Part B

Part B

I learned much more information in German Cultures class than I anticipated.  I also learned way different information than I thought that I would receive taking this class.  I liked that we learned a little about the different parts of Germany and their states and how they essentially have dialects and different states have different types of food and entertainment.  I learned a lot about what was going on in World War II in Germany and it really painted a vivid picture.  I also learned a lot more about the German government than I thought that I would have.  It was very intriguing to learn how people lived with the country being divided to 2 different groups.  I enjoyed learning about the different German subcultures and the music scene.

Class Critique. 

Overall I thought that the class was really informative and that I gathered a great deal of knowledge from my peers.  I did feel however that the majority of my learning was from my peers and not my professor.  There was just simply too much group work.  Some of us are not traditional college students especially in night classes.  It was very difficult to try and meet with these people as I don’t live on campus much less in the city.  I think there should have been more teaching and less group work, more of a balance if you will.  Overall the course was good.  Integrating of D2L would have helped immensely as it keeps all of our class information in one location and it’s not difficult to navigate.  I found that it took me a good while to learn blogger and was difficult to log in.  Having things on D2L is really nice because you can see your schedule and assignments coming up from all your classes in one place.  Thank you for this course, I did learn a lot.

Blog Review Part A

1. http://ge110denisebe.blogspot.com

2. Upon arriving at Denise's page, it is clean colorful and full of information.

3. Looks as though they put in a lot of care to their blog

4. The blog is very well written and follows the flow of the class very well.  It is easy to read and easy to understand what topics she is writing about I would rate the overall grade of this blog a 5.  

5. It is done well with good information and is easily readable, I would rate the readability a 5 also.  6. This blog would be better than Mine.

1. http://ge110tabithak.blogspot.com

2. Subtle background, that is easy on the eyes.  Information was clearly presented with pictures.

3. Seemed like she cared a great deal about the information she put on her page.

4. 5

5. 5

6. Better than mine

1. http://ge110jamesot.blogspot.com

2. The page is dull and un entertaining.

3. They didn't seem to care much about the blog or the class.

4. There is a lot of information missing.  2

5.  Hard to follow information on the blog.  3

6. My blog is significantly Better.

The Baader Meinhof

This film was made in 2008 and was written and produced by Bernd Eichinger. It tells the story of four Germans who carry out the fire bombing of a department store that was responsible for the death of a protestor. The young protestor was killed because he was against the ruling of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the leader of Iran. The group was then put on trial for the bombing and were defended by a lawyer who shared the groups beliefs. After each of their prison sentences were finished, the group had become more appealing to young Germans; they became known as RAF. The RAF describes themselves as a communist and anti imperialist urban guerilla group engaged in armed resistance against what they viewed a fascist state. Members of the RAF generally used the Marxist-Leninist  term"Faction" when they wrote in English. The German Government considered RAF a terrorist organization because they were for responsible for nearly 300 bomb attacks and murdered many people without reason from 1973 to 1995.

20th, 21st century inventions

1886- Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler invented the automobile with a motorized tricycle

1922- Hans Riegal invents the gummy bear

1925-Oskar Barnack- created a pocket camera laid the cornerstones for snapshots

1930-Manfred Von Ardenne  created the television

1936-Heinrich Focke intended the helicopter

1938-Otto Han created the idea of Nuclear Fission

1941-Konrad Zuse invented the first computer

1969-j. Dethloff and H Grottup create a chip card which will shape credit cards forever.

German Industries and Labor Conditions

● Germany was noted for their work in fabrics

● Manufactured felt, hats, leather wares, watches

● As early as 1730, German mechanics in America began to make musical

instruments

● The foundation of the German Customs Union was the trigger for the

Industrial Revolution.

○ When trade barriers between German states were abolished in 1834

this gave rise to an attractive market in goods. Demand for coal rose

quickly and mining areas boomed.

● The railways proved to be the motor of German industrialisation. Their

constructors enjoyed amazing success.

○ The first railway line to go into operation was between Nuremberg and

Fürth.

○ Several years later firms in Munich and Berlin were building their own

locomotives, soon began to overtake their British forerunners and

went into the export business.

○ Mechanical engineering was the third major pillar of the expanding

economy alongside coal and steel. By the end of the 19th century

German businesses had taken over a leading role in the modern areas

of chemicals and electrical engineering.

● The industrial factory was separate and often distant from the home.

● The machinery and new sources of power required large concentrations of labor

within factories.

● Factory production created working and living conditions that were much worse

than what had been the norm in rural life.

● Early factories and mines were crowded, dirty, and dangerous. The usual

workday was twelve to fifteen hours long.

● Workers' families were crowded together in dark, damp quarters.

● Factory discipline could be severe - workers were often expected to pay for

broken equipment out of their own wages.

● Employers could get away with paying their workers minimal salaries, barely

enough to support a family

Specht-Jarvis

Mike Reimann

1.   What do drugs mean to Ickarus?

They are his way of relaxing, taking the edge off so he can just chill out.

They were his way of escaping reality and getting away.  He thrived on them and needed them to work and do his job.  It was part of the partying subculture.  Drugs are Ickarus’ way of copping with problems. 

2.   Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?

Some of them are taking cocaine and snorting it while they are partying.  They take it to keep them going.

They are taking Ecstasy to get high and enjoy the music.

They are taking ketamine whenever they want to disconnect.

MDA with PMA in it.

3. While we can see that his drug habits get him ill and into a psychosis, and while we witness his relapse and inability to work successfully, why does the subculture Ickarus belongs to focus on drugs?

