Searching for Utopia

the airbrushed parliament building

The Tourism Office of Budapest wrote on its website: “That Budapest - one of the most beautiful cities in the world – has developed where it is, is not down to some historical accident. Take a look at Gellért Hill, right next to the River Danube as it flows majestically through the centre of the modern city.”

Agree? Apparently many people do, as the city gets more than 24 million visitors each year. However, I would say that the word “modern” is a bit misplaced when we talk about Budapest. Why not use words like unique, authentic, or even exotic? In both sense—good and bad, that is—Budapest changed a little since—well, I don’t really know when. This is the city where you could still see buildings from hundreds of years ago. Remember Madonna’s movie “Evita”? If you thought it was filmed in Argentina, you can’t be more mistaken: It was here in Budapest. And only last year Steven Spielberg came to town to film “Munich”. If you asked me whether Budapest looked like Munich in the 70s, my answer is I don’t know. I was not even born yet. But if Mr. Spielberg chose Budapest to fool people to make them think that actually the movie was taking place in Munich, I may assume it answered better.

First stop; let’s head over to the Nyugati Pályaudvar (trans. The West Station of Budapest). It is the first railway station of the city. It does look very impressive, doesn’t it? Well, it must be! It was designed by Gustav Eiffel in 1870s, the man behind the framework for the Liberty Statue and the Eiffel Tower. The building stands tall today as it was. Never doubt that inside it looks as beautiful. Outside, however, is a different story. I think the building could make use of a little repainting at least to clean out the griminess. If you think the picture looks good, surely the station needs some airbrush in real life too.

Nyugati Pályaudvar–Now and Then

In fact, I think most buildings in the city would need some renovation as they still remain in their “original” condition. I have nothing against antiquity, especially not in Budapest architecture. It is definitely one of the most beautiful sights in town with the entire pattern, statues, and all. But not to be rude, I miss one thing: color, folks! Things might have colors a long time ago, as you could see the trace in the pictures; and I would like to see them return one day—but no more grey, please.

Next is the tram. The picture below shows tram number 2, which was bought in 1967 – 1978—and the good (or bad?) news is that it is still running. Wow…! It is not grey, but I still wouldn’t say it’s modern, that’s for sure.

And just what else remains the same in Budapest? Somebody told me it’s the mayor! Mr. Gábor Demszky has been in charge since 1990, which means he has been voted for 4 consecutive times. Not bad, really! He was even named as one of the finalists for “The 2005 World Mayor“. But this year has gone a little rougher for Mr. Demszky. People blame him for changing Budapest into the city of potholes:

Blikk claims to have found the “king of all potholes,” on Mexikói út. At 192cm long and 13cm deep, To further their research, Blikk sent a reporter to survey a stretch of Route 35 in Hajdú-Bihar county (as punishment for what is anybody’s guess). He reportedly counted 117 potholes in a one kilometer section or the highway near Pród.

A displeased man who addressed himself as Pilu has created a website to criticize Mr. Demszky called demszky.com; to match the mayor’s demszky.hu. He offered the ownership of the site to Mr. Demszky, if he promised not to run in the next election. As for me, now I’d just shut up and listen. Bullet-proof vest ready!

For more pictures of unairbrushed Budapest, click here and here:

India’s Kishan Shrikanth—known as Master Kishan to many—may be small, but he has a big heart. At the tender age of 10, he has already acted in 24 regional feature films and has starred in 1,000 episodes of a hit soap opera on television in India. Yet he is aware that many are not as fortunate as he is, and he seeks to change it. And just what can he do, we hear you ask. Read along and find out!

“When I was six years old, I saw the kids selling newspapers on the streets at the traffic lights and felt sad. I asked my dad why they had to do this. He told me that they were not like us. They did not go to school or study and they had to work for a living. I wanted to talk about their life,” Kishan told the BBC.

“Then I wrote a short story and read it to my dad who narrated it to his friends as well. It was my dad’s friends who suggested that I should direct the film myself, as I had written the story.”

