Advent, Advent (1) Beer and Boots

Friday I sent out the first two packages. The first one goes to Dawn as she was the first to comment on the Advent post. I sent her the Steins she wished for. I chose these handmade Steins for her, as the artist has the same last name as me.

I got bribed into sending the second gift to Berlin. Usually I´m not a sucker for bribery or flummery, but somehow Hans really tried his best and I couldn´t resist being called "mistress" and "goddess".
So for all his efforts ;) the second gift goes north.

Anyone wanting a gift, just comment here or at the Advent post and maybe you´ll be the lucky one next week. And please don´t forget to send your address to my email address (see my profile).

Addresses Needed for the Advent Game

Everybody participating in the Advent game, please do send me your addresses. I would like to send out the packages without always asking for the address. This way it will be more of a surprise for the recipients.

TOMORROW THE FIRST TWO GIFTS WILL BE REVEALED!

You can find my email address on my profile page.

Drawing While Waiting...

... for David to wake up in the anaesthetic recovery room.

Cool: Break Dance Stop Motion

Break Dance Stop Motion from ben wheatley on Vimeo.

Advent, Advent

Last year I gave out Halloween gifts and this year I´ll have something like an Advent calendar. Every Sunday till Christmas I will give a gift to a German blog reader and one to a reader outside of Germany.
So if you have any wishes*, just let me know in the comments section or anonymously in an email. You may be one of the lucky winners. Every Sunday (starting with Nov. 30) I´ll reveal the winners/wishes of the past week. The two wishes I enjoy the most will be revealed on Christmas.

• Nov. 30
• Dec. 07
• Dec. 14
• Dec. 21
• Dec. 24

* I´m going to try and fulfill every chosen wish in the next few weeks and months (depending how complex they are). Please don´t ask for money or physical fulfillment though. ;) And don´t even dare to ask me to sing.
As long as there aren´t too many wishes it will be: First come, first serve! If there will be too many requests, I´ll start drawing the winners from the emails and the comments I get. I´ll accept new readers too, but blog readers or friends will be prefered.

Update: You can submit more than one wish. This will increase your chances! And please send me your address. You´ll find my email address in my profile.

Guess Who?

Guess which artist is hiding behind the cow´s head mask. I knew it right away.

One of his works:

Some more nice pics of him from the LIFE collection.

It is Snowing Here!

Even more than the rain I love the snow. Falling snow cheers me up. This animation by Vladimir Gvozdev has the same effect. :) I can almost feel the cool and brisk air.

copyright by Leto A.

Guess How Old I Am

Right before we left for the first movie of the film marathon, my sister surprised me with this:

And here with the unwrapped gifts:

Thanks sis. This made my day.

King of the Hill

Der Turmsegler

Gangsters from Chicago - Gift from Rio

Last week I received a gift from Markus A. Hediger from Rio for drawing the cover illustration of his newest book "Das Tam-Tam Grand Hotel".

Today I finally opened it. I knew I wouldn´t be able to write about it and say thanks for it, so I waited until I had some spare time. I received "Gangster - Die Bosse von Chicago" by Robert Nippoldt, with outstanding drawings made by the talented court sketch artist. (While browsing his website I already saw the next book I need: Jazz im New York der Wilden Zwanziger It is a wonderful huge book which has been on my wish list for some years now. I love the size, the style, the illustrations, the colors, the story, everything about it. Here are some pics to give you an idea about the book.

The cover:

The Godfather:

The Gentleman:

The Diplomat:

Chicago Street:

Lieber Markus, vielen, vielen Dank für das wunderbare Buch. Ich freue mich riesig darüber. Es trifft ganz meine Erwartungen.

Asia Filmfest Nov 10-12 (Chocolate, Three Kingdoms)

Phew... I´m done with the Asia Filmfest. :)

November 11:

Chocolate

November 12:

Three Kingdoms
© all movie images by Asia Filmfest

Click on the pictures for more information about the movies or on the website of the Asia Filmfest.

Asia Filmfest Nov 10-12 (Sukiyaki Western: Django)

November 10-12 some of the movies which had been shown at the Asia Filmfest screened for a second time. That gave me the chance to catch up with some of the movies I had missed.
Sukiyaki Western: Django is the movie which I had been anticipating for weeks before the festival started. It is a Japanese cowboy movie written by Takashi Miike and features an appearance by Quentin Tarantino.

