chaosworks.org

7 December 2013

Statistics for the TV show addict

The year is coming to a close. It has been the most life-changing year of my life (I might post more on that on 31 Dec), but some things never really change: at heart, I am still a TV show addict. It remains my favourite format of consuming fiction (sometimes also non-fiction), and this is clearly reflected in not only the following statistics, but also the fact that I’m so much of a nerd, I actually have a database that allows me to create these statistics. I started tracking the movies I watch in 2006 as part of a blog […]

26 September 2013

The Glory of Spartacus

Let us break words on most glorious entertainment! When my ears first received tale of a television spectacle bearing the name of Spartacus, they did not stand to attention. “Meh”, was the only thought that sprang to mind, “gladiators, Romans, they have been so numerous on our screens in the past. Why bother…” The thought fell from mind and was not brought back to surface for many moons. But word from trusted friend left impression and action was taken. Familiar names among scribes accelerated process – Steven S. DeKnight and Jed Whedon of Whedonverse fame stand among them. Thus, shortly […]

18 August 2013

Farscape: Not sure if good or bad TV show.

Imagine the impossible: coincidentally ending up at the other end of the universe, being unable to ever lay eyes on planet earth again. It happened to John Crichton, protagonist and only human of the TV show Farscape. Farscape is essentially one thing: far. Far away. By far one of the most imaginative shows. Far and wide. So far out there. John Crichton is an astronaut from the good old US of A. He is apparently also a talented engineer or something, since he built a module by the name of Farscape which he volunteered to take out into space. It […]

7 August 2013

Hannibal will eat you up inside

Oh my god, that’s fucking disgusting! Excuse my language, but it’s absolutely necessary, because that’s essentially what you will keep telling yourself if you decide to watch the TV adaptation of Hannibal. Initially I was hesitant to watch this at all, because I have the feeling that Hannibal Lecter is a topic as worn out as a pair of twenty year old sneakers. Sure, we all love Anthony Hopkins for his creepy-ass portrayal of fiction’s most famous cannibal. But after Silence of the Lambs, things got a bit less mind-blowing. The feature film Hannibal was fucking disgusting (tough in a […]

30 July 2013

Two and Forty: How German numerals screw with my head

The German language has a very odd way of expressing numerals higher than 20. Probably not as odd as French, but definitely odd enough to screw up my brain for the rest of my life. In German, we call the number 42 “zweiundvierzig”, which literally means “two and forty”, whereas English uses the much more logical combination “forty-two”. However, if you look at the numerals between 11 and 19, you might notice that English and German use the same system: “thirteen” and “dreizehn” are identical – a result of tradition. But why exactly do Germans not use “vierzig-zwei”? This is […]

27 June 2013

The Handmaid’s Tale: Feminist Dystopia

In my recent post on apocalyptic fiction, I promised you a post on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale – and here it is! The Handmaid’s Tale was published in 1985 and is therefore the most recent of my reviewed books of Atwood (I have previously written reviews on The Edible Woman and Surfacing). However, it is actually the first book I read by Atwood – I read The Handmaid’s Tale about a year and a half ago for the first time because it kept appearing in connection with science fiction and dystopian literature. That sparked my interested and I was […]

17 June 2013

Only the End of the World again: Jericho vs. Revolution

Do Americans have a (sub)conscious desire to eliminate their society? This is a question you could ask yourself when you look at the vast amount of dystopian and apocalyptic fiction out there, seemingly all of which seems to take place on the North American Continent. The Walking Dead, I Am Legend and Falling Skies depict the US as overrun by zombies/vampires/aliens, The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a totalitarian theocracy, Jericho shows us the immediate aftermath of nuclear annihilation and Revolution shows us a world without electricity. [This is probably a good time to warn you about the massive spoilers in this […]

13 June 2013

Vikings: Raiding your TV

The History Channel wants to ride the wave of success many American TV channels are currently experiencing with their serial productions. They have attempted this by creating a fictionalized TV show about the Vikings, the people who lived in Scandinavia in the middle ages and who are probably most famous as seafarers. Fun side note: 99% of vikings were farmers. The TV show was brought to life by none other than Michael Hirst, most famous for the two Elizabeth films with Cate Blanchett in the lead, as well as for the TV show The Tudors, about which I blogged a […]

11 June 2013

16.145 kilometers: Australia

Three weeks from now, I will be on a plane. That plane will take me to the other end of the world, 16.145 kilometers away from where I’m sitting now: Brisbane, Australia. There, I will attend The University of Queensland for one semester as a Study Abroad guest student. I have chosen this university because it’s one of the five best universities in Australia. Naturally, I have also chosen it because of its location: I wanted to go to Australia because a stay of several months is the best possible opportunity to get to know this country. Since it takes […]