It seems that all the subculture wants to do is party.    They live off of getting messed up and having a good time.  Music is really huge and seems to be how they express themselves and get their emotions out

4. Compare the standards you know from your home society with the people you see depicted in this movie. Which are the stark differences and contrasts?

Major differences would include: having to care about my life, we don’t do hardcore drugs all the time, we have responsibilities and it seems that our society expects better from us.

5. Germany is considered a strong industrial nation the world over. Do you think that the youth culture as depicted here could change that? How about work ethics of Ickarus and of Alice, the label director who fires and then re-signs him?

         I would agree that Germany is a strong industrial capital of the world but I would also say that in the last five years they have really come into the music scene.  It is really becoming popular there and they are starting to spit out tons of new music.  Ickarus, despite being crazy and doing all kinds of stuff he shouldn’t seemingly had a strong work ethic as he worked throughout all of his problems, during his relapse and during his healing phase.  Alice was in it for the money.  Ickarus became more hassle than he was worth but when the promise of good music became apparent to her she wanted to resign him and did.

6. Which similar "cult movies" of US origin have you seen, if any?

            There were some kinds of similarities with the movie fear and loathing in las vegas.  The guy was extremely addicted to hardcore drugs. Made crazy choices with his life and it greatly affected him.  This movie is more of a drama than Fear was.  Fear was more Hollywood.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  It wasn't a cult classic but it was good and a memorable movie.    I think that it was really well written.  You really got the sense of the environment they were trying to portray.  It felt european, if felt real.  It takes you through Ickarus' Journey of battling drugs and fighting to stay afloat within his career and his life.  It takes you through the struggle of trying to get off of these drugs and still cope with your problems and do the things you loved to do on the drugs without them.  It really did a good job taking you through the ups and downs.  You wanted him to break out of the hospital but you wanted him to go back.  You understood how he felt and his time to go out and release the stress of being cooped up and it made you feel like you wanted him to leave.  You wanted him to enjoy himself but not to relapse.  Your hopes and dreams are crushed as he relapses and crashes and smashes his life to pieces.  Fortunately for him he had some forgiving people in his life and he mended those relationships as he healed and got off the drugs. I was really glad to see him beat his struggles and stare adversity in the face and deny drugs to not only himself but to his friends as well.  It was good to see that he could put aside his drug problems and continue to put all his effort he had left into his job, into making music.  Very well written piece of filmography.

Berlin Calling

1.   What do drugs mean to Ickarus?

They are his way of relaxing, taking the edge off so he can just chill out.

They were his way of escaping reality and getting away.  He thrived on them and needed them to work and do his job.  It was part of the partying subculture.  Drugs are Ickarus’ way of copping with problems. 

2.   Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?

Some of them are taking cocaine and snorting it while they are partying.  They take it to keep them going.

They are taking Ecstasy to get high and enjoy the music.

They are taking ketamine whenever they want to disconnect.

MDA with PMA in it.

3. While we can see that his drug habits get him ill and into a psychosis, and while we witness his relapse and inability to work successfully, why does the subculture Ickarus belongs to focus on drugs?

It seems that all the subculture wants to do is party.    They live off of getting messed up and having a good time.  Music is really huge and seems to be how they express themselves and get their emotions out

4. Compare the standards you know from your home society with the people you see depicted in this movie. Which are the stark differences and contrasts?

Major differences would include: having to care about my life, we don’t do hardcore drugs all the time, we have responsibilities and it seems that our society expects better from us.

5. Germany is considered a strong industrial nation the world over. Do you think that the youth culture as depicted here could change that? How about work ethics of Ickarus and of Alice, the label director who fires and then re-signs him?

         I would agree that Germany is a strong industrial capital of the world but I would also say that in the last five years they have really come into the music scene.  It is really becoming popular there and they are starting to spit out tons of new music.  Ickarus, despite being crazy and doing all kinds of stuff he shouldn’t seemingly had a strong work ethic as he worked throughout all of his problems, during his relapse and during his healing phase.  Alice was in it for the money.  Ickarus became more hassle than he was worth but when the promise of good music became apparent to her she wanted to resign him and did.

6. Which similar "cult movies" of US origin have you seen, if any?

            There were some kinds of similarities with the movie fear and loathing in las vegas.  The guy was extremely addicted to hardcore drugs. Made crazy choices with his life and it greatly affected him.  This movie is more of a drama than Fear was.  Fear was more Hollywood.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  It wasn't a cult classic but it was good and a memorable movie.    I think that it was really well written.  You really got the sense of the environment they were trying to portray.  It felt european, if felt real.  It takes you through Ickarus' Journey of battling drugs and fighting to stay afloat within his career and his life.  It takes you through the struggle of trying to get off of these drugs and still cope with your problems and do the things you loved to do on the drugs without them.  It really did a good job taking you through the ups and downs.  You wanted him to break out of the hospital but you wanted him to go back.  You understood how he felt and his time to go out and release the stress of being cooped up and it made you feel like you wanted him to leave.  You wanted him to enjoy himself but not to relapse.  Your hopes and dreams are crushed as he relapses and crashes and smashes his life to pieces.  Fortunately for him he had some forgiving people in his life and he mended those relationships as he healed and got off the drugs. I was really glad to see him beat his struggles and stare adversity in the face and deny drugs to not only himself but to his friends as well.  It was good to see that he could put aside his drug problems and continue to put all his effort he had left into his job, into making music.  Very well written piece of filmography.