Maybe not everybody has heard of Content Management Systems (CMS). This computer software is used for producing, processing and managing any digital content by different users, mostly in a computer network, thus making collaborative work on texts or media data easy.

I use this Weblog as a Knowledge Management System (KMS). Any knowledge I find worthwhile remembering I try to summarize and publish in here. The consciousness, that anybody might be able to read it puts me under the pressure to maximize my efforts to give a good, concise and, if possible, lightly entertaining summary. Another advantage of ordering and publishing my notes here lies in the „comment“ function of a Weblog: Any contribution or correction on the stuff I know is a profit to my wisdom . As well, I build up a small archive of raw material and literature on the stuff I find interesting.

Well, it is weak, but at least once every seven days I want to dump a link to some of the wild, fascinating and beautiful stuff that is so characteristic for the internet.

This week, Lasse Gjertsen, already kind of a youtube-celebrity, shows what one can do with a feeling for rythm, a talent for cutting and – if one is to believe him – no skills at the piano or the drums.

(via listen up)

In the beginning, I am forced to spend my blogging time writing posts on meta subjects such as „how to write posts“ etc. The fairly self-refering character of weest bescheed will cease, as I grow used to the new techniques. Also, I will alter the style of this blog in a complete overhaul, when I am less concerned with my master thesis.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch Starring: Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas Script: Billy Wilder and others

Plot

Three delegates from Soviet Russia, Buljanow, Iranoff and Kopalski – whose names already give an impression of their comical roles – arrive in Paris of the late 30ies. Their task of selling confiscated jewelery of an exiled Russian baroness becomes difficult when the former proprietor of the gems, who happens to live, as chances are, in the very same city, finds out about her former precious belongings. The business of the three communists is not so much hampered by the lawsuit of the baroness, but rather through the corrupting efforts of her close friend (and hinted lover) Count Leon. The luxuries of capitalism, which haunt the three since their arrival are too tempting to reject, so the three naive communists are stalemated by materialist joys.

For the benefit of the people something ought to be done, so the irresistable, but herself very resisting special envoy Ninotschka Yakushova is being sent by the bolshewists in order to settle accounts. With her harsh and cold character, Ninotchka is the ideal personification of everything a westerner ever thought of communist women – except of her beauty. The romance she begins with Leon is not to last, not because both are opponents in a lawsuit, but through the doings of the jealous baroness. Blackmailed to choose between the Leon and the jewels (which, at least, are only sold in order to buy bread for the starving people of Soviet Russia), Ninotchka faces a wonderfully tragic decision…

Effect

Lubitsch succeedes in the hard task of making a critical film on the communist system – the first anti-communist film with a big box-office success in the USA, as it were – and at the same time poking fun at western stereotypes. Especially the main character is wonderfully exaggerated in her stiffness and robot-like loyality to the cause. Imagine the beautiful face of comrade Ninotchka Yakushova, as she answers to the flirting attempts of Leon in unpassionate staccato:

Count Leon D’Algout: Do you like me just a little bit?
Ninotchka: Your general appearance is not distasteful.

This supression of all her humane feelings poses the background for the heart-breaking scenes in which Ninotchkas emotions break free. Although one might be very aware of the blunt romantic manipulation of this 70 year old kitsch, it is nevertheless hard not to be moved when Ninotchka laughs, as if it was the first time in her life. A highly recommendable movie for an evening of not too subtle romantic feelings.

Resources: The Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch, Wikipedia

Site Search Tags: russia, film, films, movie, movies, lubitsch, ernst+lubitsch, garbo, greta+garbo, paris, communist, anti-communist, anti-communism, romance, romantic, kitsch, wilder, billy+wilder

As from the beginning of this blog I will try writing my posts in english. As, however, my mother tongue is german, I will find some expressions, phrases and words more accurate either in this language or in that. My plans are to publish posts in one idiom or another, but to refrain from mixing both.

Naturally, blogging in english poses a bigger challenge to me, i.e. is more fun. But for the sake of comprehension, not a few posts will be in german (understandably for example those, which comment on german-speaking sites etc). I am curious as to the development of my efforts, as well as what the readers of weest bescheed might think of it.

All posts are filed in a category with the name of language they are written in. So a click on the category „english“ will give you all posts written in english. The same applies, of course, to „german“.

On this blog, I vow to publish every now and then a summary of something I have learned. The style of my summaries will loosely be following the same standart. Asking the rhetoric question: What do I know about… I start summing up the knowledge available in my brain or my near environment (books, internet, friends…). The task I am setting me is trying to squeeze the concerned information into as small, but still comprehensible portions as possible. I will apply this form also to more subjective posts, such as reviews of films or books. Oh, and the posts ought to be readable as well.

Site Search Tags: meta, blogging, form, kms, summary

Thanks to the help of Lorelle I was able to insert the „Oddiophile’s Technorati Tags Bookmarklet“ into my webbrowser and edit it sufficiently. This enables me tagging my posts in a simple and personalized manner – for a really easy lecture on how to do it, see Lorelle’s post. Thus this blog gains two improvements:

1. The tags below the line is another possibility to structure the content of this blog. With their help, one prompts a direct search of the blog, looking for the respective word.
2. The tags are picked up by search engines such as technorati and help those, who might be interested in what I write finding their way here.

Usually, on wordpress.com the categories, in which the different posts are arranged serve as tags for the search engines and as a structure to the blog. But as I think that both, categories and tags, serve distinctly different purposes, I rather choose to have both. Otherwise, I would be pressed to violate the categories as tags, subsequently multiplying the number of these and loosing their role as units, which give the blog its overall structure. In comparison, tags relate themes and contents of posts, which are not necessarily of the same kind. Every dumb bot should be able to identify the tags. The categories can be a personal way of structuring content. Tags are the labels on the jars. Categories are the shelfs.

E.g. a humorous post telling a joke involving an accident with spaghettis and a recipe on pasta may both involve spaghettis and therefore need a tag with mentioned ingredient, but as one is a joke and the other a recipe they may be filed under the categories „fun“ and „bon appetite“.

I find the double use of categories as tags and the absence of independent tags the biggest drawback in the otherwise wonderful service of wordpress.com. Others who share a similiar opinion are a.o. Lorelle and Abhijit. I’d strongly suggest to implement something like the ultimate tag warriour plugin into the system, as the bookmarklet-solution produces the problem of having to guess or take notes manually, which tags have already been used. Please leave a comment if you think likewise -and if you don’t agree, please tell me why.

I am very sorry, but this place will not be finished before the end of November 2006. From then on, this site will serve me as a notebloog on my newest stack of acummulated knowledge as well as the latest discoveries of internet entertainment or any other stuff I turn my interest to. I plan to do this in a mildly entertaining way, so if you choose to have a closer look in the beginning of christmas time, you are welcomed to do so.

Until then, I will make my new home a little more comfy, rearrange some of the furniture and build up some content.

Have a nice time,

jan