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Library of The British Museum, London, UK, November 2003. Carl Zeiss Biogon 21mm on a Contax G1. (c) Markus Ehrenfried, November 2003
Visit the British Library's online gallery and leaf through works by Mercator, Mozart, Vesalius and Leonardo da Vinci.
Some books I've read recently: Films I've seen lately: - Admittedly, it is rather weird to watch three trashy films in succession on the same evening -- but that is exactely the idea of the Fantasy Filmfest. ;-) Actually, two of those films turned out to be quite recommendable: The Butterfly Effect (be warned: this movie needs good nerves...) and The Machinist.
We also saw Jericho Mansions. As it was the 1st performance in Germany director Alberto Sciamma was present and welcomed the audience before the film started. He volunteered to discuss about his movie afterwards. Well, when we left the cinema the poor guy was standing around totally alone, nobody wanted to speak with him...
- I saw again some films written and/or directed by David Mamet who - in my opinion - is one of the best writers in the US film industry. He wrote and directed films like The Spanish Prisoner and Heist and wrote the screenplays for Wag the Dog, The Edge, The Verdict, The Untouchables and Ronin. (Okay, he also did crap like adapting Thomas Harris' novel Hannibal for the screen...)
Glenn Gould's Bach Recordings I went through my approx. 500 CDs and imported many of them into iTunes. Spending much time with music I didn't listen to for years I re-discovered Glenn Gould's recordings and was surprised how differently I hear them today, after putting them aside for about 10 years because I didn't like them at that time. I guess I have to admit: I didn't understand them. Gould (1932 - 1982) was a genius -- it only took me a decade to realize that. ;-) Here are some interesting starting points in the web to find out more about his work: | | Online Gallery of the British Library -- Leaf through books by Leonardo, Vesalius, Mercator and Mozart. Project Gutenberg -- More than 10,000 free electronic books. A great website. Great Books Index -- online versions (plain text and HTML) of classic literature. Great Buildings Online -- an interesting database if you're interested in architecture. | |
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Aspirin - The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug by Diarmuid Jeffreys
A story which "embraces, in no particular order: wars, epidemics, an Oxfordshire vicar, a forgotten Jewish scientist, ancient Papyrus scrolls, the Industrial Revolution, a nineteenth-century Scottish fever hospital, a common tree, espionage, a mighty German industrialist, malaria, the Treaty of Versailles, the colour mauve, the City of Hull, Lily the Pink, the world's most powerful pharmaceutical companies, a twitching rabbit aorta, Auschwitz, a mercurial advertising genius, and a great deal more."
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