Lisa Prosch online

I finally succumbed to the hype and bought a copy of “The Hunger Games“.

Having been fascinated by dystopian novels for quite some time now, I couldn’t pass up the chance on reading this one.

First published in 2008 it quickly rose to fame in the States, creating a hype similar to the Twilight series- pre movies.

The story focusses on Panem, a state where Northern America used to be. It is divided into 12 districts, each bringing forth a certain product, to offer to the almighty Capitol.

After natural catastrophes have brought tumult to the States, the nation re-organized itself. The Capitol and thirtheen states rose, but people started to rebell against the wealthy Capitol, who in turn fought each district down and distroyed the thirteenth.

The map of Panem, according to a fan.

Each year after that, the Capitol holds a kind of morbid lottery where a boy and girl from each district gets picked to take part in the “Hunger Games”, a sick competition strongly reminiscend of “Battle Royale“.

It is meant to keep the districts in place and demonstrate the Capitol’s power.

Although I’m tempted to tell you more about the story, I’d rather leave you with the same chance I had: Reading the book on the weekend of its cinematic release in the states.

I tremendously enjoyed reading the book, not having seen the actors who portray the characters in the movie, being able to imagine them first.

I even managed not to know anything about the story itself prior to reading it, except that it was dystopian fiction, centering around a teenage girl.

If you’d like to read it as well, I hope you’re as lucky, with talk about the books and the movie gaining momentum, even in Germany…

Tags: Dystopia, dystopian fiction, the Hunger Games, YA, Young Adult

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Some exciting news hit me today: there will be even more fairytale movies in 2013!

The movie I’m talking about is “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters“. That in itself does not call for pleasant anticipation, though Peter Stormare and Famke Janssen will be in it.

What thrills me is that Tommy Wirkola is directing:

The man who brought us one of the most inventive zombie movies of the last years, “Dead Snow“.

Him taking on the tale of the siblings who took on the big bad witch can’t be bad!

Tags: Dead Snow, fairytales, Hansel and Gretel, Zombies

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Over ten years ago my friend lend me one of her father’s books.

It was a tattered, often-borrowed German copy of “Owen Meany”, published by Diogenes.

John Irving took me by surprise, to say the least.

I had just met the master of first lines.

Take a look at the beginning of “A Prayer for Owen Meany”:

“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice. Not because of his voice,

or because he was the smallest person I ever knew,

or even because he was

the instrument of my mother’s death,

but because he is the reason I believe in God.

I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.”

This is how you hook your audience.

Fortunately, Irving’s grip didn’t loosen over time.

I got caught up in the story as if it were a vortex, with some apprehension – could it be as great as the first line promised?- but without the possibility to stop.

Soon I discovered the second thing Irving’s mastered:

the entanglement of what seems like a hundred characters and storylines, all wrapped up in a tightly woven ball of yarn.

And the surprising discovery that all makes sense in the end.

If “A Prayer for Owen Meany” hasn’t made me a religious person, it certainly has helped to enforce my belief that most things happen for a good reason.

Still, I’m no believer like Owen:

“It made [Owen] furious when I suggested that anything was an “accident”—especially anything that had happened to him; on the subject of predestination, Owen Meany would accuse Calvin of bad faith…”

Next in line was “The Cider House Rules”. I got the German version “Gottes Werk und Teufels Beitrag” from the same friend’s father, though I’ve bought my own copy not too long afterwards.

I quickly fell in love with Dr. Larch:

“Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England”

who would later be portrayed by the amazing Michael Caine in the 1999 adaptation that would win Irving the Oscar for its screenplay.

Following those two novels I began a barrage on my local bookstore and library, my shelves filled with all the beautiful Diogenes copies of Irving’s books.

As my English improved I rekindled my love for Irving’s prose with the originals.

“A Prayer for Owen Meany” is still dear to me, but my favourite is, and always be, “The World According to Garp”.

Weirdly, it never was published as a paperback by Diogenes, which led to a hiccup in my otherwise white wall of Irvings.

It is hard to explain what “Garp” does to me.

Among Irving’s novels it’s the one I’ve read the most often. I lost count along the way, but I can vouch for at least six sessions.

Every time I read it, I discover something new about the book and about myself.

Though I find saying “this is my favourite book” somewhat silly, it comes dangerously close to that title. Were I to run out of my burning flat, and had I still room in my arms next to my cats, I’d probably snatch my copy of Garp.

As I began to re-read Irving’s novels I discovered “Black Swan”, who published pretty paperback versions like this one:

and helped me get over my white Diogenes paperbacks, which weren’t available in English.

Anyone who has never picked up one of John Irving’s books should take his 70th birthday as an opportunity to give him a gift.

Buying an Irving novel would be a nice idea.

