mels blog » Must-Read of the Week

Must-Read and Must-See of the Week: Grey's Anatomy recaps and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

MeL — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:51:00 +0000

This week, the “Must-…” couldn’t be more different, but they’re still both worth a try.

Must-Read of the Week:
bad machine’s Grey’s Anatomy recaps on AfterEllen.com, like the one of episode 5.4″Brave New World” – hilarious, and worth reading even if you’re not watching the show.

Must-See of the Week:
German movie Der Baader Meinhof Komplex – the disturbing but true story of the German terror organization Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF) and the crimes they committed in the 1970s in Germany. You need strong nerves, because there’s a lot of violence, but the acting especially by the main cast – Martina Gedeck (“Ulrike Meinhof”), Moritz Bleibtreu (“Andreas Baader”) and Johanna Wokalek (“Gudrun Ensslin”) – is outstanding.

Must-Read of the Week: Lesbians on “Leno” and a Wal-Mart Wedding

MeL — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:40:00 +0000

Here are two posts from AfterEllen.com that I enjoyed reading and watching very much and think that you might, too:

Lesbians on “Leno” (by Sarah Warn)

Notes and Queeries: A Wal-Mart Wedding (by Malinda Lo)

The importance of being "offline"

MeL — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:01:00 +0000

I just read a great book called “Das Glück der Unerreichbarkeit”, which – roughly translated – means the happiness of being unavailable. It’s about the pressure of always being available for communication because of the new communication technologies like e-mail, cell phones, smartphones and the like, and how hard it is for us to deal with the overflow of information we are provided with by means of those technologies. It pointed out to me again how important it is to be “offline” from time to time, to not react to every request for communication. We sometimes need time and space to be able to fully concentrate on certain aspects of our life that are important to us, either other people like friends, families and especially our “significant other”, or ourselves, our own life and how we live it.

When I was away on vacation, I forgot to turn off my cell phone. I received two text messages from work. One message annoyed me and made me very angry, and one made me go back to work after my vacation was over even though I was sick and should have seen a doctor right away. If I had just turned my cell phone off, I’d probably feel fine now. It’s an important lesson I have learned.