Berlin Calling - First Half

I think Ickarus takes drugs to help him with his music.

I’ve seen Requiem for a Dream which is about a guy, his friend, his girlfriend, and his mom who are all on drugs. The mom has a different reason than the other 3 though. It shows what they’re going through while high, while they’re withdrawing, and what they need to do to get their drugs.

So far, I think this film is average. I prefer watching movies without subtitles because I feel like I’m missing out on parts of the movie while I have to suffer through and read – I wish I could know every language fluently. So far everything I’ve seen is pretty much expected. A girl loves a guy who happens to be addicted to drugs and she cares enough to try and help him. The guy wants to be successful with his music and he feels as though taking drugs will help him get closer to his fans who are most likely on drugs due to the kind of boring music. I think if the music wasn’t so bland and repetitive he would be more successful.

Topic 3: Freikörperkultur

 
Image Source (http://www.dw.de/a-ban-on-nudist-beaches/a-1297329)

Freikörperkultur 
In English it translates to "Free Body Culture"
It means to enjoy being nude without any ties to sexuality.
In the 18th Century, people bathed naked in rivers and lakes in central Europe.
The first Freikörperkultur club was founded in Essen, Germany in 1898.
Conservatives seen nudists as a corruption of morality.
1st nude beach in Germany was on the Island of Sylt in 1920.
1st naturist Olympic Games took place in Thielle, Switzerland in August of 1939.
The first documented nude wedding was in Elysian Fields, California in 1942.
The first nudist holiday resorts opened in France in 1950.
Later decades of the 20th Century, naturism became popular outside Germany.
Nacktwanderung, which translates to "Naked Rambling" in English, is when nudists hike through the open countryside.
Information Source for the above (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikörperkultur) 



Image Source (http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/05/28/the-fascinating-past-and-origins-of-the-olympic-games/)

Nudism in History
393 AD: Students in Ancient Greece exercised and received instruction nude, and athletes competed nude.
1st Century AD: Refusal to wear clothes could be a sign of insanity. Nakedness was used as a symbol of poverty or vulnerability.
201-1500 AD: Complete nudity for baptism.
1874: Surfing was a nude activity in Polynesia until the 19th century when missionaries forced the natives to cover themselves.
1891: Earliest known nature club - Thana, India
1900: German nude bathing seen as starting the nudist movement, along with The Cult of the Nude by Henry Rudor, a sociologist.
1903-1932: Nude protests throughout Canadian history. 900 people were imprisoned for 3 years because of their nude protests.
1932: 1st permanent nudist community in the United States, Sky Farm, was established in Liberty Corner, New Jersey.
1933: Nazi's banned many nudist organizations in Germany, but nudists re-formed as "sports" groups and were re-legalized.
1936: Male bare-chestedness was made legal in the United States.
1969: 300 people participated in a massive naked "wade-in" at a Danish beach. As a result, the vast majority of Danish beaches became clothing optional.
August 7th, 1976: National Nude Beach Day was designated.
1989: 14 women went bare-chested outside the Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York to protest the inequality of dress between genders.
Information Source for the above (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_non-sexual_social_nudity)



Image Source (http://www.pulpinternational.com/pulp/entry/Vintage-covers-of-American-Sunbather-nudist-magazine.html)

Nudism in the United States
13 states tried to put skinny dipping on the list of sex offenses where you have to register with the state.
In Montana, your 1st skinny dipping offense leads to 6 months in jail. The 2nd offense is 1 year in jail, and the 3rd is 100 years in jail.
Information for the above (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0721_040721_tvnude_2.html)

Paul Bäumer

My name is Paul. I think of home often, and feel as though it’s not something I will know how to go back to. I feel like the world around me is a desolate place. My comrades are dying while we continue killing others who are just like us.

Chapter 11

Detering: Comes across cherry blossoms and picks some branches. He becomes homesick and heads toward Germany, but got caught by the field gendarmes.
Berger: Gets a case of front-line madness and leaves cover to find a wounded messenger-dog.
Others: Go so mad that they rave, run away, or dig themselves into the ground with hands, feet & teeth.
Müller: Was shot point blank in the stomach.
Everyone: is emaciated and starved. There's little to no artillery. Not enough horses. Fresh troops merely know how to die. A1 needs soldiers so the surgeons send injured soldiers up there when they shouldn't. Hopelessness.
Bertinck: Receives a chest wound, and his shin is smashed away by fragments. Leer's hip is torn open by the same fragment and he bleeds out quickly.
Kat: His shin is smashed to the bone and bleeds fast. Paul binds it and carries him to a dressing station. Kat gets shot in the back of the head right before they arrive at the dressing station. Paul thinks he saved Kat until the orderly points out that he's dead. Paul was unaware that Kat got shot.
Paul: He's losing all his friends, and is living a life of death. He reminisces the good times he's had with his friends, like finding the 2 geese with Kat, but it doesn't compare to everything else the war has made him and the others face. He feels as though the soldiers are transformed into "unthinking animals in order to give [them] the weapon of instinct" (page 274).

Group Members:
Jessica L, Slade S