relief.

Uhm, hi! So...I have been neglecting this place somewhat, due to lack of time. But I wanted to give you a little retrospective on the last 12 months, which were possibly the best I have yet witnessed. And I sure hope the awesomeness will continue in 2013! 

Like usual, I wanna start with a review on my favourite records of 2012. I remember that, in summer, I had rashly announced BEAR IN HEAVENs album "I love you, it's cool" as my favourite record of the year 2012. It kind of blew me away like nothing I had heard in along while and so I was sure there would be no other record that could possibly oust this release from the throne. But here comes the Mancunian (yes I had to google that, too) in to the game. Like with BEAR IN HEAVEN, I needed several attempts with HOLY OTHERs "Held" to get into the full spectrum of this – yes I might just call it a – masterpiece. And because it is often too hard to clothe my thoughts into words, I picked out a quote from Pitchforks review on "Held":

"Desire, neediness, vulnerability, fear, pleasure, and confusion are all laid bare. Held is a love album, a modern love album. Not love as aspirational fantasy but lived love, contradictory love-- the real love that stifles as much as it soothes."

With LEMONADEs "Diver" I (re-)discovered my love for synth-pop in the vein of ZOOT WOMAN. I fell in love with tracks like "Neptune" "Vivid" and especially "Whitecaps". There is actually not one flaw on this release full of pop gems. And with the last two records I am still quite surprised as I never got along before, with their previous releases. I think the gates to HOW TO DRESS WELL opened a little with the collaboration on ACTIVE CHILDs 2011 release "You Are All I See" which was, if you remember, one of my favourite albums in 2011. In hindsight, I am very happy that I finally got access to this artists world, since his concert in Munich on the night before my birthday was one of the best experiences in 2012. And with GRIZZLY BEAR I am even more surprised, because on the one hand, it is actually one of the few non-electronic albums I listened to this year, and on the other hand, similar to HOW TO DRESS WELL, I never really liked this band before "Shields". Therefore I am still convinced that the older you grow, the more open you become to several stiles of music and I am looking forward to all the stuff I have to explore, yet. 

Below, you can see some more releases I enjoyed this year, warm-heartedly recommend to everyone who is open for something new and more or less unexplored.

But we're not done here, yet. I imposed myself with the merely impossible task to sum up this year in music by picking out 12 of my favourite songs. By all means, there are lots more than just 12 of them, but here we go:

1) HOLY OTHER_NOTHING HERE

Unconditional love.

2) WIFE_BODIES

When you get a personal recommendation from your current favourite artist, chances are high, that you dig it. But I completely fell in love with this song from the very first listen.

3) BEAR IN HEAVEN_THE REFLECTION OF YOU
This song had almost been ruined to me by a person. But fortunately I don't let people do this to me anymore.

4) TWIGS_ACHE
What the title says.

5) LEMONADE_WHITECAPS
The one song I desperately wanted to dance to in a club last year. But never had been given the chance to. And I love love love the drums in this one.

6) JOHN TALABOT_ORO Y SANGRE
If 16 wouldn't be such an odd number* when it comes to making best of lists, you would probably see John Talabots "Fin" up above. And: there should really be more songs with screams in them.

7) PURITY RING_OBEDEAR
Oh, look! It's a video from the concert in Munich. Nevermind the bass, though.

8) o F F LOVE_BE AROUND YOU
I still remember how it stunned me, the first time I listened to it. And it still does, today.

9) HOW TO DRESS WELL_STRUGGLE
Probably the most intense live performance from last year.

10) GRIMES_GENESIS
It took a very long time with us, Claire and me. But this song made me fall in love with her. Unfortunately, she did not show up, when we were supposed to have a date last november. Bitch.

11) ¥OIN_TIRED OF ME
This song introduced me to future garage. Thank you very much, song!

12) STAY+_DANDELION SEED
Because we did not have enough weird videos in this list, yet. But serioulsy though, I love the song.


And how about those concerts I visited in 2012. These were my favourite ones:
ACTIVE CHILD - 28th Feb - Atomic Café - Munich
Pure bliss. That is all.
M83 - 5th Mar - Theaterfabrik - Munich
I still think I was the one person in the audience who had the most fun.
BEAR IN HEAVEN - 5th June - KONG -
Munich So the sound wasn't perfect, as I recall, but still these guys were superawesome.
OTHER LIVES - 25th July - Kranhalle - Munich
Those peeps made me want to join a band and stand on a stage myself.
SPRING OFFENSIVE - 18th Oct - Orangehouse - Munich
Unexpected. Intense. Stunning.
HOW TO DRESS WELL - 30th Oct - Kranhalle - Munich
Heartbreaking.
HOLY OTHER/BEACH HOUSE - 14th Nov - Hansa39 - Munich
If only there wasn't the audience. But then again..I had a really great night.
PURITY RING - 15th Nov - Hansa39 - Munich
Best atmosphere.

Also, every time I had the chance to see Carlos play live. Always amazing.



Ok, three more categories, and you're through, I promise.

So what about cinematography in 2012? I must admit, I probably haven't seen too many relevant movies that were released last year, to make a proper judgement. But still I doubt that any movie I didn't choose to watch (for reasons) would be better than the one favourite movie I chose. And this would be:

Michael Haneke has been one of my favourite filmmakers for quite a while. And I was very much lucking forward to see this one. It is one of those movies, that employs your mind for longer than a day, after having watched it.

Other movies from 2012 I enjoyed a lot:

PROMETHEUS
CHRONICLE
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
LOOPER
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
PARANORMAN
SHAME
and of course
THE HUNGER GAMES

and then there were TV shows of course. And one which was pretty outstanding. My favourite show this year comes as a real surprise mostly for myself, since I didn't enjoy the prior season that much. I am talking about:

The current season hasn't even ended, yet. In fact, as you might know, they split the season in two parts and expected viewers to put up with this terribly long latency. Damn you! And as if this is not enough, they ended the first part of the season with the most terrible cliffhanger!

