OMG I'm such a great fan!!!

As probably everyone already knows, we live in a world of mass production and mass media. I don't want to get into detail here. My point is, today fandom is present everywhere. When I did my shopping the other day for some milk and bread in the store, I discovered yogurt for Disney fans. Maybe you can imagine how i reacted to this. There is one thing that life toughed me: If you see something with your favourite book, movie or TV show on it, TAKE IT no matter what. 

Well, isn't that strange? Would you do the same? I know that this attitude is not curable, however, there are much more extreme fans than me, to be sure. And they are all part of a fandom community, which means they know everything about a book, movie, comic or TV show and even beyond it. They usually have their own clubs, go to cosplay events (short for costume play) where they dress up like their favourite characters or they create their own fandom art, for example, on tumblr.

Only fans understand this.

In general, those people are seen as geeky, loners or even as creepy. Might be that some people really exaggerate in being obsessed with non-existent places, people, objects, names, stories or creatures. However, if you keep it contained and know your limits it is actually fun. You can exchange thoughts and opinions about something you recently have read. In addition, sometimes even recommend a new story that you like and think the other person would like to know abut it too. Additionally, some people are very focused on one particular thing which is not very exciting. Knowing about a wide range of recent, very addictive media is more affective if you want to have a topic to talk about with other fans.

To make it clear: I do not claim that I have absolutely no part in this fandom phenomenon. On the contrary! For example, I grew up with the Harry Potter books (and then the movies). I'm still convinced that something happened to my owl, so that is why I didn't get my Hogwarts letter when I was ten years old. Anyhow, I enjoyed the books instead and I still get goosebumps when I am re-reading them.

Seven days without a pun makes one weak!

I am really bad at remembering jokes. People who like to tell jokes are having an easy time with me because, although they have already told me a joke, a couple of weeks later I would have a laugh attack nonetheless. It's always like..

...I once heard a joke about amnesia but i forgot how it goes. 

However, this post is about the only kind of jokes I remember. Namely word plays. Or in specific: PUNS

My favorite puns are...

• I'm glad I know sign language because it's pretty handy.
• It's raining cats and dogs. Well, as long as it doesn't reindeer. 
• For some people marriage is a word. For others it is a sentence. 
• A prisoner's favorite punctuation mark is the period. It marks the end of his sentence. 
• A baker stopped making doughnuts after he got tired of the hole thing. 
• He got his large circumference from too much pi.
• Sleeping comes so naturally to me, I could do it with my eyes closed.
• I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me. 
• Mummies are bound to be upright. 
• A relief map shows where the restrooms are.
• Those who jump off a Parisian bridge are in Seine. 

Okay, I'm stopping here, I don't want to drive you in Seine, right? Just this last one for all language learners:

The most important grammar rule: double negatives are a no-no.

Of course, there are also a enormous amount of picture puns...

Those are not only funny but also incredibly cute!!!!! My favorites are still those by Gemma Correll. She is an artist and very fond of her pug and more into animals than humans methinks (sometimes).
Those are the best in my opinion:

I know it is the wrong season of year but this video of Christmas puns is genius! Enjoy!

Good, that's enough for today. Do you know any funny puns you want to share with me? If so, please do it! As you have noticed I'm obsessed with them. A little.

Did you know...that the poet and painter D. Rossetti wrote a poem about his wombat?

the poem 

How good is your general knowledge? Do you watch or read news a lot? How about science magazines? Have you been interested in all your subjects back in school? 

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? 

How many languages do you understand? How good are your geography skills? When did Constantinople fall? Do you immediately recognize a painting when you see it? 

 What is the name of the king who is killed by Macbeth?

Surely, you've heard many times of the Pub Quiz Nights in the Office Pub. My friends and I, we like to go there every Tuesday, have a couple of drinks and subsequently answer some tricky questions. Well, ever since our small, brainy and crazy group (Alliterations Anonymous) was founded last summer (in a very official and ceremonial way), I'm obsessed with the thought of winning the quiz one night. In order to promote and finally achieve this very high-aimed plan I decided to feed my brain with as much general knowledge as it can cope with. Which sometimes does not work that well. Oh well...

