Fought for Thood - Doctor Funky's Blogbook

Punk's dead,....

2007-06-18T23:21:00.000+02:00

... this blog's next. Well, it kinda looks like it.....
Seriously though, my life has become extraordinary boring since I'm preoccupying myself with working on my PhD thesis. The subject matter itself is pretty interesting, but a) tedious to anyone outside the world of the "effect of history" (in lack of a better translation for "Wirkungsmächtigkeit"; here's actually another word the English language might wanna borrow from German - it's unique, not yet translated and it features an umlaut. Put it right next to "zeitgeist" and "weltanschauung" and discuss! ;-O)
Oh yeah, since I'm not writing from the afterlife, I obviously survived surgery; just to straighten out the facts and to minimize room for speculation (speculation with a supernatural touch, that is).
So yeah, since I'll be moving to Japan in the near future, I was thinking the unthinkable, i.e. to open up a new blog especially dedicated to my mishaps in the Japans. So whaddaya think? Should I or shan't I? As of now, I'm kinda in favor of switching, since I could use new colours and a whole new template in general. Anyways, we'll see.... at least Dr. Funky's not dead! ;-O
Peace!

P.S. I've been looking for some mind-boggling images, punching in "punk's dead" on Google Images, but out came just crap. Punk really seems to be dead.....

Staying up to date....

2007-03-21T23:23:00.000+01:00

Yeah, that's really working out.... To just quickly inform you, I'm getting surgery tomorrow, so if you want to send me some final words, please use the comments section ;-O. Seriously though, I'm gonna be away for some time (like it mattered to anyone reading this blog here)....
Oh, and this blog here has been going on for 1 year now (congratulations on that one also in the comments plz)+ I have been celebrating another inglorious St. Patrick's Day...
Hopefully I'm gonna come up with some quality pics out of the hospital, like how I am feeling up the hot nurses and all...
I'll try my best...;-O

On sick leave

2007-02-26T13:04:00.000+01:00

Just came backfrom my physiscian and I was diagnosed with the flu. And just when it hits the fan at work, and we're swamped with work (I am basically writing this cause I know some of my colleagues are reading this, so much for lip service ;-O). Anywho, being sick leaves me the chance of getting ahead with my university stuff (applications and such), and, of course updating this mother here.

Just to illustrate what ramifications there were for me using the internet at work almost solely for private purposes I've posted this photo of my boss rendering our institute's stance on this feasible to me... As the lawsuit in this case is still pending, I had to partly black out his face...

Lots of catching up to do

2007-02-21T11:52:00.000+01:00

Yohoho, guess what happened! I finally am back in the online world. I still can't really believe it myself, though. In those 3 month I was able to contemplate how dependent on the internet mankind has become - but I'm gonna spare you with my ponderings. Apart from my "connectivity issues", things have been pretty pretty good. I've received my diploma last month, and now it's all about applying and shit. And by and shit I'm referring to my (right now) bullcrap job at staff training, it's really hitting the fan right there right now. I've probably written about it, but they're gonna shut down that place (outsourced/downsized, whatever - although my office door proudly features a self-bestowed CEO, I don't know js about management talk), so I'm enjoying my numbered days of dodging work. Actually, it's pretty hard right now, cuz I gotta try and come up with a catchy outline for my research project, which is kinda hard (mainly time consuming, rather than hard). And all this apllication and job proposal stuff might actually stall my plans on travelling the Japans, which I was hoping to be doing sometime soon. But right now, I'm thinking about taking up a new job in April to take the first month off. I'm not exactly sure what universities working policies are concerning Reformartion Day or St.Patrick's Day, I could save some precious leave days that way. I must remember to bring that up at my job interview.

Other than that, I've been indulging in an extended Lost/Scrubs marathon, which was kinda confusing, cuz both series contain doctors and janitors, plus there's some heavy inter- and intramediality amongst these two. Plus I've been re-reading Maurice Sendak's infamous "Where the Wild Things Are", a masterpiece of contemporary American literature, which actually added to my confusion, b/c the story somewhat resembles the plot of Lost , though it is completely void of doctors and janitors. All in all, I fond Lost slightly funnier, but Scrubs definitely has the hotter chicks. Tough call. Anyways, should I rfemain unemployed for an extended period of time, I need new watching material, so let me know what series there are to make good marathons out of (I don't like 24 that much).

And I've have been watching some highly acclaimed (at least in academic literature) yakuza movies, movies a vast majority of Japanese people seems to be blissfully ignorant to. But I really am not surprised. but still, if anyone should know 仁義なき戦い (alledgedly the Japanese Godfather), pureezu let me know.

Ok, time to wrap it up for me, I'm gonna enjoy the rest of Black History Month with heap of juicy peanut butter sandwiches....

New Year's

2007-01-26T16:46:00.000+01:00

Yeah, I know, I'm pretty slow, but that's just due my entanglement into this lawsuit with my internet provider. All my internet business I gotta do from work. Which is highly uncool, let me tell you ;-O. Anyways, I hope you all had a nice New Year's Eve and all. For me, I was partying with a pretty international bunch, a friend of mine brought his cousins from the Phillipines, there were two guys from Sicily, my girlfriend's ex-roomate who's from Iran, another guy from Italy (Tuscany), a girl from Poland, and a guy from Thailand. Kinda reminded me of the international days back in Albany. Thing got a little outta hand (literally) when we were visiting our neighbors' party. There was one guy who was constantly trying to touch the girls that were with us, first the Iranian's roommate (and her boyfriend the Thai, completely freaked out, starting to punch him), then, after I (completely shitfaced btw) had starightened eveyrthing out, this guy was trying the same shit on the girlfriend of one of the Sicilian guys. Yeah, then the shit hit the fan, and the Italian guy and me talked this freak into leaving... which he did. Talking about New Year's resolutions....;-O

PS: I'm still offline.....and photos will follow

Oh no, it's this time of the year again!!!

