“Something gets lost when you translate
It’s hard to keep straight
Perspective is everything”

(Aimee Mann, Invisible Ink, from the album Lost in Space)

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I am working on my meanwhile fourth training CD for “emerging filmmakers.” Though I have a strong background in optics and photochemical processes, I am sometimes at a loss when it comes to names for jobs on a set. From the days when I worked as “Kabelschleifer” and then as camera assistant at Telefilm Saar during my student years I remember a few things; but all this happened such a long time ago. To find a website with German job listings in film, TV and theater was just what I needed. MediaCity Berlin maintains this listing — from “Filmgeschäftsführer” to “Visagist” and “Komparsenbetreuer.”

I have a standing instruction at Travelocity to e-mail me when air fares to certain destinations drop. I got an e-mail telling me I can fly from Kansas City to Frankfurt (and back) for $233 — a Valentine’s Day special by Northwest Airlines. A waited a day, and American Airlines matched the fare. Granted, with tax and whatever else airlines charge these days it is not $233 anymore, but still dirt cheap. Barring huge snowfalls in Chicago, I will wing off on Ash Wednesday to recharge my German language batteries.

Achim Achilles sinniert im Spiegel über das Marathonlaufen (Zum Teufel mit der Nutellasehne!) und schreibt, im unteren Drittels seines Artikels: „Siggi kommt aus Saarbrücken (als ob das irgendwen interessiert) und kocht sich ekligen Brei aus Möhren und Kartoffeln…“ Von wegen. Eines der saarländischen Nationalgerichte ist das, Gellerieweschtampes, und es schmeckt so gut (besonders mit Gulasch), daß ich dafür glatt über den Atlantik fliegen würde.

Es ist mal wieder soweit — Physiotherapie für meine „eingefrorene“ Schulter, die rechte diesmal. Es ist nicht ganz so schlimm wie vor zwei Jahren, aber unangenehm genug, und ich mache die Maus dafür verantwortlich. Bei grafischen Anwendungen arbeite ich viel mit der Maus, und trotz allem Aufpassen lehne ich mich immer in den rechten Mausarm, so daß das Körpergewicht auf der rechten Schulter ruht. Für Textanwendungen verwende ich die Maus so wenig wie möglich, und Programme wie Word haben alle möglichen Befehle als Tastenkürzel einprogrammiert. Was fehlt, kann man sich dann selber noch als Macro aufzeichnen. Per Döhler von Tricaom hat das so zusammengefaßt:

Bei professionellen, ständig verwendeten Programmen hat die Maus im Normalbetrieb gefälligst an ihrer Strippe über der Tischkante zu hängen — Mäuse sind für selten verwendete Programme, grafische und zwei- oder dreidimensionale Anwendungen oder Anfänger und Computeranalphabeten. Wer maust, ist langsam. Programme, die mangels durchdachter Tastaturalternativen zum Mausen zwingen — notorisch: Programme mit Ursprung in der Mac-Welt —, sind ein grausames Gestümper.

Wobei noch zu ergänzen wäre, daß es sich in meinem Fall um eine figurative Strippe handelt, denn meine Maus ist nicht mehr angebunden.

Margaret Marks mentions in her Transblawg the Wikipedia article with the title Heavy metal umlaut. It deals with “Umlauts and other diacritics with a blackletter style typeface are a form of foreign branding intended to give a band’s logo a tough Germanic feel” — also called röckdöts. I was delighted to see in the list that follows the article a mention of Dürty Nelly’s Pub (“everyone’s favorite gritty, good-times watering hole”) on the corner of Jefferson Park and Fontaine in Charlottesville, Virginia, my old stomping ground. The article has a link to another Wikipedia entry, Foreign Branding, which mentions another famous case of branding by umlaut, the premium ice cream Häagen-Dazs. Interestingly, the New York based ice cream company with this totally made-up brand name once sued (long since defunct) imitator Frusen Glädjé (which is not such an entirely made-up name) to stop them from using a “Scandinavian marketing theme” (!) — albeit unsuccessfully.

Knuth Werkzeugmaschinen has a website with products such as grinders, lathes and saws in German, English and Russian. As so many German websites, this one uses framesets. (I have always found this puzzling — what is it in the German cultural background that makes them fond of frames, I wonder, since I a seem to be missing it?) I suggest you open the product frame in a separate window. By changing the language designation in the URL between prod_rus, prod_eng, and prod_deu you can call up the same products with names and descriptions in those three languages.

Scrapers, trowels, rules and squares — Walkron-Werkzeuge in Wuppertal, Germany, has an on-line catalog with pictures of tools and their names in German, French and English. Could be useful.

“Germany has an 18-year-old MP — Julia Bonk, a member of the Saxony legislature. Her name is not funny in German.” (# 24 in the BBC News list 100 things we didn’t know this time last year.)

I watched Buffalo Soldiers last night. According to various magazine articles, the release of this 2001 Gregor Jordan movie had been postponed until 2003 due to the events of 9/11. Naturally I was curious to see what in the movie would have caused this postponement. After watching the film I can honestly say that I have no idea.

For me, this was the highlight: Various American soldiers are hanging around inside an old warehouse-like building on a base near Stuttgart. On TV those famous 1989 scenes of people scaling the Berlin wall are playing (sans David Hasselhoff). Among the soldiers, the following dialog ensues…

- Where is the Berlin wall anyway?
- In Berlin, you dumbfuck.
- Yeah, I know it’s in Berlin. What country is it in?
- In Germany, man, in Germany.
- West Germany.
- West Germany?
- Which one are we in, man? Are we in West Germany or in East Germany?
- We are in East.
- No we’re in West Germany, you idiot.
- Well, what’s the difference?
- Fuck if I know, man.

There is not much left to say.