pirates!

… and some of you are just fish i’ve dressed up in a hat …

girl power

i write like

I write like
J. K. Rowling

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

j.k. rowling and stephen king, with a bit of stephenie meyer thrown in – hmm, makes me think, i should write a novel and bevome rich and famous in no time

united states of tara

here’s to all the sex and the city fans out there, who always wanted carrie to end up with aiden – john corbett is back in tv – in an amazing new show, called the united states of tara - it’s main character, tara, suffers from dissociative identity disorder – she flits between her characters and nevertheless manages a full family life – all characters are well rounded, ever her funny and sometimes tragically so alters

all characters are well-rounded and fun to watch – there’s tara herself – a mom, a wife, a sister, an artist – due to her illness, she doesn’t make friends easily and has a problem of feeling guilty for her condition – one of my favourite actresses, toni collette

max, her husband – former aiden – he’s strong, he copes wonderfully most of the time, but of course he has some issues with the situation, which often lead him and tara to fight, only to make up quite soon – despite everything,t hey are a strong couple

their daughter, kate, a typical teenager, who tries to balance her life between craziness at home and wanting to get away, but realizing, the world can be just as crazy – trying to escape home, she encounters various other people, neither of them normal, all having some sort of quirk themselves – be it her work manager, who turns into a stalker; her friend lynda, the crazy artist, who makes kate’s princess fantasies come true in a singular fashion – meet princess valhalla hawkwind

kate’s younger brother, marshall, an adorable teenager, who knows quite for sure, he’s gay, as does everyone else, despite his not having come out yet – he struggles through being young and not quite knowing how to get what he wants, joining a curch hell house group to be near his crush, the minister’s son – dating a girl, just because they get along and would make a good couple – finally falling in love

and then there’s charmaine – Tara’s sister – she’s always there and plays an important part in the family’s life – sometimes, she’s like a sister to the kids, sometimes a “fake” mother, sometimes just a quirky addition to the household – she and tara are connected by a strong bond, leading all the way back to childhood – charmaine is often part of max and tara’s tries to figure out the past and find the reason for tara’s splitting problem

and of course, we don’t forget the alters – T, the flirty, wild, ecstatic teenager – buck, the man, driving around on his bike, smoking, drinking beer and sometime even getting into a fight – alice, the typical 50s housewife – more alters emerge over the series – each one representing a new side of tara and helping along to solve the mystery of her illness

one of the best stories TV ever told – to find out more, read an article in the new yorker, go to the show’s webpage or simply watch the trailer

short magister story

i stumbled across my magister thesis the other day and was thrilled by the sheer size of it – i started reading and was amazed that i had managed to write something as interesting and good as that – i don’t want to be gushing myself with praise, i am not that great, but i am pretty damn proud of having accomplished someting like that – and here’s the very, very shortest version of my thesis – enjoy!

ps: my thesis is on the dynamics of mexican-american self-perception in prison in california – tough choice, but very rewarding in a strange way

short, short story

read this, of you’re either too lazy to read the whole book (which i do not recommend because it’s really a very nice book indeed) or if you are a fan of the book and like a good laugh

which book? – oh, the book, of course – the one and only perfect love story of all times – jane austen’s “pride and prejudice”

follow the link and be surprised – it’s austen facebook style – http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/

and well, just for those of us, who like to drool – here’s all the darcys you could ever want

romantic story

berlin story

be there – 24 h berlin – amazing – if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere – a mosaic of a city – 24 h filmed last september and aired this september – tomorrow morning, 6 am – what a great project – and having lived there, the city has this amazing thing, it grabs you and never lets you go – you’ll always be part of it and it will never be the same – i wish i was there now

very short story

‘THE WORLD’S SHORTEST FAIRY TALE!’

ONCE APON A TIME, a guy asked a girl, 'Will you marry me?' The girl said:'
NO!'

And the girl lived happily ever-after and went shopping, dancing, camping,
drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, did whatever
the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, traveled more, had many
lovers, didn't save money, and had all the hot water to herself. She went to
the theater, never watched sports, never wore friggin' lacy lingerie that
went up her ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and
looked fabulous in sweat pants and was pleasant all the time.

