Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all.
May this year bring joy, love and luck to you.

Slow Earth

As I heard on radio, we all will be having some extra time for New Years Change. Since the earth for some reasons is turning more slowly than our atom-controlled watches, there will be kind of a Leap-time given to us next night. It wil be one second! A leap second! One whole second!!
Couldn't they announce that earlier this year? I mean, if I would have known about that extra time, I would have planned my whole year totally different!!

Besides that, this leap second will be given exactly at midnight. So, if you will be wishing a Happy New Year to your beloved at midnight, remember to take an extra breath to be right in time!!

Stuck

It was getting cold recently in Germland. Over here in the north it was about -7°C this morning at 6.00 a.m.. Not the best weather for a cyclist you may think, but I am not a fair-weather biker. So I took my gloves and my warm boots and was ready to lose some fingers or other extremities. But when I arrived at my office after 30 minutes, I even felt like...warm! How come that? Because it is a dry cold with no wind? Or was it simply because the gearshift of my bike was frozen and I was stuck in third gear all the time and had to pedal at very high frequency??
Yes..that was it..and it must have looked really funny!!!

Eyes

Some more fun note. This time about the colour of your eyes. And I must admit that I am satisfied with my brown eyes....

Black eyes

People with black eyes spend the shortest time in relationships except for the one with their current addiction. They always fall in love with anything that has two legs, a pulse.
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Blue Eyes

People with blue eyes last the longest in relationships. They are kind, pretty or handsome, very good kissers and are really hot. They always fall in love with their closest friends and never
understand why. They are very funny, outgoing and don't care what people think or say. They love to party.They are very satisfying and love to please. Are straight up WARRIORS((aka wolves)) when they need to be.They are bad to the bone.
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Green eyes

People with green eyes have the most passion put into relationships, honest and trust worthy, they have long lasting relationships. People with green eyes are also the most beautiful, are fun and outgoing, love to make people laugh, and random as ever. They long for the touch of another. They are very laid back. People with green eyes are very VERY sexy and very attracted
towards other people. LOVES to have fun. They are always up for a challenge. As a fire ball this person will always have you guessing. Yet they draw you in with their amazing personality. THE
BEST KISSER YOU WILL EVER MEET. You never want to let go of this person. Tend to cover up true feelings, get scared over relationships.
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Hazel Eyes

People with hazel eyes are very lovable. They are really hot and are awesome to be around. They enjoy 'pet names'. They don't care what people think or say. They are lovers not fighters. But if you mess around, they'll knock you out.They are real partiers.They are also the hottest of all. Very sexy people,and awesome kissers. They are very satisfying and they love to please. They can exceed your pleasure standards. They are very laid back, chilled and love to
just be around.
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BROWN EYES

Either sexy as hell or are adorable. Loves to make new friends. Their relationship tends to be very honest because if they aren't truly in love, then the relationship won't work. They fall easily
for their best friends. Will do anything for that special person. Kind and polite. Enjoys being with their guy/girl. LOVES to party. Can make ANYONE laugh or cheer them up. Loves to please the one they care for or love. The BEST ones at sex . Amazing Kisser.

Almost Famous

Finally again I found a film to watch, that leaves a good feeling in the end. It transports the spirit of the 70s in a charming way. Highly recommended for those born around 1960-1965.

The story:
San Diego, 1973: The 15-year-old William dreams to be a big rock critics one day - despite or perhaps because his mother scents only drugs and unrestrained sex behind this music . Then the shy teen gets an unexpected offer from the famous Rolling Stone magazine: He should be guiding the emerging band Stillwater on their "Almost Famous" tour. On that tour he experiences not only the life in the fast lane, but also the "Band Aid" Penny Lane, who, however, only has eyes for the charismatic guitarist Russell ...

The fourth, highly autobiographical film by "Jerry Maguire" director Cameron Crowe from the year 2000 is a tribute to his own youth and the beloved rock'n'roll. With a lot of heart, wit and detail, he draws an accurate portrait of the 70s and sets a dignified memorial to this big rock era.

