After all the studying for PC II we can finally go swimming, enjoy the nice weather and relax....
Unfortunately that's not gonna work - with next week's Culture Presentation Days, German and Russian exam and KM presentation ahead of me this weekend is gonna be a long one with little sleep and a lot of studying. I bet pretty much all of you have at least the same amount of work to do.
Anyway, that's just the way it is - three more weeks and everything is going to be over. But if you need a break between all the studying: Paul Pizzera, a young and talented cabaret artist, is going to play his show "Zu wahr um schön zu sein" next Wednesday evening (June 19th, 19:30) in Werndorf.
If the weather is nice (let's hope for the best!) the event is going to take place outside - otherwise it will be in the "Kulturheim Werndorf".
As you might know I'm a member of the "Kulturteam Werndorf" (which is the organizer of the show in Werndorf), so I'll be there for sure.
Everyone needs breaks, so if you have time feel free to stop by, it's definitely going to be a great and hilarious show.
Until then: Good luck with your studying, see you next week!
The award-winning musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber is with more than 65 million viewers one of the most popular musicals world wide. Since May 15th you have been able to see the musical at the "Messegelände Graz", which is just next to the "Grazer Stadthalle".
The story is a little bit confusing, but basically it is about the "Jellicles" (a tribe of cats) and the "Jellicle Choice", which means that one cat will be chosen to be reborn.
I saw it yesterday night and although the story line is not as good as in other musicals I had seen before (such as "Lion King" or "Wicked") I absolutely loved it. It was just astonishing how the performers sang and especially danced - at some point I was not sure if I was in a musical, a circus or a dance competition - it was amazing.
Just have a look at this video and I'm sure you will know what I mean:
(Yeah, I know that the trailer is German - I'm sorry for that. But I decided to upload the German one for two reasons:
Firstly because I saw the musical in German and secondly because I couldn't find a good English version which shows as many different scenes as the German one does.)
There are still some tickets left (http://www.ticket.at/de/ticket/12036/cats-theaterzelt-graz) if you want to see it and they have a great student discount as well (about 10€ off!). But better be fast, the last show is going to be on June 16th.
Most of you probably know that I'm a member of my hometown's local orchestra, called "Jugendkapelle Werndorf" (JKW). Every year we have two big concerts - one in December and one in spring.
I'd like to invite y'all to this year's spring concert which is going to be on June 05, 2013. It's going to be something new, special and really big because we, the JKW, are not going to play alone but together with the "Musikverein Wildon".
June 05, 2013
7.30 pm
Kulturheim Werndorf
The program offers something for everyone - modern musical pieces such as "The Lord of the Rings", "The Beauty and the Beast" or "Pirates of the Caribbean", classical music ("Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald"), marches ("The Washington Post") and many other great pieces of music.
Tickets cost 14€ in advance, 19€ at the door. Let me know if you are interested (E-Mail: rauch.juli@gmail.com or text/call me if you have my number) so I can get the tickets for you! :)
If you can't make it on June 05, we are going to play the same concert one week before (May 29) in Wildon.
I'm looking forward to seeing you there! :)
since it's all over Facebook you have probably already read about it - this weekend three of the "Grazer Univiertel" clubs ("Three Monkeys", "Gecco" and "Kottulinsky") had to close at 2am. Why? Because some residents filed a complaint last year due to noise pollution and the mayor decided that he has to do something about it. His solution: Close the clubs at 2am.
Now let me get one thing straight. I'm not in favor of drunk people screaming around in the middle of the night. I do understand that it must be exhausting to live right above one of the night clubs in Graz (although I have to say that nobody forces anybody to live in or around the Univiertel!!!). But even so, creating a curfew will definitely not help to get rid of the problem. And here is why:
1. Where is the sense behind giving only three clubs a closing time? There are so many other clubs and bars around the ones mentioned above - even if Gecco, Three Monkeys and Kottusinky close at 2am there will still be people in all the other bars making noise when they leave.
2. From my own experiences I know: Nobody goes to the clubs before midnight. When I go out with friends we usually don't arrive at Kottulinksy before 12am. Why? Because before we go dancing we like to sit together in one of our apartments or in a nice bar to have some nice conversations and catch up. But let's be honest - who goes dancing for only two hours??