2006-12-24T17:25:00.000+01:00

To avoid the usual Christmas cards and greetings mailboxes brim over around this time of the year, here's a simple

Happy Festivus!

from me to you! Enjoy the spirit of the season ;-O

Good News, Bad News

2006-12-18T13:59:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been a while since I last posted something, but actually a lot has happened since then. To start off with something good, I passed all my exams (including all the orals) which pretty much makes me an M.A. (That is if I don't do something like set the school on fire or sth like that and they kick me out). So yes, you may now congratulate me now. ;-O
Other than that, I'm still offline, which is freaking me out. But Alice (my internet provider, though it provides me with pretty little at the moment) promised me to get this problem sorted out this month. Wow! They could have even said "This year". So I gotta do all my web stuff from work. Which brings me to the next "bad news"-related item, staff training is gonna be outsourced next year (somewhere down the road). Which means that that's gonna be it for me and staff training. Well, I am shedding a tear right now ;..-(
But yeah, as soon as anything new comes up (por ejemplo me getting acces to the web again) I'll let you know.
You stay classy, Planet Earth!

Battle of the Year 2006

2006-10-24T22:26:00.000+02:00

The annual Battle of the Year, the bboying world championship, took place in Braunschweig last weekend. Needless to say, I was there again. Not really at the event as such (cause tickets have become mad expensive), but at the after-parties throughout town. Unfortunately I was way to drunk to take any pics. But my personal highlight certainly was me and my holmes Bruce Bronson and Robskillah hooking up with some totally shitfaced Scottish chicks at the local Kebap place. It is such moments that you'll remeber a lifetime. Priceless!

Still off-line ;-(

2006-10-24T22:15:00.000+02:00

I somehow still haven't managed to get hold of a DSL connection. Until recently, I still had a crappy dial-up connection, but right now, I don't even have a telephone connection, man. Having no real internet is like going deaf, dumb, and blind (metaphorically speaking). Anyways, I hope pretty soon I'll be up and running again, and I can use my messenger software, too. Peace on!

Paying another visit

2006-09-25T14:09:00.000+02:00

Man, I almost forgot, a couple of weeks ago, I had someone over from NY again. Naomi was here (Just two weeks after George, ironic isn't it?). We checked out the city, got drunk pretty much every day - that about sums it up.... So, I hope this shows that visiting me here in ze Germany really is worht its while ... ;-O
Should I get hold of some pictures, I'll update this post....

Moving out!

2006-09-25T13:36:00.000+02:00

I'm moving out of my noisy appartment (I guess I've written about the church bell just 30m from my room and the two train and truck depots, no?) right in the midst of my master exams, undisputably the best time to undertake such an enterprise. But the noise has become unbearable, I'm capitulating... But my new appartment is way spacier, it is on Luck Street, and it has a conservatory - nice, I like!
Anyways, I won't be online for a bit and my old phone number also is invalid right now, so if you wanna reach me, ring ring me cellie....
Also check out the pics I've taken with my awesome new Samsung cell phone

More studying .....

2006-09-19T19:11:00.000+02:00

Master's again, this time history. Y'all wish me luck, I always need it....
Also I attached a pic of me buried in books. My roommate took it because the look appeared to him as 'mad ridicolous'. But that's what I look like these days (usually with more books though)....;-O

Final exams coming up....

2006-09-07T16:08:00.000+02:00

Man, tomorrow the first of my final final exams for my master (Harlem Renaissance) is up, and I'm getting somewhat nervous. So I just leave a short notice, and hit the books again. Final exams suck and it doesn't get any better to the end...;-O

Paying a visit

2006-09-01T01:16:00.000+02:00

Yo! This week I got company from good ol NY. My main man George and a friend of his paid me a visit and we were gettin crunked up and all over here. I didn't take any pictures, but it was still fun - although undocmented.
Anyways, let this be a lesson to you, get your lazy a***s over here, there some unfished business here that needs to be attended ;-O

Games Convention 06

2006-08-29T01:28:00.000+02:00

Last weekend me and my roommates have attended the second biggest fair for video games in the world (and the biggest one in Europe), the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. If you're only slightly interested in video and computer games, the GC is the place to be. I can only say so much: This year is gonna be awesome for all gamers! For example, there's gonna be a game called Tagan (or from a developer/publisher called Tagan) that's all about camouflage, and/or war and everything.
Then there's gonna be this fantasy game, where there's a girl sitting on a well, and she's all evil and everything. I think it might be from the Might & Magic series. I mean, it is from the M&M series, and those girls are gonna be everywhere in the game, probably... I might get myself a copy, sounds pretty schweet!

Other than that, there's gonna be a racing (?) game with a girl in a flowered dress, that is cool, too. It's from Atari. And it has a flowered dress in it. Good news, I guess...

