new career?

i'm writing my first book review. for german paper, WAZ. it's exciting!
well, you know what they say:

those who can, do
those who can't, review.

zeitverschwendung

im gedicht festgehalten:

Ich habe keine Zeitung gelesen.
Ich habe keiner Frau nachgesehn.
Ich habe den Briefkasten nicht geöffnet.
Ich habe keinem einen Guten Tag gewünscht.
Ich habe nicht in den Spiegel gesehn.
Ich habe mit keinem über alte Zeiten gesprochen und
mit keinem über neue Zeiten.
Ich habe nicht über mich nachgedacht.
Ich habe keine Zeile geschrieben.
Ich habe keinen Stein ins Rollen gebracht.

oder hat das was mit spirituellem *dem-leben-seinen-lauf-lassen* zu tun? ich jedenfalls habe heute

jemandem guten morgen gewuenscht.
schon mehrmals in den spiegel gesehn.
mit jemandem ueber jetzige zeiten gemailt.
etliche zeilen geschrieben.
und damit einen stein ins rollen gebracht.

daran sollte ich mal denken, wenn ich das naechste mal ueber einen verschwendeten tag gruebele. aber ich werds wohl vergessen.

girl's-best-friend tip of the day

question: how are you guaranteed to get your man exercising and at the same time follow your lead?

answer: wear a skirt when running, with nothing underneath, and stay in front of him.

the sound of sirens

i live close to the edgware road, the favourite runway of all cars equipped with a siren in london. i hear that paralysing, supersonic, polluting, aggressive, evil noise at least once every 2 hours, and it makes me cringe every time. I HATE SIRENS!!!
therefore, i propose a change of tune. how about the following well-known, mostly well-liked songs as sounds of sirens:

i predict a riot (kaiser chiefs) or anarchy in the uk - for police cars
firestarter (the prodigy) or great balls of fire - for fire engines
help (the beatles) - for ambulances

and there's more i'm sure!
think of the positive impact this would have on tourism in london. and on my and everybody else's nerves...

hip hip hooray

all this writing! just finished another essay on the way to the super master's degree.
happy now!

the power of the british press

first i was sorry for the girl, from a distance. then, rather quickly, i became angry at the biased media hype, not only but mostly, in britain. also, luckily, from a distance.
now i'm just amused about how an obviously suspect couple have been hyped up so much, on such shaky *factual* ground, that even the tabloids have a hard time spinning the story to their liking. it's everyone else's fault, the parents are saints (on first name terms with all the tabloids), it's a great conspiracy of foreigners against innocent british citizens. this stopped being about a missing person a long time ago, and is now an ego trip of two self-righteous people and their family. who made quite a lot of money with it. no one in the media remembers that this is also an ongoing criminal investigation.
thank god for the many blogs and reader comments who have seen through the manipulation and can still form their own opinion!

but, boy, the media studies and sociology essays you could write on this case!

what's an aphorism?

*how's it going?* says the blind to the lame.
*as you can see.* replies the lame to the blind.

that's an aphorism. nicked from lichtenberg.

question of the day: why is the italian word zabaione (a tasty dessert) translated as zabaLione in english? (see the silver spoon english edition)

other people's thoughts on freedom

*your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. it is the symbol of his liberty - his excessive freedom. he accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.* - huxley

*they who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.* - benjamin franklin

*freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose.* - c. wright mills

*when liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. when it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.* - dorothy thompson

*we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.* - edward r. murrow

*the average man does not want to be free. he simply wants to be safe.* - h.l. mencken

*people hardly ever make use of the freedom they have. for example, the freedom of thought. instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.* - søren kierkegaard

and the classic: *freiheit ist einsicht in die notwendigkeit.* - friedrich engels

the unforgiven