And last but not least. My favourite book, released in 2012. What else would it be than this one:

I don't think I need to say more about this. I don't even know if there will ever be another book that will mean as much to me (and probably lots of other people) than this one. Seriously.


As usual, when encountering my dear followers with epic posts like this one, I thank you very much for  your attention! Stay tuned, I am will try to keep this thing here alive! :)

*I know 16 is not an odd number. In fact it is the opposite of it. But YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, RIIIGGHT!?! D'UHH

inpouring.

It's octobaarrrr, peeps. The coolest month evaaar. And that's not because my birthday is waiting on the last of its days. Ok, yes it is. I really don't know why people keep complaining "uughhh, I'm getting older, screw this shit". I looove to celebrate birthdays, and mostly my own. ;) But as it is, I actually haven't planned anything, yet. This might have to do with the fact, that in less than a month my new job will start, and that's the only thing I can currently think about. I have only one week left at my old job, which is actually hard to believe. Then I will have some spare vacation days and then IT IS ON! But October is also when all the TV shows are coming back for new seasons. I am already overcharged. I didn't dare to watch the first HIMYM episode, right on time, but then I thought, heck, I need to get started with this, before it's getting awkward. It hasn't been great, so far, but I still have high hopes for some glorious new episodes. But I am secretly hoping they will put this show to an end, with the last episode of this season. Then NEW GIRL started, too. And it has been satisfyingly hilarious. Then the 7th season of Dexter started, and I was massively disappointed by the last one, but damn, they are finally taking this series to another level of awesome. First episode was pretty good. And then I heard THE WALKING DEAD are also coming back, already? You gotta be kidding me? When am I going to have the time to watch all this? Not to mention the new season of AMERICAN HORROR STORY, which I am pretty curious about. And last but not least, October is spooky time, and guess who loooves spooky time? Yeah, you got it right...but let's move on to the reviews of last month.


THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

CROSSED by ALLIE CONDIE

So this is the follow up to Allie Condie's first book from the "Matched" series, and I already reviewed that one a few months ago, and was positively surprised. The second book reminded me a lot to the second release from the "Maze Runner" series, "The Scorch Trials", because of the whole wandering through deserted places thing. All in all I think it was a solid follow up, but I remember being a little disappointed at the end, since the whole efforts of the characters seemed somewhat senseless, sort of like the sysiphus methaphor used in the book. But I better judge the whole series altogether, when I have read the last book. (4/5)

FIRST COMES LOVE by KATIE KACVINSKY

Uhh, cheesy romantic cover! But I have to admit, that was actually the reason, why I gave that book a try, and I'm glad I did, because I really enjoyed this book, and it was actually the first book, I finished within 24 hours. I guess the story isn't even that special. A vigorous girl taking a challenge on a boy who rather wants to be left alone. I guess, sometimes it's just really the way a book is written, to make me fall for it. And this one did. (5/5)

HOLIER THAN THOU by LAURA BUZO

Alright, this was pretty disappointing. Although from the storyline, it could have been so interesting. A book with a more realistic touch, about a girl, talking about her job as a social worker in a psychiatric ward, and experiencing that she is getting more and more distant from her former highschool friends. But when you might think, that this would be a very emotional and touching book, the author just manages to let you feel no empathy at all for the protagonist. At this very moment, I didn't even finish the book, and started a new one instead, but I still think I am able to give it a rating, since I read 80% of the book. (2/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

AMOUR

Ugh, so intense. I really don't know, but there was a time I decided not to watch any more movies that are expectably emotionally disturbing. But then again, all the great stuff you are missing out on! And AMOUR definitely is one of those movies worth watching. But then again, I am literally having nightmares about this, just like the...oh wait, I don't wanna spoil anything. But yeah, this is a Haneke as you might expect it, horrifying but great. (8/10) 

J'AI TÚE MA MÈRE

The second movie I watched as a french original this month, I am quite proud of myself.  I really wanted to see this one, as I had already enjoyed Xavier Dolan's "Les Amours Imaginairs" lately. And yes, I am – more than ever – in love with this boy and his filmmaking and I am looking forward to what he might be capable of in the future. (8/10)

EAT PRAY LOVE

This was such a disaster. I did not expect this movie would disappoint that much. But it's kinda like with the character of Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia. I did not buy it for a second, how Julia Roberts tried to play a depressed person. Don't even get me started on her motives! The only good thing about this movie was Javier Bardem, for whom I had to wait until the very end, to come crawling out. And then he played such a dull character, oh my. Knowing of what he is actually capable of (No Country for old Men, Biutiful etc.) this was even more disappointing. (4/10)

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

Ok, I got to admit, I am still a bit confused by this movie. Until this day, I didn't really comprehend, in what relationships all the characters stood to each other. But in some way, this movie impressed me. Probably because I hadn't seen something like this before. And Sean Penn was really amazing and 10 times more convincing as a depressed person than other actresses I have mentioned. (7,5/10)

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

This was a bit disappointing aswell. I can't even really explain why. Maybe I just thought, my goodness, why are these characters both so immature? But then again, I like both Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as actors, and they at least made me enjoy the movie.  (6/10)

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

This was probably a typical Woody Allen movie, where I can mostly not identify in any way with the characters. But at least, when the time travelling part of the movie started, it got at least a little bit funny.  (6/10)

amiable.

So last night I met John Green.

What a wonderful and kind person he is. 

Thank you for putting the most powerful and overwhelming thoughts on paper. 

life, according to plan.