And there's gonna be a cop game, where you can arrest people, playing a female police officer... Wearing a uniform and everything...

But honestly, the convention was pretty neat. a cool thing I'm looking forward to is definetely Gothic 3. Gothic pretty much is a series of RPGs and pretty famous in Germany and/or Europe. That is because it is very awesome! Especially the 1st part I liked because of its unusual settign and everything.
I once spotted part II in an EBgames store, so I guess the game made it'S way to the US, but I don't know how well it sold. If you're a fan of RPGs in general though, you should definetely play it. Good stuff!
Most of the convention was about MMORPs, though. That was a bit of a letdown, cause most of the guys playing those games are scary. And to me, all the games look pretty much the same. That is I think they are pretty much the same. And I think you can cut out the role-playing part, since 90% of all MMORPGs are mere hack-n-slay games, so MMOHSGs would be the correct acronym, I guess. But I spent some time talking to some guys from Sweden and Britain who were promoting a new kind of MMORPG called Entropia Universe where you can actually make real money by playing. So, if you're one those types that call the Black Wing Lair home, this might be for you...
The other nuisance at the convention were the opossums. Opossums are those freaks that carry a huge bag with them (like an opossum, hence the name), and reaping all the things they can get, like t-shirts, lanyard keychains etc. Self-esteem is a concept unknown to the opossum. They'll happily throw all their dignity overboard and asperse every single one of their family members for a pen or a SEGA sticker. Despicable creatures.
One other cool thing was the presentation of the Nintendo Wii, but you could only play it with press accreditation (like my brother had). The thing that made the convention worth my while financially speaking was the fact that I won a book about game controllers that's worth 17€ in a hot ping pong match at the Rockstar Games stand.
All in all, it was fun, and I am considering going there again next year.... Hopefully there's gonna be more games with girls in it ;-O

Getting lazy...

2006-08-16T21:17:00.000+02:00

August, August, August.... Not only does this month always provide me with a good start (birthday, for those who missed it), it's also the one I might refer to as the most mellow one.
Not only did I spend 10 days in the woods and went sword-fighting, it is also the month of my boss' vacation. Plenty of room for recreational office activities and obviously lots of works that gets done... (cf. videos, it really was less menacing than it looks) ;-O
Other than that I'm still trying hard to become a Master of Arts, my final exams are up next, starting from September and lasting till November - we'll see how that turns out...
According to the general mood that accompanies this month I've been pretty lazy in terms of updating this here mother, I know, and it won't get any better until August will have passed, that I promise.
Anyways, there's the friendly match between Germany and Sweden on right now, that demands to be watched, so I'll finish here.... peace!

My birthday!

2006-08-16T21:04:00.000+02:00

Thanks to anybody who wrote me, called me or in any other way contributed to my b-day. It has been a blast!!

ヤンサンと日本の人々

2006-07-21T01:32:00.000+02:00

Educational videos are captivating pieces of film material, they display foreign languages and cultures in a naive and unintentionally humorous way. Most of them follow some sort of unwritten code of educational video filmmakers, it seems, trivial scenes of quotidian resolve in a volitionally comic and therefore listless punchline.
Let me tell you, Yansan to Nihonnohitobito (Yan and the Japanese people) takes a totally different approach to the whole subject matter (Apparently, parts of the series have been incorporated into an American Japanese-learning course called Let's learn Japanese).

The series is sure off to a slow start, Yansan, alledgedly German of Pakistani descent (that combintion alone is auspicious), gets picked up at Narita Airport, runs into his love-to-be, spills her oranges (the orange - the single most expensive aliment in Japan, and also a symbol for death, at least in the Godfather), blablabla - tedious convention from the director so far.

But with the begin of the second season for more advanced speakers, the whole serious gains such momentum, Yansan seems like on coke the whole time. In the most recent episodes we were watching today, he learned that his beloved Okadasan is going to marry some random co-worker of hers. Yansan's heart shatters into pieces (yeah, a graphic scene), he gets trashed beyond any maintainable level, and starts a fight with another guests in the bar (it's more like a sake stand) he seeks to drown his sorrows at. The trigger for the altercation at the sake stand is his obvious foreigness. Blatant, sociocritical, inconvenient!
In the follwing episode, Yansan doesn't show up at work (architect's office), doesn't answer the phone and decides to drink some more sake instead. After a couple of days he shows up at work, but is so crestfallen that he decides to not finish his blueprints and just boards the next Shinkansen. Yansan finds out that the train is going to Niigata, so he gets off there stays at a Japanese inn, and mingles with the local crowd, helping them to shovel snow from their roofs.
Awesome performance. I mean, we're still talking about an educational video here. If there was any prize to be awarded to an educational video, Yansan should definitely get it. Most definitely! Let alone the plot lines, the acting is also very professional and convincing. if you have the chance to somehow get hold of this series, I highly recommend it, especially the end of the second season. I'm actually trying to have my Japanese teacher lend me his copy, so I might be able to post some samples....

Working ourselfself to death...

2006-07-14T01:37:00.000+02:00

I will subtitle these pictures "Getting lots of work done...."

no comment

"85% of all deadly accidents happen in the kitchen"

It's all over!

