Bird migration

Autumns may well be my favourite season for their buzz and variety. Part of its appeal comes from a sharp increase in my activity as the teaching time starts at schools and I keep living high on adrenaline for most of colder months and with the arrival of the spring everyhing seems to quiten down for me in anticipation of rather uneventful summers when I need to think harder to stay busy and focused. Importantly, the October revival quickly reaches my finances and it's during the autumn when the lion's share of my yearly income gets generated. But money isn't all there is to leave-dropping months.

What I relish in is the variety of nature they bring along. The carnival of autumn colours has probably no match the year over and its intensity is overwhelming in Poland where seasons tend to differ greatly. I know this sounds soppy, but in the unforgiving cityscape I chose to settle down in, it breathes a taste of spirituality and metaphysics to observe the little that remains of nature here succumb to its everlasting cycles and change so violently in plain view.

Or to see a flock of brids migrate to their wintering sites in sunnier, southern regions. It's hard to say why, but a sight of birds in V formation, flying in amazing order and with logic-defying precision, makes me pause and wonder. The rare sound of a flock of migrating cranes or storks chattering high in the air never fails to leave me bewildered.

Leona's sensitivity exposed

Fame comes at a price and Leona Lewis' head smashing by a disillusioned fan during a public meeting at a bookstore is just the latest in a string of similar stories. In the interview with the X-Factor artist, who became a stunning success internationally, the Daily Mail paints a favourable picture of the girl who's extremely sensitive and reacts passionately to violence and hardships. She recounts a racist incident her father and she were involved in at a boutique in London, when her black dad was brusquely asked to leave the place by the suspicious shop assistant.

Language to remember:
A) Her boyfriend has been with her through thick and thin.
B) a home-coming gig,
C) I've been in rehearsals,
D) If you are level-headed, you are balanced, reliable, stable,
E) Leona is approachable to fans,
F) She doesn't flash her private parts or sniff cocaine,
G) Some people dismiss her as a boring girl thinking pink thoughts,
H) See the world through red-tinted spectacles,
I) Learn to live in the real world, grow a spine and thicken her skin,
J) I find her a bit soppy = sentimental

Gang Fantasy

The cinema is supposed to dramatise the story and make it more appealing, but in the case of Martin Scorsese's blockbuster Gangs of New York it was the real thing the film was based on that got the better of me. Revolving around the gang rivalry in NYC in the mid-19th century and starring a stunning cast, Gangs couldn't avoid all the trappings of the Hollywood production that made it unbearibly oversimplified, sentimental and geared towards fantasy, rather than a historical film. There's no denying a great deal of care has been applied to recreating settings, costumes, accents and political circumstances of the time, but it may still strike the audience as slightly overdone, sanitized, out of touch with its harsh historic realities. Not even a string of A-list actors from both sides of the Atlantic could save the semblance of watching a well-documented piece of history, rather than another mediocre action film.

Unsatisfied by the feature, I turned to DVD extras and found what I wanted - commentary by historians, interviews and a Discovery Channel documentary on the Five Points, the street intersection in Manhattan where most of the film takes place and the notorious place over which the gangs fight. All these add-ons nicely interplay with the content of the drama, shedding more light on historical figures that dominate the screen, especially one of the most corrupted politicians in the history of American politics William Tweed, who led Tammany Hall, as well as on wider social events that seem to get washed out in the strongly personalised story of the film. You can't possibly hold it against a Hollywood production that it resorted to this kind of techniques for cinematic effect, but the commentary on Draft Riots and the imapact of the American Civil War rightly put the whole gang rivalry in perspective.

Gangs of New York, inspired by Herbet Ashbury's novel, deserve respect for venturing to portray a forgotten piece of American urban history, enriching our picture of how the American identity was forged in its early stages. On top of that, it deserves respect for inspiring the audience to discover more about the issue which seems to focus much of what America is about.

