Life Is a Bitch

Martin Zach won Mr. Czechia 2009 on Friday. Less than 24 hours later, he had an accident during some stupid ski-jumping competition, injured his cervical vertebrae that left him quadriplegic.

The Inhabited Island

Growing up in a socialist Eastern Bloc country, we didn't have Star Wars but Strugatsky brothers. I still consider their humanist books as the best works of science-fiction genre. I recently found that the Russians adapted one of their most interesting books, the Inhabited Island, into two movies. While the ending is kind of cheesy and doesn't match well the original ambiance of the book, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the adaptation. While I was not imagining Maxim Kammerer as a blond surfer boy,

the Gaal siblings, Gai and Rada, were chosen perfectly:

Пётр Фёдоров, who played Gai, my favourite character in the book, was so incredibly charming!

PR S0602

The sixth season of Project Runway has started! It has moved from the mostly-gay-oriented Bravo network to the more Mom-at-home Lifetime channel and it shows. In the first (almost forgettable) episode, a conceptual designer was eliminated, something that would not happen while on Bravo. They were keeping these freaks around because they were so damn entertaining. Not on Lifetime. You are different = Auf wiedersehen! It has happened this week to the only Asian designer in the bunch. He came with this Eastern-philosophy-like bullshit about the chicken and eggs and dressed a pregnant woman like she was bearing an egg wrapped in Jesus-like rough linen. Oh, what a delusional idea, which, however, might have worked before but not now!
This season, the group of designers is extremely strong. Much stronger than I have seen in the last five (!) season and almost as strong as in the first Canadian PR. The winning look is here:

It's impeccable! Very well done Shirin!

True Blood Lovers

Something for you. Still waiting for the Eric's doll (to do some bad things). Maybe they will make a Godric's one, too. That would be heaven!

Typefaces

Smilla/Lisbeth

I just finished the second book from the Millenium series. While the first book seemed slightly out of focus (yet still worth reading), the second is a true gem, both stylistically and plot-wise. Lisbeth Salander, the major character in the Millenium books, reminded me a lot of Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen from Peter Høeg's "Smilla's Sense of Snow". Both heroines are outcasts, extremely intelligent (Smilla is a world-known glaciologist while Lisbeth is a computer guru), Scandinavians, both come from dysfunctional families... and equally hate men who hate women.


Can't wait for the third (but unfortunately also the last) book to be out (October 2009).

M(in)isterios 8:57

Walking to the train station today, I witnessed a breathtaking scene in front of the entrance door. One man, in his thirties and very tall, was wearing a light gray suit, a white shirt and a tie. He was crying. His companion was in his twenties, wearing camouflage shorts and a T-shirt. He put a hand on the arm of the crying one and then entered the Metro station, carrying a big suitcase. They didn't exchange a word.

The Penguin Gifts