Once - How often do you find the right person?

The first snow has finally come and actually I should be outside on a slope somewhere like anybody else. But, since I’m not the person for adventurous ski trips, I decided to grab a movie and enjoy the wintery weather on my comfy couch. The movie I picked was one that I had watched for the first time in 2007, when it had been released. I am talking about Once, a music film, which is one of the films I never get tired of watching.

Once is an Irish film and was written and directed by the Irish movie maker John Carney. Before starting to produce films, Carney played the bass guitar in the Irish Rock/Indie-Rock band The Frames. There Carney also knew the main protagonist of Once, Glen Hansard, who had never really worked as an actor before, from. Actually Carney only wanted his old friend and band colleague to compose the songs for his movie. The main character should have been played by a ‘real’ actor. But, the actor pulled out, giving the reason that he didn’t have the vocal capabilities for Hansard’s octave-leaping songs. With him went the film’s other producers and with them the money for the project. The only option was to produce it on a low budget. Furthermore, Hansard had to be persuaded to play the role himself, which isn’t the worst thing that could have happened because I’m sure that no one else would’ve been able to sing his songs like he did.

The female main character, which, like the male main protagonist, is never mentioned by name during the whole movie, was also played by a non-actress. They are only referred to as Guy and Girl. The Girl, Markéta Irglová, is a Czech singer and songwriter who started to play the piano and the guitar at an early age.

I’ve told you so much about the background of the movie that now it’s time to say something about its plot, which isn’t a very knotty one. Hansard plays a broken-hearted guy, who has been left by the love of his life, as he calls her. Now he lives in Dublin, repairing hoovers in his father’s shop, and singing out his soul, accompanied on his scabby guitar, on Grafton Street to earn a bit of extra money. One day he meets Her in Dublin’s busiest shopping street. While trying to sell her roses to passers-by, which she has to do to keep her mother and infant daughter alive, Hansard’s music catches her attention. She immediately notices that someone who writes such songs must be an emotional wreck.

Sort of a friendship develops between the two of them. They share their passion for music, have deep conversations and forget about their everyday struggles when they’re together. He asks her to release an album. They find some weird, but kind-hearted guys who’d join them, and that’s when work begins. During their weekend in the studio He and She laugh together, tears are floating and you can see in their facial expressions that both of them would love to make time stand still. As a spectator you can nearly feel the vibes between them. Despite this, he has made the decision to go to London and recapture the woman who had broken his heart. She does not say anything about it, but anyone can see her heart is breaking.
She and her husband, who is living in Czech Republic, have made the decision to work on their marriage again. He does not say anything about it, but anyone can see his heart is breaking.

The end of the movie leaves the spectator with many questions. I won’t tell you how exactly it ends, you have to find out yourself (believe me, you won’t regret it!). But there’s one thing I can tell you. What I expected was a typical, predictable Hollywood-like ending. It’s not like that. Once ends in a way real life works, which is also one of the reasons this film counts to my favourites. It’s natural, and unlike many Hollywood movies it doesn’t make your life seem cheerless.

Now that you know almost everything about the movie and it’s background, I’d actually love to go into detail about the music, which may even be the most important part of the whole production. But, if I did so, I’d never come to an end, and so I’m gonna let you find out yourself and only give you a little pretaste of it. Now, enjoy the music!

My hometown

Christmas is coming closer and closer, there are only three days left till the big day. Since this is the time of the year that you spend with your family and friends, I am heading home today. So, I have decided to tell you a bit about my hometown.

My hometown is a small place called Ferlach in the South of Carinthia. And when I say that it is a small place, you can believe me, because the town only consists of 8000 inhabitants. I don't know if it's true, but when you walk though the 'city centre' it seems that more than half of the population is older than sixty years. Considering that, I wouldn't say that Ferlach is the most exciting place for young people. 

Still, that does not mean that it is not a nice place to live. The town is surrounded by many lovely spots with a breathtaking landscape. The Drau, Carinthia's largest river, crosses Ferlach. People enjoy fishing by the riverside or taking rides on their motorboats on it.






Another place that is worth mentioning is the so-called 'Tscheppaschlucht', which I'm sure those of you who have already been to Catrinthia, have heard of. It is a canyon that is crossed by a stream and there is also a waterfall. Although it is a very touristy place and the wooden planks that lead through the canyon are usually crowded on summerdays, you can still perfectly switch off your mind when hiking through the Tscheppaschlucht. Furthermore, what is more refreshing on a hot summerday than staying under the shadow of the trees beside a cooling waterfall?

My personal favourite is the 'Meerauge', which is not very far away of the Tscheppaschlucht. The name refers to two little, sparkling blue lakes, better be called ponds, that contain the clearest water you have probably ever seen. For a long time people believed that the 'Meerauge' is subterraneousely connected to other waters, also to the sea. This thought came up due to the myth that once a farmer had lost the control over his yoke, which fell into one of the two ponds and was found in a lake somewhere in Slovenia, on the other side of the Karavankas, a few weeks later.

Even though my hometown has a lot of natural beauty to offer, most people don't think of it as a holiday destination in the first place. Many have heard of it because it has been a centre for the production of hunting rifles for more than 500 years now. Ferlach's gunsmiths have customers from  all over the world, even including the Spanish king Juan Carlos. This privileged customer has twice travelled to our South-Carinthian town himself, to choose his rifles for elephant hunting, This is, of course, criticizable, but still, Ferlach's population is proud of being able to mention him as a visitor of their town.

That's enough of my hometown for today. I hope this blogpost has created quite a positive image of it in your heads. I am going to enjoy Christmas in this nice, little place and I hope that, wherever you might be, have a nice celebration too. Merry Christmas everyone!