vailian

Yesterday I watched the film "Das Leben der Anderen" (The Lives of Others)--it is terrific. Without any action scenes, it is unbelievably gripping. The acting is superb. It is about an East German Stasi officer who is assigned to watch a playwright and his wife, and the internal conflicts he suffers as he realizes what he is being asked to do. (The film also won the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars-- not necessarily a reliable recommendation but justified in this case).






Today I became the proud owner of a pair of Stasi binoculars. Well, to be truthful, I don't know if they were in the hands of the Stasi but they are the model preferred by the organization. Made by the Zeiss company in Jena, East Germany, they are a design originally from the 1930s but produced basically unchanged for 60 years, until the reunification of Germany. They still are considered as good as any binoculars made today (although today's casings are lighter and more waterproof). I had seen a pair in Berlin at a friend's house last year, and was so amazed at the quality-- his pair was about 50 years old-- and I asked him if he could find me some. It took him months to track some down, and they are not cheap (they now are coveted by collectors as well) but he found me a pair in absolutely mint condition, with the original case.