Czechmatediary

MICHAEL BOREK is like many of us. He is Czech to the bone and lives in the US. But he is also a photographer and a great one. I asked him if he would do an interview with me and he kindly agreed to it. I suggest you go on his web site and read this interview to get a better appreciation of his wonderful work :0)

CZ: MICHAL BOREK je jeden z nas: je totiz Cech do morku kosti a zije v USA. Je ovsem take fotograf a to nejen ledajaky fotograf - je velmi nadany! Zeptala jsem se ho, jestli by se mnou neudelal rozhovor a on s tim souhlasil. Doporucuji, abyste se mrkli na jeho stranky a precetli si nize uvedeny rozvhovor - budete tak moci ocenit jeho dilo do vetsi hloubky :0)

1/ Where you into photography even during your childhood? Were your parents supportive?

Yes, I did like to take pictures as a child, but I was not very systematic. When I wanted to actually develop these photos, the things got quite complicated: I had to take out the door out of our closet, put them on top of the bathtub, then put a bunch of bowls on top, each filled with a different chemical such as the developing bath, the interrupter and the fixer; I also had to put the red light bulb in  as well as the magnifier above the washer and that was all done in a a classic communist panelak bathroom, meaning that the space was VERY limited. (more…)

I have been living in the US for about 10 years now and I know that I have got (unfortunately?) an accent in BOTH languages. For those of you who are in the same boat as me, do you ever wonder how much of an accent do you have? Can you hear yourself that well so that you can tell? On a scale 1 to 10 ( 1 = the least amount of accent), are you like a ‘2′ when it comes to Czech and like a ‘5′ when it comes to English?
In case you would like to compare your Czech accents, I have attached a YouTube video of Petra Nemcova, a world-known Czech top model. Petra has left her home in Karvina (CR) also about 10 years ago and both of her accents are quite noticeable. However, one must also count it the fact that she may be quite nervous during her interviews, hence her accent gets stronger. (more…)

Have you seen the movie Wanted yet? Well, you should! Never mind if it has some big stars like Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman or Hugh Jackman -  the most important thing is that it came to life practically because of this one talented Czech guy! Petr Forejt not only did all of the sound mixing for the movie but he was also nominated for the ‘Best Sound Mixing’ at this year’s Academy Awards!!! Although the movie did not get the Oscar at the end, the nomination is just an enormous success for Petr. He also did not expect it at all: “I got a phone call from a Czech journalist and I asked him why they were calling me and they said ‘you were nominated, what can you tell us’?“, says Petr.  Radio Praha made an interview with him and here are the most exciting highlights:

CZ: Uz jste videli film s Angelinou Jolie a Morganem Freemanem pod nazvem Wanted? No tak sup, sup na to! Jestli pry je to dobry film? No, to nevim, ale jiste je jedno: tento film prakticky ozil diky jednomu nadanemu Cechovi. Nenjenze mel Petr Forejt na starost vsechny zvukove efekty, ale take byl na letosnich Oskarech nominovany za ‘Best Sound Mixing’! I kdyz film nakonec Oskara neziskal, je to pro Petra obrovsky uspech, tak mu srdecne gratulujeme. Taky to pry vubec necekal: “Z niceho nic mi zavolal nejaky cesky zurnalista a ze pry jsem nominovany na Oskara a jake pry jsou me prvni pocity..”, rika Petr. Radio Praha s nim nedavno udelalo rozhovor a ja jsem z neho par zajimavych otazek vybrala:
(more…)

If there was an apple for every season how do you think the Christmas apple would look like? How about having an imprint of a real Bethlehem comet on its skin? Because that is what Josef Thor’s apples look like. Josef is a well-known apple grower who won the title of the “Apple of the Year” many times in his apple-growing career. How does he achieve such Christmas magic? The “magic” is actually a very simple science: just before the apple becomes ripe, Josef puts the comet sticker on its skin and then he waits. As the apple ripens, the star’s surrounding area becomes red while the area under the sticker stays yellow. (more…)

The celebrity Czech writer Milan Kundera was recently accused of collaborating with the communist police and snitching on a Western agent. Why do they accuse him 58 years later? The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes accidentally discovered a seemingly irrefutable document (see the picture bellow) which claims that Kundera went to a police station and turned Mr. Miroslav Dvoracek (a secret agent) in, knowing that Dvoracek would probably face death sentence for a treason. (more…)

If you saw Pavel Ivancic walking in the streets of Prague you would see a normal, nice looking guy. But a little would you know, that he is carefully evaluating your current outfit and probably thinking that you had no style at all. Who is this clean-cut looking guy? Pavel has been actually voted the Czech fashion designer of 2007. He studied in London, worked in Paris, met the most prestigious designers in the world and now he has its own fashion brand called “Muset”. Radio Prague did an interview with him and  I was surprised to find out that Pavel things there is no fashion business in the Czech Republic. Supposedly there is not a single store that would sell Czech designer stuff! (more…)

Yesterday afternoon at the age of 93 years Tomas Bata junior peacefully died in Canada. This world-known Czechoslovak entrepreneur and an owner of the world-known Bata shoe company was the son of Tomas Bata senior - the acutal founder of Bata Shoes. Tomas senior’s nickname used to be the “Henry Ford of Eastern Europe” because he “saw technology as  means of progress, and wanted to make the shoes as cheaply as possible so that the greatest number of people could access them”. The Bata company itself was founded back in 1894 in a Czech town Zlin. After Tomas senior died in a tragic plane accident, his brother Jan took over the business. Under Jan’s leadership the company quickly expanded abroad to Europe, North America, Asia, and North Africa. Along with the continual expansion, the company policy was to set up new villages around the newly build factories so that the workers have places to live. Here are just some examples od those towns (the names are pretty cute): (more…)

On August 19th a brave Czech swimmer managed to swim the Strait of Gibraltar both ways in less than 9 hours. He has become the 5th person in the world and the 1st Czech person to do that. By the way, do you know what his name is? David Cech ( = David Czech)! Read more about this “dude” right here (click here).

CZ: 19. srpna leta Pane 2008 jeden statecny plavec preplaval Gibraltarsky pruliv (ze Spanelska do Maroka a nazpatek) za necelych zazracnych 9 hodin. Stal se tak 5. osobou na svete (a 1. Cechem), ktere se neco takoveho vubec podarilo.Vite jak se tento chlapik jmenuje? David Cech! Vice si o Davidovi prectete zde (kliknete zde).

Do you know what is Dominik Hasek, the just-retired NHL star, up to these days? Vite, cim ted travi volny cas nase hokejova hvezda, Dominik Hasek?

Here is a quiz for you:
A/ Is he couching the children’s hockey in Czech?
B/ Did he get into professional fishing?
C/ Did he get into fashion business?
D/ Is he planning a journey to Tibet to find his eternal peace? (more…)

Franz Kafka has become one of the most influential writers of all times. Most people know that he was born in Prague to a German speaking Jewish family and most people know of his quite unsettling disturbing stories such as the Metamorphosis, The Castle or The Trial. Not very many people know, however, that most of his novels were finished by someone else - his close friend, a fellow writer Max Brod. Dying Kafka actually ordered Brod to BURN all of his writings after he dies but Brod decided to disobey ( a good thing that he did!), finished and publish most of his works later. But that’s not all! (more…)