tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59526122011-04-22T04:46:39.775+02:00NEWS, VIEWS & BLUES FROM KIDRADICALKRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comBlogger851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1140729926879445852006-02-23T22:24:00.000+01:002006-02-23T22:25:27.573+01:00

Just taking back control of this blog. Hopefully, more comments forthcoming.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073845519272914182004-01-10T19:22:00.000+01:002004-01-12T03:16:16.906+01:00

WEATHER REPORT More evidence of global warming.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073712218005376552004-01-09T18:06:00.000+01:002004-01-10T18:50:19.293+01:00

THE SPACE RACE IS NOT OVER Living in Prague with only FoxNews (yikes) and the occasional phone call home to give me context on what's going on Stateside, I had no idea that the rest of America is as inspired as I am by the Spirit rover landing on Mars. (If you'd also like to read my thoughts on this, you can scroll down here to Dec. 26.) And, all politics aside, I am also inspired by what

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073529325939364592004-01-08T03:35:00.000+01:002004-01-08T03:39:47.626+01:00

...SO LONG AS THEY SPELL YOUR NAME RIGHT And with Democratic presidential junior-varsity contender Dennis Kucinich, that's not always a guarantee. But the Ohio congressman has been riding in the caboose of the campaign train for so long -- he's sittin' behind Al Sharpton, fer chrissakes -- that headline writers haven't exactly had to memorize its spelling, even though he was railing against the

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073453757726339962004-01-07T06:35:00.000+01:002004-01-07T06:47:51.040+01:00

The movie American Splendor took Best Picture honors from the U.S. National Society of Film Critics this week, so in recognition of that I thought I'd post a review that I wrote for a major online entertainment site last year, after it screened at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. So far as I can tell, it's not yet been scheduled to open in Prague, so hunt down the video at your local store when

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073367188602460732004-01-06T06:33:00.000+01:002004-01-06T06:39:57.950+01:00

DONALD DUCK, RELOADED I've gotten a number of requests to repost the link to the Best Disney Ride Ever. Just don't ask me why Donald's smiling like that. I don't wanna know.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073365763048447652004-01-06T06:09:00.000+01:002004-01-06T12:40:57.656+01:00

CHARLIE HUSTLER For those who are interested in baseball and don't mind reading a long post, here's a column I've written on Pete Rose: After nearly 15 years, Pete Rose -- who tagged more hits than anyone in the history of baseball -- has finally admitted what we all knew already: that in his gambling scandals of the late-1980s, he not only bet on baseball, but actually bet on his own team at

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073272286554751572004-01-05T04:11:00.000+01:002004-01-05T04:19:20.930+01:00

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES I hope everybody had a Happy New Year. Me, I've come down with another bad cold, probably to pay for my sins of Silvestr, which involved flaming Absinthe, a giant satellite dish in the middle of the Czech countryside and a kung-fu fighting tree stump (you had to be there) . So it was tremendously uplifting for my spirits to see the Spirit probe from NASA land safely on

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073272191201191602004-01-05T04:09:00.000+01:002004-01-05T04:21:15.130+01:00

NOT QUITE THE NOBEL, BUT... Okay, so it's not the Nobel Prize, but Czech ex-President Vaclav Havel will receive the Ghandi Peace Prize at a ceremony in India today. This is particularly interesting, in the context of Havel's support of the Bush administration's position on Iraq in the lead-up to the war. On the other hand, I suppose, it demonstrates that peace can indeed be gained through

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1073272058152699042004-01-05T04:07:00.000+01:002004-01-05T05:54:28.090+01:00

JFK, HOWARD DEAN AND 'HATING BUSH' For those who want a bit of perspective on the evolving dynamic of U.S. presidential elections, this week marked the 44th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's announcement that he would be running for president of the United States. For modern-day comparison, speculation began by the end of last year that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean had already sewn up the

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072774676865993882003-12-30T09:57:00.000+01:002003-12-30T09:59:21.583+01:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR Hi, everyone! I'm leaving today for a friend's cottage in the Czech countryside to celebrate Silvestr, so I'll see you all in the new year. Have a happy and safe holiday all.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072665701840331152003-12-29T03:41:00.000+01:002003-12-29T04:06:37.960+01:00

