h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello there!
I was just lurking about h2g2 a little and I happened to end up on your personal space . and now I’m interested in which bands and artists you’re into, cause we happen to like the same music.
I felt free to drop a message, cause in your introduction it says you’re looking for some people you can chat with, or something. hope you don’t mind!
I don’t know a lot about jazz, though I like jazz. but there was also the part about gothic, deathrock and industrial within your introduction. and now I wonder if you like “Das Ich” or “Deine Lakaien”, who have been two of my most fav bands for over eight years.
oh, and we seem to share an opinion about not-having/wanting-children.
would be nice to hear from you!
4now
kat

hey there!

never thouhght that someone here actually likes the same music as i do!
sorry that i am answering that late, (i have had some bad problems with my pc )

anyway, it´s really cool that we have got the same interests!!

if you don´t mind i would like to drop a message to you.

greeeetz

hello there!
hope you’ve sorted out your computer related problems! it wasn’t a head crash, was it?
I’m pretty busy at the moment – gotta learn for some exams.
what are your most favorite bands? *intrigued to know*
drop a message whenever you feel like it!

kat

hi!

yeah, was a bad crush, in fact my pc still doesn´t work the way i want to.

alright, yeah one of my favourite bands is "das ich", but i still don´t really know if i should buy a deine lakeien- record.
other bands i like are :
marilyn manson - i am an addict
NIN
L´Âme Immortelle
Nirvana
Rammstein
LAM (london after midnight)
tanzwut (a bit)
tool
KMFDM
persephone
skinny puppet
zeraphine

that are my favourite but i got more bands i like
and you.. which are yours??
and for which exams are you learning? hope you will do a good job

hello there!

sorry to hear that it was indeed a head crash! I had the same problem some years ago, it totally freaked me out…

Of the bands you’ve mentioned I merely know a few… Nirvana of course, I’ve got all their albums. I was a big fan when I was about 12 or 13… I like Rammstein as well, but I only know their old albums. NIN and Tool are okay as well as Marilyn Manson… I love those Tool-videos – they’re great! L’Ame Immortelle are a little drippy, I don’t like them that much…
I don’t know any of the other bands you mentioned…

if you want to buy a Deine Lakaien-album I can recommend “White Lies” and “Dark Star”. at least those are my favorite ones.

some other gothic/industrial bands I like are Lacrimosa (though everything after “Inferno” is crap), Relatives Menschsein, Goethes Erben, Atrocity, Type O Negative…

what kind of jazz do you like? is there anything you can recommend to someone who likes jazz, but doesn’t know what to buy in order to listen to?

at the moment I’m learning for an ICT (information and communication technology) exam. it’s my last one before summer, and I’m really really looking forward for some time to do nothing afterwards!

all the best!
kat

HEY Kat !

sorry i couldn´t answer but my pc is driving me crazy. i am constantly close to throw it out of the window !! aaaaargh, it´s really driving me so f***ing mad. after about 5 minutes or even less it starts to make starnge sounds and stuff and nothing works. after some seconds i have to switch it of. really insane !
Please don´t be mad if my next message will take so long as this- one did !!

I quite like Type O Negative and i have heard stuff about Relatives Menschsein and Goethes Erben but i am not sure if i should buy one of their records. are they more gothic or more industrial?
i have heard about some other bands like children of bodom, mud vayne, suicide commando.. do you know what sort of music they all are making and whom you can compare them with ?

i like old jazz, not this "new" pseudo- sell-called jazz like joss stone does. i really hate that she´s calling her "music" jazz, it really pi**es me off!
i love the flair of the 20´s so according to this i like jazz played in the 20´s till 30´s , maybe even some till 40´s .
moreover i like some blues-songs though it´s ridiculous coz approximately 85% of the things it´s written about jesus and an allmighty god, you know..
i can´t really recommend you something jazz-like coz i don´t got that much cd´s because they are difficult to get and i am not listening to them that much, just occasionally. but al right i will try to remember couple of good groups/singers :

- I think everything with Louis Armstrong (New-Orleans-Jazz) is pretty good. Tough nearly all of the songs he took part in (like L.Armstrong & HotSeven or with the Hot Five or The All Stars) are without vocals, just instrumental; but i like it .
Others artists like that :
Joe >King< Oliver with his Creole Jazz Band
Buddy Bolden
Bunk Johnson

