Friday, April 18, 2008

Who is the Tater? Or, I Really Need to Learn German

I'll be the first person to admit the Internet is great and has totally changed my life. I haven't worked in an office in over six years, my commute is about 20 feet, and I can take a Kwik Klaus Break whenever I feel the need.

But, man, some of these web-based translators aren't as huge a help as you'd like.

I recently scored a cool lot of Kinski magazine and newspaper clippings, mostly from the 70s and 80s and mostly from Germany. In my effort to try and make sense of some of them for my fine readers I've been playing around with German-to-English web-based translation sites like Systran. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the copy on this cool Edgar Wallage krimi ad from Bravo magazine is not asking the burning question, "Who is the Tater?"

I wish this ad was available as a large poster! I love that image of comic relief Eddie Arent at the back holding a blood-stained knife and that sepia-toned pic of Kinski and Arent at the bottom left is from one of my favorite scenes from CIRCUS OF FEAR, which is what I'm currently watching.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey, I really enjoy your blog, klaus forever!!

about the ad: the translation of the text (which is a newspaper-ad of a minor german cable-tv-channel:

at top: "Friday is gravedigger's day!"

below: "Screamings and Whispering. Dark Castles and sinister Guys. Who will be the next Victim? Who is the Murderer? Blood-freezing cult-thrillers. Gooseflesh guaranted! KABEL 1 - I have to see it!"

greetings from berlin,
konrad

Anonymous said...

sorry, I mean:

Thursday is gravedigger's day! (Literally: At thursday the gravedigger is cheering)

Dan said...

Gooseflesh Guaranteed, indeed! Thanks for the translation Konrad. Makes me love the ad even more with that kind of copy.