Finding love

I thought that love is only for the privileged,

The way I´ve felt for anyone before I´ve met you was just the prelude, the distant thunder of what will come and become.  The days of thunder. I would have never guessed that love doesn´t need to be hurting or Killing you and tearing you to shreds, but that it can feel like soft summer rain instead, or like when you walk barefoot through the moist and warm fields. There is a hidden passion in yearning, in silent thinking and secret desires of a mind.

It feels now like a new territory to me, brand new World, and I´m only standing at the gates, not knowing what´s in front of me, but I´m not scared anymore.

 I feel the breeze coming from the horizon, I see that there is a splendid sunrise beyond the mountains, and it´s all coming to meet me with huge embrace, touching my soft skin and inviting me to come forward or follow. I see the freedom of birds all around me, the peace of their mind, I touch the ground with my bare feet and walk ahead. This splendid walk will unravel the most fantastic views to me, because I will be on the path to love, discovering all its many sides and faces and shapes. I know, there is no real danger  lurking behind its wonderful gifts, for no real love has ever had the power to hurt. The unconditional love that lives on its own, exists without being dependent on any single human being, that sort of love has been here since ages. Since the World has begun. And I´m about to get to taste it.

I see myself in the desert surrounded by wide and vast spaces where no human hand has ever touched a stone, yet still, I have the overwhelming sensation of not being here on my own. There is some other presence, and it shows itself by tingling feelings deep down my stomach. The presence of ever eternal, omnipresent love, that we are created from.  I walk completely free of any fear and desire, free of any thought or dellussional belief about what love should be like. This kind of presence is perfection in its purest. It needs nothing to live on, no one to live for. It  pulsates by its own rhytm in its own heart, it sounds of a distant, long forgotten melody that we once heard. It shines and radiates all the light of the earth, it submerges gigantic World around only to  let the invisible one become enormous. Everything here seems to be tuned into its melody, everything, even my own heart, my breath, my pulse, my whisper. I feel like there is an ocean behind the mountain in front of me. The giant collosal mountain that hides all the treasures of this place. The ocean blows the winds towards the desert I´m walking in. It spreads my hair and tangles it, it sends tiny droplets of salty rain on my skin and makes me feel like I was in heaven. I can breath freely, and each step I take is like a kiss to the ground. The warm sand underneath my feet is crispy and soft, like a baby powder. I see the sunset now, for I have been walking for eternity in this beautiful World, and I can see others joining me. The invisible, yet existent others, who have been here all along. Maybe people, maybe souls, I don´t care. I just know, They are here for the same reason. To understand love, to come for fulfillment and to drink from the source like thirsty birds. It will come to them. All of us. One day you´ll see. And you might take the same route, walk the same sands with your bare feet. You will see my sunrise and my sunset too, and watch the birds climbing the blue skies, chasing each other in the game of love. Your heart will be fulfilled my friend, when you reach the summit and pass the glorious mountain….there you will find me. 

when Madeleine Albright smiled back at me

If yesterday, 23rd October 2012 could be put into few words, I would describe it as a day to be remembered, eventhough  waiting for Madeleine has been much longer then the meeting itself. We´ve been queuing outside the Neoluxor bookstore for three long hours, following behind the enormous crowds of her admirers, most of whom were (to my surprise) relatively young. 

Maddie represents to me not only high profile politician but also a strong woman with principles who fights for justice and stands on the side of humanity. Plus, of course, her being of Czech descent is definitely one of the dominating factors as to why everyone loves her. To see her and become the owner of her autograph was sort of a deep satisfaction. Our native has made it across the ocean and somehow helped in the process of building a better world, eventhough more on the American ground rather than ours. We all, I would say, can be proud of this little, stout woman, who has been shaking hands with the most powerful people while on duty. I have been always transfixed by her public demeanor and determined attitude.  This little lady seemed to shine out no fear and knew her place in spite of the way she had to stand up next to all the macho men. 
To be seeing her little fragile frame and tired eyes, made me feel sorry for her as well, as one can suddenly realize that the image of strenght we see from our tv sets and various CNN broadcasts, is still just an image and that, behind the scenes, these gods are quite ordinary people with needs and human feelings too. 

She signed our books with simple stroke of her hand, lightly smiling at me when I looked down at her, as if thanking me for coming. Or maybe smiling at me because I smiled at her, god knows. The greatest things are often hidden behind most simple moments. And should they last a second or million years, nobody cares, as long as they are here. Memory of smiling Maddie will be forever in my mind, as much as her cornflower suit that must have been worn many times in the many corners of the world, for billions eyes to see and cherish the simplicity of the moment. 

