A Stroll Along a Street in Film

By Dharma Senn

We walk along streets for a considerable part of our lives. Metaphorically, of course, as well. One foot in front of the other, carrying ourselves towards our goals. Some prefer bikes or cars instead. Others like to take their time.

But metaphors really have no place on nights where the autumn cold makes us feel giggly, and the lights of advertisements make us contemplative. Faces pass us by, faces we forget the instant they move out of our view. Some of them linger for a few more seconds in the back of our minds and then vanish softly. 

Our feet are planted firmly on the ground. The camera accompanying us moves silently about. People look at its lens, see their own reflection in the camera’s eye. Zürich is always full of people, even at night. The city never sleeps.

The Death of the Dog and The Thing About Training Wheels

By Dharma Senn

Dogs, young children, occasionally cats: they seem to be untouchable by the gritty hands of narrative death. If a film dares to kill one of the above, all bets are off. But when has film ever cared about conventionality?

The dog dies. Tears flow. Usually.

In today’s narratives, dogs are often brought up whenever a certain natural setting is involved. In her 2002 essay, “Good Dog: The Stories We Tell about Our Canine Companions and What They Mean For Humans and Other Animals”, Karla Armbuster suggests that dogs as domestic animals are seen as existing on the thin line between nature and culture. In turn, “the dog’s perceived position on the nature/culture boundary promises modern humans a connection to nature that has otherwise largely been lost” (353).

Therefore, adventure films like The Call of the Wild (2020, dir. Chris Sanders) utilize the dynamic between human, animal and the wilderness in their narrative, as survival stands on screen as a central theme.  We fear for the dog because it is a protagonist, because its struggles are just as clearly articulated as its owner’s. The dog serves as a mediator between nature and culture, and helps its human survive. Naturally, the dog survives as well, or its death is emotionally affecting for the viewer.

 But what if the dog in question is not a helpful protagonist? What if nature is not a threat? What if it is not a narrative of survival, but one of growing up? 

WTF: Why to Finland?

By Thilo Thelitz

You’ve seen Finland on the list of exchange spots and you’re wondering what it offers to you as an English student? Here’s the perspective of someone who spent a year there (spoiler: it was awesome)!

The spot I ended up choosing was Tampere, because their university allows a two- semester stay as opposed to the one semester in Helsinki. The longer I’d stay, the better I could learn Finnish, or so I thought at the time. More on my mild success with the language later.

Tampere is one of the biggest cities in Finland, and some have told me that it’s probably the “most Finnish,” since the next-biggest contestants have stronger international influences. Turku is very close to Sweden geographically and culturally, and the Helsinki area has both a larger Swedish, Russian, and international influence than Tampere (at least that’s what I’ve been told).

Tall chimneys like the one here in Koskipuisto are a part of Tampere’s landscape.

I Watched Tiger King and I Have… Feelings

By Fabia Morger

Oh, to be young again! There are some university courses I’d retake in a heartbeat if I had the chance. One of them is the Bachelor-level class “Language Skills and Culture II” of our English department. Attending the classes was pure enjoyment for me: it gave me a chance to re-watch so many of my favorite movies from a more theoretical angle and gain a deeper understanding of the cultures that had shaped them. One text that stayed in my mind even years later, is Warren Buckland’s “The Non-Fiction Film: Five Types of Documentaries”. It was this text that made me aware of how documentaries are not an objective record of real events and how choices made by documentary filmmakers shape the way we look at the events presented to us, even if they are supposedly non-fiction. And, boy, what movie better showcases this than the legendarily popular documentary series Tiger King?

Between If and Falls – My Experience as a Teaching Assistant in German London

By Michelle Zanivan

Cows and Deer in London

When I think of London, I no longer hear the bells of Big Ben ringing. 

Richmond is a borough of London south-west of London City. When I told my friends I would be going to Richmond, London, all of them looked at me with a puzzled look – all but one. “That’s where the rich people live”, he had exclaimed and he was not wrong. Richmond, the main city of the borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a wealthy borough. It is not too large, spreads on both sides of the Thames, which is quite extraordinary, and has well-kept meadows, greens, and gardens. During spring and summer time, there would be cows next to the river, I was told. I have not seen them yet. Instead, I have seen plenty of deer which, in my opinion, was far more exciting than seeing cows. The town is also close to Heathrow Airport, both a plus and a minus – planes have never been more visible and audible before. Sometimes, I felt like they were heading right for my window.

 In this British city, I was going to live for the next few months, starting January 6^th 2020. As an intern and teaching assistant at the German School London, I was going to learn more about the teaching lifestyle.

