Wie ich mir die Charaktere in “Reigen” vorstelle

Man macht sich ja immer ein Bild von Stücken, die man liest. Jetzt wo ich mir eine Opernversion von Schnitzlers “Reigen” anschaue (die aus Stuttgart), stelle ich fest, wie konkret das Bild der Charaktere in meinem Kopf bereits ist. Einige dieser Bilder sind sogar schon ziemlich alt und vorher ausgeführt (junger Herr, junge Frau, Dichter, Schauspielerin), bei anderen habe ich während der Ausführung etwas mehr nachgedacht (Dirne, Graf, Stubenmädchen).

Weil sie alle wienern und ich kein gutes Bild davon habe, wie sie in Wien um die Jahrhundertwende aussahen, stelle ich sie mir alle mitteleuropäisch aussehend in zeitgenössischen Klamotten vor. Ohne Ausnahme sind sie alle überspitzte Klischees und sehen auch so aus:

Die Dirne (Leocadia) – Die vermutlich sympathischste Frauenfigur (so alles in allem) hat hellgrüne Augen, ein paar Sommersprossen im Gesicht und strahlend rote, lockige Haare wie Patricia Petibon. Ihr Gesicht ist etwas kantig, dennoch ist sie eigentlich die attraktivste unter allen Frauen, was unter ihrem dickem Make-up gut versteckt wird. Sie hat von allen Frauen das lebhafteste Gemüt, obwohl sie wohl recht viel durchgemacht hat und dadurch kränklich ist und trotz ihrer Jugend Falten im Gesicht hat.

Der Soldat (Franz) – Klein und stämmig, mit ziemlich kantigem Gesicht und etwas blöden, grauen Augen. Als langweiligster männliche Charakter hat er noch nie ein Buch im Leben durchgelesen und sieht auch so aus. Der Soldat trägt natürlich kurze Haare und stets seine Uniform, weil er sich nur dadurch definieren kann.

Das Stubenmädchen (Marie) – Die Mizzi hat platinblondes Haar; wenn sie es sich färben würde, würde sie sich für ein sehr helles Pink entscheiden. Sie ist eigentlich dem süßen Mädel sehr ähnlich, nur dass sie strengere Gesichtszüge hat, fast schon zu dünn ist und nicht nur dumm aussieht, sondern das auch ist. Ihre Dienstuniform versteckt ihren eigentlich guten ästhetischen Sinn, so liest sie am liebsten Modemagazine. Hat sehr wenig Selbstbewusstsein, zieht aber genau deshalb Männer an.

Der junge Herr (Alfred) – Der junge Herr sieht eigentlich genauso aus wie die Mizzi, nur männlich, sehr drahtig und sehr großgewachsen. Blaue Augen, kindliches Milchgesicht, relativ wenige sehr blonde Haare, modischer, romantisch aussehender Haarschnitt. Mit seinen etwa 20 Jahren ist er der jüngste unter den Männern und trägt eine Brille mit dünnem Rand und recht kleinen Gläsern. Das Modell für Alfred ist eine Kombination aus Loris und einem ehemaligen Kommilitonen; seine guten Seiten hat er vom ersteren und seine schlechten vom letzteren (und den Haarschnitt hat er von keinem von beiden).

Die junge Frau (Emma) – Das Modell der jungen Frau bin ich natürlich selbst, aber mit Abwandlungen, also ist sie praktisch eine “idealisierte” Version meiner Person. Die junge Frau ist recht klein (kleiner als ich) und war mal sehr zierlich, bevor sie Mutter wurde; hat pechschwarze, sehr glatte Haare, die sie fast hüftlang trägt, entweder mit geradem oder gar keinem Pony. Sie trägt nahezu ausschließlich Röcke oder Kleider mit Wollunterwäsche darunter, weil ihr leicht kalt wird. Würde ganz dem Klischee entsprechend gern ein abenteuerliches Leben führen, hat sich aber sehr früh für die Ehe entschieden. Ansonsten langweilige Person.

