Archives for August, 2007

This picture reminds me how much I miss sushi. (source)

To show solidarity with the rest of country, I’ll be off for the next few days.

Hey, they don’t call ‘em the dog days of August for nothin’…

Updates to follow.

UPDATE: Not unlike the Second World War, this blog will be unleashed on an unhappy world on September 1. But since that’s a Saturday, I’ll get back into the swing of things on Monday.

John Hodgman, a Slovene? A screenshot from The Daily Show.

It’s always surprising to see Slovenia mentioned anywhere in the U.S., so it was great to see the legendary humorist John Hodgman use it in a satirical bit on The Daily Show last June. His “book” is a stab at the American obsession with genealogy — something that, in my experience, Slovenes seem to care very little about. If you ever have the chance, ask an American where their forefathers come from and you’ll not only get an answer, but a perfect breakdown in percentages. (”Well, I’m 25% Scottish on my mother’s side, as well as 25% Apache…”)

With Slovenes, on the other hand, the conversations usually go like this:

Michael: “So, were you born in Maribor?”
Slovene: “Yeah.”
Michael: “And your parents?”
Slovene: “They’re from Maribor.”
Michael: “Grandparents?”
Slovene: “Also from Maribor.”
Michael: “So, it’s safe to say that you’re 100% Mariborian.”
Slovene: “Well, I studied in Ljubljana for a few years, but yes.”

At any rate, you may remember Hodgman from the famous “I’m a Mac” ads (he’s the PC) but he’s also done some wonderful stuff at McSweeney’s, especially his Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent series. It’s highly recommended.

(Big bear hugs of thanks to A. Medved!)

—> “I would suggest declaring World Slovenia Day”
…because this may be the first country where Firefox usage > 50%.

—> Jernej’s puppies are ready for owners
So tempting. So very tempting.

—> R A I N B O W S !
It’s been a great summer for them.

—> Pengovsky’s guide to the horrors of Slovinglish.
When I came, “full cool” caused me a lot of confusion.

—> Tomaž posts a whole lot of Louis Theroux documentaries.
This is great, great stuff. Louis is a God.

Have a great weekend!

Step away from your monitor, and their facial expressions will swap. (Source)

YOU’RE NEVER ALONE
1) When you go out, you’ll inevitably bump into someone you know within 10 minutes.

CROATIA
2) No matter where you are, Croatia is less than two hours away.

ALL THE HOLIDAYS
3) All the public holidays are celebrated in the same way: eating and drinking until the threat of combustion.

THE WOMEN
4) The women are so universally beautiful that any man who so much as leaves his home instantaneously violates Matthew 5:28.

THE ANONYMITY
5) Slovenian tourists can travel in perfect anonymity, because virtually no one on this planet has an idea where the hell you’re from.

CROATIA
2) No matter where you are, Croatia is less than two hours away.

ALL THE HOLIDAYS
3) All the public holidays are celebrated in the same way: eating and drinking until the threat of combustion.

THE WOMEN
4) Slovenian women are so universally beautiful that any man who so much as leaves his home instantaneously violates Matthew 5:28.

THE ANONYMITY
5) Slovenian tourists can travel in perfect anonymity, because virtually no one on this planet has an idea where the hell you’re from.

The New Summit book is loaded with smarts.

The great Dietmar spotted this wonderful instrument of learning in Germany and kindly forwarded it to me.

According to Dietmar’s own count, the book contains precisely two maps of Europe. Here’s the first one, from page 65:

Slovenia and Croatia mind-meld into one?

You might notice that Slovenia and Croatia are a single blob but, hey, whaddyagonnado? Mistakes happen right? You’re damn right they do. In fact, sometimes they happen repeatedly, like when they mess Slovenia up again on page 92:

Slovenia and Hungary: together at last?

This second map is even better. First, Slovenia’s famous chicken head seems to be suffering from a severe case of elephantiasis. Second, although this book was republished this year, it lists Slovenia (and all the other “new” members) as outside of the EU.

Unfortunately, there’s no time to be smug. Especially when, according to the Financial Times, Germany (and Zimbabwe??) are ahead of Slovenia in overall quality of education. Makes me wonder what kind of awful maps Slovenian kids are studying.

