My Irish friends dutifully informed me of the upcoming “Arthur Guinness Day,” celebrating the life and legacy of the man who gave us Guinness beer this very Thursday, 24 September. This amounts to something of a national holiday for my Irish cohorts, and they’ve been talking about it every day for the past week as though it were Christmas or the Irish equivalent of Thanksgiving (actually that works pretty well).

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depends) for me I’m committed to saving my energy for Munich on Friday. I believe I wrote about this before, but I’ll mention once more that this Friday I’m headed off to Munich for the famed Oktoberfest. The Germans, and probably Europeans in general, have really perfected the art of cheap travel; we’re traveling by way of “Mitfahr,” roughly translating quite simply to “drive with.” I’m sure the same option exists in the U.S. too, but here many people are quite dedicated to it; you simply post a listing if you’re going somewhere and have extra seats in your car, and people call you and offer to go with you in exchange for a little bit of money. My flatmate Sofía and I are driving 6 or 7 hours with someone who posted on the site for €30, a much better alternative to the €110 (minimum, at this point) to get a train. Not a bad deal.

Of course I’ll take my camera with me and write about the festival and post pictures when I get back. For the moment I have very little to write about; not much changes in the course of a regular class week and I haven’t found anything particularly amazing or perplexing to write about. Check back on Sunday or Monday for a full account of Oktoberfest.

Not much has happened in the past few days. The weather has kept at a nice ~72 degrees all week, and looks like it’ll stay that way for a little while longer, which is good. I have continued to notice, however, that Berlin, perhaps just Germans in general, really enjoy doing things together. Or perhaps I should reword that: they do the same things we do in America, just on a much larger scale. When there’s a protest, it’s like the whole damn city out there marching through the street. When they have some kind of party in the outdoor area of a restaurant, there’s a huge multi-colored tent, waitresses in full Fräulein garb and the Backstreet Boys on the radio. When they have a flea market, it takes up an entire street. The scope of everything here just seems to be much greater.

This holds true as well for the cleaning and recycling initiatives they have in place here. By that I mean, no matter where you are, you’ll find at least two bins, sometimes as many as four, and everyone actually pays attention to them as well. On more than one occasion I have been holding an empty plastic bottle that I have brought all the way back with me to my house because I couldn’t find the right bin otherwise. Also, much like our own recycling system, everything that is able to be recycled (excluding glass) has a “Grünpunkt” (”green point”) symbol on it, which means it can be tossed in any Grünpunkt-friendly bin, and those are almost everywhere.

The other thing that I wish had caught on more in the states is the idea of “Pfand,” which means “collateral” normally, but in this case it’s the name given to money you get in return for returning glass bottles. At most bars, if you buy a drink, they will give you the drink and some kind of pin or button or cap or something. When you’re done with the drink, you bring back the bottle and the object, give them both back to the person behind the counter and usually you’ll get €1 back or so, and they put the bottle in a rack with other empty ones to be recycled. Outside of bars, most bottles can be traded in at almost any convenience store for about €0,15 (in contrast to the $0.05 you get for plastic bottles back home, and not even in every state). All of these things combined means you can actually make a lot of money picking up and returning bottles, which in turn means the streets are a great deal cleaner between the recycling and the idea of Pfand.

The weird side-effect of this is that you can alternatively leave a glass bottle pretty much anywhere that can easily be seen, and a bum or even anyone who just wants to get some extra money will pick it up and return it. This is actually the most viable alternative to bringing it in yourself or finding a proper recycling bin, and people literally do it all the time. So I guess I was lying before when I said the streets are a great deal cleaner; perhaps they’re just as messy but in a more organized way. People tend to leave bottles in clusters, and I always imagine someone looking for bottles happening upon these clusters as though they were treasure.

That’s about it for now. Going to go make use of the rest of the day, it’s a lovely 73 degrees and sunny and there’s no reason to be in here any longer.

I flew out of Logan Airport somewhere around 5:30pm on 26 August, waving goodbye to my parents and knowing that my mother would be counting the seconds between my arrival in Berlin and the first e-mail sent to her. I spent the next 6 hours traveling 12 hours into the future, zipping through space and time alongside two large Italians. At the end of the flight their son leaned over from the seat in front of us and mentioned to them that “American food is crap,” referring (sadly) to the airplane food, which I was tempted to call him out on, before I realized “American food” doesn’t actually mean a whole lot by itself…so maybe he had a point.