The deer in Richmond Park

Two Months of English Student Life: My Stay Abroad in Plymouth

By Leah Süss

The perpetual calls of seagulls, the pitiless ocean breeze, the sweet-salty harmony of Roly’s salted maple fudge, the majestic tower of whipped cream on Costa’s indulgent hot chocolate, the inconspicuous covered Smeaton tower at the Hoe, the warm smell of Prime’s coffee and eggs, the artful masterpieces on Earlybird’s pancakes, Jake’s cheesy chips melted to perfection in my microwave, crooked pavements on which I stumble, bustling dancefloors that make me lose all sense of time. These memories come to my mind when I think of Plymouth.  

• 

• 

I started my exchange at the University of Plymouth on the 24^th of January 2020. The future seemed full of opportunities then. I hadn’t booked a return ticket and my only task was to stay abroad for six months. I had quit my job and my phone contract, and I had found successors for my weekly voluntary tasks. I was ready to leave my life behind for half a year. Never had I been on my own for such a long time. A new area, a new university, a new temporary home. Would I feel at ease? Would I make friends for life? Would I start loving the sea? Would I travel a lot? A delicate sense of a blank-slate future, bursting with possibilities. I heaved my enormous suitcase and my towering backpack into the TGV at Zurich HB, and for the full 12 hours it took me to travel to Plymouth Station, I couldn’t help beaming in joyful anticipation. 

The Top 5 Albums from 2019

by Raph al Guul

Each year I try to listen to between 60 and 100 newly released albums in hopes of hearing some outstanding new music. I consider it my contribution to dispelling the silly notion that music used to be much better in the past. Not every band that made great music in the 80s is gone or washed up today. And there is also plenty of fresh talent that rises to excellence these days.

2019 was a great year in music to close out the 2010s. We’ve had plenty of excellent songs from all corners of the industry. When it comes to albums, it was the stalwarts in particular that came through again. The following five records are particularly dear to my heart. I consider them to be the best albums to have come out this year – at least when taking into account a hefty dose of genre bias.

The Best Films of the 2010s

By Alan Mattli

I’ve been looking forward to compiling my “Best Films of the Decade” list pretty much since the first days of 2010, after I, still in the early stages of my life as a film critic, had seen these kinds of lists posted about the 2000s – a ritual I couldn’t in good conscience take part in because, well, I was eight years old at the turn of the millennium and I never had done the necessary catching-up. I still haven’t, for that matter.

So I am thrilled to finally be able to present my selection of the best films of the 2010s – a compendium of 100 works that stuck in my mind, that haunted me, that moved me, that I still passionately rewatch. And as is often the case with lists, this one, too, would probably look vastly different if I were to present it on another day, so this selection and especially the individual placements are but snapshots in time.

Letters Challenges Gender Norms in Games

By Thilo Thelitz

The upcoming Zurich-made video game Letters is “a story about a girl discovering the power of words,” but not in the way you might think as an English student. In the game, you play as Sarah, an 11-year old Swiss girl writing to her pen pal in Russia. You are shrunk down and literally move in between lines of text to pick up words and throw them at your surroundings in order to progress to the next level. For more background on the game and its development, I had an interview with one of the developers, Martina Hotz.

The game is partly crowdfunded through a Kickstarter campaign which has, at the time of writing, reached CHF 19’178 of its goal of CHF 20’000 with only few days left until it ends on November 23! The game is under development already, and you can download a demo. The glimpse of the game I got while playing the demo already transported me back to the days when I was but a young nerd. At the same time, the game mechanics are really quite unique, akin to a puzzle, and make for dynamic and fun gameplay. In a gaming landscape that often produces dark and gritty and tough worlds, it’s also nice to see a wholesome and sweet game like this. The Nintendo kid in me has always preferred the cheery and magical universes over the edgy ones. Lastly, I loved the little homages and references to different aspects of gaming culture that the Letters’ world is strewn with.”There’s a little bit of each of us in the story,” Martina says.

How much grandstanding can a good deed suffer?

By Nicolas Malzacher

A gust of wind whips at my face and heaves me forward, over the ridge of the oncoming wave. The neon sail impatiently tugs at my waist, forcing me to lean back over the white crests of the Aegean. A sly bead of sweat and brine escapes my eyebrow, only to be received unhappily by my iris. I flinch and blink and try to clear my vision, but it’s too late: I miss a particularly insidious wave, lose my balance, and am catapulted over the bow of my fickle vehicle. The cackling of a passing seagull tells me that I cut an ungainly flying figure indeed. 

I cough up some salt water and heave myself back onto my board, grappling for the rope to haul up the sunken sail. However, I notice a stowaway that has made itself comfortable on the rope; a blue plastic bag from the local supermarket. I remove the fare dodger and throw it back into the water, only to immediately regret doing so.