2006-07-14T01:09:00.000+02:00

Finally, four crazy weeks have come to an end. And arguably, it was "the best World Cup ever organized" (Kofi Annan). I have to say, it was pretty sweet. Even though Germay only made the third place. But then again, we've won our last match. Probably better than losing it, who knows. At least it was a final reason to party for a last time. I had lots of fun.
I somehow can't shake the impression that Italy won the tournament thru improper means. First the penalty against Australia, the so-called video proof of Frings attacking an Argentinian, and then the whole Materazzi-Zidane thing. By the way, Zidane is an "awesome player" (Kofi Annan) for having head-butted Materazzi in this game. I mean, honestly, the best French player ever in his last match ever, that also happens to be a World Cup final, and he just knocks this guy down. I shall predict presage: Noone is going to remeber that France made the second place, but Zidane will go down into the annals of football history. Or, to quote Kofi Annan, "awesome performance". That's football.
(click the link, click the link !!)

Back on the i-net!

2006-07-08T03:45:00.000+02:00

Yo! My blog's experienced some neglect in the last couple of days, which was partly due to some downtime (my roommate upgraded our internet contract without telling me beforehand, plus the phone company send the wrong modem), and due to some visits I had to pay to my doctor. Anyways, I tried to post everything I've gathered so far in order to update this mother.
Yeah, with Germany out of the Cup, the World Cup is virtually over. But it was fun. Really was. The lost match against the Italian women's team ;-) really was a shock. Basically, everybody thought that Germany would win this cup, there was hardly any doubt about it. The moment all the hopes and dreams were crushed really became manifest. Disappointment was in the air for one night. But that's football then again. And South Africa is coming up in 4 years.
Anyway, from now on, I'll try to be online some more, also on MSN and everything......

Fairplay on the autobahn

2006-07-08T03:18:00.000+02:00

I encountered these signs on my trips to Kiel and Hannover, and I cannot put the finger on it, but somehow they are remarkable. On my way to the Poland match I also encountered traffic checks on the autobahn for the first time. Since there's no toll booth or speed limits or stuf like that on the autobahn, it was a strange feeling. Speaking of going as fast as you can.......

Public viewing n stuff...

2006-07-07T23:45:00.000+02:00

What do you do if you don't happen to have a ticket, but still wanna enjoy the feeling of watching a game in a huge crowd plus exprerience the thrill of getting trampled to death? Right, you go to a place where they show the game in public, and which is hence called 'Public Viewing'. I went to such an amusement, right on Kiel Week, which is not only the biggest sailing event on the world, but also the largest fair in Northern Europe (the biggest fair in the world, and thus also the biggest fair in Southern Europe is the Oktoberfest, indicating that the line between Northern and Southern Europe has to run somewhere across Germany. Even I learned something here.) Other than the beer, it's pretty much the same, even though the Kiel Week is somewhat more international and feature lots of foodstuffs that contain fish. Culinarily, I opted for Fufu at the Ghana stand (without mosquitos <- that's an insider).
But actually I wanted to watch the Germany-Sweden match. Which I couldn't at the Public Viewing spot, because the public part was cool, the viewing part was not. I could virtually see nothing but other people and 1/8 of the screen (needless to say I could hear nothin other than screams and whistles). Whoever tells you, that Public Viewing comes closest to actually attending a match in a stadium is a big liar. Do not listen to these lies! In the end, I was watching the game at a stand of Kieler Stadtbräu, a tasty local beer brand. Not only could I see the game, the beer flow also was uninterrupted. The rest of the night continued accordingly......... (+_°)

P.S.: BTW that female police officer in the picture is one that was featured on one of those "Cops" knock-offs, I can't recall her name, but it was something like Sylvia or sth......

The dark side of the World Cup

2006-07-07T23:35:00.000+02:00

With friends like these, you don't need enemies - isn't that how the saying goes? But he's really cool, that kid, and a good friend of mine, although he obviously is Dutch! And Holland left the tournament earlier than Germany; comforting enough to tolerate this obvoius aberrance in taste....:-) Plus Holland in her glorious history has won so many other things, let me think........... I reckon there was something cheese-related.

World Cup is da shit!!

2006-06-21T14:56:00.000+02:00

Even though I run the risk of repeating myself, it really is the shit. I've attended yesterday's match between Poland and Costa Rica, and it just so awesome, you won't believe it. With me were Juri, his gaalfriendo and my buddy Robskillah, who hails from the sunny nation of Costa Rica.
I honestly feel sorry for anyone who hasn't been to an international match. It's a complete different world, not comparable to your run-off-the-mill league match. The FIFA World Cup Stadium™ in Hanover was sold out, and there really weren't any seats left. About 40,000 fans from Poland and 3,000 from Costa Rica, the whole stadium was a white and red hell!
Right before us sat some fans from Brazil, they were funny as hell. I even changed scarves and hats with one of them, simply awesome (the guys in the picture)!!!
The dramaturgy of the game could not be beaten also. First the Costa Rican lead, then Poland catching up and winning the game. The crowd went ballistic, and me in the mix! Again: awesome!!!!
Same goes for the football afterparty, all beer and crunkness and a bagpiper (in the video).
Anyways, I'm forgeting most of the shit I wanted to write, so I'm just gonna post the tons of pictures and videos I have. Check em out!!!

Pictures of "Da Shit!"

2006-06-21T14:32:00.000+02:00

"Da Shit!" documented on video

2006-06-21T14:28:00.000+02:00

Some of the videos are pretty big!

World Cup, I'm coming!