Der Ehegatte (Karl/Gottfried) – Das Modell des Ehegatten ist ziemlich offensichtlich: Haselnussbraune Augen, dunkelbraune Haare, hübsches jugendliches Gesicht, wirkt durch seine Dicklichkeit und mittlere Größe aber älter als er ist. Trägt allerdings eine Hipster-Brille. Der Ehegatte kleidet sich auch sonst wie ein Hipster, wenn er Freizeit hat und sehr (fast schon zu) formell, wenn er im Büro ist. Arbeitet viel, trinkt daher Kaffee dabei und Whiskey danach, und sieht sich als Connoisseur.

Das süße Mädel – Wenn man die Handvoll junger Schauspielerinnen Hollywoods zusammen mischt und 4 Kleidergrößen dazuaddiert, kommt das süße Mädel dabei raus, so eine Kombination aus junger Meg Ryan und Zooey Deschanel zum Beispiel. Auf jeden Fall gewellt bis lockige Haare, eher hell, also dunkelblond, nicht viel mehr als schulterlang, sehr große Augen und mittelgroße Statur. Vom Gefühl her sehr rund, sowohl äußerlich als auch innerlich, und die Pfunde stehen ihr sehr gut. Hinter dem dumm aussehenden Gesicht steckt allerdings viel Witz und Geschick, auch wenn sie sich auf ein Daterape einlässt (oder es behauptet) und keine Ahnung von zeitgenössischer Kunst hat.

Der Dichter (Robert) – Naja, der Dichter sieht halt so aus wie Schnitzler selbst, aber ohne den Bart und den furchtbaren Haarschnitt. Um den Bauch herum ziemlich dick und alt (die Männer steigen vom jungen Herrn bis zum Grafen nahezu linear auf), ein bisschen grimmiger oder trauriger Blick, die dunkelbraunen Haare verwuschelt in die Augen reinfallend. Ist trotzdem (oder gerade deswegen) besser darin, Frauen in die Horizontale zu quatschen als zu schreiben.

Die Schauspielerin – Das Modell für die Schauspielerin ist nicht die Sandrock, sondern die Massary. Kurze, dunkle Haare, entweder mit hohem oder weitem Hut oder mit einer Tiara. Sehr extravaganter Kleidungsstil, der aussieht wie in Mix aus den 20ern und 90er Jahren. Ist sehr stolz auf ihre relative Größe und damit verbundenen langen Beine, am meisten aber auf ihr Geld und die damit verbundene persönliche Freiheit.

Der Graf – Der ist in erster Linie alt, aber durchaus groß und schlank und fährt gern Fahrrad. Haare völlig ergraut, Vollbart, irgendwoher irische Abstammung, ein Blick, der irgendwo zwischen freundlich und creepy hin und her pendelt. Trägt stets ein Jackett und eine farblich passende Hose, in der Regel in Brauntönen, mit entsprechend altmodisch-schicken Accessoires. Hat alles schon mal erlebt und strahlt eine entsprechende Ruhe aus, außer wenn er sich hoffnungslos betrinkt. Das Modell für den Grafen ist ein Professor, den ich früher hatte, der allerdings charakterlich wenig mit dem Grafen gemein hat.

Christmas shopping

The last few days have been exhausting, but shopping is actually part of the problem! This time, I bought quite a few expensive titles again (comics at half price are still expensive when it’s a hardcover book after all), but I am very pleased with what I got. I keep saying that shopping for books does to me what shopping for clothes does for other people.

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  • Joseph Roth, Hotel Savoy
  • O. Henry, Das Geschenk der Weisen
  • Ursel Scheffler, Rufus hilft den Weihnachtsmännern

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  • Leo Tolstoi, Krieg und Frieden
  • Kate Beaton, Obacht Lumpenpack!
  • Agi/Okimoto, The Drops of God 1
  • Umberto Eco, Die geheimnisvolle Flamme der Königin Loana

When I was reading Hark A Vagrant book, I actually laughed out loud, so I look forward to the rest.

I swear by that bookstore now

I realized that I buy books like other people buy clothing. People buy that stuff without wearing them much, and I buy books largely for the pleasure of having them and reading them… someday. Also, when I am really frustrated, carrying a boatload of cheap books back home pretty much has the same effect on me as carrying the same amount of new clothes did 10 years ago.
This time, I bought so much stuff again that I decided to change up the presentation a little bit.

