Talke Talks – Twincest | nd-aktuell.de

Howdy from Texas, dear readers, we all have different “bucket lists”, some want to travel to certain places “before they die”, others bungee jump off a cliff and possibly die in the process, some even dream of one threesome including little death (For those of us who don’t read novels: “petite mort” means “little death” in French, but is colloquially synonymous with the great coital climax). Because of my humanities degree, I have a lot of cultural “bucket items” to check off, like watching certain art house films or reading canonical literary works. But Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” are still there, where I left them unread many years ago – on the bookshelf of my parents’ house in Hamburg, at a safe distance from me; Because for a literary scholar I am unusually unmotivated, highly distracted and read incredibly slowly.

Nevertheless, I really liked a Tiktok challenge in which you had to read a book from every country in the world within a year. In order to read 195 novels in one year, however, I would have to be locked up in prison for the entire year, because under no other circumstances would I be able to give up my cell phone addiction. Time to commit a crime for the sake of culture?

Let’s get to my musical “bucket list”: Anna Netrebko has been canceled again, but unfortunately a ticket for her upcoming concert in Palm Beach, Florida costs $1,250. Wagner’s Ring Cycle is also on my list. I wouldn’t have expected that I would be able to enjoy it in Dallas. Opera and symphony are a slightly different experience in Texas than in Germany. The audience is much more grateful and cheerful (there is also a lot more drinking, before and during the event); You clap more often and louder, and I’ve never been to a local classical concert where the entire audience didn’t jump up to applaud at the end. In ballet, any complicated-looking figure (isn’t that the nature of ballet?) is met with cheers and cheers. What a contrast this must be for Russian Nutcracker dancers who are used to criticism and malice at home! More applause, more respect, more money, more security? As the mysterious death of ballet star Vladimir Shklyarov recently showed, Mikhail Baryshnikov did everything right when he fled to the USA.

And speaking of Eastern Europe: In Texas, the women are better dressed and the men are worse dressed than in Germany. She in elegant, often floor-length evening gowns, with professionally styled hair and very high heels; he in an ill-fitting, mismatched suit, perhaps even with hooves and athletic white shoe soles! In Germany there is more equality – couples are usually equally good or bad, but most often equally mediocre.

But back to Richard. For the first part of “Ring des Nibelungen”, the “Rheingold”, we had our acquaintances with us (they don’t read along, so I’ll allow myself a blasphemy that would otherwise never occur here – as my readers of course know -): she’s Russian, he poorly dressed American, both extremely pseudo-intellectual – and both fell asleep during the performance. We weren’t able to finish the second part with the best music in my opinion, the legendary “Walküre”, because our friends were only looking after our daughter for a limited time. The departure after the second act felt like a “petite mort,” but not in a good way.

For “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung” we got a babysitter (who really paid off for eight hours twice!) and, since her schedule didn’t fit any other way, we had to get both of us in within a week. After this one feat of strength Through a completely crazy story of inbreeding (affectionately called “Twincest” in the program because it was between twins, although the one between aunt and nephew was also not without), robbery, murder and a bad father, I understood why Wagner was known despite his ardent anti-Semitism performs in Israel: The music is simply awesome. So before you kick the bucket (English for “scratch”), you should take a look at the Ring of the Nibelung, or else: Before you go to Walhalla, I recommend listening to the Valkyries.

We-don’t-give-each-other anything

Our Christmas campaign not only brings the joy of reading, but also warmth and festivity into the house. With a three-month trial subscription you get a pair of left socks from Socks with attitude and a bottle of sparkling wine Social Sector – perfect for a relaxed winter time. A gift that informs, warms and supports the dropout program EXIT Germany supports. Order a we-don’t-give-each-other gift now.