Al's ABC

From "Quantum Leap", for 5a. Have fun practicing the alphabet ;) - I still do, every time.

An Inspector ...Sings?!

Well, not quite. Someone called "Mr. Bruff" put a little song on YouTube in which he uses important quotes from AIC as song lyrics - check it out here:

Indirect Speech, Reloaded

Dear 7c, this one's for you: I didn't entirely make up that Hollywood interview you're just poring over in our test. If you're interested, you can read the whole thing over at my other blog (http://blog.hillvalley.de/2016/05/somnio-travis-milloy-im-interview/) - there's even a German translation ;)

Duckburg vs. Edinburgh

Dear Q11: of course, by now you know that these don't sound anything alike. Anyway, here are a few additional place names that most non-Brits (not just Americans, as the lady in the video so politely remarks) get wrong all the time. Enjoy your "Woosta" Sauce & more ;)

Mount St. Helens "very much alive"

Some people keep accusing our English book of being "old hat", but here's something that couldn't be more up-to-date: Remember the story about that volcano? Well, here's VERY current news about it:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/07/us/mount-st-helens-mini-earthquakes/index.html?sr=fbCNN050716mount-st-helens-mini-earthquakes0516AMStoryLink&linkId=24240939

Remembering Christa McAuliffe

Re-Post: It's been thirty years, as of today.
---

"First teacher in space" - it wasn't meant to be. But everywhere in the world, teachers looking up to the stars will think of you tonight. I, for one, certainly will. You're really up there.

You're not allowed...

I only just realized that the fine (they actually call it "penalty" here, which is a little funny because we only use that in a sports context) is probably higher today than it was back in 1998 - plus, it's a pity they don't actually have the "no-horn" symbol on it, too. Then again, it goes to show that America (at least, New York City) expects its drivers to be a little more literate and speaking the language than we do, obviously...

Maybe It's Because He's A Londoner?

...that he sings of her
whenever he's here...

Ladies and Gentlemen: Meet "that 'Streets of London' guy" from Fürth - Richard Smerin by name. He has over two hundred original songs to his credit and proves it on his web page http://www.richardsmerin.com, it's just that he chooses to stick to his trademark one when he's playing downtown Nuremberg's pedestrian zone. I'm glad I finally found out his name last spring - he's also got sixteen CDs (as of May 2016) on sale, you just have to ask! Well, sometimes you don't ;)

The Martian Interview

Still way up on the New York Times's best seller list: Andy Weir's "The Martian" - the movie's coming out next month... and I had the honor of interviewing the author for "Star Tracks" recently; if you're interested, have a look at http://blog.hillvalley.de/2015/09/spuren-auf-dem-mars/ (the interview is in English although the rest of the article is in German - just click on the last link for a transcript in English and the third from the bottom to access an audio recording of the show). You should, of course, check out the book & film, too, if you're so inclined ;)

Begin Day Watch

Hello world. After quite a long time of hiatus, I've decided to give this blog another shot. Have a nice start of term, everyone at WEG and elsewhere! ;)