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Except for “Amours blessantes” which I bought for Shii (pictured above) and “Frauen um Arthur Schnitzler” (not pictured because it’s in my purse), this is the breakdown of what I got:

  • William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
  • Alexander Puschkin, Der eherne Reiter
  • Fjodor Dostojewski, Aus einem Totenhause
  • Joseph Roth, Hiob
  • Frankreich (an anthology book on French literature)
  • Robert Walser, Der Räuber
  • Iwan Turgenjew, Vater und Söhne
  • London (a National Geographic guidebook for our upcoming trip)
  • Die Edda
  • Nikolai Gogol, Sämtliche Erzählungen
  • Karel Capek, Der Krieg mit den Molchen
  • Anton Tschechow, Das Duell
  • Boris Pasternak, Doktor Schiwago
  • Takehiko Inoue, Pepita

With that said, maybe I need to check out some other stores. I got this strange idea of wanting to read more Ibsen again, and couldn’t find anything like that today. Maybe sometimes when I am frustrated again.

A little over a year ago…

Do you remember this posting? I visited the same bookstore again and came home with the following items. (Sorry for the blurry pictures.) This time I spent about 30 on these, with “So geht das!” being the most expensive title (10 euros).

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  • Michael Bulgakow, Aufzeichnungen eines Toten
  • Italo Calvino, Der Baron auf den Bäumen
  • So geht das!

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  • Martin Walser, Liebeserklärungen
  • E.T.A. Hoffmann, Lebensansichten des Katers Murr
  • Frank Wedekind, Frühlings Erwachen/Der Marquis von Keith
  • Kenzaburo Oe, Reißt die Knospen ab (Nip the buds, shoot the kids)

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  • Karel Capek, Geschichten aus der einen und der anderen Tasche
  • José Saramago, Die Stadt der Blinden
  • Thomas Mann, Lotte in Weimar
  • Alexander Puschkin, Jewgeni Onegin

1001 postings

I am the kind of person who crumbles under pressure. For the longest time, I thought it was the other way around, because pressure actually helped me in many aspects in life (like working 10 times harder and being productive when faced with a deadline) and led to almost every success I have had in life. Even my stubbornness actually helped, because you have to be stubborn to ask for what you want again and again. Nowadays, I think the three values I cherish most in life could be summed up with gratitude, empathy and simplicity. I even think these are the things that make a blog great: Appreciation for the people who read it, the ability to understand how others perceive the world and adapt to it, and a simple organization and writing style.

I was under time pressure when I wrote my last posting over 2 months ago, the celebratory 1000th one. It was probably the preparation for our Singapore trip, but I don’t even remember. What I remember quite clearly is how I was generally satisfied with the way I wrote the posting, but not what I wrote. I managed to cram what I thought was every relevant memory of the Berlinale (which was not too personal to blog about), but I completely failed at even mentioning what I actually wanted to write about the most: A reflection on this blog, the journey (haha buzzword!) of this blog until today, and, most of all, to show my gratitude to everyone who has been accompanying me here. I perceive you guys who are reading this blog as eternal, even though experience shows that friendships dissipate and interests and hobbies don’t last forever (I don’t read manga anymore, can you believe it?) Perhaps I am simply taking things for granted, but I don’t think that must necessarily be true. The romantic belief that this blog and its readers will exist forever no matter how crappy my writing and how deep my writer’s block shouldn’t keep me up from feeling grateful to you, my readers, for being in my life. Instead, both of these feelings are grand and meaningful to me, the first makes me feel secure and the latter makes me feel lucky. I don’t really know how to express these in words (poetry is so not my thing), so I will try the simplicity route: Thank you for having me. Please make my dream come true and continue to be there.

With that said, my goal is to kill my backlog before the PIFF begins on May 28. There, I said it. Publishing goals are supposed to help with maintaining them, so now I shall go back to doing what I do really well: Keeping a deadline.

Top 30 as of 2014

Every 3 years, I re-evaluate my top 30 films list, where basically some old favorites fall out for new ones. So Shii, you may have a few new movies to watch! Hahaha.

So, in comparison to my old list, here are some comments on what has changed.

