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The 43th Annual Film Festival in Karlovy Vary just started (where did that year go??). The Festival will show over 220 films and 60 premiers - all in 8 days (!!). And what celebrity is granting its presence to this year’s celebration? Last year we had Dany de Vito and Renee Zellweger and this year it is Robert De Niro himself! This will be his second visit to Karlovy Vary as he visited this town 18 years ago. (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 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…)

The new Queen of Pop, Rihanna, is going to be performing in Prague this Thursday, and it is supposed to be quite the show. This is not her first time visiting Prague. To put it straight, Prague is pretty much Rihanna’s second home. Do you want a proof?

• She won the Czech Ocko prize in the Hip-hop and rhythm category (more…)
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Slovakia elected their Miss Universe 2008. Her name is Sandra Manakova, she is 20 years old and comes from the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. Not only did she won so far the most expensive diamond crown any Slovak beauty queen ever won (1.3 million Czech Crowns, designed by Petra Nemcova), but she is also the owner of a nice off-road vehicle AND the flying ticket to Vietnam. Why Vietnam, you may ask. (more…)

Today passed away yet another very famous Czech actor, Radovan Lukavsky. At the age of 88 Radovan died of serious heart complications. He was born in 1919 in Prague. His mother has led him to Christianity since Radovan’s early childhood, which led him to desire to become a pastor. His theology studies, however, were abruptly stopped when the Nazi occupation began. Radovan’s theological mind then had to be satisfied by the permitted studies of philosophy and acting instead. As a fresh graduate Radovan’s first acting job was at the Vinohrady Theatre. (more…)

The winner of the Czech music awards the “Album of the Year for 2007″ in women’s category as well as the all-time winner became Aneta Langerova with her new album Dotyk. Born in 1986 (youngster!) Aneta showed her multi-talented personality from early childhood. Not only was she good at tennis, acting, and instrument playing (piano and guitar) she was also a great singer. Aneta got discovered via the TV show “Czech is looking for a superstar” where she sang the Alanis Morissette song “Thank You” and won 79% of votes.

1. The top male singer of 2007 became Daniel Landa (don’t care much about him at all) who:

• sold the most records

• was played most frequently on the radio that year

• sold most tracks via the Internet

(more…)

As I wrote recently in one of my posts the old Czech folk song “Jozin z Bazin” has become a huge hit in Poland. Now the new development in this Jozin-z-Bazin mania is that the Polish made a YouTube parody of that song. As one of my commenters Maciej explains, “The parody makes fun of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and current politics in general to the tune of Jozin z Bazin. And the parody is becoming a hit as well but it will unlikely beat Jozin z Bazin”. Well, we will see about that because that video is FUNNY! (more…)

Do you miss communism? Do you miss Lednacek (ice-cream bar), Cecka (plastic chain pieces shaped in “C” shape; toy for kids), Tuzex (fancy store with Western goodies; had its special currency) or those grocery stores with the always-empty shelves (see the picture)? Well, save your tears because the Czech TV is coming up with a new TV series called Retro which will bring back those memories - the good and the bad ones…Find out more about the show here.

CZ: Styska se vam po komunismu? Po lednaccich, ceckach, po Tuzexu nebo prazdnych obchodech? No, uz nemusite plakat, ponevadz ceska televize prichazi na televizni obrazovky s novou show zvanou Retro a slzy vam tak ususi…prectete si vice zde.
Source: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/100467