I had a short layover in Amsterdam and then it was a hop, skip, jump, short walk down the ramp and an hour-long plane ride to Tegel Airport in Berlin. It was at this point that my previous worries that Carmen Banciu, soon-to-be host and owner of the apartment, may not be real at all started to kick in, and that I might be the butt end of an elaborate German joke. Thankfully these fears were quelled by my parents’ words of wisdom (”The Germans don’t have a sense of humor”) and my spirits were high as the Israeli-German taxi driver gave me a whirlwind tour of the city.

That was two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve moved into my apartment, met both of my housemates (Sofia from Spain and Liana from Bochum, Germany), and started my intensive language course, the so-called “Vorkurs Deutsch,” which has been a relatively positive experience so far. We were placed via an electronic test in a language level, starting from A2 (where probably about 50% of people ended up) and going all the way up to either C1 or C2, although as far as I’m concerned, if one ends up in C2 they probably don’t need an intensive language course. I was placed in A2 at first, but after a week of almost falling asleep, I asked to be moved up to B1, taught by Ingo Fehrmann, a gangly guy full of life and energy.

I’ve met a bunch of people here, the majority being European and hailing from such exotic places as: Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Ireland, England, Turkey, Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, and Belgium, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten some already. They’re all doing the “Erasmus” program, ostensibly the inter-European exchange program. As an American I’ve felt relatively well-received, no obvious animosity, although a friend Aziz from Amsterdam gave me a hard time about American ideology before telling me he was just testing me (followed immediately by him admitting he’s a psyche major, at which point everything started making sense), and everyone seems to get along with each other very well. The French seem to be very clique-y though; there’s always a table or two of purely French people every time I go to eat lunch.

I’ve explored a great deal of the city as well, something which is actually quite impossible not to do, what with people living pretty much everywhere. I’m in the very center of the very center of the city (you can look me up on Google maps by simply typing in “Leipziger Straße 61, 10117 Berlin”), which gives me the convenience of being fairly equidistant from everything, but also is kind of a bummer because I’m pretty much equidistant from everything. Two of my good friends, Nate and Cormac (both of Ireland) live way out in Schlachtensee, which is mostly a student area on the far far outskirts of Berlin. To get there requires me taking two trains and a bus, so needless to say I haven’t gone out there very much. Anyway, each district of Berlin is in itself a unique city, and each has their own reputation. For instance, Kreuzberg and Freidrichshein are two of the more popular destinations for good food and a good evening, while Mitte (where I live) is very much a financial and general living district with not much more than big buildings and some grocery stores. The train system is very easy to navigate and is extremely punctual, however, so getting to other places usually doesn’t take more than 20 minutes, with most of that time being spent in the station waiting.

Well, I think that about covers the very general experience thus far. Beginning Thursday I will write more about individual experiences, recent or ones that I feel are important, and I’ll see about putting some pictures on here as well. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and unlike my California blog I’ve actually found some semblance of comfort in writing about everything that’s happening here, as it’s a unique experience that I enjoy relaying. In moments I’m heading out to watch a brief film experiment as directed by Carmen’s son, so we’ll see how that goes.

As they say in Germany, tschüß!

All that said, I think I’ve finally found a place to live. It’s an admittedly unorthodox living situation, even without my actually being there yet. A traveling journalist/mother of two students is renting out her 6-bedroom apartment to three students coming from just about anywhere (the list she gave me of the origins of other potential tenants was quite extraordinary). There’s also no television, which I’m fine with (not like I watch that much TV anyway). These things taken into account, the deal sounds pretty sweet. The best part is the proximity to my university, TU-Berlin: about 10 minutes by train.

Still waiting on the official confirmation, as well as which of the three rooms I’ll be getting (they vary in size), but I may have just found myself a place to live.

Thank goodness.