Films that got added:

His Girl Friday I only watched it once, on Netflix before they had subtitles for everything. I didn’t even get all the jokes, but oh boy I am such a fan. For me, Rosalind Russell is the best actress of her time, Cary Grant is my favorite actor of all times and “His Girl Friday” is the best screwball comedy ever made. (Yes, it’s better than anything Lubitsch has one.)

The Last Days of Disco Pip preferred “Damsels in Distress” over “The Last Days of Disco”, but somehow I think the latter just resonated with me more than Stillman’s somewhat silly Ivy League sorority girls dance tale. “Disco” has less lovable characters but the amazingly hot Kate Beckinsale and the amazingly capable Chloe Sevigny. I loved the interaction between the characters and I could relate to this feeling of belonging to some culture that has become less popular nowadays (oh I am so old), even if I dislike the disco culture itself.

The Darjeeling Limited I feel like it’s easy to pick my Top 30 by the Criterion films I recently purchased. If I was willing to spend 15-20 USD on a film, then it’s because I liked it so much that I want to own its Criterion release. I re-watched “The Darjeeling Limited” and it was so worth its money.

Scenes from a Marriage I have seen the short and the long version and I have the Criterion DVDs. This movie may be in my Top 30 list until I die – most likely I will also be married till I die. It’s my life.

Pitfall Pip and I are Teshigahara fans nowadays and sadly we have already seen almost everything he’s made. (Couldn’t he have ditched the flower business? Tsk.) Amongst his films, I actually liked his underrated humorous “Pitfall” the best – I was really into the subtle black humor and I thought the film’s cinematography is just as great as the sand in “Woman in the Dunes”.

The Guard A lot of films I love are comedies, and this one is the best McDonagh comedy in my book. Therefore I stammered like a stupid fangirl when I asked Brendan Gleeson for an autograph.

The Crowd Amongst all the films we saw at the Stummfilmfestival of the Babylon a few years ago, “The Crowd” stood out as a film I totally didn’t know about but then surprised me with its humor and its wisdom. When I made my top 30 list awhile ago, I was looking for films that said something about humanity. To me, “The Crowd” is humanity in a nutshell. (Hey, even Godard liked it!)

Branded to Kill This film is the exact opposite of “The Crowd”. There is almost nothing human in this film, it’s just plain craziness, the film looks super cheap and B-movie like, and the story is just a parody of everything. I bought the Criterion Blu-ray on a whim and loved it just as much the second time around. Perhaps this is the only crazy movie I have ever loved.

Ma nuit chez Maud When “Jules et Jim” fell out, not a single “Nouvelle Vague” film was left in my list, which is a little shocking. It’s been awhile since I have seen one (though “Ma nuit chez Maud” was somewhat recent), but I still feel confident that “La Haine” is better than all that “Nouvelle Vague” stuff, even though personally I am more a (poor culturally privileged student in) Paris rather than (poor non-French kid in the) banlieu kind of person. Nevertheless, “Ma nuit chez Maud” just blew my mind and I fell in love with its talky dialogue.

Boyhood Ever since I started watching films more seriously (around 2006 maybe), it rarely happens that a film makes it into this list because the decades of filmmaking before are challenging them. But “Boyhood” is special, and it’s even less boring than “Ai no Mukidashi”.

Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro Ah this is a random one and I know that. I think this is the most beautiful underrated film of all times, and it’s great in its simplicity. Sometimes the best stories are just that simple.

Films that fell out of the list

Donnie Darko Well, the movie kept its spot for a long time considering that I have only seen it twice or so, and then never re-evaluated this favorite of my youth. I remember how I was glued to the screen when I saw it, but I doubt it has much impact on me today.

No Man’s Land Another film I actually only saw once. Unlike “Donnie Darko”, I think I would still love “Do you speak French?” just as much as on the first day, it’s just that this love is not actually that grand.

Jules et Jim Oh this is a tough one. I thought “Jules et Jim” was my life, and for the longest time I was a little disappointed in Truffaut because all the other films failed to match the greatness of “Jules et Jim”. I’ve only seen the film once with 308 and 314 and was emotionally devastated for weeks after that, but how would I feel today? I have no idea.