3. Since I don't live in Graz I always have to plan how I get home. There are three options. Number one: Going home by cab which costs about 30€ - therefore it's not an option for me. Number two: I drive. I actually drive by car a lot but that also has the downside that I can't drink any alcoholic beverages. So here comes option number three: I go home by train. But since my first train in the morning doesn't depart before 5am this option has now been taken from me (and many others, who don't live in Graz). When my favorite clubs close at 2am - what am I going to do between two and five in the morning? Sit in front of the closed train station? Definitely not!
4. Here comes (in my opinion) one of the biggest nonsense: What does the dear mayor think all the people will do after 2am? Does he really think a few hundred people will leave the clubs without making any noise? I'd prefer people leaving the clubs in small groups throughout the night when they actually want to go home than hundreds of people leaving at the same time not ready to go home. You can see the proof on Facebook: There are pictures where you can see tons of people on the street who continue their party outside:
5. Another thing: Everybody is complaining that Graz (as many other cities) "is dying" and that people go shopping at the mall in Seiersberg instead of the city center or party at the club "Fledermaus" instead of the inner city - these regulations will definitely not help to whet people's appetite to stay in the city.
All in all I just can't see how the 2am curfew helps anybody and I really hope that also Mr. Nagl and his supporters will realize that it's not the solution.
But that's only my personal opinion - what do you think??
Exactly: Jon Cozart! In case you haven't heard of him yet: He is famous for his YouTube Channel "PAINT", where he uploads his hilarious and absolutely brilliant parodies.
Have you ever wondered what happened to Disney princesses like Belle, Ariel, Jasmine or Pocahontas after they lived happily ever after? Well, this guy does have some quite tragical but definitely funny ideas:
For the Harry Potter Fans, this one is a must-see:
And another one for those of you who love LotR:
And here's one about famous movie villains:
I just can't decide which one I like the best, I simply love all of them - which one is your favorite?
I hope you are enjoying your Easter break? I definitely am, although I'm pretty annoyed that it's snowing again.. Anyway, what to do on such cold, snowy and nasty days? Of course, watch a good movie! At least that's what I always do.
Have you heard of the movie "Argo"? It's definitely worth watching!
The thriller is based on a true story and is about the Iran hostage crisis, during which 52 Americans were kidnapped and held hostage for 444 days because an Islamist student group took over the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran. The movie tells the story of Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck) and how he and some other CIA Agents rescued 6 U.S. diplomats, who previously escaped from the American Embassy and now have to hide in the home of Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador.
Since I'm bad in explaining here's the official trailer:
The movie was nominated seven times at the Academy Awards and won three of them. It also won 2 out of 5 nominations at the Golden Globes, another one at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and also won Best Film, Best Editing and Best Director at the 66th British Academy Film Awards.
After watching the movie you'll agree that it definitely deserves all of those awards. It is thrilling and dramatic, but at the same time quite funny. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"John Chambers: So you want to come to Hollywood and act like a big shot without actually doing anything? Tony Mendez: Yeah. John Chambers: You'll fit right in."
"Joe Stafford: You really believe your little story's gonna make a difference when there's a gun to our heads? Tony Mendez: I think my story's the only thing between you and a gun to your head."
"John Chambers: Target audience will hate it. Tony Mendez: Who's the target audience? John Chambers: People with eyes."
"John Chambers: How about 'The Horses of Achilles'? Lester Siegel: No good. Nobody does Westerns anymore. John Chambers: It's ancient Troy. Lester Siegel: If it's got horses in it, it's a Western."
"Adam Engell: So, what we like for this are bicycles. We've identified back roads from the Chemaran District. Cars are off the table because of the road blocks. Jon Bates: We wait until the weather clears up, then deliver the six bikes and provide them with maps to the Turkish border. Adam Engell: We have intelligence they can ride bicycles or we're prepared to send in somebody to teach them. Tony Mendez: Or you could just send in training wheels and meet them at the border with Gatorade."
If you have already seen it let me know what you think about it, if not: You know what to do! ;)
As you all know yesterday was THE most important sporting event in the USA – it was Super Bowl Sunday! The 47th Super Bowl took place in New Orleans, where the Baltimore Ravens played against the San Francisco 49ers (and we all know where that name comes from ;))
Baltimore defeated San Francisco 34 to 31 and this year’s Super Bowl MVP is the Ravens QB Joe Flacco. For those of you who were not able to watch it, here is a short video with some of this year's highlights (including some touchdowns and the power outage):
Before I went to the USA I put "going to a Football Game" on my To-Do List. I remember the day of my first Football Game as if it was yesterday – me sitting in this huuuuge stadium, having no clue about what was going on. I tried to understand the rules before I went there and read a lot about them on the internet – but I just couldn’t figure them out. Luckily a friend of us was with us, who was really into Football and after him explaining the rules to us what felt like 1000 times we finally got it – and since that moment I've absolutely loved Football. Anyway, since I am really really bad in explaining, I’m not even trying to write the rules down and explain them to you. Instead I would like to show you some of my favorite commercials from yesterday’s Super Ball – which are as entertaining as the game itself ;)
There are so many other great videos - you can find pretty much all of them on YouTube :) Did anyone of you guys watch the Super Bowl? Who were you cheering for?
