The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

"With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin, the new guest at The Coach and Horses, is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling: he has developed a process that has made him invisible. Driven to murder, the horror of his fate will destroy his mind..."

That's what it says on the back of the penguin edition and surely a good short introduction to the book.

The story itself is quite good and I'm sure that the simple thought of an invisible man running around town threatening people was very scary indeed in 1897. I reckon nowadays it has lost a bit of it's frightfullness somehow, but it's still alright.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

I was alone at home for a few days and in my loneliness I started to watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt whilst having dinner, because I needed something funny and entertaining whilst eating. I was searching for a series with short episodes and as I've got a NETFLIX subscription I looked on there for something to watch. I stumbled upon the Netflix sitcom "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" that was created by comedian Tina Fey.

First of all, I've got to say I'm not the biggest sitcom friend. I never really watched How I Met Your Mother or Two and a Half Men. I loved Friends though and watched every episode at least twice and I'm even more fond of The Big Bang Theory of which I even know some parts by heart and don't think there'll be anything better any time soon. Nevertheless, I decided to give this one a go (especially as there were no new The Big Bang Theory episodes left to watch) and it was a good choice to be fair.

The initial situation of the series reminded me of "Blast from the Past", the film where a man grew up in a bunker and then goes out into the world after 35 years.

Minions

Who does't know them? Who doesn't think they're cute? What am I talking about? The Minions of course!

I've been to the cinema last Saturday with two friends to finally watch the Minion film. I was looking forward to see it since May, because when I was in London back then there were things with Minions on it all over the city. Then, when it came out, I had no one to go to the cinema with and let's be honest, who likes going to the cinema on their own? Therfore I had to wait till last weekend until I've finally found two victims. And I loved it, I hope they did as well.

If I had to rate the film as an adult film, I'd give it two to three hearts and all of them just for cuteness. The film is lacking content, the whole story could be put into a twenty minute short. And the minions talking like babies could get quite annoying sometimes. But thankfully it's a kids movie and as such it's getting five full hearts from me.

A Song For Me - The story of the "Julia from Germany" theme tune

The blog has had a little makeover and I feel like it's the right time to write a special post about something that happened two weeks ago and was somehow a little journey through German music in a special way. So here we go, I hope enjoy this a bit more personal and quite different post.

It was so hard. Not as in really difficult but as in I couldn't make up my mind. When I first heard I should pick a song I thought "Great!". Two minutes later I thought it's impossible.

Firstly I think I've got to explain, what this is about as most of you won't know. So here's a bit about a small part of my life, which is a bit weird, but definitely fun.

Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher

"Sophie May has a secret. One that she's successfully kept for years. It's meant that she's had to give up her dreams of going to university and travelling the world to stay in her little village, living with her mum and working in the local tea shop.

But then she meets the gorgeous Billy - an actor with ambitions to make it to the top. And when they fall in love, Sophie is whisked away from the comfort of her life into Billy's glamorous - but ruthless - world.

Their relationship throws Sophie right into the spotlight after years of shying away from attention. Can she handle the constant scrutiny that comes with being with Billy? And most of all, is she ready for her secret heartbreak to be discovered and shared with the nation?"

This book is a modern day fairytale. You've got that very normal girl who has a very normal job and lives in a quiet small town. Then this famous, attractive film star, who's every girls dream comes along and falls in love with her. Sounds a bit like Cinderella without the evil stepmother.

Already when I've read the blurb I knew this book would be very predictable, but I wanted an easy read and I hoped for it to be beautiful and entertaining.

The Top 3 albums released in July 2015

It's the first weekend of August, there's hopefully some more beautiful summer days ahead of us and therefore it seems to be the right time for a musical July roundup.

So here's my Top 3 albums that have been released this July. You can listen to them on Spotify if you click the links on the titles. Here we go:

No. 3 - How Does It Feel by MS MR

I kind of had forgotten about these two until I was researching July album releases. I listened to their first album "Secondhand Rapture" a few times when it came out back in the days, but it wasn't one of my favourites. And then I listened to the new one "How Does It Feel" yesterday and had it on repeat ever since, therefore it had to make the list.

