Blogging in English und auf Deutsch. English: A key topic of this blog certainly is Bullying, and what can be done against it. Deutsch: Ein Kernthema dieses Blogs is ganz sicherlich Mobbing, und was dagegen getan werden kann. E: There are still lots of other topics here, too - feel free to cruise around and take a look :-)! D: Es gibt aber auch noch viele andere Themen - schaut Euch einfach um :-)! E: I look forward to comments on my blog entries! D: Ich freue mich über Kommentare zu meinen Blog-Einträgen!
"History is in the making!", they said for days and days, about the situation in Egypt. Okay, I thought, I got nothing pressing to do, so let's take a look.
But: Being a witness of the times is not quite that easy ...
Last night (Thursday) I watched almost 3 hours of live coverage from Egypt, on Al Jazeera's English YouTube channel. But when Hosni Mubarak finally addressed the nation (and me), he missed to do what he was to do.
Today at 5:05 p.m. (my place), Vice President Omar Suleiman sneaked to the mics, and it took him a meager 30 seconds to make the announcement about Mubarak stepping down after all.
Now ...
Given I had some grandkids one day, what am I to tell them in, say, 30 years from now, when they ask me (like for a paper in history class on the subject), where I was during that historical moment?
5 Februar 2011 … Heute ist Kels 15. Geburtstag. Und obwohl er leider nicht mehr bei uns sein kann, möchte ich, dass dieser Tag ein fröhlicher Tag ist.
Deshalb habe ich dieses Video gemacht und am heutigen Tag hochgeladen, als Geburtstagsgeschenk für Kel, und auch als Geschenk für alle Abonnenten und Freunde dieses Channels, die mir sehr wichtig sind — ich hoffe, es gefällt Euch!
Ihr werdet einige Freunde dieses Channels in dem Video entdecken. Hier ist eine Liste, einschließlich Zeitmarker:
Hingebungsvoller Aktivist und Kampagnen-Betreiber, der Geld sammelt, um Spielplätze für Indianer-Kinder in Kanada zu bauen, z. B. in der Gemeinde Attawapiskat (Ontario) — Kinder aus dieser Gemeinde sind im Video auf dem Bild bei 3:22 zu sehen
Motor-Gokart-Champion (Outdoor-Rennen) und Kampagnenbetreiber in Sachen Information über durch Eosinophilie bedingte Störungen des Verdauungssystems sowie für die Organistion APFED
Faszinierender Knabenchor aus Süd-London — verzaubernde Musik, Stimmen von unglaublicher Schönheit, und Gesangsstücke, die direkt ins Herz und in die Seele eindringen. Im Bild: Der ehemalige (und hochbgabte) Solosänger Thomas Cully.
der Kinderchor aus Fünftklässlern der Public School Nr. 22 (daher der Name) in Staten Island (New York) ... "Nur" ganz normale Schulkinder, die singen, und keine Profis — aber obergenial!
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Ich habe den Song „I am (Shades of Life)“ vor einiger Zeit entdeckt und war begeistert. Das Lied wird von Billy Gilman gesungen (den Kel geliebt hat), und der Text wurde von einem Jungen namens Mattie J. T. Stepanek geschrieben.
Mattie ist im Jahr 2004 gestorben, und zwar an einer seltenen Form von Mitochondriopathie. Seine drei älteren Geschwister verloren ebenfalls durch diese Krankheit ihr Leben. In dem Versuch, den Verlust seiner Geschwister zu verarbeiten, begann Mattie Gedichte zu schreiben, die schließlich auch tatsächlich veröffentlicht wurden (insgesamt fünf Sammlungen unter dem Titel HEARTSONGS, sowie zwei Bücher mit Essays zum Thema Frieden).
Matties Begabung für Sprache und seine Einsichten bewegten und faszinierten Millionen von Lesern. Seine Bücher brachten Mattie auf die Bestseller-Liste der New York Times, und er wurde der Freund von Prominenten wie der US-Talkmasterin Oprah Winfrey und dem ehemaligen Präsidenten der USA Jimmy Carter, der bei Matties Beerdigung die Grabrede hielt.
Tragischerweise verlor Mattie schließlich im Alter von fast 14 Jahren sein Leben an jene Krankheit, gegen die er jahrelang so tapfer gekämpft hatte. Doch was er hinterlassen hat, lebt weiter.
Mehr über Mattie, den Poeten der „nach jedem Sturm zum Spielen raus ging“, gibt es auf seiner offiziellen Website zu finden:
Autism is a very serious matter: One child out of 110 children is autistic, and even one boy out of 70 boys. And the numbers are rising continuously.
Medicine, science and research aren't even really decided yet on whether Autism is a disease, a disorder or a complex neurological defect. Theories and knowledge about causes and triggers for this state are just as multiple. Accordingly, studies and ideas about a possible treatment are as varied.