OK, HIS BED MUST BE REALLY CROWDED NOW Lost in the hoopla over the Michael Jackson interview with 60 Minutes on CBS was the fact that the network peddled the broadcast of his postponed album-promoting music special in exchange for his agreement to appear on the news program. Think what you want about Jackson -- guilty, innocent, unknown, etc. -- but this egregious violation of the separation

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072583264724487652003-12-28T04:47:00.000+01:002003-12-28T04:48:01.130+01:00

RAPPER'S DELIGHT Thanks to my friend Justin, I think we may have found the next Star Wars Kid.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-107254228842707502003-12-27T17:24:00.000+01:002003-12-27T17:27:03.510+01:00

REACH OUT, TOUCH FAITH So, Howard Dean now says that he'll be talking about his personal relationship with Jesus while he campaigns in the South, after declaring just three weeks ago that the Democrats should not be campaigning on the issues of "guns, God and gays" when trying to attract Southern voters. This, from a man who says that he left the Episcopal Church over a disagreement about a

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072499910917221862003-12-26T23:37:00.000+01:002003-12-27T06:31:07.780+01:00

GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TOM As someone with a nearly religious devotion to the human exploration of space, I had been unbelievably excited about the planned landing of the European Beagle 2 module on Mars. But since earlier today, I have been profoundly dejected at the prospect that the lander has gone missing and the mission taken as a loss. With all of the turmoil here on Earth and the

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072504051861522922003-12-26T22:55:00.000+01:002003-12-27T08:08:02.783+01:00

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME Thirty-one years ago today, when I was six years old, my family moved into the house where I would grow up, at 394 Maitland Avenue, in Teaneck, New Jersey. I can still see myself getting out of the car and looking at the rose bushes, which were bare because it was the dead of winter. Strange, the things that you remember. I went back to see the house when I was

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072319897059565042003-12-25T03:38:00.000+01:002003-12-26T00:13:58.050+01:00

WHEW! Two-and-a-half weeks filling in as the editor of the Prague Post and then another week playing catch-up with my other work has left my blog feeling like the bastard step-child who has to take the corner seat at the holiday dinner table. You know, where you're stuck sitting on the ottoman that they dragged in from the livingroom, and your feet are fighting with the metal leg of the folding

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072319861722313412003-12-25T03:37:00.000+01:002003-12-27T16:41:55.513+01:00

THE PRAGUE POST'S NEW EDITOR: WELCOME BACK, NESSMITH So, speaking of the Prague Post, the new permanent Managing Editor of the Post will be Mark Nessmith, whom longtime Post readers will recognize as an ex-editor from several years back, now returning to take the editorial reins. Nessmith's been working in the Prague business world for the past several years, but is a former protégé of Alan

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1072319506931355582003-12-25T03:31:00.000+01:002003-12-26T16:34:16.893+01:00

NO WONDER SUICIDES GO UP DURING CHRISTMASTIME... Call me a Scrooge, call me a Grinch, call me an Atheist ex-Jew, but I feel such solidarity with the employees of this Czech store that I'm just about ready to join a picket line with them. And since the Czech Republic is predominantly atheist itself, why does a store here feel the need to play Christmas Muzak carols with such coma-inducing

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1070780847582927712003-12-07T08:07:00.000+01:002003-12-12T11:30:37.830+01:00

CERNY BRINGS HOME THE KEVIN BACON G.A. Cerny has done a "six degrees of separation" game between he and myself, by way of the Prague Post's soon-to-be-departing Acting Managing Editor Andy Markowitz. What George didn't realize at the time is that Andy and I also both play on the Prague Post's ass-kicking softball team, which means that in the Kevin Bacon game, you can actually go through us

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1070749870776324832003-12-05T23:20:00.000+01:002003-12-06T23:35:12.296+01:00

SUDDENLY SUSAN I used to hold a low opinion of Susan Estrich, having first become acquainted with her when she was the strident, screeching campaign manager for Michael Dukakis's failed 1988 presidential campaign. But I have to say that in recent years she's really won me over as a liberal commentator who comes to her conclusions based on sensibility and not self-righteous indignation. And she

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1070465535178736902003-12-02T15:49:00.000+01:002003-12-06T23:36:09.170+01:00

FYI... You won't see much blogging from me this week, as I'm filling in for the editor of The Prague Post while he's on vacation and they continue their search for a permanent replacement. Your regularly scheduled blog should return to normal sometime next week. In the meantime, I'm kind of proud of the way this week's issue looks, so check it out.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1070290563147182352003-11-28T15:35:00.000+01:002003-12-05T03:55:02.730+01:00

