tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.comments2023-11-04T06:14:06.734+00:00I'm The DecoyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13494007896945358812noreply@blogger.comBlogger341125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-2702706515622397732023-08-20T23:20:26.593+01:002023-08-20T23:20:26.593+01:00Thanks for posting thhisThanks for posting thhisAmanda Griffinhttps://griffinamanda.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-40829095766897174182022-03-04T05:01:30.368+00:002022-03-04T05:01:30.368+00:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.earlraddenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00357514446530777809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-79957108815856968082021-11-11T10:29:59.890+00:002021-11-11T10:29:59.890+00:00Goodd reading your postGoodd reading your postRichard Springerhttps://www.richardspringer.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-29549160326243257272020-07-12T21:05:03.551+01:002020-07-12T21:05:03.551+01:00I don't identify as asexual, but as someone wh...I don't identify as asexual, but as someone who's experienced sex aversion I identify with this. There are a lot of barriers to self-knowledge, or even doubt that one doesn't fit the norm, when one has a non-normative sexuality (in whatever sense). Jhttp://pillowfort.social/velanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-61190872126684953882020-06-29T14:56:37.351+01:002020-06-29T14:56:37.351+01:00Hahaha I feel like that's missing the point ma...Hahaha I feel like that's missing the point maybe?LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-44789285867729804882020-06-29T14:29:08.238+01:002020-06-29T14:29:08.238+01:00Fun fact: In German, the title of this movie is &q...Fun fact: In German, the title of this movie is "Club der Teufelinnen", which translates as "The devil women's club". Federhirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13656100595092562221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-25078360622156222702020-06-27T11:29:11.702+01:002020-06-27T11:29:11.702+01:00Thanks for reading :)Thanks for reading :)LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-8610516869443647732020-05-29T01:57:56.623+01:002020-05-29T01:57:56.623+01:00Thanks for sharing your story and journey!Thanks for sharing your story and journey!Emily (VioletEmerald)https://www.blogger.com/profile/06516132426195961013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-38505280776355399392020-05-16T11:20:24.211+01:002020-05-16T11:20:24.211+01:00Haha, aw. Is it really that bad? Was it at least o...Haha, aw. Is it really that bad? Was it at least okay for the level you were at at the time? Wanna share it? :D LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-72423484979796654982020-05-16T08:11:16.691+01:002020-05-16T08:11:16.691+01:00As this is the point where our writing "caree...As this is the point where our writing "careers" begin to overlap, I got curious and decided to see if I could find my own timed assignment. I remembered vaguely that I had been quite pleased with it.<br /><br />Found it.<br /><br />Damn. It wasn't something I should have been pleased about.Federhirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13656100595092562221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-16903896111563437432020-05-01T11:50:22.906+01:002020-05-01T11:50:22.906+01:00I've pretty much *only* seen Gilbert and Sulli...I've pretty much *only* seen Gilbert and Sullivan being parodied. I think an actual show of it came to a theatre I was working in once, but even that wasn't a proper version and had lots of ghastly modern references in it. But G&S are operettas not operas. The difference being.... um... lighter, so less ambitious music and probably dialogue between the songs. I actually quite like Die Fledermaus because it is a comic opera, although the problem with opera seems to be that the songs actually convey very little information but go on and on. I certainly don't know how people appreciate them at the theatre with no subtitles to explain what the hell is going on.