(no subject)

:: bored, generally grumpy ::

picked up somewhere in lj-land...

1. what colour are your kitchen plates?
er. not that i have matching sets, or anything. 6 'Gmundner Keramik' plates, white with a turquoise spiral pattern, from my father's parents (i think). 3 smaller ones, gift from a hotel in Yazd (Iran), blue and brown pattern, a sun in the middle (there was a fourth, but i smashed it a few days ago); one large red with a yellow border and green floral pattern, christmas present from my sister.

2. what book are you reading now?
Orhan Pamuk, 'Das neue Leben'; Douglas E. Winter, 'Clive Barker - The Dark Fantastic'; re-reading C. Barker, 'Imajica'

3. what's on your mouse pad?
hehe. it's blue, liquid filled with goldfish floating inside.

4. favourite board game?
i don't particularly like playing; maybe scrabble if i had to chose.

5. favourite magazine?
the only magazines i read with any kind of regularity now are 'Der Spiegel' and 'profil' (german / austrian leftist - liberal weekly political magazines)

6. favourite smell?
can't possibly decide. all my favourite smells are nature related, though... the air after a rain, a park on a summer night, mown grass, all kinds of flowery smells... lilac. locust trees.

7. least favourite smell?
stale smoke in yesterday's clothes.

8. what is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?
what already? not again     who am i     what day is it     what am i supposed to do today     god!     my life is pathetic     can i please go back to sleep now     please

9. favourite colour?
dark green

10. least favourite colour?
beige. pink. pastels....

11. how many rings before you answer the phone?
depends on where i am and whether i actually want to answer it.

12. future child's name?
not that i see any children in my future, but for a girl Noa, Ruth, Natascha, Alina. for a boy... much more difficult: Alexander maybe. Rafael. Sascha? ultimately it'd depend on the child, i guess. i'd have to see him/her first...

13. what is most important in life?
to find out what's most important in one's own life. to find a balance. honesty, sincerity, compassion.

14. of all the possible circles of hell, which are you most likely to be assigned to?
i haven't read Dante and as far as i remember religious education at school didn't cover the specific geography of hell... no idea. is there a place for people who despite having all the possibilities continuously fuck up their own life through cowardice and indifference?

15. chocolate or vanilla?
chocolate. not even a question.

16. do you like to drive fast?
depends. i usually stick to the speed limit give or take 5km/h, but that's partly because with my Golf speeding isn't really an option. in urban areas i keep within the limit as a matter of course because of safety reasons and on the motorway i don't like torturing the engine by pushing it too far over the allowed 130 km/h. 140 maybe, but no more. on the other hand when i borrow my father's Audi, where i barely have to touch the pedal and it speeds up effortlessly? don't have to even give a thought to Mercedes & BMW drivers closing up on me when i don't overtake fast enough, because hey! i'm one of them? 160+ not a problem at all? it's quite a rush. i could be tempted...

17. do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
no. don't think i ever did.

18. storms - cool or scary?
cool, but that's because i live in an area where storm rarely pose a real threat.

19. what was your first car?
still have it, a dark green metallic VW Golf. it's my sister's and mine, actually. (the colour was my choice, though... obviously)

20. if you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
only one? tough. i'd like to have Thomas Mann, E.M. Forster & Clive Barker in one room... might result in an interesting converation

21. favourite alcoholic drink?
wine. red wines, and i have a weakness for sweet desert wines, provided they taste of something more than just sugar.

22. what is your sign & your birthday?
may 22nd. gemini. (my chinese horoscope animal sign: rat)

23. do you eat the stems of broccoli?
depends on how tough they are.

24. if you could have any job what would it be?
probably doing something artistic (does this qualify as 'job'?), in an ideal world, maybe academic research. as it is i don't think i possess the psychic and social make-up to deal with university intrigue.

25. if you could have any hair colour what would it be?
natural red :: dies ::. alternatively, any kind of hair that could be worked into dreadlocks.

26. have you ever been in love?
yes (i guess you could call it love). unfortunately each time with the wrong person.

27. is the glass half full or half empty?
depends on whether i like the drink inside.

28. favourite movie?
most of those i might have mentioned i'd actually have to re-watch to make sure that i still like them as much as i used to... strangely enough (or perhaps not) 'Lawrence of Arabia' comes to mind right now.

29. do you type with your fingers on the right keys?
no. i learned to, a long time ago, but it's since degenerated to a system where i only use my index & middle fingers.

30. what's under your bed?
platform bed: bookshelves (books, some of my sculptures, old magazines, assorted stuff) stereo, cds, records, defunct laundry basket

31. what is your favourite number?
no preferences whatsoever.

