliance is actually an exchange student from Copenhagen who did a semester here in Karlsruhe. He's gonna be leaving on Wednesday so we decided to meet up before he's going back home.

Last night Philip and I went to Vogelbräu in Karlsruhe to meet him and some of his friends (a girlfriend from Norway and a couple from Netherlands). At first it was quite awkward, not knowing what to talk about and also because both me and Philip aren't used to speak english. So the two of us mostly just listening to their chats.

They talked about the Dutch guy being drunk during a festival in hadiko and then rode a trash bin, a bad joke about typical Dutch girls, prostitution in Amsterdam, drugs and the communities in Amsterdam and Copenhagen... interesting topics, yeah. ^o^

And then this acquaintance of mine--let's just call him Bash1--told us about cow tipping.

He said that he grew up outside of Copenhagen, probably in a rural area, and he used to do this cow tipping--sneaking up on a sleeping cow and pushing it over. Like horses, cows sleep while standing, according to him. I thought about how heavy a cow is and wonder if it can be done just by one person, but I didn't ask.

I was curious, so...
According to wikipedia, cow tipping is only a myth. And a study concludes that cow tipping is possible, but need more than one person to do it. Since Bash1 is not back yet from Europapark, I can't confirm yet if he's actually done this before or if he was just trying to find another interesting topic to tell. ^_^

Cecil Adams who's been fighting ignorance since 1973 couldn't tell if this is only a myth and if it's not, if it's really posibbly done. So I turned to the study mentioned in wikipedia. It said that

"a cow of 1.45 metres in height pushed at an angle of 23.4 degrees relative to the ground would require 2,910 Newtons of force, equivalent to 4.43 people," according to Boechler.

Dr Lillie elaborated: "The static physics of the issue say two people might be able to tip a cow. But the cow would have to be tipped quickly — the cow’s centre of mass would have to be pushed over its hoof before the cow could react."

It gets worse: "Biology also complicates the issue here because the faster the [human] muscles have to contract, the lower the force they can produce. But I suspect that even if a dynamic physics model suggests cow tipping is possible, the biology ultimately gets in the way: a cow is simply not a rigid, unresponding body," debunked Lillie.

So it seems that it's possible to cow tip but it would be very hard to do.

If you're still curious and wanna give it a try, I did find a "how to", I hope this would be a big help in your endeavour.

Supplies

1. 2 12-packs of Beer
2. Black clothing
3. Boots (Around cow pastures, wear boots that can be hosed down)
4. Wire cutters and a flashlight
5. Your friends Dave and Jerry

Setup

* Drive Dave and Jerry to the pasture, hand them the beer.
* Wait ten minutes for them to finish up both packs.
* Help Dave from truck.
* Help Dave review his lunch.
* Place wire cutters in back pocket, and make sure all black clothing is being worn.
* Quietly approach fence to pasture.
[more]

Wow, there's a even a cow tipping song! ^o^

Well, it's after three o'clock so let's all skip our class and chug a beer!
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
and then once we're really trashed, we'll find a field about a mile from here!
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
cow tipping, let's tip a cow! oh baby
cow tipping, I'll show you how! oh baby
cow tipping, cow tipping every day!

We'll find ourselves a cow that's just standing there, fast asleep!
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
Then we'll knock it to the ground, there is no other thrill that is so cheap!
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
cow tipping, it's such a treat! oh baby
cow tipping, it can't be beat! oh baby
cow tipping, cow tipping every day!

We hurt a cow the other day, but we don't feel a bit of grief
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
because it's only fun and games we know they're only walking slabs of beef!
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
cow tipping, I love to play! oh baby
cow tipping, what can I say! oh baby
cow tipping, cow tipping every day!

Well you can really tell that we're a bunch of erudite colligiates
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
when we can topple cattle to the foot of cow-heaven's pearly gates
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
cow tipping! that's what I said! oh baby
cow tipping! get it through your head, that I like
Cow tipping, cow tipping every day!

My dad took out a second mortgage so that I could go to school
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
I suppose when I flunk out that I will make him look like such a fool
(cow tipping! cow cow tipping!)
cow tipping, I just don't care! oh baby
cow tipping, I just wanna be where I can be
cow tipping, cow tipping every day!

Olympics 2008's Closing Ceremony

2008-08-24T15:56:00.007+02:00

A bit too long, there were too many chinese songs which maybe interesting for the chinese but kinda boring for us who don't know a thing about the songs. But hey, Andy Lau was there too! \(^_^)/

One of these two german commentators is pretty annoying.
They want to create the picture of harmony and peace, to cover the picture of Tiananmen square incident 20 years ago.

I wonder how they would feel if they had the chance to held something as big as this and then someone said about they're trying to cover what happened during the reign of the big H.

Olympics 2008's Opening Ceremony

2008-08-24T13:16:00.000+02:00

When I told my flatmates that I was about to go back to Karlsruhe Thursday two weeks ago, Thorsten said that I picked a really good day to travel since it was only 30°C outside, so it'd have been sizzling in the train. But I took the ICE so it was kinda freezing inside, especially late at night. ^^; (The trip took about 7 hours, got here at around midnight.)

