I need words

I am obsessed with photographs with words on them. And paired with some songtexts that are stuck in my head they are heartbreaking. These short phrases on the pics, or in songs, they are my lifesavers. I hold on to them, repeating the word like mantras.
"When we were teenagers we wanted to be the sky", written on a city background with a crane is just beautiful.

"Driving in your car I never, never want to go home .... And if doppeldecker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die" (The Smiths - There's a light that never goes out)

"And you love like nobody around you, oh how you love and a halo surrounds you, le pastie de la bourgeoisie, in the autumn cool say cheerio to school" (Belle & Sebastian - Le pastie de la bourgeoisie)

"Oh well you know, there she goes a little heartache, there she goes a little pain ..." (Babyshambles - There she goes)

"Sunday morning, brings the dawning, it's just a restless feeling by my side, early dawning, sunday morning, it's just the wasted years so close behind" (The velvet underground & Nico - Sunday morning)

"Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking blues, climb the fence, books and pens, I can tell that we are going the be friends" (The White Stripes - We are going to be friends)

by valjusha

Just some blogs you might want to check out

Keep your blogging enemies (Detective Dunstable) close: http://dunstabledienstag.blogspot.com/ (and yes, I am making free advertisement for you right now...)
For future dads, people who need rules and Sapçon, who has waited so long for me to post this link.. : http://rulesformyunbornson.tumblr.com/
Fashion blogs, yeah! : http://jakandjil.com/blog/ (cool shoes) or http://stockholmstreetstyle.feber.se/
And last but not least the funny blog about the way the english language is used in Asia: http://www.engrish.com/

by valjusha

My Dream Camera

Right now I am in India, spending my days walking on the beach, musing on this and that, and daydreaming for hours on end.

Although I dearly love my Nikon, in the dreams of my daydreams, I've always wished for a Leica. A Leica camera is not just a camera, it is an extension of the eye. Leicas are legendary and were used by many of the famous photographers of the 20th century, mainly because of their superb build quality and reliability, but also because of their small, compact, inconspicuous build. Dozens of books have been written on Leicas.

In today's globalised digital world of cheap, plastic cameras that get replaced every year by new ones, Leica (of Germany) has had a difficult time surviving. They used to build cameras that lasted for a lifetime, they used to work for 10 years on a new model, before releasing it.

Right now, there is no material object I want more than a Leica. But I'm not sure which one. Either a Leica MP, which is an all-mechanical, analog camera using film, or a Leica M9, their newest creation, a digital camera.

Should I start shooting with film or stay digital? Digital is so much more practical and easier... but film has class. Film has style.

There is one major problem though: even just a lens by Leica costs several times more than my complete Nikon kit.

by bargayott

by valjusha

"Ti stai sbagliando, chi hai visto non e, non e Francesca" (Lucio Battisti)

Sometimes it is just the mood, the feeling of a picture that inspires me. Like for example this pic from the 90ies, when Kate Moss and J. Depp were a couple!

by

valjusha

"Oh baby, oh baby, then it fell apart, then it fell apart" (moby: extreme ways)

When people search for their great love, or just for love, or for someone to fully understand them, for someone where they can be who they really are, or for someone to talk and then have sex, or for someone to have a "real connection" going on, or for the life-long husband/wife, in the end they just mean: I don't want to be alone, I am scared to be alone and I need someone to understand the things I am going through, I don't want to die alone. But the thing is, that you are and will be always alone: nobody won't ever be able to see the things from exactely the same perspective that you see them; nobody will ever show as much interest into another person, as they are interested in themselves; when you die, whatever happens to you then, you will have to go through it alone. We are all miniature worlds/plantes which orbit around eachother, sometimes orbiting together, sometimes repelling eachother, but never ever being able to truly "walk in someone's elses shoes" or orbit in another pathway. Oneself is always the most important person, I mean, aren't people just much more satisfied to be talking about themselves than to listen to other people talk? It is painful to live, knowing that.

THE song from the 90ies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eHus6M7Gpk

by valjusha

Inspiring Male Characters in Television/Cinema

by bargayott

My life, right now

by valjusha

Ps: New Years resolution: stop drinking coffee (like every year...)

Objects of Love

Objects of Love, photographed over the last two months.

by bargayott

Dreams are my reality

by valjusha

I love Françoise Hardy

I love her style and her music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOd_5ZRPmFs
by valjusha

The BIG questions of our time

• Coffee or Tea?
• Shower or Bath?
• Canon or Nikon?
• Boy or Girl?
• Blond or Brunette?
• Windows or Mac?
• Cats or Dogs?
• McDonalds or Burgerking?
• Orange or Swisscom?
• Your place or my place?
• Black or White?
• Shaken or Stirred?
• Coop or Migros?
• Normal or Lite?
• Spit or Swallow?
• Cash or Credit Card?
• Still or Sparkling?
• Cold or Warm?
• French Sauce or Italian Sauce?
• Ketchup or Mayo?
• Soft- or Hardcover?
• Letter or Postcard?
• A-post or B-post?
• Front Seat or Back Seat?