Okay, peeps. I think it's finally time for that huge announcement, I've been hoping to do for a while now. I will start a new job in November with a very amazing and impressive company and to say I am very much looking forward to this is a big understatement. On friday, right on time for the weekend, I've been given a firm offer, after being interviewed three times (I guess they wanna be super certain, about who they want to work with). The funny thing about this is, that I was being introduced to the job offer via Xing, so yeah, you can probably count me to one of the few people who found their new profession via Xing. And you guys know how much I love the internet, and the fact, that it now provided me with a new job is just super incredible! 

Okay, lots of exaggerations in this post, huh? But the awesomeness proceeds as I am going to meet one of the coolest people in the world in less than a week. On friday, 14th of September, here in Munich, there is going to be an introduction to the german release of "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green, which I already described as one of the most impressive and affecting books I have ever read. (if not THE most..) and the author himself will be there and I am sooo excited! 

I also made myself an early birthday present, and purchased this amazing box set (thanks to credit cards, I was able to buy it on Amazon.com since it's only available in the US.)

www.amazon.com

I know I already own "Looking for Alaska" and "The Fault in Our Stars" but I might aswell sell my previous editions. Both of those books are also signed by Mr. Green. And I still don't own "Paper Towns" and "An Abundance of Katherines". And the price is just super appealing to NOT wanna buy this! 

detonation.

Soooo, I actually waited a little while to be able to finally drop some big news in this post, but nooo, decisions are STILL to be made, and so I keep waiting patiently and use the spare time today and write some words about the last month. But waiting was basically all that happened in August, besides my parents visiting, but this I already mentioned in one of the last posts. So since there is nothing much to talk about, I thought I could share one of my musical discoveries for which I am already dying to hear more in the forseeable future. So far, the only thing existing by this artist called TWIGS is a tumblr blog and two videos on it and the web doesn't spill any infos about the girl many people are already comparing to Aaliyah. Well, I just really like her addicting mix between R'n'B and electro.

Well, I bet you already wondered what kind of cheesy romances I have been reading last month, you shall be released. ;)

THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

REASON TO BREATHE by REBECCA DONOVAN

This was an exciting read about a teenager being physically abused by a family member and I am still trying to figure out how to rate this book properly. I was very drawn to all the characters, none of them was dull or uninteresting, but at some points I just couldn't comprehend some of the protagonists actions. Nevertheless it kept me guessing and wanting to read on. (3/5)

THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT by JENNIFER E. SMITH

The first time I heard of this book about two teenagers who meet on an airplane in one of John Greens many video blog entries, as one of his personal recommendations. A friend of mine had read it, too, but told me not to expect too much. And in the beginning it actually was a bit boring but it grew with every page and, yes, my eyes got a little wet. (4/5)

MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by HUNTLEY FITZPATRICK

This also was a recommendation by the friend mentioned above, who fell madly in love with the Garretts Family that is pictured in this book. And I think I fell in love with them, too, especially 4-year-old George, who is an adorable precocious toddler scaring himself with world end scenarios, but in a very hilarious way. Oh and of course there is a lovestory, in particular with the protagonist Sam and one of the Garretts family members (in fact there are 8 siblings). But of course all is not well in teenage wonderland, because Sam's mother, a politician on an election campaign, who is sorta disgusted by the huge and catastrophic Garrett family. All in all a hilarious but also dramatic book worth reading. (4/5)

MY LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE by NATASHA FRIEND

I have the least memory on this book, since I read it in the beginning of the month, but I remember that I hardly liked it. The story is about a girl who looses her appeal, when her face gets injured in a car accident. And when you think, ok, this character will probably try to make the best of her life, the whole book is just a whiney tantrum thrown by a immature teenager, and you ask yourself, what kind of message the author wants to deliver, since it seems to be all about the obsession with beauty. (2/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

PROMETHEUS

Holy smokes, that was pretty neat! There weren't exactly answers too the many questions a viewer might have had in advance, but who cares, haha! I love movies where you are left behind with theories and stuff. And since there will be sequels I don't doubt much about the answers to follow. 

What I loved about this movie were the visuals. Those holograms from the past! Or these little flying tracker-thingies, veeery nice! And we need to talk about Mr. Fassbender. Somewhere in an online review a person wrote, that fassy played his role so convincing, that you really had the feeling, he was and android. And that's exactly what I thought, during the movie. Well done, Fassy! Well done, Ridley Scott. (9/10) 

BOY A

Andrew Garfield plays the role of young adult, who has recently been released from jail, after he took part in the killing of girl as when he was still a child. And as hard as this sounds, Andrew Garfield plays his role so you feel empathy towards this person who comitted such a horrible crime. Probably one of his best perfomances. (8/10)

PARANORMAN

Oh my, this was really awesome and hilarious. An animated film about a little boy who can see dead people, and has been chosen to save his town from a witch's curse. I reeally loved the characters in the movie but I wondered if it might not have been a little too scary for 6-year-olds sitting in the cinema with us. But none of them seemed disturbed afterwards, so maybe I'm just a little bit hysteric. (8/10)

THE 5-YEAR-ENGAGEMENT

Honestly, did this movie reeeally have to be sooo loong?! I really don't see any reason that justifies the length of 2 hours for a comedy like this one. There were some funny scenes, yes, but in the end I was a little disappointed by Mr. Segel. (6/10)

eavesdrop.

Guys, it's time for a recap on the last few weeks. I don't really want to reveal too much, as I am a little superstitious about things like that and don't wanna jinx anything, but rumor has it, that some big changes are awaiting me in the foreseeable future. But when decisions have been made, I'll let you know.
Besides that, nothing much happened. actually. There were fantasies about going to several summer festivals such as the austrian STUCK! which I had already mentioned in another post, or the DOCKVILLE Festival in Hamburg, but travelling to Hamburg turned out to be even more expensive than the tickets for the event. But I was lucky to finally witness a live show by the lovely Other Lives, who made quite an impression. What a passionate and professional bunch of people they are, who  immediately make you want to join a band, too!

