Magazine

A Czech man who handcuffed himself because of a bet is sent packing by the police, Krteček beats Barbie as the best-selling toy on the Czech market, and the global crisis has reached the Moon. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.

A Czech man who thoughtlessly handcuffed himself ended up at a police station begging for help but found little sympathy as the police took him for an escaped criminal, the CTK news agency reported last week. The 48-year-old man from Brno found the handcuffs in a garbage can and took them to a pub where he bet his friends he could free himself with the help of a piece of wire, the way action heroes do. When he failed miserably, he walked to the nearest police station to ask for help. Unluckily for him the officers did not believe his story and immediately set about checking their records to see if he was clean. When they found he was telling the truth they sent him packing – still in handcuffs. In the end he had to find a locksmith in order to free himself. Well, that should teach him not to brag.

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Photo: CTK

Czech fashion designer Liběna Rochová last week presented her first collection of glass accessories. The nine-piece collection was made in cooperation with the AJETO glassworks, which thanks to its creativity is pretty much the only Czech glassworks which is not having existential problems as a result of the crisis. The glassworks, whose art director is the famous sculptor Bořek Sípek, employs some of the country’s finest glass masters who were immediately game to try their hand at something out-of-the-ordinary – turning a fashion designer’s fantasy into a glass creation and producing something light enough and wearable enough to complement a woman’s evening dress or hair-style. The nine-piece collection called Homage to Glass was a pilot project which has opened the way for longer-term cooperation. The fashion designer and AJETO say they will produce a limited series of original pieces. Once the designer and glass master have agreed on the details of the piece and its colour-scheme such an item takes only about ten to fifteen minutes to make over a fire but that is followed by a longer process of engraving and silver-plating. The production cost of such an item is around two thousand crowns but, on the market the pieces are expected to sell for eight to ten times that much. However given their origin you can expect them to become family heirlooms.

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Illustrative photo

Miss contests in the Czech Republic have finally reached the animal world. Several hundred sleek and groomed cats competed in the first-ever Miss Czech Cat contest last week. In the end it was a tom-cat who got elected Miss Czech Cat – winning favour with the jury by responding to basic commands usually reserved for obedient dogs - such as begging for something with both paws, sitting when told to and running to fetch an object thrown by its master. Not your typical cat qualities I must say and I personally prefer cats with a mind of their own – like the two year old cat Bismark who won a special prize for sleeping through most of the contest, being a cat-gourmet and showing a distinct preference for men. If you think it sounds like a crazy contest – you may be right – but there was one good thing about it – the entry fee was a tin of cat food and the entire collection was sent to the local cat shelter.

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Barbie’s fiftieth birthday came and went leaving her the unrivalled queen of toy stores in many countries of the world, but as far as the Czech Republic is concerned – sorry Barbs, move over. The best-selling toy on the Czech market is – and always has been – Krteček – an animated cartoon character created by Czech animator Zdenek Miler. Krteček is a funny, happy mole in trousers whose adventures fill Czech story books and who can be found on everything from pyjamas and T-shirts to children’s watches and school bags. He was born in 1956 when Miler wanted to create a children's cartoon about how flax is processed. He wanted an animal for the lead role and is said to have picked a mole after stumbling over a molehill during a walk out in the country. The first film called "Jak krteček ke kalhotkám přišel" ("How the mole got his pants") was released in 1956 and Krteček has never looked back, winning the hearts not only of Czech children but many kids abroad. Despite being born behind the Iron Curtain Krteček was allowed to travel – winning thousands of small fans in Germany, Austria, India, China and Japan. The first episode of the cartoon was narrated, but Miler wanted the cartoon to be understood in every country of the world, so he decided to use his daughters as voice actors reducing the speech to short exclamations and sounds which served to express the mole's feelings and make the cartoon easily comprehensible to children around the world. It did the trick and Miler created the most popular Czech animated figure ever. His best known quote is “It took me a long time to realize it, but when I first drew Krteček, I was drawing myself”. One thing I know for sure, Krteček fans will never end up as anorectics.

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The global economic crisis is having a far-reaching impact. Real estate prices are crashing not just around the world but around our galaxy. The Lunar Embassy has announced steep cuts in real estate prices on the Moon, Venus and Mars. Filip Rajchart who is the Czech Republic’s Lunar Embassy representative says that while in the past few years he sold property on the moon to thirteen thousand Czechs, sales have now virtually ground to a halt. Well, not surprisingly, anyone who’s buying property on the moon in the middle of a global crisis must be insane.