If you’re stumped as to where to start, this is my top five list:

1. The World According to Garp
2. A Widow for One Year
3. A Prayer for Owen Meany
4. The Cider House Rules
5. The Hotel New Hampshire

And if you’re still hesitant, here are the first lines of my top five, as an incentive:

1. “Garp’s mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theatre.”
2. “One night when she was four and sleeping in the bottom bunk of her bunk bed, Ruth Cole woke to the sound of lovemaking- it was coming from her parent’s bedroom.”
3. “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice.”
4. “In the hospital of the orphanage -the boys’ division at St. Cloud’s, Maine- two nurses were in charge of naming the new babies and checking that their little penises were healing from the obligatory circumcision.
5. “The summer my father bought the bear, none of us was born- we weren’t even conceived: Not Frank, the oldest; not Franny, the loudest; not me, the next; and not the youngest of us, Lily and Egg.”

Tags: books, Garp, John Irving, reading

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Anyone can make resolutions on New Year’s Eve.
I’m making mine in the beginning of March, when the dread of winter starts to fade and the possibilities of spring are around the corner.

I’m not saying “I will make no more excuses”,
because that’d be unrealistic.

What I’m saying is:

“I will make less excuses”

And I’ll start by nixing some of these from my vocabulary:

Tags: just do it, resolutions

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

These pictures are killing me.

How I long to go to San Francisco again!

This city’s got me on its hippy hook.

It is like a spell that seems to renew itself every few years:

I see something, a picture or a video,

and it is like a kick in the stomach:

A sudden pull that urges me to grab my passport

and run to the airport.

This video makes it especially difficult to resist that urge:

Can we go now?

Tags: bouncing balls, San Francisco, travel, travelling

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

If I had a Delorean, and you know which one I mean,

I’d go straight back to 1994. Driving down Kölnerstr., I’d park behind the post to visit the old library.

I dream of pushing back the heavy old doors, turning left to the giant staircase.

I’d love to see those steps again, polished shiny by generations of feet.

If I’d climb those stairs they would take me to the first floor, the smell of old books and coldened coffee greeting me.

I’d turn right to check out the tapes first, looking for ones I haven’t checked out yet, or for old favourites.

But my true goal would lie to the far left, past all the other shelves, where the fantasy, fairytale and horror stories are kept, away from books about girls and ponies.

I’d love to read those stories for the first time, again.

My first ghost stories, the first vampire anthology I laid my hands on, the tales sending shivers down my spine, making me want to stop reading, but at the same time making stopping impossible.

If I had a Delorean I’d go back to that time, and once more fill my basket with more books than I could carry…

Tags: books, library, time-travel

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

While driving through this morning’s -13° cold, I listened to WDR 5‘s Zeitzeichen.

Today they featured a story about Charles Dickens that made this morning’s drive that much more enjoyable.

When I arrived back at the desk I saw this lovely design on google:

Only then did I realise that today is the 200th birthday of Oliver Twist‘s and David Copperfield‘s father!

Happy birthday Chuck,

and a healthy “Bah! Humbug!” to you!

Tags: birthday, Charles Dickens, WDR 5, ZeitZeichen

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Last week many of my students arrived at our centre with bubble tea cups in hand, most of them gushing over how awesome they are.

So if, like me then, you’re not in the know about this trend, this is what wikipedia has to say:

“Bubble tea is the name for pearl milk tea and other similar tea and juice beverages that originated in tea shops in Taichung, Taiwan during the 1980s.

Drink recipes may vary, but most bubble teas contain a tea base mixed with fruit (or fruit syrup) and/or milk. Ice-blended versions of the drinks, similar to slushies, are also available, usually in fruit flavors.

One of the famous categories of bubble teas is “pearl milk tea” (also known as “boba milk tea” in parts of America), which contains small chewy balls made of tapioca starch, called “pearls” in Chinese (also known as “fenyuan 粉圆” or “zhenzhu 珍珠”). Pearls made of tapioca are also available in many places.”

In their opening week, Solingen’s shop selling the “tea”, located in the town centre on Kölnerstraße, had its customer’s lining up on the street for a beverage.

What for, I asked myself.

I had to see what all the buzz was about, so tonight I went there and checked it out.

After lots of contemplating, I ordered a small yoghurt grape “tea” with passionfruit bubbles.

The buying of the drink itself was an adventure.

Hubby and I stared at the three (!) ladies it took to mix the drink. One was pouring milk into a cup, the next one was measuring some grape sirup into a small cup whilst the third was engaged with a weird metal machine. After a few minutes and some more mysterious goings-on a label was coated to the top of my cup, which was then handed to me. Quite unceremoniously, as I might add, concerning all the brouhaha it took to make the drink.

