Tom Cruise and Daniel Craig in Austria

Hey guys!

As you might know the new Mission: Impossible 5 and Spectre are to be appearing in a few months or rather at the end of 2015. Both films contain scenes which were filmed in Austria. Mission: Impossible 5 for instance was filmed in Vienna at the Opera House, amongst others countries, of course. By the way, it is not the first time that Tom Cruise was in Austria because of a movie. With Knight and Day starring Cameron Diaz he was in Salzburg for some scenes. Tom Cruise somehow feels attracted to Austria, doesn't he? In my opinion this is great. It's no harm when some celebrities come to Austria and if it's only for a movie and just for a few days, making Austria a little more familiar to the people...  Spectre in turn set some scenes in East Tyrol. The crew waited for the time when a lot of snow is falling. I think the scenes required this grayish and stormy atmosphere. Daniel Craig, formally known as Bond, James Bond, even said: "You have so much snow, snow, snow ..." As far as I am informed some scenes were even set in the Alps in the skiing region in Sölden. If you ask me it is great and excellent publicity for Austria when celebrities come here because it is very small and unknown, often to be mixed up with Germany or rather Australia. When famous actors and/or actresses make a movie here in Austria, people might recognize it when watching the final result: Oh, right, that is in Austria, that little country in the middle of Europe. I think Austria is a beautiful country and absolutely worth knowing it, not to mention living here. :)




All right, I hope you know a little bit more now about the filming in Austria of these two great upcoming movies. ;)

Bye and have a nice day!
Kathi

Maybebop – the unique and brilliant

Hey guys,

How is it going? If you have read my post about music (Music is all you need), you might have noticed that I'm very sold on music. The world would be grayish if music wouldn't exist. Music brings colors and life to the world. It has functions: It can reflect your emotions, expresses yourself. Whether you feel sad, happy, angry, disappointed or enamored, ... Furthermore music makes people dance and to get together. Music simply makes us feel good or better. As to that, I want to introduce you to an incredibly awesome A cappella band from Germany: Maybebop.

This group consists of four extremely talented guys who cover songs but also write their own songs, mainly in German. They do all kinds of genres: pop, jazz, rock and so on and so forth. What I appreciate about them: They aren't just standing on stage and sing but dance their choreographies and make faces and the like. One more thing which is pretty special, unique and insane (in a good way, of course): During a concert at some point the audience has to yell a few terms that come to their minds, choose a genre and then Maybeop spontaneously create a new song. The results always are so fun and brilliant. I'm absolutely not kidding! I can tell you, I experienced it myself. When I saw this I was completely weirded out. Yup, these guys got the music in them. The first time I saw them live (that was in 2013 at the Orpheum in Graz) ... No, let's start this way: I arrived there, didn't expect very much and left, feeling absolutely overzealously. During the concert I couldn't get enough of listening to them. When the concert was over I had the feeling that it just began! In my opinion Maybebop could have continued with singing for hours. ;-D Fortunately they will be giving a concert in Graz at the Orpheum in November this year. I'm so looking foward to it!! Can't wait! ;-)

To summarize: I really can recommend this band and you absolutely should give them a listen! They are totally worth it. :)

Check out these links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5NSHthWYyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZIq_3pO57c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT10NpDlBEE

The most delightful place I have ever been to is ...

Hey ho!

As to we had to write a paragraph in English about a place we (not) enjoyed being there, I thought I could post this writing in here, too. So, here we go:

The most delightful place I have ever been to is Copenhagen in Denmark. I’m sure you have these cute colorful rows of houses in your mind when you think of this small city and this is exactly where I’ve been. Between these rows of houses was a river where sailing boats and sightseeing boats were either tied up or sailed up and down. I walked along the river and passed a small-sized waffle shop. It smelled delicious. I was on the verge of buying a waffle because that scent was about to make my sense of smell go crazy but I managed to resist. A bit later I found myself at the main square which was very spacious but also compact. Small booths were scattered throughout the square and street artists were showing their talents. I paid particular attention to one artist: He was creating pictures with graffiti cans. That was incredible. At the beginning I had no idea what the pictures would look like but the results were fantastic! I’ve never seen anything that impressive before. I  even gave some money to him and I usually don’t give money to street artists or beggars but this guy absolutely deserved it. The alleyways which lead away from the main square consisted of lots of shops: fashion stores, quaint souvenir shops, smallish book stores etc. There really was everything! So if you have never been to Copenhagen, I can totally recommend going there because the city and its people simply are charming.

Bye and see you soon.

Kathi

Whoopsydasies!

Hi people!

I just noticed that I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm sorry! I completely forgot.

Well, I am an 18-year-old girl from Austria and my name's Kathi, as you might know by now. I started studying translation studies at the University of Graz this Wintersemester. Unfortunately it is not going so well and this is why I am going to quit. Instead of studying I'm thinking of becoming a dancing teacher because I love dancing. When I was a child I had ballet lessons. By now, I've been attending dancing courses since September 2014 ... I would like to be in the dancing school and dance all the time. You know, dancing changes me. (Positively of course.) It already made me more self-confident. I think that this is pretty amazing! Anyway, I also love my family and animals, horse riding, reading books, listening to music, watching movies or TV and singing. – I have been singing in a choir for almost two years now and I'm still overwhelmed when all four singing voice groups (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) sing together. It sounds so awesome! :-) I've also played a few instruments some years back. When I was a kid, I played the recorder (classic, right? ;-D), I then switched to the flute and in the end I played the piano. I think I stopped playing the piano the previous year. Now my voice is my instrument. :) Changing the subject: I mentioned animals and horse riding before. Well, I grew up with animals and I absolutely can't imagine living without my pets. Concerning horse riding: I have been riding for nine or ten years now and since seven years my mum and me have got our own horse. All in all, I got two cats, a dog and a horse. Full house of animals, right?

