everyday (part 43)

one first time each and every day - a new taste, a new experience, a new route, a new song, a new whatever. 

22. - 28. October

22.10. tried chips out of a fat free hot air fryer - nice!
23.10. plotted to make curtains out of the tons of old kitchen towels I have in my cupboard, only have to start now (my usual problem when it comes to DIY ideas...)
24.10. saw "Baumeister Solness" in Wiesbaden
25.10. went to the Souperie in Mainz and had an excellent Thai style pumpkin soup - great that my Luups voucher books always forces me to try out new places
26.10. for the first time read on the bottle of maple syrup that it should be kept in the fridge after opening - always thought it was sort of indestructible like honey is
27.10. walked through a part of Wiesbaden not far from home but as good a unknown to me and re-visited a playground I loved as a child
28.10. through a friend found out about an amazing advents calendar that I had never heard about before but now have to get for my husband :-)

MANIFEST 2083

author: Christian Lollike
theatre/ensemble: S/H, Copenhagen

seen on the 29th June during the New Plays From Europe Festival in Wiesbaden

plot: What made Norwegian assassin Anders Breivik putting on his police uniform, placing a bomb in Oslo and wreaking a massacre on Utøya island? The answer apparently is easy: Breivik wrote a "Manifest" to explain the necessity of his actions. Based on this disturbing material next to court documents the author Christian Lollike explores the search for Breiviks motives and his right-wing philosophy that is not limited to Norway.

verdict: It doesn´t happen often that 90min of theatre leave me speechless (especially not when it is the last of 11 plays seen in 10 days).
Here the play finished, I had to take a deep breath and go outside for a few minutes on my own to compose myself again before talking to others.
The actor Olaf Højgaard jumps in and out of the character of Anders Breivik. He reads his texts and comments and critizes and ridicules them. He prepares to build a bomb out of fertilizer as Breivik did, starts working out and taking steroids, he slowly turns into him as the performance progresses.
The audience doesn´t know what to feel anymore - is the fiction, is it real? Is he a commentator, is he playing a character? The mix of different texts and Højgaards visual transformation developes a hypnotic pull of horror and fascination. Breivik listened to "Lux Aeterna" by Clint Mansell on his Ipod during the massacre, when this music plays on stage and Breivik/Højgaard points his machine gun into the audience my blood ran cold.
Controversial, multi-layered, disturbing and an outstanding actor - wow.

Zeitenzauber: Die magische Gondel

Autor: Eva Völler
veröffentlicht: 2014

Inhalt: Die 17-jährige Anna verbringt ihre Sommerferien in Venedig. Bei einem Stadtbummel erweckt eine rote Gondel ihre Aufmerksamkeit. Seltsam. Sind in Venedig nicht alle Gondeln schwarz? Als Anna kurz darauf mit ihren Eltern eine historische Bootsparade besucht, wird sie im Gedränge ins Wasser gestoßen - und von einem unglaublich gut aussehenden jungen Mann in die rote Gondel gezogen. Bevor sie wieder auf den Bootssteg klettern kann, beginnt die Luft plötzlich zu flimmern und die Welt verschwimmt vor Annas Augen ...

was mir gefallen hat: Mal wieder eine Zeitreise, man scheint im Moment kaum drumherum zu kommen. Anna ist eine für ihr Alter recht gewitzte und furchtlose junge Dame der ich gern in die Vergangenheit gefolgt bin.

was mir nicht gefallen hat: Außer Anna kamen mir die Charaktere schon recht flach vor, inwieweit die Beschreibungen von Venedig passen und das nötige Flair verbreiten kann ich als noch nie da gewesene leider (noch) nicht beurteilen. Wahnsinnig spannend und/oder romantisch fand ich es nun auch nicht aber ich bin ja auch nicht mehr die angestrebte Zielgruppe ;-)

Fazit: Keine Weltliteratur und nicht unbedingt originell von der Idee her aber gut lesbar, humorvoll und immer wieder selbst-ironisch - wer einfach mal ein nettes Buch (das übrigens Teil 1 einer Trilogie ist) für nebenher sucht, dies ist empfehlenswert!

Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and his Legacy, 1860-1960

The National Portrait Gallery in London is currently showing the exhibition "Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and his Legacy, 1860-1960".

For those of you who cannot place the name -

William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist. Associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement, he was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he played a significant role in propagating the early socialist movement in Britain.

If you have seen those patterns on wallpapers and, nowadays, all sorts of merchandising, those are his designs.

As I´m interested in Victorian times in general and the Pre-Raphaelites in particular I have come across Morris many times before so had to visit the exhibition.

In two small conjoined rooms a few portraits and caricatures of him are displayed together with some personal items like his copy of Karl Marx´ "Le Capital" and his worn satchel bag. 