Oh dear. The “tea” itself tasted nothing like grapes and a lot like Red Bull, making me question the amount of chemicals I had just swallowed.

I had to build up the balls to chew the bubbles, and making them pop was a rather unpleasant experience, with their somewhat milky and slick content spilling into my mouth. Blech.

After a few sips I decided that it wasn’t for me. How to dispose of the rest of the drink, I’m not sure yet. Does it classify as toxic waste?

The only pro I see in bubble tea are the rather cute pictures on the cups’ labels, like these two:

(source)

(source)

This is definitely the first and last time I’ve bought a bubble tea.

I don’t think so!

Tags: bubble tea, kawai, trend

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

This morning I stumbled upon an interesting article on “Wired“: “Great Geek Debates: Disney Princesses vs. Hayao Miyazaki“.

Author Erik Wecks ponders the disadvantages of his daughters’ growing up while looking up to Disney princesses as role models.

He concludes that the majority of those girls embody a negative self-image for young girls as most of them have a troubled relationship with their parents and rely on their prince to save them.

Though Wecks agrees that this is more a cultural than a Disney problem, he fails to see that all of these movies derive from old fairytales.

This is a genre where not only the princess is more of a figure than a character, the prince, the king, the evil stepmother all are. In most cases they don’t even have a name, only a title.  “Snow-White” or “Cinderella” are the exeptions, and those are only descriptive names.

To conclude, as Wecks does as well, Disney is not to blame. It even started to create active heroines, as soon as the early nineties.

Remember this girl?

It is true, she had some fights with her over-protective father.

But she had a goal, too: She yearned to live at the surface. Meeting, and rescuing!, the prince was only the incentive she needed to go for her dream.

Erik Wecks does not only thrash the Disney princesses. He offers a healthy alternative in the form of the studio Ghibli films.

Wecks describes their assets very well in his article, so I won’t repeat them here.

Let’s only say that I completely side with him when it comes to the values Miyazaki’s films convey.

So what is my verdict here?

I’m certainly not one to condemn the Disney princesses movies. I grew up watching and loving every single one (up until “Pocahontas“, which I didn’t really get at that time and never bothered to watch).

But it hasn’t left me feeling like I need to be spectacularly beautiful just to snatch a husband.

On the contrary, my favourite princess, besides Arielle, has always been Belle.

Sure, she is beautiful. But she’s a booknerd, too, and rescues her prince in the end.

No matter what some jealous people say about stockholm syndrome .

If I’m lucky enough to have the chance of raising a daughter one day, I’ll certainly let her watch Disney, just like my parents let me.

But, just like my parents did, I’ll be careful to provide her with some counterparts.

My parents took to Ronja, Pippi and the rest of the Swedish girl-force.

I for one will make sure my daughter will benefit from Chihiro, Ponyo, Kikki and the rest, as well.

Tags: Disney, Erik Wecks, princesses, Studio Ghibli, values

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Dwarves, princesses and witches seem to be everywhere these days. No matter where you turn, there’s bound to be some character right out of the brothers Grimm’s book.

Have you noticed yet? Just around Halloween, American TV has started two new series with a strong link to fairytales.

One of them is NBC’s Grimm, starring David Giuntoli and Silas Weir Mitchell. I really came to appreciate Silas through his performances on 24 and Prison Break.

——— Spoilers ahead ———–

The story itself is simple: a young detective begins seeing strange transformations in stranger’s faces, just as his aunt is visiting him, dying of cancer. His first case after his aunt’s appearance quickly leads him to finding out that the old stories might be true, when a young girl goes missing. She was last seen wearing a bright red hooded sweater…

Sounds like you’ve heard that one before? Sure you have:

Detective Nick Burckhardt’s investigations lead him to a wolf, albeit not the big bad one, who blames him and his family of having stigmatised his whole race. See, Mr. Burckhardt is a decendant of noneother than the Brothers Grimm themselves! His family has taken up the business of hunting down all those fairytale beings you wouldn’t want to meet in your dark laundryroom.

Concerning the serie’s future it isn’t hard to guess what the next episodes will be about. The detective will have to keep on hiding his abilities from his partner and fiancé. And he’ll have to be careful not to go on breaking as much police protocol, so he won’t be exposed.

The filming itself seems to be well done, the question is if the audience will want to go on seeing stories they’ve already known since kindergarten.

Another new series is abc’s “Once Upon a Time“, starring “Big Love‘s” Ginnifer Goodwin.

According to the IMDb it “centers on a woman with a troubled past who is drawn into a small town in Maine where the magic and mystery of Fairy Tales just may be real.”

Though hubby is concerned this might lead to “Desperate Housewifes“-esque dramatic scenes, I’m kind of intrigued.

The whole business of basing new movies and shows on fairytales isn’t really new.

