Subject: Back in action! Heya all together! Sorry that I let you wait for so long, but as you can imagine I've been REALLY busy lately. First of all thank all of you for your encouraging messages to start writing blogs again. So here we go. I can’t promise that I will create notebook entries more regularly again, but I guess it is better than nothing, right?  I finally got used to Switzerland and feel pretty comfortable overall. Although it is still pretty tough sometimes. For all who are interested in what happened in the meanwhile: I’ve been travelling around alot (I especially liked the trip to Shanghai). This city is really amazing. I totally recommend a trip to this city for everyone! The architecture, people and of course the culture is simply amazing! Everyone must have had a look at this city at least once in life. I will attach some pictures to this blog afterwards. Also I most likely will move into a new flat in the center of Zurich together with a friend around December. I really look forward to live in Zurich, because the flat is far cheaper and of course Zurich is a great city to go out in. Also I am available for more English lessons, or just chatting. Simply contact me on Skype (LPanic) I wish all of you the best, and don’t forget: Life is far too short to waste even just one second ;) So long, Martin

sooo cute ;P Today I've talked to one of my chinese friends again. I don't know why, but today it felt kind of different talking to her. She was talking about her students and how she is very annoyed currently because she has to teach them the alphabet. She kind of raged about that, but I think this was the first time (although we've talked many times before to each other)that she didn't feel uncomfortable talking to me. And by the way, she is so cute when she "rages". I had a lot of fun listening to her :P. One funny thing was when she spelled the letter "Z" like a "C". I told her that the letter "Z" is spelled like "sad", but she told me that all Chinese people learn to speak the letter Z like a C. I found that very amusing. Today I realized that she kind of became a good friend to me. Of course I've never met her before, but I like her very much :) Wish all you guys a great day cheers martin

Home Sweet Home I just returned from Austria! Four days full of fun with my friends and family. I think it is very important to never forget where your roots are. In my opinion one can only truly learn to appreciate the feeling of "being home" once you've been away for a while :D

Current picture of myself Hey Guys! Many people have been asking me for a current picture for myself. Allthough it was already 4:47 in the morning I have taken a picture of myself. Here is the result :) Cheers Martin

Unterhaltung Einführung: Ich habe diesen Kurztext auch in Englisch verfasst. Auch wenn dieser Text für fortgeschrittene gedacht ist hoffe ich, dass auch Anfänger ein paar parallelen finden werden die es ihnen erlauben Ihre Sprachkenntnisse zu verbessern. Ich möchte heute ein Thema aufgreifen was einige Freunde von mir und mich die letzte Zeit sehr beschäftigt hat. Unterhaltung im Allgemeinen. In diesem Fall möchte ich mich auf einen ganz speziellen Fall beziehen: Rebecca Black. Viele Leute meinen sie könne nicht singen. Soweit es mir bekannt ist hat sie bis jetzt zwei Lieder veröffentlicht. Die Lieder an sich sind meiner Meinung nach gar nicht so schlecht, aber worauf kommt es bei einem Lied wirklich an? Muss es dem Zuhörer einfach nur gefallen, oder kommt es tatsächlich darauf an, ob der / die Sängerin tatsächlich talentiert ist? Seit dem Jahr 1996 gibt es eine Technologie, welche sich „Auto Tune“ nennt. Auto-Tune ist ein Computerprogramm zur nachträglichen Tonhöhenkorrektur von digitalen Musikaufnahmen, was es einem weniger talentierten Künstler erlaubt seine Aufnahmen im Nachhinein zu verbessern. Diese Technik wird heutzutage fast täglich eingesetzt. Einige Personen sind der Meinung, dass diese Technik speziell bei Künstlern wie Rebecca Black oder Justin Bieber zu exzessiv eingesetzt wird. Ich möchte nun etwas genauer auf die Veröffentlichungen von Rebecca Black eingehen. Diese beiden Songs, „Friday“ und „My Moment“ sind meiner Meinung nach sehr gut gelungen, jedoch gibt es auch einige Live Aufnahmen wie die folgende welche tatsächlich zeigen, dass sofern keine „Klangverbesserungstechnik“ verwendet wird der Gesang etwas amateurhaft klingt. Aber beurteilt die Aufnahme selbst: Beurteilt die Aufnahme selbst: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PecATxE4OWI Nun interessiert mich eure Meinung zu diesem Thema. Natürlich kann man sagen, dass es gegenüber einem talentierteren Künstler unfair wäre nur weil sich dieser, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, nicht so in der Öffentlichkeit präsentieren kann wie jemand der etwas mehr Mittel zur Verfügung hat. Aber auf was kommt es bei einem Lied eurer Meinung nach wirklich an? Talent, Unterhaltungswert, oder etwas ganz anderes?

Entertainment Introduction: I've also written a german version of this short essay. Allthough this text is meant for intermediates, I also hope some beginners may find some parallels which help them to improve their language skills :) Today I'd like to discuss a topic which some friends of mine and I have been talking about lately. The topic is entertainment. In particular, I'd like to speak about Rebecca Black. Many people say that she can't sing. As far as I know she has written and released two songs. In my opinion those two songs aren't as bad as many people say. Actually, I think they're quite good. But what does a song really come down to? Must it just be liked by the listener? Or, should the artist who wrote the song actually be "talented"? Since 1996 there is a technology which is called "Auto-Tune". Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal tracks without needing to sing in tune. Nowadays this technique is used by default. Some people believe that this technique ,specifically for artists such as Rebecca Black or Justin Bieber, is used far too in excessive. The two songs of Rebecca Black named "Friday" and "My Moment" are in my opinion, as mentioned before, quite good. But there are also live performances of her which actually show that she really isn't a very good singer. If you listen to the live video clip below you can judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PecATxE4OWI Now I'm interested in your opinion. Of course, one can say that it is unfair for artists who are more talented or those who are not promoted. But what does it really come down to? Talent, entertainment factor, or something completely different?

Alles erledigt! Endlich ist alles fertig ausgeräumt. Ich fühle mich extrem erleichtert. Heute ist mein erster Arbeitstag in der Schweiz. Ich bin zwar etwas nervös, aber im großen und ganzen freue ich mich sehr :)

Yeah! Endlich! Alles ist im Auto verstaut. Jetzt noch schnell die Wohnung durchputzen und morgen um 7 Uhr gehts' ab in die Schweiz :D