3 posts tagged “deutsch”

Did any Kiwi know that Lucy Lawless spoke German? Here is a segment on YouTube, in which I imagine Ms Lawless and her 1990s’ TV series, Xena, Warrior Princess, were profiled on German television. So she’s no Sandra Bullock, but if you are outside Nelson, Deutsch is pretty hard to master.

I’ve been talking about all these remakes of late, but one I forgot to mention is a biggie: that time the Germans remade The Love Boat. There are a few differences: Das Traumschiff (it is not called Das Love Boot as The Simpsons once parodied) has been going since 1981 and it has never, unlike the original American version, been shot in a studio. Each season is short because of the lavish location filming—trust the Germans to take a formula and improve on it no end. I think they also managed to keep the cruise director off cocaine.
   The title sequence from the below 2007 special in San Francisco (found on YouTube) is awful, and set in the very un-German Arial Rounded, but even the late Aaron Spelling didn’t beat the money that has been poured in to the 50-plus episodes since the 1980s.
   The Germans’ approach to state TV is: if it works, and it pulls in viewers week after week, then don’t tinker and ruin it. Tatort has been going for God knows how long.
   I prefer my Alarm für Cobra 11, still the perfect car-chase cop show.

Audi A3 Cabriolet

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[Cross-posted] Audi has done well with Lucire’s annual Car to Be Seen in, being its inaugural winner at the turn of the century. And its latest model, the A3 Cabriolet, could fare well when it hits streets in February 2008 in Germany.
   It’s more cohesive in appearance than the A4 Cabriolet, which I had the pleasure of driving in March. The A4 I had was the car assigned to Audi marketing manager Rachel Jones, so I felt rather privileged—especially as I was putting ks on to it before she could.
   When I was in Christchurch testing the S5, I was pleased to note that the boss at the city’s Audi dealer, Archibalds on Manchester, Eric Swinbourne, was a fan of compact cars, especially the A3. We shared a view that it was a lot harder making a decent small car than a decent big one, in terms of packaging and cost. And he was enthusiastic about the A3’s arrival—and I can see why.
   The A4 Cabrio will in essence be replaced by two cars: the A3 you see here and an A5 model next year. The duo make a lot of sense in the market-place, too: the A3 is pert and cute, the A5 glamorous and long. If you like the traditional Bauhaus restraint, then the A3 represents that well, but if you prefer the lithe looks of the new Audis, then the A5 is your car.
   Just as importantly, the A3 Cabriolet is expected to be priced keenly in New Zealand and folks like Eric are predicting healthy volumes. Those people who Volkswagen might have hoped would go for the Beetle Cabriolet or the Eos might just hop over to Audi: this new car is a lot more of a spiritual successor to the VW Golf Cabriolet in terms of its style.
   As with the TT and TT Roadster, the A3 Cabriolet is manufactured at Audi Hungaria Motor, the company’s facility in Győr.