AS IF I NEEDED ANOTHER REASON TO GO TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA... Last time I posted about a new killer coaster, I got in trouble with my friend Justin for talking about my boner. So this time, I promise: I won't mention my boner once. But if I were going to mention my boner, it would definitely be in connection with this new ass-kicking scream machine. My wife has already been on it during her

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069906028450241882003-11-27T00:07:00.000+01:002003-11-27T05:09:44.693+01:00

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? Thanksgiving today, so no blogging till tomorrow. Meanwhile, Lions and the Cowboys are on the tube. Have a happy turkey day, and see you all Friday.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069902119186377982003-11-26T23:53:00.000+01:002003-12-01T15:34:58.306+01:00

JOSEF MILLIONAIRE In case you haven't had a chance to see the best that American TV has to offer, there's a reality show called "Joe Millionaire," in which a a poor dumb hunk passes himself off as a rich dumb hunk while trying to find a poor dumb broad who will love him for his, uh, personality, rather than his money. If you haven't been watching -- and really, what possible reason could

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069904789577649882003-11-26T23:46:00.000+01:002003-11-27T05:22:41.916+01:00

JACKO, MEET PAVEL So, Pavel Opocensky will finally spend some time behind bars for child molestation. If you're not familiar with the Czech art scene, Opocensky is one of the Czech Republic's most celebrated artists, having lived in exile in America for 10 years before returning after the Velvet Revolution. A Charter 77 signatory and good friend of former Czech president Vaclav Havel, Opocensky

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069737801295549982003-11-25T06:23:00.000+01:002003-12-26T00:15:56.720+01:00

ATTA'BOY, YET AGAIN From The Weekly Standard: "Saddam's al Qaeda Connection: The evidence mounts, but the administration says surprisingly little," by Stephen F. Hayes. * No fewer than five high-ranking Czech officials have publicly confirmed that Mohammed Atta, the lead September 11 hijacker, met with Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, an Iraqi intelligence officer working at the Iraqi embassy, in

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069735153813486672003-11-25T05:39:00.000+01:002003-11-25T06:01:36.616+01:00

HUEY, DEWEY, LOUIE AND HOT PATOOTIE By way of the brilliant Bloopy over at That Not So Fresh Feeling... This has got to be the BEST DISNEY RIDE EVER. No wonder Donald always talked so funny.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069554151643366422003-11-24T03:22:00.000+01:002003-11-24T11:52:53.780+01:00

RUBBER NATION The most amazing thing about this story is not that some fumbling Czech bureaucrat accidentally outlawed off-the-rack condoms again; after all, we know that these people don't get laid. But I'm just blown away by some of the mind-altering info-nuggets in the article: The ODS has a minister of parliament who is an official "sexologist." Condoms are one of Tesco's "best selling

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069638077742910142003-11-24T02:41:00.000+01:002003-11-25T00:04:07.483+01:00

THE WASTED SEED OF THE BULLDOG BREED An e-mailer suggests that my post the other day placed too much concern on the recent antiwar protest, given the drastic difference in scope between the U.K.'s February antiwar effort and the one that took to London's streets during Bush's official state visit last week. And you know what? This reader is right. Protest organizers placed their attendance

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069640599879474672003-11-24T02:23:00.000+01:002003-11-24T03:37:41.486+01:00

THINKY RELOADED Speaking of emails, I got this one a few days back, about my KRad posting from Oct. 27 in which the new, new Think magazine got caught cribbing its articles from old CNN copy: We didn't fuck anything up.... and it's back on-line now at www.think.cz Thinky says fuck you very much.Ahhh... now THAT's the Classic-Coke, KFC-original-recipe, David-Lee-Roth-in-Van-Halen Thinky that I

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069550874872517102003-11-23T02:27:00.000+01:002003-11-23T02:30:02.160+01:00

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS A new kind of marijuana that actually protects you from brain damage has been invented by the best scientist ever.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069465351429052962003-11-22T02:42:00.000+01:002003-11-25T00:05:41.623+01:00

WORD UP, NAZZ A quick punch, but with a whallop, from Nazory: "This is a good one. While researching the Allied occupation of Germany, I discovered a shocking truth — WWII was illegitimate! You see, Germany had no atomic weapons program even though the US government insisted that it did.Oh, mighty Internet."