The train arrived an hour too late because of some repair works between Kiel and Hamburg. Philip picked me up in the station and said that I arrived at a really good time, it had started to rain about 5 minutes before.

But really, I picked up the best time to come back to Karlsruhe, otherwise I'd surely miss the olympic opening ceremony on the next day.

I don't know which part I like the best... the firework-footprints

or the 2008 drummers with the countdown

or the giant scroll and the painting
or the taijiquan performed by thousands,
or the movable-type printer (I wasn't sure if it was really manually done until those people popped up their heads in the end),
or the globe.
I'm impressed with how they applied all these ideas. And also the people who managed to pull these off. That 500m running-flying must have been pretty hard on a 45-years-old body.

Now, if asked which costume I like best out of the 47 styles wore that night, my pick is this gorgeous red gown. They're so beautiful!

Okay, time to watch the closing ceremony. I wonder if they're going to use that painting again.

Lichterfest

2008-08-23T23:51:00.007+02:00

After so many years of only hearing about this event. this time I managed to remember to put the event on the calendar and actually go there.

We got there at around 8.30pm. At first I wanted to go to one of the bridge where we can see the a bit of the stadtgarten from, to check out if it's really worth it. But it was already a bit dark, so we decided to go ahead. The ticket costs 3.50€, there's no special price for students for this event. So we bought two and went in.

And saw how full it was. Damn. I didn't think that there would be so many visitors, but it was so packed like it was Jakarta Fair. ugh. I wasn't sure that I would get the chance to take some pictures.

But I did manage to take some. I especially like the one from the bridge looking to the small man-made river with the gondolettas passing by.

The japanese garden was quite interesting, I think I'm going back there sometime this summer to see the whole garden properly. Usually there aren't many visitors there, especially during the day.

[More photos]

Germany's biggest BBQ-Party

2008-08-22T11:12:00.004+02:00

according to swr3.

Today me, Philip, Sebastian and Susi are going to join in the party again. Last time we joined in was more than a year ago, it was the first time they held it. No wonder that it was a bit chaotic. Since then they've already held it 2-3 times, so it should be okay today. Especially since they're not only giving out the ingredients list but also a short preparation list.

They really make it a hype, creating groups and forums where people can show off their results, and there's even live chat with Lafer two days ago to discuss about today's menu.

Seems like Asian food is still the trend. There's soy sauce, chilli and wasabi on the list. Hm... but there's also balsamico bianco, raisin and beer. Wonder what he came up with...

[Some photos taken during the BBQ-Party]

JDrama: Hotaru no Hikari

2008-08-21T10:19:00.007+02:00

romance, comedy
10 episodes

.storyline
Amemiya Hotaru is a beginner in an interior design company. She's a hardworker so everyone likes her, but she's not the popular type. In her spare time she would rather sleep and lazying at home than going out socializing.

She lives alone in a house that's been lent to her while the owner going abroad. One day the owner's son decides to move back home since he's just separated from his wife. Since they both don't have anywhere else to go, they stuck living together. Worse, the owner's son turns out to be Hotaru's boss, so they have to keep the arrangement secret from the others in the office.

And then Hotaru starts going out with the popular guy from the office...

.comment
I really like this series. It's hilarious and silly, but the later episodes are a bit sad. Overall it's very entertaining.

If you're looking for something to watch while relaxing after a busy day, this is the perfect show. ^_^

.links
@mysoju
@crunchyroll
@veoh

growls

2008-07-30T01:07:00.003+02:00

It's 1am and one of my flatmates decided that it's the perfect time to share with us his wonderful taste for music, though all I can hear from my room is only the beat. Sadly my taste is quite different to his. Or maybe I'm just so old, already laying in bed in this early hour.

I'm not sure if I should be grateful that I'm not asleep yet, or that I should wish that I was already asleep.

I do hope that my new flatmates next semester have a much better common sense than this one.

E Nomine

2008-07-26T20:42:00.003+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw an aninote for the first time. Aninote is short for "animated note", which is a musical animation that are customized to display the name of the recipient in the animation. For example: elvy.youaremighty.com. ^_^ (yeah, yeah, I did say it's just an example. :p )

I really like the background music for that one. Found out that it's a song from E Nomine called "Schwarze Sonne" (=black sun).

E Nomine is a German music project, who combines trance/techno with gregorian singing/chanting. The songs tells not only biblical stuff but also stories about magic and the fights between the darkness and the light. The lyrics are written mostly in German and Latin, translations can be found here.

So far they have 4 albums, I like the "Finsternis" (=eclipse) and "Die Prophezeiung" (=the prophecy) best (check out my chart in last.fm). In some of these songs, the vocals are performed by german voice actors. The one that I recognize immediately is "Bruce Willis" in Seance. So while listening to this song, the face of Bruce Willis and his famous smirk is floating in my mind. :D