The film is really charming, but for my taste a bit too long with nearly 2 hours. It is giving a look behind the scenes of the rock business of the 70s, about truth, loyalty, friendship and pretence. But in the end, the triple Happy-End was a bit too much ánd implausible for me.
However, I felt myself very well entertained and loved that trip back in time, back to the Rock-era. A consistent nostalgia trip not only for "flower children".

Deutsche Städte: Bochum

Kommt man von Norden angereist,
dann ist's zum Haareraufen:
Die Häuser grad wie hingescheißt
versammeln sich zum Haufen.

Noch teuflischer von Süden her.
Am Ortseingang zwei Straßen,
die sieht man an und kann nicht mehr.
Es ist schlicht nicht zu fassen.

Doch allseits macht dies Schreckensnest
den Reisenden beklommen:
Man darf ja auch von Ost und West
niemals nach Bochum kommen.

Thomas Gsella

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Four Stages of Life

1. You believe in Santa Claus.

2. You don't believe in Santa Claus.

3. You are Santa Claus.

4. You look like Santa Claus.

Transsiberian

Well done Brad Anderson! Here is my recommendation for a movie that you should go and watch in a cinema.

Transsiberian is different to other movies. It takes a long time for the viewer to find out what this film could be all about. Watching th efirst third, you may think you are watching a romance drama. Then it turns into a classical railroad-psycho-thriller and in the end you are watching kind of an action movie with horror elements. The story is about Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer). They did some charity church work in China and now decided to take the Transsiberian Train from Bejing to Moscow. More than 9000 kilometres and 7 days on a train! They meet different people on the train and a young couple that obviously carries some secrets with them. The whole train seems to be full of secrets and mysterious characters and
besides wondering where the action of this film will be leading to, I was really fascinated by the way how nicely the actors draw those characters. Especially Emily Mortimer acted pretty well!! Another, oviously dark, charactere is the police-agent Ilya (Ben Kingsley). Until the last minute I was not able to find out on which side he stands...

This movie really took my attention from the first until the last minute. High tension and best entertainment without a lot of action and blood. It took until the last minute to get behind the mysteries of the story and its protagonists.

Watch it!!

What Your Birthday Says About You

I received the following and even though I had a good laugh at it, I was wondering when the birthday of some of my readers may be....heheee...brave enough to drop it in the comments??

What your Birthday month says about you?

JANUARY = SLUT. Fun to be with. Loves to try new things.

FEBRUARY = ATTITUDE. Abstract thoughts. Outgoing.

MARCH = FLIRTATIOUS. You've got the best personality and are an absolute pleasure to be around. You love to make new friends and be outgoing.

APRIL=PIMP. means that your really good looking. Stubborn and hard-hearted.

MAY = PORNSTAR. Suave and compromising. Funny and humorous.

JUNE = SEXY. Loves to chat. Loves those who love them.

JULY = HOTTIE. Outgoing personality. Takes risks. Feeds on attention. Hates studying. In need of that someone'.

AUGUST = THUG. You a straight up 'Gangsta'! Attractive personality. Very sexy!

SEPTEMBER = LOVER.Active and dynamic. Decisive and haste but tends to regret.

OCTOBER =PERFECT. Trustworthy and loyal. Very passionate and dangerous

NOVEMBER = FINE. Loyal and generous. Absolutely beautiful.

DECEMBER = FREAK IN BED

Things You Don't Want To Hear From Technical Support

Things You Don't Want To Hear From Technical Support:

• "Do you have a sledgehammer or a brick handy?"

• "That's right, not even McGyver could fix it."

• "So -- what are you wearing?"

• "We can fix this, but you're gonna need a butter knife, a roll of duct tape, and a car battery."

• "In layman's terms, we call that the Hindenburg Effect."

• "Hold on a second... Mom! Timmy's hitting me!"

• "Okay, turn to page 523 in your copy of Dianetics."

• "Please hold for Mr. Gates' attorney."

Deutsche Städte: Bielefeld

Vor vielen hundert Jahren schon,
da sprach ein Mann zu seinem Sohn:
"Ich hab das Leben, ach! so satt;
wohlan, wir gründen eine Stadt!"