(Thanks Dietmar!)

Old tourist glasses from Ljubljana, Maribor and Celje. (source)

I’ve always been interested in Austria-Hungary, ephemera, and obsessive-compulsive behavior, and this site brings all of those things together in one spectacular location. European Souvenir Glass: A Virtual Museum currently showcases 2,347 glasses from 38 countries, but focuses mainly on the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and German Empire.

The collection includes 29 glasses from Slovenia, many of them boasting their former German or Italian names.

This, my friends, is what the internet was made for.

[via Metafilter]

Years ago, I posted a story about the legendary Slonček, the man behind the wildly popular (but eventually scuttled) suprnova.org

It now looks like SuprNova is coming back. Although it currently contains only a blank page entitled “sweet revenge,” it’s been announced that The Pirate Bay will try to restore it to its former glory.

As for Slonček: It looks like he’s off to the U.S. for a while. And coolly enough, he’s started up his own blog, Slonček’s Personal Blog, to detail his adventures in the land of milk and money. Since his family will be reading it as well, I don’t think there will be too many juicy, borderline-illegal, triple-X details, but I’m still really looking forward to seeing it.

Good luck, Slonček!

The Styrian national anthem?

There seemed to be a lot less activity among bloggers this week, so no Best Of today. Instead, let me just wish you all a fun and exciting weekend — like the people in the video above. May you all be as happy as they are!

Mojca Mavec and Jolanda Čeplak at the finish line.

Last week was a bad week to be a blonde celebrity in Slovenia. Two popular blondinkas — the world-class athlete Jolanda Čeplak and the beloved media personality Mojca Mavec — fell from grace. Both of them stood accused of being cheaters.

Čeplak: as the BBC reported, she tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) and faces the possibility of missing the Beijing Olympics. Because Jolanda is a world-record-holding, Olympic-medal-wearing, all-around-ass-kicking athlete and pride of the nation, this is a deeply demoralizing prospect.

Mavec: as Dnevnik reported, she tested positive for plagiarism and has now lost her plum job as columnist for the magazine Ona. And after some hand-wringing, Marko Crnkovič also asked her to step down as a “house blogger” for Blogos.

What do the two have in common? Besides being beloved, both of them are being punished for crimes that are widespread enough to be normal. Does anyone really think that professional athletes are “clean”? Was anyone surprised by all the doped up Tour de France cyclists. I’m reminded of the words of five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil, who said:

“You’d have to be an imbecile or a hypocrite to imagine that a professional cyclist who rides 235 days a year can hold himself together without stimulants.”

That was back in 1967, where cyclists had a much smaller range of “enhancement methods” to choose from. Back then it was more or less amphetamines. Today steroids, testosterone, and EPO are all on the menu. (Speaking of which, if you want to read an absolutely incredible article about what that stuff does to you, read this: Drug Test - A Cautionary Tale. It’s about an amateur cyclist who decides to see how doping affects his performance. It’s also one of the most interesting articles I’ve ever seen on the innertubes.)

As for Mavec and the media in Slovenia: Without getting too much into it, let me just say that I agree with the many commenters at Dnevnik who wrote “She’s not the only one” or variations thereof. I mean, I know that plagiarism is a cardinal sin and that even if a lot of people are doing it doesn’t make it okay. But still… Mojca’s infractions are essentially a pimple on a body that is riddled with cancer. There are so many much more serious malfunctions going on in the Slovenian media that it just seems absurd to worry about this.

With that said, it’s still disappointing news for both of them and bad news for Slovenia.

The celica hostel is a former prison — but how about staying in a real one? (pic source)

I suppose the title of “worst vacation ever” will always belong to the occasional hiker who ends up dead in the mountains. But still: the BBC’s Kofi Sekyere had a helluva lousy time here too. According to his account, someone must have been telling lies about him, because without him having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning in Ljubljana. The police accused K. of defrauding a German company of 450,000 euros. “It was all so absurd I thought the mix-up would be sorted within hours,” he writes. Needless to say, it wasn’t. And it was his birthday, too.

All things considered, he took it really well. He even posted a picture of himself shaking hands with the arresting officer. You can read the entire story here: ID Theft Left Me in a Slovenian Prison.

(Thanks Camille!)