<br /><br />Identity was a huge deal for me, even though I was also pretty anti-social. In fact, all the more obsessed with my own identity because of that. I think partly just because I found myself to be generally overlooked both at home and at school and I needed to know who I was so that I didn't fade out of existence entirely, and also because I was asexual and agender without knowing it, so the fact that nothing around me made any sense was very confusing and made me strive even harder to know myself (still took 30 years). And then because all that soul-searching and identity parading made me realise I was not much like any other children I knew, then holding on tightly to who I was was even more important because at least I understood and liked myself, even though it didn't fit in with all the noise around me that I didn't like. I made SO many lists of things I liked. Like weekly. All that said, it is silly that children feel a need to pick sides or teams in music, as if you can't just like any genre you want. My identity searching didn't make me biased like that, I had no interest in cliques. I genuinely know people who used to mock grungers etc, despite actually liking the music themselves. It's all so futile. Then again, there are certain genres of music that I can't stand, so I guess some of it was genuine.<br /><br />I don't know if it is particularly a German thing. You tell me. The Baseballs are a German band, obviously heavily influenced by American music. I am aware of Postmodern Jukebox. I listen to their stuff sometimes, but it can be hit and miss. It annoys me when they do a song that the Baseballs have already done. Aren't there enough songs in the world to cover different ones to another retro band?! The funny thing seems to be that The Baseballs' version of a cover is to speed it up and Postmodern Jukebox's version of a cover is to slow it down! I appreciate all attempts to retrofy modern music (the sound track to Easy Virtue did the same thing) but I much prefer the 50s/60s sound to the 20s/30s sound.LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-22999454838718225762020-04-27T18:01:38.788+01:002020-04-27T18:01:38.788+01:00Cartoons! It was only as an adult that I realised ...Cartoons! It was only as an adult that I realised that many Animaniacs sequences were basically Gilbert & Sullivan operas with different librettos. Mostly because I'd never ever heard of "Gilbert and Sullivan" in Germany. I had not realised operas could be silly and funny. (Mozart's comedies are hardly laugh-out-loud affairs, and operatic singing style drains all the humour out anyway, as nice as the music may be).<br />https://youtu.be/P1Zy6UcA8GA<br /><br />Oldies: I grew up with my parents' music. So, Cat Stevens, Joan Baez, Melanie, Simon & Garfunkel, Abba... Folk & pop. Plus, thanks to some holidays, tapes of Canadian children's entertainers: Raffi (https://youtu.be/CDx9zqDpSik), Fred Penner (https://youtu.be/Y9_howSww2I), Red Grammer (https://youtu.be/jmZa6syxNBo), Al Simmons (https://youtu.be/jRk7lGCBEoc) and Tom Chapin (https://youtu.be/GXSBHlLdboQ). Plus, a lot of "Disney's Sing-Along-Song" VHS tapes, which our parents bought us because they thought it would help us learn English to watch them with subtitles. <br /><br />I didn't really enjoy the 80s & 90s music at the time. There were occasional blips when a song sounded like it came from an earlier era (Fool's Garden https://youtu.be/bCDIt50hRDs and Paul McCartney https://youtu.be/9quEmUZ3-7Y), but mostly I had no ear for contemporary music until my late teens. <br /><br />That said, as a kid I never felt any need to define myself by music - just as I never bothered to try and create a handwritten signature for myself. I had hobbies (aviation enthusiasm, reading), but the stuff that children seem to do to create an identity for themselves and to figure out a place in a social environment, I just never did. I was pretty antisocial.<br /><br />Modern music in an older style: Is that a particularly German thing? (I can see The Baseballs are in Germany in that video). I heard of Max Raabe (https://youtu.be/a3O-PLopk5g) when I was a student in Wales, but I never found his stuff enjoyable. Amusing, but not enjoyable. Then, I am not a fan of the sound of the 1920s. Have you heard of Postmodern Jukebox? (https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottBradleeLovesYa/videos) Not much rock'n'roll, but they do the entire "song in a different style" thing very well.