There is something to be said for enjoying an evening out at Johnny's Bar, next to the Restauant A&A in Pristina. It is a very small place, fitting only 15 comfortably. This is fine until 10pm on the dot the place fills to the gills. If you get there at 21:45 you will should still be able to get a table. The pub is run by 2 brothers, Johnny and Xoni (sp?)- while one bartends, the other DJs.Read more »

During the shooting of Hellboy 2 in Etyek last year, Selma Blair and Jeffrey Tambor were regular customers. It was a real Notting Hill Moment when Selma walked in the first time. I asked here if it was her first time here, and how she had heard about the place. She said she was with a film in Budapest. I asked her if she was in production or acting<!-- pagebreak --> in it.Read more »

I get a lot of shopping questions about where people can find environmentally-friendly household cleaning goods, etc. I do my shopping at Okoszolgalat (Ecoservice). Okoszolgalat is the coordination center for Hungary's environmental NGOs, and home to the Green Phone environmental hot line/help service.Read more »

BUDSUCS' Stand-up comedy night was so in demand this week, that organiser Kinga Kremer had to schedule an additional show for Monday night. Even so, Tuesday night's show was packed. The Cotton Club on Jokai u., the new home of Budsucs (previously at Repete Sarok), put on a buffet dinner included with the ticket. Unfortunately, it was not nearly as good as last time. Also, the drink prices are way too high.Read more »

I have just moved for the 21st time in 18 years in Budapest. This includes 6.5 years in one place. Sometimes it was a landlord that would always walk in when I was at home, or not. Sometimes the landlord threw me out with 24 hours notice because their son was returning from the army and needed the flat, or relatives from the countryside. Sometimes the rent went up 100% overnight, and more often still, it was break-ups with girlfriends.Read more »

Treehugger Dan's just hosted the first edition of The Future Museum in 2009, an original performance of poetry and music. Local English language poet Dániel Dányi read to music arranged and performed by János Nemes.Read more »

The most recent installment of the Bitch Moan and Wine Society was guaranteed to leave us legless, but somehow even with the best intentions, the combination of Tokaj wine, Scottish whisky and Dutch cheese did not leave me with a hangover.Read more »

We saw "One Set to Love: A Twisted Romance in One Act" starring Mike Kelly and Matt Devere (Madhouse Company) at the Merlin Szinhaz. I usually take my friend Chris' girlfriend because he hates the theater and she loves it.Read more »

322pp., 2005, Portobello Books
As Al Gore so poignantly said in "An Inconvenient Truth," we so often go from denial to despair without doing anything in between. This is how I feel while reading most environmental books. Jeremy Leggett's new book,Read more »

I know brown coal, after nuclear, is the most environmentally destructive source of energy, but every time I smell lignite in the air, I feel at home. Maybe it was because my first time living abroad was in China, where the coal dust was so thick in Bejing that your white hospital mask (almost required while riding a bike) was black within minutes. I remember just hanging up my energetically washboarded clothes in the courtyard, only to see with horror a veil of coal dust descending on them minutes later.Read more »