By the way, the reason why I set up this blog is because our English teacher at University told us to. :-P I have never posted blogs before, thus I am new with that. If I make any mistakes, I'm sorry!

Uhm, what else to write? . . . Oh, I got something: One dream of mine is to go to the USA. I don't know why want to go there so badly. I just want to stay there for a while, preferably in California in L.A. That'd be more than great!! I'm afraid that it is going to take a while until I am able to leave for a while but I'm telling you, one day ... ;-)

Okay, I hope you guys and me are going to have a lot of fun together! =)

Greetings,

Kathi

Music is all you need

Hi guys!

I have a question: Am I the only person where the stereo equipment is turned on and music is playing almost all day long? By now I actually minimized the content of listening to music, for my parents are a little in a snit because I'm always listening the same songs.

By the way, to what music do you all listen? I actually listen to every kind of music, except heavy metal, dubstep and the like. All these genres that only consist of electronics and no real instruments. In my opinion this is no music anymore, but noise. One more genre I also don't listen to are Schlager. (German and Austrian folk music) I honestly can't stand that. I mean, I really love my home country, but this type of music I can't go along with. All of these Schlager are the same. Everything sounds similarly, the lyrics are, in my opinion, not that special ... Anyway, I even like classical music, especially Antonio Vivaldi, chanson, jazz but also pop and (hard) rock etc. You see, I am quite multifaceted.

I have another question for you guys: Which interprets or bands do like? Are you familiar with the Canadian band Walk off the Earth (Wote)? If not, you better go on YouTube and have a look! I can tell you: These guys are marvelous, I LOVE them! They mainly cover songs but in my opinion their covers are always way better than the original version. If you know them, I'm sure you can agree with me that these guys are absolutely awesome. They are so markedly talented and variegated. I have the empression that everyone of the band's members can play any instrument and they always sing for several voices. Moreover they are a lot of fun and just likeable. And another reason why I like them so much: One can see that they love what they are doing, they're having fun when they are making music. One of their own songs is named Gang of Rhythm and I think this is more than appropriate. That troop is just meant for each other and I hope that we are going to hear a lot from them in the near but also in the distant future.

"Peace in, you guys." (Wote)

Check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ6rv2ZC3Kc

To what writer would I award a prize?

Hi peeps!

As to my latest blog was about books, I am now going to write about three authors, whom I would nominate for a prize and finally to whom of them I would give a prize.

Firstly, there is the writer from New Zealand named Nalini Singh, who has been writing numerous paranormal romance novels. At the moment I am reading the psy-changeling-row of books where humans can transmute into animals. Anyway, the books' stories are amazing. It is incredibly thrilling and the best part: There's always a love story included. That is a must-have, at least for me.

Secondly, I nominate Kerstin Gier from Germany. I've read a lot of novels from her and her writing is extraordinary and so damn fun. – I cried tears because of laughing so much. But her books aren't just fun, they're also thrilling, romantic and sad. Ms. Gier includes every emotion. Her novels go down so well that one trilogy (the Ruby Red-trilogy) was even picturized. The last film version is still missing, but I am sure that it will be done very soon... It doesn't happen very often that a German fantasy book-trilogy is picturized. Hats off, Ms. Gier!

Thirdly, there's David Safier, also from Germany. He is in the same category as Kerstin Gier is. He is writing novels. I've also read quite a lot of books from him. His writing is very fun and excellent. Mr. Safier includes all emotions in his books, just like Ms. Gier does. His stories are not just for laughing, but also for thinking about somethig and making sense of something. One of his novels (the German title is Jesus liebt mich) was filmed as well, so Mr. Safier did a good job, as you can see.

Now I am going to award my favorite writer out of these three. The winner is: Kerstin Gier. I've chosen her because I simply love her outstanding writing and her stories. Furthermore I love laughing and she really makes me laugh. She makes me laugh so much that I cry tears and my stomach hurts. If you ask me, not a lot of authors are able to do so.

Books, books and once more ... books. Or rather eBooks?

Hi guys,

How is it going? Are you having relaxing Christmas vacations? Well, I do because whenever I have time I read a book, but not during my vacations only ... I either read a real book or I read on my kindle. Does anyone of you guys own a kindle, by the way? If you don't and your book shelves are on the verge of exploding: What are you waiting for?!

A kindle is absolutely convenient: It is smaller than a usual book, it is very light and it is very slim. Thus a kindle needs few space, it does not disturb you when putting it into your bag and there's no extra weight. You can download more than a 1000 books. To put it in a nutshell: one gadget, more than 1000 books in your bag! Amazing, isn't it? The kindle that I own only comprises books, but the latest models already include audio books, music and games etc. So it actually is a smartphone, it's just that you can't make calls.

As I have mentioned before, I am quite keen on books. In fact, I am a bookworm. My favorite types of books are fantasy books including love stories, romances and novels. When I was a child I predominantly read stories about horses but even back then some of these books sometimes were fantasy books about horses. Here, elfes and dwarfes and the like appeared. Yeah, the good old times, right? Anyway, I outgrew of it and now I've been reading the types of books I've just mentioned above. And you guys, what genres do you prefer?

Greetings,
Kathi