Czechmatediary

The legendary musician Bob Dylan is coming to perform to Ostrava in a couple of days (June 9th) and that will be his only concert in the Czech Republic this year (probably got sick of Prague..). His requests to create a comfortable, Dylan-like environment are not that bad. His dressing room has to have following items in it:

• carpet (hello!)
• sofa
• comfortable chair
• big mirror (??)
• 10 towels (why not go crazy and make it 11 towels?) (more…)
  If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

The Czech movie called “Kraska v nesnazich” (”Beauty in trouble”) is definitely NOT in trouble. Starting June 13th it will be shown in a number of movie theaters all over US, starting in New York (Angelika in Greenwich Village) and the Landmark Theatre in Washington. Depending on the success (or no success) the story will receive there it will travel to other places in the United States. The reason why is this movie already so close to the American viewers’ hearts is because of two reasons: 1/ the movie did great at the 2 prominent US Film Festivals - one in Denver (CO) and the other one in Santa Barbara (CA) and 2/ the American public is already in love with Ana Gaislerova from the former role in yet another great Czech movie Zelary. (more…)

I was flipping the channels last night and guess who appeared on the screen: Vaclav Klaus! The C-span channel had him as a speaker to promote his new book called the “Blue Planet in Green Shackles” (see the whole speech by clicking here). Besides focusing on the environmental issues during his current visit to the US he is also going to meet with the vice-president Dick Chaney with whom he will be discussing the hot topic of Anti-missile radar base. Klaus is flying back home on Thursday afternoon. (more…)

The opening night of ex-president Vaclav Havel’s new play Odchazeni (Leaving) turned out to be a great success. It is a story of a prominent politician who is ending his term in the office and all of the drama that goes with it. In this particular play was Havel inspired by such masterpieces as Cechov’s Cherry Orchard or Shakespeare’s King Lear. The play preparations went very smooth until the lead actress, Dagmar Havlova (Havel’s current wife), quit due to health reasons. (more…)

The 70-year old Oscar-winning Czech director Jiri Menzel is going to be a first-time father. How is it possible, you ask? No, it’s not a miracle story like what happened to Abraham and Sarah; it’s just that his wife is 40 years younger then him. The 30-year old Olga Menzelova-Kelymanova claims that baby wasn’t planned, she never really wanted to have children, but “(this) baby didn’t ask for anyone’s permission, it just came“. She also told to the interviewing magazine Blesk that she was not planning on giving up her carrier once the baby comes an that she would definitely be using babysitting services on a regular basis. What other Czech male celebrities became fathers in their bachelor days (60+) ? (more…)

I was listing through the magazines the other day and found a a small article on Paulina (really “Pavlina”) Porizkova, the 80’s hottest model ever, and the fact that she is currently featured on one of the worst shows ever - the America’s Next Top Model. As I was reading the article, I thought to myself:”Hmmm, she would fit into my Famous Czechs/Slovaks category!” and decided to put her in the CMD Hall of Fame.

CZ: Tak jsem si pred nedavnem v cekarne prohlizela magaziny a natrefila jsem na kratoucky clanek o Pavline Porizkove (pracuje ted na dosti trapne reality show America’s Next Top Model). Jelikoz byla v 80tych letech jednou z nejpopularnejsich modelek na svete, rozhodla jsem se ji za tento modelovy “ulet” udelit pardon a zaradit ji na list Znamych Cechu a Slovaku zijicich v zahranici:

Paulina was born in Prostejov (former Czechoslovakia) in 1965. Three years later her parents emigrated to Sweden, leaving 3-year old Pavlina behind. For 4 years it was Pavlina’ grandmother who took care of her until her parents finally managed to bring her over to Sweden. (more…)

Here is a fun way to educate yourself about the Czech Republic. I promise you, this history lesson will not bore you for sure…

CZ: Mate chut na pikantni zajimavosti o Ceske repulice? Nize uvedena lekce v historii vas urcite nudit nebude….

Satelite View

The Czech Republic is one of the few inland countries whose borders can be seen from satellite photographs. The location of the Czech Republic can be best recognized by its border mountains on satellite photos made from a height of 900 kilometers.

Bohemia
According to Roman reports, the Latin name of the Czech lands Boiohaemum (Bohemia) is derived from the name of the Celtic tribe that settled on the territory of today´s Czech Republic. (more…)

The Museum of Curiosities in Pelhrimov is quite the happening place these days. The 29-year old fakir, Petr Fiedor is planning on overcoming his past record of laying on hundreds of glass shards for 72 hours (His record from the year of 2000). This time he is hoping to lay unharmed on his “comfy” bed for 10 days. For 8 out of those torturous days (literally) is Peter going to be kept alive and well only via the means of IV - no food or drinks allowed. And why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone (or 2 flies with 1 swap, as the Czechs say) and make it a scientific experiment as well? (more…)

My parents were avid tennis players so we used to watch Lendl play on our black-and-white TV, the one where you had to painfully twist the buttons to get somewhat of a clear picture. The image was never great but good enough for us to see the moving tennis ball….and the dazzling Ivan Lendl. Ivan was born in 1960 to a couple of prominent tennis players from Ostrava, Czech Republic. Ivan became a professional tennis player at the age of 18 when he won both the French open as well as the Wimbledon and was ranked no.1 junior player. In 1981 he managed to emigrate to the US where he lived for a while with his lifelong coach, the famous polish tennis player, Wojtek Fibak. It was Wojtek who introduced him to his current wife, Samantha, a friend of Fibak’s family. (more…)

An ageless pop-star Karel Gott is scheduled to tour Canada for the first time. In May of this year he is going to bless 3 cities with his devine visit: Toronto, Vancouver and Edmont. Since the audience in Canada knows him mostly from the former years of his career Gott is planning to sing the classics but not only in Czech but in Slovak, Russian, German, English and Italian! (more…)