Curfew 2am - get the party ended..

Hey guys,

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??

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted!

Hey guys!

Last semester I already blogged about a video I found on the internet, which is about how little acts of kindness can make a huge difference. Those of you you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it here: If you give a little love, you can get a little love of your own!


I just found another one which is also related to that topic:

Of course I know that life doesn't work exactly as shown in the video. But especially after the horrible event which took place in Boston, MA quite recently and because of all the other terrible things you read about in newspapers I do believe that we should think about what is wrong with our world and how we can make it a little bit better. And let's be honest, even if they are just small gestures, if all of us do our part we can make our world a kinder and nicer one.

“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.” 

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Hey guys,

today I want to introduce to you: my dad! His name is Franz, he lives in Werndorf, wears glasses, his hobbies are ..... - naah, just kidding ;)

What I'd like to share with you is my dad's artwork - he is a hobby photographer and actually really good. Everything started when he was a little boy: He used his first salary to buy his very first camera. Now, almost 30 years later, he is still really into photography and a few years ago he refurbished our basement, transformed it into a photo studio and "Foto Franz Rauch" was born.

 

Since a picture is worth a thousand words I'd just like to show you some of my favorites:

 

 

  

In January I already blogged about a special project organized by my sister Kathi and her classmate Chrissi. It was called "DiverCITY" and the aim of the project was to show representatives of all different music genres (like rock, rap, classical music,...) mixed up with a completely different genre in order to demonstrate respect for each other. My dad took the pictures for that project, here are some of my favorites:

 

He also made the calendar for my sister's soccer team, here you can see the front page and the month February:

 

I hope I could whet your appetite. You can find more of his work on his Facebook-Page Foto Franz Rauch! :)

Btw: If you are interested in a shooting, just write him a Facebook message :-)

"Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph."

– Matt Hardy

What do Disney, Harry Potter & LotR have in common?

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?

Carinthian Reindling

Hey y'all,

I hope you had a great time celebrating Easter with your loved ones and ate as much as I did during the last few days? Since y'all know what a typical Austrian "Osterjause" looks like I would like to tell you about one delicacy you probably don't know about (unless you are from or have relatives in Carinthia!): The "Carinthian Reindling".
My mom comes from Carinthia and half of my family still lives there (so no bad jokes about Carinthia when I'm around! ;)) and Easter without this delicious sweet bread just wouldn't seem right to me.

Ingredients

Yeast dough:
• 500 g flour
• 20 g yeast
• 50-100 g butter
• 1/4 l milk
• 1-2 eggs
• 50 g sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. anise

Reindling:

• 50 g butter
• 100 g sugar
• 2 tbs. cinnamon
• 100 g raisins

Preparation

Step 1: Prepare yeast dough

1. Dissolve yeast in 2 tbs. warm milk, add 1 tbs. sugar and 1 tbs. flour and mix well. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.
2. Put flour, sugar, salt and other spices in a large bowl.
3. Melt butter and add milk. Blend in eggs and mix well.
4. Now add yeast-mix to the bowl with flour and then add all the liquids.
5. Beat at low speed until smooth.
6. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a little bit of flour. Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.

Step 2: Reindling

1. When yeast dough doubled in bulk, knead well and roll the dough out on a floured board (~ 1 cm thick)
2. Coat dough with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and raisins.
3. Roll in dough and put into well greased Bundt pan.
4. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 150° C.

   

Step 3: Enjoy

1. Enjoy your Reindling with ham and horseradish.

HAPPY EASTER!! :)

With enough coffee I could rule the world!

Alright guys, those of you who know me are probably well aware of my biggest addiction: I'm a coffeeholic! The first thing I do in the morning is getting myself a good cup of strong coffee, I love meeting friends for coffee and my favorite place at University is the coffee vending machine.

While living in the United States I left quite an amount of money at one of the most famous coffee shops: Starbucks Coffee. In bigger cities like NYC there is a Starbucks at every corner and even in Raleigh, where I lived, you can't go by car for more than 10 minutes without driving past at least one Starbucks.

Now, half a year later, I just can't believe that we don't even have ONE single Starbucks here in Graz and I miss my "Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte" a lot.

Therefore you might understand how excited I was when I saw the green-white-black Starbucks label at Penny Markt a few weeks ago.

One of the so called "Seattle Lattes" costs about 1,70€ and although it's not the same as my "Skinny Vanilla Latte" I was on cloud nine.

Are there any other coffeeholics out there? If so you will definitely agree with me and Boromir:

This is the best bad idea we have, Sir!

Hey guys!

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! ;)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/