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069462159000996602003-11-22T01:49:00.000+01:002003-11-25T00:07:10.280+01:00

PSYCHO CIRCUS David Carr of Samizdata -- a truly ass-kicking site, I should add it to this blog's side links -- has some hilarious first-hand observations of the anti-Christ... I mean, uh, anti-Bush protest in London this week. The pix themselves are worth a thousand words, reinforcing the underlying notion that the current peace movement is by nature a collection of other movements looking to

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069387626630685062003-11-21T05:07:00.000+01:002003-11-21T07:52:17.626+01:00

MICHAEL JACKSON: SMOOTH CRIMINAL? You know, I used to be a HUGE Michael Jackson fan back in the 1980s. And I don't have any clear idea if Jackson is actually guilty of the crimes with which he's been charged (though I have to say that it doesn't look good; or, as Howard Stern once observed: If he really just surrounds himself with children because he's a nurturing, healthy adult... then where

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069389828092528572003-11-20T05:43:00.000+01:002003-11-22T01:50:20.516+01:00

MIDTERMS, MEDIA AND MACMILLAN "See you on Tuesday." Yeah, right. Of course, there was no chance of THAT, with a midterm scheduled for my media class Wednesday afternoon. I have to say that teaching journalism to international students at the college level has been an awakening experience. There's a drastic range of experience among them; for instance, they stand about an equal chance of having

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1069396329582870542003-11-20T05:42:00.000+01:002003-11-24T03:06:30.323+01:00

A NEW CUPPA CAJ Speaking of Prague-blogs, there's an ass-kicking blogger out of the CZ over at TK's Teahouse, written by a very talented Thomas Kohl. Check it out, and be wowed.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1068915532988657952003-11-15T17:58:00.000+01:002003-11-21T06:11:32.156+01:00

**HACK ThpFFTtt* Apologies for my absence from here for the past two weeks, but I spent ten days fighting off that Prague Flu that's been going around (Is my phlegm supposed to be blue? No, wait, don't answer that) and then the better part of another week playing catch-up with all my work that came overdue while I was out of it. In the middle of all that, I actually helped my wife put out a

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1068909518799126212003-11-15T16:18:00.000+01:002003-11-15T19:21:30.653+01:00

COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME, HOWARD DEAN Howard Dean has been the surprise breakaway frontrunner of the Democratic presidential field, largely because of his voice-in-the-wilderness rallying cry against George Bush's war in Iraq. But domestically, Dean -- who is a medical doctor by trade -- has found himself begging the forgiveness of his McGovernite constituency on a number of misfired

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1068916186545790392003-11-15T12:59:00.000+01:002003-11-21T09:04:38.976+01:00

SO THAT'S WHY THEY CALL THEM 'MONGOLOIDS' Please excuse my political incorrectness for a moment. There's a new potraviny right downstairs from our apartment, run by this young Chinese couple. But, for some reason, whenever I go in there, the man always speaks to me in Mandarin and German, even though I've never spoken anything but English to them. His wife, meanwhile, always speaks to me in

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067383241926771252003-10-29T00:20:00.000+01:002003-10-29T00:44:00.736+01:00

HEALING IRAQ A few days ago I mentioned the new blog out of Baghdad, Healing Iraq. If you haven't checked it out yet, then you don't know what you're missing... and you should, so I've reproduced a few recent entries below. Threatening children I heard some very distressful news today. Someone has been writing graffiti all over Baghdad threatening to kill children who accept the new

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067383715440241672003-10-29T00:15:00.000+01:002003-10-29T00:29:54.136+01:00

SHAKEN OR STIRRED? Our friends over at The Sun have weighed in on our Paul Wolfowitz shaken/composed dilemma. Quoth the article: "Blood-spattered survivors were carried out on stretchers as Wolfowitz was led away. He seemed shaken but composed after descending a stairwell through thick smoke. He vowed that America would not be cowed into abandoning Iraq."So, there we have it: Wolfowitz was

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067306823844367902003-10-28T03:07:00.000+01:002003-10-28T03:26:45.763+01:00

YANKEE BASEBALL Okay, one more Yankee note before we retire for the postseason: the numbers are in, and it can now be confirmed that hardly anybody wanted to see the Yankees lose the World Series. (Meanwhile, why is it that people hate the Yanks so much? The Marlins win the Series every six years... :)