The End

found on http://thepartygoddess.com/

cutty, edgy, fussed, jumpy, squirrely

call it, as you may, i am nervous – very, very, very nervous – i am having a meeting with my phd adviser this morning and i cannot stop myself from trembling at the thought – she’s totally not someone to be afraid of, but we are to set the topic today and discuss, what i have managed to prepare and i feel it is pitiful – i also have millions and millions of great ideas, but simply don’t know which ones are best and how to merge them into one solid topic – i feel very foolish and stupid and would rather stay in bed with a good book – reading is so much nicer than writing about reading – no, that is not true – i love writing and digging into books and material, compare, research and finding out something new, but i am a little scared at the moment and anxious to figure out, which exactly will be my topic and how i will be able to transform it into a neat and enthralling thesis

fairy tale story, part 4

The prince found the fountain easily and discovered nearby a table on which many bottles of different color and shape stood. Losing no time in admiring these pieces of wonder, he reached for the nearest and ventured over to the fountain, leading Arrow by the reins. Both, the horse and the rider satisfied their thirst, before the prince filled the bottle. As soon as he had completed this and pulled away from the fountain, he heard a strange rushing and hissing sound, that seemed to become louder and louder every moment. The prince had indeed forgotten about the evil sprits the old man had warned him about. He barely had enough time to pull out the Magos Meros, jump on his horse and safely escape. Panting, he returned to the crossroads. There he rested for a while and gave the golden horn and the bottle of water of life to the old man, begging him to take these to his bride if he would not return from this last task.

This time it took the prince much longer to get to the place the old man had described to him. After five days he finally got to the ruined castle. He arrived right before sunset and just had time to find a sheltered spot where he could spend the night. Watching the spectacular sunset, he lighted a fire, cooked some food and soon got rather comfortable. He did not forget about the dangers ahead, but as he did not know what was expecting him, he couldn’t really get scared and therefore enjoyed the picturesque scenery in front of him.  The deserted castle lay in the middle of rolling hills, which gently sloped down to a river, rushing along in the valley below. The prince was sitting where the dining hall of the castle must have been. The roof had fallen in, so he could lean back and watch the stars come up. After a short while, exhausted from all his previous ad­ventures, the prince fell asleep. He woke the next morning, perfectly refreshed and ready to face any upcoming perils. Being slightly puzzled that nothing had come up during the night, he ex­pected the days to be the real danger. He was yet again disappointed. The day was as peaceful as the previous night. The prince enjoyed the beautiful landscape around the castle and admired how perfectly the old ruin fitted into its surroundings. Thus he spent the following days and nights, until he was suddenly roused at midnight of his third night there. He heard voices singing in strange tongues. Following the sound, he came to were his faithful horse Arrow had been grazing peacefully. The horse was gone. In his place was a beautiful white stallion, surrounded by many men. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, hailed him as their true savior. Seeing the confusion on the prince’s face, he invited him to join the merry group and listen to their tale.

“Many years ago, we lived in this castle as a band of robber knights. We did many cruel and bad deeds and were not even aware of our faults, till we dared to assault the fairy king and queen. Having killed the queen and taken the king hostage, we gloried in our success. The fairy king took advantage of our carelessness during the feast. He managed to escape and lay a curse on us and the castle. We would have to haunt every person that dared to come to this place. Reenacting our own cruel deeds again and again till we had realized how bad we had been and till someone dared to stay three nights and not be scared away. In the beginning it seemed like fun to us to be able to keep on doing what we had done all our lives without any true peril. Long since, we have seen this as a punishment because we have realized how detestable our lives have been. No one has ever had the courage to stay here longer than one night…till now! You are truly brave and our rightful savior.”

The prince was still not satisfied with this explanation: “But I never felt any danger in this place and I had no reason to be brave. Can you explain why so?”

“It has been a puzzle to us as well. But we were never a folk to ask tedious questions. Come, let us be merry! To express our thanks, we have used an ancient and deeply secret magic to trans­form your horse into the most beautiful and swiftest of its race. It will carry you wherever you wish in an instant.”

Our dear prince was rejoiced to hear that. He celebrated with these merry people till the sun dawned. Then he mounted his magically transformed horse and wished to be back at home. Ar­row started galloping and a second later reached the gates of the castle grounds. Here the prince found the old man, who not only had the two other gifts with him, but had also greatly changed in his appearance. He indeed looked much younger now, the wrinkles in his face gone and his dress not ragged, but richly adorned with gems and golden filaments. The prince halted his horse and dismounted. He and the old men entered the castle grounds together, leading Arrow between them.

When they had reached the castle itself, the girl, who had missed her handsome companion very much indeed, rushed up to him and declared: “Whatever you have brought, I will marry you anyways. I do love you so very much.”

