Pause

Da ich zurzeit nichts zu schreiben habe, mache ich eine kleine Pause bis später diese Woche. Also, bis dann!

Fumetto 2009

As a dedicated comic-reader, Peter used to sweep numerous comic festivals all over Europe in his glorious single days. He knows pretty much most of the comic artists in Europe and loves to borrow comics from the library every week. So it was his dream come true that we drove to Luzern for the International Comic Festival called Fumetto on Saturday. This event has been around for some years, and he told me he has been here before with his friend André, a renown illustrator of children’s books and a comic-lover.

Daylight-Saving Time

Although the outside temperature is 5℃ only, we are in summer time as of today. That means:

Zürich 8AM – Japan 3PM (time difference -7 hours when calling from Japan)
Zürich 4PM – Boston 10AM (time difference +5 hours when calling from East Coast)

For quick check, the world clock on Internet or the clock on Dashboard on Mac comes in handy.

Ristorante Italia

Last night was perhaps the best night out 2009 for me and Peter. Jenny and Fabian felt sorry for our lonely Friday night at home and took us out for dinner. They chose Ristorante Italia, which I always wanted to go. A few years back, Jenny tried to take a group of hot chicks there on Miriam’s hens night, but the evil host turned us away, saying it’s too many people to handle on busy Friday evening.

Chat with My B.F. in Boston

Today Max, my B.F. in Boston, and I chatted briefly. Unfortunately he had to go back to his fly-catching duty, but it was great chatting with him and seeing his paws.

Departures – Trailer

At this year’s Oscar, the Swiss and German directors were squaring off against each other and thinking “I’ll bring home the award for best foreign language film!!” To their surprise, a completely unknown Japanese film called “Departures” (Okuribito おくりびと) has taken the award home.

“Departures” is something like a Japanese version of “Six Feet Under”. A young unemployed goes back to his home town and finds a job as an undertaker. His friends and wife don’t understand why he took such an unpopular job, and he himself is in doubt, until one day he finds his calling. Although I have not seen the movie yet, I am very much looking forward to it. Lots of the Japanese movies don’t get translated, especially in German. So by winning the award, this film gave me a chance to see a Japanese film in the theater in Switzerland. Yey!

“Departures” with English subtitle

“Departures” original Japanese trailer

Official Website (English)

http://www.departures-themovie.com/

SPECTACLÉS

Two girls approached me at the party in Colophon 2009 and took a photo of themselves with my vintage Christian Dior glasses on. Next thing I notice, my glasses are on the cover of their project: “SPECTACLÉS #63 PAIRS“! I am also featured on page 56!! (Photo above)

During the symposium, we saw lots of different glasses, and I think it was smart of the girls to document them as a project.

Weekend in Esslingen am Neckar

We visited Peter’s family in Esslingen am Neckar in Germany this weekend. On Saturday, we started the day with car-washing. I took this photo from inside the car. It was a rare opportunity, because I usually wash the car by myself at a car wash. As a kid, I used to love to sit in a car in an automatic car-washing machine. After the car wash, all the bird droppings from the Youth Hostel in Luxembourg were gone!!

ICE to Stuttgart

The day after I took Monika to the airport, it was my turn to travel. I woke up at 5:40 on Friday morning to catch the 7:00 ICE to Stuttgart. I bought the ticket on Deutsche Bahn website for 19 EUR. For the same train ride, it’s much cheaper than the Click& Rail ticket from SBB for 49 Francs.

At the train station, I discovered for the first time Laugenzopf, the combination of my favorite breads – Laugenbrot and Zopf! With Laugenzopf and mineral water in my bag, I got on ICE and looked for my seat. I did not have a seat reservation, but I figured it won’t be crowded so early in the morning on weekday. Since ICE from Zürich to Stuttgart changes the direction, I wanted to get the seat with a table so I can also switch the direction. As I expected, the train was half empty and I got a table with 4 empty seats for myself!!

To the Airport

Lately I’ve been serving as a taxi driver, taking my friends off to the airport. Last month was my friend who was going back to Japan, and this time was Monika who went to NYC for 2 months. Since I did not have much time to spend with her before her departure, I offered the ride to the airport and chatted non-stop until the very last moment she went through the passport control.