2006-06-20T02:31:00.000+02:00

Today, one day before the match, I received a (blurry) picture of my World Cup ticket. Behold it and envy me! Anyways, I'll post all the picture I will be able to take from Group A's decider Costa Rica vs. Poland. Yeah, I know. But it a World Cup game, and it's close to where I live!

Heart Attack Game

2006-06-15T13:05:00.000+02:00

Football terms 101: Any of you who watched yesterday's match between Germany and Poland now has a pretty good definition of what the term "Heart Attack Game" encapsules. I was this close -> <- to having a seizure, honestly. I was in fact so suspense-stricken that I had to call in sick today (simply had, could not be avoided). The party afterwards was all the better, though. I took part in several car parades, with drunk fans on the streets, flags being waved, and taxis being shaken and all. Hadn't my cell phone ran outta memory, I had the most incredible pictures this blog ever had seen. Yeah, if, that is.... Damn my cell phone!!! I managed to shoot one, though. You get at least a faint idea of what was going on yesterday.

Here's somemore pictures:

IT'S ON!!!!

2006-06-12T12:22:00.000+02:00

As I might have told some of you, I've sold a t-shirt design to the site for tees on the net, T-Shirt Hell. About a month or so my shirt was in the making, but they finally turned my idea into real shirts (and hopefully into lots of cash). Therefore, I need your help. Go to my shirt and order as many as you can carry. Tell all your friends to do the same. Although they have mutilated my concept into a way less funny one, the shirt still does convey a funky, free-spirited and provocative message, and it'll look incredibly cool on you.
BTW, T-Shirt-Hell's product ID for this one is 666, that's gotta mean something...

Football World Cup is da shit!!!

2006-06-12T00:38:00.000+02:00

The whole country's upside down, everybody's going crazy. Including me. The problem with World Cups really is, that you can't get shit done, because there 3 games every day that need your attention. My working schedule has changed drastically due to this massive interference. And it's not just the pure interest in sport that keeps me occupied, my hard-earned money is at stake here also. All my bets went down the drain so far, just because of a bunch of losers from a nation a little north of here that is non-football and all-innebandy (should there be someone from Sweden reading this, no hard feelings, eh?). Other than that, my Argentina-Portugal-Italy combination worked out pretty fine so far, Italy just has to win tomorrow against Ghana, and that appears feasable. It is of utmost importance though, that Japan beats Australia in an unheard of defeat tomorrow. I placed a rather huge lump sum on the nihonjin, and they need to show that gambaru-spirit, or else I'm gonna end up broke!
The cities are teeming with people from all over the world, though. It's been a pretty unique mix. Yesterday night, I was partying with a my main man Juri, my roomates, two girls from Spain and Brazil, an English guy, and some Argentinos (and, of course, my co-worker charming CWOM, who was hitting on the shorties pretty hard). Robin, the guy with the British flag in the picture was pretty sweet. We managed to get him into a club that is notorious for his restrictive and oftentimes indiscriminate dress code. Besides his shirt and flag, he was wearing sweat pants and flip-flops. The highlight of the evening was a football match I encountered on my way home, carried out in the street between, 42 Fieber, Haifischbar and Bulldog Bar (all local bars and clubs). The match was merely a pointless kicking the ball as fast and far as possible. Hard kicks against signs, windows, lamps and taxis were celebrated by the cheering crowd. Heroes of the game were those lucky few who managed to kick the balls on the rooftops of the houses. Check the videos that I put online (HERE and HERE ). The number of players increased as the match went on, at first we were around 20 enthusiasts, later the number of participants exceeded 80. The whole fun was abruptly thwarted by the police, called by a resident, who alledgedly had to get up at 6am to go to work. A friend of mine commented on that, that the guy better hurry up, since it was already 6:10 and he was obviously late for work. What a grand outset for a even better World Cup. I doubt that there's any event that can surpass a World Cup in all its splendor ;-). I'll keep you updated.

Father's Day

2006-05-31T00:43:00.000+02:00

Actually, I wanted to write something about my this year's Father's Day exprerience, but that does constitute a problem, at least to some degree. My holmes and me kicked off (literarily) the day pretty relaxed, since the weather was pretty uninviting, we abandoned all plans for a BBQ in the park or the traditional "pulling a cart through town" (no joke, that thing is called bollerwagen and is full of - oh what surprise - beer. This year the upcoming World Cup dominated our sacred day (it is Ascension Day after all), and we arranged a suspense-packed FIFA World Cup with our 12th man, XBox. We didn't really integrate the demisive factor alcohol into our equation, which should prove to be fatal. For starters shots of Kümmerling, a particular German specialty, were served (imagine Jager, just more bitter and completely different, then you have an abstract idea), times and again interrupted by beer. Around 1pm, we were pretty trashed, and none of us made it to the last sixteen. Although we took teams like Brazil and Italy and all, we still took a good shellacking.

