.farewell, febio...

.it's over. One week. Five films, good and bad ones: Half Nelson (USA), Meeting the enemy (SVK), Black (IND), Black Dahlia (USA/GER), Good Shepherd (USA)... Was it worth it? Yeah, definitely. As always it was a possibility to choose freely from hundreds of movies, where real American blockbusters were really sparse :).
Yet, it's not the definite ending of this festival, it's starting its rotation through many other Czech and Slovak cities, to spread the free spirit of febio into whole once united Czechoslovakia... And here in Prague? We are starting our 360 days long wait for another Febiofest to start. See you next year in Andel's cinemas :)!

.two sides of the emotions

.this was a movie night... Two films, two different stories and a huge difference in quality. But let's take it one in a time.

First one was a Slovak movie (a celebration on it's own, because we produce very few films...) called Meeting the enemy. Attractive topic (II. world war), young actors and beautiful exteriors of Slovak mountains during winter time, it all was promising an unforgettable experience...
To our big disappointment promises were not kept (except for the excellent sceneries and good performance by dying horse). Whole movie was about some moralities, chatting about metaphysics and other really not believable stuff in this conditions (prisoner of war taken to the forest for an execution). Dialogues were soooooooo bad :(. Acting was also not very convincing (maybe the actors are good in the theatre but their chance on big screen was a mistake). And super special black and white footage of Iraq and recent crash of an aircraft full of Slovak soldiers?! What is that doing in the movie from the 40th? Maybe the main sponsor was an army, who knows... Anyway, if you're sane enough, Don't you ever dare to watch this film!!! In the second half we were able only to laugh on the amateurism of this "masterpiece"...
So fully awakened from the dream to see some good Slovak movie while I'm still young, I was really hoping the next planned piece will be better. This time it was an Indian movie (but not the typical Bollywood) called Black.
Again the topic was interesting and promising a lot of emotions (life story of the deaf and blind girl and unorthodox teacher). I was quite expecting some dancing and singing party about this (as almost every Indian film is like). Luckily it was all different.
Beautiful story, talking with dignity about a girl with such a hard fate. It is an emotional whirlwind, some scenes are so strong, they haven't left anyone untouched (one man was openly crying during the end credits...). If your heart is on right place and you want to see nicely directed film about overcoming unwilling fate and believing in miracles, give this one a try. Sometimes it's a bit exaggerated, sometimes too pompous (it is the Bollywood after all), yet it's still very touching and full of humanity and love...

.squashed out

.i'm starting to love Prague again, lot of things to do, many friends, many activities (while Saarbrucken was quite dull from time to time) - I haven't stopped this week so far ;).

Some squash was planned for this evening (thanx to Alex). It was my premiere this year and it looked that way... Poor condition, slow movements, wrong placement of balls. Nevertheless, now after finding people interested in playing on regular basis I hope for quick regaining of lost confidence and speed ;).
One hour took all my energy, but the feelings are positive, I love this sport! So back to writing diploma thesis now, with new fresh ideas I've just got :)...

.time shift with friends

.my very good friend from El Salvador was celebrating her birthday last evening. I was honoured to be among the invited people, so I can write a short report about this event :).
It all started in Pizza Coloseum near Mustek metro station. It's the biggest restaurant with huge signs all around, nevertheless I managed to miss it and be lost for a while ;). But I didn't lose my spirit and finally after 30 minute struggle and search found it.
What to say about minutes that followed? A lot of new faces and friends. And not to forget good Italian food with wine ;). So I've met guy from the USA (successful marathon runner), that is much longer in Prague, than I am, his colleague who speaks fluently Japanese, knows much about Russia and Ukraine (we talked a bit about Khreschatyk, famous street in Kiev...). Nice to know you guys!
Our (only J., L., V., D., J., G. and me were left, names shortened to keep discretion ;) ) second destination was pub Papas (for some coffee, long drinks and chat). Nice place, very inspiring, because everybody started to fold some paper origami ;). It had to be funny, watching us... This way, the time was passing really quickly by and the night has come to the point of time shift ("summer time" has started, at 2 am time was moved to 3 am). The pub was closing and we had to leave. I was home shortly before 4 am, so it was a long night...

I almost forgot, the spoken languages during the night were (no particular order): English, Spanish, Czech, Japanese, Ukrainian, Slovak... Quite a Babylon ;)!

Thanx for the night, everybody and once again Feliz Cumpleaños, amiga!

.febio's back!

.open up some champagne and cheers! One of the most important film festivals in central Europe is back and in full strength again :). Febiofest has started and that means that for 8 days there are plenty of whole world movies to see. So grab your chance and run for some tickets while you still can (32 000 tickets sold in advance-sale!)...

I've chosen 4 films so far, mixing US, Indian, Vietnamese and Slovak cinematography :). Today I enjoyed new independent movie with Ryan Gosling (my favourite young actor), called Half Nelson. World divided between drugs and civil rights history, philosophy... Raw camera, good performance, mixed and disturbed feelings. Slow paced but intelligent film, give it a try!

.boredom in Cambridge

.this day was special. I was for the first time in Narodni divadlo (national theatre) in Prague. Yes, that's true, after 6 years of study in this magnificent city I still haven't visited one of the most famous buildings.

