“Ne grem na Kanenas

Saška Lendero is not exactly my all time favourite Slovene singer… Especially due to the fact that she cannot make up her mind as to wheather to go with “turbofolk” or to stick to the Dalmatian melos which is even more annoying in my humble opinion. Some have newfound respect for Saška, and while I’ve no doubt that she is a professional (afterall, it takes a whole person to keep her gig going), and I’ll admit that she may find her way into the Friday Foxies category if I can get my mouse on some of her nude photos, I seriously can’t stomack her music. But – degustibus non disputandum est

However, the reason for this post is not her music… We’ll it is actually. Specifically, her latest hit single “Ne grem na kolena” (“I won’t go down on my knees”)

OFFTOPIC: Don’t you just love the double meaning? I wish they’d stop with such obvious allusions to sex. Really

Anyways: As you can see from the videos below, Saška’s song is suspiciously simmiliar to a song titled “Kanenas”, performed by Anna Vissi a Greek pop singer. The fact that the two pop-diva-wannabes look very much alike is probably just a concidence. Or not. 😀



Say “živjo” to Saška…

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…and say “kalimera” to Anna.


Truth be told, Saška’s record company Menart did give credit to Nikos Karvelas, who (as it happens) is Anna’s husband. Nikos is credited as composer, arranger and author of lyrics. So basically Saška had very little to do with her hit single – except to record it. But they sure didn’t advertise that fact…

Euro English

Another one for our resident translator, via rollo.
A joke, naturally 😀


euro_english.jpg
Und zet iz vat z komon EuroEnglisch fleg vil luk like


The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be dropped in favour of “k”. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kanhave one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where! more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent “e” in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou” and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

Smoke On The Water

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Things are too serious not to be taken lightly 😀


I stayed out the anti-smoking legislation debate, mostly because I have a rather ambivalent attitude towards the issue. As you know I smoke, but I understand that people who don’t would like to come home from a bar not smelling like an ashtray. On the other hand, I also hate the idea of being forced into the street from a bar if I wanted to enjoy a fag with my Guiness.

Numerous bloggers already posted on the issue, so I’ll refrain from repeating what was said already. But a thought occured to me while reading these two posts (via Jonas Ž.). How much did I spend endangering my life?

Let’s compare things: Smoking is not unlike driving. It’s a calculated risk, taken by an individual. When I light a cigarette, I am endangering myself and those who happen to be around me. But when I drive a car, I am also endangering myself and those around me. So isn’t banning just smoking a bit hypocritical, if what the Minister says is true and he’s really concerned about the health of his fellow citizens? And aren’t people who claim to have saved a fortune by quitting smoking just slightly off the mark?


Below are two calculations (not exactly precise, but close enough):


SMOKING:

I smoke for four years now (give or take a few months). I estimate that I smoked three packs of cigarettes per week on average. I started with half a pack a week to about four a week now (at least a third of that during my Saturday night gig at Cutty Sark). I also estimate that an average price of a pack in this four-year period is abot € 2. Both estimates are a bit exaggerated, just to be on the safe side


excel_fags.jpg


So, I spent on average € 318 yearly endangering myself and those around me, or a total of € 1272 in the past four years. Not exactly cheap, but not utterly pocket-cripling either. To put in economic terms, I spend a little less than a basic Slovene sallary.


DRIVING A CAR:

I’ve had this particular ride for eight years now. I also made a couple of assumptions, especially the one about price of fuel. A litre of 95-octane gas is priced at € 0.95 now, and I have no idea what the price was in 1998. Also, I think that the amount of € 300 for maintainence is just about right, when you think that you have to do a major check-up every now and then, occasionally buy a new set of tires, change the lightbulbs, wiper-blades, etc.


excel_car2.jpg


As you can see, I spend almost six times more endangering myself and people around me by driving a car than by smoking. Add to that the fact that I’ve crashed the car three times in those eight years, causing more than € 6000 of damage in total, and it becomes obvious that driving a car is much more costly.


Given the numbers I think that there is little financial benefit to an individual when this law will come into effect. Also, given the fact that every fatal car crash costs the government circa € 750.000 (I kid you not), perhaps the government should also start considering a ban on using motor vehicles in public areas.