Language to retain:
1. a keepsake = a memento,
3. Frenchify means to become more and more French-like, but it referred to suffering from venerial diseases, too,
5. a fire hydrant = a fire plug,
7. rickety buildings,
9. Irish confetti = stones thrown at windows or in a fight,
11. sneak peaks from the film
13. the ordered life of the 20th century,
15. to set the pattern for,
17. Tweed: The first rule of democracy: The ballots don't make the results, accountans do. Keep counting.
19. Tweed: The appearance of the law must be upheld, especially while it's being broken.

Prawosławna wyspa

Dałem się skusić nietypowemu w Polsce plakatowi z ikoną prawosławną i odwiedziłem kino w Zamku w ramach Dni Kultury Prawosławnej, żeby obejrzeć doceniony na całym świecie i popularny w Rosji film Pawła Łungina "Wyspa" oparty o klasyczny motyw zbrodni i kary.

Zaczyna się w czasie II wojny światowej, kiedy w napadzie strachu i histerii niedoświadczony rosyjski żołnierz zabija za namową Niemców swojego dowódcę. Ratuje się przed śmiercią, ale to wydarzenie naznacza go na całe życie i kiedy spotykamy go po raz drugie jest mnichem w prawosławnym zakonie gdzieś na peryferiach Rosji. Żyje w ciągłym poczuciu wagi swojego grzechu i nieustannie pokutuje za moment słabości, ale jednocześnie jest rozchwytywany przez wiernych dzięki swojej przystępności oraz zdolności uleczania modlitwą. Jego niedoskonała przeszłość, świadomość powszechności, a nie wyjątkowości grzechu zbliża go do przeciętnych ludzi, nieustannie błądzących, niepewnych, żyjących w świecie tak różnym od scholastycznego, gmachowego życia oficjeli zakonnych. Zresztą Anatoly jest też sekretnie podziwiany przez swoich kolegów z zakonu za prostotę życia, za bezkompromisowość, za szacunek wśród wiernych, nazywany jest świętym.

Film konczy się w momencie, kiedy główny bohater pomaga wyleczyć z obłędu córkę mężczyzny, który okazuje się owym przełożonym z czasów wojny światowej, cudownie ocalałym. Dochodzi między nimi do rozmowy, pojednania, wyznania i wybaczenia grzechów, a Anatoly, choć wciąż pełen skruchy za swoje grzechy, odchodzi z tego świata pogodzony z Bogiem.

To dla mnie za każdym razem olbrzymia przyjemność, żeby wyrwać się z kręgu filmu i kultury anglosaskiej, w swojej wersji popularnej totalnie wtórnej i wypranej z atrakcyjności, a rosyjska alternatywa jest nie do pogardzenia. "Wyspa" gra jednak trochę na schematach, opowiada po raz kolejny historię dobrze znaną, skłania do wniosków co najmniej powtórnych, ale za to tak uniweralnych, że warto je powtarzać, i w takiej scenerii, że warto je odkryć na nowo. Zaprasza do życia blisko ze sobą, do mierzenia się z własnymi niedoskonałościami, grzechami, do dzielenia się tym doświadczeniem z innymi, do prostego kontaktu z ludźmi.

No i ten język rosyjski, którego nigdy formalnie się nie uczyłem, który pozostanie pewnie moim niespełnionym marzeniem do końca życia.

Sputnik nad polską reklamą

Widziałem ostatnio co najmniej trzy reklamy w polskiej telewizji parodiujące rosyjską rzeczywistość. Po pierwsze, nieprawdopodobny Tomasz Kot w roli Anatolija Kaszpirowskiego w promocyjnym video Netii hipnotyzuje szczegółami oferty. Po drugie, Ikea wypuściła serię reklamówek z akcją umieszczoną w kosmosie, jedna lepsze od drugiej.

Zaległości z teatru

Dostałem od Kici na imieniny bilety do Teatru Nowego na komedię "Przyjęcie dla głupca" i poszliśmy. Widziałem już kiedyś u brata w Krakowie francuski film "Kolacja dla palantów", oparty na tym samym tekście, więc znałem już intrygę oraz niezamierzone konsekwencje, które odwracają sztukę do góry nogami, ale z drugiej strony nigdy nie byłem w żadnym teatrze w Poznaniu. W reżyserii Tadeusza Bradeckiego, ta paryska komedia była odrobinę delikatniejsza, z inspektorem podatkowym o trochę przyjemniejszym usposobieniu, co jest zrozumiałe w mieszczańskim, urzędniczym Poznaniu. Nie zawiedli aktorzy, choć dla mojego oka, przyzwyczajonegoo do sali kinowej lub ekranu komputera, każdy żywy aktor jest objawieniem, powiewem świeżości, chodzącą ulotnością. W roli głupca popisowo zagrał Mirosław Kropielnicki, biła od niego energia i chęć, a nie jest to takie oczywiste w mniejszych ośrodkach jak Poznań.

