verena

i can always trust in juliane’s taste of men and movies (read here). we were both certain from the beginning that daniel craig would be a perfect james bond. shame on all those lousy film critics, who bashed craig and made a complete turnaround when the new bond finally hit the movie theatres.

i was eagerly awaiting casino royale and tonight is finally bond night. i am meeting up with dieter and his gang (honzo and andreas) at haydn cinema to watch the movie. from the beginning it’s clear. this is not normal james-bond-style. the opening sequence is cool black and white and not super-unrealistic “i am base-jumping into a flying airplane with landing it”. you can also see a difference in the main titles. everything is reduced to vector graphics, patterns and playing cards. like it.

and so the movie is going on. better dialogues (love the scenes were bond and vesper are fighting with words), real blood and bruises. although it seems that sony made a good deal with placing tons of their mobile phones and laptops into the movie it’s not so silly-gadget-driven like the brosnan-bonds. the whole movie is very much about the character of james bond and not the action. one of my favourite scenes is when james is washing blood off his chest and hands after a fight. he looks doubtful and excausted. not sure if pierce could play the scene that great. stop. i am sure he could not.

what makes the movie so different to the ones before? james bond is so not perfect. and that’s great. in the first chase on madagascar he almost falls off the crane, gets his face in the dirt and looks sometime a little bit clumsy, but he is smarter and a hell-lot cooler than the other guy. i also think the main song from chris cornell is much better than madonna’s overproduced but underinspired die another day.

here is the music video (chris cornell from audioslave, very cool)

so what’s the bottom line? juliane and i are always right i really love the movie and recommend it.
and these guys are just silly: www.danielcraigisnotbond.com

i almost forgot one funny thing: the guy who plays the swiss banker in the movie helping james to wire the money back to M. (ludger pistor) is also in the movie theatre tonight.

i have never been much of a geek (haha). no, seriously. i have never owned a gameboy, no c-64, no playstation, no supernintendo… and i was a happy kid. when i was writing my thesis, which was about computer games (kind of funny for a non-gamer ;), i got into this whole thing, but didn’t convert into a real gamer. but i learned a lot and since that time i have been really interested in computer games, because not everything is geeky and not all gamers are nerds.

i bought the nintendo ds lite in summer, which i really like. the concept is great and the new model looks very much like apple design. super mario is just sweet!

now nintendo launched the nintendo wii. and although i am not really into game consoles i am thinking of buying one. i guess nintendo’s plan of attracting people who haven’t yet played on consoles will work. sony and microsoft are more or less just feeding the nerds (cliché, cliché!). but let’s see…

i know mcdonald’s neighbors
Originally uploaded by rena5.

so, now i know. ronald mcdonald lives in munich. juliane and shawn are now living next doors. they have a great new apartment in schwabing. i went to see them on sunday after i stayed one day in mühldorf am inn to join hauke’s birthday party. i was the only so-called “ösi” and apparently i was funny just when i opened my mouth to say something in “österreichisch”.

the party was great and so was the food. günes and the girls prepared delicious fingerfood and i made what i can make best: powidltascherl.

le louvre
Originally uploaded by rena5.

so, paris, here i come.

i still have about 10 vacation days left and not really a clue what to do. luckily katherina (my co-worker) has plans to go to paris over the weekend to visit friends. i find a reasonable flight ticket (250) online and a bed (not a room!) in katharina’s hostel called “young and happy” in the quartier latin.

the flight is more or less ok. kathi and her friend astrid from stuttgart are already in the city. our plan is to meet later in the evening after my young and happy check-in. the way from the airport to the centre should be easy (says lonely planet), but it’s not because nobody speaks english and i have not clue which ticket to buy. the french guy next to the vending machine is giving me wrong instructions and so i buy (and pay) a wrong one. now the japanese tourists is trying to help and luckily he knows better i get my ticket.
i am sitting in a dirty train heading to the city. listening u2 on my ipod and watching a guy rolling a joint and writing down the lyrics of a rap song (which i can still hear from his headphones to my u2-headphones!). i get off the subway train at place monge. the hostel is around the corner and the first impression is not too bad. my bed is in a five-bed-girls-room with private shower. what a surprise although it’s 9 pm i am the first and choose the best bed. but the planket (which i can cover with sheets) and the restroom make me think “i am too old for this youth hostel shi*…”

10 SMS later i find myself in a bar close to notre-dame with kathi, astrid and thibault (a fellow student of them from montpellier). it’s still warm and we are sitting outside enjoying cocktails. the conversation is in french and i am having a hard time to understand but it’s fun.

to be continued…