The numbers go up: More and more children showing autistic behaviour every year grow up into a world that they have the hardest time dealing with ... and so has this world in dealing with them, trying to offer them a place where they can feel comfortable, safe, and loved.
Autism is a mystery, a challenge and, ever so often a testing day by day struggle for the autistic child, teenager or adult, as well as for their families, friends and surroundings. But all the same, it is a wonderful and precious experience:
"There is no denying that living with Autism can be tough but it can be an adventure, afterall it's a life long journey... I wouldn't change Sam for the world - I would change the world for him!" Gillian Naysmith, book author and therapist on Autism (The Horse Noy Camp UK)
Finally ... A new video on Truedantalion's channel:
HELLO FROM WINTER WONDERLAND
Truedantalion is back from hibernation - in spite of the fact that winter is going on with full force here at my place, still :-)!
This is my first vlog in a long time, and my first video since last October ... gee, time flies! There will be more videos to come soon now:
For the Truedantalion channel, I am preparing a video on a very serious topic that I have been following since April 2010.
On Kelvinwontcry2, there will be a new video up on February 5th; I hope you will come and watch.
Für meine deutschen Zuschauer kommt in Zusammenhang mit dem Kelvinwontcry2-Projekt zu dem Upload noch eine gesonderte Ankündigung, denn leider wird das Video in Deutschland gesperrt sein. Aber: Es führen viele Wege nach Rom :-)!
And I am also working on a video for a dear YouTube friend of mine - I will give you an update on this project as soon as it will be uploaded, which will hopefully be in just a very few days!
If a love for a certain novel, for the complete works of an author, or for a literal figure is with you for a long time (in my case for almost three decades now, and counting), you might well get revolted a bit, when you have to witness that what you love gets grabbed by Warner Bros, is being thrown into a big and merciless shredder ... And to see that after that treatment, some product comes out on the other end of that shredder, that only has the most superficial similarity to the literal original left, will make the revulsion start. Well, at least, this is the case with me.
It's kinda like your sweet pussycat has died, and you bury him on the cursed Pet Sematary (from Stephen King's novel). Your cat will come back to you from there, but ... Hmm. Sure, he still answers to the name Fluffy, and his features seem quite familiar at first sight. But all of Fluffy's essence has become somewhat altered, twisted and changed, and not in a good way ... to put it nicely.
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FLASHBACK
During my school days, I got upset big time when watching some really crappy B-movies made by American filmmaker and producer Roger Corman during the 1960's, from stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and from Poe's renowned poem THE RAVEN.
Oh, and don't even get me *started* talking about the sequels to this movie, which was a failed attempt of processing a European made work of precious youth literature into a film, which was mainly financed by money from American studios and investors, and therefore had to appeal to the taste of the American market.
Okay, I admit: Compared to the sequels that came after the original THE NEVERENDING STORY movie, this one was even a piece of well made cinema. But as for the idea of bringing an iconic book, a classic, to the screen, so many things went wrong ... painful to watch for me, unless I took an amnesia pill to just forget all the wonderful ideas and details of the book that did not make it into the script.
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BACK TO THE PRESENT
Okay, and now, some 20 years later, I sit here and shake my head violently about a movie that has become an instant blockbuster sensation, loved by the critics and the viewers, hyped without end, and that, anyhow, for me personally is only a big pain in the a... aaa ... - annoying it is, yes.
I could start now to come up with all that went wrong with this project, but I don't have to! Instead, you simply need to watch the trailer to the recently published BluRay edition of the movie, and listen to one of the last sentences from the narrator. Then you have the quintessence of what irks me and makes me keep a safety distance of at least 2 meters from anything related to this (indeed brillantly made) epic failure ... so take a look and listen:
"Whatever you thought you knew
about Sherlock Holmes
is about to go out the window."
Yep, my feelings exactly. And believe me, I know quite a bit about Sherlock Holmes ... it would require a really big window for me to stand at!
One thing I must give them credit for: They are honest, and at least warn the audience. Hm, maybe this is why the company is called "Warner Bros" ... ha, ha.
And now, as it was to be expected after the massive success in cinemas worldwide, installment #2 is in the final makes and will come to theaters on December 22nd 2011.
Yet, completely ignorant as I was on any news about the first movie, I got wind of the sequel only today, by a tweet from Stephen Fry(yes yes, I know: "Thou shalt not bitch about Twitter, Michael, as thou usest it vividly now!")! I was alarmed, did some research, and found a little documentary - take a look:
Oh dang ... the documentary is no longer online! Well, I'll search for a replacement
They put in all the ingredients that made the first movie a smash hit, but of course they still whipped an extra helping of everything on top. And alongside Robert Downey jr. and Jude Law (who I both like as actors, but not in the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson!), they threw in Brad Pitt as Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis Professor Moriarty [note: That changed since I wrote my blog; Moriaty was portrayed by Jared Harris instead!], and the wonderful Stephen Fry (who had tweeted that it was his "final day on Sherlock Holmes 2 tomorrow") as Holmes' brother Mycroft.
