dept. of random bullshit
Mid-Week Briefing: Your Uprising is, Like, So Two Nights Ago
So it's Wednesday, which again means time for our might-as-well-be-patented Mid-Week Briefing, your one-stop shop for interesting stuff going on in Hungary at the mid point of this week. And it's been quite a week so far indeed! The sporadic and occasionally violent demonstrations that broke out in Budapest and in various cities and towns around the country have put Hungary on the front pages of newspapers and news websites across the world. But guess what? We don't care anymore! That's right: As far as we're concerned the whole thing, while initially pretty interesting, is now a big fat bore. And you want to know why? For one thing, because nothing concrete is likely to result from it, like the government falling or the Russians re-invading. More to the point, there hasn't been a single fatality, or a single building burned to the ground.
As of this morning, the total injury count has barely broken triple digits, only a handful of which are more serious than what you'd get falling off a bicycle, and we've seen not a single burned-down or blown-up building, and fewer than 10 torched motor vehicles (compared to 1,173 cars burned on a single night during the similar festivities in France last fall). Meanwhile, the increasingly Disneyland-like bogusness of the entire thing is neatly underscored by the above pic snapped last night by reader W.B., showing a draft beer and corn-on-the-cob stand set up a few paces from "ground zero." So are we really suggesting that the tracksuit revolutionaries who have been getting uppity should start killing people and blowing up buildings? No. But since this whole thing is supposed to be about honesty, we're going to get the ball rolling and be even more honest than usual. As thing currently stand, we are going to treat the whole "Uprising '06" for what we think it is: a colorful little street carnival staged for the benefit of bored right-wing nudniks, self-important politicians (including some as or more dishonest than our current BSing PM), and self-interested media types. Show us a few bodies or leveled buildings (or a few hundred burned-out cars) and we might change our minds. But until then, it's on to other news:
• Police seized 100 kilograms of cannabis in Kaposfő (Somogy County) yesterday. The 61 plants, each two to four meters tall, were grown by a 23-year-old man in the yard of his family's house. Harsh. [index.hu]
• While the cops were dodging rocks in downtown Pest and seizing weed in Kaposfő, Pestiside co-editor Adrian Courage's 2006 Suzuki Swift (license plate #KIF 914) was quietly removed from its parking space in the Buda Hills. If you see it please be sure to drop us a line, though the local fuzz reckon it's already been stripped down and sold for parts. Boo.
• Beloved Hungarian-American bodybuilder/actor Mickey "Miklós" Hargitay, who was once married to famed starlet Jayne Mansfield, has died at the age of 80. Condolences to daughter Mariska and any and all who knew and loved him. Sniff. [hollywood.com]
• A 19-year-old college student died in Nyíregyháza last night, when he plunged four floors inside a dorm building. He had wanted to slide down the banister but lost his balance. Ooof. [hirszerzo.hu]
• Several people have been fighting over the Internet domain name "elkurtuk.hu" since Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's leaked speech made the word elkúrtuk ("we screwed up") famous, writes index.hu. It is unlikely that the domain with the .hu extension will be registered, as regulations specify they cannot contain swear words. Elkurtuk.com and elkurtuk.eu, however, are fair game. Haha. [index.hu]
• A dinner with Olympic champion swimmer Ágnes Kovács is being sold on auction site vatera.hu. The current bid is Ft 31,005, and bidding closes on September 25th. Kovács wishes to help the Environment Protection Committee of the Hungarian Olympic Committee with the proceeds. Hmmm. [samsungsport.hu]
• An elderly woman called Rózsika néni is traveling the country giving Ft 1,000 bills to passersby. She says she inherited money from an old lover whose last wish was that she gives it away to people. [szinesbulvarlap.hu]
• The main prize of TV2's highly retarded popular game show "Áll az alku!" ("Deal!") will be doubled, from Ft 50 million to Ft 100 million (€365,000) from October. Ooooh. [origo.hu]
• A spokesman for the Russian embassy said that the decision by protestors on Monday night to attack the controversial Soviet memorial in Szabadság tér was only due to its location, and "does not involve any anti-Russian sentiment." Okay, then how about this: Get your stinking Bolshie monument off our square, Ivan, or we'll blow it to Smolensk. [interfax.ru]
• Zoltán Békési, the man from Doboz wanted for serving the jail sentence of another man, gave himself up at a police station this morning. He is currently being interrogated. [objektivhir.hu]
• A salad bar in a Budapest mall is using fitness guru Norbi's logo to promote its new products. Norbi is thinking about suing. [ma.hu]
• The price of diesel went down by Ft 10 per liter and the price of gasoline by Ft 7 today in Hungary. Within the last few weeks, 95-octane car gas has gone down Ft 37. Woo-hoo! [fn.hu]
• Tibetan lama Serab Gyalcen will hold an initiation ceremony and give a lecture this weekend at the Építők Sports Complex at Népliget. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. [index.hu]
• Around 100 people protested on Illatos út ("Scented Road") in Budapest's District IX on Friday, because the two nearby chemical plants emit stinky gases. Residents of the neighborhood gave a petition to the technical director of the Budapest Chemical Works (Budapest Vegyiművek), Gyula Eifert. He told protesters that gases emitted by the plants are not harmful to the environment, and the smell is "just the asphalt." [index.hu]
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