Feel free to add any more in the comments section :)

by bargayott

Wednesday's not so useful (but still great (not this time)) skill nr. 2

How to waste a free afternoon:

extract from a skype conversation I had today: " I just had the most useless afternoon ever: (except that I went jogging), went to the ZB, tried to find some books for the ee, but all the good books weren't there, ended up with only two books, tried to find a free place in the zb to work (extremely crowded), finally found a place after having had to walk around for sooo much time (embarrassing, because everyone looks at you as if your a loser), I just switched on my laptop and saw that I had no akku, "no prob" I thought, "every table here has a "steckdose", mine didn't... So I left the zb. went to starbucks, bought sth to drink. but again no place, so I had to drink my drink, which wasn't "to go" standing... then I went home, realizing that I just had wasted 4 hours without writing anything for my ee."

Why is it that when you really want to work, fate doesn't allow it?

by valjusha

Christmas Dinner

Everybody that's part of the "wichteln" is invited to the christmas dinner which is held at my house.

When: Wednesday Evening at sevenish

Where: my home (you'll know where)

Dresscode: festlich (like Markus), elegant, weihnachtlich

Bring with you : the wichtel-present (in a plasticbag) with the name of the person on the present

see you there, valjusha

It's just a restless feeling by my side (Velvet Underground: Sunday Morning)

"Törless hörte das Schlagen seines Herzens. Dann kam wieder ein leises, flüsterndes, versickerndes Rieseln....

Und diese Geräusche waren das einzig Lebendige in einer zeitlosen schweigenden Welt ...."

(Robert Musil: Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless)

by valjusha

Ps: the first comment on this post will recieve a christmas present from me

Self-Portraits and Juggling Balls

by bargayott

random, accidental, aimless, arbitrary, desultory, driftless, unplanned, stray, (Thesaurus)

by valjusha (click on pics to make them larger!)

(pics: private)

Rauchen, Kino, Paris, Lingerie und Lack-Trenchcoats

(Catherine Deneuve: Belle de jour)

Ich glaube, dass man die Menschheit in zwei Gruppen teilen kann, die mit Raucher-Charakter und die ohne Raucher-Charakter. Es heisst nicht, dass du sofort zur Kategorie der Raucher-Charakter gehörst, sobald du rauchst. Ich rauche zum Beispiel nicht und doch fühle ich, dass ich eine "Raucher-Seele" habe. Ich finde auch, dass es Leute gibt, die rauchen, obwohl es gar nicht zu ihnen passt und es eigentlich nicht zu ihrem Charakter gehört.

Es ist sehr schade, dass man nicht mehr in Kinos rauchen darf. Für mich ist ein Kino der ultimative Ort um zu rauchen. Der Raum wird noch schummriger und es ist doch der Film, welcher das Rauchen erst richtig zu einem Kunstwerk gemacht hat.

Wenn ich jetzt über das Rauchen und das Kino nachdenke, dann leitet mich mein Gedankenstrom weiter zum Thema Frankreich. So höre ich in diesen Tagen besonders viel Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf und Mireille Mathieu, trage beige Spitzenlingerie und wünsche mir sehnlichst einen schwarzen Lacktrenchcoat wie ihn Catherine Deneuve in Belle du jour trägt.

Mireille Mathieu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABzBPo8w3Yg

by valjusha

Seifenblasen HB (Zürimprov)

On Saturday the 19th of September I experienced my first flashmob! Organized by Zürimprov we all met to fill the main trainstation in our city with bubbles, for 5min.

This is the guy who organized everything. Finally a cool saying on a t-shirt: "Go love your own city" !

We even met some friends!

Between 300-500 people participated!

Would be a great pic, but where are the bubbles???

Our group.

People started to take pictures of us and many wondered what was going on.

Why are bubbles so fotogenic?

Did it bring back old childhood memories?

A lady approached us and asked if she could try as well ;-)

Huge bubble!

Misha in the sky with diamonds.

Some really made an effort!

Great experience, good crowd. (hahaha, the two in the middle were caught in their bubble-dreamworld, eyes closed, just letting the breath flow, creating glossy bubbles)

Wanna know what the newspaper wrote about it: http://www.20min.ch/news/zuerich/story/11937286

I must give huge credits to the photographer Bargayott! The pics just really show the nice atmosphere and somehow the bubbles look even better than in real life!

Ps: This was the secret mission...

by valjusha