After this let-down, we turned to having a BBQ on the balcony of my friends' apartment and playing various other X-Box games and later poker (needless to say, I might add). At some points between all the beer, Kümmerling and sausage, I started to lose my sense of time, and suddenly it was dark outside. I decided to leave the party of ten and checked out my co-worker's place. That's when things started to become even more blurry and crunked. The ingredients of the "evening" that followed: lots of cocktails, tequila shots and even more shots of unknown consistency and red color. The only frazzles of memories that jut the veil of oblivion and drunkeness are the pictures on my camera, and I won't withhold them. The thing I remember is, that CWOM and I made a lot of new friends that night (one of them , I think it was the guy in the middle, threatened to throw a barstool into the bar, but no-one took seroius offense at that stage), plus I lost countless rounds of fusball against guys who pulled off tricks like these. My team mate, whom I just met, was screaming at me, if I wasn't playing. I wasn't. I was holding on to the table and zoning. Needless to say, I made my way home (probably on a train, guessing from the pictures) and now I won't touch any alcohol for the next 10 days. Bottom line: Alcohol is just another cell poison :-(

Intergalactic, planetary, planetary, intergalactic

2006-05-14T07:11:00.000+02:00

I did think of another catchy line for this entry, but I'm too ..ehhm... tired to remember it right now. But it was definetely not Beastie-Boy-related. Anyways, last week was filled with untarnished joy, as I was working at the annual STEC conference, sponsored by ESA (European Space Angency). Working for a organization that mostly arranges conferences (and shit) is pretty boring times and again, but this conference rocked shit (yeah, I wrote "shit" two times in this sentence). Not only was this stuff pretty sophisticated shit (there you go again), but it was lots of fun, too.
Anticipating attendance from International Space University (to my surprise, it is located in Strasbourg - up to this point I thought that this institution of higher learning was situated on Coruscant) my co-worker (CWOM and the Fulk) and me put up blueprints of the Death Star to outrival the other exhibitors into insignificance. Our plan to attract potential civil contractors included the repeated implementation of the song "Space Man" (lyrics by Aaron Neville and/or Babylon Zoo), as well as plastic cups with Coke and butter cookies. For some reason that cannot possibly be comprehended, it didnt' work out.
Reflecting the current delicate situation in the Middle East, we also took a sensitive approach towards the subject matter of "weapons of mass destruction". Ironically, the rockets in the pictures are employed in a project named "Mephisto". More than debatable, I'd say (but they hurt pretty bad, especially the pointy end)....
Personally, I'd certify this conference to be among the top 5 I've ever attended (or worked at, for that matter), last but not least because of the two awesome socializing events (a BBQ and a "Space Party"). The latter included the two pretty sweet spacewomen from Sweden we managed to socialize with. Plus some far beyond crunk guys from Delft (Netherlands), who were dressed up in several layers of this golden foil they use for satellites (you think I'm making this up right now, right? Seriously, I don't!). The evening found it's snugly end in "Herbie's Fifa Pub", a sleazy ex-Thai Massage parlor. Hot tip there: 1) "Apfelkorn", a special German delight, 2) don't use the bathroom.
Highlight of these informal gatherings were definetely two girls from Romania who were constantly wearing astronaut's suits (had my boss brought his camera as promised, I'd have pictures of them, too). If I find any pictures on the i-net, I'll hotlink them here. Anyways, the shit was pretty hot, and our Death Star will soon bring annihilation to the puny rest of the galaxy....muahahahaha!

Models with Conscience

2006-05-14T06:51:00.000+02:00

I've already written about the bot attack on my blog, that forced me to implement the much-accurst comment verification. The evil bot, who launched this perfidious assault used a picture from Models with Conscience. I instantly reported this nuisance to MwC, and I promplty received a reply from their founder and one of their top(!) models, Heather (in the picture). In a pretty nice email, she apologized for the inconvenience (wasn't really worth mentioning). Pretty sweet! So, bottom line, if any of you is planing to strike it big in the fashion business, make sure you book Models with Conscience to promote your stuff! Please do! Btw, Heather does look a little like a girl that's on the women's squad of my basketball team (whose name is Sarah, just like the MwC whose pictures was used in the comment in my blog. Irony, dictionary definition, I guess).

"Devout Ejaculation"

2006-05-06T01:39:00.000+02:00

...really is an ecclesiastical term. Besides their "double entendre", devout ejaculations really seem to work. As some people that (hopefully) read this blog might know, my apartment is situated direclty across the historic church tower of infamous St. John's church. So whenever another 15 minutes have passed on this earth, the bells let me know - 24 hours a day, that is. Now this is what happened, and I'm heavily euphemizing the following events. About 4 days or so ago, I ejaculated my devotion (no pun intended) and asked God, if he could help make the friggin bells shut up (I mean, it's his church anyways, right?). So he did. For two days now, the arms on the clock have been standing still - an outright miracle, in my devout opinion. And kinda scary!
Anyways, someone will get that thing working again, and the noise pollution is about to reach its normal level pretty soon, I guess.

MY KITCHEN ON FIRE!!!!

2006-04-19T04:07:00.000+02:00

In the past, I used to sneer at two things that I regarded as myths concerning toasters. The first one was that your toaster can actually start a fire by burning the bread inside of it, the second was that you can be electrocuted by poking inside your toaster with metal objects. Today, I was disabused of the former. My toaster literarily burnt my two slices of bread down to a pile of coal. The picture illustrates what my kitchen looked like (my roommate is also in the picture, ca. 2m away from me). These slices were frozen (I do keep bread in my freezer from time to time), thank God I didn't toast dry white bread, I might have burnt in my apartment. But those slices still were good, I just had to scrape of the black part. So, I today I learned some important things: Bread can burn and toasters are deadly weapons.
But I still don't believe that electrocution fairy tale, that's bs.

