List of author's articles
On the list: the delights and drawbacks of UNESCO inscription
Insightful information about UNESCO sites in Slovakia and the stories they tell.
A family home of red rock
Between the 16th and mid-20th centuries, the renowned Pálffy family were fortunate enough to call the castle at Červený Kameň (Red Rock) home. But to anyone born outside an order of Hungarian noblemen, their humble abode will be seen as nothing short of a monumental palace, now one of the most imposing and best preserved castles in Slovakia.
Ancient crafts alive today
The area around Bratislava has become internationally known as the home of folk majolica, a particular style of ceramics produced since the 16th century, particularly centred on the towns of Pezinok and Modra. The craft was brought to the area by the Habans, a branch of Anabaptists, who fled persecution in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands to settle in western Slovakia. Even though the Habans moved on, their skills transferred to local artists, who have continued the production to this day.
Ante up – poker gains popularity in Slovakia
OVER the past 10 years or so, the game of poker has become so popular that it can at times seem almost impossible to avoid. In the United States and the UK, the late-night television schedules frequently feature poker tournaments, and even the mainstream press routinely covers the game. Countries as diverse as Italy, Brazil, Australia and Taiwan are also hotbeds of poker action, with the traditional image of the game as a seedy pastime for gangsters long outdated.
A vibrant book about nothingness
THE READER of the English edition of Julian Barnes's Nothing To Be Frightened Of is immediately presented with what seems to be a massive contradiction. Beneath an endorsement from The Daily Telegraph that this is Barnes's “funniest and frankest work to date”, a cover illustration depicts a cloaked skeleton visiting an unsuspecting gentleman and scaring him to death. Various other blurbs describe the book as a dissection of the “inevitability of death”, a “meditation on mortality and the fear of death”, “an extended reflection on the fear of death” and a “bible of elegant despair”. Funny? Are you sure?
Iron Man starts to show his age
ANY self-respecting 10-year-old boy should quite rightly want to be either Batman or Spiderman, accepting dull periods as the weary billionaire socialite Bruce Wayne or the geeky Peter Parker as a fair trade for their thrilling moments of super-heroism. But if you canvassed those 10-year-olds’ fathers, the chances are they would want to be Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, the second episode of whose suave, high-octane adventures has recently landed on the big screen.
Ishiguro's Nocturnes
TALK to anyone in the publishing industry and they’ll tell you about their frustration with short stories. Everyone wants to write them, it seems, but no one wants to read them and in these times of economic hardship, short story collections are a big no-no.
Finding the obscure and unique in Slovakia
Every week in the New York Times, the “About New York” column introduces readers to an under-reported or unrepresented character, place, building or incident from arguably the most vibrant five boroughs in the United States. Since the column’s inception, the focus has been on the obscure and unique, those specific wonders living in New Yorkers’ midst, who richen the flavour of the city but who can pass by unnoticed. The column’s most celebrated writers have been those who relish the unknown and dive off the beaten track to find the special and the spectacular where it is least expected.
Capitalism: A Love Story
Director: Michael Moore
The latest outing from a smooth storyteller
BRITISH writer William Boyd is not one to hang around doing nothing. Since his first book in 1981, Boyd has published a further 11 novels, at least 12 screenplays, a handful of short story collections and numerous newspaper essays and articles. He was also the man behind one of modern literature’s most celebrated hoaxes, when his faux memoir of a fictional modern artist duped many who should have known better. Boyd is versatile and prolific, to say the least.
The Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn BigelowStarring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Wolfman remake lacks a real bite
The Wolfman
A story from an 'unimpressive Bratislava'
THERE’s a clear promise of travel in Leif Davidsen's political thriller The Woman From Bratislava. “One of Denmark's top crime writers” trills the Sunday Times’ quote on the jacket, while the blurb on the back transports us to spring 1999 when “NATO is bombing Yugoslavia”. In the prologue we leave Copenhagen for Estonia, and the first lines proper read: “I first noticed the woman in Warsaw. She showed up again … in Prague.”