Approval, cooperation and tolerance - that's what my sister Kathi and her friend Chrissi try to achieve with their "Maturaprojekt". As both of them are in their last year at HLW Schrödinger and close to graduation, they had to organize an event as their last project. Kathi and Chrissi decided to organize an exhibition, to show that different music genres and especially their representatives can actually cooperate, get along with each other and especially have a lot of fun together.
Hip Hop, classical music or folk music - those and many other music genres will be represented at the exhibition the two friends pulled together.
The pictures show representatives of all different genres mixed up with a completely different genre or in a rather unusual pose. Kathi and Chrissi found a really talented photographer who just happens to be my dad ;) He's actually really good, you can find some of his work on his FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/FotoFranzRauch Of course the pictures of this exhibition are not online, but I've already had a short glimpse at them and I can assure you the exhibition is definitely worth a visit.
You can see the result of this experiment at the "Stern Bar" (Sporgasse 38). For those of you who have no clue where that is: Just get off the tram at "Hauptplatz" and take a right:
This Thursday (January 31st) the exhibition's opening will start at 6.30 p.m. There will be a deejay and I'll be there for sure and I would love to see as many of you guys there as possible - since most of the exams will be over by then we could also clink our glasses and celebrate that we survived the last weeks ;) If, for whatever reason you can't make it this Thursday, the pictures will stay at the bar for a month, so whenever you have time just stop by and take a look while drinking a delicious cocktail or a cold beer ;-)
“I'm through accepting limits, cause someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, but till I try, I'll never know!“
This is a quote of my favorite musical: “Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz“.
It is based on the novel „The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West“ by Gregory Maguire, which is a parallel novel of the movie „The Wizard of Oz“ and L. Frank Baum’s classic story „The Wonderful Wizard of Oz“, which probably all of you read when you were children. The plot begins before and continues after Dorothy’s arrival in Oz and includes several references to the movie and Baum’s novel.
It is about Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. They are forced to live in the same dorm and struggle because their personalities and viewpoints are totally different. The musical also covers the topics of rivalry, love and especially the Wizard’s corrupt government.
I first heard about the musical about 6 years ago, when we played some of the songs at one of our concerts and I immediately fell in love with the music. One year later my classmates and I went to London and I saw a huge poster advertising Wicked. Until then I had not known that it played in London as well and of course I really wanted to see it. Unfortunately none of my classmates were as excited about the musical as I was and so I decided to see it alone. First it felt a little bit strange to sit in the huge theater without anyone I knew, but it was totally worth it.
Last year the musical played in Durham, NC, which was about 25 minutes away from where I lived. Nicole (a friend of mine) and I heard about a so called „Wicked Lottery“, where you could win cheap tickets (they were 25$) for one of the first rows. We thought we’d give it a try – and we actually won!
Although the singers were not as good as the ones who sang in London, it was still amazing and I just loved it. I would totally see it again, it’s just one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen.
“Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ll never be hurt. Dance like no one is watching!”
I’m pretty sure all of you have heard of the club “Kottulinsky”, but just to be on the safe side: It’s a club which is located pretty close to the University of Graz (Beethovenstraße 9), which is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and of course on the weekend.
But what most of you probably don’t know: Its doors also open on Tuesdays! But if you go there on a Tuesday you won’t find techno music or remixes, which are typical for most of the clubs in Graz – Tuesday is Salsa Night!
The doors open at 8pm and “A Taste of Latin Moves” starts at 8:30 and lasts an hour. There you can learn some basic dance steps with the help of a dance instructor. Afterwards the Salsa beats will continue and you can dance till dawn.
It really is a lot of fun and I’ve seen some amazing dancers while being there the last time! But you don’t have to be a professional dancer to go there – I only knew the basic steps and still had a lot of fun!