The boy was not daydreaming. C/O Footpath (Care of Footpath)—the feature film—is telling about India’s street child who had the chance for school and managed to be success and became an inspiration to many other street children in the country. He directs it with his mother’s support as the film’s producer as well as music director.

Before stepping into his new task, he got himself prepared. “I read many books on Hollywood and saw DVDs. I had to learn camera angles and understand which lens will make things look narrow or wide. I used to ask questions to directors, cameramen, assistants, everybody,” he said.

His genuineness convinced Bollywood star Jackie Shroff to take part. “He is such a genius that I had to work in his film. He is constantly thinking about his next shot, constantly innovating to make it better. He is sure about what he wants from his actors,” Shroff told the Press Trust of India.

The shooting took place at the south of Chennai and Mumbai, the center of Bollywood—the world’s most productive film industry. The production budget for this135-minute length film is US$ 170,000.

“It is not tough to direct senior actors. I tell them, they listen and even suggest changes if necessary. We do rehearsals before a shoot and I sometimes act and show them, as I am an actor myself. The film is 85% complete and due to release next April,” Kishan said to Reuters at his home in Bangalore.

Of course things are sometimes rough for him. While other children were enjoying Harry Potter, he barely had time for school during the filming schedules and missed playing with friends. But the boy-wonder understands what he wants. “When I am absent my friends take notes and give them to me,” he said. “I’ll pass my exams. My first goal is directing. All other things are secondary. I want all slum kids educated, that’s all.”

Well, he may say so, but the Guinness Book of Records awaits him as the world’s youngest director.

Yati Pesek burst to laugh when she was shown her picture on “Playboy’s cover“. She said, “I’m on the cover? You must be kidding!”

Seriously, she’d make my favorite Playmate! Thanks to Apples for the tip.

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While most of us celebrated Valentine’s Day by purchasing gifts for our loved ones, seven Thai couples found it a bore. Luckily, Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” Haunted House attraction in Pattaya, Thailand had the solution. It sponsored the first Valentine’s necro-nuptials.

The newlyweds had a traditional Thai wedding ceremony with chanting Buddhist monks; except that they had to dress as ghouls with scary makeup. Afterwards they were to spend their first night together by sleeping in a coffin at Ripley’s Haunted House to symbolically consummate their union.

Among the couples were Centipede King Boonthawee Seangwong, 29, and Scorpion Queen Kanjana Kaetkeow, 36. They were both Guinness record holders. Kanjana received her title in 2002 after spending 32 days in a glass cube with 3,400 scorpions, and Boonthawee made it a year after for living 28 days with 1,000 centipedes. At the wedding, Kanjana adorned her gown with live scorpions. Boonthawee on the other hand had cheekily placed a centipede in his mouth.

Kanjana said, as quoted by Bangkok Post, “We met and fell in love at a snake farm in Samui Island where we were both performing. We’ve done plenty of strange things before so a strange wedding sounded fun, and besides Ripley’s is paying for it.”

Ah, to be in love. It may have come to their mind that it would be more economical to celebrate wedding anniverary and Valentine’s Day at once—and also Halloween. Nevertheless, despite the originality of the idea, one thing is for sure: kids, don’t try it at home!

UPDATE: Click here for picture.

What makes a good article? Is it the issue, the way it is written, or the feedback it receives? To me the answer is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I just noticed that one of my lamest piece has received 79 comments just because it mentions the couple. Huh?

* Charlotte Church: “George Bush hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing. He asked me what state Wales was in. I said, ‘It’s its own country next to England, Mr. Bush.’ I thought, ‘You t***.’”

* Myleene Klass: “A few days ago this woman came up to me and said, ‘Has anyone ever told you you look like Myleene Klass?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I get told that a lot,’ and she said, ‘Oh, but in fairness, she’s a lot fatter than you’. She was bitching me without even realising!”

* Paris Hilton: Every woman should have four pets in her life. A mink in her closet, a jaguar in her garage, a tiger in her bed, and a jackass who pays for everything.

