June 2007

The Czech newspaper “Lidove noviny” released on Monday a disturbing information about a singing legend Vaclav Neckar. The information claims that in 1978 Neckar started working for the communist secret police (called StB). Just to paint you a quick picture about this StB, anyone in those times could be a part of the StB, so you never knew for sure if one of your friends was “with them”. Anytime and anywhere you were you couldn’t stop wondering if you had said anything “inappropriate” out loud and if any one of “them” heard it; this low level anxiety always traveled with you. Once a person did agree to step over to the Dark Side and became part of this secret police network, he immediately received great privileges such as being able to travel behind the Iron Curtain, sending his kids to a university, getting a fine job……So anyway, what was Neckar’s cover name? The Germ (which is also a current name of his band)! His job was to spy on his manager, mr. Bunzel at first. Yet when Bunzel joined the secret police as well, Neckar started collecting information on other musicians, including his co-worker as well as his former wife, Marta Kubisova. When asked, Kubisova did not believe this shocking news and said that “the information source didn’t sound trustworthy enough”. According to Lidove noviny Neckar is unwilling to discuss this surprising news since it could worsen his state of health (he had a brain accident in 2002). Nice little excuse…..!!! Neckar’s new “situation” also threatens his singing career, especially his upcoming concert in Trutnov where he may not be allowed to perform. What do you think, do you believe that Neckar is a traitor??

Here is an interesting YouTube video that I found. [click to continue…]

A European study made by Barometer Cetelem came out with their recent results about Europeans and their attitude toward saving their money. The poll showed that in 2006 60% of Czechs were planing to save up, where as in 2007 this percentage decreased to only 22%. The biggest “tightwads” this year turned out to be the British, where 41% of them want to put their money away; the British are followed by the French and the Germans. Who turned out to be the biggest spenders? It’s the Hungarians! Only 6% of them are thinking about their savings. The Czech Republic placed third in the “hitparade of spenders”. This increased need of buying supposedly increased for two major reasons:

1. the wages have increased
2. the Czech Republic has the cheapest loans in the European Union.

What do the Czech want to buy the most? The winners in this category are:

1. traveling
2. free time
3. household electronics
4. cell phones. [click to continue…]

The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Swarzenberg held this Tuesday in Prague an award-giving ceremony. Who was worthy of this s0-called Gratias Agit prize? Anyone who has been promoting the Czech Republic’s good name abroad. This year’s winners became 2 organizations and 14 persons. Compared to the last year results, however, this year’s champions were mostly foreigners:

ORGANIZATIONS

1. Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center – currently building a Czech museum
2. “Stonozka” organization in Norway – founded by Czech fellow-countryman Bela Gran Jensen; humanitarian organization where the Czech and the Norwegian children help other children from around the world by selling their hand-drawn pictures, where the money raised is used for a purchase of first aid necessities.

PERSONALITIES

• Jiri Hlinka from Norway – Czech piano player and a music teacher
• Milos Forman - Czech American film-maker (see my previous post on him)
• Cahan Rozen from Israel – born and raised in Ostrava, founder of the League for Israel-Czechoslovakian Friendship, also a member of Israeli organization called the Friends of the Czech Republic
• Irena Kirkland from the USA – Czech-born; activist for human rights, rights of the workers and immigrants [click to continue…]

Are you planning on going to Prague sometime soon? The city has a new sightseeing place for you to see. The new Museum of Charles Bridge is located on Krizovnicke square and will be opening this Sunday. Besides the “Prague exposition” which shows the way Prague looked in the 10th century, visitors will also be able to check out one of the “mlynsky” rocks, which was the authentic corner stone of Charles Bridge. Exhibition will also show the historical wooden machines as well as the tools that carpenters and masons used while building the bridge. Although its construction began in 1357 the whole structure was completed no earlier than at the end of the 15th century. What is interesting is that the bridge was called the Prague Bridge until the second half of the 19th century when it was finally renamed to Charles Bridge. Do you know why is it that the bridge has been standing so steady throughout all these centuries? That’s because the builders would put eggs into the plaster so that the whole structure would stick together better…And that’s for real!

Chystate se do Prahy?? Nove zrizene museum Karlova mostu je situovane na Krizovnickem namesti a jeho bezny provoz zacina jiz tuto nedeli. Krome expozice modelu Prahy – jak vypadala v 10. stoleti – budou mit navstevnici take moznost shlednout jeden z mlynskych kamenu, na nichz byl Karluv most roku 1357 postaven. Vystaveny budou take modely tehdejsich stavebnich drevenych stroju a dobove pracovni nastroje tehdejsich tesaru a kameniku. Samotny most byl ale celkove dokoncen az koncem 15. stoleti. Jmeno “Karluv most” mu bylo prisouzeno az v druhe polovine 19.stoleti; pred tim se jmenoval most Prazsky. A uz jste slyseli, proc je jiz po staleti tak neodolny? Protoze do malty tehdy pridavali vajicka a to aby byla malta extra lepkava!

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/magazin/vytvarne/index_view.php?id=257748

And if you are planning on visiting Prague, don’t forget to buy Rick Steves’ guide because that really is the best one out there: