St. Patrick's Day Crochet Shamrocks

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Even though I'm The Crafty German, I've got some Irish blood in me, so I have to celebrate and remember to wear green. But, it can be easy to forget, especially on a work day, so here's a quick crochet project to get in the spirit and ensure you'll have something green on you.

Last year, I had only been working with my company for a little over a month on St. Patrick's Day. It was a small company though so I was already getting along with my coworkers. Apparently a coworker hired a month before I was had the same idea as me, because she brought in pins for all of us and I brought in these crochet shamrocks. 

I modified a pattern I found to make flowers for a hat to make some 3-leaf clovers.  I used 1 piece of yarn instead of two pieces and repeated step 2 for three petals instead of five or six.  Then, I finished with a chain of 6, turned, and single crocheted in each chain stitch.  Lastly, I did a slip stitch into the ring to finish.

They came out really cute and hardly take any time to make!  You can even sew safety pins to the back to make them wearable.

My Nerdy Valentine

I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's day, except for the chocolate and the excuses to get crafty.  I also like getting stuff for the Tall Guy (who is the one getting me the chocolate) and coming up with some creative ideas.

Chocolates and Nightmare Before Christmas.  He knows the way to my heart.

I try to buy or make something he'll like, which often tends to be nerdy.  Last year, I made a card based on something I found on Pinterest.

Mario is Red, Sonic is Blue

Will you be my player 2?

It definitely took a while, but totally worth it.  Who wouldn't want a Nintendo valentine with Mario and Sonic?  I took out some fine-tip colored markers, printer paper, graph paper, and pictures of Mario and Sonic.  I'm nerdy enough to know that Mario is 8-bit and Sonic is 16-bit (originally), so each pixel for Mario would be four for Sonic.  Unfortunately, the squares were too big on the graph paper I had to do four squares for each Mario pixel, so I colored Sonic a quarter of a square at a time.  Each Mario pixel was one square and each Sonic pixel was 1/4 square.

Easy level

Hard Level

I sat at my computer staring at pictures to try to get it just right.  Of course, printing would be easier, but I was out of colored ink and too cheap to buy any.  Plus, as tough as it was, it was really fun.  The controllers were also pretty easy, but I had some difficulty drawing the wires in a heart shape.  Also, I used crayons, which worked, but pencils, pens, or fine-tip markers would have been easier.

Crayons: something every 20-something year old needs

He liked it, but he was definitely more excited about his cookie dough oreos.  Can't really blame him!

Filme Friday - Schlussmacher

Since Valentine's Day is next weekend, what better time for a romantic comedy Filme Friday?  This month's movie is "Schlussmacher", which roughly translates to "The Break-up Man."  I wasn't sure what to expect and was hesitant to watch because the poster on IMDb looked to have more romance and drama than comedy.  It turned out to be a lot like American romantic comedies, with a little bit of a "The Hangover" feel to it.  Another lesson in not judging a book by its cover!

The bottom poster works a lot better
(Source: [top] IMDb, [bottom] ontab.tv)

The main character, Paul (the handsome blonde on the posters) works for a company that specializes in ending relationships.  Paul's job is to break the new to people that their significant other is dumping them.  He remains professional and does what he can to give them their "happy end."  He's great at what he does, though it's clearly affecting his personal life.  He can't fully commit to a relationship, which causes the woman he's seeing to doubt whether they should be together.  His own romantic relationship is put on the backburner for most of the movie though as he deals with his latest client.

Paul and his "girlfriend", not as perfect as they seem (source: www.listal.com)

Paul is faced with his most important job yet.  If he is successful, he will get a huge promotion and become a partner in the company.  After he thinks this job is finished, things start falling apart.  His girlfriend says she's not happy with the way things are, and he realizes that Toto, the man who was his latest break-up victim, is a little crazy.  Trying to smooth things over, Paul gives Toto a ride, and loses his drivers license in the process.  Not wanting to tell his boss, and not having anyone else to turn to, Paul uses Toto as a way of getting around.  He's faced with trying to protect, control, and console Toto, and ends up lying to him a lot.  The two men have many misadventures, many of which are hilarious.  Of course, as is the case with movies like this, they learn some sort of lesson along the way.