I seem to love relaxing music this summer. It's a good soundtrack for chilling in the sun with a fruity cocktail or a drive through the countryside in a convertible.

It's full of glamorous Disco songs. The beats by Max Hershenow and the vocals by Lizzy Plapinger complement each other beautifully. The lyrics are meaningful, ask a lot of questions about life. There's a lot of thought made into catchy music, that's why it's my number 3.

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby

I've finally finished this book! The sad thing first: I was relieved, that I'm finally done. That's not particularly a good thing, is it?

But the book hasn't been all bad. I wanted to finish it, I needed to know what's going to happen to the characters. So there's been some kind of suspense... I'm just not sure what it was.

"Funny Girl" is about a girl - about a boy was the other Nick Hornby one ;)

Barbara's from Blackpool, but moves to London at the beginning of the novel with the dream to become a comedy actress at the BBC. The story is set in the 1960, so TV was new and everything about it really exciting. And as you do she gets an agent, changes her name to Sophie Straw and makes her dream come true as the story continues.

Southside Festival 2015

I know, I know - it's Glastonbury, the festival of all festivals, this weekend and that's the thing everyone's talking about. But I've been to one of the numerous festivals in Germany last weekend and I thought it would be nice to tell you about that.
I've mainly been there to work, so I haven't seen as many bands as the "normal" visitors, but I've seen quite a few and especially some I really liked, so I've still got something to report.

Have you been to a festival before? I haven't. I never really wanted to. I was always looking at the line-up of several festivals thinking "Oh that sounds amazing". But then I thought of how much money I'd have to spend and about how I'd have to spend my nights in a tent - I'm not really the camping type of person - and decided not to go.

Now I "had to go" because of work. Therefore I've not had the full festival experience: I slept in a hotel, I was working and hanging around backstage and only saw some of the acts in my breaks or after work.

Olly Murs - Never Been Better Tour 2015

It's now already two and a half weeks ago since I've seen one of my favourite artists - Olly Murs. What a day it was! Brilliant.

Except for the beginning. I had to travel about three and a half hours to get from where I live to Oberhausen, where Olly was playing that night. But as usual when travelling to see Olly a lot went wrong. When I got to the station in the morning a friend texted me, that my train was about 50 minutes late and sadly she was right. Therefore I had to plan a new journey and take a completely different train an hour later. So that already stressed me out a lot. And if that hadn't been enough I nearly missed my connection train and thought it would take me even longer, but that part went well for me - phew.

Anyway after more than five hours after I left at home I got to the venue in Oberhausen and met my friends who got there a lot earlier than me. We had a fun day even though the organisation at the arena was horrible and we had to fear not to get to stand in the front which we of corse aimed for. But we managed it and were beyond happy.

Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse

"Hannah Reilly has seized her chance at happiness. Until the day her husband doesn't come home... Can you ever really know what happened before you met?" This not very exploratory but somehow gripping blurb made me pick up the book and read it.

I haven't bought the book, I exchanged it for a copy of H. G. Wells' The Time Maschine in an open library. And I'm glad I did. Not just the blurb is gripping, the whole book is. I read it within two days and I'm sure I would have read it in one day, if I had more time on my hands.

Even though the first part is a bit slow and maybe a bit too much information about unnecessary things, there's always this curiosity that makes you want to go on. And honestly, I don't like books that tell you only the real important things, I think it's nice to get background information and a little more detail. But in this case it's sometimes the wrong information, something you really don't care about. That's the only thing I've got to grouse about.

All in all it's a creepy and effective thriller. If you like this kind of books, read it - and tell me in the comments what you think of it.

9

Do you know the game Machinarium? That’s exactly what kind of game this film would be. And it would have been a good PC or console game. But as a film it’s a bit boring to be honest. If I hadn’t been on the exercise bike at the time I watched it, I’m not sure if I would have watched it until the end.