BNP on BBC

Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC's Question Time caused a sensation in Britain and attracted voices of protest for allowing the leader of the country's largest far-right party to use this high-profile platform just ahead of the general elections.

The discussion panel included Diane Abbott, the best-known British black politician.

Polish Tate

Here's Mirosław Bałka at Tate Modern, opening his installation in the Unilever Series.

BNP in heroes' clothing

The British Army veterans are determined to cut off any links to the British National Party, a whites-only political organisation that opposes immigration and multiculturalism, which has been seeking to attach itself to British ex-servicemen. Its leaders ostentatiously sport insignia and symbols associated with the veteran communisty, such as a poppy badge, but in fact its overt endorsement from the Armed Forces is scant.

Nuclear tax

As the issue of securing a steady supply of electricity becomes critical for the UK, with its declining reserves of fossil fuels, aged nuclear reactors and a budding market of the renewables, the government admits planning to impose a new tax on electricity bills to help subsidise the creation and operation of new nuclear facilities. The move is bound to run into criticism for prioritising nuclear power over renewables and for tapping taxpayers' money which is already spead too thin.

Language:
1. a levy = a tarrif, a tax
2. to recoup the cost of building a plant = to return or to receive the equivalent
3. the matter has come to a head = The matter has reached a critical stage
4. The tax is taking effect on Sept 7.
5. be a byword for = a symbol for, represent sth
6. be loath to admit = be reluctant to admit

What a Feeling

One Times journalist went out of her way to pinpoint the issue of sexism in the City of London, which is known for its chauvinistic treatment of women, but had a hard time getting any senior female employee to contribute. It's a direct result of how the media attention sex discrimination in the Square Mile generously got in the past is now backfiring. The two female success stories the journalist managed to contact do nothing but solidify the reigning stereotypes of career girls.

One is a high-ranking manager in a bank who carries out a balancing act between professional and family life with amazing integrity and determination. She and her husband, who agreed to quit his job as a journalist and run their house instead, head a family with nine children, no small achievement in these circumstances, but at the price of extraordinary concentration and occasional bursts of emotional fragility.

On the opposite end, the other successful City woman who owns her consulting business is consciously brushing aside any semblance of family life, admitting that strains she has to put up with are not cut out for familial well-being. With blatant sincerity and calculation, she prioritises the world of multi-million deals and high-octane jobs over anything that a decision to settle down might bring along.

It's stunning how knowingly young financiers and bankers sign up to a lifestyle which is by any standards profligate and unsustainable and promotes values few ordinary people or communities could uphold. But greed, together with the promise of a flashy, spectacular life, keeps talented individuals flowing in and the vibrant after-hours scene, with mobs of stunning hotties determined to tap their resources or capitalise on their connections ready to lapdance.

Language to remember:
+ You can't have your cake and eat it.
+ I'd be unfair on my partner.
+ I'm a bitch to work for.
+ child-bearing age,
+ a health club = a gym,
+ They are cut from the same cloth.
+ Money is a draw.
+ a coin's flip from the Bank of England,
+ cannon-fodder faces,
+ a chat-up line,
+ a bevvy = a drink, We had a few bevvies last night.
+ dressed to the nines,
+ to sleep around to get ahead,
+ to sleep your way to the top,
+ be resigned to the fact that,
+ pinch somebody on the bottom, pinch somebody on the bollocks,
+ It's a bear pit.
+ The Square Mile

Au pair bitten

A story of a Hungarian au pair in the UK who was bitten by a police dog while a squad raided the house where she worked in search for ex-offenders.

