Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

It`s been a year since the first album by this band came out, and in the somaphore effort the band proves itself worthy of it`s debut. Yet, I can`t lose the feeling that last time around they were more impressive. Together with some particulary strong tracks - songs like "The cat", "Red is visible", there are others that don`t mean nothing to me, for example "Hospitals street" is a worthless song in my opinon. Some of the songs are more mellow than on the first album; that is not really a problem for me but I`d expect more.

Wenn man ehrlich sein muß, habe ich schon genug von solchen Schriftstellern der zweiten und der dritten Klasse. Sie alle schreiben nicht slecht, ABER so was könnte auch ICH geschrieben haben. "Pokorny lacht" ist die Geschichte eines Komikers, der das Leben ein wenig zu ernst nimmt und der selber immer traurig ist. Das ganze Leben lang hat er nur einen einzigen Freund gehabt, dem er hätte änlicht sein wollen. Er kann ihm aber nicht ähnlich sein, da er immer Menschen beindrucken will. Von einer Seite kann ich sagen, daß ich mit Friedrich Pokorny mich schon ganz gut identifizieren kann - da er immer komisch sein wollte, nur damit andere Menschen ihn cooler finden würden, das andere geht aber zu weite. Seine Affäre mit der Freudnin seines Freundes Zachers ist für mich zu Obskur, um verständlich zu sein, und nicht nur die Affäre, sondern das ganze Leben Pokorny`s ist ziemlich doof. Am Ende kann er natürlich wenn nicht alles, dann ziemlich vieles schon ändern. Er hat ein Streit mit dem Zacher, daß mit Prügelei endet und nur danach versteht er, wie vieles er falsch getan hat. Egal schon, solche Bücher gibt es in Tausenden und keiner solcher Schriftsteller bleibt länger als fünf Stunden berühmt. Vielleicht soll ich doch etwas auch selber schreiben, es ist eine ganz lange Zeit seit meiner letzten Erzählung her.

Na wieder schon ich habe Pech gehabt! Ich nahm dieses Buch aus der Bibliothek, weil nach dem Namen "Günter de Bruyn" ich glaubte, daß es kein moderner Schriftsteller ist. Aber er ist nicht nur modern, sondern dieses Buch ist ein biografisches werk über Preußens Luise - eine Königliche Person in Preußen Anfangs des 19. Jahrhundertes. Die Luise wurde zu einer Legende noch während ihres Lebens, obwohl nichts so besonders ausgezeichnetes an ihr gewesen ist. Na, gut, sie war eine schöne und emozionale Prinzessin. Und warum würde mich das interessieren? Keine Ahnung. Als sie noch ziemlich jung starb, wurde sie langsam zu einer Preußischen Madonna, obwohl dazu keine starke Gründe waren, sie wurde nur als eine perfekte Preußische Frau gelobt, die ihr Platz im Leben sehr gut begriff und an keinen Männliche Sachen teil nahm. Natürlich im 20ten Jahrhundert hatte schon niemand Interesse an sie - sie war zu friedensliebend, um den Nazis als eine Modellfigur zu passen, un zu langweilig, um den modernen Feministen als ein Vorbild zu gülten. Die Biografie ist ganz professional geschrieben, ich habe aber kein Gebrauch für Kenntnisse über Preußens Luise, deswegen habe ich auch kein Interesse an dieses Buch.

Krzystof Kyslovsky did this while still in Poland somewhere in nineteen-eightees. I don`t really know why he made films the 10 commandments but that`s just what he did (the summary length of the film is somewhere around 10 hours but since the episodes are not that much connected they can be also viewed one apart from another. In this first episode a son (at the age <10) of a Polish computer freak (in the eighties, man!) who`s fond of technics himself discovers the meaning of death on his way turning to God. If I got it right God was portrayed by some dude who looked quite homeless and who was burning a fire by a lake during the whole film. Nobody ever told that he was merciful and that he loved anybody (God I mean). The film is very powerful in its form where dialogues are rare and expressions and silence express much more than words. I am ready... if you know what I mean.

