Kultur 3 Cooper John

The article that really intrigued me was "Forget the 'Mett', Try a 'Frikadelle'", regarding German preference in food, whether it be snacks, fast food, etc. I thought it was especially interesting because when I lived in Germany, my family would sometimes eat at common fast food places, such as McDonalds, but the comparison between some of the meals or norms when it came to McDonalds was very apparent. For example, the small size of a cup in America is about the equivalent of a large in Germany. Also the fast food buildings were much more modern than they are here. If you have heard about a few of the McDonalds that are getting the 'Starbucks Makeover' in the US, that is more of how those places are designed.

I also enjoyed the article about how blunt Germans are in general everyday conversation, since I consider myself to be very blunt as well. I have always been one to tell it how it is to people (which is not always the best when I go to work in a retail shop!). I just feel that it wastes time and emotion to mislead people when responding to their thoughts just in effort to save face for them. I do have to say that I'm not so harsh on people to call their ideas stupid, but I would never say it was brilliant.

Kultur 6, Cooper John

I read all three of the posted articles and found the articles regarding Bild Zeitung and Germany's trash recycling system most interesting. I think that having a tabloid-like magazine in any developed country is not necessarily uncommon, however I think it is interesting that Bild has such influence in Germany that political figures actually do interviews to avoid being targeting without getting in their own word. I admit that I do love to read People Magazine, but I think that even the least respected publishing, as far as the truth is concerned, in America wouldn't dare to put a pair of bare "tits" on the cover. The article regarding how far Germany goes to separate its garbage was very entertaining to me, as when I lived in Germany, one of my chores would be to take out all the plant "trash" to the recycling bins outside our loft. I could never stand the smell and one time I even threw up on my building's front steps, while my older brother proceeded to throw up right next to me. My mom came out and felt so embarrassed she scrubbed the steps before anyone else came in or out. From then on, I have always thrown away my plant waste; but at least I still take my cans back to Kroger!

AMD 6 Cooper John

For my AMD I watched the Simpsons, however I was not able to watch the Bart version of the day. Considering Lisa and Homer's days though, there were many allusions to Lola Rennt, such as all of the running scenes (especially with Lisa) where the 90s tech music plays and she almost gets hit by a car. The two differ in the sense that the Simpsons follow three different perspectives of the same day while Lola Rennt shows 3 versions from the same perspective. The clock was also featured heavily at the beginning of each day, as well as the garbage truck ripping out the mail boxes, in the Simpsons, much like how Lola restarts her day with her sick mother talking on the phone. In both mediums you can also see how each small interaction of each character connect to the events of the overall day (like why Homer is not at the bar but then is in a chicken truck that happens to run into Marge and Lisa, and so on). I watched this with my boyfriend, who loves the Simpsons, and I was able to understand more than him, but we were both able to enjoy some parts (beer fed robot) and I was able to explain some of the little dialogue (not too too much though).