Than maybe "Bix Beiderbecke and his gang"; Jimmy McPartland ; China Boy. Uhmm "Count Basie" but it´s actually Swing and no longer real Jazz.
Other Swing-guys :
Benny Goodman
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holyday ( !very nice!, both vocals)
RoyEldrige
Coleman Hawkings
Lester Young

You can try Charlie Parker ,that´s Bebop (i can´t stand it, it´s "happier".. you know for dancing and stuff). But if you like :
Charlie Parker
>Dizzy< Gillespie

If you like you can try things like "The Modern Jazz Quartet" or Miles Davis(take only the stuff he played during the 50´s, everything afterwards is ****).
It´s "Cool Jazz" ,deep and kinda depressed.
In my opinion music after the end of the 50´s is **** like Free Jazz, Rock Jazz..
But actually what i can really recommend you, is to go in to a music store and to buy everything that´s in the section where all jazz-records are and that seem to be interessing for you : the cover, song-names, instruments..
That´s exactly what I have done.. well plus i said to the shop assistant that i need to buy a present for a jazz fan and i got no idea what i should buy. It went quite well..

If you want some "good" (can´t guarantee that you will like it) blues, take :
Ma Rainey
Bessie Smith !nice!
H. Ledbetter
Big Gill Broonzy

uhmmm .... by the way, have you already listened Rammstein´s new single "mein teil" ? i like the video and the song.
Do you know when the new LP is going to be released ?

see you hopefully soon (if my pc will work in this decade )

bye,

P.S : Don´t be frustrated in case that you don´t know some of ^this^ artists! I myself had to look almost all up in a book, coz i wasn´t really sure !

P.P.S : I am really stressed right know , coz i am preparing for a voyage to the USA ..

Hello RazzOrZzero!

Thank you so much for the detailed list of Jazz musicians! That was really kind of you . I’m going to check it out soon. Though I’m not sure where to get started… Actually I hardly know any of those artists… Well I know Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holyday… and Armstrong of course. And I’ve heard the one or other name, but I wouldn’t even have categorized them as jazz-musicians .

Guess who’s computer broke down as well! Two weeks ago my laptop started crashing and booting and… Horrible!!! I seem to be a magnet for computer related problems: all my stuff breaks down, or simply doesn’t work properly… My brother, who’s an expert on those matters, had a look at my laptop. And now it works again, he says. At the moment I’m on a visit at my parents’, and I can use my mother’s laptop here. But I’ll find out soon enough whether my own computer is working or not…
I hope you were able to sort out your pc-problems meanwhile! I know, those thingies can drive one nuts!

I’ve always had my problems in categorizing Relatives Menschsein and Goethes Erben.

Goethes Erben: their old stuff (1990s) is best described as music-theater I think. The lyrics are quite sophisticated, while the music is pretty plain. Their newer stuff is much more melodic. Their lyrics are invariably in German. You can have a closer look here: http://www.goetheserben.de/german.php?action=hproben

Relatives Menschsein sounds pretty similar to Das Ich. The voice of the vocalist can really set one’s teeth on edge. I think one must be very much into Das Ich (early stuff), otherwise I can hardly see a chance that one likes Relatives Menschsein at all.

Yesterday I saw a story about Rammstein’s new song on telly. People seem to be quite alarmed about it. Today I saw the video on VIVA (or something) for the first time. I’d say it’s typical of Rammstein, and that people are exaggerating a little. It’s not that Rammstein killed someone, or ate him/her, they just made a song about a cannibal. They show that weirdo on telly all the time, and they analyze what he did ad nauseam actually, but as soon as someone puts the story into a creative environment it’s all …
The video is great after all. No wonder that Rammstein is David Lynch’s most favorite band! They have a lot in common, I think.

I envy you a lot, you know! When will you leave for the US? And where exactly will you go? I have never been to the US up to now. I’d like to go there so much! I want to see Late Night with Conan O’Brien in New York! And I want to lie on the beach in California! Oh, I really really envy you!

Enjoy yourself! All the best for your journey!!! Looking forward to reading you!