First, a little back story for anyone who wants to read this from the new beginning (which is this). This blog has existed in one form or another since 2005 (that’s as far back as I can find, anyway), but it’s evolved at least visually a great deal since then. The name “Altered-Screens” is just an abstract title that doesn’t really have a whole lot of meaning to it, but I’ve grown to like it over the years so I’ll keep it. I tried a lot of themes for this site that I could never motivate myself to maintain: a web comic (by yourself this is a very daunting and miserable thing to do; props to xkcd), movie reviews, game reviews, guitar stuff, pointless stuff, pointful stuff, and so on. A year has passed since I last added anything to this site, during which time I let it sit here and sort of fester, letting the maggots dig in and nibble away at what was for all intents and purposes a dead blog. Lucky for me, the blog was biodegradable and so I’ve planted what amounts to a new one in the same place and called it the same thing.

So here it is, with a new banner I made tonight to boot. It may give you a hint as to what it’s going to be about. Hopefully it will give you more than a hint, and if it doesn’t, well, that’s not a good sign. Yes, I am going to Germany. Berlin, to be precise. I will be studying at the Technical University of Berlin, from August of 2009 to July of 2010, pursuing my physics major and my German language minor. The second of these two things is admittedly the easier one: when learning a language is essential to one’s survival, one tends to buck up and git ‘er done, as they say. Learning physics, however, in another language will be a test of many things, including patience, determination, and the tensile strength of my hair.

Of course, the question burning in your mind through all of this is why Germany? Good question. To date I haven’t come up with a good answer. Fact: I enjoy the German language. This throws most people for a loop right off the bat; it is not the most beautiful language, and I am aware of this. It appeals to me for whatever ungodly reason and I’m not sorry about it. I guess this fact, plus my having never been to Europe before, combined like two pieces of a two-piece jigsaw puzzle to spell out “GO TO GERMANY,” and having never doubted puzzles like these before, took the advice to heart.

I’m not leaving until the end of August - probably around August 28th or so - so for the time being this blog will detail events related to this upcoming expedition and whatever else I think is worthy of your time. Keep checking back for more updates.

-Sam

Keep in mind that this movie follows (quite well) the trend of the first three - that is to say, it is over the top in terms of action, and one is required to suspend one’s disbelief with something tensile and strong. If you have no problem doing this, or more appropriately if you had no problem doing this with the first three, you should be fine. Because I will say it right now - these movies are not meant to be taken seriously. I’ve always felt more like the Indiana Jones movies were like thrill rides. They throw a few twists at you, but you know it’s just a ride, so you smile all the way through.

To its credit, KotCS does not require one to have seen the first three movies. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. It certainly helps - both so that you know what kind of movies the Indiana Jones series is comprised of, and so that you can catch the throwbacks. I was relieved to find that a sizable chunk of the audience was comprised of true Indy fans when they applauded as these throwbacks came on screen. But much like the other three were separate stories with the same hero and a few consistent characters, so is KotCS a movie that is not meant to be a continuation, but rather simply another installment in the series.

This is where I, and many others, were afraid. Harrison Ford is, I believe somewhere around the age of 60. For a whip-cracking hero that spends a lot of his time running, jumping, rolling around, and getting beaten up by men twice his size, 60’s not exactly the ripest age at which to do so. However, with the exception of a few more lines on his face and eyes that one can tell have seen a lot, Ford is in as good a shape as he’s ever been. He’s still got the humor, too, which for me was very important. I can never stop smiling when I’m watching any of the Indy movies, and this was no exception.

The plot is where it falls apart for some people. Without giving too much away, this plot does differ greatly in that not only does it take place in the Cold War era (rather than World War II, so we’re now dealing with KGB instead of Nazis), the ultimate mystery that Indy unravels is a bit more science fiction-y in nature, and less religion-themed. Once again, though, all four of the movies are built on the premise that any of these fabled artifacts that Indy’s after are real, as are the legends behind them. Now, I’m somewhat biased, being interested already in what the plot has to offer, and the crystal skulls themselves have some basis in history (although its been said the real skulls were discredited as being made in the 19th century, rather than much earlier as the legend assumes), but in contrast to the nay-sayers who found the plot too ridiculous, I thought it fit the Indy theme quite well.

