minavox

Over the summer holidays I read The Fellowship of the Rings to the kids. I wasn't sure about the whole project: we read The Hobbit, sure, but LotR? For a 7year-old? But they demanded it, and so it started as a dare: See, kids, there is not a more boring story in the world then the beginning of FotR!

Only they just sat through everything concerning Hobbits and their incredibly boring migration patters, terms of relations and pipe weed (and because they are small and innocent, I couldn't even spice it up with jokes about the true nature of said weed).

And then... the story just took and I read the whole book. 535 pages. Aloud. Well, it's good practice for the speaking voice. And it did rain a lot this summer.

Some things:
* The eerie feeling of the Black Riders sniffing out the Hobbits - got me when I read it first (when I was 16 or something like that), got the kids now. There is just so much world here, they dove in readily.
* Tom Bombadil: surprisingly entertaining. The kids loved him. I had nearly forgotten him and his very special powers, the movies are good in erasing everything but the shortcuts established by the script.
* The kids haven't seen the movies yet, so they must be amongst the last people going into it unspoiled - or so I thought. But alas: they've studied the Lego catalogues, religiously, and so of course they were expecting ringwraiths. And a cave troll.
* Funnily enough they loved the heavy chunks of back story dished up at the Council of Elrond. "I love it when things are explained!"
* The thing they did not love: all the bloody songs. Celebrating some high-brow ideal of beauty that, alas, is gone and never to come back. Precious demanded skipping them after 100 pages, Crumpet did last till the last quarter... "Oh no, not another song!"
* Glorfindel - oh yes, wasn't there an Elf called that? To my great embarrassment the movie script had erased much of the memory of the book. Although: having at last one other talking woman besides Galadriel was a brilliant choice, I still think. I run out of discernable voices for reading all those elvish dudes...

* And did you know Tolkien wrote great humour? No, really, there was this one passage I had to read over and over and that had the kids in stitches, every time.
( I need no map, said Gimli )

And my lips tremble at trying to read this passage with a straight face. I dare you: read this aloud and try not to laugh over Azanulbizar at the latest. :)

Just when I start rereading Lotrips, Viggo Mortensen gets nominated for the Oscars. Chance???

(Otoh, I solemnly swear I have nothing whatsoever to do with Mel Gibson's latest slaughter fest getting that much nominations!)

...in my case: two days early - and then I was late for the press screening. Aaaaah. I think for the overarching sinister "how on earth do we poor little wizards and witches deal with the foes outside our little community (with office buildings Trump would be proud of)"-plot the first 7-8 minutes would have been helpful. *sigh* Someone up for a repeat viewing?

Anyway, I liked the movie. More than I expected, to be honest. I always found the Potter films cramped and overly sweet and conventional (first half of PoA being the exemption). Phantastic Beasts was different: obviously it helps if a movie of this genre doesn't try to cover a year, but settles for a couple of action-packed days.

Eddie Redmayne as Newt is cute, but started getting a bit on my nerves at the end. Failed auror Tina is wonderful but not that relatable - this job is done by their more mundane "mirrors", the little sister and the Muggle No-Maj. ( The rest should probably go under a cut because of SPOILERS )

What I've just finished reading
Since we're on holidays, a lot of the time was spent in a cabin high up in the Alps with extraordinately bad weather - so children's books it is...

Das kleine Gespenst (The little Ghost) by Otfried Preußler. I've read this book countless times, still like the plot with the ghost that gets from haunting the night to haunting the day because the clock it is tied to was overhauled. But how on earth could I have missed the subtext till now? The subtext celebrating being white over being cursed to be black (because the ghost turns black as soon as the first ray of sun hits it), to be more precise? Passages like this:

Das kleine Gespenst warf seinem Spiegelbild einen giftigen Blick zu.
"Schrecklich, mir vorzustellen, dass ich mein ganzes weiteres Leben als schwarzes Scheusal verbringen soll! – Ob es vielleicht ein Mittel dagegen gibt: ein Mittel, das einen wieder weiß macht…?"

The little looked at its image in the mirror with disgust.
"How horrible, should I have to spend the rest of my life as a black abomination. - If there is any cure for it: a cure that makes me white again?"

I mean, so far I already always had to comment on Preußler's depiction of family life (you know, the happy 50ies model with overcautious stay at home mum and cool dad) - I couldn't omit it while reading because it was worked too deeply into the story, so I had to resort to preaching and ranting... - but I honestly didn't realise this blatant affirmation of racial stereotypes until now. Speaking of bias you don't realise because you're sitting safely on the side of well-meaning priviledge.