Kat

HI Kat!

It´s great to hear from you.
I wasn´t really sure if you would notice my message, but i am glad you did!
Okay, 2 your questions about my journey to the USA, i am not really sure if your interested in that but for me you sounded at bit like you would love to travell there too. Let´s go, will try to explain it.
I am planning that journey with a really small organisation. It´s actually not really an organisation, it only got about 25 employee and most of them are doing their "job", if you can actually call it like that, voluntary. So this ppl are searching for everyone a place 2 stay in the USA. You can choose between an exchange; staying at the home of a hostfamily; going to an university and living on the campus at a students´hostel or getting a little apartment and a job too.

If you choose an exchange you have 2 consider that you will be only there to learn the language in a special school, together with others that can´t speak proper English. You will live of course together with that ppl from that school

Advantages:
-After 1 month you go home, no time for homesickness

Disadvantages:
- An extremly short trip= normally you will just stay there about 1 month
- Is just about learning a bit English (In my opinion you won´t learn there anything)= and not culture (nah, ok the usa don´t got a culture so nothing to learn ) american history, and the american ppl´s customs
- In one month you can´t really learn the language

If you choose the apartment you have of course to say how you want to pay it.. like do you want to work in a shop, office or something so they can "give" you that job or at least help you to get something you can pay your bills with. Usually the whole thing takes about a half year.

Advantages:
- Independence
- You can do almost everything what you want (except the illegal stuff)
- Can choose where (in which country/ somethimes even town) you want to live
- Usually you work in a supermarket => No really hard work

Disadvantages:
- Sometimes you can get a really shitty job and then you´re screwed when you want to live in the USA for 1 year or somethin, but you can also change your job IF you find a better one.
- If you don´t got that much money you can´t offer a nice apartment

If you choose the university you can also choose where, but the subjects there have to be quite "equal" to subjects you´re studing, or you want to study in Germany. But you can also go to a university take different subjects and just see if you like them, and want to take when you´re back in Germany.
(Ah, well or just taking a year-off, you know just drinking, making party and having fun... coz in some states of Germany your year/semester/whatever won´t be recognised as a "real" one... that sucks. But i mean if you just want to have "holidays" and relax and you know that you will have to "retry" that year, i don´t really see a problem.)

Advantages:
- PARTY! and drugs
- Get 2 know lots of ppl
- Coz of being surrounged by native speakers the whole day long => ya learn English quickly
- You can get informed if there´s somethin else you want to learn or basicly you can get to know to what you really want with your future

Disadvantages:
- It´s possible that the semester won´t be recognised as one in Germany

Last but not least, if you choose to live with a hostfam. you have to differ between 2 things.
°First if you want 2 live like an aupair and do baby/housesitting. But as far as i remember you love kids as much as I do, so ^that^ wouldn´t be a opportunity.

Advantages:
-You don´t have 2 pay for meals or billet.

Disadvantages :
-But for doing this you have to cook meals (breakfast,lunch,dinner)
-Stand up really early in the morning
-Entertain the kids when they come home from school
-Do everything a housekeeper would do (cleaning, wiping, polishing).

°Second if you want to become a part of that family without doing aupair.

Advantages:
-You can learn English/ american customs very well
-You can do this type of student exchange from 14 up to 30 years.
- When there´s an universtity around you can go there to school, otherwise you would have to go to an high school or take evening courses

Disadvantages:
Maybe that family will be not that nice and than you have to change them. This can take hours, days, weeks it depends.
You can only choose in which area you want by paying (is that right written?) about 300 bucks

I myself choosed to stay with a family because, that´s what I would really like to make an experience with. I don´t know yet where i am going to travel to, course i don´t got a family yet. But it´s already quite sure that i won´t go to some of those big cities like New York ( no conan... ) or to Los Angeles. I don´t know why, but 99% of all ppl will live in some shitty crap towns with 4000 inhabitans or somethin´. A bit frustrating but as long as I will have a nice year (actually 10 months), it doesn´t bothers me that much. But of course it´s quite sad.
I am running every day to my letterbox but i still don´t got a message.
So i am waiting right now for that information, where I will travell to. To tell the truth i would like to go to Michigan or some states in the North. I just can´t really deal with a hot climate like in California or Florida. In fact right now it´s hotter in Germany than in California and i really hate it!
But who knows maybe I will go the South, what i don´t hope.

