Lobelia the adverbially eclectic

Wohoo! Congratulations!

Good luck with the packing and with finding Jim Knopf Slash. And if you end up doing it yourself, don't slash poor Jim with the old guy whose name I can't believe I can't remember right now. That would just not seem right... You're going to do it, aren't you? Sigh.

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the old guy whose name I can't believe I can't remember right now

Hehhehe. Lukas? Or Kaiser von China???

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Lukas. Lukas der Lokomotivfuehrer, how could I forget. By now I want to read some Jim Knopf slash myself...Have also contemplated Augsburger Puppenkiste slash in general, but was so squicked by Urmel/Professor I had to stop. *shudder*

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"Komm in meine Mupfel, Urmel."

*screams!!!*

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Or should that be:

"Komm in meiner Mupfel, Urmel."

Ack.

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Ack indeed. I think maybe I shouldn't laugh (I accidentally wrote love *g*) when my childhood images are perverted like this, but of course I did, so hard I almost turned purple...

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Oh my. Jim Knopf slash??? I really shouldn't be surprised that it's you who first put this notion in my head. But who with whom? Lukas/Pirate-who-writes-X-and-thinks-it's-K? Ping Pong/Emperor of China? ergh, maybe in a angsty, admiring kind of way. lol, I dare you to write Nepomuck/Giant Tur Tur!

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*screams and falls off chair*

Omg, not even I had thought of *these* pairings.

Bwuahahahah. My mind is boggled.

The sexiest one, however, has to be Lukas/Pirate who thinks X is K. (Your memory amazes. Are you re-reading these on a regular basis?)

I think PJ should be alerted to Jim Knopf. It could all be set in NZ. And the Duck could build Frau Mahlzahn.

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If there's anyone who can do justice to Jim Knopf, it's PJ! Imagine the field day Duck would have with all the dragons, and sea folk, and Chinese costumes! And Emma, and Lummerland!

as you may have noticed, "Jim Knopf" was one of my favorite books when I was a child. Damn, I wish I had it with me now! That's going to be one of the first books I'll reread when I get back!

But yes, Lukas/Pirate X = rowr! Just think of Lukas' strength! Remember he could bend an iron bar like a knot? And he could spit loopings!

Nepumuck was one of my faves though, I was always a bit sad he stayed alone on that magnetic island with the Meeresleuchten. Tur Tur joined him in the end, didn't he?

I'm starting to feel like a total "Jim Knopf" geek, will shut up now.

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Jim Knopf geek, what a concept! Rofl. And I thought lusting after Winnetou/Old Shatterhand was bad. German nationalism works in strange, convoluted ways....

Michael Ende, btw, was the best friend of my father's so I knew him personally when I was a child. We used to visit him and his wife in his house near Rome. I was fantastically impressed by him and wanted to grow up to be a writer, too.

My aunt read Jim Knopf to me and I remember the thing that always puzzled me most was the magical way (it seemed magical to me) the Wilde 13 turned into 12. I went back through all the illustrations and counted the pirates in every single one, I just couldn't believe how this could happen.

I've since read it to my children. It's a brilliant book. But has remained quite German. Nobody outside knows it.

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You met Michael Ende? You lucky person! lol, I am so envious of you now! I know his voice a little, because as a kid I had this cassette recording where he read Jim Knopf himself. I loved that tape. My mom still listens to it to go to sleep. :-) We're a whole family of JK geeks; since my real name is Elisabeth and I'm a stubborn brat too, my aunt and uncle call me Prinzessin Li Si when they want to tease me.

*wishes she had her computer with her to make a Jim Knopf icon*

Your children are bilingual? Sweet! Do you read Ottfried Preussler to them as well? Or Astrid Lindgren?

lol, as a kid I counted the pirates too, and was almost angry how the graphic designer didn't slip even once.

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wishes she had her computer with her to make a Jim Knopf icon

Ask and ye shall be given. *g* Here is instant JK icon. Just for you. :-)

And now I know why you're in China!!

Did you know that in the recent editions of Jim Knopf (which I bought to read to my children), 'China' has been changed to 'Mandala'???? I want to write to the publishers, it makes me f**** furious!! What is this, some sort of ludicrously misplaced political correctness? And did they have Michael Ende's permission for this? There is *no* note to alert the reader that the text has been meddled with!