Here are some useful links you can check out in order to feed your brain a little:

• If you want to quiz yourself, you can do it here: http://www.quizfactor.com
• Instead of TV, you should watch this: http://unplugthetv.com/post/21671093706/ghost-hunting (you can still skip videos you don't want to watch
• If you want to learn a new language, try this: http://duolingo.com
• This site is simply amazing because you stumble upon many interesting things: https://www.stumbleupon.com/logged-out
• If you want to memorize famous authors, painters, places etc you can try this http://www.memrise.com

And here are some YouTube channels that make you smarter. And are very entertaining at the some time!

• super-creative and super-smart http://www.youtube.com/user/Vihart
• John Green ftw http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
• fun science http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC552Sd-3nyi_tk2BudLUzA
• fun science with Charlie http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEB92E275F78C7301

Have fun with them! May the force be with you! And may the odds be ever in your favor! 

Hakuna Matata! 

And if nothing works...grab a book from your shelf. 

I should mention that this post has nothing to do with your common sense.

The fascination for sad, scary, heartbreaking, soul shaking stories

Do you have a characteristic that you think is awesome...but at the same time a bit of a problem? For me, it's my easy falling for stories that make me anxious. What can I do? It's a part of me. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with this characteristic. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many creepy or melancholy stories out there.

WARNING: The next lines may contain spoilers.

But where does the fascination for such stories come from? Everything started with the very first epic of mankind, the Gilgamesh epic, Homer's epics, as well as the first dramatic works. The ancient world preferred tragedies over comedies as they were a sign for dignity.

Who was not moved by Romeos desperation when he finds Juliet's (wrongly assumed) dead body, or scared by Lady Macbeth's slightly bloodthirsty behavior? I was worried sick about the poor little orphan boy Oliver Twist when he was making his way all alone to London.

When I finished reading The Black Cat by Poe I decided not to leave my bed that evening because I was afraid to find the silhouette of a strangled cat on my bathroom wall. I felt sick when I was reading Kafka's Metamorphosis. When I was reading Atonement, I hated Briony for accepting the letter from Robbie because at the very same moment as she takes it she knows she is going to read it, although she is not supposed to.

I cried my heart out (not really but my I thought I heard my heart making a silent cracking noise) after I learned that Natasha thinks that she is in love this bastard Anatol (although a good looking one- at least in my imagination), who only wanted to seduce her. She breaks the engagement with Prince Andrei, whose pride is obviously hurt. (foolish, FOOLISH girl!!!).

When I was a teenager, I loved the Harry Potter books. I was really, really addicted to them. Today, Game of Thrones replaced them. Sort of. No I just changed my mind: Nothing can replace Harry Potter. Anyhow, everytime J.K. Rowling, R.R.Martin or Susanne Collins decided to kill a character I had become overly attached to, I felt like this:

Needless to say, it is very depressing when a hero or a heroine fails. Before the failure happens, the main emotions the reader experiences are fear, cluelessness and uncertainty. After the failure it is sadness, grief and disappointment. Nevertheless, the reader is more fascinated by this fear and sadness than by the hero's success. But why do we crave so much pathos? (I know some of you might think differently).

One reason for our craving is perhaps because sad and scary things release more intensive emotions than funny ones do. The requirement, however, is that those things are not real but only part of a fictional world. I think it is a sort of aesthetic satisfaction we get when we see a character escape death by a whisker, and even more when he/ she suffers from his/her failure. I wouldn't call this schadenfreude, though, because this would mean that the reader wishes or wants the character to fail, which is not the case.

In a nutshell: Although those stories make us sad, depressed, angry or horrified we still gain satisfaction from them. Therefore, we really like them or in my case get addicted to them. Well, why not? I'm in!