32. favourite sport to watch?
figure skating

33. what is your single biggest fear?
failure.

34. favourite song?
mostly i only have favourite cds, not so much single songs... out of album context maybe 'i've seen it all' (björk / thom yorke). ah well, right now 'nas ne dogonjat' (t.a.t.u.)

35. favourite tv shows?
babylon 5. simpsons, futurama. and i do have a soft spot for buffy :: facepalm ::

36. ketchup or mustard?
depends on what i'm eating. ketchup for chips or toast, mustard for sausages.

37. hamburgers or hotdogs?
neither, really, but if i have to decide, hamburgers.

38. favourite soft drink?
cola light; peach juice

39. the best places you have ever been?
holiday in Samos (Kokari); Potsdam / Sans Souci; the Turkish west coast generally, except for the most touristy places; trips to Iceland and Marocco

40. what screen saver is on your computer right now?
none, it just goes black. are there even any for mac?

41. burger king or mcdonalds?
:: rolleyes :: next question.

42. Do you know someone right now that you could fall in love with?
no.

43. What did you do yesterday?
° bought 2 black baby t-doll shirts, because so i'll at least know i'm not wearing the same thing every day, even when it looks like it. the mind still boggles at all the ruffles and pastels.
° bought cauliflower, milk, yoghurt and rice cakes.
° went to work, had a sentimental half work day with Ulli, who'll be in another shop starting monday.
° biked home
° cooked dinner. turns out that i'm unable to handle a pressure cooker.
° watched this week's taped smallville episode (bad).
° randomly surfed around the web, decided to do this survey, but was too tired to finish it.
° slept

:: re-reads :: someone kill me now, please

44. what's your favourite food?
tuna pizza. moussaka. strawberries. chocolate ice cream

45. where do you see yourself in 20 years?
i try *very hard* not to think about it.

46. if you had the choice of any superhero power to possess, what would it be?
telepathy. that, or being able to change shape.

47. what's the weirdest dream you've ever had?
impossible to tell, i don't remember them long enough or enough of them to actually compare.

48. who is your favourite classical composer?
i'm not really interested in classical music.

(no subject)

[ETA 13.3.2008: picture lost with the unet account; probably keanu reeves]


hm... re-watched 'the matrix'

fact, keanu reeves is one of the most beautiful men, ever. absolutely breathtaking ca. 'my own private idaho', ((1), (2), (3), good movie, too, for once) but still very beautiful. pity he chose to act in so many crap movies. (i remember watching 'little buddha' - horrible, btw - and there's this scene where siddharta decides to give up his princely life & cuts his long hair - with his knife, face slightly averted. when he turns to face the camera afterwards, enlightened smile and all, there was a collective sigh across the cinema. i swear.)

er, well. moving on. because drooling aside, i think 'the matrix' is seriously weakened by the entirely too apocalyptic scenario.

whichever way you take the metaphor - face value, modern society enslaved and manipulated by its rulers and media, or on a more metaphysical level, the human search for a balance between a rational, super-human, de-humanised state, where the only emotion left is cynicism and disgust with humanity and the pleasant illusionary mindlessness of the matrix life (in freudian terms, an ego balanced between the id and the superego), the effort demanded to maintain the balance, to 'face reality' is somewhat too elitist and heroic. maybe it's cowardice on my part, but imo Cypher has an entirely too valid point there. even if they manage to destroy the matrix, what world would people wake up to? freedom to do what, live a life in some ruined subterranean city, without any chance of ever looking at the sky, of ever rebuilding an earth worth living upon? my guess is that most would go mad, and there'd be a revolution to re-create the matrix within a week. as a reflection on the general state of humanity this is a bit too cynical for my taste, and too materialistic and not religious enough for the saviour metaphor to appeal to me...

i don't usually subscribe to the 'ignorance is bliss' point of view, but in this case i think knowledge is too dearly bought and of questionable value. in fact i'd have liked to see this dilemma presented in more balanced fashion in the movie, would have made it more interesting. but then again, messiahs don't tend to tolerate ambiguity. still, i'll be interested to see what they'll make of it in parts 2 & 3, because whether you look at it reaistically or metaphorically there's a basic bleakness that can hardly be ignored much longer...


on a sidenote, unsurprisingly the saviour is again white & male.

(also, keanu reeves apparently shares a dubbing voice with david duchovny, which can be slightly irritating at times. 'the answer is out there'... yes indeed. along with the truth and all the other capitalised big ideas.... :: snort ::)