The Sunshine Award

Summer has been over for a long time, which also means that I'm very late responding to Chris' awesome gesture of passing over the Sunshine Award to me. Anyhow, I hope it'll bring a little sunshine back here.

The Rules

1. Include the award’s logo in a post or on your blog.

2. Link to the person who nominated you.

3. Answer 10 questions about yourself (use these or come up with your own).

4. Nominate 10 bloggers.

5. Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

1. Favorite actor/actress (who's not a household name yet)? 

I feel like Abbie Cornish doesn't get the recognition/ the roles she deserves yet. She was even good in Sucker Punch, which I don't think any actress would've been able to pull off. I've also been a fan of Kat Dennings ever since I first saw her in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It seems like 2 Broke Girls is going well but I've never dared watching it since the premise sounds sort of stupid. Lizzy Caplan should've been a star after Mean Girls - but it also looks like she's on her way now. It's weird that I can't think of any men... it would be great to see Michael Pitt in more movies though and I'm a big fan of Eddie Redmayne for some reason.

2. Favorite animal?

I love cats but we've had to so far and it never went well. Dogs are lovely too though. And of course - thank you, J. K. Rowling - I would love to have an owl for a pet.

3. Favourite non-alcoholic drink?

This may sounds weird, but I really enjoy drinking water. Otherwise, I like Vanilla Coke, Ginger Ale, Club Mate and all kinds of juice.

4. Favorite music?

I listen to all kinds of music, really. Mainly I like a few songs from each artist. Right now I listen to Blink-182 a lot, as well as Cocteau Twins' Pearly Dewdrop's Drop.

5. Favorite tv-show?

My all time favorite is a German show called Türkisch für Anfänger (Turkish for Beginners). It's so perfect it hurts and I've seen it about 394 times. Haven't been able to convince any other people in the blogosphere to watch it though. Another undying love of mine is of course the new Doctor Who. And Sherlock is great.

6. Favorite sport?

Any kind of dance, but most of all ballet, which is what I do myself. I like how much effort it takes to make everything look effortless, and how the goal is aesthetic perfection - not running after some ball.

7. Movie most people love that I dislike?

Trois Couleurs: Bleu. Watched it twice for French class and still hate it. It's just so f***ing depressing.

8. Favorite short film?

L'homme qui plantait des arbres and La Jetée. Jess Archer vs. the Ex is a great recent one. And anything Pixar ever made.

9. My passion?

Stories.

10. Favorite soundtrack from 2013?

This Is the End.

Winners

It's been such a long time since this award was around, so I have no idea who has already received this award. These are 10 great blogs at any rate:

Sofia from Film Flare

Nikhat from Being Norma Jeane

Niels from The Blog of Big Ideas

Josh from The Cinematic Spectacle

Bondo from The Movie Review Warehouse

Vern from The Vern's Videovangaurd

Bubbawheat from Flights, Tights and Movie Nights

SDG from U, Me and Films

Veracious from ..so they dance!

Dolce Namak from Dolce Namak

But really, I could've chosen anyone from my blog roll because you are all amazing!

How I Learned to Stop Worrying

a HOW I LIVE NOW review

Growing up 21st century's Europe has its perks - technology redefines the limits of communication, consumerism and culture, we can travel without having to do little more than showing our passports and politicians seem busy sustaining peace in our own little world as well as the Middle East. It becomes difficult to differentiate between documentations of the World Wars and movies like Independence Day, both depicting horrible, life-threatening situations and ending on a happy note (more or less). I for one find it incredibly hard to believe that my own grandmother fled (mainly by horse waggon) from what was once Pommern (the eastern part of Germany) to the north, and had to work under more or less slavery-like conditions for the Russians. Hell, I can't even fathom there was once a great wall separating Eastern and Western Germany - that fell only 6 years before I was born! However, once in a while, I am reminded of the actual danger that still surrounds every living creature in this world; the animal-esque war of survival that is hidden beneath health care, unemployment benefits and supermarkets. Watching How I Live Now was one of those experiences that made me realize there is a threat of war in my life and the lives of the people surrounding me, and that our little bubble of peace, equality and freedom of the mind could burst any day. 

Across the Universe Podcast, Eps 11: Ground Control to Major Tom

Better late than never - here's the latest episode of the Across the Universe Podcast that released more than a week ago. Since then, you've probably already 2001 positive reviews of Gravity but I hope you'll still have fun listening to the three of us discussing three of our favorite Sci-Fi classics - if you haven't already. 

Furthermore, we have detected two small errors: Of course, Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon - not Louis. And the book that served as inspiration for Blade Runner was called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. 

Content: 

0:33 - Chick-chatter

3:37 - Trailers

4:13 - Interesting Movies of the Fortnight

24:43 - The chicks discuss Blade Runner (1982)

40:23 - The chicks discuss Sleeper (1973)

47:26 - The chicks discuss 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

1:06:17 - Plugs and Goodbyes

Songs: 

David Bowie - Space Oddity

Richard O'Brien - Science Fiction/Double Feature

Jim Sturgess - Across The Universe

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Please give us your feedback on our facebook page, write us an email at acrossthenuniversepodcast@gmail.com or follow us and write a review on iTunes or Podomatic.

There's No Place Like London

School holidays have just started and instead of spending my time the way I should - learning - I'm going to revisit a city that has grown very dear to my during my last (and first) stay. The fact that I had no clue as to all the various great British television shows etc. last time leaves a great number of unexplored activities for this time - plus we have enough monetas to finally visit the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour!

I might be able to put up one or two posts a week later... but rather don't expect anything. A new episode of the podcast will be online next week though, you'll be able to check it out on Nik's and Sofia's blogs and as always on iTunes and Podomatic.

In case anyone has some you-must-do-this-in-London or a great movie to watch that doesn't release in Germany for the next few months, please tell me. And remember...

Because it's going to be cold in London.

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

Wrapping up September 2013.

I still didn't write an instant cult classic novel, didn't learn Japanese or gained world supremacy last month - but it wasn't a complete waste either. I wrote a few poems and appeared on two episodes of the LAMBcast as well as of course our very own Across the Universe podcast. In case you haven't noticed yet, I put up a little note on the sidebar announcing a little half-hiatus that is going to be going on here for the following months - I feel a lot better now that these news are out. This way I don't feel the pressure to blog more despite my lack of time and energy, at least not as much as before. After all, school is what counts right now. And coming of age in general. And the fact that I'll be in my favorite part of the world on Sunday.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME