Humour & Stuff
Chagall in Hamburg
Thursday, December 16th, 2010 | Book Reviews, Film Reviews, Humour & Stuff | No Comments
The exposition at the Bucerius Art Forum in Hamburg presents a rich collection of very famous works of Marc Chagall. It is a great pleasure to immerse yourself into the dreamy world of Vitebsk where Marc Chagall was born and spent about one third of his life. The turn of the century in tsaristic Russia, both World Wars, then the exile in New York and eventually his return to France have influenced and formed his work. His Jewish roots and the relationship to his beloved wife Bella are also the essential topics of his numerous art works. Chagall`s charming painting manner with a lot of different technical mixtures but also the collage-like compositions and the wonderful colorful motives appear a bit childish but at the same time very accessible to everybody. Nonetheless his pictures are more than just some reminiscence of the past. The recurrent symbols: the cow, the goat, the cock, the clock, the Torah as well as the colours green, blue and red are dominating almost every picture. Those symbols give a deeper insight into the Jewish mythology but also the allegoristic meaning of hope, despair, danger, love or harmony which are expressed by colours and ambiguous figures. A short film accompanying this exposition shows Chagall (he died in 1985) telling about his comprehension of art. Further presentations and events around the exposition are also enhancing the knowledge about Chagall`s art and the Jewish traditions and life. All in one – this exposition is really recommendable to the young and the young in heart. Anybody will go out and forget those colours, siplicity and the depth!
Desperate Housewifes
Saturday, December 5th, 2009 | Humour & Stuff | No Comments
It`s NOT a post about the US-series which is quite popular by some of us…
It IS about modern women who a often torn between their familiy life, household and career. It sounds like another popular topic but I think I can talk about it now more sensitive and analyzing `cause I`m feeling stuck in this dilemma right now. So this is what I`m worried about. I want to pick out just some main subjects to talk about here:
1. Why the technological progress doesn`t really help in the household?
2. Ideas about priorities in modern family-life and a differing reality
It took me some time to realize that a hoover, a washing machine, a dish washer, a microwave and several other household appliances are indeed helpful with our housework, BUT do not really save time at all!! All day long women are operating all those machines knowing about their technical efficiency and asking themselves how our grandmothers could survive without it. At the same time our grandmothers are a remembering the times when they had to do the household with their bare hands and wondering why modern housewives are still complaining about the masses of work they have to do at home. So why? Are we just getting lazy? Are our grandmothers hero’s of housework?
Their next reproach is our reluctance to get just one child instead of 3 or even more! So we often hear our grandma saying:”When I was as young as you are (certainly already married), I had already 5 children and I never complained…!S0, don`t make such a fuss about it!” Are we incapable to get on with just one kid? Are we just too selfish, thinking only about our freedom and self-realization?
I think the main reason for our (women) excessiveve demands is the ongoing individualization in our society and the feminism paradigm which are just pushing us more and more into the dilemma I`ve described above! Telling about their “heroic deeds” our grandmas forget to tell us about the task sharing and the strong family bonds in the past. No woman or mother of 5 children had to wash, cook, clean up, shopping foods, watch her kids and doing homework with them, being perfectly styled and having a part time job at once!!! It`s just impossible! Extended families have been sharing the different responsibilities. Everybody has been conscious of her/his work to do. Grandma`s have been cooking and caring about children all day long, while the younger women (not just one person) of the family did all the homework and the men earned the money. I know, this paradigm is not popular in our modern society but at the same time it`s also not realistic to burden women with all those work! When do Men realize it and don`t ask questions like “What do you do all day long sitting here at home?”, when do Women realize that its no sign of weakness to ask for help and when do Families realize that solidarity and family bonds are essential and necessary to keep it going? Unfortunately women in modern society are often very alone with their tasks and kids, families are at odds with each other, partnerships are unstable and patchwork families are normal.
The pressure on women is growing enormously especially in terms of decision for or against starting a family, being a good housewife or wife and growing up children. Many of us have serious doubts if they have to “give up” themselves for a new life full of problems. Indeed it is quite hard to have the heart to start this new part of life but I think it`s also a new chance for Your family to be awake of those values I talked above. A new family must not to repeat the faults of unrealistic (modern) ideologies or outdated advices of parents. Rather, it is in your hands (women and also men) to brake up our desperation!
Birthday Management
Monday, November 16th, 2009 | Humour & Stuff | 1 Comment
A boy tu
rns 3 – time for his first big B-Day party! The expectations of the child are high, knowing about other kid-parties organized by extremely caring mums. So where and how to entertain a crowd of 10 kids aged between 2 and 4 (the two younger ones don`t count `cause entertained by their mothers)? The answer of the first question – NOT AT HOME, that`s for sure (I think there is no need to explain why)! Best option seems to be a roofed playground with a lot of space, trampolines, monkey bars and min. 10 Bobby Cars (you know, the push powered vehicles). The HOW-question is much more difficult as you have not only to prepare some kid-food as sausages and noodles with a lot of ketchup, some healthy snacks (to salve your own conscience) and certainly a spectacular birthday chocolate-cake. A caring mum has to do the whole show, that is to play creative, funny but also pedagogically useful games to gain recognition by other parents. In addition u have to worry not just about the expensive presents for your own child but also small and useless take-away presents for every guest-kid. All in all the management of a kid birthday party of a 3-year old boy needs at least 3 weeks of preparations, costs a lot of money and creatitvity. But it`s the result that counts – 10 smiling and happy faces smeared over with chocolate! It`s certainly one of those unforgettable joyful moments in our life!
Philadelphia Girl
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 | Humour & Stuff | 1 Comment
Surprise, Surprise! Never thought of me making promotion for a breakfast spread…But acctually it was fun! About 600 pregnant women applied for this shooting but just 60 have been choosen to take part (in Hamburg, Berlin and Köln). It`s just amazing how much fun it was to spoil yourself by a make-up artist, a food catering and a masseuse!! And working with the photographer has been really uncomplicated! Didn`t know how easy it is to get “famouse” !!!
Ways of Love…
Saturday, August 30th, 2008 | Humour & Stuff | No Comments
Many people are looking for Love – but not everybody has the fortune to find her or his Big Love! Love fulfills your deepest 
unconscious wishes and dreams which you just cannot control. The happy few of us who met the partner of their dreams not always have the possibility to be happy with him/her for different reasons! You never know where and how love comes. That`s probably the reason why there are unfortunately more stories about broken hearts and wrong timings than the other way round.
Probably it`s just an unreachable dream to have the ambition to stay together forever? Probably it is not that important to marry him/her and to have children with this person? Dosn`t the image of a dream-girl/boy disappear after a while melting away in the everyday life? Certainly, everybody of us has already thought about those questions but didn`t always find an answer…
Time can probably show you the right answers for all these questions but sometimes the overwhelming energy of the feelings is much more stronger and impatient than rationality. You are just bewitched! You are in Love!
The Ways of Love are unpredictable and sometimes enormously complicated! Still, to love and to be loved is the most satisfying feeling at all! The experience of the eternal and unique feeling, independant from circumstances, culture or social bondings, is worth it to be at Love`s mercy (if only for a short time) !
This Post is dedicated to a friend & collegue…