Cobblestones in Pilsen: text.city

Město se skládá z písmen. Písmena tvoří slova a věty. Věty vytváří odstavce, kapitoly. Kapitoly romány. Romány světy. Svět země a města. Vstávám za úsvitu; z očí si setřu praštěnou včerejší noc. Dlouhá, horká sprcha, káva a po ní jogurt. Takhle už jsem celé měsíce. Ráno je součástí dne, kdy můžu zapomenout na svoji cizí příslušnost, můžu být vlastně kdekoliv...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 12: Drain cover

Any road we’re walking on will eventually lead us to a drain cover. This is like law. The drain cover lets us leave behind the cobblestones we’ve walked past, it may even let us forget about them for a moment. Then new cobblestones will come, but they will be nothing like the old ones. When we think back, these drain covers will be the only things we can put names to. I...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 11: Compassion

The angel second from the right is desperate for a cuddle. She doesn’t care, if her hair is messy, even though she spent hours in front of the mirror to make sure it looks as blowsy as you can get whilst surfing. When they strike her hair, she half closes her eyes and shivers. But this only happens if someone feels jealous about the other one mollycoddled. Our first WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen: Přijď zítra

Přijď zítra Kávovar kýchá. Pořád, nezastaví se ani na minutu. Ten zvuk připomíná chrápání ledního medvěda, který nemá manželku, co by do něj strčila, zmáčkla mu nos nebo mu jen jemně pohladila hruď. Snažím se to neposlouchat. Vybavuji si, že včera večer na tom místě jsem pil poslední rundy piva, byl tam večírek. Jen přítelkyně dýdžeje se osamoceně kroutila...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 10: The sky

If it wasn’t for the only sudden sunlight in three weeks sieving through the clouds, I would tend to think the skies are eternally grey here. But it isn’t the kind of cold grey, it’s a rather calm, self-conscious, conservative greyness. Steadiness stops time, paused time allows you to take advantage of it. The brochures depicting the city were all made in the summer. That...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 9: In through the out door

I want to pierce a hole on the city. Destroy its walls, tear its skin to get to the heart of it. And then I will be watching from the inside what is going on in the outskirts of the city. But I am yet to get inside, I'm like a cat, who's been shut out into the cold, scraping the door to be allowed back in.​ Our first WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE Mihály Etlinger (*1990) is a...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 8: Tea for one

When I look at the ground I see myself in full. Like pigeons snatching up breadcrumbs from the road with ravenous apathy. Then I make a tea, scroll through the news on the net to see all the bad things that happened today. I rather don't look down. It's not good to be visible. On the contrary, going home and making a tea is good. Like a football match ending in a draw. Our...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 7: Mirror

A mirror is there to show you the face you never had and never will have. Its distortion gives you the chance to regard yourself vainly. To look at a non-existing portrait. Our first WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE Mihály Etlinger (*1990) is a very talented young Hungarian writer who came here for one month thanks to our partner Pécs Writers' Program. He is going to share his thoughts...

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Mihály Etlinger: Spisovatel v zrcadle

Spisovatel se střídavě díval do mapy a na město. Nemyslel na to, kde asi je, ale bál se dívat do mapy a v těch vteřinách nevidět město, které měl vidět. Jako když turisté všechno vidí jen přes hledáček svého foťáku. Bylo mu trapně. Zastrčil si mapu do zadní kapsy, típl cigaretu a podíval se na kostelní hodiny. Bylo tam vždycky poledne nebo půlnoc, ale pokaždé se musel podívat....

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 6: Consolation

There is something weirdly satisfying in coming across this picture in the town where Karel Gott was born. It looks like the cow cries out of sadness. He should play Lady Carneval to cheer himself up. He'd be smiling at the part where the song goes "salala" and he'd be laughing by the end. It surely is boring but why change if it has worked before? What he would really want...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 5: Urban legend

Just another Hungarian urban legend. They were walking a brand new, tiny Yorkshire terrier along a riverbank. Evening lights, quiet splashes and gurgles, peace. Suddenly an owl struck down, seized the dog with its leash, and flew off. Walking little dogs next to riverbanks is not recommended since. I do hope Czech owls are kinder and have better ethics. Our first WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 4. The city on Sunday

On Sundays the houses dress up and look at themselves in the shop windows. On Sundays construction sites are laying idle. Potholes in the road are yawning and the piles of soil are lying low as if they were caught doing something. On Sundays even bulldozers are friendly. On Sundays I need to call my mother to calm her down. On Sundays I video chat with my fiancée in a low...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol.3: Advent

Hrabal said: „The most beautiful thing about being drunk is not the elation, not getting high, not the hoot and the holler and the ideas that come, but getting drunk's most valuable asset is the day after, the hangover, the guilty conscience, turmoil…” And he’s right. When I am hangover I am the only ornament hanging near the bottom of this spiky pine tree. And as Christmas...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen vol. 2: And I like it

Everyone envies me back home. My friends could have killed me with their looks, my parents shook their heads, my boss scowled, my fiancée sighed like a wise man, when I told them I am coming to Pilsen. None of them have been here before, beer is the only thing they know about this place. „Bring home as much as you can and we’ll forgive you.” I took this snap at the puppet...

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Cobblestones in Pilsen: The first lunch

Like the everyday tourist. I ordered something under 'old Czech foods', it seemed like pork and was indeed delicious. The waitress brought the bill and my last beer (instead of dessert) with a big smile. Since then I found a zoo on the city map. It was like a little savanna sunshine piercing through the grey Czech autumn-sky. Our first WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE Mihály Etlinger...

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Forum 2000 v Plzni – Nespokojená demokracie: čtvrt století od železné opony a Tchien-an-menu

Kultura jako hlas protestu 15. října v Plzni (KD Peklo, Nebe coffee & bar) Akci zahájil v 18:15 hodin moderátor akce Dalibor Hapl z organizace Člověk v tísni. Představil program večera, věnovaný promítání dokumentu pojednávajícím o lidských právech na Kubě a hip-hopu jako prostředku protestu a následovně diskuzi s uznávaným rapperem pod jménem BONUS...

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Umeå: nejprovinčnější evropské město kultury

Presstrip do švédského Evropského hlavního města kultury 2014? Oslava letního slunovratu, ochočení losi, netradiční kultura původních obyvatel Laponska… super, jedu! Mé nadšení z pozvání od organizačního týmu Umeå 2014 nezkalil ani fakt, že z téměř třicetistupňového tepla v Čechách odlétám na sever, kde léto vítají pod deštníky při deseti stupních. Místním...

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