So let's just quickly move on to the book and movie reviews.


THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

BEAUTIFUL DISASTER by JAMIE McGUIRE

Ok, by this time, I arrived in the romance department of the young adult genre but I don't care if anyone thinks that's too gooey and all cliché. When you don't have a romance yourself, you'll just have to find yourself a substitute, right? And here we have a bad-boy-meets-innocent-girl-who-turns-out-to-be-not-so-innocent-after-all-story. All in all I can say that something was there that kept me excited about it, but inbetween there where some decisions made by both protagonists who just seemed somewhat inexplicable to me. But as I had no expectations at all to this book, I still felt positively entertained. (3/5)

BEFORE I FALL by LAUREN OLIVER

Contrary to Beautiful Disaster, here I HAD big expectations, having read Lauren Oliver's DELIRIUM before. This is her debut novel and it is highly praised in the YA-scene. We get to know 15 year old Samantha Kingston. And we get to know her on the day she dies. Until then, Sam is an obnoxious little bitch, and not knowing what to expect as the book continues, I had big problems in the beginning with the dullness of all the characters including the protagonist. I simply didn't think it could live up to DELIRIUM when I had read the first 50 pages. Nevertheless I kept on reading and by the time I finished this book Lauren Oliver had turned my point of view to 180 degrees. That alone made me decide to give this book the highest rating. But not only my POV changed, but of course the protagonist  evolves during a very brief amount of time, due to that fact, the author makes her live through the exact same day over and over again. (5/5)

FORBIDDEN by TABITHA SUZUMA

There is a good reason why the cover of this book is black. The whole story is just so desperate. But although this book might leave you sobbing at the very end, it is so very well written to be enjoyable nevertheless. Ms. Suzuma makes you love her protagonists right from the beginning. I think it takes a lot to write a story about incestuous love and make the readers review their mindset about this taboo topic. It also reminded me a lot of the recently watched "Fish Tank" because of the whole catastrophic family situation in which two young teenagers are forced to take responsibility at a very young age and need to deal with the lapse of a careless mother. (5/5)

HUNTING AND GATHERING by ANNA GAVALDA

I liked this book a lot because of its great mixture of humor and desperation. Four very different lonesome personalities come together and find their peace of mind when they decide to live together in a shared appartment. I also watched the movie adaption right away, and will write more about it in the movie section. (4/5)

BREAKING BEAUTIFUL by JENNIFER SHAW WOLF 

Another rather disturbing topic is focused in this book. 17 year old Allie looses her boyfriend in a carcrash, she herself survived it concisely with disfiguring scars on her face. She lost all her memory about the accident but has the feeling the death of her boyfriend is more of a relief than a loss. Further on in the book the reader finds out more about their forerun relationship in several memory flashbacks and why Allie not only has a scarred face but also a scarred soul. For me the book was really interesting but at some point you just want to shake the protagonist awake to reveal the truth about her dead boyfriend.  (3/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

THE SQUID AND THE WHALE

One Word: Ewwwww! There are some disgusting scenes in that movie. But nevertheless I thought it's worth watching. This is a story about a seperation, dealing with it and having to choose sides. Making mistakes, regretting and forgiving. (6/10)

2 DAYS IN NEW YORK

Quite nice but unfortunately not as hilarious as the previous one 2 DAYS IN PARIS. Most of the jokes seemed very forced and it didn't really seem to have a bigger message. (6/10)

ADVENTURELAND

I had kind of a thing for Jesse Eisenberg this month, huh? Adventureland is a solid mixture of a teenage comedy and drama, nothing less nothing more. One point more for Eisenbergs adorableness..(does that word exist?) (7/10)

SOME BOYS DON'T LEAVE

Brevity is the soul of wit. (Yes I just looked that proverb up) This short movie was way better than a lot of the other full-length movies I watched this month. We have only two protagonists, ex-boy and girlfriend. And he literally just can't leave the once shared flat because he is unable to emotionally move on, which I think is a nicely interpreted methaphor. (8/10)

IN TIME

I thought the concept of the movie was really interesting (is there a book on which the film was based, haha, I'm already assuming this, since screenwriters seem to run out of ideas for a while now) but..uhm..I was very tired while watching the movie and it was really hard to keep myself awake, which says a lot about the tension of it, right? (5/10)

ALIEN

This movie is a great example that people are able to create a suspenseful atmosphere with much less possibilities than moviemakers have nowadays. I was sitting there with my hands in front of my eyes because I couldn't pretend what was coming next. On the other hand, of course, some effects appeared to be somewhat ridiculous but that only added more fun to it, I guess. (8/10)

THE OTHER WOMAN

A movie about a young woman, who – sort of – crushes the marriage of her boss when he falls in love with her and chooses to live with her instead. Having just lost her newborn child, she tries to focus on her stepson from her husbands former marriage, but she is struggling with this rather difficult child and his real mother who constantly gives her the feeling that she is a verdant, useless person. Although the story seems quite interesting there was something about the movie that made it hard to enjoy. (5/10)

ENSEMBLE C'EST TOUT (HUNTING AND GATHERING)

I challenged myself to watch this adaption of the previously read book in it's original language, and it worked quite well. As I mentioned, I thought the movie was a good implementation of the book. Audrey Tatou seemed perfect for the main role, and all the other characters where just as adorable. (7/10)

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET

This was a rewatch resulting out of nostalgia. And I still think this was a really great interpretation of Shakespeare's classic. DiCaprio is just gorgeous in here. (8/10)

submerge.

Ugh, I give up being in time with that monthly review. Though the third day of the month isn't really belated, is it? It's just my high aspiration to perfection I need to overcome. Well I planned to write all the book and movie related reviews yesterday, but then I crawled into my bed exhaustedly and woke up around 11pm and no shit was done. I didn't even mind the two longlegged fellows hanging right over my head on the ceiling. (Yes, I'm talking about spiders, here.)