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067291097808942682003-10-28T00:02:00.000+01:002003-10-28T04:45:34.640+01:00

REBELS WITHOUT A PAUSE An exceptional article on this weekend's anti-war protests, from Salon.com. It leads: Dazed and confused about Iraq By Michelle Goldberg Oct. 27, 2003 -- Allan Johnson, a high school English teacher and debate coach from Fairfax, Va., held a sign saying "U.S. Troops Out of Iraq. Bring Them Home Now!" at Saturday's "End the Occupation" rally in Washington. In fact,

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067290708196423352003-10-28T00:01:00.000+01:002003-10-27T22:39:24.720+01:00

A BURNING QUESTION I was shocked to read this article on the continuing wave of self-immolation among young Czechs that has persisted throughout the year. The Prague Post asked me to write about this phenomenon back in April; I had no idea that the rash of incidents had continued to occur. What's even more disgraceful, however, are the people who attempt to co-opt these sad tragedies for their

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067300354765932152003-10-28T00:00:00.000+01:002003-10-28T01:22:23.186+01:00

SHOUT OUTS Big ups to Prague.tv and the fantastically no-longer-photo-challenged Truth Theorum blog for sending cool links this way. PTV is an old standby, but Matej Novak's TT page is from an ex-Praguer who has now regrettably divided his loyalties between smazeny syr and the maple leaf. Come back soon Matt -- the Post's music section isn't the same without you.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067142260057370352003-10-27T00:25:00.001+01:002003-11-21T06:22:49.193+01:00

DEJA VU FROM 'THINK AGAIN' THINK AGAIN is back again, trying to recapture the early glory of the old expat magazine, THINK. Let's see how well it's doing: From CNN.com, March 1999, in a story about computer hacker Kevin Mitnick: "Mitnick first received national attention in 1982 when he hacked into the North American Defense Command (NORAD), a feat that inspired the 1983 film 'War Games'."

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067144142677967032003-10-27T00:25:00.000+01:002003-10-27T12:25:12.423+01:00

AND SPEAKING OF SHITTY PRAGUE MAGAZINES... Is anybody even asleep at the wheel over at Prague In Your Pocket, or is it just floating adrift, like some abandoned, unsunken ship, still collecting fares from the unsuspecting? Most of the information hasn't been updated in years. Much of what is in there is a laughable mess (such as their kino listings), and when it does get updated, it's with

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067171174665255812003-10-27T00:21:00.000+01:002003-10-27T03:57:38.080+01:00

SEEING THE WAR THROUGH A BIFOCAL LENS An interesting pair of stories on the rocket attack at the hotel where Paul Wolfowitz was staying in Iraq. From The Washington Post: "Wolfowitz, a major force behind the United States invading Iraq, was led away by security forces. He appeared composed after descending a stairwell past thickening smoke and blood stains with a fire alarm blaring, witnesses

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067175129065693732003-10-27T00:20:00.000+01:002003-10-27T12:19:50.583+01:00

THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WAR IS LANGUAGE And just one more thing: Can we please stop calling this attack an act of terrorism? The word "terrorism" means an attack on a civilian target, made primarily not for the purpose of harming that target, but for the purpose of instilling fear in others who were not the target. (And thus, the word, "terrorism".) Trying to kill a U.S. government leader, one

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1067119584668216992003-10-25T12:06:00.000+02:002003-10-26T14:45:32.330+01:00

Big party at our flat on Friday, so I'm taking the weekend off. See you all on Monday...

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066919273521552142003-10-23T19:35:00.000+02:002003-10-23T19:49:17.250+02:00

GEE, I WONDER HOW THE TEACHER FIGURED THIS ONE OUT Now here's a handwritten scrawl from the postmodern world: Yesterday, a half-dozen British schoolboys aged 12 and 13 were hospitalized during lunchtime after taking Viagra. Question: When you were 13 years old, did you really need to take Viagra? Or didn't you just need the wind to change direction? As for the boys, they were taken to the

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066920521122822212003-10-23T19:30:00.000+02:002003-10-25T12:44:24.340+02:00

SINS OF THE GRANDFATHER I'm not sure how I initially missed this, but here's a remarkably encouraging item from several weeks ago out of the Middle East: The grandson of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had been the architect of the Islamic revolution in Iran, announced during a visit to Iraq that he supported the U.S.-led ousting of Saddam Hussein, and praised the work that the Americans

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066868048837926862003-10-23T02:14:00.000+02:002003-10-23T19:51:17.106+02:00

TAM NENI SPOON Whoa: The first Matrix Revolutions reviews are coming in -- mostly from people who say that they loved the first movie, and hated the second one. Their verdict: The third movie ROCKS ASS!!! Give me the red pill and bake my noodle, baby...

