Hello! Nice to see you!

Come on, sit down, and warm up. It’s snowing outside and everything’s gone quiet. My entire garden is covered with a white blanket and it looks so serene. I’ll get you a nice hot cup of coffee/tea/cocoa/mulled wine to warm your hands up, and I’ve got blankets should you still feel cold.

I’m glad you could take the time for a Weekend Coffee Share!

If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you about my studies and that it’s going well, though not as smoothly as I’d like. I’d show you my new binder and the steps I’ve taken to organise my study material. That would also explain all the highlighters, post-its, tabs and  paperclips around my living room.

I’d tell you that my prof’s refusal to provide working links to documents listed as core reading in the syllabus is hindering my process somewhat. It’s taking a ridiculous amount of time to have to search the web for these documents, some of which are now behind paywalls or simply unavailable because the websites they were on were discontinued and deleted. I’ve managed to find a few now, but not all, but it’s caused serious delays I tried to avoid.

For future reference, I’m saving absolutely everything to PDF, using the Print Friendly & PDF Google Chrome Extension I recommended earlier this week. I’ve made cover sheets to put in front of every print-out, listing the title, author, publication, volume/pages, link, date retrieved and how to cite it in APA 6 Style.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you the best news I got all week: My NaNoWriMo 2013 fanfiction The Bravery of the Soldier is going global!

I received a request for permission to translate and as of yesterday, the lovely Vera (aka petergirl10 on AO3 and ff.net) is translating my story into RUSSIAN! Check out her progress of Храбрый воин (translates as Brave Warrior)!

I’d also tell you that I’m planning a few changes to this website. I want to add a few more pages, on which I will collect all the story prompts, character/setting inspirations, life hacks and study tips I share with you. That way there’ll be a handy archive. However, next to my studies, work and writing, that will be a side project to tackle at some point in the future. I should probably collect a few pictures first, otherwise that archive will end up looking pretty sorry for itself.

How’s the coffee/tea/cocoa/mulled wine? Need a refill? Because I do. I’m making myself a chococcino. It’s cappuccino, but with a spoonful of cocoa powder mixed in. Deeee-licious!

Turning serious for a minute, I’d tell you about a film currently available on BBC iPlayer called The Eichmann Show, a BBC Two production starring Martin Freeman and Anthony LaPaglia. It’s a film about the real-life trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann, the Obersturmbannführer who led the organisation and managed the logistics of the expulsion, deportation and extermination of millions of Jews and other “undesirables” during the Second World War.

The Eichmann Show is a behind-the-scenes look at the trial and how it was publicised, live on television, by producer Milton Fruchtman (played by Martin Freeman) and director Leo Hurwitz (played by Anthony LaPaglia). Throughout, real footage from the trial is shown, as well as the video evidence of the concentration camps collected during the war.

As a German, I am always wary of World War II movies, as a lot of them glorify getting to kill Germans for justice or generalise that all Germans must have been Nazi sympathisers and aware of what was going on. It gets drilled into us from a very young age that Germans were responsible for so much suffering. We’re made to watch the documentary footage of concentration camps and deportation trains again and again during our school career, graduate from books like When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit to Anne Frank’s Diary and Jacob the Liar.

I’d tell you that I think this film was respectfully done and the acting is superb, but it is hard to watch due to the real footage used throughout. I also like that except for stating his name, and during clips of the original court proceedings in which he is asked to answer by judges or lawyers, Eichmann doesn’t speak. The film focuses more on the suffering his commands caused and what an impact his trial in Israel in 1961 had and how the two people who had permission to film it all dealt with it.

For more, you can check out my The Eichmann Show Review and decide for yourself whether you’d like to watch it.

I’d tell you about how thrilled I am that the 1,000 Voices Speak For Compassion project, which will take place on February 20 with the hashtag #1000Speak, has gained its 1,000th Voice today and we’re still increasing! To join this blog hop that will flood the internet with love and compassion just click the link above!

After this somewhat sobering discussion, I’d tell you that I’ve also been watching The X-Files, though I have not written another review yet. My focus has been on my studies this week, but I did revisit a few of my favourite episodes and watched them in English, as I only knew the German versions.

Like the episode Syzygy, for example. Now, I don’t know why, but I’ve always remembered the two teenage suspects. In German it lost a lot in translation, like Scully’s catchphrase for the episode: “Sure. Fine. Whatever!”

I found out that they even made T-shirts with that phrase on, and now I want one!

Last but not least, we’d probably talk about BBC’s Sherlock. Filming has started again, and I’m really peeved off wit the phenomenon called Setlock. It’s when fans (and I’m not talking one or two, we’re talking hundreds) visit filming locations to witness the filming of the show.

Images from the shoot are already floating around the internet, and no matter how carefully you try to avoid spoilers, you’ll still see them. So we already know what the characters will be wearing and that spoiled the surprise. Thank you.

It’s also got to a point where the sheer number of fans makes it much harder for the actors to work, because even takes in which something goes wrong they’ll have to do before a live audience that isn’t just crew. The amount of fans, especially when filming at the Baker Street exterior location, has forced the show runners to change the way they film and do the scenes to avoid having 300 screaming girls in the frame. Even the actors have said themselves that while they love the support of the fans, it is making their job incredibly hard.

And that frustrates me. I’m a fan of the show, but I’d never do something that might jeopardise its future. We only get 3 episodes per season and seasons are two years apart. Who knows how many more there’ll be, with both lead actors (Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch) having won Emmy Awards last year and Benedict Cumberbatch up for an Oscar.

Filming locations are being kept secret, but someone somewhere always lets it slip that the cast and crew will be at a certain place. And the rumours go around. Fans try to deduce what the story could be, why they’re dressed like that, whether or not Sherlock Holmes and John Watson will ever get together. It’s spoiling the show for all the other fans though. The ones who want to be surprised. Who don’t want to have a year’s worth of gossip, rumours, theories and Setlock pictures so you’ll basically worked out the plot by the time the show airs. The fans like me.

So please, Setlock people: Go home. Let the actors do their jobs without distraction. We’ve waited so long for a new episode, you can wait a little longer. And it’ll be worth it just to have fresh, never before seen material air when the Special and Season 4 are being shown. Don’t spoil it for the rest of us.

Anyway. I hope you liked your coffee/tea/cocoa/mulled wine (delete as appropriate). I’ve definitely enjoyed your company and warmed up enough again to brave the snow. Just a quick trip to the shops and then I’m afraid I have a university assignment to finish which is due on Monday, but I’d like to have wrapped up by tomorrow lunchtime.

Thanks for having coffee with me! Same time next week?

Check out who else is sharing coffee!