New Games coming in early 2009

In 2009, German Games Night players can look forward to three new additions:

Scrabble

The German version of this classic game (first published in 1948!) features its own unique tile distribution and the letters Ä, Ö and Ü, but no double-S character. The board features the same bonus square layout as the North American English version, but with different graphics rendered by Mattel who produced the game everywhere outside North America (Hasbro produces the game for Canada and the US).






Duden also published its first Scrabble dictionary, and that will be on hand to settle disputes about what a word is!







Die Siedler von Catan (Deutschland Edition)

To help commemorate 60 years of Germany, and 20 years of fall of the Berlin Wall leading to reunification, a special version of the classic game The Settlers of Catan has been produced with a German map and with somewhat simplified rules. I can't wait to learn to play!














Auf Achse

On the road again!

This venerable board game, Spiel des Jahres in 1987 and reissued in 2007 with a beautifully updated map of Germany, revised game cards and money. The game's object is to move freight by truck from one city to another based on contract bidding. Move the most freight, earn the most money!

Fußballfreunde Deutschland 19. Dezember

The last Deutschfreunde before Christmas will be Fußballfreunde Deutschland, where I will give a German-language roundup of German football as it enters its six-week winter hibernation. The action begins again with the German Cup, and Round 18 of the Bundesliga, in the last week of January.

A film will be presented, one of Deutschland, ein Sommermärchen, Aus der Tiefe des Raumes--mitten ins Netz!, or The Other Final, depending on our mood.

A mood, which will be good...I will bring seasonal Lebkuchen and mandarins to enjoy during the presentation.

Season's Greetings! Alles Gute zu Weihnachten!

Diashow

Breaking news: the draws have been made for the Round of 16 of the Champions League and for the Round 0f 32 in the UEFA Cup:

Champions League:
Sporting Lissabon (Portugal)-Bayern München 25. 02./10. 03.

UEFA-Pokal:
Paris St. Germain (Frankreich)-VfL Wolfsburg
NEC Nijmegen (Niederlande)-Hamburger SV
Werder Bremen-AC Milan (Italien)
Zenit St. Petersburg (Russland)-VfB Stuttgart

Football Friends Germany December 9

Tonight's film presentation was from the 11 FREUNDE Edition video collection, "Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait".

I found the movie to be quite good technically, with good music and some well-thought-out textual accompaniment to the pictures, but there were a couple of drawbacks.

One is that while Zinedine Zidane was a technically brilliant player, much of his magic was being able to read game situations, and that isn't best reflected from viewing him from a field level camera. Zidane also wasn't the most facially expressive player, either.

Another drawback was not exploring the written word to go along with the pictures shown. Expanding that aspect of the film would have brought the experience of the film up a notch.

The music was quite good once it began to be used about a quarter of the way through the film.

Interestingly, the riddle of Zidane is that while he gave the impression of a calm, level-headed player, with a control of himself and the game, there is a definite hint as to how his playing career would end.

The usual slide-show rundown of German football is below:

The next Fußballfreunde Deutschland is on Friday, December 19; the next English-language Football Friends Germany is in January. See you then.

Edelweiss Club Bazaar

The Edelweiss Club bazaar is on Saturday, November 29; I will be in attendance, upstairs, with video and games on display.

The bazaar runs from 10:00 to 13:00, please come by and have a look...join in a game, watch a movie or TV!

Deutschland: Ein Sommermärchen

Tonight's Fußballfreunde Deutschland presentation was Deutschland: Ein Sommermärchen.

This documentary from Sönke Wortmann (Das Wunder von Bern) provides a well-edited insightful look at the German national football team preparing and playing in the 2006 World Cup, held at home in Germany.

The camera gives us a unique look at the team's management and players working through the challenges, stresses and huge opportunity of the situation presented to them: only once in their lives would they have a chance to win a World Cup on home soil.

The in-game action sequences emphasized the duels on the field between the Germans and their opponents perhaps more so than the offensively-oriented game the team was playing. Also providing an excellent atmosphere was the attention paid to the phenomenon that the team became during the month: a young team with a dynamic coach playing exciting football and exceeding everyone's expectations. A team who the German public could love as much as they love the game.

Zitat des Tages Mailing List

Something I've enjoyed for years is Anu Garg's A Word A Day mailing list, and while I always find the words chosen to be interesting, I usually skip quickly down to the end of the message to read the quotation.

I looked for some time for a similar mailing list for German words and quotations. I haven't found one that offers both, but a list that offers an excellent presentation of a German quotation is Zitat des Tages.

I'm still looking for a mailing list that presents German words in an interesting way. By the way, another really interesting English-language mailing list is the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day, which provides a thorough etymology each day.

Schau mal nach!

Ginga, die Seele des Brasilianischen Fußballs

Tonight's feature at Fußballfreunde Deutschland was Ginga-die Seele des Brasilianischen Fußballs, a documentary film from 2005 produced by Nike to coincide with their marketing campaign in Brazil.

The Portuguese-language film was dubbed quite successfully into German and showed the stories of seven Brazilians and their relationship with football in their lives. The movie is several short sequences put together beautifully with slides of graffiti artwork from a pair of brothers.

A co-producer of the film was Fernando Meirelles, director and producer of City of God, possibly the most exhausting and exhilarating films I've ever seen. The scenes in Ginga were an interesting counterpoint to City of God in that they painted a picture of life and rhythm (the "ginga") of Brazilian life.

This is not a deep documentary, but instead is inspiring and uplifting with music, football tricks, dancing, and of course, the undefinable ginga of Brazil. I would be happy to present it again.

Amazon.de Ordering Group

Just a reminder that Christmas is coming up and if you would like to order a special German language book, calendar, CD, video or anything else Amazon.de offers, time is running out fast to join in my next order!

Please contact me for more details.

A special gift for someone (or for yourself) is a German calendar, and those by Harenberg are particularly nice, either the page-a-day kind on a subject like film or art, or those with beautiful photography which can be easily converted into postcards (they're perforated) when they're used up.

Football Films

Something I'm excited about doing at the Edelweiss Club during Football Friends Germany and Fußballfreunde Deutschland is presenting videos about German football--I have a modest collection which I enjoy and would like to share. (Of course, if other films are in our community and others would like to share them, too, I would like to hear about it!)

Just recently, I was able to get my hands on a boxed set of films put out by 11FREUNDE, the 11FREUNDE-Edition DVD Collection, and I will be showing these movies during both the Football Friends Germany and Fußballfreunde Deutschland presentations.

Also as a subscriber to 11FREUNDE, I was sent the DVD "Kicken für die Krone", a documentary about the national football team of Liechtenstein in their efforts to qualify for EURO 2008, the tournament hosted by the countries that surround Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland.

A complete listing of videos I have available to present is below. And as long as our gatherings are informal, I can play them upon request. Please let me know what you would like to see!

Das Wunder von Bern (Language: Deutsch/English Subtitles: Deutsch/English)

2003 movie with several story lines, brought to its miraculous conclusion at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. One of the most popular German films ever!











Kicken für die Krone (Language: Deutsch/Schweizerdeutsch Subtitles: Deutsch/English)

A behind-the-scenes look at Liechtenstein's national football team as it plays David to each opponent's Goliath during Euro 2008 qualifying. Learn a little about what life is like in Liechtenstein!









11 Freunde DVD Edition

01. Der Triumph von München (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

The story of Helmut Schön and his men: their preparation, and how strong Franz Beckenbauer's leadership was.

02. The Football Factory (Language: Deutsch/English Subtitles: Deutsch)

The film focuses on a football hooligan in his mid 20's who has begun to question his morals and the morals of those around him. Tommy's major conflict in the film stems from his inevitable ageing. Although he loves his weekend 'meets', he knows he cannot possibly play forever.










03. Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: Deutsch)

Sönke Wortmann's renowned intimate diary of the German national team during the 2006 World Cup.












04. Peladao - Elf Freunde und eine Königin (Language: Deutsch & Englisch & Spanisch Subtitles: Deutsch)

Soccer teams and beauty queens!

05. Zidane - Ein Porträt im 21. Jahrhundert (Language: French Subtitles: Deutsch)

Biography of French legend Zinedine Zidane.

06. Nordkurve (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

Moments from the lives of a large number of people who have nothing much in common except a strong desire to achieve their various personal goals and their attendance at a soccer match form the body of this film. It is unclear whether the director intended this as a political allegory or as a slice-of-life film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide








07. Fußball wie noch nie (Language: Subtitles: none)

Concept piece by a German director following the moves of the legendary George Best during a match. The camera never leaves Best even as the action moves around the arena.











08. The Other Final (Language: English/Bhutan Subtitles: Deutsch)

One of my favourites! A Dutch football fan, depressed about the Netherlands not qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, realizes it could be worse and looks at the bottom of FIFA's world standings. Watch the unlikely meeting between two football teams and two cultures and their common love of football.

09. Ginga (Language: Deutsch & Portugiesisch Subtitles: Deutsch)

Well-shot documentary detailing the soccer dreams and aspirations of seven young footballers, ranging in age from 13-20.












10. Im Westen ging die Sonne auf (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

Documentary and tribute to the dreams of young footballers trying to make it into the professional game in Germany's Ruhr region.










11. Aus der Tiefe des Raumes ... Mitten ins Netz! (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: English)

This high-concept piece revolves around a romantic story and German football icon Günter Netzer as a Kick-Tipp player come to life!












Euro 1996 Finale: Deutschland-Tschechien (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

This video is part of a collection currently published by Bild am Sonntag and the Euro 2006 final is a game that no German football fan will soon forget. Commentary is by Bela Rethy from the original German TV broadcast.

The Art of Football (Language: English Subtitles: none)

John Cleese stars in this witty and perceptive German-produced documentary about the beautiful game.

2007/08 Bundesliga Saison-Highlights (Sport Bild) (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)
2006/07 Bundesliga Saison-Highlights (Sport Bild) (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

Sport Bild magazine includes this little treasure in their magazine right after the season's end. On the disc are about 2 hours of highlights of the past season in the form of featured games and selected post-game interviews.

2006 World Cup Draw Program (Language: German & English Subtitles: none)

For anyone interested in German culture and football, this show broadcast worldwide from Leipzig in December 2005 is sublime. Features hosts Reinhold Beckmann and Heidi Klum, magician Hans Klok, singer Juanes, football legends Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Horst Eckel, Cobi Jones, Christian Karembeu, Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus, Roger Milla, Masashi Nakayama, Pelé, Lucas Radebe, and Markus Siegler, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, and German politicians Horst Köhler and Angela Merkel.

German National Football Team Games
World Cup & Euro games since 1990 featuring Germany (Language: English Subtitles: none)

From my large collection of VHS tapes: I have every game the German national team has played in a European Championship or World Cup since 1990. I'm happy to dust them off!

Ein "Scha(r)fer Krimi" von Leonie Swann

Tonight, Munich author Leonie Swann visited UVic on her tour of Canada in promotion of her book "Three Bags Full" (original German title: "Glennkill") tonight and gave an appreciative audience a reading of the book's introduction and early pagesin both English and in German.

Several audience members brought their copies of the book with them for signing, and I myself may just read this book some day, especially as I know several people who are reading it.

As host of the Deutscher Abend an der Uni event, Peter Gölz said, English editions of her book are available on the shelves at Chapters. If anyone is interested in ordering a new copy of this book, or any book or product amazon.de sells, please contact me and I will try to help you--I order from Amazon in Germany about twice a year.

Deutschland-Wales im Rückblick

Ein Paar Berichte über das WM-Qualifikation-Spiel von gestern (gesehen im GolTV Canada):

• Der unterhaltsame Ticker von 11Freunde
• Und auch Kompetenz im Spiel von der Kicker-Redaktion

Ein Zitterspiel, das endlich von einer Solo-Leistung entschieden war, und wieder hatte Deutschland (wie gegen Russland) Glück den Sieg zu bewahren.

Na, Ende gut, Alles gut, Deutschland ist nach 4 Spielen Tabellenführer mit nur dem Auswärts-Remis gegen Finnland auf dem Konto.

Piotr Trochowski kurz nach der Erlösung

TV German Aktuell Oktober 15

Tonight's TV presentation included Galileo Episodes:

• Kaufhaus Geheimnisse. Tricks that department stores use to get us to buy things, revealed! A psychologist explains what we can find in a typical department store that compels us to buy more than what we bargained for, with examples shown from Berlin's famous, and giant KaDeWe, located on the Kurfürstendamm. I exhausted myself walking around this gigantic overpriced store! One of the guests at the Club watching tonight (Paul) works at The Brick here in town, and could tell us the same kind of tricks were used here, too.

• Rechtsirrtümer Bus und Bahn. This piece featured questions relating to laws that cover people's behaviour on Germany's buses and trains--a popular subject of mine. While I didn't ride the buses much in Germany, I spent a lot of time on the trains, especially in Berlin. I was honest and bought my monthly passes, but I saw no shortage of the ticket checkers that work free-lance, and they are out there to earn some dough!
  

More Games!

With my most recent order from Germany, my collection of German-language games has grown by two. Or three, depending on how you look at it!

Ticket to Ride, a railway-themed game, was Spiel des Jahres in 2004, and has spawned numerous sequels and game expansions. The version I've bought is Zug um Zug Märklin, which uses a map of Germany. I was intrigued by this game, not only due to its popularity worldwide, but also because of the tie-in with Märklin. Märklin's model trains are popular worldwide and even found their way into my home when I was a child. (One of the highlights of my trip last year was visiting the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, one of the world's largest model train layouts which indeed uses Märklin HO-scale trains.)

