now I’m a hamburger

Tags

family, Germany, Hamburg, miscellaneous, random, thoughts, travel

I’ll be heading off to Germany again later today. This time Hamburg is my destination. When my aunt got sick last year, and I had to discover Berlin alone, we arranged to meet up again this spring. So now I am half packed and nearly ready to go.

Hamburg is a beautiful city and I’m looking forward to visiting a few museums, wandering around town and taking a stroll along the Elbe. An other great attraction of Hamburg is that my little nephew lives there, well so does my brother and his wife. And since it’s my baby brothers birthday on Monday I decided to stay a few days longer and celebrate him growing old. This means I get to tickle, cuddle and chase around his one-and-a-half-year-old son for a couple of days and I am looking forward to his little boy hugs.

Of course my suitcase is filled with goodies for both young and old a collection of my brothers favorite biscuits, polos (peppermint sweets) for my niece, gifts in all shapes and sizes and even some homemade jam for my aunt. But the biggest space is taken up by an undelivered Christmas parcel. For some reason the oh so efficient German post declared my brother “unable to find” and sent the big bulky package back to me. At least it came back and now we’ll just celebrate Christmas in February, slightly better than July anyway.

So while I am getting ready to become a Hamburger for a few days I am enjoying the relish (intentional pun) of preparing for a trip, hoping a few days away will recharge my batteries.

 

Film Review: Mama

Tags

Andrés Muschietti, drama, entertainment, Guillermo del Toro, horror, horror movie, Jessica Chastain, mama, mama review, movie reviews, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, two little girls

Film Review Mama

Guillermo del Toro latest offering Mama is a supernatural horror movie about a mothers love. When businessman Jeffrey (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) kills his wife he flees with his two small daughters Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse). When their father disappears the two little girls are left alone in a run down cabin deep in the woods, well nearly alone.

Five years later the children are found living of berries and insects, completely feral and obsessed with an invisible presence they call “Mama”.  When a child psychiatrist takes an interest in the unusual case Victoria and Lilly are sent to live with their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his goth-rock-chick girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain).

While Annabel is struggling to come to terms with being a “mother” strange happenings around the home become more and more frequent. “Mama’ seems to have moved in with the girls, confusing Victoria and pulling the two sisters apart.

In 2008 Argentinean director Andrés Muschietti made a terrifying short about two girls trying to flee from their demonic mother. In Mama he expands the theme but sadly cannot hold the tension.  It is the age-old problem of how much to show the viewer. While Muschietti does make his audience uneasy in the earlier parts of the movie, when they finally see Mama it all falls apart. The free floating, puppet like figure is too puppet-like to instil actual fear and the battle of the mum’s just feels to forced.

Jessica Chastain does lend a bit of gravitas to the Annabel, however she never does seem to really exude the rock-chick vibe. Overall all characters seem quite one dimensional, their relationships sallow and even the “heart-string” moments are a little to bland.

The much-hyped Mama is another horror film that just doesn’t quite pull it off. A few scary moments, a couple of creepy corridor shots and the odd paranormal activity and a few interesting ideas does not a good film make and even less one that warms a true horror fans heart.

photographic dublin

Tags

Dublin, Ireland, photography, photos

I was going through some photos yesterday and thought I should maybe share a few that I took around Dublin last year.

bikes for all to use

an unfinished building near East Wall

the Liffey

 

a man and his dog

on the quays

A big wheel at the Tall Ship Race

Dublin by night, the big wheel is gone now

taking a break

Tags

brain, brain functions, breaks, health, life stress, mental health issues, mental-health, miscellaneous, random, stress, stress research, well-being, work stress

It’s only been six weeks since the Christmas holidays but I need a break. I find myself yearning for a few lie ins, yearning for time to myself, visions of beaches flitting across my mind and daydreaming of running away and leaving my day-to-day behind.

Luckily for me next week is reading week, breaking up the term into two and giving me a week to catch up on corrections and de-stress for a few days. However I may only be swapping work-stress for leisure -stress as I will be off to Germany for a few days on Friday.

But even though I will be exchanging running from class to class to running from relative to relative and entertaining students to entertaining my one-and-a-half-year old nephew, I am removing myself from my daily routine, distracting myself from my work-life stress.

And while I still will be  daydreaming about a sunny isle and a cocktail with and umbrella in it, I am giving my mind a much needed break from dealing with my every-day stress. Funnily enough this is not only important for our well-being but for how we cope with stress.

Research has shown that our brain functions better when we allow it to relax after work. This is down to something called hormesis, a term used to describe the correlation inducing stress and then allowing an adequate time to relax. In sport this means you workout, put stress on your muscles followed by a period of rest, allowing your muscle to grow and strengthen.

