traveling, language, culture, music, guitar, bass guitar, djembe drum, taiko drums, didjeridoo, piano/keyboards, violin, guzheng, guqin, erhu, films, literature, philosophy, anthropology (esp. cultural and linguistic), heritage and geneaology, astrology, architecture, Buddhism, martial arts (kung fu/wu shu, jujitsu), samurai culture, weapons (swords, esp. katana/samurai and broad swords; sai; kunai; staff), bonsai, history, animals, animal rights, the outdoors, hiking, camping, hacky sack, European football, scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing, coffee, tea (esp. Chinese Oolong), rain, whales (esp. humpback whales), art, narghiles (hookahs, as in real ones with sheesha), activism, earth preservation, alternative medicine (ayurveda, homeopathy and herbalism), etc.
I'd like to meet:
Absolutely anyone who is educated by the world and their own personal experiences, anyone who yearns to enrich the mind and the soul, anyone with an opinion, anyone similar...
CURRENT MOON about the moon
"So wiegt man sich in Sicherheit... so lange Zeit... und lässt alles geschehen und richtet sich nur nach dem Nutzen. Egal was es nach sich zieht!... und bittet irgendwann Gott um Vergebung und neue Ideen, doch ich fürchte, auch Gott wird es nicht richten: DU MUSST ES RICHTEN! " - Witt ("Neuland")
"Just as a mountain river, winding here and there, swiftly flowing, taking all along with it, never for a moment or an instant or a second pauses, even so is the life of man." - from the "Anguttara Nikaya"
"One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"America is a mistake, a giant mistake." - Sigmund Freud
"It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion." - Albert Einstein
"Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"What we think, we become." - The Buddha
"I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time. " - Friedrich Nietzsche
"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." - Voltaire
"Love is the greatest refreshment in life." - Pablo Picasso
"Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"The artist is essentially the instrument, and he stands below his work, for which reason we should never expect from him an interpretation of his own work. He achieved his highest with his composition." - Carl Jung
"Illusion is the first of all pleasures." - Voltaire
"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts." - Albert Einstein
"The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed." - The Buddha
"Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?" - Friedrich Nietzsche
"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own." - Arthur Schopenhauer
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit
upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin
slitting throats." - Henry Louis Mencken
"When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics." - Voltaire
"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Albert Einstein
"Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life." - Immanuel Kant
"In the consciousness of the truth he has perceived, man now sees everywhere only the awfulness or the absurdity of existence... and loathing seizes him." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Few people have the imagination for reality." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned." - The Buddha
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
"It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it. " - Voltaire
"Common sense is not so common." - Voltaire
"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty." - Albert Einstein
"All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it." - Albert Einstein
"Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire
Music:
all kinds of rock, incl. classic rock, metal (some hardcore, some death metal), progressive, industrial, gothic, synthpop, synthrock, breakbeat, electronic, techno, trance, electro, EBM, alternative, grunge, some punk rock (mostly old school), reggae, jam, indie, some pop, IDM, instrumental, experimental, ambient, classical, medieval, folk, world, tribal, Celtic, Gaelic, Arabic, Persian, Indian,...
4evil, ac/dc, aerosmith, alaa zalzali, allerseelen, amit, apocalyptica, as I lay dying, beethoven, billy idol, black sabbath, black uhuru, blind melon, blue oyster cult, BOB DYLAN, bob marley, bobo, boccherini, borodin, caliban, ccr, celldweller, clawfinger, code machine, COLDPLAY, combichrist, corelli, the cure, daloco, damian marley, damien rice, das ich, dave navarro, DAVID BOWIE, deep purple, DEPECHE MODE, der blutharsch, DE/VISION, dido, dshoka, ehab tawfik, einstuerzende neubauten, EISBRECHER, elane, ELTON JOHN, enya, fadel shaker, foo fighters, godsmack, handel, hatebreed, hatem fahmy, heaven shall burn, hocico, humble pie, the inchtabokatables, incubus, in extremo, informatik, james blunt, JANUS, jason wells, JOACHIM WITT, joe satriani, johann strauss, JUNO REACTOR, kiss, KMFDM, knorkator, kt tunstall, led zeppelin, letzte instanz, lynyrd skynyrd, marilyn manson, massive attack, MAYA NASRI, megaherz, mohamed hamaki, mozart, najwa karam, namnambulu, NEIL YOUNG, nine inch nails, oomph!, orgasm death gimmick, oskoreien, ostara, oysterhead, pachelbel, pearl jam, PETER FRAMPTON, PINK FLOYD, PLACEBO, POHLMANN, the prodigy, project pitchfork, rammstein, REM, richard strauss, red hot chili peppers, richard wagner, sarah mclachlan, silje karlsen, simon and garfunkel, STIMMKRAFT, steve vai, stravinsky, sublime, tchaikovsky, ted nugent, tom petty and the heartbreakers, tori amos, treibhaus, trym bjonnes, turbund sturmwerk, qntal, rashed al majed, umbra et imago, UNHEILIG, unterart, vivaldi, VNV NATION, voleurs, wa'el jasser, wa'el kufurih, WOLFSHEIM, yngwie malmsteen
