Sunday, June 27, 2010

Energy

What is this:



You don't know?
Here's another hint:



Okay, I know it's hard, so here's the solution:

The power station in Großkrotzenburg had an open day (much like 2007). The last time, you could not get inside one of those 100m tall cooling towers, but this time is was possible.
Pretty cool, eh?



Sunday, June 20, 2010

Movie Time

A few weeks ago I happened to watch the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. When I looked for information on the movie I came across one of those top 100 movie lists, which led me to wondering which of those movies I've actually had seen.

Well, here's the list from the American Film Instidute from 2007 (incl. the German titles)

1. Citizen Kane -- Citizen Kane (1941) --> yes
2. The Godfather -- Der Pate (1972)
3. Casablanca -- Casablanca (1942) --> yes
4. Raging Bull -- Wie ein Wilder Stier (1980)
5. Singin' in the Rain -- Du sollst mein Glücksstern sein (1952) --> yes
6. Gone with the Wind -- Vom Winde Verweht (1939) --> yes
7. Lawrence of Arabia -- Lawrence of Arabia (1962) --> yes
8. Schindler's List -- Schindler's List (1993)
9. Vertigo -- Vertigo - Aus dem Reich der Toten (1958) --> yes

10. The Wizard of Oz -- Der Zauberer von Oz (1939) --> yes

7 / 10, not too bad a start

11. City Lights -- Lichter der Großstadt (1931)
12. The Searchers -- Der schwarze Falke (1956)
13. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope -- Krieg der Sterne (1977) --> yes
14. Psycho -- Psycho (1960) --> yes
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey -- 2001: Odyssee im Weltraum (1968) --> yes
16. Sunset Boulevard -- Boulevard der Dämmerung (1950)
17. The Graduate -- Die Reifeprüfung (1967) --> yes
18. The General -- Der General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront -- Die Faust im Nacken (1954)

20. It's a Wonderful Life -- Ist das Leben nicht schön? (1946) --> yes

12 / 20
(I'm not 100% sure on "The Graduate", but do think I saw it in my 'I watch anything Dustin Hoffmann' phase)

21. Chinatown -- Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot -- Manche mögen's heiß (1959) --> yes
23. The Grapes of Wrath -- Die Früchte des Zorns (1940)
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial -- E.T. der Außerirdische (1982) --> yes
25. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Wer die Nachtigal stört (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington -- Mr. Smith geht nach Washington (1939)
27. High Noon -- Zwölf Uhr mittags (1952) --> yes
28. All About Eve -- Alles über Eva (1950)
29. Double Indemnity -- Frau ohne Gewissen (1944)

30. Apocalypse Now -- Apocalypse Now (1979)

Only three more here, and not 100% sure on "High Noon"

31. The Maltese Falcon -- Der Malteser Falken (1941) --> yes
32. The Godfather Part II -- Der Pate - Teil II (1974)
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -- Einer flog über das Kuckucksnest (1975)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -- Schneewitchen und die sieben Zwerge (1937) --> yes
35. Annie Hall -- Der Stadtneurotiker (1977)
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai -- Die Brücke am Kwai (1957) --> yes
37. The Best Years of Our Lives -- Die besten Jahre unseres Lebens (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre -- Der Schatz der Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove -- Doktor Seltsam oder: Wie ich lernte, die Bombe zu lieben (1964) --> yes

40. The Sound of Music -- Meine Lieder - Meine Träume (1965)

19 / 40

41. King Kong -- King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde -- Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy -- Asphalt-Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story -- Die Nacht vor der Hochzeit (1940)
45. Shane -- Mein großer Freund Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night -- Es geschah in einer Nacht (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire -- Endstation Sehnsucht (1951)
48. Rear Window -- Das Fenster zum Hof (1954) --> yes
49. Intolerance -- Intoleranz (1916)

50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring -- Der Herr der Ringe: Die Gefährten (2001) --> yes

21 / 50
I'm fairly sure I have never seen the original "King Kong" (except, of course, for the famous last scene in New York)

51. West Side Story -- West Side Story (1961) --> yes
52. Taxi Driver -- Taxi Driver (1976)
53. The Deer Hunter -- Die durch die Hölle gehen (1978)
54. MASH -- MASH (1970)
55. North by Northwest -- Der unsichtbare Dritte (1959) --> yes
56. Jaws -- Der weiße Hai (1975) --> yes
57. Rocky -- Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush -- Goldrausch (1925)
59. Nashville -- Nashville (1975)

