Kultur 6

Reading this Kapitel's cultural articles gave me some good insight into the German psyche. Bild Zeitung seems to have cornered two markets, the low-brow celebrity worshiping, porn ogling crowd, and the politically charged, conservative porn ogling crowd. It seems like a pugnaciously trashy circulation but I can totally see why its popular. The article about keeping doors closed and knocking assertively did not really surprise me, as I can understand that German's appreciate their privacy. I think it would be much more efficient if the German's adopted single sort recycling because it would take up less space with less containers, and ultimately be much less maintenance.

AMD 6

For AMD 6, I watched The Simpsons "Trilogy of error," oder "Trilogie derselbe geschichte." I've seen this episode before in english, but I thought it was a good idea to go back and re-watch in German having now seen Lola Rennt. First off, the opening theme music is raised a semitone and that's jarring, but irrelevant. In the first ending of this episode (homer's day) he says "es ist zu spat," similar to the end of Teil 1 of Lola Rennt, where she arrives to find Manni robbing the store. Lisa's interaction with linguo is similar to Lola's encounter with the doorman as is the obvious techno music parody when Lisa is running. As in Teil 3, Lisa gets into a near accident with someone whom she is familiar. Like Lola, Lisa also seeks out her father's help.


http://www.movshare.net/video/wir9r0j6takur

Kultur 5

Well that was certainly a colorful array of articles, which also gave insight into the desensitization of German culture. I loved the tonal shift on the Erotica article which went from "I can always find a shop full of gifts for my mother with a toy shop not far away full of presents my young nephew would be delighted to receive," to "there is a shop right next door where I can buy massive dildos, latex masks, and a wide selection of explicit pornography." I find it interesting how the Germans are able to incorporate all aspects of society without marginalizing the parts that we have deemed "immoral." Also, I disagree with the first article's defense of German society's lack of the word "Entschuldigung", when you run into someone abrasively it really is considerate to acknowledge you just performed that action, regardless of banality. But I also understand how annoying it is, especially here in Ann Arbor, to always here "oof sorry", "sorry" "ohimsorrry" every time you even step in the projected path of an oncoming human. All I know is that I sometimes wish my house had a Klofrau.

AMD 5

This week's AMD would have happened whether or not it was required. My friends and I had been talking about getting a home Bier brewing kit for a while and last Wednesday night we were finally able to do so. The beer mix we had ordered was a Barvarian Hefeweizen, which is a type of wheat beer with a ratio of about 50:50 wheat to yeast. BeerAdvocate.com writes, "A yeast that produces a unique phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol. The 'Hefe' prefix means 'with yeast', hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance."

The process started by sterilizing all the materials, since yeast (a live culture) will be involved. 

Next we set three gallons of water to boil on the stove, then we began mixing in the wheat and beer flavorings.

 Finally, once the yeast was added, we flash-cooled the pot in a sink full of ice so to get the mixture down to 78 degrees farenheit. After that, we siphoned the beer into the fermentation jug to let it sit and build for two weeks. Once the beer has finished fermenting, we will bottle the beer and let it carbonate for another week and half. After that, es ist trinkzeit!

Lavender- AMD 4

For this week's AMD, I tried to read the original German text to Beethoven's "Heiligenstadt testament." (oder Heiligenstädter Testament.) It was written between the 6th and 10th of October, 1862 and is was originally a letter to his brothers (but more to himself) about the internal torment caused by his failing sense of hearing. Initially he thought very hard about committing suicide, but ultimately decided that he should go on for the sake of creating great art. Now, in reading the Heiligenstadt testament's urtext, I had about 30- 40% literacy, but you can also easily access a translation here:
http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Bio/BiographyHeiligenstadtTestament.html

Lavender- Kultur 4

So based off the readings, I could gather that German's are very particular about certain forms of transportation. The respect that they give bicyclists seem to be quite contrary to our own culture. I perceive, mostly because I never bike, that cyclists are kind of the bastard children of public transportation. When you're walking, you don't want them on the sidewalk, while they're a similar nuisance when driving and there is no designated bike lane. Also they apparently take traffic laws very seriously, where in Americans base traffic laws in a more subjective, humanist sensibility (i.e. not running a jaywalker over.) And owning a car in Germany seems like more trouble then is worth it, gas nearing $9 a gallon and having to go through an insane amount of bureaucracy and expenses just to own a license- Kein danke!

AMD 3

Tag meine fruenden,

für AMD drei ich habe 'The Simpsons' auf Deutsch gesehen. Es gibt keine übersetzen, noch aber sehr lustig! Es ist leicht zu Ralph verstehen. Du kanst die Kommantare lesen, und übersetzen machen. Mein lieblingslustigscezen wovon Homer ist mit seinen Bauch Pizza aß.

Klicken Sie hieren und genießen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcyTWr31ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfgFbu34NP0

Kultur 3

          Reading about all this beer is making my mouth water, but unfortunately I am at work, and this is America where the drinking laws are not so liberal. Why do Germans love their beer so much? It seems to me that this depressant-embracing culture could possibly correspond with their appreciation of pessimism either way. It's fascinating to me how they could be so passionate and yet so depressing at the same time. Personally, I don't know if I quite agree with the stereotyped German sentiment- of skepticism and dark rationale. They are a culture of gifted intellects, but I believe that certain aspects of intellectualism must be curbed in order to achieve solidarity.
       
          But going back to Beer, I really want to try an authentic German Weissbier, I'm a fan of the Linenkugel's Berryweiss here in the states, but I would bet it fails in comparison. It's also really cool that the 1516 Purity Law has stayed in effect all these years to ensure only the finest ingredients. It's also cool that beer is so readily available for consumption (ie. McDonalds). I remember when I went to Austria right after I turned 16 and being able to order a beer and thinking, "Holy Fuck, I can drink this?" Of course in Germany the logic for drinking a beer is much different then that of a 16 year old American, wherein it's purpose is really to quench thirst and not just provide intoxication (as it invariably does.) Therefore, it seems to contradict established culture to try and impose bans on public drinking.

AMD 2

For this AMD, seeing as though I am playing catch up on AMD's- I'm making this one a SUPER AMD. What is this AMD about? Well, its about the Bahaus school. For those who do not know what the Bauhaus school was- it was a school for designers and artists during the Weimar republic who sought to utilize arts as both a statement and a ubiquitous necessity i.e. furniture, houses. One of the school's founders was a man named Walter Gropius who was influenced by Buddhist teachings and told his students to seek enlightenment in their creations. When Oscar Schlemmer became head of the school, it became much more active in fusing performance with architecture and fighting expressionism. See=> Schlemmer: Triadic Ballet

Other famous names associated with the school include abstract painter, Wassily Kandinsky and Gebrachtsmusik composer, Paul Hindemith.

Kapitel 2

Since reading the cultural articles for Kapitel 2, I have learned some german stereotypes are true for a reason. Their obsession with analytical data and exact facts directly correlates with their displeasure at recalling the number of times they have lost the world cup. It seems to bring great pride for the German people on their ability to shut out certain historical events. But I was also amused to find out about their protectiveness, they seem like a very vigilant culture, which in some respects I wish the American population would take note.