The ultimate James Bond compilation

Posted on 2014-11-18 by Andreas Moser

In a year without any new James Bond film, fans like me spend hours days weeks on YouTube re-watching favorite scenes, listening to the soundtracks and looking for new compilations and other videos put together by fellow fans.

The best compilation I have found is this one, where someone has put together clips from 22 James Bond films in order and in sequence. So, this has (roughly) the first five minutes of Dr No, minutes 5 to 10 of From Russia with Love, minutes 10 to 15 of Goldfinger, and so on all the way to the final five minutes of Quantum of Solace.

It’s a whole new film in itself and a nice way to compare the style, the fashion, the gadgets, the acting as they have evolved over the decades. Of course this means that some of my favorite scenes are omitted, but whoever did this (step forward, please, because you deserve a lot of applause) did masterful sequencing between the films. Some of them work so seamlessly that it took me a few seconds to realize that I was already watching the next movie.

Mix yourself a vodka martini and enjoy these two hours!

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Short Romance

Posted on 2014-11-18 by Andreas Moser

“Promise me that you will always treat me like a princess,” she asked, no, she begged him, with hope in her dreamy eyes.

“I am really more of an anti-monarchist,” he replied and shot her, a curious mix of sadness and contempt displayed around his mouth.

execution of Romanov(Hier könnt Ihr diese romantische Kurzgeschichte auf Deutsch lesen.)

Posted in Life, Love | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Conceptions. Misconceptions?

Posted on 2014-11-18 by Andreas Moser

A cutely animated film about what people in one part of the world think about people in other parts of the world.

Yes, we do have horse-drawn carriages in Eastern Europe. And yes, I also describe life in Germany like working in a factory all day.

(For the pointer, I thank Andreea.)

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My thoughts on the Romanian Presidential Election 2014

Posted on 2014-11-17 by Andreas Moser

Yesterday, we had the second round of Presidential elections here in Romania. When the exit polls put the two remaining candidates, Victor Ponta (currently the Prime Minister) and Klaus Iohannis (currently the mayor of Sibiu), neck-to-neck, it started to become an interesting evening.

Not knowing much about Romanian politics did not prevent me from weighing in on Twitter. These are some of the thoughts that went through my mind last night:

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Romanian diaspora proves that 25 years after the fall of communism, they still love to queue all day long without knowing what they will get in the end.

diaspora voting

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Romania: Fastest internet in Europe, longest queues outside polling stations.

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UKIP will use the photos of Romanians queuing to vote for another xenophobic campaign: “Millions of Romanians apply for benefits in UK.”

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Romanian elections confirmed that for a politician, there are worse things than being boring. [The first thing that everyone told me about Klaus Iohannis was: “Oh my god, he is sooooo boring.” Before saying that they will vote for him.]

Klaus Iohannis bike

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Angela Merkel: “Thank you, Romania! Now I am no longer the most boring politician in Europe.”

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What a welcome: I moved to Romania last month, and now they elected a German as President. Dankeschön!

Tweet Klaus Iohannis

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What a silly election: two candidates, and at the end of the night one of them is President and the other one Prime Minister.

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With Klaus Iohannis as President and Victor Ponta as Prime Minister, I predict rising demand for constitutional lawyers in Romania.

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And, on the next day:

Today in Romania, half of the people are depressed (because of the rainy November weather) and half seem excited (because of the election).

Posted in Politics, Romania | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Frugality is a Virtue

Posted on 2014-11-17 by Andreas Moser

I am a very stingy person.

I wear my father’s old shirts. I wear shoes with holes. I don’t have a car. I walk in the rain to save the bus fare. I never buy anything new if the old stuff still works. I don’t make presents. In winter, I put my food outside, so that I can switch off the fridge. I always look for the cheapest shop. I go to cinemas in the afternoon when films are cheaper. When I feel hungry, I collect mushrooms in the forest.

Some people seem to be put off by this behavior of mine, particularly women.

Thus, I was excited to see that Congressman Gary Peters, an equally stingy guy, it seems, made a virtue out of it:

He won the election.

Henceforth, I shall no longer be ashamed of being stingy, but I shall advertise it as a virtue and recommend it to others. Being stingy is cool.

Posted in Life, Politics, USA | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Cows can do Modern Art as well

Posted on 2014-11-16 by Andreas Moser

cow modern art(Photographed in the village of Bosača in Montenegro.)

Posted in Montenegro, Photography | Tagged , | 4 Comments

British Prime Minister in support of EU

Posted on 2014-11-12 by Andreas Moser

Margaret Thatcher EU pullover

Yes, that’s Margaret Thatcher.

The photo is from 1975 when there was a referendum on whether the UK should stay in the European Community. Margaret Thatcher was the leader of the Conservative Party back then. Given what she wears, I don’t think I need to point out her position on Europe. 67% of voters wanted to remain in the European Community (which later became the European Union).

It seems like Britain’s days in the EU are numbered. It is shocking to see how little the current British Prime Minister understands of Europe (and the same applies to most of the British media). Whenever I hear David Cameron talk about the EU, I want to mail him a copy of “The European Union for Dummies”.

Posted in Europe, History, Politics, UK | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Easily Confused (45) MAD

Posted on 2014-11-12 by Andreas Moser

Mutually Assured Destruction:

nuclear stockpiles

Mutually Assured Distraction:

social_media_MAD

Posted in Cold War, Military, Technology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Video: Tara Canyon in Montenegro

Posted on 2014-11-11 by Andreas Moser

One of my daredevil hikes in the Durmitor mountains in Montenegro led me to the summit of Mount Ćurevac (1,625 m = 5,331 ft), from where you can look down into Tara Canyon, the deepest canyon in Europe. Or rather could, if the clouds hadn’t gotten in the way.

A few minutes after that, the clouds cleared up a little bit, opening up the view at least to the peaks of the mountains on the other side:

(Dieses Video gibt es auch auf Deutsch.)

Posted in Cinema, Montenegro, Travel, Video Blog | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Video Blog: Mountain Adventure

Posted on 2014-11-10 by Andreas Moser

When I was in Montenegro, I wanted to go to the mountains. That’s quite easy, because Montenegro is mountains. There is no place in the country (except somebody’s basement, of course) from where you don’t at least see the mountains.

It was the end of October, snow had fallen in the days before. The most dangerous time to go into the mountains. But nothing could stop me. This video shows me in the Bjelasica mountain range, on my way to climb Crna Glava (2,139 m = 7,018 ft).

I even recorded a second video without my big face in the middle of it all. So this one is better if you just want to enjoy the view of some of the most beautiful mountains in Europe:

The helicopter did not return to pick me up. The whole day I did not see a single human being on the whole mountain range. I loved it.

(Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Texts. Die Videos gibt es aber nur auf Englisch; ich kann den Helikopter ja nicht hundertmal anfliegen lassen.)

Posted in Cinema, Montenegro, Travel, Video Blog | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments