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.