Skip to main content

The Barefoot North Face




(Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with triathlon. Shocking, I know.)

Last night Karl and I attempted to watch a movie. Afterwards we lied in bed and laughed at ourselves. It appears that we are virtually incapable of having a proper movie night.

Last movie we watched together? Maybe one this summer at his parents' house? Not sure. And if we did then I was either on the computer half the time or stretching on the floor. Either way it's been a long time.

This weekend we are house-sitting down here in Phoenix and have access to Netflix. 220 movies available to us. You'd think we could fine one we like and that's worth our time.Well, it only took me about 23 minutes to find one I was sort of interested in: Nordwand. (North Face.) It probably doesn't come as a surprise that it was a German movie. Good thing Karl speaks German... It was a good movie. I was a little hesitant at first because it plays during the time of Hitler. I have seen more than my fair share of WW2 related movies and I am not interested in any more. But this one was different and I liked it.

About half-way through the movie when the guys are making their attempt to climb the Eiger Nordwand, Karl (who had been doing research about the movie on his computer most of the time) proclaims: All 4 of them are going to die! Great. Thanks, dude! Why watch the movie if we know none of them are going to make it? That seemed rather pointless, so we skimmed through some of the scenes and then turned it off.

Pathetic.

Then I decided to do some research on the actors and came across this (also German) movie:


This was it! This was the movie I really wanted to see! Only, we didn't have the movie. But then I found it in little sections on YouTube. Only, by now it was like 11pm and who starts a movie at 11pm? Oh. Wait. There are probably lots of people that do but they are not us. But - what the heck - it was Thanksgiving and I was going to watch that movie! Karl thought I was kidding but I most certainly wasn't. So I put him to bed and went back on the couch. 

It was quite the opposite of a movie theatre experience. I was hovering over my laptop, squinting my eyes, trying to figure out what's happening on my little 3 by 4 inch screen. I tried going to full screen but then the quality was so bad that it was unbearable. It didn't matter. I was enthralled. Loved the movie! Every bit of it. It was so good, it made me cry. (Which really doesn't say that much because I cry easily. But still... ) 

Karl was definitely missing out. Next time we are in Germany, we will have to get our hands on that movie! And you should definitely learn German, so you can see it as well. Watching it with subtitles just isn't the same... 


PS: Apparently I started this post the day after our (failed) movie night on Thanksgiving
 but never finished it - until today. Needless to say we haven't attempted to watch any other movies since then. Karl's parents tried when we were visiting them but they didn't have much luck either. But if you have any suggestions that might meet our, aehm, high standards, don't hesitate to pass them along! 

PPS: After finishing this post, I had to watch Barfuss again. Even though it wasn't Thanksgiving. It was just as good as the first time I saw it. 





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New PR at a High Cost

St. George Halfmarathon Report I have a feeling that this is going to be long . Even though I am going to tell you about the rest of the weekend in my next post. So. Sit back and enjoy, if you are interested. A few days before the race, I told Karl that I have two options : 1. Run the way I usually race. Conservative . Start out at a decent pace, log negative splits, finish feeling strong and in control. 2. Start out faster than usual, hang onto that pace for as long as possible, die a slow and painful death. Karl just laughed . He knew how unlikely it was that I would choose the second option. But, to be honest, the idea kinda grew on me. It was a running event, after all. No pressure. Simply a way of testing where my fitness is at. On my way to St. George, I called Coach M . She told me I was going to choose the second option. Oh, how I love to have coaches! No need to try to figure things out in my own little head. I just ask and do as I am told. There was ju

Swimming in Germany - Lakes Galore

Baggersee Weingarten Let's see.... I've been in Germany now for 4 weeks and have had the privilege to swim in 5 different lakes. Let me count how many times I have swum in a lake in Arizona since moving there 2 years ago... That would be 1 time in Lake Mary during the MountainMan. And I am not planning on swimming in it again until this year's MountainMan. As you might have already guessed:  I am in heaven !  Baggersee Weingarten So are the kids. Appropriately dressed in German swim wear.  That's my mom next to me in the picture above. You see where I get it... Growing up we would either go on a hike or bike ride every weekend and take a dip in various lakes along the way. Good memories!  My niece Lynn at Bad Waldsee This lake was especially fun. It was basically at the center of a beautiful old little town. I saw people walk out their front door and go for a little swim. No motorized anything allowed as on most lakes here. Platf

Freedom Run

I decided to celebrate my freedom by running the Freedom Run 10k . Not exactly my favorite kind of race but definitely one to make me feel alive and happy . For this girl endorphins = happiness . I know. I know. It's not everlasting happiness. But I will take it. The more happiness, the better . Right? My motto for this race: "A lot of people race to see who is fastest . ` I race to see who has the most guts ." -Steve Prefontaine It's time for me to show some guts in racing and training. Time to get out of the grey zone and push myself hard. Time to really hurt and put it all on the line. I wanted to run sub 40 minutes. That is a 6:25 pace. That is fast for me. The plan was to start out fast and try to hold it. If I was going to die at the end, so be it. Fortunately, I had some great company for the Sufferfest . It went something like this: I convinced Jen . Jen convinced Carlee . Carlee convinced Heather . Here we are ready to race We also have matchi