So what happened in June, you ask? I went to 5 live shows. That's usually a rate of 3 months or so, when you live in a musically frustrating city like I do. (I can't emphasize it enough, peeps!) Yet, I am glad there is this "new" club called KONG I'm having high hopes on. They hosted a show with my new found love BEAR IN HEAVEN..(Spoiler alert: Record of the year!) 

I didn't find much time reading or watching movies due to that thing called social life, I guess. ;) 

And...as I already mentioned in the previous post, I did my best being all clumsy and here we already come to the part that is related to the post title. I flooded my apartment (or at least part of it). Actually...it wasn't really me, but the stupid rainstorm that had to surprise me on that day I forgot to shut my windows before leaving for work. Astonishment accomplished, Petrus! Gladly nothing was damaged, considering the fact that my computer was standing right in the middle of the pool! You can imagine the shock and the pleasure, getting rid of the mess and all that water. But two hours later it already looked liked nothing had happened. I'm glad I didn't have had any plans for that evening. Also, I am surprised I didn't get sick standing in the water with bare feet for so long. 

Ok, so here are the things I enjoyed last month, starting with the (few) books I read.

THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

THE GLIMPSE by CLAIRE MERLE

So, by now, thinking about that book, I probably already forgot half of what happened. I even had to revisit the résumé on goodreads to get started writing a few sentences about it. Basically this book is yet another dystopian setting, where people are divided in Pures and Crazies. The author draws a futuristic scenario where flawless human beings exclude allegedly mentally ill people from their society. And of course we have our 16-year-old heroine who starts realizing that a lot of things are going wrong in her world. And although the cover of the book seems to promise a decent amount of romance, this was, to my disappointment, a rather dry detective-like story. (3/5)

MATCHED by ALLIE CONDIE

I have been lurking around that one for a long time. Most reviews I read had been very positive, but I always feared this would be too gooey for my taste. Way off the mark! This one, contrary to "The Glimpse" stays with you for a while and makes you want to crave for the sequel (yes, we have another trilogy here) and I would have ordered the second book right away if wouldn't have to pay back a severe amount of money to my electricity provider. The synopsis is summarized quickly. Cassia is living in a perfect world. Literally. Everything is prescribed by law. The food you get to eat. The job you will take, the person you will marry and the day you will die. All for the sake of getting perfect results and getting rid of distractions that make people think too much and dysfunction. I thought this was a very interesting scenario and this series lines up easily with some impressive dystopia like "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent". (4/5)

I am also halfway through another book, which was a present from our a intern, whom I helped with her exam preparation. It is "Hunting and Gathering" by Anna Gavalda, and I can already say that I really love the humor of this author. With that book I also got the DVD from the screen adaption and I'm looking forward to this one. 

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME

Ok, first of all, I am fond of Jason Segel. So my judgement might be a bit biased. Meet Jeff, who...uhm yeah, still lives at home, and is sort of seeking the true meaning of live and gets all superstitious when he get's a call from a stranger asking for Kevin (you might be right, if you guessed there is no Kevin living at his house). Jeff takes the next bus to the city, because he is confused and feels he needs to get out or something, and sees this guy sitting in fron of him with a basketball shirt and the name "Kevin" on it. That's when Jeff is finally hooked, and tries to convince his indigenous brother, who alongside is struggling with his wife, about his new found destiny, he isn't sure about himself, yet. All in all, a diverting comedy with a Jason Segel you will enjoy if you love him as much as I do. (6.5/10)

CONTAGION

Packed with so many hollywood allstars this movie mostly lacks of character development. Kate Winslet for example whose talent I appreciate a lot, doesn't get the slightest chance in a movie like this, to show what she is really good at. You might also want to take my advice and don't eat while watching this movie, especially not during the Gwyneth Paltrow scenes. It's for your own good. What do we learn from this contagious blockbuster? Uhm, exactly...nothing. (5/10)

TAKE THIS WALTZ

Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams playing that couple that seems to fit so well but, in the end, still gets eaten by daily grind and boredom. But that's not it, yet. It is more a portrait of a young and insecure woman who is constantly searching for a higher meaning of her life and struggles with a sadness that overwhelms her and seems to be incurable. I didn't like her character much until the point where she says "Do you have any idea, how much courage it takes to seduce you?" And that's where I found a part of my own past personality in her.  (7/10)

FISH TANK

Talking about past lives. Meet Mia in her Fish Tank desperately searching for a way out. Growing up in a likewise neighbourhood I could perfectly relate to this young girl who is so angry and yet so passionate and strong. In my opinion this young actress, Katie Jarvis, does a much better job than I hoped I would see from Mr. Fassbender. In it's realistic setting it also reminded me a bit to "Weekend" which makes me want to observe the british film industry a little more. This is how brilliant filmmaking is done. (9/10)

WITHOUT

This one was listed as one of the International Independents at the still ongoing Filmfest in Munich. It is about a young girl breaking with her everyday life while taking a job as a nurse for an elderly person. When the host announced, this will be an oppressive experience, I sank back into the seats, daunted. Having seen some emotionally disturbing shit, I actually swore to myself, not to consume much more of these kinds of movies. But to defuse this a little, it was, in the end, indeed rather innocuous. But still, while watching the movie, I always expected some unsettling things to happen. And infact, the movie was built to make the audience wonder, what the hell is actually going on here, which was one of the good aspects. And if you like movies, that leave you riddled about what really happened and what didn't, you will probably enjoy this one. (7/10)

amongster.