A movie survey

I wanted to try this movie survey for no particular reason and just because I thought it was fun giving it a try. However, it took me longer then I'd thought it would. It was really difficult to keep everything more or less contained and there are simply too many good movies. Here we go!

Your favorite movie: There are too many, I honestly can't decide. It's like choosing your favorite child! I count all those movies below to my favorite movies. 

The last movie you watched : Easy A

Your favorite action/adventure movie(s) : X-Men (all of them), Hanna, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, James Bond, Inception

Your favorite horror movie : Nightmare on Elm Street (not because it is very good but because of the memories and associations I have because of it- no nightmares!)

Your favorite drama movie : Atonement, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bright Star, The Last King of Scotland, Anna Karenina, Forrest Gump, Doctor Zhivago, A Beautiful Mind, Dead Poets Society, Three Colors: Red, Blue and White, Black Swan, One Day, Birdsong, Les Miserables, In Bruges, Children of Paradise

Your favorite comedy movie: Monty Python's Life of Brian, Euro Trip, Juno, Amelie, The Artist, A Fish Called Wanda, Easy A, Home Alone, Kung Fu Panda, Girls of St.Trinian, 10 Things I Hate about You, 

A movie that makes you happy: Harry Potter (all of them), Despicable Me, Fame, Finding Nemo, Brave, Love Actually

A movie that makes you sad: Becoming Jane, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bright Star

A movie that you know practically the whole script of: Atonement, Fame, Les Miserables

Your favorite director: Joe Wright, Peter Jackson, Hiyao Miyazaki 

Your favorite movie from your childhood: Bambi, Pokemon: the first movie

Your favorite animated movie: nearly all Disney movies, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Casle, Gnomeo and Juliet  

A movie that you used to hate but now love: Those emotions are a bit strong, but let's go with James Bond

Your favorite quote from any movie: 

"How old do you have to be before you know the difference between right and wrong?" - Atonement

"Me, I'm dishonest! And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest...honestly!" - Pirates of the Caribbean 

"I'm so fly I can any girl look good." - Take the Lead

The first movie you saw in theaters: Pokemon: the first movie

The last movie you saw in theaters: Oz the Great and Powerful

The best movie you saw during the last year: let's go with Brave, Step Up Miami Heat and Easy A

A movie that disappointed you the most: the ending of Django Unchained

Your favorite actor(s): James McAvoy, Rupert Grint, Eddie Redmayne, Robin Williams, Johnny Depp

Your favorite actress(es): Keira Knightley, Lena Headey, Emma Watson, Emma Stone, Lauren Graham, Emma Thomson, Jennifer Lawrence

The most overrated movie: Gone With The Wind (too cheesy and stupid even for my liking)

The most underrated movie: Big Fish, Hamlet, Match Point, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (!)

Your favorite character from any movie: Olive (Easy A), Arthur (Inception), ALL Harry Potter characters, Katniss (Hunger Games), the Minions, ...

Favorite documentary: Sadly, I don't watch so many documentaries.

A movie that no one would expect you to love: I've no idea what people's expectations are.

A movie that is a guilty pleasure: Maybe Imagine Me and You (very cheesy!) and Twilight but I always have a reason why I enjoy cheesy movies, so I don't really feel guilty or embarrassed.

Favorite classic movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Doctor Zhivago, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Movie with the best soundtrack: Atonement, Anna Karenina, Pride and Prejudice, Hanna (the whole soundtrack was made by the Chemical Brothers!)

A movie that changed your opinion about something: Seeing Anna Karenina made me realize that you can't and should not blame yourself for the rest of your life if you made a (considerably big!) mistake. Even if you hurt many people with your deeds (especially yourself), you shouldn't jump in front of a train for heavens sake!!! 

However, THIS is what learnt from Disney movies.

Your least favorite movie: I really didn't like American Pie. 

Is anyone brave enough to accept this movie survey challenge? It's not as easy as it looks like!