Berlin Calling

1. Personal Reaction

The movie is full of emotions and awesome electronic music. The club scene is associated with drugs, but it is not a movie about drugs either. Yes the main character is a drug addict DJ who has mental issues. The movie explores the life of an artist, their choices, their complete loneliness, creativity and above all his relations to other people. I thought this movie was great for a low budget film and the soundtrack is pretty good as well.
2. What do drugs mean to Ickarus?

They mean a release from the outside world and also his past and music. It seems to put him in a calm state so he can make and perform his music.

3. Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?

The drugs seem to make the audience become more easily transformed and get into the music. They take the drugs before, during, and after the show.  They buy them from dealers at the show and continually take them at the show. They take all sorts of drugs, but the common ones throught the movie were crystal, keta. MDHD, and ecstasy.

4. While we can see that his drug habits get him ill and into a psychosis, and while we witness his relapse and inability to work successfully, why does the subculture Ickarus is in focus on drugs?

In that atmosphere the drugs are the culture. The atmosphere is surrounded by drugs in which so is Ickarus. Because the drugs surround those people and everybody takes them, others seem to have the need to take them also. Maybe the drugs are the culture of that type of music as how the music is played and how the drugs make those people feel during the shows.

5. Compare the standards you know from your home society with the people you see depicted in this movie. Which are the stark differences and contrasts?

The clubs we have here in America are what I think are far different. I don't think the drug seem is as prominent as what they are in Germany. I could see how and maybe and underground club or something of that nature would be more closely related. However, there maybe drugs going around in the area of downtown St. Cloud on a Thursday night but it is not publicized the same way. It's not out in the open.

6. Germany is considered a strong industrial nation the world over. Do you think that the youth culture as depicted here could change that? How about work ethics of Ickarus and of Alice, the label director who fires and then re-signs him?

Yes I do think this culture could change that. Its like the trickle down effect.  If this culture is used to party all the time there will be no time for work or responsibilities. In the direction the economy has gone with lack of people in the work force today that is very well possible. All are just trying to make fast money, make a name for themself and party. Nobody is willing to put in any effort to their life, its just one big party to all of them.

7. Which similar "cult movies" of US origin have you seen, if any?

I would have to say maybe Pulp Fiction, Out Cold, or Half Baked.

The German Literature Expansion on the 18/19th Century

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 he had won the Noble Prize. He was known for his series of symbolic and ironic novels. His work was noted for its insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. Mann was a member of the Hanseatic Mann family, and portrayed his own family in his book Buddenbrooks.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann moved to Switzerland. A few years later when World War II broke out in 1939, he fled to the United States,Thirteen years later he returned to Switzerland in 1952. He would never again live in Germany.

In 1930 Mann gave a public address in Berlin titled "An Appeal to Reason", in which he strongly denounced National Socialism and encouraged resistance by the working class. This was followed up by countless essays and lectures atttacking the Nazis. Due to his unliking of the Nazis policies his son advised him not to return and in 1939 the Nazi government took away his German citizenship. During the war, Mann made a series of anti-Nazi radio-speeches, Deutsche Hörer! They were taped in the USA and then sent to Great Britain, where the BBC transmitted them, hoping to reach German listeners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann

20th Century Sports- 1936 Olympics

I will be expanding on the topic of the 20th Century Sports particularly on the 1936 Olympics which was held in Berlin, Germany. I chose this because I enjoy watching the Olympics and I was interested in how Hitler tried to hide all the propaganda and ensure how Germans and foreigners envisioned the German race.

In 1931, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. Two years later, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's democracy into a dictatorship.

In April 1933, an "Aryans only" policy was instituted in all German athletic organizations. Jewish or part-Jewish and Romani (Gypsy) athletes were systematically excluded from German sports facilities and associations.

In August 1936, the Nazi regime tried to hide its violent racist policies while it hosted the Summer Olympics. Most anti Jewish signs were temporarily removed and newspapers toned down their harsh slander. Thus, the regime exploited the Olympic Games to present foreign spectators and journalists with a false image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.

Forty nine athletic teams from around the world competed in the Berlin Olympics, more than in any previous Olympics. Germany had the largest team with 348 athletes.

Germany skillfully promoted the Olympics with colorful posters and magazine spreads. Athletic imagery drew a link between Nazi Germany and ancient Greece, symbolizing the Nazi racial myth that a superior German civilization was the rightful heir of an "Aryan" culture of classical antiquity. This vision of classical antiquity emphasized ideal "Aryan" racial types: heroic, blue-eyed blonds with finely chiseled features.

