(This week’s) best things since sliced bread
Been busy busy busy this week, but still enjoyed:
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Veerle’s redesigned blog
Fucking brilliant. And should probably be illegal to have that much design talent. So carefully designed, yet looks spontaneous and unfussy.
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The film “Downfall”
On TV this week. Gripping, and the guy who played Hitler was amazing. Regardless of the central subject matter, should be shown to anyone who advocates armed conflict as a solution to anything.
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Serena Maneesh’s debut album
Noise. Breathy vocals mixed low. Mellow tunes almost submerged by chainsaw guitars. They’ve picked up the torch from My Bloody Valentine and taken it somewhere else - round to Cindytalk and Loops’ houses. It’s on almost continual repeat on my Zen mp3 player. And - staggeringly - they’re from Norway, the dullest place in the Universe.
Hitler was Bruno Ganz, the star of Wings of Desire, which is also set in Berlin and 3 hours long but has a much happier ending and a guest appearance by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
What did you make of the quote from the real Traudl Junge at the end of Downfall? I forget the exact words but something like “oh, I was such a foolish young woman. I had no idea there was a mass extermination of the Jews. Silly me.”
Portraying Albert “Let’s put all the Jews in slave labour camps” Speer as Mr Kind, Sympathetic Nazi was disturbing.
I watched it in bits and pieces while doing other things but I liked the bits I saw.
March 4th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
About Speer: a few years ago I read the Gitta Sereny’s “Albert Speer : His Battle with Truth”, and it impressed me very much the depiction of an unnattractive, authoriarian man rather than an evil man.
The Traudl Junge quote was interesting.Wasn’t that what millions of Germans said after the war?
March 4th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
As the founder member of Norwegian Nemesis I must inform you that we resent the slur on our great country. It is not the dullest place in the Universe. If we save up we can buy a beer once a month and boy then do we party. Anyway, the women in Trollhagen are better looking than the women in Birmingham
Signed
Nacnud
March 16th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
I saw Sophie Scholl, Die letzen Tage at the pictures today. Well worth looking out for if you liked Downfall, or films with a strong anti-war message really.
Someone’s transcribed the anti-Nazi and anti-war leaflets of the White Rose. The second one explictly mentions the murder of the Jews, regardless of what Traudl Junge said about being unaware.
March 19th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
Fascinating links, thanks Jim.
March 20th, 2006 at 9:09 am