The prince was overjoyed and the wedding was set for the next day. That night, the prince, his mother, his bride and the old man sat comfortably around the fireplace in the sitting room where the girl had first beheld her prince. He recounted his adventures and also what great wonders had befallen him at the ruined castle of the robber knights. Here the old man spoke up and declared to be the very fairy king who had cursed the robbers. He apparently also was the girl’s fairy god­father, who had performed a lucky charm upon her on the day of her birth. Therefore the ring of her hair, the prince had worn on his finger, had protected him from any harm during his stay at the ruins. They were greatly surprised at these news and anew welcomed the fairy king into their family.

The next day brought the wedding. A glorious and two-week lasting celebration, during which the golden horn was repeatedly blown to make everyone even happier than they already were, followed. The couple went on a honeymoon, visiting the giants of the island and soon returning to their castle to live happily – due to long travels on Arrow – and peacefully – due to the golden horn – ever after – due to the water of live.

The End

PS: If you want to imagine that the old queen and the fairy king became rather attracted to each other during their time as castle sitters in the princess and prince’s long vacations, feel free to do so. It makes a nice story!

fairy tale story, part 3

The prince took the Magos Meros, thanked the old man and rode along the first road. He found everything as he had told him and was soon preparing to land on the island. However, he waited for night to fall and chose a remote little bay to maneuver his boat to shore. He wandered a long time across the island till he suddenly saw a huge fire not too far off. As he sneaked closer, he could distinguish gruff voices.

“Heyya, old friend, who’s on watch this week,” one giant asked his neighbor. This one, an espe­cially large of his kind, answered in a loud growl: “Jakmakran is on watch. I felt the danger of someone’s interfering soon, so I wanted to best man there.”

“How’s he better than any of the others?” the first one asked.

“He is smarter, stronger and cannot be wounded but on the tiny spot behind his right ear. Have you never wondered why he wears this hideous hat? It is to cover up this vulnerable spot.”

“I did indeed wonder. He is so vain otherwise. Why doe he not get himself a decent hat?”

“O, that is quite a story. Have you never heard about it? The old hat was once pretty and given to him by Jojona.”

“Jojona of the Great Island far out in the sea? Why did she do that?”

“She really is a daughter of our island. She and Jakmakran were madly in love as youngsters, some four hundred years ago. Her parents didn’t like that and she was married off to the Lord of the Great Island far out in the sea. Jakmakran still bears great love for her, even though he has never heard from her again. Apparently he tried to get to her, but her parents had paid an old witch to cast a spell upon him, so he can never leave the island again. And he was such a great sailor in his younger years.”

It was getting late and day would soon arrive. The prince had heard enough and left. He busied himself with gathering leaves and flowers before finding a hiding place for the day. By the fol­lowing night, he had finished what he had been working on: a beautiful new giant hat, which left uncovered both ears. He had also written a note, saying:

My sweet Jakmakran,

I have not forgotten you. My love for you is still unbroken. I have been treated badly not only by my own parents, but also by my husband, who knows I will never love him as I love you. He has prevented me from contacting you, which would have been consoling to me, as it would soothe the pain of never seeing you again. Until now I have been prevented from writing to you. By chance, a traveling storyteller came by our summer castle and has taken a fancy towards me which he has cunningly hidden from my husband. He has promised me to take this note and a new hat, which I made with all my love for you, to you. He wishes however to be unknown. I advise you therefore not to inquire who he is. I remain yours for ever,

Jojona

When night had fallen, the prince crept close to the place, where the giant Jakmakran sat, leaning against the hollow tree. He watched the giant for a good while and studied his manner. After some time, he used the moment of the giant’s drinking from his water bottle to throw over the package to the giant’s feet. As the giant opened it and stared at the note in wonder, the prince tiptoed around behind the old tree. Just as he had assumed, Jakmakran took of his old hat and tried on the new one, forgetting over the joy of having heard from Jojona, about his vulnerable spot. This the prince had been waiting for and now pierced the place behind Jakmakran’s right era with a poisoned needle, which did not kill but set Jakmakran to immediate sleep. The prince reached into the tree and pulled out a beautiful golden horn. ‘Ah, this is my fiancée’s second wish.’ he thought. ‘I will see how it works.’ He blew the horn and soon enough many giants were rushing up, eager to find the source of this delightful music. Their hatred of intruders had vanished and they became fast friends with the prince, asking him to name anything and they would help him to fulfill his wish. As the prince desired nothing better than to leave his new friends, they accompanied him back to the shore, wishing him luck on his quest and making him promise to visit again with his wife during their honeymoon. If you are interested in the end of Jakmakran’s and Jojona’s story, you will have to read the chronicles of the giant islands.

