Art: In its Digital Collections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, the Metropolitan Museum in NYC makes available as PDFs numerous publications, including older catalogs. Great place to browse and download.
Music: Collection of sheet music and some recordings of classical pieces at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) in Wiki style.
Poetry: Six-word memoirs: Describe life in six words. Some inspiring, compact accumulations of words with meaning.
Movie: Herr Lehmann (2003, in German). Directed by Leander Haußmann (Sonneallee). w/ Christian Ulmen (Herr Lehmann), Detlev Buck (Karl), Katja Danowski (Katrin), Janek Rieke (Kristall-Rainer). A few days in the life of barkeeper 'Frank' in Berlin-Kreuzberg in the days just before the wall came down. Too many losers, but some funny, ironic moments. Overall rating 6 out of 10.
Movie (YT): Ulysses (1954). Directed by Mario Camerini. w/ Kirk Douglas (Ulysses), Silvana Mangano (Penelope, Circe), Anthony Quinn (Antinoo). Abridged story of Odysseus told after the ancient Greek poet Homer. Romantic action film. Overall rating 6 out of 10.
Music: Adeste Fidelis is a Christmas tune attributed to John Francis Wade (1711–1786), possibly based on a 13th century version by John of Reading. The English translation is "O Come, All Ye Faithful" by the English Catholic priest, Frederick Oakeley. German: "Nun freut euch, ihr Christen" or "Herbei, o ihr Gläub'gen". Contains the line: 'Kommt lasset uns anbeten...'.
Virtual Choir: Eric Whitacre's virtual choir projects on YouTube/Vimeo. 1.) Lux Aurumque 2.) Sleep 3.) Water Night. View how it all started (from EW Blog). Whitacre's presentation at TED2011 with explanations:
Movie: Office Space (1999). w/ Ron Livingston (Peter Gibbons), Jennifer Aniston (Joanna). Directed by Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-Head). Partly based on the animated short 'Office Space' from 1991. The life of an abused and frustrated office worker changes after he sees a hypnotherapist, as suddenly everything works out in his favor. Funny. Just like the real corporate world. Overall rating 8 out of 10.
Art: George Bellows (1882–1925) at the Metropolitan Museum, NYC, Nov 15, 2012 – Feb 18, 2013. Colorful, expressive. Covered different subjects (sports, tennis, portraits, landscapes, tenements, war). Most renowned are two boxing scenes, painted at the beginning and the end of his career. Bellows died prematurely of appendicitis at the age of 42.
Art: Discovering Columbus: Art project by Tatzu Nishi (b. 1960, Nagoya, Japan) on Columbus Circle, NYC, Sep 20 – Dec 2, 2012, funded by Public Art Fund. The 13-foot-tall statue of Columbus that rests 75 feet atop a granite column on the SW-corner of Central Park is little known, usually visible only as a silhouette against the sky or at a distance from surrounding buildings. Nishi therefore placed the statue in a fully furnished, modern living room built around it in its native location atop a scaffold. Surreal to be able to study the oversized statue in this environment. Also, great views of the City when looking outside the windows.
TV-Mini Series (YT): Der Seewolf (The Sea Wolf, 1971), Episodes 1 - 4 (in German). After the novel 'The Sea Wolf' and other stories by Jack London. w/ Edward Meeks, Raimund Harmstorf. Directed by Wolfgang Staudte, Alecu Croitoru, Sergiu Nicolaescu. Produced by Walter Ulbrich. Mostly filmed in Romania. After being shipwrecked in the bay of San Francisco in 1906, the writer Humphrey van Weyden (Meeks) is rescued by the sealer 'Ghost' bound for the South Seas and captained by Wolf Larsen (Harmstorf), who is also called 'Sea Wolf' for his cruel and immoral take on life. But Weyden is puzzled by the fact that Larsen is also well read. It dawns on him that, as juveniles, they had been friends, although Larsen does not seem to remember their time together. Weyden ultimately escapes from the 'Ghost' and survives under extreme circumstances. Years later, on his own ship, Weyden tracks down Larsen to take his revenge. Good story, though told lengthy at times with stretches of little activity. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
"Dad, when do you think you'd be ready to die?" And he said: "When I stop being curious." (Libby Wallfisch, Australian Baroque violinist).
Jazz: Nat Janoff, 55 Bar, NYC, 11/18/2012. Jazz guitar, with drums and electric bass. Liked his original tune 'Sunday Morning' from the latest album 'Come Together Move Apart'.
Mathematics: German mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918) invented set theory (Mengenlehre). He also realized that there are different types of infinity. Cantor suffered from manic-depressive illness and ended up in mental institution.
Movie (YT): Barbarella (1968) w/ Jane Fonda (Barbarella), John Phillip Law (Pygar), Anita Pallenberg (The Great Tyrant), Milo O'Shea (Concierge/Durand-Durand). Directed by Roger Vadim. Barbarella travels from Earth to the planet Lythion to find Duran Duran, who turns out to have become a mad, evil scientist. Poor story, poor special effects, even for it's time. Fonda is very pretty and shows some skin. Film encourages free love. Overall rating 4 out 10
"Death is the most important day in life" (Der Tod ist der wichtigste Tag im Leben, dradio-Hintergrund, about death and mourning in West Africa).
Lizi's Granola: Toasted muesli, originated in Oxfordshire B&B in the 1990s. Low glycemic load (GL). Mostly available in UK. Best flavors are Treacle, Pecan and Organic.
Astronomy: Rent time on automatic, robotic telescopes at Tenagra located in the south of Arizona, USA. They are offering use of a 0.81-m (32") f/7 Ritchey-Chretien and 0.41-m (16") f/3.75 astrograph automated system to academic institutions.
Movie (YT): Highlander (1986). w/ Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, Roxanne Hart. Directed by Russell Mulcahy. Music by Queen. Immortal Scottish swordsman must fight his last opponent in New York City. Cult movie, though little story. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
Audiobook (CD): Daniel Kehlmann: Die Vermessung der Welt (2005, engl.: Measuring the World). Read in German by Ulrich Matthes. 5 CDs, ca. 345 min. Narrates and compares the biographies of two contemporaries, the natural philosopher Alexander von Humboldt and the mathematician Carl Friedrich von Gauß. "This is the history of two scientists who could not be more different, but who both have the goal to understand the world". Not comprehensive biographies, but nicely narrated with some hidden treasures. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
Movie (YT): Contact (1997). w/ Jodie Foster (Eleanor Arroway), Matthew McConaughey (Palmer Joss), Tom Skerrittc (David Drumlin, former boss), William Fichtner (Kent, blind radioastronomer), James Woods (Michael Kitz, security advisor). Based on the novel by Carl Sagan. While working on a SETI program, Ellie receives a signal presumed to be sent by an a advanced extraterrestial species. It contains a blueprint for a device that may allow for interstellar travel. Great acting. Foster is superb. Conflicts of science and religion. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.
Movie: Skyfall (2012). w/ Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judy Dench, Naomie Harris. Directed by Sam Mendes. James Bond is trying to capture the bad guys while M is under attack. Best Bond movie so far, as there finally is a bit of a story. Some good special effects as expected. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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