<br /><br />Federhirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13656100595092562221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-3718800016927164132019-12-17T10:23:12.600+00:002019-12-17T10:23:12.600+00:00Hahahah, OMG. Admittedly, I see your point on a l...Hahahah, OMG. Admittedly, I see your point on a lot of those.LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-28913672305289635802019-12-16T18:05:36.794+00:002019-12-16T18:05:36.794+00:00Stuff that's supposed to be loveable that frea...Stuff that's supposed to be loveable that freaks me out, in no particular order:<br /><br />* Horses<br />* Most dogs<br />* Human babies: Disgusting, furless little trolls. <br />* Most supposedly precocious child genius characters in fiction<br />* Haley Joel Osmont (in A.I., Pay it Forward, and pretty much every movie I've ever seen him in)<br />* E.T.<br />* The young romantic couple in Les Miserables (the movie). Eddie Redmayne is creepy in everything, just like Bradley Cooper.<br />* Sloths<br />* Baby chickens and most baby birds except ducklings. Goslings and cygnets are bearable, but only ducklings are really cute.<br />* Pretty much every breakfast cereal cartoon character by Kelloggs, the Coca Cola polar bears, every McDonalds character, those merkats and wobbly headed dogs selling insurance, etc.<br />* People in cartoon costumes who hug strangers in public places<br />* Olaf in Frozen. The suicidal spork in Toy Story 4. <br />* Forrest Gump<br />* Cabbage patch kids dolls<br />* All the lions in The Lion King<br />* The Beast and Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast<br />* Boris Johnson<br /><br />Roberthttps://www.bastianbalthasarbooks.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-30478636536912329232019-11-25T19:10:24.705+00:002019-11-25T19:10:24.705+00:00I just noticed that The Lady Vanishes is on Youtub...I just noticed that The Lady Vanishes is on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsbLfRa9GdI<br /><br />(So is Family Plot, which was the first Hitchcock movie I saw as a child)<br /><br />Re: Hunt for the Wilderpeople: probably best you avoid it, the violence against animals is a big part of that film, and it's quite a few animals that get killed. It's pretty gory.Roberthttps://www.bastianbalthasarbooks.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-18116421908903810152019-11-11T17:31:42.457+00:002019-11-11T17:31:42.457+00:00It's kind of weird to think that British comed...It's kind of weird to think that British comedies of the same time were the complete opposite of wholesome and all about women's bras falling off and dirty old men.LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-56151362942240608492019-11-11T17:30:38.830+00:002019-11-11T17:30:38.830+00:00I have not seen the original because I like this o...I have not seen the original because I like this one, and I don't want to like it less, but I do intend to see the original at some point. Presumably Hitchcock had a good reason to remake it. I think there are some wonderfully tense moments in this - the whole Albert Hall section is great. But for me, it's not a patch on Rear Window for Hitchcock, and my favourite Doris Day has to be Calamity Jane!LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-14952231803285986822019-11-04T22:53:43.815+00:002019-11-04T22:53:43.815+00:00I know film critics say the original movie is bett...I know film critics say the original movie is better than the remake, and don't tend to rate this all that highly, but to me, this is probably my favourite Hitchcock movie. Also my favourite Doris Day movie. Roberthttps://www.bastianbalthasarbooks.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-87272120099609583112019-10-29T20:37:03.685+00:002019-10-29T20:37:03.685+00:00Little known fact: Before the EU, Germans and Dane...Little known fact: Before the EU, Germans and Danes crossed all borders by stripping down to their underwear and riding on the outside of buses.<br /><br /><br />In a more serious note, I never actually saw those movies, so I can only infer what plot point is supposed to be happening. The song seems more suited to hitchhiking than border crossing (the lyrics are "Please please please take me along, don't leave me here!"), but I imagine your interpretation is correct. <br /><br />As for being wholesome, I grew up with a certain genre of German & Austrian movies from the 60s & 70s, which were (trying to be) über-wholesome. Comedies that tended to feature slapstick and farce. Pranks and light entertainment and 1950s family values. Basically, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis movies, and Doris Day movies, Louis de Funes movies, and German movies that were noticeably blander and squeaky cleaner than all those others. Peter Alexander (https://youtu.be/G0j82LKP9oI) movies. Heintje movies (https://youtu.be/br6X1LRZRnc), one or two Roy Black movies (https://youtu.be/vGV8Hhhg9hQ). If I try to watch one now, most of them tend to be unbearably awkward or boring. I think the only one I still find quite enjoyable is Das Spukschloss im Spessart, about a bunch of ghosts of former robbers haunting (and later helping) a young woman who inherits the mansion they were entombed in. That one has a slightly more anarchic streak than most. Roberthttps://www.bastianbalthasarbooks.