It`s also entitled `The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser`. It`s a story about a young man who suddenly appears in the middle of a small German town. The young man not only isn`t capable of talking but he has never encountered people before and didn`t even know that there were people beside him. As he gets to know life he encounters many problems but he realises (or it seems to me that way) that other people who have lived longer than he has (for he didn`t live before while he was locked in some cellar) were actually as dead as he was and that they knew nothing but only pretended to exist. It doesn`t give him very much faith in life. The film is quite interesting (except maybe the first 15 minutes during which I fell asleep), it certainly made me want to find some other Werner Herzog films and to get to know about that Hauser person.

Another one from the Fellini films (after 8 1/2) didn`t leave an impression of true greatness on me. Yes, some parts of it very really interesting but it is not my kind of film. Perhaps it`s so because I don`t like clowns, maybe not. Of course, it is not a film of low quality - there are no simple good/bad characters but nevertheless I didn`t find it to a film for me.

Not as heavy as `Brutal Planet` but still pretty impressive. Nowhere close to my A list though for I don`t have an A list for music.

Now that is one hell of a long title - just like them Germans like them to be. To be honest - it`s almost longer than the book. Peter Bichsel, you see, was a poet who died young (actually he didn`t die young, but that would sound more impressive). And he also wrote this compilation of 21 stories which have more to do with poetry than with prose. They are extremely short and rarely have a real story going on in them. There`s a one called "The Men" - it`s a tricky one about a woman sitting in a cafeteria. And there`s another one about a guy imagining a conversation with a girl selling flowers. And a good one about a granndad who died but wanted to tame lions. And then there`s the title story - this Mrs. Blum gets milk from the milkman every day but never sees him for he comes too early in the morning, still the milkman considers that he knows the woman for he knows how much milk she buys. The stories are made up from very short sentences, and they are rather bizarre images than anything else. I doubt that there`s a need to try to find what Bichsel wanted to tell, what were his ideas. It`s not that important really. I do like poets writing prose, and this is a good example for that. Books like this one don`t make you change your lifestyle, shave your head and go to Tibet; they are too unimportant, unpretentious for that. But does everything have to be immortal to be good? I don`t think so.

Probably it ain`t the best way to start a relationship with this weird German band. After all, 1987 is not a regular album but a collection of early songs (or versions of songs) the band did in mid-80`s. It means that I have no real reason to believe that this record depicts at full any stage of this bands weird career. Yet, be those songs outtakes or remastered demos or even a blind three-legged Spanish swordsmaster they are mostly good. The brand of music is a wicked mixture of Einsturzende Neubauten, Depeche Mode, The Cure and certainly Sparks. My personal favourite on this album is "Reincarnation" - a goofy song with lyrics going "There is no peace in heaven, there is no peace on earth" (and so comparing heaven and earth). "Battle of the ghost" in terms of vocals goes in the vain of "Propoganda" by the Sparks. Yet it`s possible that the Sparks took some elements out of German bar-room music, therefore it may be no clear lift. Of course, you`ll need some time to get through the weird arrangements and electronic sounds but the reward will be worth it. At least I`ve rarely encountered anything as interesting in the scene of German music.

Neticami, bet fakts - es esmu beidzot atradis vismaz vienu Dilana albūmu, ko varu klausīties atkal un atkal. Bet es biju domājis, ka vairāk nekā 4 viņa dziesmas pēc kārtas noklausīties nemaz nav iespējams. Redz, kā izrādās, ka pat Bobs Dilans reizēm ir ļoti klausāms. Savā otrajā albūmā šis ebreju tautības dziesminieks ir sacerējis savu pirmo "grāvēju" - `Blowin` in the Wind`, kas par spīti dažu Ziņģu attieksmei pret šādu mūziku ir ģeniāla protesta dziesma ar skaistiem vārdiem. Taču tas nav viss, ko šis albūms spēj piedāvāt. Te ir atrodamas gan skaistas liriskas balādes, tādas kā "Girl from the North Country" (kas man vismaz rada asociācijas ar vēlāka mūziķa - Leonarda Koena - daiļradi). Tur ir agresīva pretmilitāra dziesma "Masters of War", kas savukārt rada asociācijas ar Džona Lenona solo darbību. Tur ir skaista tautas mūzika, tāda kā "A Hard Rain`s A-Gonna Fall". Tur ir vēl skaista balāde "Don`t think twice it`s allright". Un tur ir humora pilnas dziesmas, tādas kā "Talking World War III Blues" un "I Shall Be Free". Labs!