Here is me with Madeleine

Me signing the Peace pact with Madeleine Albright

Zdenka and Maddie

St. Patrick Rocks Prague - Aslan and Dave Morrissey

This was to be my first St. Paddy´s celebrated in Prague, and I was getting ready for it since the moment I´ve found out that Aslan is gonna play there! I´ve seen Aslan back in 2002 in Langtons, Kilkenny and I must say it was one of the most memorable gigs I´ve been to. Christy was pretty wild back then. So when I discovered they are playing here, I knew I can´t give it a miss. The first concert took place in Acropolis on 16th March and day after that they performed at open air on Wenceslas square. So I went to both places, just not to miss something. And eventhough I´ve paid for the first gig, I didn´t mind as much.
They were singing pretty much the same stuff as they sang some ten years ago, but I think they had a new bass guitarist now, Roddy O´Brien. Christy seemed like he aged a lot since I´ve seen him, perhaps because of drinking heavily as any Irish do, god knows..but his performance was stunning. His play of hands and mimicking were just crazy enough to make crowds scream for more. He didn´t even bother about being too close to fans, he shook our hands and as I was pretty close to him at all times, we shook our hands too, which was nice. On Wenceslas square were crowds and I mean crowds! of people, many of them knew who Aslan is, and sang along or at least pretended they did...
The stage also served its purpose for other ensambles throughout the day. There was this enormous choir of Irish singers who sang Irish soccer hymn and Black Eyed Peas´ "I´ve got a feeling", which was hillarious! Then there was a group of about ten youngsters, Gaelic dancers, who danced pretty good dance and jig into the tunes of bahroan and Irish trad music. Well, I was very pleased to be there, and very excited about seeing Aslan again, as I used to be quite keen fan of them. Plus, I really liked Roddy :)

Leprechauns hats worn by all Irish

or green stockings and jerseys....

the Gaelic step dancers were brilliant

Dave Morrisey and studio 65 were good too

Christy Dignam from Aslan blew everyone away

and shocked many by his unusual hand "language"

great gig that was

closer and closer to his fans..

Hollywood - 17/2/12

The exhibition called "Hollywood" was here for the first time ever and I went to have a look as I´m a great fan of movie industry. There were some samples of movie jewelery, some original figurines and famous props from flicks like Batman, Indiana Jones, Spider Man, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Terminator, Pirates of the Caribean, E.T., Titanic, 300, Men in Black, James Bond, Predator, Planet of the Apes and many more....

The owner of this special exhibition is a Swiss producer Roman Güttinger who directly co-operates with Hollywood, and this collection offers more than 200 unique and rare exhibits. Most of them were made specially for the purpose of making of several famous flicks. Among the most popular ones belongs for example the necklace "Ocean heart" and dress of Miss Rose from "Titanic" set, the hat of Charlie Chaplin from his private collection, mask of the Hannibal Lecter alias Anthony Hopkins from "Silence of the Lambs", scarabeus from "Mummy" movie, boxing gloves of Sylvester Stallone from "Rocky", figurine of Golum from "Lord of the Rings", the original jacket worn once by Brad Pitt from the movie "The fighter club" or the figurine of E.T. by Steven Spielberg. 

"The Silence of the Lambs" mask - Anthony Hopkins

"The Saw" - the famous mask

"The Hellraiser"

The Halloween man

Fredy Kruger - "The Nightmare on the Elm street"

 

Arnold Schwarzeneger -"The Terminator"

Yoda - "The Star Wars"

R2 D2 - "Star Wars"

The dress worn by Kate Winslet "Titanic"

"Predator"

"300" starring Gerard Butler

"Rocky" with Sylvester Stallone

"300" immortal mask

"E.T." by Steven Spielberg

So all in all it was very nice and enriching exhibition, I liked some of the props eventhough some masks were pretty scary. I have loads more photos that won´t all fit in here, but I will put them on my facebook site. 

The Art of Hard Rock exhibition - 17/2/12 - Prague

This exhibition displayed the portraits, paintings, instruments and some other creations of famous Rock and Pop icons of our time. I´ve seen Michael Jackson´s self portrait, which was basically a simple drawing of himself from the times of Moonwalk era, not extremely exquisite drawing to be honest but still nice to see something that maestro has done. The only portrait that had some artistic value would be probably Ron Wood´s picture, which looked rather professional and good quality. The rest of the drawings were mostly doodles - the likes of self portrait of Jim Morrison, over which I laughed a lot, or Billy Idol´s signature drawing...that looked as if painted by 5 year old school kid, ha ha. There were also some masks done by Julian Lennon (very intriguing one I must say), or Bruce Dickinson, Roger Daltrey or Mike Olfield. I quite liked the drawing by Pete Townshend, or by John Entwistle from Who, the painting of Elton John as a Superman in his Tommy musical bright coloured boots flying above the Earth. There were also some paintings of stars by Ringo Starr (however, they all looked same to me), and I was quite upset there weren´t any pictures by Freddie, Elton or Jimi Hendrix - as Freddie was the best painter of them all! Anyway, quite good exhibition, but there could be lot more work from other artists....