* Cameron Diaz: “The British are so incestuous. They pass partners around as if they were passing popcorn at a movie.”

* Scarlett Johansson: “I don’t think human beings are monogamous by nature. It’s difficult - you have to put a lot of effort into a relationship.”

* David Beckham: “I definitely want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don’t know into what religion yet.”

* Eva Longoria: “After I spoke openly about vibrators I literally got boxes and boxes of free sex toys sent to me. So I was constantly giving them away. Even before that I’d give them to girlfriends for their birthdays and they’d be so excited.”

* Jennifer Aniston: I don’t get sent anything strange like underwear. I get sent cookies.

* George Clooney: “I’m only two years older than Brad Pitt, but I look a lot older, which used to greatly frustrate me. It doesn’t anymore. I don’t have to fit into that category and get trounced by Tom Cruise and Brad.”

* Pete Doherty: “I’ve got two (children). Poor little fucker. My sister sees him all the time, so there’s affection as a family for him. I don’t really want to go into that because it’s not fair on the kids or the mother. It’s enough for me to say I love them and would do anything for them.”

* Robbie Williams: “An awful lot of gay pop stars pretend to be straight. I’m going to start a movement of straight pop stars pretending to be gay.”

* Jake Gyllenhaal: “The sheep were interesting. They were the easiest thing. They just naturally herd, and they are naturally stupid.”

Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can’t have one without the other
…

Frank Sinatra–may he rest in peace–would have been sad if he were to see that his lyrics are no longer accurate today; as more and more couples can separate between love and marriage. Tinseltown’s couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are one of them. Pregnant Angelina told US tabloid The Globe, “We will never marry…Brad is going through a divorce and I’ve been divorced twice, so it’s not something we’re considering.”

Recently the actor has adopted Angelina children, making Maddox—Angelina’s adopted son—to get his name changed once again. His original name was Maddox Chivan Thornton Jolie, because Billy Bob Thornton—Angelina’s ex-husband—adopted him. When the couple divorced, his name was changed to Maddox Chivan Jolie and now it becomes Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt. It might not be a problem with wealthy parents like Angelina and Brad. But what about those who are born among us mere earthlings?

In Hungary, one third of all children are born from unmarried couples, or to couples who aren’t couples, Pestiside says. Among them, there is a story of Robi and Réka; a couple of seven years with two daughters. They are not married and therefore are not allowed to give their joint name to their children. Why not married? Réka thinks the big day will be a letdown; while Robi says, ”We have a thousand other things to do.”

The decision for not married however seems to give more impact to the children rather than the parents. In Pécs, a three-year-old-boy is named Jenő Child With First Name Jenő—because his parents are not married. Jenő CWFNJ received the name after his parents got divorced:

Initially they agreed that he would get one of those double-barreled last names, but the permit was withdrawn by the guardian office (gyámhivatal) a month later. Then the local public administration office (közigazgatási hivatal) gave Jenőke his father’s last name. This decision, however, was successfully appealed by the mother. Unfortunately, her second appeal to give Jenőke both parents’ name failed again - this time on the basis of a ruling by the Interior Ministry - because the two aren’t married. So Jenőke went back to being called JCWFNJ, and will stay that way until one or the other parent or government office prevails, or Jenőke is old enough to pick some other last name.

Meanwhile, pregnant Oscar nominee Rachel Weisz slammed the people who look down on her because she is having a baby out of wedlock. For those who forgot, she lives with Requiem for A Dream director Darren Aronofsky, but they are not married.

“People have said to me ‘Was the baby a mistake?’ And I thought to myself ‘Did the sixties happen?’, ‘Are we in the 1900’s or something? That did surprise me a little bit.”

Do you, however, happen to know that Rachel’s father is Hungarian?

Indonesia’s police consficated pornographic DVDs, VCDs, and tabloids in Jakarta. And just what are those two gentlemen in uniforms doing, I wonder. Reading some “news”, sir?