Up In The Air
Director: Jason Reitman Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick “TO KNOW me is to fly with me,” says Ryan Bingham during an early monologue in Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air, recently landed in Bratislava. But in the soulless land of airline lounges, air miles programmes, hotel bathrobes and mini-bar miniatures, there’s not much to know about anyone — such is the point being made by a film that is part condemnation and part advertisement for the slick international brands of American Airlines, Hilton and George Clooney.
The Little Stranger
THERE are only a handful of characters in Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger, and none are more impressive, oppressive and depressing than Hundreds Hall, the decaying manor house at the story’s heart. The sprawling estates of the English countryside have long provided the backdrop for works in all fictional genres, but once the houses slip into disrepair and grandeur fades into neglect, ghosts tend to move in and imbue the buildings with lives of their own.
Generation A
IN THE early 1990s, the Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland was among the first artistic figures to catch the whiff of teen spirit that would come to fuel the decade’s disaffected. His literary debut, Generation X, was sub-titled "Tales for an Accelerated Culture" and the book was a bible for the children of the baby boomers, vast swathes of innovative and intelligent youth, who were wasting their talents in dead end “McJobs” and struggling to make sense of a world that favoured blandness over invention. Coupland’s novel popularised the Generation X moniker and promoted him overnight to the role of spokesman for the slouching classes.
Film review: Avatar
Avatar
Invisible
NEAR the middle of the new Paul Auster novel, Invisible, a central character named Margot makes a seemingly innocuous observation. “Who knows what a person’s secret desires are?” she says. “Unless the person acts on them or talks about them, you don’t have a clue.”
A review of Paranormal Activity and Zombieland
Fans and detractors of Paranormal Activity can at least agree on one point: this micro-budget, pseudo-realistic, amateur-hour horror film is a miracle of viral marketing. Set entirely in one house and featuring only four non-professional actors, the production cost a reported $15,000—about as much as most Hollywood efforts set aside for a day’s sushi. But after a low-key initial release, word spread across the internet—fuelled by chat-room gossip, “leaked” snippets and rumours of its supposed authenticity—and Paranormal Activity was let loose in 200 cinemas across the United States. It took $9.1 million in its first week and became the most profitable film in history. As the phenomenon now reaches Europe, this is the question that will haunt cinemagoers far more efficiently than the content of the film: have I been conned? Certainly there’s not much to the movie even to flesh out a review. A young woman named Katie (Katie Featherston) complains to her boyfriend that she is experiencing strange but intangible visitations during the night. Micah (Micah Stoat) is sceptical but believes enough to buy a video camera and wires it up at the foot of the bed. The amateur auteur also gets carried away sufficiently to record every other moment of their tedious lives, and what constitutes the finished film purports to be the couple’s unedited tapes, discovered by the police. That means time-stamped, wonkily-shot home video and inconsequential, improvised dialogue. Bring motion-sickness pills. And caffeine.
The Glass Room
The Glass Room
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- Slovak scientists help tear down two objections to Jurassic Park premise
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- Indian expat mistaken for drug dealer in Bratislava TV report Video
- Slovakia’s labour market falters as migration policy falls behind EU neighbours
- Weekend: With so many events for free, this is the best way to explore Bratislava
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
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- Perk, Trnava: “Stylish, affordable, and seriously tasty” – restaurant review
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- “Return not,” the ocean cried. But I returned for her
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- They left Bratislava for a better life. What they found was loneliness and gravel roads
- Bratislava’s embassy-backed events you don’t want to miss
- Indian expat mistaken for drug dealer in Bratislava TV report Video
- Slovakia’s labour market falters as migration policy falls behind EU neighbours
- News digest: National Theatre boss brands protest against pro-Putin singer 'primitive'
- Still waiting: Slovak-Austrian rail project faces more delays and cost overruns
- Slovak and Czech teen duo awarded the Global Earth Prize 2025
- Weekend: With so many events for free, this is the best way to explore Bratislava
- From gravel pit to urban retreat: Kuchajda lake is set for a revamp
- Convicted deal makers in the Slovak healthcare sector
- News digest: No crime, no threat, just foreign
- Changing traditions of the maypole More articles ›
