comma, comma, comma, comma, comma, chameleon ?!

It’s only little more than a month to go and the end of this semester is coming closer every day ;) Unfortunately, the amount of stuff we have to accomplish is equally increasing.

That’s why I couldn’t really think of a topic to write about that is not related to studying, so I decided to tell you about something that troubles me - COMMAS!
In English the well-known rule for these nasty little signs is “When in doubt, leave it out.” In German, however, it’s pretty much the opposite. Consequently, when it comes to commas, I’m often at a loss. Sometimes even thoughts like “Why do we need them anyways?!” sneak into my mind. However, I realized that sometimes commas can be pretty useful, as following examples illustrate:

Likewise, a wrongly placed comma might turn the eating habits of a peaceful animal into a violent short story: “the panda eats shoots and leaves” vs. “the panda eats, shoots and leaves”

To bring some light into the darkness of punctuation, I refreshed my memory on the UEfAP website. http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm

I’m quickly going to summarize the most important rules below:

Commas function in five main ways

1. Before or after adverbial clauses and groups.

Recently, the number of service enterprises in wealthier free-market economies has grown rapidly.

After dinner, he walked around the town.

Some businesses only seek to earn enough to cover their operating costs, however.

2. Before various connectives to join two independent clauses.

(and, but, or, so nor, for yet)

What we require is a National Emergency Government, but no two men I meet can agree how this can be formed.

There was no Canadian Consulate in Paris at that time, so we had to go to the American Consulate for ours.

3. To separate some non-defining phrases from the rest of the sentence.

Malaria, once a widespread disease, is under control.

The Conservatives, who had gained more votes than Labour in the 1929 general election, were only the second largest party.

4. To separate words, groups and clauses in a series.

Life-support machines are no different in principle from medicines, surgery, or other treatment.

A policeman has to be able to work at night, at weekends and on holidays.

5. To separate adjectives that separately modify the same noun.

Critics praise the novel's unaffected, unadorned style.

He walked with long, slow, steady, deliberate strides.

Common mistakes

A comma cannot separate subject from predicate.

WRONG: *A man of his great abilities, would always be successful.
RIGHT: A man of his great abilities would always be successful.

A comma cannot be used to join grammatically separate sentences. The following sentences are not possible:

WRONG: *London is a very cosmopolitan city, there are people from many culture living there.
RIGHT: London is a very cosompolitan city. There are many people from many different cultures living there.

Because We Can!

On Friday, May 17, immediately after Russian class I rushed to Vienna to visit the Bon Jovi concert.

After waiting for about an hour sandwiched between loads of fans in front of the entrance, my two friends and I finally entered the main concert area in Krieau, Vienna. Usually, horse races take place in this area. This fact caused some worries to Jon Bon Jovi, who is highly allergic to horses. Therefore, the rain, which set in as soon as the performance started, was gladly welcomed by the singer. He stated that he had never been so happy about rain before. The rain eased his allergy and nothing could stop him from entertaining his fans.

He managed to captivate the audience by presenting a blend of old and new songs, among them the super hits “Living on a Prayer”, “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “We Weren’t Born to Follow” and more recent songs like “What About Now” and “Because We Can”, which also serves as motto of his tour.

His sunny mood and bright smile contrasted with the weather. While the rain started out as a drizzle in the first hour of the show, it increased during the later part of the performance. Nevertheless, Jon Bon Jovi kept rocking, jumping, joking and flirting with his female fans. He also told some girls, who were standing beneath a shelter, not to be “chickens” and to “get the f*** out in the rain”, since he wasn’t complaining or stopping his performance either. Regardless of the pouring rain, the show went on for 2,5 hours, including four encores.

My friends an I were affected by Jon’s attitude and energy and we were encouraged to dance, jump, clap, scream and sing along just like the rest of the audience, even when we were sharing a raincoat in the last third of the concert.

Light and video effects and the impressive stage design (which looked like the huge front of a car) supported their vivid performance and even sparked the excitement of some beer and popcorn sellers, who suddenly didn’t seem as interested in their jobs anymore and just stopped to gaze at the stage.

I think it’s safe to claim that the majority of the 55 000 visitors enjoyed the concert. 