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Anton Novak, 11, from Czech Republic was indeed very lucky. After losing his nose for two hours, he finally got it back. The unfortunate event happened last year on November 17. While the lad was out with his father, a neighbor’s dog—a German shepherd—attacked and bit off his nose. His father beat the dog up and rushed him to St Ann Faculty Hospital in Brno. Police was called to take the dog to the vets where it was killed.

Earlier the hospital had successfully reattached a patient’s ear after being bitten by a dog. Dr Jiri Versely, the chief plastic surgeon said, “Sewing back a nose is not so exceptional in surgery. But we have looked in vain in the specialist literature for a case where a nose was sewed back that had stayed for two hours in a stomach.” He went on by claiming, “It is proof that we are the first to do this.”

The first thing they did was to call the vets to search for the boy’s nose. “We thought it was worth checking inside the dog in case it hadn’t chewed it,” Dr Versely explained. The dog’s belly was then opened and amazingly they found the nose still in one piece; although it was in a poor state that it might cause infection. They carefully sterilized it and used microsurgery to reattach it back to Anton’s face.

“We cut off the digested part, disinfected the rest and put it back,” Dr Versely further said.
It took 11 hour for the team to finish the operation. After ten days, Dr Vesely confirmed that no infection had happened, “It was a very complicated operation but all is well. The boy will be able to breathe normally and will look the same as he did before.”

The Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten” continues to receive complaints from Muslims around the world after its depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In Syria, the Denmark Embassy was torched by the furious Muslims –followed by an apology from the newspaper. Other countries in Europe however have published the same cartoons and make matter worse in the name of freedom of speech. Just what is freedom of speech, really?

Simon Jenkins of “Times Online” says:

A newspaper is not a monastery, its mind blind to the world and deaf to reaction. Every inch of published print reflects the views of its writers and the judgment of its editors. Every day newspapers decide on the balance of boldness, offence, taste, discretion and recklessness. They must decide who is to be allowed a voice and who not. They are curbed by libel laws, common decency and their own sense of what is acceptable to readers. Speech is free only on a mountain top; all else is editing.

Despite Britons’ robust attitude to religion, no newspaper would let a cartoonist depict Jesus Christ dropping cluster bombs, or lampoon the Holocaust. Pictures of bodies are not carried if they are likely to be seen by family members. Privacy and dignity are respected, even if such restraint is usually unknown to readers. Over every page hovers a censor, even if he is graced with the title of editor.

Does it mean that the editor has no respect to the freedom of speech?

Every one is entitled to his opinion. The more readers an article has, the more reaction it would get. If it offended one person, the sole reader would protest—and it may not have any impact upon the author. If there were more, however, what would happen? A hundred may demonstrate in front of the newspaper’s office; a thousand may boycott the article; a million may ask the government to ban the entire newspaper; and more may cause violence. Is it wrong? It is absolutely wrong! But it is not a simple task to control those people. It would be much easier to prevent it from happening: pay a respect to others’ belief, that is.

Subhan Ahsan of “Desicritics” wrote:

With the publication of such culturally insensitive cartoons by the Danish newspaper, there is even less peace now in the already fragile world. To many these cartoons may not have been a big deal, and yes I would have agreed with you on this had this Danish Newspaper recognize their stupidity and apologized for the same. But this Danish Agency and the Denmark government chose to ignore the plea of ambassadors of many nations, as if entertaining their few thousand citizens with silly cartoons is more important than the feelings of millions of people that these ambassadors represented.

On the comment, he gave an example for the showcase of the Nazi Swastika symbol. In Germany and many other countries in Europe it is forbidden to show the sign because it may hurt certain community. This unwritten policy is also very much followed by mainstream news agencies, he said. So why not this care for cultural/religious sensitivity be taken for other communities?

Yes Government shouldn’t enforce censorship. But if an event has generated lots of publicity and which could possibly create violence, isn’t its Government’s responsibility to take actions to resolve the matter?