Der Sohn war wie der Vater toll
vor Menschenhass und Lebensgroll
und sprach: "Sie soll auf Erden
ganz einzigartig werden!"

So bauten sie. Bald war vollbracht,
was Ekel, Zorn und Wut erdacht.
Und also kam auf diese Welt
der Teufel namens Bielefeld.

Thomas Gsella

Christmas market Bremen

Yesterday we went to the Christmas market in Bremen. It is said to be one of the nicest christmas markets in germany and it is attracting lots of toursits. And yes, I have heard so many different languages around that I felt as if abroad. The market is situated right in the heart of the centre of Bremen on the historical market square with the old town-hall and the cathedral around. Very scenic spot.
I was surprised to see not only the usual food and drink booths there but a lot of arts and crafts being sold as well. And those crafts were mostly handmade and not some imported "made by diligent childrens hands" bulk-ware. Means for me: nice to look at those crafts but unaffordable to buy.

Christmas markets don't seem to be very common in other countries and I wonder if you have something similar in your country?? Drop me a line, I am curious.
If you wann look at some (not too well taken...) photos, check out the few I have taken last night.

No Smoking - Update

4 weeks without smoking now and I noticed 4 things:

• My stomach pain did not appear anymore since 3 weeks.

• No coughing anymore.

• My appetite has increased and I added 3 pounds of weight.

• I never had any moment of weakness, means, during the last 4 weeks I never wanted to smoke a cigarette again.

I am really surprised that it is so easy to quit smoking and I wonder if it will remain like this. I still have a new and sealed package of tobacco here (that none of you wanted!) and I am curious if I will still have it here in 1 year.

Morrissey - Tour of Refusal

Some of you may know how much I like Morrisseys music. In the 80s it has been the music of the Smiths which was important to me and Morrissey does it even better on his own since many years. He has got such a powerfull presence and his music and lyrics can be whatever you want them to be for yourself.

The last concert I joined was in Hamburg in December 2006. Now he is back!!! There will be a new album release in February/Match 2009 followed by a world-tour "Tour of Refusal 2009" kicking off in Ireland in April.

And now for more good news for me: He will be playing 4 concerts in Germany too and one of them will be in ...tataaaaaaa....BREMEN on June 14th! Isn't that cool?? I am really happy. I received the announcement by e-mail yesterday and 5 minutes later I held the ticket in my hands!!
Only 6 months to go now....

The Day The Earth Stood Still

Beware of this movie. It wants to be a Drama, Science Fiction and Action movie in one. Good intention but it did not work out too well. The story however sounds interesting and I did not know that this movie was only a remake of the famous original from 1951.

Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) as the representative of an extraterrestrial race came to earth to find out if the human race could still find a way to avoid the increasing climate change on earth. When he saw that there was no hope left, he decided to save the earth as a very valueable planet and that nessesarily meant to destroy the human race. A female scientist (Jennifer Connelly) and her son are trying to convince him that the human race is not that bad and stupid as he may think.

As I said, the story sounds interesting but in this movie it is all going without any special tension. Keanu Reeves in his suit acted cool as if he was still caught in his "Matrix" role but this time could not give his role any credibility. The whole film is being directed as if the director had a good story book but did not have any idea of how to put it in scene. The action scenes however are pretty cool, but thats not enough for saving the film. In the end there is only the neat
advice to, please, be a little more thoughtful and nice to each other in the future.

I watched the first half with interest and the second half in boredom.

Bad Signs??

What is a bad sign for you? A black cat crossing your way (happens to me a several times each day), walking under a ladder, a broken mirror??? Or maybe something totally different? Or maybe you don't believe in all this stuff at all??

If so, you are like me. I generally don't believe in any superstitious things but I know that I have some friends out there who are superstitious in some ways. I have a person, very close to me, that is constantly talking like " don't do this, don't do that...it will bring bad luck to you".

So, why don't you tell me about your country and its typically superstitious stuff?? Or maybe you have some special experiences? Don't be shy, mail it to me...I am really curious about it!! I wanna know what superstition is all about and how serious you take it.
You don't need to publish it here as a comment but I would love to receive your emails to that topic. Thank you very much!!