Great news for those of you who are under 21: On Tuesdays the age limit is 18 and the entrance is free for all guests!
Here is their Facebook page, where you can find out about special events (from time to time they have special themes, like for Halloween, Christmas and so on): http://www.facebook.com/SalsaLatinKottulinsky
Just give it a try, it really is a lot of fun and never forget:
“Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance!”
I have to admit it – I am addicted to (good!) movies, and I just LOVE going to the movie theater. While being in NC some friends (who are as crazy about movies as I am) and I often went to the movies more than once a week – watching a good movie was just so relaxing after taking care of our host kids. There was a movie theater about 20 minutes away from where I lived – where each show only costs 2$ - my host mom used to say that the theater was my 3rd home ;)
Anyway, since I came back I haven’t been to the movies very often – mainly because of the (in my opinion way too) high ticket prices, and because there is no movie theater in Graz which shows English movies - or at least so I thought!
There actually is a little movie theater close to the tram station “Finanzamt” (Conrad von Hötzendorfstraße), which is called “Kiz Royal Kino”. It shows movies in their original language – with and without subtitles, depending on the movie. I’ve been there only once so far, but am definitely gonna go there more often as soon as all the exams are over. It’s rather small, but the seats are really comfy, the popcorn is yummy and best of all – it’s much cheaper than Cineplexx or UCI! My sister and I were there on a Saturday evening and paid 5,90€ each – if you want to watch a movie on a Saturday night at Cineplexx you pay almost double the price!
Although they don't show as many movies as Cineplexx or UCI do, they still offer some movies to choose from and always show at least two or three popular ones. Right now they show "The Hobbit", "Rise of the Guardians", "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and many more. Here is the link to their homepage: http://www.uncut.at/graz/kizroyal/
If anyone wants to see an English movie just let me know, maybe we could go together :)
today I’d like to tell you a little bit about one of my favorite authors: Nicholas Sparks. I love reading and I like pretty much all genres – I love Harry Potter, the Twilight-Saga, The Hunger Games Trilogy, Dan Brown books, Simon Beckett, classics like Pride and Prejudice,... – but the author I’d like to tell you about doesn't write Science-Fiction, Fantasy or Crime Novels – he writes about love. He was born in North Carolina and is an American novelist and screenwriter – and all his books play in and around my “second home” Raleigh – small cities/towns like Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach, New Bern, Beaufort or Southport.
You might actually know some of his most famous books, maybe because you read them, or maybe you have already watched a movie based on one of his novels. Since most of you have German as your mother tongue I’m gonna give you the English as well as the German title of the books/movies, because usually if I say “you now, Nicholas Sparks, the author of >The Notebook< or the >Lucky One<", everybody is like “what the heck are you talking about?”, but as soon as I say “well, the German names of the movies are something like >Wie ein einziger Tag< and >Für immer der Deine<" everybody is like "Oh yeah, I know that movie, it's awesome!".
So here’s the list of some of his books:
The Notebook (Wie ein einziger Tag)
A Walk to Remember (Zeit im Wind)
Dear John (Das Leuchten der Stille)
The Choice (Bis zum letzten Tag)
The Lucky One (Für immer der Deine)
The Last Song (Mit dir an meiner Seite)
Safe Haven (Wie ein Licht in der Nacht)
I actually HATE the German titles of the books/movies – they make them sound way cheesier than they actually are. I read all of the books listed above, but the ones I liked the most were “The Notebook”, “The Choice”, “The Lucky One” and a few days ago I added “Safe Haven” to my fav list – I just loved it.
It’s about a woman who gets beaten and controlled by her husband, but since he is a cop she can’t go to the police. After trying to escape two times he threatens to kill her – and she tries to escape a last time, knowing that if it doesn’t work out now, she’s gonna be dead pretty soon. She actually manages to escape – but her scrupulous, violent and after she left always drunk husband swears to himself that he’s gonna find and finally kill her (or take her home, because he still loves her - he is a pretty weird and creepy guy). But will he find her? And what will he do to the man she falls in love with? Well, to get those answers you will just have to read the book, sorry guys ;)
But let me tell you – it’s totally worth reading (as are all of Sparks’ books) – I finished it in 2 days, coz I just couldn’t put it down.