Ah, and what i can generally say negative about the USA:
you just can do real proper stuff when your over 21 (drinking, party..)
Because when you´re under 21 and you´re drinkin or just at a party where s alcohol, and you didn´t drink something or didn´t even know that there are alc/drugs you can get busted REALLY quickly and you get kicked out of the program... sucks as hell, doesn´t it ?!


Woah, now it´s really getting scary we both like the same music, don´t like children, want to travel to the USA, speak german and don´t get along with your PC´s ... and now wow! we both seem to like conan o brien! isn´t he holarius?! his hair is really strange and i am laughing my ass of when he does his famous imitation with them like i think it was his donald trump imitation. when he´s pushing his hair into his face and is pressing his cheeks together. or that clinton imitation "i am reporting for booooty" ... LMAO ! Conan rulzzz, but Jay Leno is absolutely boring i don´t like him at all! Ah, do you remember that Walker Texas Ranger - lever ?!- Wasn´t that great?!
I just can´t wait to see when conan is insulting Germany on "Conan hates my homeland"- just can´t wait what he will say about us.

Yeah, that Mein Teil video is very interesting. Quite typical but still interesting. Each of their videos got something that almost screams "That´s a Rammstein video".Don´t get me wrong i like Rammstein, i got 4 cd´s of them but something about their lyrics is making me laugh. Like in that song "Zwitter" :
"So ist es mir nur allzu recht, ich bin ein schönes Zweigeschlecht.... ich kann mich jeden Tag beglücken ich kann mir selber Rosen schicken... Wenn die Anderen Mädchen suchten konnte ich mich schon selbst befruchten.
So bin ich dann auch nicht verzagt wenn einer zu mir "Fick dich" sagt.. Zwitter, Zwitter ich bin ja soo verliebt! Zwitter, Zwitter ich bin ich mich verliebt!"
I know I should show at least a bit of respect towards them as artist but I just have sometimes to laugh. I don´t know how it´s overthere in Austria (i think that´s where you live, don´t you ?) but a friend of mine (she´s a goth) said that most german goths totally hate Rammstein.
By the way, sorry I know that´s not an appropriate question, but are you actually a goth?

You envy me? Really? Have to admit, that´s really flattering.. But I also envy you. You got a brother who knows everthing about those pc thingies and you can relax right now and I am stressed as hell (packing/ preparing all my stuff for the USA)----- i REALLY envy you. You´re lucky, you know.

I really looking forward to her from you!

Bye,

xxxxx Razz xxxxx

P.S : Dammit, i have written so much again ..

P.P.S: Oh, i love those P.S, i know. Ehm, when i will get my family and my placement i will/ would like to inform you about that, okay? If not please tell me so I won´t annoy you anymore with that, all right ?

Hello Razz!

Thank you so much for the detailed description about the different options of staying a while in the USA. This sounds really great!
I’m in my last year at university, and it is my dream to go to the US afterwards. For me the options with an own apartment, or staying at the campus sound most interesting. I’d like to attend university there, maybe under the pretext that I want to make a degree of doctor.
I wouldn’t like to stay with a host family. Guess, if they have children! I’d go nuts. Do you have a family yet? Aren’t you afraid that they have five children having nothing better to do than bugging you?
I’d like to go rather to the south of the US than to a northern state. I don’t like cold temperatures, I love the sun! So maybe southern California, or Florida. Or Hawaii… well, now I’m really dreaming. And then maybe make a trip to New York, in order to see Late Night. You’re right, the Walker Texas Ranger lever is hilarious . This must be the most stupid series ever! I’m afraid I’ve never watched a full episode though, but now I’m really tempted to do so. It’s just plain stupid! Yeah, and the Donald Trump impression is just too amusing! It looks so gay! I love Conan’s impression in general. Like his George W. Bush impression! Or do you remember the Al Gore impression? Like a robot! Just lovely… I also like the Talking Lips sketches a lot. Especially Bill Clinton screaming “Hiyaaaaaaaaa!!!”.
Have you seen what Conan said about Austria in “Conan O’Brien Hates My Homeland”? I’m afraid I’ve missed that episode. Unfortunately I can only watch Late Night when I’m at my parents’ place. They have satellite TV and receive CNBC Europe. I don’t get it via cable in Vienna, so I miss a lot of episodes. I miss the times when NBC Germany broadcasted all 5 episodes a week.
I agree that Conan O’Brien is funnier than Jay Leno. It’s not that I don’t like the Tonight Show at all, but my favorite is and will ever be Late Night.
Did you like the Harald Schmidt Show? I miss it a lot! I watched it regularly, it was so entertaining. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Anke Engelke, so I hardly ever watch her show. In comparison to Harald Schmidt she’s pretty weak in her performance.