Language to remember:
1. a police dog burst into her room,
2. to savage = to attack without restraint or pity, to attack ferociously,
3. oblivious to/of her presence,
4. They threw open the door,
5. a snarling dog = warczący pies,
6. have a knife stuck in your leg,
7. a handler = somebody who trains or exhibits animals,
8. be given a tetanus jab,
9. be put on a drip delivering antibiotics = apply intravenous therapy
10. tooth marks couldn't be stitched up,
11. a halfway house,
12. duck inside a house,
13. He clambered out of the window = Wygramolił się przez okno.
14. They knocked the trellis down.

Renewable Retailer

Tesco broke stunning news today when it set out its plan to transform into a green business in terms of carbon emission. The largest British supermarket, active in a number of overseas markets, intends to create its own windfarms which could generate energy needed for refrigeration, heating and lighting at its facilities in the UK. It's a dramatic shift in the company's approach to electricity and it comes just weeks before the critical United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In practice, Tesco's departure from fossil fuel-generated power means a massive potential reduction in carbon emissions, since the supermarket chain claims one seventh of the High Street retail martket.

89 revisited

The Daily Telegraph launched a new series in which its journalist goes on a revision journey across eastern and central Europe, twenty years after the revolution of 1989 brought about a complete transformation in the region.

Delicate British economy

Amid the first signs of recovery there are increasing voices of concern about the spiralling public debt in the UK, which in the coming years might prove the single most challenging issue for the administration. Part of the problem is that the British public got used to high levels of government spending and feel entitled to most services and privileges and scaling them back rouses fierce protests. In fact, some professions and social group are bracing for protest and civil disobedience in an attempt to put pressure on the government to increase their pay. Economists predict that Britain is bound to join the infamous club of most-indebted Western nations, which includes the notoriously extravagant United States of America.

Vocab:
1. profligate = recklessly wasteful, wildly extravagant,
2. retrenchment = reduction, curtailment of expenses,
3. boom-time pay rises

Art out of nothing

Environmentalism is opening up new avenues. Leo Sewell, an artist, creates sculptures from scraps of waste.

Sicknote culture, UK clone

Talking heads in Poland revel in painting a picture of Poland as an outstanding country, in its shortcomings and in its achievements. More often than not, their claims are based on weak foundations, incomplete statistics or simply ignorance of the outside world, which tends to share, to different degrees, most of Polish faults and strengths.

One case in point is the so-called sicknote culture, which is seen as a typically Polish invention, but in fact has easily reached other nations, recently the UK. Britain is just waking up to the extent of the problem, with less than a fifth of incapacity benefits lawfully claimed and the system of handing out sick notes ridiculously lenient. Striving to tone done the unemployment figures, Labour pursued policies which actually encouraged people to claim health benefits instead of registering as the jobless. It recently set up a make-shift review procedure to sift through those pocketing government help, but it's the new cabinet that is going face the issue in its entirety.

Brilliant language:
1. a sick note,
2. claim incapacity benefits,
3. claim government handouts,
4. a claimant,
5. be on incapacity benefit,
6. undergo stringent medical tests,
7. put on unemployment benefit,
8. a massive underestimate,
9. a freeloader,
10, a taxpayer,
11. suffer ill health,
12. be in a wheelchair and on continual painkillers,
13. The rot starts at the top,
14. They were caught stealing,
15. the benefits culture,
16. DLA.

Expenses scandal

The Parliamentary scandal at Westminster over illegally claimed expenses continues and casts a pall over a growing number of MPs, inluding the PM who agreed to pay back some of the cash. Luckily for the Conservatives, their leader David Cameron is one of those politicians who have a clear record on the issue, which might be a real asset in the upcoming election campain and a boost in terms of public trust. The scandal was revealed by the investigation led by the veteran MP Thomas Legg, who now attracts serious criticism from his colleagues, unhappy with his zeal and his tendency to judge on retrospective decisions.

