Good bye New York,
it's hard to find the words to describe the incredible six months I had with you. I'm going to miss this time, I'm going to miss you.
I'm going to miss your train station, big and impressive with its beautiful ceiling and the hectic people not noticing it as they are rushing through. I will miss the train rides to this station, going through the Bronx whose bad reputation is not justified in my eyes. Looking out of the window with music in my ears always made my thoughts fade away and imagine stories, that would never happen.
I'm going to miss your busy streets, that seem so unreal if you take a moment to stop and sit down to watch people running past you. Meanwhile, this run can capture you, you can become part of the big flowing mass that is taking you with it, form one end of Manhattan to the other one. I'm going to miss your diversity I experienced while walking up and down on you. Different boroughs, different neighborhoods, different atmospheres and everything so close together on the other hand. I'm also going to miss your dimensions. I'm going to miss your sky scrapers, your park in the size of 460 soccer fields, your innumerable amount of pittoresque restaurants, patisseries, cafes, clubs and bars and Delis. I'm going to miss those especially as there is nothing comparable to these to be found in Germany. I'm also going to miss your adorable places like SoHo, especially later in the afternoon when the sun is about to go down and you walk through the streets full of vintage shops and unique stores. I'm going to miss the charm of your your brownstones and the elaborately decorated churches popping up out of nowhere in the middle of high buildings and masses of people. I'm definitely going to miss your diversity of things to do - no matter what, always having the possibility to drive to Manhattan and do something fun or interesting was just awesome.
There are so many things I'm going to miss about you, the list is endless and no blog would provide enough space for all of them...
Good bye New York
Freitag, 9. März 2012
Mittwoch, 7. März 2012
The 25th Hour
"Novels like The 25th Hour don't fall out of trees every day. The tone is dare and intense; it's elegant style is cut on the raw side; and the characters come from places we're all been"
- The New York Times -
I think this quote reflects the atmosphere in the book quite well. The 25th Hour tells a story about everyday life, which isn't supposed to mean that it's about everyones every day life. But it shows the world how it is, shows it in all its facets:
It's shows the carelessness with which we take the good side of life for granted and how little we sometimes appreciate life when it's not causing any trouble. It also shows how rapidly this attitude can change when things change and you suddenly have to face essential questions in your life.
What is the sense of my life? How do I want to to go on? Where is this going to end?
The protagonist Monty in the book faces all these questions, he had everything - the good as well as the bad times. He knew how it feels to be on top, to be one of the richest and most famous people on the scene, to have everyone's respect and to get whatever he wanted. He also knew how it felt to crash down, when the whole world you relied on comes crashing down. In his case it is because he is caught dealing drugs and has to go to jail for seven years.
The book, as well as the film, show on the one hand how mindlessly people enjoy the luxury and advantages in life until they look deeper into them. In the story Monty started doing so after realizing his old life would be over and that during the next seven years he won't see anything of the city or environment he used to live in. He started reflecting on what he had never really paid attention to and started to realize how much he hated all these things. How much he hates for example the Korean Deli owners, the Pakistani taxi drivers, the snobs on Wall Street, the church with its priests that abuse their proteges. He hates all those kinds of people he always pretended to tolerate as it was expected from him. He even hates his friends with their bad habits whom he always accepted as friends. Now that he is facing the start of a new part of his life he starts being honest and has no restraints anymore to admit how much everything around him that he used to love is now annoying him.
These are all or partly things the reader/viewer recognizes himself (if he had been to New York). But there is also another aspect of recognition as mentioned in the quote by "places we've all been". It puts the places and situations in the book into categories. I think this is not supposed to mean that everyone has been at this one specific drug dealing hot spot, but that all over the world there are places like this and that you could absolutely rewrite the story with a different setting. This gives the reader/viewer a connection to the story and this is also what makes it so honest and close to reality.
- The New York Times -
I think this quote reflects the atmosphere in the book quite well. The 25th Hour tells a story about everyday life, which isn't supposed to mean that it's about everyones every day life. But it shows the world how it is, shows it in all its facets:
It's shows the carelessness with which we take the good side of life for granted and how little we sometimes appreciate life when it's not causing any trouble. It also shows how rapidly this attitude can change when things change and you suddenly have to face essential questions in your life.
What is the sense of my life? How do I want to to go on? Where is this going to end?
The protagonist Monty in the book faces all these questions, he had everything - the good as well as the bad times. He knew how it feels to be on top, to be one of the richest and most famous people on the scene, to have everyone's respect and to get whatever he wanted. He also knew how it felt to crash down, when the whole world you relied on comes crashing down. In his case it is because he is caught dealing drugs and has to go to jail for seven years.
The book, as well as the film, show on the one hand how mindlessly people enjoy the luxury and advantages in life until they look deeper into them. In the story Monty started doing so after realizing his old life would be over and that during the next seven years he won't see anything of the city or environment he used to live in. He started reflecting on what he had never really paid attention to and started to realize how much he hated all these things. How much he hates for example the Korean Deli owners, the Pakistani taxi drivers, the snobs on Wall Street, the church with its priests that abuse their proteges. He hates all those kinds of people he always pretended to tolerate as it was expected from him. He even hates his friends with their bad habits whom he always accepted as friends. Now that he is facing the start of a new part of his life he starts being honest and has no restraints anymore to admit how much everything around him that he used to love is now annoying him.
These are all or partly things the reader/viewer recognizes himself (if he had been to New York). But there is also another aspect of recognition as mentioned in the quote by "places we've all been". It puts the places and situations in the book into categories. I think this is not supposed to mean that everyone has been at this one specific drug dealing hot spot, but that all over the world there are places like this and that you could absolutely rewrite the story with a different setting. This gives the reader/viewer a connection to the story and this is also what makes it so honest and close to reality.
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