Looking for a good movie?

If you have not heard about the film "The Visitor" yet, it's about time. It's an impressive depiction of how our society is not able to keep up with the modern age of migration. Some find themselves a few miles, a few hundred miles or a few thousand miles from the place we were born. To me, this is the most normal and natural thing nowadays and it is time that our communities and, more importantly, our administration accept and embrace this.

The power of predictions

In my very earliest post, I made a prediction: this blog is not exceptional in the sense that it will not be abandoned at times. Now that the Olympics are over, the focus of this blog will have to shift from the most exciting spectacle on Earth to the "profanities" of life. In this sense, I can already give away that the next few posts will deal with bit of the research I did in a professional sense, that is as an engineer. So, the profanities of life will include an escape into the nanotechnology realm, the world of renewable energies and maybe, hopefully, potentially beyond that...

Absolutely unbelievable what is now going on in London. We seem to have found out what the Brits' favorite color is: Gold!

They are >> aus dem Häuschen<<, to put it in a catchy German proverb. From my perspective, I've never seen the Brits like that unless they had spent too much time in the pub. Make no mistake, I love it. Rowing, cycling, athletics, tennis (?) - this is how sport ought to be celebrated. Sober, ecstatic Brits cheering and chanting, waving the Union Jack and celebrating every single competitor - they deserve every single medal they bring home...or actually in this case keep in the country!

The excitement goes on...

OK, here we go with some taste of the London Olympic experience:

The usual touristic hotspots - Oxford Circus, Westminter Bridge etc. - are rather deserted. Rightfully so, everybody looks to the epicentre of World Sports, the Olympic Park, and the other Olympic sites around the city.

From a first hand Olympic experience in Volleyball at Earl's Court, I confirm that those at the venues are incredibly excited about the events. Team GB is getting an incredible support from the crowds. Unsurprisingly, they are doing very well in the competition.

Out of all these great performances, a few deserve special attention in my opinion. British Cycling is one of them. Initiated with a silver medal for Lizzie Armistead on the road on Sunday, followed with a stellar performance by Bradly "King Wiggo" Wiggins around Hampton Court, the British Track cyclists have now taken control of the Velodrome. They have been smashing one world record after another. Team Sprint, Team Pursuit, Keirin... and I am certain there will be more records as well as gold medals to come.

There is just one thing left for me to say: Tune in to the BBC today (and tomorrow, and the day after...) and enjoy the show!

London 2012

The Olympic Games have arrived in London and with us Londoners the entire world is celebrating outstanding performances, competition, dedication and fairness for two weeks. This is the fairytale vision. Reality is different but it still means that the most significant athletic event is happening across the city and it's fascinating entertainment.

After three days of competition today, it must be said that the Games have started with a mixed reception after a very enjoyable opening ceremony. Needless to say that an event of such magnitude would spur controversy, let along in London. Before the event had started, it was mostly the controversial issues that kept a conversation going. One issue that, with certainty, always makes headlines is the weather in London. No surprises here.

Seeing sways of empty seats in the arenas on the other hand is more than controversial, it is frustrating to see.

On the sport side, Alexandre Vinokourov's win of the Olympic cycling road race was also more than controversial, it was disappointing. Vinokourov is a controversial cyclist after his disqualification from the Tour de France in 2007 on doping charges and his continued but unconvincing denial of being involved with doping. And it was disappointing because I was hoping to see some of the very talented fresh faces, which made headlines during the Tour de France, sending the Vinokourovs into retirement. Although the Brits are by no means fresh faces, I had my fingers crossed for them making the entire nation fall in love with cycling.

A different controversial issue has echoed the world of sports since just before the previous Games in Beijing: Should Oscar Pistorius, also known as the Blade Runner, be allowed to compete in the Olympic games with other able-bodied athletes. The entire controversy circles around his carbon prostheses, which might or might not give him an advantage. I think it is equally controversial to think that the disability of lacking both your feet could be perceived as an advantage.

Luckily, the Court of Arbitration for Sports has established that he is allowed to compete in the Olympics and I am very much looking forward to seeing Oscar Pistorius on the track of the Olympic Park. It will remind us of how much we can achieve as a collective. Nature might not give a disabled person a natural chance and I dare to recall that disabled were outcast from society in the past. We've come to our senses and we keep striving for less barriers. I am happy that we did not build another barrier for Oscar.

So lets put a smile on for the superb company we have visiting from all over the world. Tomorrow will be my first visit to the Games: Volleyball. Great Britain vs. Australia I believe. And on Saturday, Oscar Pistorius' blades will hit the Worlds favourite track. No doubt, good reason to be excited.

Putting things into perspective

Blogging is one of these things I've been putting off for a long time. There are primarily two reasons why:

Just like keeping a journal, it does require a lot of effort. It turns out, most people are quite motivated to do either, but motivation soon fades as business as usual too often seems a lot to handle. I would not be surprised if I will come across similar challenges.

More profoundly though, a blog is out there for the world to read it. Writing something for the world to read is real a challenge, however. In order to put things into perspective, it would come as yet another surprised to me if what I write here is something that the world in deed is dying to read. Nonetheless, writing down a few more or less good thoughts and eventually getting good at putting them on paper is what I am aiming for. Sorry, "putting them beyond pen and paper" is what I meant...