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-65805090407856164142019-10-28T22:02:28.991+00:002019-10-28T22:02:28.991+00:00Hahaha, well it's good to see that the 60s hit...Hahaha, well it's good to see that the 60s hit a lot of places in the same way, despite their differences. I'd say that the Let's Shake was more wholesome than you'd get in American or British films of the time but that is also the LAMEST dance I have ever seen. The second one was creepier. I'm assuming they were sneaking over a border by distracting the guards with sex appeal?LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-83746084121056900862019-10-28T21:52:33.819+00:002019-10-28T21:52:33.819+00:00I'll look out for the first two then. Unfortun...I'll look out for the first two then. Unfortunately my experience of Wilder/Pryor is See No Evil Hear No Evil which is dire so not in a hurry to seek out more. And no way I am watching a film that includes animal cruelty. I was turned off Guardians Of The Galaxy instantly because of the first scene of Chris thingy abusing space rat monsters and was never able to get on board with his character after that.LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-19742958680644118742019-10-28T21:27:29.924+00:002019-10-28T21:27:29.924+00:00For a moment, I thought the Indian character was p...For a moment, I thought the Indian character was played by the same actor as the Indian character in "Man's Favourite Sport", because of the hat. It wasn't. <br /><br />Turns out that was Buster Keaton. I don't think I've ever watched one of his movies, so I didn't recognise him.<br /><br />Anyhow, so here's what 1960s bland, sexy musical comedies looked like in Germany: <br />https://youtu.be/P9tPrzJ9W0I<br />https://youtu.be/8Trk3ytVKKY (I'm not entirely sure why there is a goat involved...)Roberthttps://www.bastianbalthasarbooks.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-59757886239892062832019-10-28T20:54:58.045+00:002019-10-28T20:54:58.045+00:00Unfortunately I really don't know any actually...Unfortunately I really don't know any actually foreign musicals - only American or British ones that are set in other countries and are therefore probably hugely disrespectful.LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-30142882243618965462019-10-28T20:45:10.692+00:002019-10-28T20:45:10.692+00:00I think we were too busy trying to remember the mo...I think we were too busy trying to remember the moves to even notice that.LJ Conradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13393154837432019164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6248108046405060758.post-44096618733033055102019-10-28T20:25:32.550+00:002019-10-28T20:25:32.550+00:00The Lady Vanishes is a classic. One of my favourit...The Lady Vanishes is a classic. One of my favourite Hitchcock movies.<br /><br />In Search of the Castaways is a kids' adventure movie by Disney, based on a novel by Jules Verne. It made me want to travel the world. <br /><br />Silver Streak... a Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor action comedy that has Hitchcockian elements. I suspect it might not have aged very well.<br /><br />Hunt for the Wilderpeople is great. It's by the same director as Thor: Ragnarok. But be warned: it features a lot of violence against animals.<br /><br />Treti Princ has never been translated into English, AFAIK. Of all the Czech fairy tale movies, it is probably my favourite, but it was also the least successful, and it is barely ever shown on German TV. It plays with the usual fairy tale archetypes, but everything is ever so slightly off. It's asymmetric and borderline surreal and it just dances on the edge of expectation without ever becoming too weird to work as a fairy tale. It's as if Terry Gilliam had been allowed to mess with the script a tiny little bit, but reined in. It's obscure, but I think it's a masterpiece.Roberthttps://www.bastianbalthasarbooks.co.uknoreply@blogger.com