Ronnie Wood   from Rolling Stones

Bruce Dickinson

Ringo Starr 

Michael Jackson - self portrait

John Entwistle "The Who" - Elton John

Paul Stanley from Kiss

Pete Townshend

Jim Morrison´s self portrait

George Michael in concert

George Michael was in Prague on 14^th November 2011 in O2 Arena and I was there!

He´s been our childhood icon since the time of his biggest hits like Freedom, I want you sex, Last Christmas or Father Figure. He´s definitely been a figure in our lives for sure...

It was so tantalizing to sit and watch from far above the whole arena underneath slowly filling up with people, who came for the same reason – to see, to feel, to hear, to experience the breathtaking George Michael, who has never visited Prague before.

When people finally took their seats, it all begun. The lights went off, the stage lit up with red neons and George made an entrance attended by Prague symphonic orchestra, that he chose for his unfolding World tour. The first song to sound was Through from the last album Patience, then came My baby just Cares for me. Only after twenty minutes or so he sang the remake of True Faith by New Order that he toyed with by giving his voice an electronic feel. His first proper aplaus came about after singing Kissing a fool and You have been loved that he personally dedicated to his Mother. I could hear his voice so clearly, it was the most beatiful feeling I´ve experienced since a long time. We barely saw him from our positions, that´s how far he was, eventhough we watched through our binoculars or sometimes cought a glimpse of him on the projection screen right behind him. Most of the screen was used for grafic projections though, and all various effects.

The stage lights were changing with each new song, once they were red, next time purple or blue, sometimes only pale white. Extraordinary show! Next song he chose to give us was Going to Town by Rufus Wainwright, then  Doesn´t really matter which was dedicated to all failed relationships. After this, the song Roxanne, borrowed from Police that sounded through the arena with the screen projection of prostitutes at the background.

After twenty minute break, there was a projection of all famous faces like Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, John Lennon or Elvis Presley. When he played Russian Roulette by Rihanna, it was a big surprise, and I must admit I really loved it. Then followed Amy Winehouses´s Love is a Loosing game, of which I thought sounded better than the original. He also confessed to his finished problematic relationship with his former partner Kenny to whom he dedicated the song Where I hope you are. We also got our older hits like Freedom and Different corner, by which time the whole arena stood up and nearly shattered the whole place down. We screamed like one man, thundered like a big volcano just to bring him back after he announced the end of the show. We wouldn´t let him leave the stage. It was phenomenal moment. After what we brought him back from the backstage, he run forward with broad smile on his face and after a short pause he said:“ Prague, you sound and feel fucking amazing!“ and he gave us some extra tunes. It wasn´t enough though, as we called him out once again, this time with no chance of bringing him out for the third time. It was amazing show, I loved it and I´m really grateful I haven´t missed this rare chance of seeing my childhood icon. Michael is still one of the greatest singers of our time and one can only wish him all the best that he deserves. 

The funny moment of the night was probably when he was introducing us his ensamble as all artists usually do. He smiled when he said :"Prague, give an aplause to your own orchestra!" And you bet we did! :) 

My Top Male actors

Benicio del Toro

19/2/1967, Pisces, Santurce - Puerto Rico, Fire Goat, birthpath no.8,  6´tall

I´ve seen him first in Things We Lost in Fire,where he portrayed quite difficult role of a heroin addict. This movie is must see, brilliant story and very moving plot. His character is incredible! Apart from this flick, I´ve seen most of his movies, but none got to me as much as this one. Beno is one of the greatest actors I know, he´s got the charisma and acting skills of utter proffessional. I also liked him in Snatch, Sin City, Usual Suspects or Werewolf.

Ryan Gosling
12/11/1980, Scorpio, London - Ontario, Canada, Metal Monkey, birthpath no. 5, 6´tall
The first movie I remember with Ryan was probably The Blue Valentine. I actually didn´t like him at first, I thought nothing of him and didn´t find him interesting at all. But after seeing him in more movies like Drive, Place Beyond the Pines or All Good Things, I knew he is remarkable talent and I immediately loved him. I love the roles of distant, yet protective men that he emodied in Drive and Pines, and I absolutely adore his way of acting. 