Happy Easter!

2006-04-17T22:21:00.000+02:00

Yeah, Easter! With Lent having passed, I started into a very cosmopolitan and relaxed Easter holiday with . The game aspect, previously established with help of the Zvenalizer, dominated my holidays. Some friends of my roommate'sand me were playing Civilization 4 and Drinking World Cup at the same time. Actually, my roommate Bernd started Civ 4 and I took over his game (Romans) when he went to take a leak, but I managed to get him from the 5th to the 1st position. That's leadership skills. Needless to say, I also won the drinking thing (although that might have been a tie, I don't remember, but my team, that consisted of Japan, Trinidad, Italy, Mexico and Saudi-Arabia, sure was a favorite from the get-go). At some point the two games, that we up to this point strictly separated from each other, started to interject, and that's where the fun started. We traded technologies for beer (or gave them away randomly to anyone who answered our audience requests), and the game found its abrupt end when people started to declare war on Fritter (one of my roommates) without engaging in diplomatic talks.

The rest of my vacation went on pretty smooth, I stayed with my family (my uncle, aunt and cousins with wife came from Poland) and went egg hunting.
I've sent a Hallmark e-card to all people reading this blog (this might be the first time, that something like this goes down, so later you can say, that you've been among the very first....), to view the greetings just click here. I picked the card, because the music can only be described as 'funky' (in fact, it can be described as a lot of things, you know).

Poker on the back of the Last Supper

2006-04-17T21:58:00.000+02:00

In the paschal atmosphere of these days, my main man Zven and me stuck to the traditional custom of playing a card and/or board game on the back of a famous piece of art. This year we chose No-Limit Texas Hold Em on the back of the Last Supper. Classic fun!

Taking drastic measures

2006-04-17T21:19:00.000+02:00

It was only a matter of time for bots to discover my blog. But now they've found it, so I've turned on word verification. Now leaving comments for you might be a hassle, and since I get at least 50-52 comments for each entry, this will cost you lots of time, but it's gonna put the "fun" back into "Doctor Funky's Blogbook". That deserves an emoticon. Here: ;-O
Ok, back to business now....

Football's coming home...

2006-04-10T16:24:00.001+02:00

I was flabbergasted when I heard that the NY based soccer club MetroStars was bought by the popular Austrian soft drink manufacturer Red Bull last month, renaming the team into New York Red Bulls. So not only might the Red Bulls become the most successful Austrian team, they even have the chance to rebuild the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium somewhere in New Jersey.... It'll be back! (Btw, that guy in the picture really is Youri Djorkaeff)

Edit Wednesday, April 12. 2006: Are you serious????

The Holland situation

2006-04-07T04:40:00.000+02:00

I don't know what it is, but one thing about Germany (or most likely it's about Holland) is, that there a constant competition between these countries in every aspect imaginable (they even fight about who can set up the biggest amount of dominos in one place). Completely ridiculous. Shouldn't they rather pick countries their own size? Like Germany should start picking on Nigeria and Holland on Uruguay for instance. But then again there might be a nonexcusable lack of tradition...
So, here's what's up. "The Dutch" somehow managed to set up an internet world record, 25 million people visited a Dutch website within a month. This contumelious obloquy cannot go unavenged, so some freaks set up a site to break the Dutch record.
That being sad, I might add that this is another internet hoax, which makes me believe that the whole internet is fake. I mean, the internet consists entirely of fake sites or fake boobs. I see a pattern emerging....
BTW, I got this information from a friend of a friend of a friend (no really, from Robyassin's girlfriend) via a chain letter mail. Please people, keep sending me lots and lots of chain letters, especially if they concern my personal health!! N.B.: Chain letters prove to be a very untrustworthy source of information. Ask this guy:

Carnival addendum

2006-04-06T18:23:00.000+02:00

I've been writing a lot about the German carnival, and instead of writing everybody different versions of what this primordial German festivity is all about, I'm gonna post it here. That's what this blog is for, anyways.

Carnival is a pretty big thing in Germany, at least in some parts, it does combine two things that this country is famous for (needless to say, these are stereotypes): uniformed parades and drinking till your eyes fall out. Traditionally, this event is celebrated in the West and Southwest. The oldest carnival however comes from Braunschweig (Brunswick) and dates back to 1297 or something - so it's only 201 year short of a thousand-year-old tradition (read it up here), so we're talking history here. To a German, this is not surprising, as Braunschweig is said to be one of the (if not the) most traditional city in ze Deutschland (a proposal to rename the city into Traditionweig was rejected in parliament in 1958). As a consequence, people here celebrate it like it is going out of style, whereas the rest of Northern Germany plies its quotidien proverbial trades. But enough of boring history.
What you basically do is get drunk from 10am (sharp!) on until, yeah well, sometime, but pretty much the next day. Whilst drinking you have to stand and watch the parade roll by. Via chanting (later yelling) rehearsed phrases at the passing vehicles, you have to animate the costumed people on the wagons to throw candy and other stuff in your general direction. Then you have to quickly kick any competition out of your way (especially children) that also try to pick up the stuff that the guy meant to throw at you (insiders' tip: try waiting at a bratwurst stand to experience how candy and other toys are hurled into boiling oil). My highlights this year: a rubber ball, a chocolate cake, and a Bob the Builder toy cell phone.
After the parade, the drinking is continued in bars across the city, or in the snugly atmosphere of your own or a friend's place....
Yeah, getting drunk in costumes and all is fun, everyone of you should try. Plus our costumes came in handy for the upcoming St.Patrick's Day...