As soon as the giants had left to return to their island, the prince mounted his horse, took out the Magos Meros and asked to be returned to the wicked crossroads, where he greeted the old man and quickly rode of to his second adventure.

fairy tale story, part 2

“Do not be afraid,” he said, “it is I, your faithful friend.” With a yelp of surprise she rushed up to him, looked into his eyes and found that he had been telling the truth. They sat on the sofa and the prince, which he of course was, told her his story.

After his father’s death, a distant aunt had come to the castle and asked him to give up the crown to her or she would curse him and his mother badly. The prince had refused and had been trans­formed into a fox, his mother into a vixen, the castle had sunk underground and all his subjects had been changed to resemble trees and make up the large forest. He had been allowed to merely live in the forest und could never leave it. The only cure for the curse would be to find a girl, willing to follow him through the forest to his home and trusting him completely.

“I have been rummaging the forest for many a year now and succeeded in scaring away many pretty girls. You were the first one that trusted me and therefore I will not only ask you to stay with me in my castle, but also to marry me,” he concluded his tale.

The girl could not have been more surprised, but was anxious as she could not believe this lad to really adore her and as her mother had always told her that only fools marry without true affec­tion. She therefore asked the youth to bring her three proofs of affection: a white horse, that car­ried its rider to every possible destination in an instant, a golden horn, that made everyone who heard it blown happy and peaceful, and last a bottle of the water from the fountain of life that assured the drinkers would not only life for ever, but also find their true love. As soon as the prince had heard the girl’s task, he prepared to leave. He was eager to prove his love, which in­deed was great. Before his departure he only asked to be allowed to take a string of her hair, which he formed into a ring and wore around his left middle finger. “This way you will always be with me and I will be sure to return to you. Stay in the castle and feel yourself to be at home. I will return soon.” With these words he mounted his faithful horse Arrow and rode off.

Soon he had left his kingdom, which was indeed rather small. He rode on and not much later the road ahead parted in three directions. The prince was unsure which he should take and sat on a large rock to think about this new situation. ‘If I go the wrong way, it will take me a long time to come back here and take another one. I would loose too much time. I also cannot go back. My sweet girl would never agree to marry me if I came without her gifts. I will just have to sit here and wait for some kind person to help me. If no one comes I shall be miserable forever.’

He did not have to be patient for long. A very old and wrinkled man came by and asked him, what he would be doing there, all alone and with such a sad face.

“Alas, dear grandfather,” cried the prince. “I am in such a miserable situation. I need to find a white horse, that carries its rider to every possible destination in an instant, a golden horn, that makes everyone who hears it blown happy and peaceful, and last a bottle of the water from the fountain of life that assures the drinkers would not only life for ever, but also find their true love. If I cannot bring these things home, my sweetheart will not marry me.”

The old man laughed and answered: “Son, if that is your only problem, it is not such a great mis­ery at all. I can help you.”

“How so?”

“Easily, if you will just promise me one thing, I can provide you with the means of accomplish­ing your task very soon.”

“Anything, my dear friend!”

“Invite me to your wedding and let me sit next to your lovely bride in her father’s stead.”

“I will give you my whole-hearted promise to let you come to my wedding and I am sure my bride, who is an orphan, will gladly love you as a father.”

“Then I will help you in an instant. Just know that you will have to be tremendously brave and not give way to your fears.”

“I will do anything you ask of me, if I can just get these gifts and bring them home as soon as possible.”

The old man searched his carpet handbag and pulled out a curiously shaped object. It was of indefinable color, shining greenish-blue one moment and changing to reddish the next. There were glittering stones set all over it and it seemed to shift its shape very, very slowly.

“What is this?” asked the prince, prying the object.

The old man replied: “This is what will help you on your further travels. It is a Magos Meros, a magical time reverser. Take the first road, which will lead you towards the sea. You will have to take a boat and row out to an island off the shore. Mark that this island is inhabited by vicious giants. You have to outsmart them and get to an old hollow tree exactly in the middle of the is­land. There you will find something, of which the giants do not know what it is, but what they nevertheless guard carefully. It will help you get safely off the island. Once back on the shore take the Magos Meros and ask to be returned to the wicked crossroad, for that is the name of this place. You will be back here at the same moment at which you left. You can now take the second road, which will lead you to the fountain of life. There is no immediate danger involved in get­ting the water. You need however hurry to use the Magos Meros once you have the water safely in a bottle for there are evil spirits close by, who cannot themselves fetch the water, but would kill you to get by it. At last, you can go the third path, which will lead you to the most dangerous part of your journey. You will come to the ruin of an old robber-knight castle. There you will have to spend three nights and not fear anything you will meet. When the third night is over, you will be rewarded and can instantly return home. You will have lost no time.”

fairy tale story, part 1

this is a fairy tale i wrote for children in an orphanage in sri lanka after the tsunami hit in 2005 – part 1

The Fox Prince

Once upon a time a girl was left all alone in the world. Her parents had died and she had no home, no food and no clothes to wear, but the old dress, she was presently wearing. She was strolling around in the woods, singing to herself, when she came across a fox, who – to her sur­prise – addressed her thus: “My dear girl, where might you be going?”