And just as well as we (until now) search in vain for a Chicken McHaggis on the menu of the world's largest fast food chain, we also search in vain for anything that has really a relation to the famous detective stories. Not much to be found, in these soon to be two installments of something that can not be described as a transcription of a literal original to the big screen, but must be labelled as a steroid and action packed mutation of sorts, made with the utmost (and, I admit it, most impressive) expense concerning visuals, effects etc., but still almost without any traces of the literal classic.
Well, as I said in the title: Sherlock got Warner-ized. And, seen in a critical light, this is not a good thing. Not when it happens the first time, and also not, when this kind of assault happens again.
And you know what kinda irks me the most?
Any viewers who enjoyed the movie(s), and therefore get interested of actually reading the original stories that Doyle published some 100 years ago, will find next to nothing in them of what they saw at the theater. They are doomed to be disappointed to the max - as these two Sherlock Holmes movies do what Roger Corman did in the 1960's with Poe, and what German director Wolfgang Petersen had to do with Michael Ende's wonderful novel:
Tossing everything into the shredder, chuck away all that is vital and important, slosh together what is left over then, and come up with some mass market product that works just like a meal from the above mentioned fast food restaurant: Yummy while you eat it, but probably you will be hungry again one hour later.
Here is a two piece snippet where you can get a more intimate (and accurate!) picture of the person and methods of Sherlock Holmes, and also on the character of Dr Watson, Holmes' friend, colleague and chronicler. The Greek (I guess) subtitles are a random gift of the videos's poster, and belong not to the original Sherlock Holmes universe, ha ha!
This renowned TV production comprises of 41 episodes plus 5 feature length films.
Seasons 1 and 2 are downright brilliant; season 3 is also almost on the same level. And although the fourth and final season has several flaws (due to changes in the production policies of the BBC, budget cuttings, and due to the declining health of actor Jeremy Brett), even most of those final episodes still bear far more closeness to the original than both blockbuster installments of the Warner franchise combined. And this, believe me, for me personally is a really saddening statement on behalf of those two films.
Oh, and I made a little hommage to the great detective myself a while ago, where he teaches his friend Dr Watson about his methods of deduction - featuring me as Sherlock Holmes, and yours truly as Dr Watson :-)! Here you go - hope you enjoy:
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Find the complete written Sherlock Holmes works
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
please check here!
The Granada Television Sherlock Holmes series
as complete editions:
The Granada Television series
As single seasons and more here.
And for those who want to check what I'm complaining about:
After quite a while, this is the first upload I made on my YouTube channel Kelvinwontcry2. The idea to do so has been in my head for many months, but only now, I could finally realize this project.
I did not want to upload this video for it's religious contents, and neither did I want to make a whatsoever political statement on the obviously never ending dilemma that takes place in Israel, with the struggles between Jews and Palestinians. The channel that I established in memory of Kel is not the place for such topics.
To me, the main message of this video that reaches me most, goes much deeper, straight to a very basic and inner level - and this message has a very strong relation to Kel.
Many of my viewers, subscribers and friends on Kelvinwontcry2, who have been talking with me (in comments and many messages) about Kel, and who thereby got to know him a little, may see some of the aspects that I mean. If you have any thoughts on that, or also questions, please feel free to leave a comment, either here, or in the video's comment section on YouTube; your feedback will be much appreciated.
Sadly, I never got to share Meydad's song with Kel while he was still alive. This is why I want to do this now, because I know Kel would have related very strongly to those innermost elements I mentioned above, and he would have loved this song and also Meydad very much - just as I do.
These past weeks have been not very productive here on my end, concerning everything going on online. And there's a reason for that: I have been (real-world) moving towards the end of the old year, and therefore first had to get a new online connection at my new place first - and as "the holiday season was upon us", this meant that everything slowed down, and things took way longer than usual.
As of January 17th 2011, I finally have a new umbilical cord reattached to my virtual belly button (what a picture, haha!), and can now start to make my way back to
- checking out tweets on Twitter, re-tweeting or replying to other Tweeters (and very seldom make a tweet of my own)
- reading the news feed on Facebookand occasionally post something on my wall (and basically never responding to any of the application or game requests I receive)
- catching up with my subscriptions on YouTube, writing comments, and replying to feedback I get ... plus I will finally make new videos on the Truedantalionand Kelvinwontcry2channels (preparations are running).
What I find nice about this is that my forced hibernation ends when outside my window, winter just starts to enter into it's second turn here.
Always anti-cyclic ... well, that's just me, I guess :-) ...
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