60. Duck Soup -- Die Marx Brothers im Krieg (1933)

24 / 60

61. Sullivan's Travels -- Sullivans Reisen (1941)
62. American Graffiti -- American Graffiti (1973)
63. Cabaret -- Cabaret (1972) --> yes
64. Network -- Network (1976)
65. The African Queen -- The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark -- Jäger des verlorenen Schatzes (1981) --> yes
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? -- Wer hat Angst vor Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven -- Erbarmungslos (1992)
69. Tootsie -- Tootsie (1982) --> yes

70. A Clockwork Orange -- Uhrwerk Orange (1971)

27 / 70

71. Saving Private Ryan -- Der Soldat James Ryan (1998) --> yes
72. The Shawshank Redemption -- Die Verurteilten (1994)
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -- Zwei Banditen (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs -- Das Schweigen der Lämmer (1991) --> yes
75. In the Heat of the Night -- In der Hitze der Nacht (1967)
76. Forrest Gump -- Forrest Gump (1994) --> yes
77. All the President's Men -- Die Unbestechlichen (1976) --> yes
78. Modern Times -- Moderen Zeiten (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch -- The Wild Bunch - Sie kannten kein Gesetz (1969)

80. The Apartment -- Das Appartement (1960) --> yes

Whoohoo, five more. 32 / 80

81. Spartacus -- Spartacus (1960) --> yes
82. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans -- Sonnenaufgang - Lied von zwei Menschen (1927)
83. Titanic -- Titanic (1997) --> yes
84. Easy Rider -- Easy Rider (1969)
85. A Night at the Opera -- Skandal in der Oper / Die Marx Brothers in der Oper (1935)
86. Platoon -- Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men -- Die zwölf Geschworenen (1957) --> yes
88. Bringing Up Baby -- Leoparden küsst man nicht (1938)--> yes
89. The Sixth Sense -- The Sixth Sense (1999) --> yes

90. Swing Time -- Swing Time (1936)

37 / 90

91. Sophie's Choice -- Sophies Entscheidung (1982)
92. Goodfellas -- Good Fellas – Drei Jahrzehnte in der Mafia (1990)
93. The French Connection -- French Connection – Brennpunkt Brooklyn (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction -- Pulp Fiction (1994)
95. The Last Picture Show -- Die letzte Vorstellung (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing -- Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner -- Blade Runner (1982) -- > yes
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy -- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story -- Toy Story (1995) --> yes

100. Ben-Hur -- Ben-Hur (1959) --> yes

40 / 100

I notice, if the movie is either a western, or a war movie, the chances are good
I won't have seen it. Or it has something to do with the mafia. Or if it's really,
really old (like black and white, no sound old). Or sometimes in the 40th or 50th.

There are a couple maybe's, where I'm fairly sure I've seen it, but this believe
might be based on the fact that certain scenes are shown someplace else.
Like the 'King Kong on the Empire State Building' scene. Or Charlie
Chaplin eating his shoes in 'Gold Rush'. (I'm fairly sure on those two that
I haven't seen the whole movie ...)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Place Holder

The only knitting I did this week was the second crosswords potholder and I'm not done with it yet, so no pictures.

Other than that, I've spent most of yesterday with the new Super Mario Galaxy 2 game on my wii. 'Luckily', the weather was bad, so I didn't feel too bad staying indoors all day. I've got 30 stars already and I'm looking forward to get some more tonight, when the rest of Germany is watching the football game ...

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Twinkle, twinkle

After seven years of service, I've decided to retire my old home computer and get a new one. The last week of my vacation and this weekend I worked hard on breaking it in (without breaking it). I even managed to get my old printer working (with a different driver, but who cares? It does print). There is still some software missing - not every thing that worked with my XP software is working with the new Windows 7 version.

But I'm getting there.

One thing that's driving me crazy is that I can't cut and paste pictures here in my blog as I was used to. I make do, but it used to be easier. No idea what the problem is, but the good old Ctrl+X followed by Ctrl+V doesn't work. I think the problem is the Ctrl+V as the pictures disappear all right after the first step. But they never show up again ...

Anyway, what was I saying?
Ah, right. I made some jewlery.
This bracelet is knitted after stringing about a million beads (okay, maybe not a million - the instruction says 1,650) onto a stretchy cord. The knitting part is rather quick, the beading part not so much ...
The yellow/red/gold one is more of a test balloon and it turned out a bit on the wide-ish side for my wrist.
The blue one contains some larger facetted beads as well as some large hearts.

Over pentacost I finished one pair of socks - pattern is Sam from the book 'Sock Innovation' by Cookie A. The cables were slowing down my knitting speed to a crawl, but, luckily, the foot part is all stocking stitch and went much faster.

The second pair I finished just today are Lacy Scallops Socks. I'm not particularly fond of the picot edge, but don't hate it so much I'll be ripping it up. The rest of the socks I love. I even managed an almost perfect matching pair.