Renoir's Le déjeuner des canotiers (The Luncheon of the Boating Party). I could look at it for hours, it's so fascinating and dynamic... 

Just this picture, nothing more for today.

(pic taken from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/renoir/land/dejeuner-canotiers/renoir.dejeuner-canotiers.jpg )

Summer nights inherently possess a certain kind of magic. Spring and autumn nights may have very agreeable and charming moments, too, but they could never evoke the same degree of fascination in me. They could never trigger that extraordinary feeling starting in my fingertips that makes me get up, open the window, enjoy the air (I can easily differentiate three different stages of summer just by their nightly smell) and roam the streets or fields or woods and just be. I never experience this strong sense of belonging, being a part of my surroundings in any other time.

Although I deeply miss the nights of the countryside, I recently spent two fantastic nights in Vienna. On Thursday my boyfriend and I went to the cinema to see Midnight in Paris (certainly NOT the best Woody Allen film, but we nevertheless enjoyed it) and experienced something like a bonus feature of the movie that extended to the "real world" outside the cinema. The film did not just end and we went home, as usual, but it seemed as if we were entering the setting of the film - narrow, cobbled streets dimly illuminated by the soft light of lanterns and framed by old, picturesque houses... From time to time a couple passed by or we saw a few people sitting outside a café, drinking wine and laughing. It's hard to describe that atmosphere just by enumerating some details... My boyfriend and I agreed that it was simply perfect, up to a point which seemed almost unrealistic and maybe even absurd.

Yesterday was different to that night, but nevertheless I enjoyed it very much. I went out with a friend to have some fun, we had long strolls along the riverside of the Danube, mingled with the crowd of people eating or drinking cocktails, relaxing in deckchairs, watching some small ships go by, digging our feet in the sand and listening to Reggae music. We ventured to enter this really posh exhibition of interior design, sat on sofas that cost a fortune (but allegedly were on sale...) and did a lot of stupid things, as there were hardly any other people there. I came home by half past midnight with blisters on my feet, sand in my hair, a huge stain of plum jam on my white skirt and a big smile on my face. Now I'm usually not that kind of person who parties a lot or stays out late, but yesterday was different... And I am absolutely certain it's related to that magic of summer nights...

It's already late August and the end of summer approaches very fast. Today the weather dramatically changed from about 35 to14°C. I am aware that the rain was already badly needed and lots of people suffered from the high temperatures, but I wonder how many hot days are still to come this year... Time quickly passes by, there's nothing we can do about it than enjoy it to the fullest and appreciate every single moment. This is the time I will remember nostalgically and yearn for in all the other seasons. :-)

Something classy for today:

I *love* Fred Astaire and his dancing. I completely agree with my boyfriend's grandmother who recommends watching an Astairian dancing scene whenever you're feeling low - it truly lifts your spirits! However, I usually don't leave it at just watching dance scenes, I really enjoy dancing myself. No matter how miserable your mood may be, after a dancing session everything looks brighter... 

Today I found a reference to this brilliant event which I, unfortunately, have already missed. Last weekend there was a "Gehsteigdisco" (literally translated pavement disco) on a piazza not far from us in the 8th district of Vienna. Now the difference to a common street party is that the neighbourhood and bypassers didn't hear anything of the music, whereas the disco people could shake their booty to their favourite sounds. So how did this work? The folks wanting to participate could borrow wireless headphones and choose between two different music channels. It must really have been a strange sight for bystanders watching all those people dancing to seemingly nonexistent vibes...   

Today I've purchased this fine copy of The Pickwick Papers :-) I've found it in the back of a bookstore I was browsing through (you'll soon see browsing bookstores is definitely one of my favourite hobbies) and there it was - just fifteen and a half centimetres long (perfect size for every handbag!), the edges painted in gold and a nice carmine bound bookmark. Shiny!!! Of course I had to buy it, although I'm in no way of a shortage of books right now - there's still The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and Der Meister des Jüngsten Tages by Leo Perutz... But when will be the next opportunity to buy such a lovely edition, especially now since the British Bookshop has closed its last store in Vienna?

Dickens was 25 when he wrote The Pickwick Papers, just one year younger than I am now. He has worked as a journalist before and written several literary skteches, but The Pickwick Papers was his first novel. It was published as a serial in 20 volumes - pretty much like modern comics or mangas.

You might ask, why read a book from the late 1830ies? Why trouble myself with Dickens's challenging writing style?
I have to admit you need to have a certain fascination with 19th century England. Dickens has a unique talent of sketching people and places, it almost seems you are literally travelling back in time. He has a keen eye on people's quirks and mannerisms and vivdly depicts even details such as clothing and accents of his time. Especially The Pickwick Papers are said to feature some of the most remarkable characters of Dickens's oeuvre, if not the whole English literature of the19th century.

So why bother yourself with fictitious people of more than 180 years ago?
Because, at the very core, people have always been the same. They may live in different times at different places, but the motives for their actions are something perennial and intrinsically human - greed, charity, curiosity, vanity, love, hate, lust, friendship, ambition, ... At some point you even realise that some peculiarities will never change and the ambitious matron strongly resembles that one distant aunt of yours or the kind-hearted gentleman reminds you of the salesman in that shop you used to go as a child. All those characters still exist, in fact - they may have different names, looks or occupations, but their types will probably never disappear.

I expect to be The Pickwick Papers a very amusing and comic read. Dickens has got a great sense of humour and, in contrast to his later works, still shows a certain light-heartedness in his early novels. However, this should not distract from the fact that his works are also highly immersive and moving. He is also famous for addressing social inequalities, hardship and extreme misery and poverty.

I am strongly tempted to just pick up that book this moment and start reading, but it will have to wait until I finish the books I've mentioned earlier. Maybe Dickens isn't meant to be read in the heat of this summer anyway...

(taken from http://charlesdickenspage.com/illustrations_web/Pickwick_Papers/pickwick_papers04.jpg )

Hello world!

Finally I've managed to bring up enough motivation to start with a new blog :-) I'm still at the very beginning and there's still a lot of room for improvement - I've got to find a decent layout and a good title for my blog...

I'm planning to update it at a regular basis... Daily entries are a bit of a utopistic goal, but there should be AT LEAST a weekly posting.
As to the contents of this blog - I will NOT abuse it as a teeny agony-aunt-thing. Of course, there will be days when my mood is not at its best or when I feel the need to get rid of something personal (although these postings will certainly be locked and only accessible to certain friends). However, in general it should be a hotchpotch of things which tickle my fancy in some way or another, it should convey a positive attitude and make my audience enjoy reading it :-)

Enough for today. The coffee finally starts to kick in and I really should turn to my diploma thesis again...