Granted, it’s safer if you don’t smoke (and I’m not encouraging anyone to start). But it’s also safer not to drive a car or cross a street for that matter. It’s also safer not to bungee jump, go rafting, ride a bike or go mountaneering. But people do it anyway.

As I said – it’s a calculated risk. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take. For now, at least.


I have no illusions as to the fate of anti-smoking legislation. It will be passed and (in the beginning at least) vigorously enforced. I understand that.

But that don’t mean I gotta like it…

You Can’t Handle The Truth!

oscar.jpg I used to be quite a movie fiend in my youth…. I even had a weekly show here until 2001 (the fact that the domain of the radio is still operational surprises me a lot, but that’s a different story). But now, as I’m getting older and life sometimes gets way stranger than fiction, the only thing that remains is love for old movies and an inexplicable urge to see the Oscars ceremony live, prefferably without the stupid simultaneous translation on Slovene or German TV channels.


I must also admit that I haven’t seen any of this year’s nominees, but if you want the lowdown on this years ceremony giving away the little golden castrate, then you know where to go to..


While we’re on the subject… Apparently, the American Film Institute is considering revising the all-time top 100 movies list, where Citizen Kane is (in my opinion undeservedly) the top dog.
As not to fail a classic H’wood cliche, here’s my top 10 movies (in H’Wood and Slo/Yu category). Even more (to add insult to injury) I will also provide my favourite 10 movie quotes, since AFI did the same… I know this all seems a wee bit adolescent, but one should realise that I sometimes get the feeling that my life is filled mostly with quotes (movie and otherwise).


TOP 10 H’WOOD MOVIES by Pengovsky

  • Casablanca (obviously)
  • Godfather pt. II
  • L.A. Confidential
  • American Beauty
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Wild At Heart
  • Dead Poets Society
  • The Big Sleep
  • The Usual Suspects
  • Good Morning Vietnam


    TOP 10 SLO/YU MOVIES by the same fucker

  • Na svoji zemlji
  • Ko to tamo peva
  • Vesna
  • Crna mačka, beli mačor
  • Ne joči, Peter
  • Jebiga
  • Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku
  • To so gadi
  • Sreča na vrvici
  • Ničija zemlja


    TOP 10 MOVIE QUOTES by you-know-who (wink, wink)

  • You can’t handle the truth! (A Few Good Men)
  • Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world… She walks into mine… (Casablanca)
  • What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? (The Godfather)
  • A se ti je že kdaj zgodil, da si sreču tipa, k ti ni čist nč ušeč, pa se je izkazal, da je tip od punce, k ti je ful ušeč?
    (Did you, like, ever meet a dude you didn’t like totally, and he turned out to be the boyfriend of a chick you dig, like, totally?) (Jebiga)
  • Jok brate, odpade! (No way, Jose!) (To so gadi – qoute is not a direct translation)
  • I tata bi, sine. I tata bi… (Daddy wants some too, son… Daddy wants some too…) (Ko to tamo peva)
  • The greatest trick devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist (The Usual Suspects)
  • Use the Force, Luke! (Star Wars IV)
  • I rule! (American Beauty)
  • Bond… James Bond (Dr. No)


    So… Care to share your picks?

  • Idiots…

    Admittedly I hold a slight grudge against populistic journalism, comparing the incomparable – like wages in Slovenia and neighbouring countries. It’s easy. You just gather info about average wages in Slovenia and (say) Italy and Austria and – voila! – you find out that wages in both countries are 100% to 150 % higher than in Slovenia. And just to give some (undeserved) credibility to your research you compare prices of selected items such as a cup of coffee or a pizza. Obviously POP TV and its programme Preverjeno! believe that eating pizza and drinking coffee is all you need to survive.


    But these generalisations are just the beginning…. I mean, how fucking anal do you have to be to let something like this happen?!?!


    poptvscrewup.jpg
    I realize that .08 € is not a lot, but really… is basic algebra arithmetic that difficult?


    If I made such a mistake on my math exam in high-school, I’d have flunked. If POP TV makes such a mistake, one wonders how many have there been so far, without us noticing…