Maybe that is also a bit because I’m always a bit prejudiced when it comes to animated movies and not in a good way. Shark tale ruined it for me forever I reckon (except for Disney films). But this one seemed to be different. It looks darker, is a Science Fiction setting and produced by Tim Burton. And I’m quite fond of Tim Burton, he does good stuff most of the time. Weird, but good.

This film is about a group of rag dolls which are living on Earth after all humans died due to the world’s machines killing them. In the final days of human kind a scientist gave life to said rag dolls. 9 is one of them and he leads the small

Chaos and the Calm - James Bay

James Bay is one of these new authentic singer-songwriters, whose honesty and simplicity make them special and successful. His music is so personal you can tell, because you can hear real emotion in his voice, when he sings.
 

I’ve heard some of his live performance and he’s so good. Definitely one of these people who aren’t just good on their records.

I love how he made his way to the release of his debut album "Chaos and the Calm" through

Kingsman: The Secret Service

I don't know, what I expected really, I just wanted to see this film after I've seen the trailer. It sounded fun and thrilling - and it was fun and thrilling, but at some points just too much "fun".

The film tells the story of a secret service oranisation called Kingsman. They're recruiting new members for their training programme, just as a big thread emerges. The tech genius Richard Valentine is planning kill a big part of the world's population. The Kingsman learn about the crime and so Harry Hart, played by Colin Firth, and later some of the recruits spring into action to stop him and his deathly network.

Kingsman could have been an elegant, humorous spy thriller. A better James Bond film, then the actual new James Bond films are. Don't get me wrong, I like the James Bond franchise. But since Daniel Craig took over they lost their allurement and humour.

Fifty Shades Of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I'm not as excited as everyone seems to be about the "Fifty Shades Of Grey" film, I haven't been fond of the books either. But I do actually really, really like the soundtrack.

I was especially thrilled to hear new music by Ellie Goulding, because I really like her. "Love Me Like You Do" by Ellie Goulding is the title song to the film and it's a catchy pop song. But a bit repetitive if you ask me, but that's the case with loads of songs. It's still a tough song and it gets stuck in your head immediately - a real Ohrwurm, as the Germans would say.

99 Francs

This was definitely one of the oddest films I have seen in a long, long time. The film should be satire on the modern advertisement industry, but it felt more like an endless drug trip. Not that I know how that feels, but that’s how imagine it to be like.

The film is about the advertisement designer Octave Parango, who’s played by Jean Dujardin, who you might know as the Oscar winning actor from “The Artist”. He has a very highly paid and easy-going job, which allows him to have a life full of parties, drugs and one-time sexual relationships. But he starts to rebel against himself and his life and kind of destroys everything or not. I didn’t really get it and the film’s got two endings, so that’s been confusing.

The good thing about the film was definitely the acting. It was totally believable and I wasn’t sure if they weren’t really on drugs. But I didn’t like the story line, even though it might show how insidious the marketing industry is.

So feel free to watch it and tell me I’m wrong with disliking it, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

Coming Up For Air - Kodaline

New music alert. A few of the songs have been released already some weaks ago, but the rest of it just came out this Friday (in a lot of countries at least).

It's the Irish band's second album. They can already look back on two years of success after releasing their debut "In a Perfect World" in 2013. And I'm sure there's a lot to come with this brilliant new album.

It still sounds like them, it's got the typical Kodaline choruses and vibes, but the general sound got altered a bit. There are more synthesizers on the tracks, therefore the melodies got more electronic and the songs got more dimensions and depth. To be honest, I'm not sure if I really appreciate that. Don't get me wrong, I've listened to the album a few times now and there's loads of great songs on there, I just feel that they lost a bit of their special tone and are going for a sound that's more mainstream and going in the direction of Coldplay.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Here's to another Oscar nominated film from this year's list. Surely not as important as the last one I told you about ("The Imitation Game") and you can't compare these two films at all, but I'm happy that the makers of "Guardians Of The Galaxy" get recognised for their work. It's nominated for "Makeup and Hairstyling" and "Visual Effects".
I am happy to see that, because for me it is the second best Science-Fiction-Comedy I've seen so far. I have to say second best, because "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" will forever be my favourite in this genre.