Oh and btw – this book was also adapted as a movie – can't wait for February when it will be shown in Austrian movie theaters as well :) And of course it plays – what a surprise – in North Carolina. Some friends and I were actually in Southport (where most part of the book plays) when it was filmed and we actually got a glimpse of the film crew and might even be somewhere in the background in the movie, because we were watching the 4th of July Parade just opposite of the film crew – if we really are in it I am definitely gonna write about it, I'll keep you posted ;)
First of all: Yayyyy, Christmas holidays! Have fun & enjoy it - I definitely will ;)
Second: No plans for tonight? I’d like to present to you: “Heinz Marecek: Das kleine Fest des Lachens”.
For those of you who have no idea who Heinz Marecek is: He was born in 1945 in Vienna and is an Austrian actor, director and cabaret artist. He started to perfom in 1966 at the "Vienna Ateliertheater". Afterwards he performed at the "Vienna Volksoper" and between 1971 and 1998 at the "Theater in der Josefstadt" (which is the oldest theater of Vienna), where he also directed some of the plays. These days you can see him in a couple of TV shows/movies. I’m pretty sure all of you have heard of the Austrian TV show “Soko Kitzbühel” – he is the one who plays “Hannes Kofler”. Apart from “Soko Kitzbühel” you can see him in “Lindenstraße” (playing Bruno Skabowski), “Der Bockerer” and other TV shows/movies.
But why am I telling you about him? Well, he is coming to Werndorf (if you want to know where/what that is à take a look at my post “Music is what feelings sound like”) tonight at 7.30pm, to read Christmas stories from his book “Das kleine Fest des Lachens”. Doors will be opened at 7pm and tickets are 25€.
Give it a try, I promise it’s definitely worth the money!
May I introduce to you – the best local orchestra ever (okay, I admit it, I may be a little bit prejudiced, since I play in it, BUT we are pretty good ;))
As some of you may know, I play the flute in the orchestra of Werndorf. If you have no clue where/what Werndorf is: It's a small village about 20 km south of Graz.
Although we are such a small village, we offer a pretty good culture program - with artists like Peter Simonischek, Stermann & Grissemann, Gernot Kulis, Josef Hader and soon also Heinz Marecek (I will post about this event soon) we have already had quite famous and absolutely amazing people and great events in our village.
Another huge part of our culture program is the "Jugendkapelle Werndorf" - our local orchestra. Here’s the link to our homepage: http://www.jk-werndorf.at
As every year, our Christmas concert is set for the 8th of December, which is the upcoming Saturday – so if you don’t have any plans yet we’d be more than happy to welcome you. The concert starts at 2.30pm and with songs like „Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer“, „White Christmas“, „Driving home for Christmas“, „Ave Verum Corpus“, „O holy night“ and much more the program offers something for young, old and in between. But it is not only a concert, we are also going to present our Christmas CD - which is the perfect Christmas present for your parents, friends, grandparents and all the other people who love Christmas songs (and let's be honest, who doesn't? ;))
“Oh no, I hate studying” – I bet all of you have used this (or a similar phrase) at least once in your life. Today I want to show you that learning a new language is not only about doing grammar exercises and studying vocabulary from your textbook.
My English teacher showed us three links this week – and I’d like to introduce them to you and show you that it can be “fun to be a nerd” ;)
Every week an English teacher writes one (or two) short articles about current events. You can choose between the categories Business English, Environment, Health, Issues, Lifestyle, Famous People & Gossip, Technology and World News – so I’m sure you'll find something that you are interested in. You can read the article the teacher wrote and afterwards do some exercises – like “Fill-in-the-blank”, play “Hangman”, “Missing words” or “Crosswords” and much more – all fun ways to improve your vocabulary and reading comprehension.
Who doesn’t love movies? Another English teacher provides information about a bunch of classic movies (like Apollo 13, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Cast Away, Dumb and Dumber, Psycho, …). The document for the movie you choose will give you a lot of information about the main characters, a pretty good plot summary and some words and expressions that you may not know. It also has a list of possible questions you may have after watching the movie, which you can discuss with your friends and family.
This site gives you the opportunity to listen to (and watch) your favorite music (-videos) – while learning new vocabulary. How? While listening to your song the lyrics will be displayed underneath the video. But the lyrics will have blanks in it, which you have to fill. There are three different game modes – Beginner (10% of the words are missing), Intermediate (25% of the words are missing) and Expert (all of the words are missing) – it’s actually trickier than it sounds, especially when you choose songs like “Love the way you lie”, where Eminem raps pretty fast ;)
So who says studying and learning a new language is boring? Give it a try – you will be surprised how much fun it can be to improve your language skills!