So that was may, yay. I'm gonna throw you some sentences to sum up the events that highlighted my days and nights in the merry month of may.  Some flattering scoldings were showered at me. A weird guy from Los Angeles shook my hand for what felt an eternity. I finally bought a new bookshelf for the  countless books that flew around my bedroom, and I made my first Facebook-Page. It already counts an outrageous number of fans (that would be 5, so much for the loyalty of your friends, pah!)!! So be quick and like it if you, too, want Ryan Gosling to play the part of the irresistible Johnny Castle in the remake of Dirty Dancy, which will be released in 2013, I guess. And I know, you want it. And because you might not be able to picture him as Johnny, foresightful as I am, I made a little photo-manip for you, so you will be convinced, immediately. (Oh gawd, did I really name that URL goslinggoesdirty?)

Ok, enough of the shenanigans. I didn't really consume much media this month, at least not many movies lighted my homescreen, nor did I set foot in a cinema, this month. But let's start with the books I read this month. I read a lot in my mother tongue, since I hauled some german books from a second-hand book store at the end of last month. 

THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

SE RÉSOUDRE AUX ADIUEX (Ein Abschied) by PHILIPPE BESSON

This book was actually a very spontaneous purchase. It tells the story of a woman who is left by her lover, and devastated as she is, she starts writing letters to him while she travels the world trying to escape the city in which they spent so much time together. And what can I say, this book literally spoke    from my heart with all it's allegations and self-doubts, the more astounded I am, that this book actually wasn't even written by a woman, but I am probably just to swayed by stereotypes. But I enjoyed this read a lot. (4/5)

UND IM ZWEIFEL FÜR DICH SELBST by ELISABETH RANK

A book by a native german author, so no english title here. I planned to read this one for a while now. I thought I could identify myself pretty well with the story she tells, since the author and I share the year of our birth. But I had my troubles to really sense the emotion here. Reading a book about a fatal accident of a loved one, might make you think, it shouldn't be to hard to get emotionally involved. But  I guess it was just the style of writing that made it somewhat hard for me. (3/5)

THE SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS by PAOLO GIORDANO

Ugh, italians..haha. Sorry. But I recently saw the screen adaption of this book, and it was...I really don't know, but I felt like all the important details were put aside and the filmmakers just made a completely new story. But back to the book. The storyline sounded pretty interesting. The lives of two teenagers who suffered major strokes in their childhoods, get mixed together and both of them, as much as they need each other, just can't find their way together, both rather preferring solitude than to risk something. Anyways, I wish the author wouldn't have skipped so much through the years, so I felt like some important things happening in between were missing (almost like in the movie, haha...well actually not THAT disastrous). (3/5) 

INSURGENT by VERONICA ROTH

The follow-up to the first book of the DIVERGENT book trilogy. I think I didn't write about the first one, but I would say this is a pretty satisfying quality dystopian book series comparable to THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy, but yet a totally different and unique world. INSURGENT is in no way inferior to DIVERGENT and just as exciting and suspenseful. (4/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

 

HELL

Hell as in hell like the german word for bright. But it might as well be an allegory to the devil's hell, since the sun is burning so bright, that it is almost impossible to stay in the sunlight during the day,  and also the hell that people might face, in a post-apocalyptic world where the phrase "an eye for an eye" applies. But why am I actually putting so much effort in this short review. The movie was shite.  There you go. Haha. (3/10)

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Well, this movie certainly was something for the eyes. Even the opening credits were a little movie themselves, haha. I think, James Bond and Ms. Mara made a good team on this american movie adaption. Of course it had much more suspense than the swedish original, but I was constantly asking my friends, with whom I watched this movie together and didn't read the book, if they were actually able to follow the movie. Even I had my problems to recall everything from the books I read one and a half years ago. I can't imagine how confusing it must be for a person who didn't already know all the secondary characters and their relevance. I think, this could have been done much better, and already has been done better in the swedish version. Nevertheless I like the movie quite much. (7/10)

INTO THE WILD

Ugh, THAT GUY. If it wasn't so sad, because it's based on a true story, I would have laughed all the time. Just go out in the wild with NO experience at all and get yourself...in trouble. I also might not share the same desire for adventures and freedom, because I like it safe and sound, so I didn't enjoy the movie as much as a kindred soul probably would have. (7/10)

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

Say what you want but this movie was so full of AWESOME. I lol'd a lot. (10/10)

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS

Another guilty pleasure which actually wasn't really a pleasure since I found out during watching the movie, that I don't really like Anne Hathaway. Jake Gyllenhaal was quite charming yes, but I still like him the best as the awesome Donnie Darko. (6/10)

neat.

Sorry, guys, I must delay the monthly review once more, since the beginning of June fell on a weekend and the layout files for the collages are at work. But here is a short update about last week. I spontaneously purchased a new bookshelf, well actually it's not new, but second-hand. Found it at ebay classifieds. It was about time, since the books piled up on my bedroom floor, which had it's charme, but I decided they needed a proper "home". 

This is how it looked before:

And here everything is neatly put in place.

P.S. Please don't tell anyone I messed up, mounting the aperture on the bottom in the wrong way. It's standing upright, that's what counts, ok? 

okay.

Oopsie, already a little late, am I? So what happened in the month of showers, besides...uhm..showers?

In a city, or rather a whole country of precaution, mistrust and paranoia (and unfortunately all these characteristics are a big part of my own personality) I was recognized and approached by a stranger, and not a drunken idiot mistaking me for a boy (oh, yes that happened) or a lusty old man...but by a like-minded individual!

But April also was a month of mobile phone apps. Next to instagram - which, after one and a half years of its apple exclusive existense, finally got released for the Android world - I was literally drawn to Drawsomething. Chances are good I might do an extra post about my favourite drawings!

