Czech soap opera doctors are pigs. They don’t take showers…

A scene from a very famous, reportedly “the most favorite”, Czech soap opera.

A male character, who is an emergency room doctor, wakes up. He is wearing a white T-shirt and boxers. He exchanges a few words with his girlfriend who is in the room. He gets up at a normal speed. He does not have to run from an angry husband. He puts his pants and a jacket on and leaves the apartment.

No personal hygiene whatsoever.

And don’t get me started on the fact that a couple that obviously ended up having sex last night wakes up dressed (no man has EVER gotten dressed after sex) and with their hair neatly combed.

If the producers hire real doctors to provide guidance, they should hire common sense expert to provide ordinary-life guidance to this load of crap they call TV entertainment…

Late summer near Brno

The best place for a romantic walk in Brno. Three small lakes in a row, narrow asphalt roads on both sides, perfect for biking and walking. A baby-friendly place with a huge playgrounds and small goats that kids can feed.

Pointless vandalism: when idiots need to sign a wall on a train

(c) Petr Bokuvka

I generally hate people who commit crimes but lately I have been thinking I have more “understanding” for people who rob passengers in trams than for individuals who commit what may be qualified as misdemeanors — but totally pointless ones.

There is a difference between a graffiti “artist” and a person who steals a wallet: they might desperately need the money to buy food or illegal drugs, or to repay a loan to a loan shark. And so, often the crime is the last resort. It is illegal, but they “must” do it.

The son of a bitch who writes his tag on a train wall deserves his hand to be cut off. There is NO way to excuse or explain this behavior. It is pointless. It is a sport they do for FUN, so it is not like they can not live without it, and they do not do it to resolve some kind of life situation…

I know there is no way to fight this. These SOB’s always make sure noone is coming, they do their thing within seconds and they leave (which is the case of the writing on the left). But there ARE some Asian countries that have very strict forms of punishment for this and it does seem to work.

The worst thing is that these vandals damage private property (usually newly renovated facades of privately-owned buildings where all apartment owners had to chip in!!!). If there was a draft law according to which anyone who is caught damaging anything with graffiti tags would have their two fingers cut off, I would support it. But if the police brought the robber who stole my wallet to me to decide about the punishment, I would not insist on pressing charges if I were told that he was, let’s say, a homeless person who just needed the money.

Meet Gordon Blue. The worst faux pas of Czech restaurants

You would think that restaurant owners and chefs know their products, or meals they prepare. You would not expect them to use the term “round dough” for “pizza” or “a piece of bird” for “turkey bits”.

And yet it seems like 7 out of 10 Czech restaurants seem to have problems with one of the most frequent dishes offered – a folded slice of Wiener schnitzel filled with ham and cheese.

(c) BBC Good Food

It is called Cordon Bleu (“blue ribbon”).

Czech restaurants frequently have GORDON BLUE on their menus. This one, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one. In fact, if you google “gordon blue” [sic!] you will get around 3,200 search results (true, some of which refer to the fact that it is a huge mistake). Sometimes even specialised websites with recipes can teach you how to prepare “Gordon Blue”, and they would even announce it by “If you want to prepare your very own Gordon instead of looking for it, here is how to do it” (in Czech, steak is masculine, so we say “for him” which is even weirder if you talk about a “Gordon”).

Back from holidays

Took a few days off which resulted in no-paper, no-radio and no-TV relaxing policy. I am back now…

Cops disclosed the locations of their traffic radars. On purpose

I have always been a big fan of strict measures towards drivers who think they own the road or who think that the 50 kph speed limit is for everyone but them, because they “drive safely”. So I didn’t mind the police hiding in bushes and clocking cars this way, even on streets where it may seem “safe enough” to go 60 instead of just 50.

(c) Wikipedia

The Municipal Police of the City of Brno disclosed the locations where they placed their radars. The MP website features a map of the places and the stretches of the roads/streets are even marked by a special traffic sign.

The irony is that the streets where the Municipal Police radars are being used MUST be marked with the sign, otherwise the municipal cops would not be able to do so in the first place. So I don’t see the point. Reckless drivers will check the list of locations, they will be particularly careful there — and they will step on it once they have left the clocked location and they might cause an accident somewhere else.

The MP claims that there are many locations where the radar “might be” and so the reckless drivers who enjoy speeding in the city will pay extra attention where the police want them to pay extra attention.

A map showing (in blue) a stretch of a street where the municipal police frequently place their radars. (c) MP Brno

That might be true, but on the other hand the amount of fines from “surprised” drivers is always higher than the amount collected from “prepared” drivers.

Besides, “outsmarting cops” is a favorite Czech sport which includes special services provided by radio stations that have listeners call and report road accidents and traffic jams — and police patrols. In other words, drivers like to warn one another that police patrol cars are parked at particular locations and collecting fines from drivers who do not obey speed limits.

Czech version of MTV to be launched in November. Not a good idea

I went through puberty listening to MCM and MTV. I had my favorite VJ’s and I would tune in to MTV on purpose because I knew they would be hosting their show.

And now MTV is going Czech. According to the TN.cz news server (via the professional RadioTV.cz server) the MTV Czech broadcast should be launched on November 29.

I honestly don’t think that the Czech version is a good addition to the Czech TV industry. The station is a phenomenon and its contents should be left in English.

Besides, it is enough already that all sitcoms, TV shows, movies etc.  on Czech commercial TV stations are dubbed. Easy contents and “casual” topics are the best way to learn English. I understand that this is not the mission of MTV owners. All I am saying is that “translating MTV” is like translating CNN.