Eddie Izzard is a Force Majeure
Eddie Izzard is unbelievable. 8 years of French and 2 years of German in school. And after witnessing people of many nations splashing about peacefully together in Santorini and believing that languages will unite us, he’s decided to do his show in various countries and languages. Standup comedy in foreign tongues, not just in French, […]
Swabian English
What’s with the politicians in Germany? Yesterday was the first day of Merkel’s new government, and it includes Guido Westerwelle, who can’t manage diplomacy even at a press conference, as foreign minister, and Wolfgang Schäuble, who forgot he had some of Schreiber’s slush money in his drawer and thinks torture is ok to extract information, […]
The real Tatort story
Opening the New York Times supplement to the Süddeutsche this week on page 4 there is a story by Michael Kimmelman on “German TV Viewers Love Their Detectives“. I was thinking: Great job, NYT, you really pick up on stories quickly. Of course I was thinking of the scandal that hit the presses this weekend: […]
Spring is here. Tauben and pigeons beware
OK, so it’s still cold out, but spring is here. Along with blackest humor. “Taubenvergiften im Park” was written by Georg Kreisler, “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” was penned by Tom Lehrer. So: Did Lehrer steal the song from Kreisler, or was it the other way around? Lehrer had more chutzpah, and thanked Kreissler for […]
Doitcha shpraka
I hate translating complicated inversions from German into English. German academics love them, probably because it proves that they can juggle an idea in the air for minutes on end. Ok, guys, yes, you are geniuses. Can we go home now? You see, then a poor translator gets it, and those academics need the translators […]
Rebecca Casati is the best
Hey, you English speaking learners of German – read the best German lifestyle journalist around, Rebecca Casati. Just the intro to her interview of Mickey Rourke in today’s Süddeutsche Zeitung is so nice: “Er stemmt sich aus der Couch, bis er seine beeindruckende Bärenstatur erreicht hat. Langsam fährt einem eine Art Hand entgegen. Die Finger […]