      As for our impression: we definitely 

                  HAD A NICE DAY :)          

The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey

After several missed opportunities I finally managed to watch “The Hobbit” and I really enjoyed it. It drew me into Middle Earth in an instant, as the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy did. In my view, these movies and the world they build up are just stunning. And what makes the three LoR movies even more special is that they were actually shot ten years ago (!), in 2001, 2002 and 2003 (yeaa I know, we’re getting old, right?). However, they are still great to watch and have a very high quality.

Now back to "The Hobbit". I’d like to tell you what I thought about the movie, so for those of you who haven’t seen it yet: I’ll try not to spoil anything, but I’ll write about a few scenes of the movie; just so you know in advance.

One of the scenes I really enjoyed was a chase in an underground network of tunnels and caverns built by orks. I found this scene very entertaining, especially when it comes to the dynamics of events.

Furthermore, the part of the movie when the huge eagles, which we already know from the LoR movies, made their appearance captivated me. I still regret not having seen this in a movie theatre because I bet it was even more impressing on a big screen.

A scene that started out quite funny was the one when Bilbo and Gollum/Smeagol met. Some parts of Gollum’s schizophrenic soliloquies were hilarious. Also I’m in awe of actor Andy Serkis, who manages to make these monologues sound like a conversation and provides this character with an incredible voice.

Here's an interesting interview with Andy Serkis in which he explains how he "found" Gollum's voice:

And this video shows part of Bilbo's first encounter with Gollum. 

Another remarkable thing came to my mind at the end of the movie. The plot centers on Bilbo going on an adventure with Gandalf and 13 dwarfs and I realized that throughout the entire movie (169 minutes) only ONE woman, the elf Galadriel, is somehow of importance. I think she even is the only woman who actually had a speaking part! As a result of this, the movie lacked romantic moments, but it was very entertaining and definitely fun to watch.

For those of you who haven’t seen The Hobbit yet, I warmly recommend watching it. And those who already know the movie are welcome to leave comments about their personal favorite scenes of the Hobbit.

And by the way – the second part is supposed to be released on December 12, 2013 – I can’t wait for the journey to continue… 

Try Something New - Aikido

One of the downsides of being a university student is that you might be tempted to adapt a lifestyle that’s bad for your health. Examples would be an unhealthy diet consisting of fast food and junk food or lack of exercise. The latter can be caused by the fact that somebody moves from the countryside to the city – as I did. Let me explain: In my opinion, in the countryside you are more likely to go for a walk or jogging or biking or whatever, while in the city you don’t really feel the need to do something outdoors and therefore often prefer watching TV or meeting friends to have coffee and cake.

Of course you could force yourself to go jogging or visit a gym in the city, but if you are not exactly a sports buff, that’s not so easy. However, there’s another solution – signing up for sports classes. The USI (Universitäts-Sportinstitut) for instance offers a huge variety of different sports (ranging from aerobics to martial arts, swimming or different dance styles) at a cheap rate. If you join a sports class, you are forced to go there once a week and if you enjoy the activity, I’d say it’s perfect.

I’m always eager to try out something new, so this semester I signed up for a hip hop and an aikido course. For those of you who haven’t heard of aikido before – it’s a Japanese martial art, which above all focuses on defending yourself. Basically, you learn how to use the attacker’s strength for your own benefit and defeat him without straining yourself too much. It’s all about the movements.

In the following video a guy pretty much cuts to the chase in explaining what aikido is about:

And here he demonstrates one of the various techniques:

During the lesson, the teacher shows a technique to you and then you split up into pairs and practice with your partner. The teacher observes and provides individual advice for every pair. I can’t remember any of the techniques in detail yet, but they are repeated in each lesson and it really is a lot of fun. In addition, I think once I have a little more practice and once I'm able to recall the movements, aikido will be very helpful to defend myself, should I ever find myself in such a situation.

It stunned me to find out that there actually are several aikido schools in Graz, like for instance the “ASKÖ Aikido Klub Graz”, the “Aikido Union Graz” or the “Aikidoschule Graz”. So if you want to try out something new, I can only recommend this sport.  :)