The play was supposed to be interesting... It is named Rock'n'Roll and is talking about Prague's history during normalisation period (1968-1990). It was divided into many small fragments situated in turns in Prague and Cambridge. Yet it was not funny enough to be a comedy, nor thrilling enough to be a drama... And it was looooong (>3h). Probably the main problem was that author is British and that means, that he hasn't lived through any of these events (not that I had, to be honest, I was too young when "velvet revolution" took part to be a part of it). And in this case not even very decent performance by actors can uplift such piece into a quality production...
I think we should talk about this dark period of our history, but maybe satire and shallow dialogues about communism is not the best we can do. This way the people younger than me didn't understand at all what was going on on the stage, people much older probably thought it to be too provoking and attacking. I was quite disappointed by the chance that was not made use of...

Footnote: the music was good ;), all the rock giants from these times (Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, etc.)...

.(snow) party

.yesterday was a crazy day :). Dormitory Hvezda witnessed a big birthday party (celebrating three people birthdays together). For this not to be all, quite heavy snowfall during whole evening changed these parts of Prague into snow kingdom :). To be honest I've not seen that much snow this whole winter...
Evening was not beginning as expected, doorman was quite reluctant to allow entering the building because we didn't even know exact room, where are friends are living. But after all, these details were overcome and all fun could have started. Not exactly, some minor image changes were necessary as entry fee (you'll probably notice not overly natural colours on our heads ;) ).
Lots of people were promising good fun for whole evening/night. Important part of these events is the unpacking of presents. Laughter was unstoppable ;). Then music started, accompanied by dancing (or chatting, depended on people's preferences). With some fantastic wine and other stuff, there was nothing to stop us ;). This is how the party should look like!

Once more: happy birthday, friends!

.shopping mall & Incubus

.my soul, desperate for some good live music, was pleased this evening :). My favourite (alternative rock) band Incubus has arrived. If you have never heard of them, give it a try, it's worth it.

Gig was taking place in Lucerna Music Bar (beautiful secession building), renamed by frontman as "shopping mall" ;). Small by capacity, but great with music quality. It was a pleasure for my ears :). Who was not there, won't understand, yet it was the best concert in long time!

For fanatics, here is a setlist:
Quicksand, Kiss To Send Us Off, Wish You Were Here, Have You Ever, Anna Molly, Paper Shoes, Blood On the Ground, Redefine (Acoustic, Remix), Drive (Acoustic), Earth To Bella, Under My Umbrella, Light Grenades, Sick Sad Little World, Are You In?, Nice To Know You; Megalomaniac (thx to this review in Czech, there you can also download Drive video)...

I was disappointed only by one thing - one bonus song is really not enough :(. So maybe next time?

.prague, here I come!

.the new era has begun. I'm back in Prague. All that is left from Saarbrucken are memories. I have to admit, that mainly positive and nice memories...

I've got a dormitory finally (not without a problems, but that's not something I want to write here about). As always it will take some more days to have every bureaucratic successfully finished. Only after this will I be fully back into life in Prague. I'm quite expecting it ;).
First day here was really hectic. Not only because of dormitory. I need to do some taxes stuff (really important, because the government owes me some money and so I want it back!). Not an easy paperwork, but hopefully I've done it correctly. We'll see... At least I can plan to use this money to upgrade my computer. New lcd display would be great ;).
But this was not all, I've done some friend meetings (ex-work colleagues, school friends, etc.). Because public relations are very important for everybody :).
And not to forget, I'm going on a concert of Incubus on Sunday, so stay tuned for some review of this gig ;).

.hockey joy

.we did it :). We (HC Kosice) are again in the semifinals of the Slovak ice hockey league... Hopefully it won't be our last stop like during last years play-offs.

As you can guess from the first sentences, I was yesterday once again on hockey game. This time we've beaten Skalica 5:1, which meant win in the quarterfinals series 4:1. Game was quite nice, not the best I've seen, but good. We won without a problem.
So good luck boys in games to come and let us be proud of Kosice's ice hockey again (after champion titles in 1986,1988,1995,1996,1999...)!

I love this game!

.road home & Prague

.the road home (Erasmus is really over ;(... ) was long and tiring. All the bad weather, heavy rain, strong winds - that's definitely not a dream of any driver. But we did it somehow and I'm finally home (to take a deep breath before continuing with my diploma thesis).

We had a nice and relaxing one day stay in Prague (filled with some school duties, some shopping and one theater play, finished with a small chat with friends in the famous bar "La Casa Blu"). I really enjoyed it all (mainly the latter parts ;) ).
I had some free time in the evening (before theater) and that was a great opportunity to take some photos of Prague at night. Here are some of them, enjoy!

.anniversary edition

.my dear readers! Today I'm proud to present my anniversary post (nr.50) ;)...
As you see, it took me quite a long time to produce such a high number of different interesting posts ;), almost 4 months. Hopefully not all of them were a rubbish. Probably it won't be as hot with new posts in the following weeks. My Erasmus stay is over ;( and so also the inspiration will be a bit harder to find...
I'll see what the life will bring in next few months. I hope, that at least a graduation (finally) and maybe also something else... Who knows. See you next time and have a nice time while reading next 50 of my posts ;)!