Welcome to Dongmakgol The movie made me laugh and cry, and so much of it is absolutely wonderful. A tale of love and friendship just after my liking. But it’s also a silly film and the American clichés really hurt.

The Dreamers This film was even more difficult to kick out than “Jules et Jim”. I mean, I promised myself to watch “The Dreamers” once per year to reflect on myself and on film… only to discover that I have changed, and now am not changing much anymore. I don’t dream anymore.

Dr. Strangelove I saw it a second time and found myself not laughing at all. I mean, the movie is still just as great and I understand why it is (or was?) 6451’s favorite film of all times, but it isn’t for me anymore.

Die Ehe der Maria Braun The dude I watched the movie with thought it was really wacky, but actually he was just a boring person. I still like Fassbinder (despite what Loris says about him) and I really want to see more of his stuff, but ultimately the film did not have too much of a lasting effect.

Rudo y Cursi Haha I sure loved the film when I just saw it, but it’s actually not that great of a movie no matter how much I enjoyed it.

Seven Samurai I saw the film once, I loved it and I think I never want to see it again. It’s so long and ultimately so sad that I don’t think I can stand it again a second time. Kurosawa is still a master and this is his masterpiece, but his films are often a hard pill to swallow. (Oh God just thinking of “Dodes’kaden” makes me want to cry.)

Rear Window Oh that is also a tough one. I am not actually a huge Hitchcock fan (sorry, Gorp, but I don’t get “Vertigo”) but there are some gems like “Rear Window” and “The Trouble with Harry” that I just absolutely love, and the fact that Hitchcock is an amazing filmmaker makes me want to see more and more of his movies. They are just not “top 30” material for me anymore.

Before Sunrise Ah the movie that represents my youth even more than “Donnie Darko”, “Fight Club” or “The Dreamers”. I have kicked it out of my favorites list and added it again and now it’s simply kicked out because of “Boyhood”, which is ultimately vastly superior despite its crappy ending.

2014 ranking

Thus ends another year in which the last movie I see is the new Hobbit film. (Actually, for 2012 I think we watched “Tony Takitani” on the last day of the year so this only applies to 2013 and this year.) It’s almost the holidays, which will be very busy for us, so I can safely say that I won’t see another film this year, and I am so looking forward to doing so next year. This year, I am also having very emotional end-of-the-year feelings, and considering how bad I have become at keeping up with films (operas are very distracting from that, to be honest), I am even more grateful for the little bunch of you who have been following this blog for years. Thank you for being my readers and, for most of you, thank you for watching movies with me.

Onto the ranking of films from 2014 and 2013, as before, asterisks denote a film I have seen in theaters:

  1. Boyhood *
  2. Soshite Chichi ni naru (Like father, like son)
  3. Coming Home
  4. The Grand Budapest Hotel *
  5. The Midnight After *
  6. Ship bun *
  7. Calvary *
  8. Fack ju Göhte
  9. Only lovers left alive *
  10. Einstein and Einstein *
  11. Kraftidioten *
  12. Nobody’s Daughter Haewon *
  13. Her
  14. La Vénus à la fourrure
  15. Chiisai Ouchi *
  16. Bai Ri Yan Huo *
  17. The Two Faces of January
  18. Maleficent
  19. Snowpiercer *
  20. Arrete ou je continue *
  21. Velvet Terrorists *
  22. Guardians of the Galaxy *
  23. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies *
  24. Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 *
  25. The Wolf of Wall Street
  26. The One I Love
  27. Love is strange *
  28. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
  29. Mo jing *
  30. Tui na *
  31. The Wind Rises
  32. Praia do futuro *
  33. La belle et la bete *
  34. Bushi no Kondate
  35. We come as friends *
  36. 3x3D *
  37. Transcendence
  38. The Prince *

I didn’t actually watch that many movies this year (if I am not mistaken, it’s exactly 79), especially if you didn’t count the Berlinale films, but I sure saw a lot of recent films. It’s way more than I expected and it’s even more than my 2011 list, a year in which I watched a whole lot of movies and went to the movie theater a lot. I guess you just can’t beat the Berlinale, so we will see how next year will look like. One thing is for sure: I will be there for the Berlinale, but I will also most likely go to the opera a lot. All in all, it promises to be a good year.