Alright let's get right to the consumed goods of April 2012:

MUSIC DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH:

THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

COLLISION by STEFNE MILLER

This one was a present by a dear friend, and I was a bit confused in the beginning, because of the mention of that shady organisation called The Invisible Children. Part of the book also takes place in Uganda, but as I continued reading, I was relieved, that this was not a missionary book at all, but  a story about two very different characters whose personalities first collide and then grow slowly towards something big and special. What I really liked about this book, and what made me rate it with the highest score was the narration style of the author and the way she put so much life into a story, I didn't at all think, I would be interested in. Well done. (5/5)

THE SCORCH TRIALS by JAMES DASHNER

The second book of the Maze Runner trilogy (I wrote about the first part in the March review) is packed full of tension and cliffhangers as the first one was. Until the last pages of the book you are not sure wether to trust this certain person that is literally mentioned as "the betrayer". And that kept me  just as riveted like it was with the first book. Nevertheless, all the why and who and what for questions still stay unanswered and I keep thinking, the third book better comes up with a conceivable explanation.  (4/5)

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by JOHN GREEN

There should be only one sentence about this one. Best book ever. But as hyperbolical as it may sound, this wouldn't even make the grade. Oh, all the praise I think I am not even able to put into words. I already mentioned it some place else: I'd love to buy a dozen copies of this book and give it to every single one of my friends, so they won't miss this magnificent experience. I absolutely loved the sense of humor among these tragic figures. Two weeks passed after reading this book and I still miss Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters like they were my own friends. Perfect, perfect, perfect! 

(6/5 just because..)

WITHER by LAUREN DeSTEFANO

I must admit, it's probably not very easy for a follow up, after having read an amazing book as TFIOS. I thought about waiting for a week to start with the next book, but I had so many books I wanted to check out and the list isn't getting shorter. So I picked Wither right away and it was an easy read, dystopian themed again, but I just didn't find a way to sympathize with the main character, and the quite undeveloped storyline of humans not growing older than a quarter century, because of nasty genetical experiments committed their ancestors, was well...nothing really new and spectacular. (2/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED:

KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND

A norwegian movie about a reformatory school in that existed in the 19th century. A very congenial main character who has a big influence on his fellow inmates who unlike him, seemed to have already accepted their fate with abusive and relentless wardens. (7/10)

TOMBOY

A story about a girl who wants to be a boy. Sensitively realized. I was especially impressed by the role of Laure's little sister.  (7.5/10)

UN PROPHÈTE

A very raw and rough impression about a young kid that seems to be born into a life that can only be delinquent and still he is trying to find his way out of it. Very intense, but worth watching. (8.5/10)

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE

An interesting storyline about escapism and brainwash, I thought, but I believe the filmmakers could have made more out of it. And yes, the end was a little confusing. (6.5/10)

LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES

I was stunned to hear, that, Xavier Dolan, playing the main character in this movie, also directed it. Friggin' 23 years old, he is! Say whaaat? I had my difficulties in the beginning, but liked it more and more towards the end. This movie is giving me the feeling that I am not alone with my doubts. (8.5/10)

RESTLESS

Once again a very good job by Mia Wasikowska, reminded me a lot to the story of John Greens "The Fault in Our Stars" but didn't touch me as much. (7/10)

CRACKS

A story about stubborn boarding school girls that envy their new classmate from spain, who seemed to have much more life experience than they could collect while being locked behind the borders of their school. Oh yeah, and Eva Green plays a role, too. (6.5/10)

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

Ugh, I dunno, I thought this one was just reeeally ridiculous. Why do filmmakers always add the  character of the evil Nazi-villain to their stories? And Kevin Bacon talking german..being a native speaker, I didn't understand half of what he said. And Michael Fassbender...uhm bending that huge satellite receiver..? ughh.. (6.0/10)

AMERICAN BEAUTY

So apparantly I missed this classic. Very good acting by Kevin Spacey. But I have to admit, the main reason why I decided to watch the movie, was Wes Bentley...yeaahh..I know.. (8/10)

EASY A

Well..you just gotta like Emma Stone and her quirkiness. Cute movie, and her parents were just as adorable. (6.5/10)

excuse me...

...while i am enjoying this awesome book. 

why don't we...

As promised, from now on, I will only be making reviews on a monthly basis. And as March has passed, it's time to look back on this month. March was basically about waiting. I waited for my new washing machine, I am still waiting for my new mobile phone, due to delivery shortages, and most desperately I waited for March 22nd for the Hunger Games movie to be released. While this wait was rewarded appropriately the washing machine came along with some installation problems. Although I asked my father if he was really sure that there would be no problems, before I made the purchase online, I was sitting next to a non-installed washing machine, when the conveyance left on wednesday morning, last week. The installment was supposed to be inclusive, but the haulers just refused to install the machine, since the connections were jammed, and they would have made a hole into the plasterwall, that was in their way. Long story short. I did it myself. Craftswoman, I am!

And the mobile. It was supposed to be purchaseable on March 16th. From this day on I refreshed the o2 website every day, I guess. And yesterday finally, the phone popped up in their shop. Outrageous!

Another thing that happed kinda proves my clumsiness again. I finally made it to the gym again this month. I wanted to do this much earlier, but I lost my lock, and had to get a new one, which took ages for me to do. Well two weeks ago on a saturday I went for the second time this month, and I just finished the training on the weights and wanted to get my Ipod from the locker for the endurance training, when I couldn't open the lock. Clever as I was, I forgot to remove the old keys, from the lost lock, which were still in my backpack. And when going to the training I simply confused the new keys with the old ones and voilà: there you have your very own little disaster. Of course I already saw myself walking home with my sweatpants on, without money or a bus ticket. Thanks to another key related disaster that had happed last summer, at least I would have had some spare keys hidden in the garden. But then I kinda reacted quickly and thought, well I am probably not the only idiot in the gym, and they must have a bolt cutter or something and went to see if there was still someone there from the gym staff. (Since it was already 10 pm, I feared they might have been gone already) But there he was, my hero, with the bolt cutter. He didn't actually use it, because he tried to open the lock with some dirty trick, that at least left it undamaged. Of course I threw away the wrong keys, immediately. Although life seems quite boring if you're always careful with everything, right? 

