Slut / Easter

The band, not the derogatory word for promiscuous people. They played a concert last Friday at the Abart in Zurich, and I thought it was great. It was really nice to re-discover them, since I had only listened to them during a brief period in '05 or so.

Apart from that I spent the weekend in a friend's cottage up on the mountain in the canton of Appenzell. In the spirit of the region we killed a bottle of Appenzeller and generally had a good time, including taking a bath out in the snow in an old bathtub with water heated up by a huge ass fire beneath the tub and getting an early start into the BBQ-ing season (outside. in the snow fall. in the dark. yes) .

Ken Lee

No comment.

Me? Stressed?

Never! Actually, that's almost true. I'm a very upbeat and laid back person normally. But this whole applying for jobs stuff is starting to really get to me - I'm nervous all the time and cringe when I notice I sent out something that had a stupid little mistake in it that will probably cost me the interview. In addition, every day the deadline for my thesis comes closer. I still have enough time to do it right, but I'm still starting to panic. I find feeling this way very disconcerting, I'm not used to this at all. Can't someone just give me a job so I can be done with it?

It would also be nice, if the problems (big 'uns) some of my loved ones are having, could magically be solved. Really, that would be quite nice.

A Small Step For a Food Critic...

...but a giant leap for mum's restaurant: coverage in the Sonntagsblick! Congrats!

Recruitment

The recruitment season is upon us. This means various high-profile companies descend on the Universities like flies and try to pick out the goodies among the students. Everyone with exceptional grades, work experience, time spent abroad, extracurricular activities, great language skills and a low number of semesters until graduation, is the human equivalent of the Holy Grail. Right now I'm hoping that this Holy Grail-person is as fictional as it sounds, although I think I actually have met people like that. So I'm hoping that there are fewer Holy Grail-people than the companies want to recruit.


What really annoys me though, is that looking at all these company profiles, reading application guides, trying to polish my CV and filling out various online profiles for these recruitment events prevents me from doing what I should be doing: spending quality time with my thesis and the pile of books that goes with it. Damnit.

Oscars - The Aftermath

So, my Monday was really productive, as you've probably guessed. So were Tuesday and Wednesday, but I can't blame that on the Oscars, really.

A few things to add to my coverage:

- The two sound editing/mixing presenters were Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill. Actors, not writers. Oopsie.

- Brad Renfro wasn't the only one they left out of the dead people-montage. Roy Scheider died a couple of days too late to be considered. He'll probably show up in next year's montage.

- I don't remember most of Jon Stewart's jokes, but one I really liked was when he mentioned all the pregnant ladies in the audience (Nicole Kidman, Jessica Alba, Cate Blanchett), called them "nominees", opened an envelope and said: "...and the baby goes to: Angelina Jolie!".

Thanks to everyone who actually bothered to read the whole thing! Turns out, actually several people did. Thanks, I appreciate it! And however long it took you, to get through it - take solace in the fact, that it took me much longer to watch the actual telecast and type it all up, so in a way, I have saved you a lot of time, not wasted it!;-)

ETA: For a list of Jon's best one-liners of the night, click here.

Oscars 2008 - Live Blog Part 4: The Show II

Penelope Cruz presents Best Foreign Language Film (with a Spanish accent!). The Oscar goes to Die Fälscher, the Austrian nominee. Let's hear that accent, dude. He talks about Nazis. Hollywood loves that, that's why the movie won.

Patrick Dempsey presents the third song nominated from Enchanted. You know what this means? Bathroom break!

John Travolta presents Best Original Song. The Oscar goes to the song from Once. So the Enchanted-guys were right, their multiple nominations cancelled each other out. The winners are really happy. The guy may be Irish, but I'm really bad at placing English accents. And the poor girl didn't get to say anything, the orchestra had already started.

Steven Spielberg-retrospective to lead us into commercials. Time-check: 04.50am. By the way, "Resident Evil" sounds better with the ominous, mystical promotional trailer announcement voice than "Madagascar".