*snorts* I'm glad I read these out aloud to the kids because I say 'China' all the way.

I love the Jim Knopf cassettes, much more than the Augsburger Puppenkiste because I never saw that as a child -- although I think it's rather good, too. But nothing like the cassette. And Michael Ende's voice is swoonsome; I love that Bavarian burr. And Frau Mahlzahn (cccchrrrrrr) is played by his wife, Ingeborg Hoffmann; she got a throat condition which prevented her from continuing as an actress but which means she can do this wonderful ccchhhhrrrring. "Li Si, was isssst drrrrei mal sieeeebennnnn?"

I read Astrid Lindgren, too, because I adore Astrid Lindgren, who isn't even German but has somehow become part of German folklore (she's been Bauernbrotisiert). Nobody knows her in England. Urmel no, they're not into Urmel and I must say, re-reading Max Kruse as an adult makes you realise his literary limitations. But Otfried Preussler! Oh, I must dig out my Wanja and my Krabat!

I also like Christine Noestlinger a lot, the teenage books. I still read those. *gg*

Heh. German childrens' books geeks of the world, unite.

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Can I unite with you? Just reading the names of those authors made me jump up and down in delight...

I could talk hours about the world's Astrid Lindgren has created with her books, she is just so utterly fantastic. I didn't know and am surprised to hear nobody knows her in England. When I was in Stockholm earlier this year, of course I visited the Junibacken, a children's museum mostly about A. Lindgren, and they had a gigantic book shelve with her books in lots of different languages, English included. Maybe they are from the American market. It's weird to realize most of the names are different in other languages. Did you know that Michel von Loenneberga is actually Emil i Loennerbarga? Pippi of course is neither Langstrumpf not Longstocking but Langstrump, with the little circle over the a. Madita was something else, too, but I forgot.
I can never decide which I love best, those rather 'funny' ones, or the sad, like Mio mein Mio, Die Brueder Loewenherz etc. Have you ever read Klingt meine Linde, Sonnenau, Die Schafe auf Kapela or Junker Nils von Eka? Those are rather short ones, and so heart-wrenchingly sad I cry every time I read them.

And Otfired Preussler...I don't know how many times I've read Krabat, but I know I discovered something new I did. It's so different from other children's books! Do you know Die Kleine Hexe und Den Kleinen Wassermann? I was never really fond of Das Kleine Gespenst, but the other two lived in my dreams for years.

Ah, Christine Noestlinger. I normally can't stand the Austrian dialect, but for some reason I don't mind at all with Christine Noestlinger. Wetti und Babs, Oh Du Hoelle, sigh. Must reread those, too.

I'm so glad my mother took me to the library as soon as I could read. Looking back, I think I spent half of my childhood there...

And OMG, I can't believe you actually met Michael Ende...Am a nice shade of green now!

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lol, it seems our book cases looked much alike then! I think I had every book Astrid Lindgren ever wrote. And all of Michael Ende and Christine Noestlinger, even her newer books. And Wanja and Krabat! *herzschmerz* I'm getting homesick over children's books, for pity's sake.

Loved the cassettes much more than the Puppenkiste, too. Lukas' and Jim's voices were so much better. And Frau Malzahn! I'm getting shivers just from thinking about her voice, lol.

Now could you please write a Lukas/Pirate X story? Ficlet? Drabble?

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Did you ever read Michael Ende's "Der archaeoluegenialkohoellische Wunschpunsch"? Jakob?/Moritz? *ducks shoe thrown at her*

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I reread "Jim Knopf", and came across the most obvious pairing! Lukas/Herr Ärmel!

How could I be so blind? These two bachelors, living together on an island for years and years? Of course Ende tells us that Mr Ärmel doesn't really do anything. Or should I say, discreetly leaves out, that Mr Ärmel only waits for the few moments when he and Lukas are left alone to share some *ahem* privacy?

The heartbreaking letter Mr Ärmel sends to China to urge his lover back tells all:

"...Und Sie, Herr Lokomotivführer, sind ein Mann, dessen Rat und Tat niemand in ganz Lummerland entbehren kann. Meine Wasserleitung tropft, und ich vermag sie nicht wieder in Ordnung zu bringen. ..."

*nods knowingly* Lukas sure knows his way with plumbing.

I rest my case.

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