Well enough of the stories, I also wanted to give some small reviews about the books and movies I consumed this month. 

THE BOOKS I HAVE READ:

THE MAZE RUNNER by JAMES DASHNER

The first book of another dystopian trilogy, that gets often recommended when people would like to read something similar as THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. There are in fact some similarities, some kids, but only boys, get thrown into a big maze that seems to change everyday, and these boys have almost no memories about who they are or where they came from. Of course it would be kind of boring if there weren't any frightening creatures that always come out at nighttime. They are described as a mixture of machine and animal, and of course pretty lethal. So these boys are trying to solve this maze day after day, while they don't really know if there really is a solution. But hope keeps them going and soon it seems as if one of those boys, the protagonist of course, is coming really close to solving this riddle. James Dashner really knows how to create suspense, and I really enjoyed the read and am looking forward to the sequel THE SCORCH TRIALS which should come in the mail today. Also, when looking for the book cover today, I found out that there is a movie in production and is said to be in theatres 2013. Since there is no cast announced, yet, I guess the release date might get postponed again. Of course I secretly hope Josh Hutcherson is going to play the role of Thomas, the protagonist of the book.  (5/5)

PANDEMONIUM by LAUREN OLIVER

This book is the second part of a current trilogy about a society that believes love is a disease. I found that idea so amazing, and the first book DELIRIUM fulfilled all my expectations. I also enjoyed Oliver's writing style a lot. At first I thought the main character, Lena, was a bit naive and never questioning what the government did, but I guess if you are born in a society like this, of course you think the things that are happening are the way they are supposed to be. Never having experienced something different. But then Lena soon gets caught by the fatal disease called Amor Deliria Nervosa. And at first she refuses to believe it and questions how much she enjoys it, but then realizes how the government has built up this huge lie about love being a disease and so she tries to flee from her society The escape is successful but not without a huge loss. The second book basically sets place in the time after the escape and tells how Lena lives with her loss and tries to fight against her past folk as an undercover spy. The sequel was a dignified follow-up but at some point it left me a little unsatisfied.  (4/5)

THE HUNGER GAMES by SUZANNE COLLINS

I didn't really plan to say much about it, since it's just a re-read in the original language.  I can only say I enjoy it as much as the first time. Although I am always sad that there is only one first time and the tension is gone then. (5/5)

BIRTHMARKED by CARAGH O'BRIEN

And here we have our fourth dystopian trilogy. Not as exciting as the first three mentioned series, but still the topic was kind of interesting. It's basically about a small elite society that tries to genetically control their population after a disease had spread amongst them. Therefore they choose newborns from the poor and excluded folk outside their border. At first the parents of these children feel priviledged, because their children get to live a wealthy life, but soon the rate of the chosen newborns grows higher and higher, and the poor folk of course gets suspicious about what really happens behind the wall on the other side. Although this story is set in a far away future szenario, the writing style always made me feel as if I was reading a historical novel. it was kind of strange when you imagined a medieval city and then suddenly highly developed technology was mentioned. I thought, that was kind of a minus in that book. But nevertheless I'll probably go and read the other parts somewhen soon.  (3/5)

THE MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED

THE HUNGER GAMES
Here, also, I don't need to say much anymore since I already made an extra post on that movie.
I saw it the second time on monday and it was still as amazing as the first time. (10/10)


SHAME
I must admit, I expected something more disturbing here. I might be jaded by movies like ENTER THE VOID or REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, but I always had the feeling that the character Michael Fassbender played isn't really that far away from the average image of manhood I have. Not even the suicide scenes with Carey Mulligan touched me emotionally, but that might be the fault of the director. All in all I think the movie is worth watching. (7/10)


JANE EYRE
I haven't read the book, I must admit, and wouldn't have watched the movie if it wasn't for the appearances of Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska, whom I think is amazingly talented. Although I was very touched by the way Wasikowska was delivering emotional substance, and the beginning was kind of exciting and promising, the storyline in the end was a bit disappointing and not quite reasonable for me. (6.5/10)


LIKE CRAZY
What the heck was that? Seriously? I was looking forward to an independent romantic love story, a movie that won awards at the Sundance Film Festival. It started with a really nice atmosphere but then everything was ruined by cutting the movie on all the wrong places. I have never seen a movie being edited so badly that the viewer is no longer able to tell where the hell the characters are settled. It seemed to constantly switch between Great Britain and the USA. But then also the storyline got more and more unreasonable and illogical it was hard to keep watching until the end. The saddest thing about the movie is, that the amazing Jennifer Lawrence didn't get a chance to show what she is capable of, and her character was so pathetic. (5/10)


THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
It started off a bit awkward, I can't really explain why. I didn't know where this movie was getting, if it wanted to be a comedy or a drama and it turned out to be a proper mixture of both. This movie is about five congenial characters who aren't perfect at all. It's about making mistakes and about forgiveness. (7/10)


WINGED CREATURES
This movie is about a killing spree and its aftermath on the people who witnessed the crime. It shows the different ways people deal with a drastic situation. There are these two kids, one of it just stops talking to the people around, the other one doesn't show any grief and almost makes the adults around her angry because she just flees into faith and justifies the death of her own father for the sake of her god. Then there are the adults who completely get out of control. The doctor who poisons his wife, and the mother who neglects her child. All in all an interesting story that shows how people deal with grief and the loss of a loved one. (7/10)


BRIDGE TO THERABITHIA
This one tells an interesting story about a friendship between two children among problems like bullying and poverty. It's about being creative and imaginative with only little means, but also, again, about dealing with loss. (7/10)

So that were like 4 movies including Josh Hutcherson. Does that already count as obsessive?