Magazine Magazine 2011

Not all marriages are made in heaven it seems. A married couple from the town of Havlickuv Brod recently made headlines when the bride got plastered and started a fight with the groom at their wedding reception. After physically attacking the groom and several relatives who tried to defend him the bride unleashed her wrath on two police officers who had been called to the scene when the fight spilled out onto the street. The officers were having none of it and the bride was carted off in her wedding dress to spend her wedding night in a drunk tank. When she finally sobered up the next day she was handed a hefty bill for the damage caused in the respective restaurant and the fee for her accommodation at the drunk tank. The media which reported the incident speculated about what the lady’s divorce might look like if this was a taste of wedded bliss.

Of course, if you want to get drunk –drink is not your only option. There are now bars in the Czech Republic offering cocktails in the form of a snack for instance a plate of “alcoholic spaghetti”. Given the fact that most visitors are still suspicious when faced with a drink on a plate the special menu is something that you have to order in advance. For instance at the Prague bar La Casa de la Havana you can enjoy a four course menu based on different alcoholic beverages. Starting with Crème de Cassis with sparkling wine jelled into what appears to be a dish of caviar, followed by Greenpeas Mary soup –made of green peas, bacon and a dash of vodka, then you can enjoy Strawberry Daiquiri ala Italiana – made of rum, strawberries, lime juice, and sugar jelled and pressed into pink spaghetti. And for dessert Nachos ala Pina Colada –made of pineapple, coconut, rum and cream. Just an idea for New Year’s Eve.

Martin Stazsko He’s 35 – the world’s second best poker player and has just won the equivalent of 98 million crowns. Moreover ladies –he’s single and unattached. Martin Stazsko became an unlikely overnight hero when in his flannel shirt he played game after game and won second place at the World Poker Tournament in Las Vegas. Fears that the staggering financial prize might go to the young man’s head were unfounded – on returning to Prague’s Ruzyne Airport he boarded a bus back home. On being quizzed by the media about a girlfriend Stazsko said he had not had the time and opportunity to court anyone or had ever had a proper long-term relationship. “Maybe now the girls will find me,” the unassuming young man quipped. Well, I have a feeling they will – and they will doubtless be happy to teach him how to spend his money.

Vendula Kroupová She’s a young communist and she’s red-hot. The 24-year-old town councilor from Jindrichuv Hradec has put her town and party on the map by putting a series of nude pictures on her Facebook page. Vendula Kroupova is an unabashed young communist who clearly has nothing to hide from her voters and ready to prove it with a series of nude pics where she is seen fishing, smoking a cigar, and posing seductively on her bed. The scandal made headlines in the Czech Republic and Vendula’s pictures appeared in tabloids across Europe –in the Sun under the heading “Councilor gets her kit off to fish for votes”. Fishing for votes is exactly what Vendula is doing and not ashamed to admit it. As a guest on a popular talk show the blonde councilor admitted she had not been assigned any specific work but was “still getting her bearings” at the local town hall. Contrary to what you might expect, her party has not written her off. The chairman of the local Communist party branch Tomes Vytiska said that what the councilor did in her own private time and what she chose to put on her Facebook page was entirely her own affair. Besides, he added, I havn’t seen a single negative reaction to those pictures in Hradec. Well, a star is born –maybe the Czech Republic will have its own Ciciollina.

A kinetic sculpture in Prague’s Karlovo Namesti has won public acclaim and made it into the Czech Book of Records. The giant construction which makes huge bubbles as the wind blows is over 5 meters tall and weighs over 300 kilograms. The sculpture is powered by photovoltaic cells and the bubbles are created from a special ecological soap solution. The work of artist Vilem Fric, the sculpture has an out-of-this world quality and is meant to break the daily stereotype for people walking through the park and bring a few minutes of pleasure. Throughout the summer and autumn the sculpture has attracted more passers-by than any other in Prague with children, tourists, people on their way to work and even nuns from a nearby convent stopping to watch it work its magic.

An Ostrava brewer has produced the first ever “golden brew” –an exclusive brand of beer that literally contains particles of gold. Marek Pieton says he wanted to create a beer such as no one in the world had sampled and was inspired by the fact that Czechs call their beer “liquid gold” and that hops are referred to as the country’s green gold. “I decided it was time to produce a 24 carat brew, for an exclusive clientele,” Pieton said. Each of his beer bottles contains 0,017 to 0,018 grams of 24 carat gold that are so finely dispersed that they create a golden glitter. When you shake the beer bottle you see gold particles swirling and dancing in the brew to create the impression of liquid gold. So far the brewer has produced 60 bottles of the golden brew labeled Faust –with the letters AU –denoting gold. Some accuse him of snobbism, but Pieton is convinced that in spite of the economic crisis there will always be clients looking for new and exclusive products –and he believes there is no one else in the world offering real gold beer. Well – that may be true enough but he may have to look further afield for those clients. According to the latest surveys on New Year’s Resolutions among Czech the one that has been at the top of the list for years –to loose weight – has been replaced by a new goal – to reduce my household debts or save more in the coming year. So it looks like for most Czechs it will be good old hops and malt in 2012.