After the games, Hitler pressed on with his plans for a German expansion. Persecution of Jews resumed. Two days after the Olympics, Captain Wolfgang Fuerstner, head of the Olympic village, killed himself when he was dismissed from military service because of his Jewish ancestry.

Sources: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005680

20th Century Industries and Business

I chose Germany's 20th century business and industries with focus on the economy. I chose this topic because I would possibly like to work internationally in Germany someday. The previous group did a good job explaining what it is like earlier in the 20th century, but I wanted to know about today's economy.

Previous Presenters:
    David Colbert

What type of transportation is used?

• Because Germnay is in the very middle of Eurpoe, Germany's transportation is essential to getting around to various places. Germany has established polycentric network of high speed tran systems. The InterCityExpress is the most advanced. Germanies largest airports are in The southern portion of Germnay, in Frankfurt and Munich. Talking about transportation in Germnay we cannot forget the autobahn.

What is the autobahn and why is it so famous?

• The autobahn is also called "federal express ways". The German autobahns have no speed limit but the advised speed limit is 130 kilometres per hour or 81 miles per hour. The autobahn which is ranked fourth in the longest highway system. It is follwed by The China, United States, and Spain.

Germany and its Energy

• Germnay is the fifth largest consumer of energy. Two-thirds of its primary energy was importing, however, in 2002. The Germna government policy promotes the development of renewable resources, such as solar,wind, biomass, hydroelectic and geothermal. Since the 1970's this has been improving. The government has set goals to meet half the countries energy demands from renewable sources by 2050.

Technology

• Germnany comes in third, after the United States and Japan when it comes to patents, but the leader amongst Europe. Somes companies you may be familiar with that have large amounts of patents are Siemens, Bosch, and BASF. While Siemens is focused on industry, energy, transportation and healthcare, Bosch is mainly focused on the automotive section including many other products.

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Germany#Natural_resources

20th Century Fine Arts

Enjoy!

Copy of Arts of Germany on Prezi

Five Talking Points: All Quiet on the Western Front

• The significance of this book to be a part of history and still be read by all ages today
• All the main characters die
• The affects of the war on the soldiers and families that are fighting
• How war can have an effect on someone (good or bad)
• The pressure from there elders for the younger generation to join the war.

All Quiet on the Western Front- Chapter 7

Chapter 7

                In chapter seven, the narrator of the story, Paul, reveals some of the most powerful moments of the book. Two distinct events occur in this chapter: Paul and his friends chase French girls, and Paul goes on a leave of absence. Many of Paul’s friends have died; in fact 120 men had died up to this point in the book. 
               After gawking over a poster of a pretty young girl, Paul and his friends hang out near the canal. They see a few French girls across the canal, and begin yelling in broken French. Throughout the book, the boys talk about women quite a bit. They make up stories of sexual experience to impress the other soldiers. Because the boys had only limited access to women for such long periods of time, it was an outlet for their budding adolescent sensations. Tjaden even offered the girls some bread as a bribe to get them to come across the canal. Food is another recurring theme in the book. As young men, the soldiers are desperate for more food each day that the war runs on. They are even willing to barter rations out for equipment or clothing when they become extremely desperate. The boys decide to visit the girls at night, and end up getting Tjaden so drunk that he can not walk. After meeting up with the girls, Paul realizes that he will not be able to hold on to the girl that he is with, and his mood turns grim. He can not take his mind off of the horror of the war.
             Paul gets seventeen days for his leave of absence. He goes home for the few days of travel time that he receives. His mother is very sick, but his family is happy to see him. Paul gets angry at the way some of the civilians treat him. He doesn’t enjoy the fact that they feel a sense of honor when serving him, especially when one train tenant refers to him as her ‘comrade.’ Paul is extremely happy to be eating food that differs from the plain, tasteless military food. Basically, everyone is who is not involved with the war continues to ask Paul questions, and he gets upset. His mother is the only one who refrains from these questions. Paul explains that he would like to please the civilians with heroic battle stories, but he simply can not put it all into words. And if he did find a way to word it, he feels he would lose control completely. The civilians perceive the war front completely different. They believe its better fighting the battles than it is at home. Paul brushes off many of the upsetting comments. Surprisingly, Paul states that he wished he’d never come home on leave. He felt that he was hopeless, and that he was a man of war, nothing else.

Cody, Will, Tess, Mustafa