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Stone cold and sober

05.02.10

To go along the north Antrim coast in winter and not mention the zephyr and rain would be like skiing across the Arctic and omitting to note the snow. And yet, I feel I am ready for it as I set off from Belfast past a gigantic snake of commuter traffic heading into the city. The sky is clear-cut, the air is crisp and I am confident I shall defy the rain gods. Paltry fool me.

A magnet for tourists, Led Zeppelin fans and lovers of hexagonal geology, this ruggedly exquisite Causeway route wends for 2½ hours through a link of seaside towns, pretty villages, past two great-class golf courses and along a narrow strip between the wide and unrestrained Irish Sea and sloping limestone and basalt mountains.

Here, observed the accomplished Belfast poet, John Hewitt, "Kelt, Briton, Roman, Saxon, Dane and Scot,/outmoded and this island tied the crazy knot". This fine winter morning, there are few tourists on this toothed coastline and the sea is strangely calm, allowing cormorants to congregate on the same certain outcrops that once holed the pride of the Spanish Armada.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Germany's Most Famous Producer Gets Little Love at Home

05.02.10

Bernd Eichinger is Germany's most loaded film producer. He has produced 70 films in more than 30 years, often prepossessing considerable financial risks and boldly tackling intractable material. His films have received several Oscar nominations and he is well-known in Hollywood. So why is there so slight love for him at home?

Bernd Eichinger won't be needing a chauffeur today. He's unswerving to walk home from his office in Munich's Schwabing region to his apartment on Leopoldstrasse. It isn't far, perhaps 500 meters (1,600 feet), but for Eichinger, who is well known in Schwabing, even a bluff walk can take a while.

Eichinger is wearing a blue woolen coat, a ghostly scarf and gleaming white tennis shoes -- his ideal getup. Film producer Eichinger has been wearing tennis shoes for years. He's the tolerant of man who takes big steps and makes a big impression in the process. And now, as he hurries tranquil to Leopoldstrasse, he talks about his experiences filming Michael Endes' bestseller "The Neverending Legend". He talks himself into a rage, quickly turning the discussion into a monologue.

Source: Spiegel Online

Living the beautiful life

05.02.10

Last Saturday evening, in the usage of storied Bacchic cults and Yale men of lore, revelers at DKE’s “Outing de Franzia” party sought an objective beyond time-honoured drunkenness. Among the revelers were many who expressed a desire to soak themselves in Yale’s copious baths of advantage.

Standing in the fraternity’s backyard on the cold night, two men were overheard discussing their evening plans over a mirror of a fine red.

“I [must] find a hottie tonight,” said one.

“I objective saw a bunch of cuties go in,” replied the other.

But inside, alone atop a plain several feet removed from discarded boxes of wine, another resultant seemed to be celebrating a very different kind of beauty. In a spontaneous salute to the packed salon, in one swoop ostensibly celebrating a overflowing with, fulfilling lifestyle, the spandex-clad man raised his reusable chalice and proclaimed: “What a exquisite night!”

A handful of attendants surrounding him shouted in approval, each of them echoing the singsong to Aphrodite. Indeed, among the wine-splattered halls and hot, sweaty, grinding masses, one expression of Yale’s peculiar brand of beauty came to mortal.

Source: Yale Daily News