The same thing applies to our brains. Studies have shown that neurons, those tiny building blocks that make up our nervous system, become more resistant if we apply the same idea. Periods of stress followed by periods of rest allow them to strengthen and help them ward of diseases like epilepsy, migraines and even dementia. Interestingly the thing that puts stress on neurons is something we do anyway, to more or less success, THINKING.

But to encourage the hardiness we need we also need to take breaks. Of course the most desired way of doing so is to pack a bag and fly away but since we don’t have enough possibilities to do so we are often left with more  affordable mini-break options. Sleep is one of them, since when we wander off into dreamland our brain can relax and recharge, but even reading a book, watching a film or investing time in our chosen hobby gives  the brain enough distraction from stress and strengths our nervous system. We just need to remember to keep taking those all important breaks.
So with Friday only two sleeps away I will just hold on to my tea-breaks for now and hope that my week long break will be enough to gear me up for the rest of the semester. With the words of the Roman poet Ovid

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.

the white rose

Tags

history, human-rights, miscellaneous, morals and ethics, nazi germany, politics, quotes, religion, Sophie Scholl, sophie scholl the last days, The White Rose, thoughts

Most people know about Anne Frank and her famous dairy but fewer know about Sophie Scholl. She was just 22 when she was executed by the Nazi party for being part of the non-violent resistant group The White Rose.

The university student was arrested on the 18th of February 1943 and was put to death only four days later on the 22nd. Seventy years ago, Sophie and her brother were imprisoned for distributing anti-war leaflets in the University of Munich which was enough to convict them both for treason leading to education by guillotine.

Although Sophie had been part of the Bund Deutscher Maedel (League of German Girls) she soon became very critical of their views. Heavily influenced through her father, who had strong Christian beliefs, and the experience of seeing her brother being arrested for participating in Die Deutsche Jugendbewegung (The German Youth Movement), a collection of youth work organisation separated from the Nazi Youth, which the Nazi state did not allow, Sophie became involved with the White Rose.

The group didn’t have any particular religious affiliation, however most of the members had strong christian beliefs. They were motivated by morals and ethics and were concerned about how the Nazi party discourage the freedom of thought. The intellectual group produced six leaflets opposing Hitlers dictatorship and distributed them in the University of Munich.

Although only 22 Sophie Scholl was a true hero, a woman at the beginning of her life, willing to sacrifice all for what she believed in. Her parting words as she walked up to the guillotine were:

How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?

If you want to know more about Sophie Scholl check out the films:

Sophie Scholl: The last days (2005) 

 The White Rose (1982)

Or the books:

Sophie Scholl and The White Rose by Annette Dumbach

The White Rose  by Inge Scholl (her sister)

retro passion

Tags

80s, coffee, collecting, hoarding, mental health issues, mental-health, miscellaneous, OCD, photography, psychology, retro

I am a collector, always have been, probably always will be. As a little girl my collections where stationary, pens and cats, as a teenager I had a passion for flavoured teas, multicolored scarves and fairy-tales. Now I don’t really have any one collection, although my shoe ornaments seem to be sprinting ahead, but I love a good find in a charity shop or a flea market rummage. Anything retro or a little off-beat can make my heart beat faster,  a smile spread involuntary from ear to ear and a warm glow steep  throughout my body. I think they call it a buyers rush, but for me it’s the joy of finding something with a story attached to it.

So when I was searching for an 80s inspired dress for my Pretty in Pink night out, I couldn’t believe my luck when I spied a bright red coffee pot and jug of the same era. The white Nescafe logo on red and simple lines are true to it’s early eighties origins and even though I don’t really drink coffee I think it is the perfect accessory for any breakfast table.

But while I was looking for the perfect place to store my newly washed crockery a thought occurred to me, when does collecting become hoarding? At what point does your attachment to things grow too strong, leaving you helpless and unable to part with the inanimate?

A British study from 2012 showed that a third of all adults collect something, but only  between 2-5% are actually hoarders. And while the world seems fascinated with this phenomenon, Hoarding, Buried Alive (my guilty pleasure) is now in its third year and 5th series, not many of us know very much about the condition.

The American Psychiatric Association is currently revising their  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, renaming it DSM-5 when it is published later this year. In it the association will name six criteria to help diagnose hoarders, hoping that this will create more awareness for the illness and encourage people to come forward.

Since many of us seem to have a passion for collecting here is a boiled down list of the newly defined hoarding criteria:

• Hoarding leaves the workplace and home so cluttered that it is rendered unusable and unlivable.
• No matter what the actual value of an item the afflicted is unable to discard or part with it.
• Discarding items causes extreme stress and persistent anxiety, encouraging the afflicted to save items.
• The individual experiences clinical stress and impairment in social, work and other areas of functioning, including maintaining a safe home and work environment
• Dementia is not the cause of this impairment, nor or any other medical conditions
• The hoarding is not part of another psychological disorder such as major depression or OCD

Through this list hoarding is now a stand-alone disorder, no longer attached to OCD. The authors of DSM-5 believe that hoarding can occur even without the obsessive compulsive side.