Language skills

2006-03-29T02:09:00.000+02:00

In today’s world, the ability to command the English language has become a matter of necessity. The following videos document why.

German Coast Guard

A Day Trip

The Secret of My $ucce$$

2006-03-28T17:45:00.000+02:00

Did replacing the letter S with a dollar sign ever go outta style? I say, "Hell no!" And as the daring pioneer and mastermind I am, I shall hence employ the Euro € to substitut€ th€ obsol€t€ Latin E.
Anyways, I've been adding some important details to my office door - a Calvin & Hobbes/Sinfest cartoon strip and an envelope for minutes. A perfect facade, highly deceptive (although I expect to find a considerable amount of candy wrappers and bottle caps in my envelope)!
Plus I now officially got office hours, every Tuesday from 5.00pm -5.30 pm. So if you feel the urge to see me (or just wanna get rid of some Mars wrapper), you know where it's at! I'm actually considering to put up some chairs and a table with some brochures outside my office, you know, for all the people waiting in line... It's gonna be legit!

Feasting of the co-worker

2006-03-28T17:00:00.000+02:00

Yeah, well, to stick with the biblical reference, this guy here (who shall be known as the Fulk, one of my fellow colleagues) has an appetite for 5000 (obviously)... One of those food carrier pans we order for conferences somehow made its way into my office. It should have proven to be the last mistake it ever made.
Work is so much more fun, once you got your own office, you won't believe it.

Finders keepers...

2006-03-26T07:09:00.000+02:00

...loosers weepers. Although originally the next item on my list was a computer (some of you might already know) I managed to get hold of a fully operational AC unit! In one of our storage rooms I found it abandoned and entrusted it in my care.

Awesome! My plan is now to sit in my office in a fur coat during the months of July and August. Which I can do, thanks to the Alaska 9000!!!! I'll keep you updated, as soon as a computer finds its way into my office.....

By the way...

2006-03-23T12:54:00.000+01:00

Your Irish Name Is...

Peregrine Kennedy

What's your Irish Name?

St. Patrick's Day reloaded

2006-03-23T02:06:00.000+01:00

Since Friday I knew this...

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world.
Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well.
But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Bronson's BombayTV Cameo

2006-03-22T01:56:00.000+01:00

Just tried to do something funny with Bombay TV, too.
Didn't work out that well... you might still want to take a look:

Bronson's Comeback

Unfortunately the last word is missing, it's got to be "contract"...
and it's not funny at all...

(Phew... spent hours on that thing ;) )

Make your own Bombay TV

2006-03-21T19:58:00.000+01:00

Here's another movie related link. If you're a secret admirer of the Bollywood movie industry and always wanted to get in on Indian filmmaking, here's your chance. This site gives you the unique opportunity of entering the subgenre of subtitling and put something you always wanted to hear from your favorite actors into their mouths. What fun! Of course, if you and your friends speak Hindi, it's pretty lame.....

Samples:

A movie by Dr. Funky
A second movie by Dr. Funky (debatable content)
A third movie by Dr. Funky (naughty naughty)
A movie by my fellow co-worker Ripper Bendix (naughty naughty)
Another movie from the Ripper man

World of Offline Gaming

2006-03-21T19:22:00.001+01:00

Should you or your roomate look somthing like this, then click here and check what the world would look like, should he take his MMORPG behavior into the real world. It's is not that much fun, if you don't know what MMORPG stands for, though, it's just for hardcore gamers and those affected by hardcore gaming (like myself)...
Anyways, funny movie, I'll give it a 3.5 out of 5.

More pictures of even more merriness...

2006-03-20T19:22:00.000+01:00

Pictures of merriness...

2006-03-20T16:27:00.000+01:00

...taken with my VGA cell phone cam

"Everybody's Irish....

2006-03-20T15:05:00.000+01:00

...on St. Patrick's Day!" Isn't that how the saying goes? Anyways, me and my leprechaun Zven represented Ireland to the fullest on Eire's national holiday in the local Irish pub R.P. McMurphy's... and the Guiness did flow! The night culminated in the traditional St.Patrick's Day raffles, where bodacious prizes where distributed among the mellow crowd, such as Guiness® hats and Guiness® wristbands. With the proverbial luck of the Irish the Zvenalizer and me managed to get hold of four hats and eight wristbands, before the nearby tables threatened to declare war on our Irish enclave of felicity out of pure greed.
Around 3am we were swept out of the pub, but we continued to spread Ireland's glory at a nearby Kebap house and our favorite Chinese place....

2006-03-19T02:47:00.000+01:00

The Stone Fortress - dome of the Grand Bazaar

2006-03-19T02:43:00.000+01:00

Tashkent Metro station

2006-03-19T02:42:00.000+01:00

Tashkent street scene

2006-03-18T15:38:00.000+01:00

This is one of the photos me and my buddy Zven took when roaming the picturesque country of Uzbekistan. It shows the main train station in Tashkent, Uzbekistan's legendary capital. It's really amazing how, in spite of the recent political upheavals, people manage to stay friendly and hospitable towards Europeans. Next on our list is the famous Silk Road, with highlights like Samarkand and Buchara. Stay tuned for more info to come....