Movies:
28 days later, 28 weeks later, 300, the adventures of baron munchausen, alexander, alive, ALMOST FAMOUS, amadeus, american beauty, american history x, an american rhapsody, amundsen der pinguin, APOCALYPTO, l'auberge espagnole, a beautiful mind, behind enemy lines, being john malkovich, beowulf, the big lebowski, the birds, black robe, blood diamond, blood: the last vampire, the BOURNE movies, BRAVEHEART, the butterfly effect, castaway, clerks I&II, cold mountain, the constant gardener, dances with wolves, DAS BOOT, dazed and confused, DEAD MAN, ????? ????? (DERSU UZALA, a.k.a The Hunter, der beste russische Film je auf der Welt!) THE DESCENT, desperado, bram stoker's dracula, EASTERN PROMISES, THE EDGE, edward scissorhands, the emperor and the assasin, THE ENGLISH PATIENT, europa europa, eurotrip, eyes wide shut, the far side of the world, FEARLESS, the fifth element, FROM HELL, gladiator, the godfather films, goodbye lenin!, good will hunting, great expectations, the green mile, HERO, hostel I&II, hot fuzz, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, immortal beloved, in bruges, INSTINCT, the interpreter, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, into the wild, iron monkey, jay and silent bob strike back, K-PAX, KILL BILL VOL. I&II, kiss of the dragon, KONTROLL, kundun, l.a. confidential, LAND OF THE BLIND, the last castle, last of the mohicans, THE LAST SAMURAI, DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN, legend of the dogmen, legends of the fall, LOCK STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS, LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, lost highway, M, mallrats, the man who cried, master and commander, the matrix, max, MUNICH, der neunte tag, the new world, no country for old men, once upon a time in mexico, the one, ONEGIN, ONG-BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR, platoon, pola x, pulp fiction, quills, quiz show, RAVENOUS, reservoir dogs, ROB ROY, ROMPER STOMPER, russian dolls, saw, scarface, SCHINDLER'S LIST, SECRET WINDOW, se7en, seven years in tibet, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, the shawshank redemption, silence of the lambs, SNATCH, spanglish, SPIDER, stadtneurotiker, sunshine, syriana, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, tchaikovsky, there will be blood, this is england, the transporter I&II, troy, der tunnel, der untergang, vampire hunter d I&II, vanilla sky, the vikings, vinzent, vosvrashchenie, what's eating gilbert grape?, the white countess, windtalkers
I'll watch almost any movie with these people in it...
Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Sean Connery, Russel Crowe, Ralph Fiennes, Johnny Depp, Vinnie Jones, Peter Stormare, Juergen Prochnow, Robert Carlyle, Jet Li, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Ken Watanabe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ziyi Zhang, Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson and Rachel Weisz.
Television:
I don't watch much TV, but on rare occasions you might see me watching these...
LOST
LATE NIGHT W/ CONAN O'BRIEN
THE OFFICE
FOOTBALL (Soccer)
practically anything on the Travel Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery, National Geographic, History, TLC or IFC...
Books:
My most recent favorite is "The Myths of The North American Indians" by Lewis Spence.
Goethe, Voltaire (Jean de la Fontaine), Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Hermann Hesse, Edgar Allan Poe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, Immanuel Kant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, H.G. Wells, Ezra Pound, T.S. Elliot, Tolkien, Tom Clancy, Charles Bukowski, Salinger, Proust, Dostoyevsky, H.P. Lovecraft, Henry David Thoreau, Baudelaire, Kierkegaard, Sun Tzu, Che Guevara, Edgar Cayce
"Iron Coffins" by Herbert A. Werner, "Messer" by Till Lindemann, "The Book of Thoth" by Aleister Crowley, "Heilige Runenmacht" by S.A. Kummer, "The Prince" by Niccolo Macchiavelli, "The Machiavellians" by James Burnham, "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler, "Faust Vols. I and II" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, "Phantoms" by Dean Koontz, "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt, "Interview with a Vampire" by Anne Rice, "The Vampire Armand" by Anne Rice, "The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice, "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, "Night" by Elie Wiesel, "Great German Short Stories" introduced by Stephen Spender, "Frag Nicht Zuviel" by Horst Wolfram Geissler, "Beyond Good and Evil" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Thus Spoke Zarathrustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "The Birth of Tragedy" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Jung to Live By" by Eugene Pascal, "Die Furcht vor der Freiheit" by Erich Fromm, "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse, "The Celestine Prophecy" by James Redfield, "The Myths of The North American Indians" by Lewis Spence, and many many more...
"Frag Nicht Zuviel" was actually the first German language book/novel that I ever read.
Heroes:
I have no heroes, but two of my favorite people are Till Lindemann and Joachim Witt. I had the most amazing opportunity to meet Till and get to know him a little. As for "der Goldene Reiter" I hope to meet him someday.
I love Goethe and definitely consider him one of my favorite writers ever. And of course Nietzsche is one of my most favorite philosophers, although I admit I don't always agree with his philosophies.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