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066860214006401822003-10-23T00:03:00.000+02:002003-10-23T02:25:57.866+02:00

BY NOW, A CLICHE So, we're watching the American DVD edition of a Czech movie, and before the main feature comes on there's a coming attraction for the film Divided We Fall. The trailer proudly announces that it was the "2001 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film from Czechoslovakia." Which makes me wonder whether geography is a foreign language to my fellow Americans as well.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066822921263916952003-10-22T13:42:00.000+02:002003-10-24T01:28:15.870+02:00

BYE BYE, MEIN LIEBER HERR Well, it seems that Liza Minelli's macho man David Gest is a battered husband. Who couldn't see that one coming?

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066777519359926092003-10-22T01:08:00.000+02:002003-10-22T19:25:51.500+02:00

THAT'S QUITE A GRIP YOU'VE GOT THERE, JUDEN Okay, it's easy to laugh off a story like this. But it does raise the question of how the West in general, and the United States in particular, should deal with a people who go into national panic over a rumor that someone can shake your hand and make your cock fall off. (Aha, you think I am kidding; but just click on the link and see.) I suppose

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066777675685483222003-10-22T01:07:00.000+02:002003-10-24T01:06:01.216+02:00

BLOG ALERT Hey, there's a great new blog being written out of Iraq, with some fascinating stuff in it. In particular, check out "An anatomy of attacks against Americans," from Sunday, Oct. 19.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066777617193702032003-10-22T01:06:00.000+02:002003-10-22T13:38:20.770+02:00

KOBE, INTERRUPTED I know many of you couldn't give a wicket about American basketball, but just in case you do: Kobe Bryant of the champion Los Angeles Lakers, who went into the NBA straight out of high school and is regarded by many as the next Michael Jordan, has been remanded for trial on charges of rape in a small Denver suburb. Sounds like the next Mike Tyson/O.J. case? Not so fast. I

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066777556379801382003-10-22T01:05:00.000+02:002003-10-22T03:11:07.533+02:00

PLANET PRAGUE While we're on the subject of sports, let me give a cap-tip to my new favorite sports bar, Planet Sports in Vinohrady. It's only one block past Namesti Miru, it's open 'till 5 a.m. every night (including the kitchen, with a full sports-bar menu), and it's got several different rooms, so you're not all crammed into the same big smokey room like at Legends or the back room at Golden

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066747490269550892003-10-21T16:44:00.000+02:002003-10-21T20:25:16.470+02:00

HOW MANY DINARS FOR A CHOCOLATE SHEIK? So, Baghdad already has its first Burger King. Now Democrats can accurately say that Iraq is the "home of the whopper." And who said irony was dead? :>

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066746560159289232003-10-21T16:29:00.000+02:002003-10-21T17:33:27.543+02:00

DOMO ARIGATO If you're one of the people (like me) frustrated by the long sequences of Japanese dialogue -- with no English undertitles -- in the version of Quentin Tarantino's ass-kicking KILL BILL that's screening here in Prague, then here's an interim solution unearthed by my gaijin friend Kara: An online early draft of the script, complete with English versions of most of the scenes that

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066745671258974552003-10-21T16:14:00.000+02:002003-10-21T22:51:04.453+02:00

*WHAM* *WHAM* -brzZZrRRhcchhh- *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* This is what my alarm clock sounds like now. It goes off at exactly 7:00 a.m. -- whether or not I have been up till 6:00 a.m. watching the Yanks in the World Series the night before -- and continues until at least 1:00 in the afternoon. (At which point the alarm clock takes a break, heads down to the local herna for a

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066745024573517892003-10-21T16:03:00.000+02:002003-10-21T20:24:43.830+02:00

SHOUT OUTS Special thanks go to G.A. Cerny and The Daily Czech for throwing props and new links this way in the past week. Blog on, brothers.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066726832916182382003-10-21T11:00:00.000+02:002003-10-21T20:57:22.103+02:00