Not being able to sleep alone: one of Toto's many quirks (source: meetup.com)

The movie is more of a lighthearted comedy than anything else.  It's fun to watch and not a chick-flick, despite being a romantic comedy.  There is violence, profanity, and sex in the movie, so it's at least a PG-13 rating, if not higher.  Parental discretion advised.  I watched without subtitles, but there are definitely versions with subtitles out there.  You don't need to be fluent in German to follow the story, but you might miss a few jokes without a translation.  It's a great date movie or one to watch alone for a few laughs.

(source: www.thimfilm.at)

Chase the Chill

I'm a crocheter, as evidenced by earlier posts.  So, I love seeing articles about crocheters and knitters, especially when they're using their skills to do good for others.  That's why I was excited to see this article about a group called "Chase the Chill."

Scarves on every tree (source: abcnews.go.com)

I'd read about the group about a year ago, and had it in the back of my mind since then.  Apparently the group (which has a facebook page) started this "yarnbombing" event in 2010 in Eaton, Pennsylvania.  The group collects handmade scarves and then hangs them up around the community on places like trees and statues.  This isn't just to display artwork though; each scarf includes a tag that says it's free to anyone who wants it.  While the group's goal is a nontraditional form of charity, where those struggling to stay warm in the winter can find a free scarf, anyone who needs or wants a scarf can take one.

Even includes washing instructions (source: abcnews.go.com)

I've donated scarves before and wanted to make prayer shawls, but doing something like this is tempting.  Maybe I'll look into starting a Connecticut chapter!  The article explains that people started a group in Georgia and included hats as well.  I just need to find some interested knitters and crocheters in Connecticut!

H&R Block "Nein nein nein" Commercial

I love commercials (and anything else) that use foreign languages for comedy.  The other day, I saw one of many new H&R Block commercials advertising filing state tax returns for $9.99.  The message didn't click (I missed the end of the commercial because I was laughing) until I saw a different commercial, but it's hilarious example of false friends.  Hope it's as funny for some of you as it is for me!

Filme Friday: Dinner for One (1963)

This Filme Friday has a short (less than 20 minutes long) British film that's available for free online! Thank you youtube!

The movie is "Dinner for One" and it's a German New Year's Eve tradition. I wrote about my New Year's Eve Rummelpott experience on Föhr a couple of years ago, but while I was out singing for drinks, my mom was watching this short movie with family (and also toasting the new year with drinks poured by strangers parading down the street while some neighbors set off fireworks on the beach). While I can't enjoy a Föhrer celebration every year, I've made this movie part of my tradition to end the last two years. Then after the ball drops, I watch the pilot episode of Futurama. End one year with German culture, start the next with geek culture. 

(source: filmaffinity.com)

It's not really clear why watching "Dinner for One" became a tradition, but half of Germans watch it each year. Even stranger, it never caught on in English-speaking countries. In fact, most people in English-speaking countries have never heard of it. 

The sketch was originally written by British author Lauri Wylie in the 1920's. It was performed decades later on stage and discovered in 1962 by Peter Frankenfeld and Heinz Dunkhase, who decided to broadcast it and film it. The sketch aired occasionally then found its New Year's Eve spot in 1972. Somehow, it became a cult classic and tradition in Germany and other countries. 

I watched it blindly, not knowing anything about the plot. If you want to be surprised, stop reading here until you watch it. But if you want to know what you're getting into, read on.

Watch it!

The short comedy only has two actors: 90 year old Miss Sophie and her butler, James. She is celebrating her birthday and wants "the same procedure as every year", which includes serving her 4 friends, who she has outlived. To compensate, James pretends to be each guest in turn. Part of this act involves drinking their (alcoholic) beverages while making a toast for each course. These 16 drinks in the 20 minutes of the sketch leave James more than a little inebriated and result in some slapstick comedy. It's hard to spoil, even telling that much because the acting is the real reason to watch. 

