I've taken to wearing my cap a lot recently, which is related to the fact that I'm trying to grow my hair a bit longer. It's now looking pretty damn crap, but in three months time, I'm hoping I'll have a firm crop of wavy hair to insulate me from the oncoming winter. The cap and headphones on tend to deliver a bit of a hip-hop look to myself, which is only amplified by the music seeping out from my ears. It's a pity that I don't have some rudimentary equipment here with me, since the music I'm listening to has inspired me enough (or I'm bored enough) to have a go at doing the electronic music thing again - maybe using samples from CCmixter. The whole sampling of music thing (exemplified by The Avalanches) is all part of that Remix culture idea that has been floating around for a while, and has only recently got a cute name. I'm not sure why that phrase has really received so much traction in the media (or at least in the corner of the web I frequent). What it seems to really mean is that the stuff which is being remixed is either a) no longer relevant b) crap or c) not to someone's exact tastes, and people think they can (and in fact often do) do a better job at making whatever type of content. Next thing you know, someone is going to claim to be at the vanguard of remix culture by customising their Yahoo homepage. Just to be clear, I've got nothing against the whole idea - in fact I'd say that my PhD is really just an exercise in re-interpreting other peoples work, and adding my own little creative spin on it. On the other hand, the results from re-doing stuff is sometimes just hilarious.

On a bit of an impulsive buy on the weekend (A credit card and the internet make things far too easy), I ordered a copy of The Party, for prompt delivery here (Thanks Cd-Wow!). I've been searching around for the movie for a while now, and only after having a conversation about Peter Sellers, did I actually remember I was looking for it. The reason I wanted the movie was that I apparently look (and act?!) a lot like Peter Sellers character in the movie. I'll watch it and then report back as to the veracity of these claims. English and German language subtitles too! At the local (well local being 20 minutes away by bus) student bar, they're showing movies on Monday nights. This week they're showing "The Village", which is not a great movie, but it might have been worth going just in case they had some brilliant Engrish subtitles. I also somehow managed to end up going to watch the Karaoke there on Friday night - where a number of increasingly drunk Germans got up and sung bad 80s pop, in both English and German. The notable exceptions were two guys who got up and sung songs in Mandarin/Cantonese (I can't pick between the two)! Their voices were drowned out by the actual song though, so only 1 point for execution, and a million for style.

To try and learn a bit more German, I've decided to tackle the language head-on, and look at what makes up the language, and to be brutally honest, I've found it lacking. It's not really enough to have incomprehensible rules regarding grammar, compound words which can stretch across lines, and separable verbs which may or may not decide to break up with its companion. What is really needed is some colour, vivid metaphors and similes which leave indelible images upon the victim you're talking to. I've seen some such phrases as graffiti all over the place (my favourite being "Esst mehr Nazis" - Eat more Nazis). With that in mind, any phrases or made-up words which I miss using, I have decided to translate into German. The latest phrases are "Schießt der Bear im den Wald?!" or "Shießt der Papst im den Wald?!". I've got the words memorised, so I have to work on the delivery now. It doesn't work when you meekly say things like "Excuse me", or order things in a quiet voice, and it certainly doesn't help when those phrases are mumbled out. Consider this my attempt at remixing the German language.

Food update: I managed to pull off a pretty much perfect implementation of the peanut stir fry last night. It was missing a few more varied vegetables (my broccoli had died in the fridge), and there was probably too much ginger and not enough garlic, but I was pretty damn impressed with the results. I also tried out my budget beer from the Penny Markt, and it is surprisingly drinkable.