I like those “Zwitter”-lyrics of Rammstein. Actually I don’t know the song, but it sounds pretty funny. I’m not sure whether Goths like Rammstein or not. I “was” a goth at the age of 15 to 17, then I got bored with all the black clothes and make-up. Well, actually I didn’t like the fact that it became mainstream, so I gave up on the style. However, when I was that age, it was particularly the time when I listened to Rammstein. I don’t have a CD of them, but that wasn’t necessary, cause I could borrow them from my brother.
Today I don’t know any Goths. So I can’t tell if they like or hate Rammstein. Have you ever seen them live? Must be great with all the fire and stuff…

You shouldn’t envy me too much by the way… I have so much stuff to do for my studies, it makes me pretty nervous. So, no time to relax for me. Yeah, I do have a brother who knows a lot about pcs, but he’s always rather impolite, cause I don’t pay him for the work . And he always says it’s my fault when there’s something wrong with my computer, and in the end it invariably turns out that it wasn’t my fault. Cause, how can it be my fault when the RAM is kaput?

When will you leave for the US? Or are you already there? How old are you by the way? Are you allowed to drink in the US? If not, it would be kind of stupid… I think living in a small town in the US isn’t that bad. You can still make the one or other trip to a larger town… At least as long as you don’t live in the middle of nowhere!
I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Meanwhile I wish you all the best!

Katkodl

P.S.: I’m not annoyed by “tales from/about the US”, not at all. I’d be pleased to hear more about your stay in the US, your host family, their children and pets! Looking forward to reading more about your journey!

HI KAT!
Awesome news: I finally got my hostfamily! I just got them today!
But i don´t know a lot about them just their names and the area where they live. So my "hostdad" has a doctor title .. sounds nice. that´s all i know up today. And they´re livin somewhere around Deltona, Florida.
hah, well Florida when i heard that i was quite dissapointed - i wanted into the north so bad. but i try not to be that much sad about this. mm, and my school is goin to be quite christly- trinity christian academy... what a name...
Hey, i guess i am lucky that family which is actually just a not married couple has got no children but i hope sooo much that they got some pets. i prefer charing my room with a dog than with a kid- don´t you do the same?
Aaaand, i am going to fly next monday (6.8.04) at about 8 o´clock from Stuttgart. I will probably have to get up at 4 am !! yeah, after my plane started it will fly to Frankfurt, what´s really stupid planned. but well, complaining isn´t working out.
after a 8 hours taking flight, i would have to change the plane AGAIN , this time in Philadelphia. and then it will fly me to orlando where my hostfamily is supposed to be watin for me... at least that´s what i hope!
Oh lord, looks that i have to call them. i am nervous and when i am nervous i start to stammer. that´s in german, can´t imagine how horrible it will be in english!
so okay what i would have to say is that i don´t know if my hostparents will have internet (what i think is quite sure) but i don´t know how long i will be able to use the pc per day/week. so i don´t know right now when my next message will come.
i swear i will try to write as early as possible, but i just don´t know & i wanted to inform you about that hole situation.

mmmm, sorry right know i am so confused. i will try to focus and not to talk about america.
okay you asked about my age.... hm, well. i don´t know if i do really want to tell coz most ppl i talked to and i told then my age - never talked to me again after that . i just hope that you won´t do the same thing. as long as you promise that would be great.. but well, okay, i am 16 right now. i am not happy with that age- and i guess you´re not too.

Hope you´re not shocked or somethin coz i´d like to continue with the next things, if that´s okay.