In 1997 Sigourney Weaver freaked me out with “Snow White: A Tale of Terror“.

Director Michael Cohn managed to freshly adapt the old story of the evil stepmother and even Sam Neill couldn’t destroy my viewing pleasure.

The same story was used in 2001′s “Snow White“, whose protagonist I will, unfortunately, always connect with her role as Smallville‘s love-interest of Superman. Blech.

2005 brought us “The Brothers Grimm“, which wasn’t too great, considering the current IMDb voting of 5.9.

One reviewer remarked:

“People have a curious tendency not to notice how bizarre and gruesome children’s fairy tales often are. Terry Gilliam’s “The Brothers Grimm” does notice. Unfortunately, that’s just about its only insight into the subject. The film shows no understanding of what makes fairy tales memorable and exciting, or why they have endured through the ages.”

In 2007 Korean “Henjel gwa Geuretel” came out, a horror-movie based on the “Hänsel und Gretel” story that actually sounds interesting.

“When Eun-soo gets lost in a country road, he meets a mysterious girl and is led to her fairytale like house in the middle of the forest. There, Eun-soo is trapped with the girl and her siblings who never age”.

I might try to get my hands on that one. Even though I don’t think it will live up to k-horror classics like The Tale Of Two Sisters.

Most of the films above are just mainstream fairytale adaptations, yet not counting the Disney ones. Take the Shrek movies for example, which have “borrowed” lots of fairytale characters during the years.

2011 brought a new wave of fairytale-movies.

The audience being warmed up by movies like the Twilight series, but at the same time finally getting bored of vampires, flocked the theatres at the opening of “Beastly” in April.

The story is based on “Beauty and the Beast”, following a highschool student apparently so in love with himself, that a young witch curses him – he’ll turn into a beast regularly until he finds true love.

Only able to brag with a 5.0 on IMDb it supposedly isn’t one of the best adaptations and I would rather watch the Disney version again before watching this. At least there’s singing.

The second 2011 fairytale was “Red Riding Hood“, starring another “Big Love” alumn, Amanda Seyfried.

Although the cast seemed promising (Gary Oldman!) and the director had proven himself to make movies the audience liked (Twilight) the movie’s rating can only deliver a 5.1.

A reviewer called it “ruined by trying to be too many things” and goes on to complain that “in fact, for a supposedly sexier take on a classic folk tale, it’s in desperate need of thrust in general. It flits around the idea of being a more adult folk tale but never commits”.

2012 surely will bring about many more “Grimm” stories, “Mirror, Mirror” one of them.

This one is another “Snow White” adaptation starring Julia Roberts and Sean Bean. Sean, Sean, will I have to watch you die again? Otherwise than that, I’m not really interested.

Director Tarsem Singh brought us “The Cell“, so I’m not really sure what to hope for with this one. And what can be expected from a man who thinks J-Lo can act?

It is tagged as “Comedy, Drama, Fantasy” and I’m quite afraid it’ll be no more than a Hollywood-lovestory… blech again.

“Snow White and the Huntsman“  will be out in the summer of 2012. Here we go again, another Snow White? Oh dear. Would make you think that the Grimms hadn’t written down countless other stories to choose from.

Personally I’m not that eager for more of Kristen Steward‘s lip-biting or Chris Hemsworth‘s “look-at-my-nice-muscles”-attitude. But “Shaun of the Dead“‘s Nick Frost, Bob Hoskins and Charlize Theron still might convince me of giving the movie a chance.

“Snow White and the Huntsman” probably won’t be the taillight in the rising trend of fairytales.

The 20th December 2012 will mark the 200th birthday of the Grimms’ fairytales’ first edition and throughout Germany there will be lots of different festivities.

But why are fairytales still so popular?

There are countless reasons why people love fairytales. They’ve always been around, for one. Being imparted from one generation to the next, they are considered as poetry of the people. They can’t be traced back to one author, they’ve been told and re-told for hundreds of years.

And they keep on being told because there always is some truth in fairytales.

Each of us knows what it is to be on a quest for someone’s trust and respect, we have encountered evil witches of our times, fought against concepts that seemed more otherworldly than a scary dragon could.

The hero of a fairytale is us. He’s wandering, has to redeem himself. As do we.

Then of course, the world of fairytales offers escapism on a grand scale. It is hard to worry about mortgages, the rising cost of living or high numbers of unemployment when there are evil witches or wolves on the loose.

I could go on and on about fairytales, but will save the more scientific approach for my university studies, especially my Master of Arts thesis.

I don’t expect the fairytale-trend to die down soon. After all, it is another way for screenwriters to come up with new storylines … even if the stories themselves aren’t new.

Tags: fairytales, Grimm, Snow White

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•