Socialist Realist art (or “socrealizm”) was official dogma in Poland in the late 40s and early 50s and elsewhere for longer. Paintings, architecture and sculptures of the period glorify the working class and the achievements of socialism. Kitsch would be a kind word for much of it. Also striking is the resemblance to fascist art: […]
Wednesday’s Gazeta Wyborcza reprinted a New York Times article by Israeli writer Etgar Keret entitled “Je?li ju? Wojna, to Lepsza Taka” (If it’s war, then it’s better this way, translated by Maciej Kositorny). The original appeared under the title “The Way We War.” I thought it would kick up murder on the interweb but a […]
The current Polityka carries a review of “Bored in Brno,” a film directed by Vladim�r Mor�vek, which “sends up the myth of Czech sexual potency.” I’ve been to Czecho (yes, yes, I have it on good authority that the name of the country is now “Czecho”) a few times but had never come across this […]
Nie (“No”) is a weekly current affairs magazine. Its editor is Jerzy Urban, the mouthpiece of communist Poland in the 1980s. The editorial line is firmly anti-Catholic church and the present, right wing government is not in favour either. Its journalists try sometimes a little too hard to defend the legacy of the People’s Republic […]
After extensive research I have discovered that the perpetrator of the song “It’s all about the money” is a lady who goes by the name of Meja. She is Swedish. Wikipedia says her real name is Anna Pernilla Bäckman but that’s not important. The lyrics of the song are important – crucially important – to […]
Perhaps I should make this a regular feature – if I could be bothered buying Rzeczpospolita regularly. Today’s paper, as usual, contains translations of editorials from foreign papers on page two. One is from the Daily Telegraph. The Rz writes: “Tymczasem teoria, ?e za kryminalne zachowania obywateli odpowiedzialne jest spo?ecze?stwo, jest nieprawdziwa.” This means: “The […]
Things are all a kerfuffle in Polish politics at the moment. The president backed out of an international summit a few days ago because he had a pain in his stomach. Before that a German newspaper made some unpleasant jokes about him and Poland. Then every former Polish foreign minister wrote an open letter condemning […]
It’s 30 degrees in the shade and you need a cold drink. Into the shop with you so, up to the counter, out with the money and what is there to drink? If it’s to be cold it has to be fizzy. The fridges here are filled with the products of one company and that […]
I haven’t seen a copy of the Sunday Times in a pleasantly long time but I presume their coverage of science is as top-notch as ever: gushing articles about the latest and bestest weapons for British soldiers made by British scientists. I was reminded of this by today’s Dziennik, which has a page given over […]
Przekroj has an interview with a satirist, Krzysztof Piasecki, who is faced with a problem at work that many would envy: it’s too easy. I start a sketch, I start repeating what politicians have said and I don’t have to add anything because everyone’s already splitting their sides laughing…. I quoted deputy Pi?ka and people […]