HATING BUSH, PART I There's a fascinating story in the latest issue of the New Republic -- on the cover, no less -- which unfortunately I can't link to here (well, I could -- but you'd just be redirected to their subscriber login page). In it, however, liberal author Jonathan Chait acknowledges and discusses at length the unrelenting, all-consuming, red-eyed hatred that seizes most Democrats

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066652894042330792003-10-20T17:20:00.000+02:002003-10-20T17:25:50.063+02:00

LA PLUS CA CHANGE The Czech Communist party is now more popular than the ruling Social Democrats. Only three horsemen to go.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066663105965401542003-10-20T17:18:00.000+02:002003-10-20T17:53:27.450+02:00

LA PLUS CA CHANGE II The magazine article I'm linking to below is from Jessica's Well, by way of Andrew Sullivan. It's an important article to help Americans understand exactly what it means when people talk about the postwar rebuilding effort and the significance of European opinion about the United States. The writer notes that while America has succeeded in defeating (but not capturing)

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066621154755794572003-10-20T05:39:00.000+02:002003-10-20T05:39:14.450+02:00

CRY FREEDOM, DAVID BLAINE Okay, I'll ask: What was the point?

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-106660746365203082003-10-20T01:51:00.000+02:002003-10-20T05:21:56.010+02:00

VINCENT VEGA, 1976 I went to my first Name Day party for a Czech friend of mine on Friday... his apartment in Pankrac, in which he has lived in his whole life, actually has a record player from the 1970s (one speed, on and off) and a small selection of Western LPs that his uncle had smuggled into Prague from the States 25 years ago. You just haven't lived a full life until you hear a

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066579305317682602003-10-19T21:58:00.000+02:002003-10-19T22:39:54.900+02:00

AS IF I NEEDED ANOTHER REASON TO GO TO VEGAS As a hardcore rollercoaster fanatic, I'm gettin' a boner just thinking about this one. Question: Are there any Czech rollercoaster theme parks? (And would you actually dare go on one of them?)

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066592732851735172003-10-19T21:45:00.000+02:002003-10-20T11:50:24.313+02:00

IT DEPENDS UPON YOUR DEFINITION OF THE WORD "OSAMA BIN LADEN" Former U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton has just miraculously remembered that -- in addition to turning down an offer to apprehend Osama bin Laden in 1996 [mp3 link] -- he had also desperately warned incoming Pres. George W. Bush that bin Laden represented the country's greatest threat -- but that, doggone it, the Texas Republican just

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066571720256742072003-10-19T15:55:00.000+02:002003-10-20T05:42:28.683+02:00

PLUS, SHE'S FROM TEXAS At this point, can we all agree that the Congressional Black Caucus has given up all pretense of being non-partisan...?

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066563917009858282003-10-19T13:45:00.000+02:002003-10-19T18:05:36.373+02:00

NOW IF ONLY THEY WOULD DO THE SAME WITH CANNABIS CLUBS Pay close attention to this story about a new "CD rental" club here in Prague. It's an unusual innovation that exploits a loophole in international copyright law, which says that if you own a CD, videocassette, etc., you can make a single personal copy for yourself (such as a "backup" computer program) without violating copyright law. But

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066508058552900752003-10-18T22:14:00.000+02:002003-10-18T23:21:06.543+02:00

QUOTABLE KENNEDYS "WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 -- Sen. Edward Kennedy says he plans to vote against the Bush administration's $87 billion package for military action and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan." -- Associated Press "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066482286669702602003-10-18T15:04:00.000+02:002003-10-19T15:25:56.466+02:00

THOSE DAMN YANKEES Yes, I know that the Yankees have all the underdog charm of the Dallas "We're America's Team" Cowboys and Manchester-Fucking-United, but the unrelenting hostility of some of the anti-fans is very nearly breathtaking. For example, at Golden Star for Game 6 of the ALCS on Wednesday night, there was one of many junior-year-abroad pube-chins cursing every Yankee ball and Sox

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066478023160887532003-10-18T13:53:00.000+02:002003-10-20T13:01:03.166+02:00

