The open Diaries: Hot Town/Summer in the City

Reads...

Just about anything by Jonathan Lethem. My new fav
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
The Idiot by Fjodor Dostojewski
Howards End by E.M.Forster
Les Bienveillantes by Johnathan Littell
Die Liebhaberinnen by Elfriede Jelinek
Extension du domaine de la lutte by Michel Houellebecq
Owen Meany by John Irving
La femme rompue by Simone de Beauvoir
Les Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir
Im Westen Nichts Neues by Erich Maria Remarque
Jugend ohne Gott by Ödon von Horvath
No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

Must sees - movies I've recently seen and liked...

Mademoiselle Chambon - Chambon, not Jambon. An absolutely brilliant cast in an absolutely subtle and touching movie.
Fantastic Mr. Fox - simply and absolutely fantastic.
Das weiße Band - Michael Haneke, what more can I say?
Revolutionary road - set aside the fact that Leo looks like a little boy next to Kate, I really liked the movie and the whole 50s style of it.
Alle Anderen - a great movie about relationships.
Milk - Sean Penn in a great part in an important movie.
Entre les murs - which is why I never want to be a teacher.
Vicki, Cristina, Barcelona - the new Woody Allen, very often at the verge of a cliché, but taking another direction just in time. Heaps of irony in the voice overs. I guess since Matchpoint there is a "new" Woody Allen style, and I love it.
Waltz with Bashir - an amazing animation movie about (the loss of) memory and war and what it means to be an Israeli, I guess.
Anonyma - eine Frau in Berlin - think what you like of Nina Hoss, but a movie about the rape of women during WW II was overdue...
Once - beautiful story + amazing music = a wonderful, delicate movie.
The Dark Knight - Maggie Gyllenhaal, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger; that's four good reasons to go see this movie. If you need more, read my posting...
Mamma mia - I know. But I love musicals, I love Meryl Streep, and I don't mind ABBA. If you do too, go see it...
Donau, Duna, Dunaj, Dunav, Dunarea - because of the wonderful pictures of the Danube region, and the delicate analysis of family, memory and rivers...
I'm not there - because of Cate Blanchett, of course, but also because of Christian Bale - who is one of the best, yet not very acknowledged US actors (and I saw him in real life when I was living in NYC)
Le Scaphandre et le papillon - because of the beautiful composition of images and sounds and the claustrophic perspectives...
There Will Be Blood - because I have hardly ever seen a movie that tells you more about the 'Befindlichkeit' of present day USA and where it came from...
No Country for Old Men - because it's a masterpiece (see my entry 'The Cohens did it again' if you want to read more)

Overrated

Parents... always so infinitely smaller than you thought they were.
The truth... come one, life could be so much more interesting without it.
Relationships... I'm sorry, but approximately 5 percent excitment and butterflies don't balance 95 percent of boredom and pain in the ass. Or put differently: Relationships are about trying to solve problems which you wouldn't have had if you had stayed by yourself.
Blogs... people publishing their innermost thoughts in public. Oh please! You're pathetic if you think that's authentic. Haven't you read your Foucault?
August Diehl... allright, great there are so many new young hip German actors, but that's just taking it a bit too far. He has complacency written all over.
Paul McCartney... for Christ's sake, man, go and retire.
Trying to stay friends with your ex... why bother?
Barack Obama... okay so he's nice and all, and of course no European wants a Republican to become president, and of course it's wonderful him being partly black (is he an African American? I never know). But for christ's sake, he's just a politician - he's not fucking Batman.
Phillip Roth... Men in midlife-crises. Okay, so what's new in the world?
Eating chocolate as a serotonine-happy-boost... tried it. Didn't work.
Otto Schenk... When an actor only plays himself, you start wondering why he's called an actor.
Red Hot Chili Peppers... I think they stopped making music after Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Their songs sound all the same to me now.
Sex&food ... licking whipped cream off a body? Sorry, I just don't get it.
Paulo Coelo... that guy is so annoying I don't even know how to spell his name.