Sukiyaki Western: Django

"Sukiyaki Western: Django is an ultra violent gunslinger opera set in a nowhere land that's partly 11th century rural Japan and partly 19th century Nevada, with a cast of Japanese actors speaking English (with varying degrees of success) alongside a supporting performance by Quentin Tarantino. (...) Miike doesn't simply want to dazzle us with his artful shot-making, lovingly orchestrated action scenes and gory death moments. OK, he does want to do that, but he also wants to sweep us up in the grandiose, mythical clutter-tide and deliver a genuine emotional catharsis. I'm not sure he quite gets there, but it's one hell of a spectacular ride." (Salon.com)

© all movie images by Asia Filmfest

Click on the pictures for more information about the movies or on the website of the Asia Filmfest.

Official End of the Asia Filmfest

The last day of the Asia Filmfest fell on my Birthday. Great! I asked my husband to take care of the kids and I could spend the whole day at the festival. Well, I spent the half day there and watched 4 movies in a row. I was surprised that it wasn´t too much.
The Red Spot was sold out and the director, the actors and crew were present. It was cool to watch the movie, as most of it was shot near the place I used to live and where my mom still lives. And I always enjoy listening to the director and actors talk about the movie after watching it.

Drifting Flowers

The Red Spot

Paco and the magical book

Tokyo Gore Police

© all movie images by Asia Filmfest

Click on the pictures for more information about the movies or on the website of the Asia Filmfest.

Catching Up With The Molys

I finally got a second moly started for the moly_x_19 group. Unfortunately the first one got lost.
I´m a huge fan of comics and have been inspired by Occam´s Razor, who is part of another moly_x group I´m in. Seeing her great art pushed me to try out one of my favorite artforms (comics) as well.

I need a break! (Asia Filmfest Nov 6 & 8)

Thursday evening, right before leaving for the Asia filmfest, I cut myself again. This time another finger. But I didn´t want to miss a movie and really didn´t want to spend the night at the emergency station of a hospital. So I bandaged it myself and went off to enjoy the movies. Friday morning I had an appointment anyway because of the first cut. But the next day my daughter had a pinkeye and my son lost a piece of his tooth.
So I spent the day at 4 different doctors and just came home 10 minutes before Shabbat started. I wouldn´t have made it, if I hadn´t called a taxi for the way back.
Saturday, my son got the pinkeye and my daughter is sick. Tomorrow I´ll be spending the whole day at the cinema and I guess that will be my break. :)

Nov. 6:

The Warlords

Nov. 8:

Crows Zero

The Guard Post

© all movie images by Asia Filmfest

Click on the pictures for more information about the movies or on the website of the Asia Filmfest.

Join the Flickr Group: Letters of My Name

I had so many positive comments and emails after I posted this image. So I thought I would start a new flickr group "Letters of My Name" to collect the different names in one place.

Want to join in on the fun? There are no artistic skills needed. You can simply write the letters on a piece of paper. And then post it on flickr.

Fun Family Film (Nov 5)

I hadn´t expected to laugh tears at a family movie, but it was a nice change to all the bloody and crazy movies I have seen the past week. Well, at least for two hours! After that they showed the classic In the Realm of the Senses.

CJ7

In the Realm of the Senses

© all movie images by Asia Filmfest

Click on the pictures for more information about the movies or on the website of the Asia Filmfest.

Ruth Klüger

A week ago a friend of mine invited me to a reading. Ruth Kluger was reading from her new book unterwegs verloren at the Literaturhaus München. We both enjoyed it a lot. She is an interesting person.
Later I wondered whether I would write about my living family members and friends in such an uncompromising way as she did. I guess not. She didn´t hide the fact that she didn´t like certain family members and it is also written in her books.

It is unbelievable what has happened to her in her life. Yes, she did survive Auschwitz and Theresienstadt, but she read from the second book about her later life in America. About her life in the States as a young girl, her marriage and her divorce. I don´t think she had a pleasant life.

Change Can Happen (Asia Filmfest Nov 4)

Today morning I was happy to read that Obama won the election. Congratulations! I was pretty sure he would, but then you can never be sure. I wish him the best.
Yesterday I watched only one movie as I have been very tired. After all I want to watch 4 or 5 movies on Sunday and I won´t be able to do that when I´m as tired as I am now. On my way home I passed the place where they had the election night party and was tempted to go inside, but the urge to go to bed was stronger.

The Moss

© all movie images by Asia Filmfest

Click on the pictures for more information about the movies or on the website of the Asia Filmfest.