Actually, this list is almost garbage except for the first few and the last items in the ranking. I normally make my rankings very quickly and am typically quite satisfied with them, but this time, I moved some movies up and down the list by up to 7-8 ranks. It’s really tough to compare some of these, but overall I would say 1-6 were mindblowingly amazing, 7-14 were fantastic, 15-24 were really good, 25-28 were nice, 29-31 had weaknesses and 32+ were pretty crappy. It was a great year in films for me – I thought “The Grand Budapest Hotel” would be my favorite film in the year but then it got topped by at least 3 movies. Wow.

If Berlin opera houses were people

The Staatsoper is a diva who changes her mind at any second and has some sort of split personality. Sometimes sweet and pretty, she is most often difficult to deal with. Her style ranges from lavish and impeccable to extremely artistic and strange. Nevertheless, the artistry is her trademark and she will never settle for anything below her level, a feat she achieves through her multitude of big name friends. She revels in her past successes and her beauty while having a hard time maintaining her figure.

The Deutsche Oper is a character out of Mad Men. Very midcentury modern, perfectly dressed but his distinct style will fall in and out of vogue. He is grand and splendid, he may not be as trendy as others but keeps well with the flow. Catering to a large audience of old admirers, affluent patrons, students, young children and many more, he knows how to show a different aspect of himself all the time while remaining likable, friendly and very accomodating. He is more down to earth than anyone and his well thought out words always make sense.

The Komische Oper is a young man with lots of charisma and looks much like a k-pop idol: Extremely flamboyant, kind of tall and wide and muscular but also with androgynous features at the same time. He is always surrounded by suitors of both sexes, which irks you and stirs your jealousy. At the same time, he is so charming and so darn good at his job. He manages to seduce you and make you laugh every time. He also loves to give you gifts (champagne and pralines). While he may not necessary lack seriousness, which he displays sometimes, he certainly lacks depths most of the time.

Life is a shopping mall

It’s really true. Most of them are the same, conservative values and money rule everything and only every once in awhile you see a rare gem, like a special person or store.

Today, we went on a little excursion with O to the new Mall of Berlin (where I ended up purchasing a t-shirt that says “mais oui” on it). Being extremely close to the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden, the latter was almost completely deserted. To be honest, I like shopping malls, they are as meaningful as a piece of architecture and culture as an aiport, and just as commercial really, but for some reason, airports are beloved while malls are dismissed. (Plus I suspect that any shopping mall produces less waste for the environment than any airport.) I don’t get it. Arguably a mall is actually more useful than an airport and if I had the choice, I would rather spend time in a mall any day of the year.

Berlin itself has quite an interesting display of shopping malls of different ages, where you feel the passage of history. I have fond feelings for quite a few of them: the Europa-Center, perhaps the most ugly of all of them (and quite deserted) has a water clock which is perhaps the first thing I remember coming to Berlin at age 4; the Gropiuspassagen, a sad attempt at making the outskirts of Berlin nicer, is the closest mall to our place and the biggest in the city; finally, the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden is where I spent my youth ditching class. All of these malls are old and ugly by today’s standards, and this is especially visible when they are compared to the Mall of Berlin. I actually hope that they will tear down the older malls and replace them with actual apartments for people to live in. Till then, I will enjoy them like I did our trip today.

Home

So October is finally here, and O and I are reunited. Yay! (Have I mentioned that O’s favorite letter is O? We call him O very rarely, it’s used mostly only when we write.) Partially due to lots of playing during the days and partially due to the jetlag, I get tired in the evening and don’t get anything done.

Luckily I managed to revamp this blog shortly before I left, so here you can admire what I perceive as a cleaner version of this blog with all the characteristics I like: A more readable font (it was a sans-serif before), a lighter color for the title and side bars and, most importantly, more space for the actual content. In order for that to work, the pages can now be found on the left sidebar, along with the most recent comments. I hope you like it!

Content-wise, I am almost done clearing my backlog (which actually means there are still 8 more films to go instead of about 20), updated the index page and finally responded to your comments in the meantime. I was very happy to see that this blog is still being read! :D