The kids, being white kids (although with poc-friends), didn't realise the stereotyping, of course. I'm now asking myself if I should point it out to them the way I point it out when a washboard enabling Princess Li-Si to finally do her own washing is considered a brilliant engagement gift (for a 8y old!) in Jim Knopf... raaah, why are the so little children's books without stereotyping and still a gripping story?
(If there are, please point me in the right direction!)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The kids loved this way more than CoS - no creepy snakes, no Voldemort himself (I'm honestly curious if we'll ever progress further then GoF). We finished the book and immediately started the re-read - because, hey, turns out that you can read everything about Sirius and the Grim and who is deciving whom in a totally new light if you know about the real traitor! :)

Fun fact: the parts they like the most (which I had to re-read numerous times) are the ones where Fred and George poke fun at Percy and his pompous ways.

The translation is still atrocious, from simply misconstructing sentences (Der Blick der Hexe wanderte von Krätzes angeknabbertem linkem Ohr zu seiner Vorderpfote, an der ein Zeh fehlte, und er tat sein Missfallen laut kund.) over clunky language up to the fact that it's only ever the female characters who get their names germanified (Hermione -> Hermine, Aunt Marge -> Tante Marga). Luckily this can be easier rectified while reading the kids than all the gender stereotypes and the serious lack of female characters doing anything meaningful in a positive way (besides Hermione, of course).

This re-read is as much fun as it is disentchanting, sigh.

I also read a book for grownups: Hannas schlafende Hunde (which was recently made into a movie) about a girl finding out she is Jewish aged 16.

What I'm reading now
On with the questionable children's books: now with Der kleine Mann und die kleine Miss (The little Man and the little Miss) by Erich Kästner - which, while also stemming from the 50ies, so far doesn't seem to spout as many vicious stereotypes as the Preußler ones. And is quite the cute story about 5 cm tall Max Pichelsteiner and his godfather, the magician Jokus von Pokus.

And in the grown-up department: After long silence by Helen Fremont, also on discovering Jewish identity.

What I'm reading next
Well, perhaps we'll start Goblet of Fire? Well, the father of the children certainly did and is now reading HP for the first time in his life... after murmuring Dumbledore! in an as mystic as possible voice at every fitting and not fitting moment for the last ten years or so. Fandom's coming home... :)

I thought I try this reading-thing? To get back in the swing of posting? We'll see how it goes...

What I've just finished reading
That book on fanfic by Anne Jamison that everybody else has read ages ago: fic - Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World. It has been lurking on my shelf for quite some time now, and I'm quite happy I finally read it: very entertaining, especially those bits on Harry Potter and all the gossip re: Twilight and 50 Shades of something. And the part on RPF was quite interesting. But man, this My Little Pony guy... "My brain runs over with great gib chocolate fountains of creativity and I can never turn it off, not ever."

What I'm reading now
Lots and lots and lots of stuff for work - this will drag on for the forseeable future. This week it's monks from the year 300 and environmental activism.
And Harry Potter: PoA - German translation - The Horror! - with the kids and OV for my personal pleasure (and so that I can bitch informed about the translation). And then Crumpet has re-started PS for his prescribed daily reading for school.

What I'm reading next
Harry Potter? And more stuff for work, next week: on Jewish biographies and Jewish holidays.

Um - hi?
Am still reading, occasionally commenting, just writing somehow doesn't happen. Story of my life.

So, to change this sorry state and because I'm curious myself, I've decided to start something: My year in socks. As in: Let's keep track of what I'm knitting - and that's mostly socks because a) they don't take long, b) they are the only knitware that comes out exactly as I want to, c) if I don't like the colours or something else, I can always give them away as a gift, and d) they make great gifts anyway (somehow nobody in my nearer and wider circle of friends - save one :)- seems to be able to knit socks, how is that even possible?).

So, pair no.1:



Mine! Superthick wool, keep the feet warm around the house. And just 13 stitches on each needle. :)

Kill Billy - Lebst du noch, oder war’s das schon?

Originaltitel: HERE IS HAROLD)




Ohne Worte.

Is there an equivalent for this saying amongst english speaking rowers? Anyway, it basically means: no matter that it's raining cats and dogs when you're on your way to training, you still go on, because then you can congregate on the raft, look up into the skies and decide that, if everybody brought a rain jacket, you can start with tentatively fetching the skulls, and anyway, isn't it called "watersports" (no jokes, please :) ) for a reason?

And then it stopped raining and we had a perfectly fun outing. Ha!

*off to listen to the Easy There-podfic while weeding out the desk*

Since this is a post mocking trends in German re-titeling of movies it makes next to no sense doing it in English, doesn't it? :)

Vor Ewigkeiten postete liz_mo über deutsche Übersetzungen von Filmtiteln (omg, das ist über ein Jahr her...) - ich hab seitdem ein paar von den Mails gesammelt, in denen eine unglückliche PR-Agentur kommunizieren muss, wie man bitte schön über einen Film in vielerlei Gestalt zu reden habe.