AND ANDORRA BETTER NOT MESS WITH THEM, EITHER As coincidence would have it, I was just in Liechtenstein a few weeks ago (all four kilometers of it), and let me tell you, the Czechs could kick their ass if they wanted to, even with an entire army of Svejks and those 16-year-old kids in camos that you see riding on the Prague metro. Not that it would ever come to that; I'm sure they'll find a

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066477122616687472003-10-17T13:38:00.000+02:002003-10-20T13:04:31.163+02:00

BUSH BACK? Wow, it's suddenly been a gangbuster week for U.S. Pres. George W. Bush. He received unanimous U.N. Security Council support for his resolution on Iraq, scored almost everything he was asking for in his Iraqi aid package, continued to receive encouraging news on the economy, began to receive significant international support of both money and troops for the rebuilding effort in

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066474769898929982003-10-17T12:59:00.000+02:002003-10-19T18:13:34.010+02:00

NPR OWNS UP Well, here's a pleasant surprise: NPR's ombudsman has acknowledged that Terry Gross, host of the network's Fresh Air program, crossed a number of serious ethical lines in her ambush interview of controversial FoxNews host Bill O'Reilly. When Gross interviewed O'Reilly nemesis Al Franken two weeks earlier about his anti-Fox book, it had been a chit-chatty session of softball and

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066433839432340812003-10-16T22:37:00.000+02:002003-10-18T16:04:48.846+02:00

TICKET COLLECTORS: CAN'T LIVE WITH 'EM, CAN'T KILL 'EM This Prague Metro scam (click and scroll down) is just about testing my patience for low-level Czech corruption, particularly among the blood-virus personalities that make up the metro ticket collectors. The Prague Post should do a full article on this practice, not simply run a letter-to-the-editor.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066430965598165872003-10-16T21:49:00.000+02:002003-10-18T16:04:26.843+02:00

JEWS: CAN'T LIVE WITH 'EM, CAN'T KILL 'EM The Malaysian prime minister has urged that the Muslim world unite and rise up against the world's Jews for, ahem, a "Final Victory." The Indonesian president gave him a standing ovation after his remarks, as did many other sheiks, kings, emirs and presidents who were present. Meanwhile, French President Jacques Chirac did all he could to make sure

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066426705994073722003-10-16T19:38:00.000+02:002003-10-18T16:03:20.533+02:00

AGAIN, WITH THE JEWS Okay, I'm just wondering about what shape of insanity has seized Gregg Easterbrook, the New Republic editor who said that Hollywood movie honchos Michael Eisner and Harvey Weinstein were simply "Jewish executive" who "worship money above all else." In his apology for the column, Easterbrook said he was guilty of "mangling words" and "poor wording." Which itself raises a

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066430108903283972003-10-16T08:35:00.000+02:002003-10-18T16:03:48.393+02:00

RACE NORMING, RUN AMOK So, it turns out that the University of California at Berkeley, a longtime citadel of liberal progressive thought, has been admitting hundreds of students with SAT scores as low as 600, while turning away more than 3,200 students with scores higher than 1400, and hundreds of students with scores higher than 1500. For some perspective on what this means: a perfect SAT

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066367540253176232003-10-16T07:12:00.000+02:002003-10-22T00:43:01.350+02:00

YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A BAMBINO So, the ghost of Babe Ruth still haunts the Bosox postseason like a Stephen King serial villain: The New York Yankees are going back to the World Series, the Boston Red Sox are going home, and the Curse of the Bambino is going to be around for at least another glorious, exasperating year. (If this previous sentence reads to you like the instruction manual for

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066347907871720382003-10-15T01:45:00.000+02:002003-10-18T16:02:08.113+02:00

GET A CHELLSPECKER Okay, let's get started. This one's a bit behind the curve, but amusing enough to comment on before it completely passes. Barbra Streisand, who previously misidentified the distinguished congressman from St. Louis as "Richard Gebhart" (and then blamed it on an assistant) has done it again: This time, in a screed against Arnold Schwarzenegger -- arguing that celebrities were

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952612.post-1066344605713473472003-10-14T00:50:00.000+02:002003-10-18T16:07:13.826+02:00

VITAM VAS Welcome to the Kidradical Pragueblog. So, what should we expect to find here? Politics. Entertainment. News. Views. Reviews. A detailed history of the Papacy since its inception. Well, okay, maybe not the Papacy. It's all still pretty up in the air. But we'll sort it out. Till then, read on, and enjoy.

KRadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259388714141892580noreply@blogger.com