Magazine
Can a hard rock festival kill a shark? Waiting for the 25 bus under a decapitated head! A new artsy bus stop in Liberec evokes mixed reactions. And, a survey just out suggests that Czechs are the biggest bookworms in Europe! Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.
Hard rock festivals may be your thing but don't force them on your pets, unless you are absolutely sure they're fans. The owner of an aquarium in Ostrava claims a hard rock concert in held in close proximity to the aquarium killed his precious three year old shark. "The main stage was close to the aquarium building and everything was vibrating to the rhythm of the drums," the owner said. "We could barely stand it ourselves and the animals were clearly not happy. By the third day the shark wasn't moving, which was unusual and 48 hours after the concert he was dead." The organizers of the festival claim that the accusation is ridiculous and that several dogs had visited the festival with their owners without showing any sign of agitation. The owner is convinced that the concert killed his prize fish and is awaiting the results of an autopsy before taking the matter to court. Vets say that if no other cause of death can be ascertained, the shark really could have died of stress.
Waiting for the number 25 bus at a bus stop in Liberec is a bizarre experience. The bus stop looks out of this world and is actually a work of art by the controversial young artist David Cerny. Cerny is always provocative and having got a four million crown grant from the culture ministry to transform a bus stop that was in desolate condition he set to work turning the roof of the bus stop into a table on which he set an overturned candlestick, a carnivorous plant in a vase, a pint of beer, a sausage and - wait for it - a decapitated head with a knife stuck in it. The artsy bus stop has met with mixed reactions from the public. Some think it's cool, others say it is vulgar and a waste of money. The artist himself says there should be more such art around for people to enjoy. As for the choice of items -he says - "I chose what I consider to be typical for the town of Liberec." I wonder what the townspeople make of that!
The local priest in the town of Chrudim has had a very upsetting experience. One of the local ladies -obviously not a good Christian- set a trap for him. She asked him to pose for a photograph with her and as her boyfriend took the photo pulled the priests head close to her prominently displayed ample bosom. A few more snapshots in more demure positions and she was off thanking the priest profusely - only to turn up on his doorstep a week later with a photograph where the priest appeared to be nestling his head in her cleavage. The poor man was so scared that no one would believe in his innocence that he paid her a weekly sum of money - 70 thousand crowns in all - not to publish the photo. When he was out of money he finally went to the police and the 29 year old woman is now in big trouble.
Many Czechs will tell you that they don't like noodles or pea hash because it reminds them of their school canteen food. Things haven't improved in recent years. Czech kids still hate school canteen food with a vengeance and many of them simply go hungry or buy junk food rather than consume what the canteen has to offer. "All we get are badly cooked traditional Czech dishes - lots of dumplings, lots of sauces and cabbage instead of salad." says a 14 year old, who is watching her weight and claims the canteen food gives her no energy and makes her fat. Many of the kids say they would like Chinese or Italian food once in a while, and claim that school canteens completely ignore the fact that some children are vegetarians. The daily Mlada Fronta Dnes decided to put this to the test and collected 11 weekly menus from different schools -passing them onto specialists from the Motol Hospital for inspection. Three failed miserably even in fulfilling the required norms regarding the right amounts of proteins and carbohydrates, much less in taste. The others were labelled adequate, but plain boring. Looks like canteen food will never change.
A survey conducted by the agency World Culture Score suggests that Czechs are the most avid readers on the European continent. On average they devote seven hours a week to reading books. The biggest bookworms on world scale are people in India who devote 11 hours a week to their books. As far as surfing the Internet goes Czechs are much lower down the scale, they spend just seven hours a week surfing as opposed to Spaniards who spend 11.5 hours on that hobby or Hungarians who spend 10.9 hours a week doing the same. As far as watching television is concerned: Czechs spend an average 16.5 hours a week in front of their sets. In Europe it is the English who spend the most time watching TV, 18 hours a week on average, Americans spend 19, but they are still well behind the inhabitants of Thailand who spend 22 hours glued to their sets.
The minister for regional development Radko Martinek has discovered that Prague can be a tough city. He was persuaded by a travel agency to play the role of a tourist in the Czech capital for several hours. The experiment left the minister hot and bothered and a lot wiser. He had problems getting a taxi at Prague airport and when he did he was ripped off, in the centre of town he was bothered by a couple of pickpockets who tried to make their daily bread while the minister painstakingly explained to some Spanish tourists how to buy a ticket for the metro. Then he couldn't find any public toilets. When he eventually found one and tried to get in he found it locked. A notice said you could only open it with a euro-key. The problem was minister Martinek had no idea what a euro-key was or how to get one in a hurry. He was very glad to get back to his normal life.