The exhibition quickly moves on to his like minded contemporaries - each portrayed by a photo or painting and an explanatory text. This goes on showing British designers, city planners and thinkers that wanted to combine beauty and functionality all through to the first half of the 20th century.

So far so good - I still left after only 30min and was fairly confused.

There is hardly any information about William Morris the man, his tricky love life, his wife Jane being the lover and muse of his friend and fellow notorious Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 

Nothing to make him more palpable for the viewer, to connect with him. 

All the other mentioned people are undoubtedly important and interesting figures but most names you will have forgotten as soon as you have left the room as it is simply too much information paired with too little art jumping around between various subjects.

Didn´t think I would ever say this but this exhibition felt shallow, loveless and fragmented and certainly isn´t worth it´s steep entry money. 

What a shame, William Morris is such a fascinating figure!

PS: If I haven´t put you off - it is still on until the 11th January 2015.

everyday (part 42)

one first time each and every day - a new taste, a new experience, a new route, a new song, a new whatever. 

15. - 21. October

15.10. went to the supermarket, returned loads of empty bottles and grates, and: forgot to press the button in order to get the receipt - lost about 10€ through that and was gutted all day long
16.10. visited a friend and suddenly found myself in the role of a counselor
17.10. watched the deer getting fed chestnuts in Fasanerie (yes, it hasn't been my most exciting week)
18.10. saw "Superhero" on stage in Wiesbaden
19.10. used the "Brightside" bubble bar from Lush but wasn't overly impressed (to be honest, I thought I bought the Karma bubble bar so was a bit disappointed)
20.10. found out that IKEA has no cheap and useful cardboard thingies for storing magazines anymore, booh
21.10. found out that the amazing Müller Drogerie in Mainz still has those storage things, three cheers for always having everything I'm looking for!

Mr. Turner

director: Mike Leigh
year: 2014
with: Timothy Spall, Marion Bailey, Dorothy Atkinson, Paul Jesson, etc.

plot: It's the last quarter century in the life of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.

what I liked: As usual I love films set in Victorian times and particularly enjoyed all the scenes at the Royal Academy with the who-is-who of the art world present. My favourite scene must be a highly eloquent but utterly pointless discussion amongst young John Ruskin and his circle about the cultivation of gooseberries, hilarious. Dorothy Atkinson as his submissively admiring housekeeper is stunning - she has hardly no lines but says an awful lot through her mimic. And it certainly is fascinating to see a main character like Turner communicating mostly through grunting an growling...

what I didn't like: ...this, of course, makes the film a little bit difficult as well as Turner is an interesting but not a very likeable character. After 150min of a portrait of manners you still are not closer understanding who this man really was. If you don't read up a bit on his life and works this film alone won't help you.

verdict: It is a long and quiet film so if you are not in the mood for any of that leave it. If you are interested in art and the Victorian times though this is a must see.
The actors are all very good so I wouldn't be surprised to find this film at the Oscar nominations next year.

procrastinating pleasure

Does that sound familiar to you? You buy the most amazing, beautiful, chic and expensive pair of trousers - and then it collects dust in your wardrobe as you don't wear it. You are sparing it for a special occasion! Don't wanna ruin it, waste it, desecrate it, waiting for that special moment that in most cases never comes.
One day in the future we want to wear it and realize it now looks frumpy, doesn't fit anymore or has been devoured by moths. And then we have should to put it on ebay or donate it to a charity shop we probably will put it back into our wardrobe mausoleum in order to be prepared for that precious moment in the future when our body-shape will change and this particular style will come back into fashion.

In the past I have had moments of clear-sightedness and put some of my shirts into a bag ready for the next Oxfam shop and what did my husbann say? "But I thought you like this one!" No, actually I don't like it at all but I have been wearing it so often in order to give it some wear so I will finally be able to get rid of it. How stupid is that???

I have noticed this irrational behaviour in many other aspects of life as well.
I buy a book. It is by one of my favourite authors, hyped in the media, about a really exciting topic, I'm longing to immerse myself in it - only to put it on the shelf to read it later. So I have something to look forward to. Reading boring stuff instead to get it out of the way with and achieve some feeling of achievement.

Using up endless piles of cosmetic testers while the expensive high-end product perishes away.
The lovely slice of soap from Lush shrivels away in the drawer while I'm working through my stack of hoarded hotel soaps. Not watching the film you recorded months ago so I work my way through important but utterly uninteresting to me films...or "Farmer need a Wife".

Psychologists come forward please - what makes humans behave in such an irrational way?
Why can't be resist the nice things but then stop ourselves from enjoying them?
Probably one of the most first world problems of them all...