Lost In Translation

Once again: Lost In Translation
I don't know how often I have watched this movie already. Tonight it was time again on TV and again "Lost In Translation" was fascinating me. Scarlett Johansson in her one and only good role and Bill Murray in one of his first movies beyond simple jokes and funny comedy movies.

A melancholic film about human beings being captured in the isolation of a foreign culture and language. Camera and actors both seemed to have the same idea of how this should be expressed. It all fits together very well.

To me this film is getting more and more interesting the more often I watch it. It makes me think about how you can feel lonely even if in a huge crowd. How you can feel lonely even if with so called friends. And that sometimes.....sometimes you just want to have some kind of a soul companion near you. Very near. To give warmth and harmony to each other. Not neccesarily more.
And that is what I like so much in this movie: Two people getting closer by and by, feeling well again and being like accomplices. Without the need of any physical attraction.

This time in the end I was sad: I did not want them to part and to get back to their normal life. I wanted them to continue that impossible dream.

Deutsche Städte: Bremen

Als hätt er meine einleitenden Worte über seinen München Text gelesen, legt der Herr Gsella gleich eine, höchstwahrscheinlich bayrische, Antwort nach:

Die Menschen sehen ängstlich aus.
Sie reden nicht, sie munkeln.
Sie gehen ungern aus dem Haus
und keinesfalls im Dunkeln.

Die Straßen wie bewegungslos,
die Luft wie aus Behältern.
Die Kinder sitzen regungslos
am Rande stummer Eltern.

Sie alle können Liebe nicht:
nicht geben und nicht nehmen.
Wär' Fortgang möglich, bliebe nicht
ein Bremerer in Bremen.

Thomas Gsella

Geocaching - Creativity

Today, I solved the last stage of a Multi-cache consisting of 6 stations + final. It was located in a wilderness that I did not expect there and I liked it especially because I was able to search for the waypoints without others passing by and watching me. The stations were all quite hard to reach. It had been raining hard over here during the past days and so the whole walk was a muddy and slippery adventure. Exactly what I like :-)

It was such a very idyllic place...I was able to watch ducks and swans and I heard them making noises that I have never heard before from ducks and swans. But that was not the only reason why I am posting this. The main reason was waypoint No. 6. In the cache listing it was written that I would meet Erwin here and if he wouldn't hide at that very moment, he would probably tell me where his treasure (cache+logbook) was hidden. When I reached that waypoint, I watched out for any box or container or toy...but all I saw was a duck, obviously made of plastic, swimming some 4-5 metres away from the shore on a lake. Could it be Erwin?? Yes..of course. All I had to find out now was how to get him towards the shore. I was sure that he was wearing the coordinates for the cache on him somewhere. And so it was. After 10-15 minutes of searching, I found a very thin but strong little piece of yarn which seemed to disappear somewhere in the water. I pulled and pulled it...and all over sudden Erwin began to swim towards me. The rest was simple: he had the coordinates for the cache box around his neck and it was only some more 150 metre until I found the large cache container and could sign the logbook.

With this post I just wanna point out one of the many creative caches. Not only a plastic box hidden somewhere. But here, the owner had some good ideas, found the perfect location for it and gave me some 2 hours of fun with solving this riddle.

Below you can see how I discovered Erwin. Can you spot him??? Doesn't he look like real???

Deutsche Städte: München

Also...mal ein Frage: kann man als Norddeutscher an folgenden, zugegeben extrem polemischen Zeilen vorbei lesen ohne auch nur ein wenig zu lächeln, ein Kopfnicken anzudeuten oder laut "so isses!!" zu rufen? Nein? Kann man nicht? Oh, dann bin ich ja beruhigt!!

Das fängt bereits im Bahnhof an
und fährt dir in die Knochen.
Kaum dass man es beschreiben kann:
Es riecht, nein: nicht erbrochen,

es riecht nach faulem Hering nicht
und nicht nach grünem Schinken,
es stinkt einfach. Es herrscht ganz schlicht
das pure, reine Stinken.

Die Menschen atmen durch den Mund,
und dürften sie sich lynchen:
Sie täten es, so schrecklich und
unfassbar stinkt's in München.

Thomas Gsella