Jon Stewart gets the Best Song - girl back onto the stage, so she can also say her thankyous. Awww (by the way, this is "awwww" number three of the night, for those of you who are counting).

Cameron Diaz presents Achievement in Cinematography. The Oscar goes to There Will Be Blood. Dude was nominated for Goodnight and Good Luck, but didn't win. He's thanking people in a medium boring way. Not funny, no accent, but not yawn-inducing.

Hillary Swank presents the "Geez, all these people died last year?"-montage. Names I actually recognized: Ingmar Bergman. Heath Ledger. They didn't show Brad Renfro, which is kinda mean. He was even younger than Ledger!

Commercials. Classy timing. Time-check: 5.05am CET.

Amy Adams presents Best Original Score. The Oscar goes to Atonement. I'm starting to notice that these people are all white. All of them. All categories, almost all nominees (except for Ruby Dee). I guess I shouldn't be surprised, should I? The winner is boring, by the way. He has an accent, but I can't place it, so no bonus points for him, sorry.

Tom Hanks presents a satellite video connection to Bagdad. Soldiers are presenting Best Documentary, I think. Could be Short Documentary. Treehouse won. Two women who are very happy and hug Tom Hanks. One of them talks a lot and cries, the other woman says something about 38 minutes, so I think this was indeed for Short Documentary.

Ah, now Tom Hanks presents Best Documentary Feature. Iraq or American Healthcare? The suspense! And the Oscar goes to Taxi to the Dark Side. So neither Iraq nor American Healthcare - Afghanistan and Guantánamo it is!

Retrospective to lead us into commercials, this time with Elton John. Time-check: 5.20am CET.

Harrison Ford presents Best Original Screenplay. I'm rooting for Juno, since I have actually seen Juno. Probably Michael Clayton, though. And the Oscar goes to Diablo Cody for Juno! Yay!! This will probably stay the biggest win for Juno tonight, the competition's just too tough (i.e., too dark and serious). Diablo Cody used to be a stripper and she looks exactly like someone who used to be a stripper. But she's cute and she thanks the appropriate people and sheds a few tears. Awww (number 4!).

Commercials. Wtf? Time-check 5.25am CET.

Best Leading Actor retrospective means it is time for Best Leading Actor, I guess. Presenter is last year's Best Leading Actress, Helen Mirren. I'm gonna say Daniel Day-Lewis will take this one. No suspense there. Let's make it official - the Oscar goes to Daniel Day-Lewis. Wonder if he'll dedicate it to Heath Ledger (whom he did not know personally) again? Nope, all the appropriate people are thanked (wife, director, etc.). Especially Paul Thomas Anderson (the director, I think?) and also daddy and grandpa. Who would've thought such an eccentric actor could be so boring?

Commercials. Again. Time-check: 05.35am CET. The commercials really aren't too bad, by the way. The last few have consisted solely of trailers of Oscar nominated movies. So I was able to actually get an idea about the ones I haven't seen (which would be all but Juno).

Director retrospective. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, that it may be time for Best Director. And hey, I'm right! Martin Scorsese, who won last year (finally!) gets to present. And the Oscar goes to Joel Coen and Ethan Coen! Wow, good night for these two. Which one of them is married to Frances McDormand (the lead in Fargo) again? I'll have to check. Ah, it's Joel. Now is that the shorter or the taller one? Ok, I looked it up. It's the tall one. All righty then.

Denzel Washington presents Best Picture (damn, he looks old!). I'm guessing No Country For Old Men will take it, after the run the Coens had. And the Oscar goes to No Country For Old Men! Up on the stage, for a third time, the Coen brothers and some other producers. One of them talks a LOT. But this was the last award, so no Orchestra of Doom.

Stewart says goodbye. It's over. And I guess I'm off to bed! I don't think anyone will ever read this, but it was fun to write! My gift to me, or something.