German language skills required? No: the cities and map show familiar German place names (major cities, neighbouring countries), but the cards and playing pieces do not bear writing in any language.

More info: BoardGameGeek | Rules in German or English | Wikipedia: EN DE | Days of Wonder

Anno Domini is a simple knowledge/bluffing game first published in 1998 which was recommended to me by the shopkeeper at the Sputnik store in Reutlingen, Germany at the time I bought Ausgerechnet Buxtehude.

The game concept is not unlike Buxtehude. This game has players putting historical events into chronological order, challenging players to guess when events took place. The version I have, Deutschland, is about German history; other card sets include Erfinder, Flops, Frauen, Gesetze, Gesundheit, Kirche & Staat, Kunst, Lifestyle, Münzen, Natur, Sachsen, Schweiz, Sex & Crime, Spiel des Jahres, Sport, Wort/Schrift/Buch, VIP

German language skills required? Yes: to read the events printed on the cards.

More info: BoardGameGeek | Rules in German or English | Wikipedia: EN DE | Fata Morgana

Bohnanza Erweiterungs-Set

A popular game, so far, at German Games Night has been Bohnanza, the German bean-trading card game that was published in 1997 and has generated about a dozen different variations. The expansion set builds on the basic set that we've been playing, including additional beans and missions.

German language skills required? Little: the beans traded in the game have German names, but the game can be played without knowing much or any German.

More info: BoardGameGeek | Rules in German or English | Wikipedia: EN DE

Das Echo: Greetings, Edelweiss members!

For the November/December issue of Das Echo, I submitted an introduction to be printed in both English and in German. Any corrections welcome, in either language!

---

Hello,

My name is Michael Poplawski. I’m the son of two German parents and a lifelong student of German. I enjoy many aspects of contemporary German culture and the events I host at the Club are my efforts to share that along with creating an enjoyable opportunity to speak and hear German (one exception: Football Friends Germany is in English). Games Night features a growing selection of games; the football nights include a wide selection of football-themed films along with news, and the TV clips I present inform and entertain. I hope you to see you at the club!

---

Und nun auch auf Deutsch:

---

Hallo,

Ich heiße Michael Poplawski. Beide meine Eltern sind deutsch und ich bin noch heute Deutschstudent. Ich geniesse mehrere Aspekte gegenwärtiger deutscher Kultur. Meine Vortrage beim Klub sind meine Versuchen diese Interessen zu voranbringen, mit der gemütlichen Gelegenheit Deutsch zu hören und sprechen (Ausnahme: Football Friends Germany ist in Englisch). Games Night bietet eine erweiternde Auswahl von Gesellschaftspielen, die Fußballabende zeigen eine breite Auswahl Filme zum Thema (Nachrichten dazu) und die TV-Ausschnitte sind gleichzeiting informierend und unterhaltsam. Sie sind eingeladen, und ich freue mich auf Ihnen kennenzulernen beim Club!

Football Friends Germany October 7

Tonight's presentation featured the movie "The Miracle of Bern", the well-known 2003 movie that I will repeat upon request.

After seven weeks of the Bundesliga, Hamburger SV is still on top of the table, with last year's champions in eleventh!

Internationally, Germany is gearing up for two home games in World Cup qualifying the next week: first, at home on Saturday, October 11 to main group rival Russia, then at home to secondary challenger Wales on Wednesday.

The German Cup is finished for the fall and will resume again in the winter without any teams from the 3. Liga or lower.

Five German clubs have reached the UEFA Cup Group Stage (only Borussia Dortmund missed out, and narrowly so), and Bayern München and Werder Bremen are playing tough in Champions League, if not spectacularly (neither team has lost a game through the first two matchdays.)

Football Friends Germany August 30

The first-ever Football Friends Germany at the Edelweiss club featured a video roundup of the 2007/08 Bundesliga season. The program was recorded from GolTV Canada, which has the rights to broadcast Bundesliga (games, highlights and previews) in Canada on a digital specialty channel (151 on Shaw, $2.95+tax/month).

Germany's Men's National Team has just played a friendly at home against Belgium and is looking forward to beginning qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in UEFA Group 4 along with Russia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. Each team plays 10 games (one home and one away to each team) and the top team qualifies directly for the World Cup; the second-place team will qualify for a match against another second-place team if they have enough points.

The German Women's National Team finished third at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Germany remains World Cup Champions and will defend its title at home in 2011.