The girl was not the least bit scared and told him her sad story. The fox showed himself very compassionate. He invited the girl to accompany him to his house, deep in the woods. “My old mother will take good care of you and I will make sure, you get enough food.”

“But, dear fox, I couldn’t possibly live in a burrow,” the girl answered. “My burrow is spacious and I will gladly give you the best room available.”

They went on for three long days to the middle of the forest. During this long and perilous jour­ney, the fox not only protected the girl, but also provided food and curled up next to her at night to keep her warm and comfortable. As the third day drew to a close, they reached a wide open space, in the middle of which a large single maple tree stood. “This is my home,” the fox proudly announced. The girl saw the tree and the narrow entrance in the ground. She worried about her size and thought to herself: ‘I’ll never be able to fit in comfortably, but I will be content to settle on this wonderful glade with my new friend as a neighbor.’

To her infinite surprise, she could easily fit through the hole in the ground and found herself in a large entrance hall. “Did I promise too much, now?” the fox asked. She was soon put into a spa­cious apartment and provided with beautiful dresses. The surprises did not end with that. After bathing and dressing herself in fine silken clothes, she went to find the fox and be introduced to his mother. She had not gone long, when she found herself in a comfortable sitting room. The walls were adorned with paintings of beautiful people. She assumed that they were of one family and amused herself for some time with looking at each picture. In the end, she came across the picture of a handsome youth with a melancholic look on his face. The girl could not help, but stare at this picture for a long time. She was however disturbed by someone opening the door, swung around and saw herself faced with the same handsome lad.

short story

scary story

this is a very, very old beginning to a story, i never got around to finish – it needs some work, but i still quite like it – especially at this time of year…

The house seemed quite empty. But he could not be sure until he had checked out every room. ‘It will be best, to start downstairs’, he said to himself. So he screwed up his courage and opened the front door. It was dark and smelled like old and dusty books. He listened intently, but couldn’t hear a thing. After some moments, he took a flashlight out of his bag and turned it on. The beam hit a long and narrow corridor, which opened up into a comfortable sized living room. As he went along the corridor towards the dust-covered fireplace, which could be discerned where the corridor opened into the living room, he noticed some dark and cobwebbed pictures along the wall. He jumped at a movement to his right, crashed into a tall grandfather’s clock and fell to the ground. The clock crashed to the floor next to him, making the unbelievable noise of a whole pack of wolves, howling to the moon. He was frozen for fear. Whatever was in the house would now be aware of his presence. Of course he had been fooled by a mirror. If he hadn’t been so frightened, he would have laughed at himself. Ever since he could read, he had read adventures, mysteries and horrors that happened to people in books. He had been fascinated by fantastic and unrealistic things and that fascination had never left him, even though he now was a middle aged attorney, whose hair started to get grey and fall out in the most inconvenient places. That was probably the reason why he had bought this old country house, after having seen it during his annual summer vacation, which led him and his wife to a different part of the country each year. According to the broker, it had been empty for ages. The village people, he had talked to, could not remember that somebody had ever actually lived there. But strange things seemed to happen around it.

The house looked always well kept and so did the large gardens around. He had not had a look at the vegetable patches. It had been too dark indeed, but he had heard from the innkeeper down in the village, that at this time of the year it was usually full of the largest pumpkins for miles around. They would grow there as well as anything else and then mysteriously vanish, just as well as all the other vegetables, herbs, fungi and fruit that grew in the vast gardens. At first he had not paid attention to the stories, but than his old infatuation with mysteries had crept upon him and he had stayed far longer with the innkeeper than he had planned. Now it was already dark, but he had to inspect the house today because he would have to leave early the next morning. After all these stories of lighted fires on dark winter nights, strange noises coming from the basement and of course the vanishing harvest, he had been a little uneasy. But he quieted himself with the calm reasoning of someone who had practiced law every single day for the last 25 years. It must have been vagabonds, who had camped out in the house during the winter and who were glad to find the food. As to the size of the pumpkins, well, he knew that village people had to make up their nice oversized stories in order to keep up the image of amusing themselves and the occasional traveller, who found his way into this distant valley.