Gerard Butler
13/11/1969, Scorpio, Glasgow - Scotland, Earth Rooster, birthpath no.4,  6´2 tall
Now he´s one of the rather unique actors. I´ve seen him first in Phantom of the Opera, where I fell for his character of a "Bad and Ugly guy" you just feel sorry for, but later on, he portrayed even good guys and still, it didn´t stop me from liking him. Before he started to act in big screen hits like 300, I´ve seen him in rather less commercial flicks like "Dear Frankie", which was Scottish production and had very nice plot. I just like Gerard, there is something about the way he talks in his Scottish accent. Other movies to mention are Butterfly on the Wheel, PS. I love you...

Jeff Bridges
4/12/1949  Sagittarius, LA - California, Earth Ox, Birthpath no.3,  6´1  tall
Now this guy is one hell of an actor. I´ve known him since ever, and his movies are just one better then the other. He´s tremendous actor, I´d say one of the best there is. Just to mention few great movies: Fearless, Fabulous Baker Boys, Vanishings, Jagged Edge, Mirror has two faces, Big Lebowski, Door in the Floor, Arlington Road....and many many more. Apart from all the acting, he´s quite creative and artistic guy, and he runs his own website www.jeffbridges.com that is full of great stuff. He also does his own music and makes photographs. 

Colin Firth
10/9/1960  Virgo, Grayshott - UK, Metal Rat, birthpath no. 8,  6´2 tall
He was my big favourite when he played the BBC series of Pride and Prejudice, where he portrayed the stubborn and harsh Mr Darcy. Every woman fell in love with this guy in instant! Later on he played in somehow updated version of Pride and Prejudice in Bridget Jones Diary. He´s smart, intellingent and very sensible actor. I also liked him in English patient, eventhough he didn´t  play the leading role. 

Sean Bean
17/4/1959  Aries, Sheffield -UK, Earth pig, birthpath no.9, 5´10 tall
He always played such villain guys, usually bad characters, but that was only in accord with his rough appearance. I first have seen him in series of Scarlett O´Hara, the old historic epic. Some of his other movies are Lord of the Rings, Troy or Hitcher.

Javier Bardem
1/3/1969  Pisces, Las Palmas - Spain, Earth rooster, birthpath no.11, 6´ 0 tall
The first time I´ve seen Javi was in The Sea Inside. It was such an inspirational thing to see, so sad and yet hopefull. He was absolutely mesmerising in his role. The movie was in Spanish, but still too good to be true. Other movie I loved him in was Milos Forman´s Goya´s ghosts. Among other ones he played also in Huevos d´Oros, Love in Times of Cholera, Vicky Christina Barcelona or Eat Pray Love. Them all were fabulous movies. 

Mickey Rourke
16/9/1952  Virgo, Schenectady - NY, Water dragon, birthpath no.6, 5´11 tall
well he used to be so popular and so handsome, that every movie he made covered up the fact he actually can´t act very much. At least that´s what I thought. I´ve seen him in 9 1/2 weeks, Angel Heart, Wild Orchid, Harley Davidson and Marlboro man, Sin City and of course the Wrestler. But the lastest movie proved everyone wrong, he acted so bizzarely well that one had to shed a tear when watching him....

Christopher Lambert
29/3/1957  Aries, Great Neck - NY, Fire rooster, birthpath no.9, 6´00 tall
He´s terrific actor. I´ve seen him first in Highlander and then Tarzan, both very captivating roles and he´s got that enigmatic status ever since. Apart from these, he also played for example in Resurrection, or Knight moves. 

Timothy Dalton
21/3/1946  Aries, Colwyn Bay - UK, Fire Dog, birthpath no.8, 6´2 tall
My favourite actor since the time of Heatcliff in Wuthering heights. I don´t think despite it all, there is any more enigmatic actor on todays scene. Maybe he´s aged by now, but his charisma survived the time. His other fantastic romantic role was that of Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre and Rhett Buttler in Scarlet. 
And of course, his leadin role of 007 in Licence to Kill!

Sam Worthington
2/8/1976  Leo, Surrey - UK, Fire Dragon, birthpath no. 6,  5´10 tall
I saw him only in few movies but the one that persuaded me about his acting skills was The Man on the Ledge. His style is good, he is extremely charismatic and comes across like a strong lead character for action type movies, eventhough I quite dislike this genre. He is a masculine hero that can tame any demons be it on the screen or beyond. Plus, his voice is simply hypnotic!