You´re so right that Talking Lips sketches- they´re just hilarious. I love the one with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Do you know that puppet dog with the cigar and the hat ..- some kind of Kurmet the frog just meaner. I think the person that got his arm in that puppet dog´s ass is the same that´s doing that lip sketches for Schwarzenegger. But i am not sure.
i didn´t see the apisode with Austria in "Conan hates my homeland". But i think it was already on telly coz last week there where goin through the countries with C. so it looks like we both missed that. That sucks! But i guess he sad somethin about Schwarzenegger & Hitler and tried to compare them, but i don´t know how he´s thinking.
looks that i should envy you tooo much. poor you, you can´t watch conan that often.. i feel sorry for you!
and you got a rude brother... paying him! pah, tell him that i think he´s crazy & impolite. and you have to study right now... i feel sorry for you from all my heart . that sounds like you need a break as early as possible- you should take a time out. from your brother, your pc but not from conan!

Harald Schmidt- hmmm, i have sadly just seen his show twice. And Anke Engelke i agree in comparison to "dirty harry" (what a name?!) she´s really weak. When she´s doing non-live sketshes she´s amusing. and when you´re reading the jokes how they supposed to be on paper- they´re funny. but when she´s performing them it looks so kinda fake. it´s obviously that she memorized them and she seems to have them repeated over and over agian.
not like with conan. he´s naturally funny and when he even memorized a joke you won´t recognized he did, so it´s still funny

but harald schmidt is really funny, though i don´t watched that long. it´s just that for some shows or episodes of shows i permanentally swich on my telly to late. i don´t know why, i just never able to be on time.. and with special shows it drives me mad.
like conan i always miss the first then minutes of every show- almost each time. and the sadest thing about it - i guess you think that too- is that the first 10 or 15 minutes are the funniest ones. after that there are often some boring guests. and if conan wouldn´t be that funny & professional this guests´ stories would be to boring to stand it. at least that´s what i think, but when comedians come i normally laugh my ass of.
by the way i love those "dialogs" between conan and max. when they´re starring at each others for minutes with those funny faces- it makes me crack up.. hilarious!

Rammstein live? no sadly i have never seen them live.. yeah well "live" on the telly but that doesn´t count. Do you watched them playing in 2001, i think, for the EMA´S in Germany? It was cool. Sometimes it really looked like they´re going to burn that stage down- funny. After all I would love to see them. Their gigs are legedary. With fire and gunpowder and everything. Especially i am curious if they changed something about the performances through "reise, reise". have you seen "amerika"?
i like the video a lot- a bit unusually but cool. the tune from that song stucks up in my head since couple of days.
strange, when my pc isn´t driving me mad some songs do.
uhm, and have you seen marilyn manson´s "personal jesus"- i like that video a lot. but it´s weird not to see john5 and twiggy there. i was so used to that. and have you seen manson plays guitar..

uhm, today i bought deine lakeien´s white "lies". it´s like nothing i heard before but it´s really good. you got a good taste! keep it up!
but there was somethin wierd when i heard the song- fear crawled into me. dunno, maybe that´s just because i am just confused..

okay now it seems i have to say goodbye. i will try to write somethin as soon as possible. hmm, can i get your mail adress? mine : [email protected]
write me whenever you feel to. i will try to answer

now, thank you for writing with me (ehm, i am not that good in sayin goodbye).. it mean a lot to me. i don´t got that much ppl to talk to.. thank you, you have been wonderful!

so long, goodbye

bloody kissses from

4ever your friend RAZZ

hey rigt now i am here in florida, sadly i am just in orlando. my hostfamily has no power or hot water, so i am staying with other ppl.
sorry but i can`t remeber my password for razz-zzar, so i couldnt answer you in case you have written something to me.

just wondering why you didn`t reply yet.
is it because of my age- if so i think you should be fair and write at least ~i don` t wan to talk to you anymore, because you`re to young~
i think i desearve at least to know what`s doing on.
if it`s not my age and just pc problems, i am sorry.

bye razz

Hello!

Are you still out there? I can’t get rid of the feeling that you’ve never received my e-mail. Hope you’re doing fine! How's it going in Florida? Would be nice to hear from you!

Take care!

katkodl