Marvel's "Guardians Of The Galaxy" is telling the story of Peter Quill alias Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket Racoon, Groot und Drax the Destroyer. They meet because they're all after an artefact which is called the orb. Every one of them wants it for a different reason. They are soon to find out, that they have to form a team to save the galaxy from an evil common enemy. They're something like the misfit Avengers if you ask me.

The Circle by Dave Eggers

Today I want to add a new section to my blog. As I've been writing about what I saw or heard for the last - well - years actually, I thought it's time to add a section about what I've been reading. I'm talking about books of corse not all the magazine articles, Tweets and Facebook posts I'm reading, even though that could be funny as well. But I reckon you've got more from hearing about books I liked; then you can read and enjoy them yourselves.

The most recent book I finished reading is "The Circle" by Dave Eggers. I wanted to read it for a while, because I heard people talking about it and that it's the new "1984" and a good read. And now I've read it I've got to say it is in a way a similar story to the dystopian novel by George Orwell, just in the even more modern world and with a bit less necessary imagination.

Here's the blurb so that you get an idea of what it is about:
"The Circle runs everything - all your internet activity in one easy, safe and visible place. No wonder it is now the world's most powerful and influential company. So when Mae Holland lands a job at its glittering California campus,
she knows she's made it. But the more her ideals and ambitions become aligned with those of the Circle, the closer she comes to dicovering a sinister truth at the heart of an organization seeking to remake the world in its image..."
The book is definitely a good read. The story is well told and you want to know what's really going on, because there's always a secret to be found out about. And what I think is best about the book is, that it is upsetting and it makes you think. It makes you think about your own internet behaviours, the social networks, the power the companies who own them have and if that is right.

The story of the Circle is so near to the truth and yet so far away and it makes aware of the problems we might face in the future with all the knowledge we can get access to through the internet. And don't gt me wrong, I love the Internet, I love the Social Networks and I wouldn't want a world without them. But I think we should be a bit more attentive of what you or others can do with it. And we should be aware, that there's always a bad side to a good side.

The Imitation Game

Finally, finally, finally I've seen The Imitation Game. I wanted to see it from the first time I heard about it and that was quite a while ago as I follow nearly every (film related) step Mister Cumberbatch does because he's my favourite actor. And the film got released in August already. But hasn't been out in Germany until last week so I was happy to be able to see it in Berlin last weekend (it's not showed in my town's little cinema). And I was stunned by the beauty of this film.

For those who haven't heard about the film yet: It's about Alan Turing who was a Mathematician and a pioneer of computer sciences. He's been a specialist in cryptography and helped the Allies to win the Second World War by decoding the Enigma Code, which was used by the Germans to send messages which couldn't be read by the Allies. The film narrates the story of him and his team and especially focuses on the problems they had doing this amazing work. It also tells Turing's background story as it is disturbing. He's been gay in a time where that was illegal and even though he was a genius and helping his country and the world, they treated him very badly.

Artist Rendezvous: Rae Morris

Hello, hello. I'm back after an extended break for Christmas and New Years. I hope you all had great holidays.

And I've got a feeling that it's going to be a good year, at least when it comes to music and also films. There's so many things I'm excited about and in this post I'll be telling you about one of them.

BBC Radio 1 releases a list of artists to watch every year. And on the Sound of 2015 list, there's one person who's music I really, really like.

Her name is Rae Morris and she's a British singer-songwriter. Last year loved her voice on Clean Bandit's Up Again, but I didn't think about her. Then I also heard her single Closer on the radio, but I didn't know it was Rae's song and now I'm so happy I rediscovered her (thanks to Radio 1).