James is an already-clumsy but devoted butler and the actor does a wonderful job feigning increased drunkenness. His act alone is hilarious. But, it would be incomplete without Miss Sophie. She encapsulates the upper-class British stereotype perfectly and it's amazing that she manages to keep a straight face through the antics.

One of many drinks! (source: expert-technomarkt.de)

The entire skit is predictable (perhaps not the very end), but that's part of its charm. I could also see drinking games and parties centered around the film adding to its appeal. But the greatest thing about it is that it is a strange bit of culture that manages to bring a country together. It's something everyone can enjoy and only requires 20 minutes of attention.

Whether you've seen it or not, I recommend adding it to your New Year's traditions. 

Filme Friday: Die Mauer - Berlin '61 (2006)

I had a long list of movies to use for this month, but for this last one, I ended up choosing "Die Mauer - Berlin '61", one I had never seen or heard of before this week.  This was a little off the beaten path.  It's a made-for-TV movie from 2006.  Considering that I've watched my fair share of Lifetime movies (guilty pleasure), I gave it a shot.  I did not regret it.

(source: wom.de)

The movie take a slightly different approach than the others I've reviewed and shows a different kind of love story: the love of parents for their child.  Also, unlike the others, its main focus is the early years of the Berlin Wall.  This new perspective worked well.  At first, I found it hard to follow the story and understand how it related to the division of Germany, so I went on the film's Wikipedia page within the first few minutes and accidentally spoiled the first quarter for myself.  Regardless, I still enjoyed the film and found it gripping.

The movie starts on a train before the Berlin Wall was built, which initially threw me off.  After the initial scene, the film cuts to the main characters, a family of three, getting ready for the evening.  The parents are going to a friend's birthday party in what will soon become West Berlin and their teenage son is staying at a friend's house for the night.  It is evident already that the people the son is staying with and the people hosting the birthday party have a different outlook on life.

The parents are on their way home, when suddenly, everyone around them is panicking.  Just like reality, the city was divided without warning.  The parents don't want to return to the East and be trapped, but they also want to be reunited with their son.  Little do they know how much his life is changing as his friend's mom works to mold him into the perfect East German soldier.  Soon, the beginning of the movie becomes clear and helps explain why the family remains separated.

The son being molded into an East German citizen (source: cinefacts.de)

I've mentioned before that I was only alive for a year while the wall was still up, so my knowledge is limited to other people's stories.  But, while many account years of separation from family members, a lot of the other movies about the subject don't focus on that aspect.  Despite the few extra layers, the movie was about parents trying to make a better life for their family after the city was divided, which included attempting to rescue and even just contact their son.  I found myself even more invested in their journey than that of the star-crossed lovers in Das Versprechen.

Even though the beginning was initially confusing to me, the movie was full of suspense from the first minute.  The viewer is kept wondering what will come from each action and effort.  The characters struggle and fail in realistic ways, but small successes bring hope.  The final few scenes had my full attention.

The father eventually started losing hope (source: cinefacts.de)

The setting was also interesting.  It's almost the opposite of Goodbye Lenin in that the movie shows only the first few months after the wall went up.  There's a summary at the end of the movie telling what happened in the following years, but the acting ends while the wall is still in its early stages.  Just as the characters in Goodbye Lenin were shocked by how quickly the wall came down, it's shocking here how quickly the citizens of Berlin were shut off from each other.

However, from this film, it seems like something like the wall wasn't totally unexpected.  Not only did the family experience some oppression, but some citizens, like the friend's mother had already bought into the East German ideology.  Soldiers were immediately ready to guard the border and citizens were trapped on one side or the other.  Some of the most heartbreaking scenes show loved ones seeing each other beyond the border but not being able to do anything about it.

Looking for their son beyond the wall (source: kino.de)

This was a much better movie than I expected.  Granted, I expected to be disappointed, but it was a great film.  Unfortunately, it's a little hard to find.  It is on Amazon.de, but it's Region 2, which won't play on US DVD players or computers.  There are ways around it and most computers can switch regions a limited number of times, but if you find a copy of it, take the opportunity to watch it.