However since there is still no “diagnostic” criteria for collecting, making it hard to see when it begins to overlap with hoarding, I think for now I will just hope that my passion for retro is still within the boarders of ‘normal’. And as long as I can still see my floor and have space to put things away I think I am safe.

 

time warp

Tags

80s, 80s movies, beauty, Cindy Lauper, converse sneakers, fashion, Girls want to have fun, John Hughes, Madonna, miscellaneous, movies, Prettu in Pink, prom king, random, spiked punch, style, The Breakfast Club

I am typing this with orange fingernails and puffed-up hair, leftovers from my trip back in time. Last night friends and I traveled trough the years and landed in an eighties themed prom-night and a midnight viewing of Pretty in Pink.

A true child of the eighties, just twelve when the film came out, I am a big fan of John Hughes and his films have probably helped form a lot of my worldviews in general and idea about love in specific. My all time favourite is The Breakfast Club, a big crush on Judd nelson was a given, but I think it was the music and fashion that had a long lasting impact. And while I still love the music, the fashion just leaves me amazed at the collection of bad tastes the eighties managed to assemble.

So last night I searched for my inner Cindy Lauper and Madonna (the good one of the eighties) and got all dressed up. A big scarf tied up into my curls, an array of long pears and necklaces dangling around my neck, a stripy fingerless glove (of course just the one) bangles jingling on the other wrist, leggings and a pair of green converse sneakers adorning feet.

The evening was perfect with all guests looking worse then the last, Dallas and Denver inspired puff-sleeve dresses competing for who was the biggest Joan Collins look alike, power shoulder-pads forcing people to enter doors sideways and lots of puffed up hair, freaky colours and polyester perfecting the eighties allusion. And yes there were balloons, a prom king and queen and even some grotesquely coloured spiked punch.

We danced, laughed and suffered along with Andie, cheered Duckie and booed Steff. But sadly it was time to leave the eighties behind and return to the now but since I can’t quite give up those happy days, brilliant tunes and ugly fashion. I have decided to watch Girls Want To Have Fun this afternoon,  a large cup of tea and some chocolate at hand to watch Sarah Jessica Parker chase her dream and dance.

odd combinations

Tags

fluffernutter, food, frendship, love, miscellaneous, opposites, random, relationships, sticky sweetness, thoughts

Last night I was feeling a little bit peckish, but not for chocolate but definitely for something sweet. When the mandarin didn’t quite hit the spot I stared into my kitchen cupboard for a while, waiting for inspiration of the culinary kind to appear. And suddenly it dawned on my, how about the left over marshmallows from last week and some peanut butter, and it turned out to be just perfect.

Now I am not pregnant nor do I normally even like marshmallows very much, but for some odd reason the idea of the sticky sweetness and the crunchy, saltiness of the peanut-butter was exactly the right kind of sweet that I was looking fr.

And while I sat and chewed, a smile on my face, I started wondering about all those odd things that work, even if they shouldn’t. I suppose it is the whole discussion whether or not opposites attract. Some of my closest friends are so very different from me, but I love them dearly and respect their opinions. And when it comes to love we often feel drawn to that one person who seems to live a completely different life.

However studies show that while we may feel an initial attraction, if there isn’t enough common ground between people their relationships seem doomed to fail. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree on everything but a study from 2005 (University of Iowa) shows that if people have similar personalities they are more likely to have a long lasting relationship. The reason behind this is that when we are with likeminded people we feel validated.

However as we are flawed we seem to think that we want something different and get hurt when it doesn’t work out. So maybe it’s a bit like my peanut-butter and marshmallow concoction, it is great for a change of taste but if you were to have it every night you’d soon get sick of it.

PS: I never knew that peanut-butter and marshmallows together is called fluffernutter, and there seems to be a lot of fans

sping in cork

Tags

cherry blossoms, cork, miscellaneous, nature, outdoors, photography, photos, plants, random, spring-time, UCC, University Cork

Since I’ve had a busy day today, my head is spinning and a stack of corrections is glaring accusingly at me, I decided to just share a few snaps I took on Saturday in Cork.

It was a sunny morning and as I strolled up to Cork University (UCC) I could help but enjoy the spring-time feeling around me. But what filled me with joy was the sight of the first few brave cherry blossoms.

good writing

Tags

book store, books, bookstore, Dublin, photography, writing, writing tips

A friend of mine posted this yesterday. She spotted it in a bookstore here in Dublin, it made me smile and I even shared it with my students this morning.

So for all you writers out there a few tips on how to write good!