# Wir übersetzen - aber es ist uns furchtbar peinlich:

war: Queen of the desert ist jetzt: Königin der Wüste

Kein Problem, einfach eine Übersetzung? Von wegen:
"KÖNIGIN DER WÜSTE
(ehemals: QUEEN OF THE DESERT)
Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,
bitte beachten Sie, dass sich der Titel von Werner Herzogs Orient-Epos
QUEEN OF THE DESERT in KÖNIGIN DER WÜSTE geändert hat.
Wir bitten Sie, diese Titeländerung bei Ihrer geplanten Berichterstattung zu berücksichtigen."

Denn eigentlich sprechen wir natürlich inzwischen alle gut genug Englisch, haha, wir brauchen keine übersetzten Titel - aber da komischerweise die angepeilte Altersgruppe den Film lieber synchronisiert guckt, gehen wir kein Risiko ein. ABER WIR SIND TROTZDEM COOL, WEIL WIR KÖNNTEN ES BESSER!


# Wir erfinden einen neuen englischen Originaltitel - oder so:

war: What if ist jetzt: The F-Word – Von wegen nur gute Freunde!
"Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,
wir freuen uns sehr, Ihnen den deutschen Titel der romantischen Komödie WHAT IF (OT) mitteilen zu dürfen: THE F-WORD – Von wegen gute Freunde!"

Für die eingeweihten Serienjunkies: es geht um moderne Großstadtliebe, siehe: The L-Word. Für alle andere: reingehen, wohlfühlen, alles wird puschlig, wie in diesem netten französischen Behindertenfilm.

ähnliches Prinzip, nur ohne Erklärmail:
war: Hot Pursuit ist jetzt Miss Bodyguard

Also, das ist so ähnlich wie damals der mit Kevin Costner und I-will-always-love-you-Whitney Houston – nur halt mit Frauen. Also genauer mit der knapp 40jährigen dreifachen Mutter Miss Reese Witherspoon.


# Dummerweise kein englischer Originaltitel, deshalb "Übersetzung" ins Englische und Deutsche - sicher ist sicher:

war: Sous les jupes des filles ist jetzt: French Women – Was Frauen wirklich wollen

Oh la lá – diese Französinnen! "Voller Esprit und Witz, unberechenbar, leidenschaftlich und albern, schlau, eifersüchtig und neurotisch erleben wir mit FRENCH WOMEN – WAS FRAUEN WIRKLICH WOLLEN eine Tour d'Amour durch Paris wie sie unterhaltsamer nicht sein könnte!" (Kommafehler copyright der PR-Agentur)

Ich bin geneigt, dem deutschen Verleih trotzdem zu verzeihen: denn wörtlich heißt der Film "Unter den Röcken der Mädchen" – auch kein Hit.

Ähnliches Prinzip, nur ohne PR-Begleitschreiben:
war: Sadilishteto ist jetzt: Jugdment – Grenze der Hoffnung

Okay, mein Bulgarisch ist auch nicht so flüssig. Aber wenns um Schleuser geht, würde eigentlich ja auch „Grenze der Hoffnung“ reichen. Zumal „jugdment“ auch keine Übersetzung ist, da „Sadilishteto“ (laut Internet) der Opfer- oder Richtplatz ist.


( # Schwierigkeiten mit der Marke... )

...and a wizard who never does a spell when it really counts and a lot of guys with pointy ears - I've seen it. Am still reeling, to be honest. Had immense fun. Need to see it again to decide if it's a good movie. :) Not a review, just some bullet points (hopefully I don't need to warn for spoilers? Because honestly, everyone this side of fandom surely knows at least the gist of the story? Thanks, thought so.) - and *spoilers*:


* The Lake Town set is utterly beautiful. Climbing over the roofs of the houses, with the dragon roaring above - brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Of course, then the dragon is shot and the movie is just about 15 minutes old. I hope Tolkien in later years realised what a shitty story arch he built with that.

* "Thank you, you're saving us!" say the hungry people from Lake Town. And what do the Elves bring? Swiss chard. Of all the nourishing vegetables around they bring swiss chard. I hope they brought some recipes, too.

* I never understood the appeal of chainmail with a fetching v-neck just across the whole chest. I'm sure in hindsight some dwarves would agree.

* What, oh what is it with all the ridiculous riding animals for distinctive leaders? I mean: a giant moose? A pig? Racing goats with armour???

* So Thranduil sets up all the Legolas/Aragorn slash. It's canon now!

* Did I ever complain about bringing Legolas into the story from nowhere? And making Thranduil like the embodiment of his character in The Last Elf Standing? Hahaha. Bring it on, Peter, bring it on. It looks like fanfic, it is fanfic, storywise, and I love fanfic. Now I suggest taking on "Discover your true name - what the Elf and the Ranger did Up North" for your next movie project. Make haste, they're not getting any younger!