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.