Naturally I had a few gripes with the movie, but then again, I don’t recall ever seeing a perfect movie. This is totally off the topic of suspending disbelief, by the way - these gripes are more like “well that was kind of unnecessary,” rather than “well that would never happen.” Shia LeBouf played his role as sort of a wanna-be badass quite well, always either a comb or switchblade in hand even in the face of death. His acting was not an issue. However, his screentime, while plentiful, was in some cases sort of superfluous. There is a scene where he’s swinging through the jungle alongside monkies on vines. Now, this isn’t a totally ridiculous notion: anyone of decent strength, a concept of momentum (or someone who’s seen Tarzan), and some luck could probably pull this off. I mean it happens in real life, monkeys do it, it’s not that outrageous. The fact that it was part of the movie, though, is sort of the main issue. It was clearly intended to add some comic relief, which it did, but mainly because it was just such a silly way out of a situation. Lucas could’ve written that part a little better, I think, or perhaps not written it at all.

The other main gripe is at the end. Again, I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s mostly CGI-related. George Lucas, as most Star Wars fans know, as well as Steven Spielberg, are avid users of CGI in their movies, to the point where it’s almost annoying. I’m eternally grateful that the use of CGI was not obscenely overdone in KotCS - everything seemed to fit pretty well with the other movies in terms of the use of real props and sets and perhaps even on-location shooting rather than green screens. The end, however, is sort of where Lucas and Spielberg decided to pull out all the stops and kind of go nuts. If you see the movie, perhaps you’ll agree that there wasn’t much choice in doing the ending any other way other than CGI, but certainly they could have used less, which would’ve been fine.

There’s also a scene with a refrigerator and a nuke - you’ll know it when you see it - that was a bit hard to take seriously, but I did enjoy the comic value it added and laughed with it, where the monkey scene just kind of had me laughing at it.

Overall, though, I thought it was excellent. The Indy movies were written for the sake of entertainment. There aren’t many heroes like Indiana Jones anymore - these days it’s all about grit and realism, blood and violence and death. I loved this movie for its ability to simply be watched and enjoyed, an ability shared with the other three. The plot works, the acting was great (in my personal opinion), Harrison Ford’s definitely still got it, the music gave it the same feel as the others, and I smiled the whole way through - and for me, that last part was crucial.

In short, if you’re a fan of the Indy series and the style of the movies, you will enjoy Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. If you go in expecting a modernized Indy movie, with more grit and realism and less comedy, I think you will be a bit disappointed. So, my recommendation is to go watch it with purely entertainment in mind, perhaps brush up on the series by watching the other three first (I did; it’s nothing you won’t mind doing), and suspend your disbelief for the sake of fun and excitement, and you will get your money’s worth. Do I understand the negative reviews? Sure. Some people were expecting something a little less “ridiculous,” as it were. But as that’s the way the first three were, that’s exactly how I expected this to be, and my expectations were met. We’re so accustomed to movies that force realism and complex story lines on us that many of us have forgotten what it’s like to go and just have fun at the movies.

I’ll abstain from rating movies, since it’s hard to do that fairly and accurately, so I’ll just say I highly recommend it.

I’m out.

Later.

A mere…21 days, if I do my math correctly, including weekends until my last day of finals. Then, the next day it’s home for the summer. A lot to get done these next two weeks, we’ll see how it goes.

For some instant gratification, however, I’m going to see the new Indiana Jones TOMORROW. Yes, TOMORROW. I’ll get to see Harrison Ford light up the screen in perhaps my favorite role of his (surpassing Han Solo? I’m not sure, I’ll have to grapple with this one internally for a while) once more, and I know I’m going to love it. This may sound like I’m getting my hopes up, and it probably is, but I don’t care. It’s going to be great.

My dad made an interesting point. There aren’t many tales of frustration on this site (perhaps remaining untold). I think I’ll change that bit to “previously untold tales of frustration,” as he suggested. Seems more fitting. And then perhaps I’ll add some of those tales. Nothing too frustrating though, want to keep the mood of this blog light.

Nothing else terribly interesting to add at the moment. I suppose I’ll leave it at this, fancy new theme and some plans for the future of this blog and the rest of this school year.

I’m out.

Later.

If I had any interest at all in being a movie critic I’d write about my recent viewing of Iron Man. I don’t, however, so I will just leave it at saying the movie is definitely worth seeing. It was funny, had some great action bits (but don’t expect over-the-top action), and had a pretty engaging storyline.

I really should pick a theme one of these days for this site. I don’t think this blog generates a whole heck of a lot of traffic right now because it’s so aimless, nevermind my updating habits.

…Maybe music.
I’m out.

Later.