Language:
1. balderdash is another term for nonsense,
2. a grandee is a person of high rank,
3. When you heckle, you interrupt and annoy somebody, e.g. while giving a presentation

More scandalous expenses

Another MP, a deputy speaker of the Lords, Paul of Marylebone, has been discovered claiming money in expenses that he wasn't entitled to have. Despite owning a stunning fortune and property across Britain, he declared living in a flat outside London so that Parliamant refunded the costs of his stays in the capital to the amount of £38,000. As it turned out, no one has ever seen him stay over there and it was typically occupied by his employee in this area. An important Labour donor, he's just another in a string of dishonest MPs, now running at about 100, who made use of their position to lay their hands on Westminster expenses.

Langauge:
0. claim cash allowances,
1. an apartment block,
2. Nudge, nugde, wink, wink, taken from a Python sketch, can be used when you're implying something,
3. sacked for gross misconduct,
4. follow the rules to the letter,
5. the ballot box,
6. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours,
7. It goes from bad to worse.
8. If he had any decency, he should have already resigned, but this is an old-fashihoned idea.
9. within easy commuting distance from,
10. You can be non-domicile in the UK and get preferential treatment in the tax system.

Peace for Obama

Two days after President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the premature recognition is attracting more and more doubt and suspicion in the United States. For an aspiring and still relatively unaccomplished politician, such an accolade turns out to be more of an embarrassment and nuisance in a society which is ruthlessly critical of its representatives and prioritises achievements over high-flying rhetoric. With a lot of criticism piling on Obama for being too much of a celebrity and too little of a hands-on politician, the Nobel Prize comes at an inopportune moment, fuelling reservations about the President's record. The astonishment with which the decision has been met in the United States, and abroad, indicates how serious modern threats are taken and how unwilling the public is to appreciate politicians just for what they say, rather than for their actions. Clearly, it also reflects the American values that underscore restraint and work ethic, at the end of which, not at the beginning, is the recognition.

Far from being impossible to pinpint, the list of Obama's early, largely symbolic, successes, even though not seen as such by all, is indeed counting.

Alternative Fest Poznań

The idea was triggered by a perceived lack of young, indie bands performing in Poznań and in its first edition Poznań Alternative Fest is running a series of such gigs scattered all over autumn. This Wednesday, the fest featured the Australian rising stars, the Drones, supported by Orchid, Polish newcomers who, dominated by women musicians and with a female vocalist, reminded me of Gaba Kulka, The Corrs or Tori Amos.

Before the performance I duly went over the Drones' discography, hyped up by the organisers as representing a compelling mix of modern Australian psychodelia and lots of nearly classic rock influences, like Neil Young or Nick Cave. It did catch on with me, leaving the impression of decent, well-produced Anglo-Saxon hard rock, a little too sombre for mainstream festivals or music televisions, but with some tunes just an inch from a hit quality, melodic, easy to remember or hum along.

A bit reserved and aloof, except for the smiling guitarist, they pulled out a good gig, alternating between their better known songs and less palatable noise in reasonanble proportions and leaving quite a bit of energy on stage. It was the frontman, a skinny, absent-minded bloke, entirely preoccupied with music, who made an impression of somebody in deep trance, burning himself out as he yelps out the lyrics. For me, this jerkiness and unrestrained involvement on stage is practically synonymous with being authentic and his presence on stage brought to my mind how the vocalists of Handsome Furs or Muse, both amazing artists, look and vibrate live, fragile, vulnerable, desperate.

The performance was far from immaculate, with lots of pauses and technical glitches, and some boredom staring from musicians' faces at times, but I managed to wind down nicely and this is what I went there for.

Their latest album reviewed on Pitchfork here.

New PM?

After David Cameron's speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, foreign commentators started portraying him as a certain successor to Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, but on the home front reviews have been rather mixed. We may not be just witnessing the birth of the new PM, but the sentiment has been clearly turning away from the Conservative Party and it's the Tories who seem to be going with the flow of the public opinion now. Seen as good at handling the economy, Cameron's party has unrolled a programme of austerity measures, including spending cuts, pay freezes and a timetable for later retirement, in an effort to pay down Britain's budget deficit, the single most important issue identified by the frontrunners for the new government. Disenchated with politicians, the British public may be a little reluctant in handing out an easy, overwhelming victory to the Conservaties, who appear to lack temperament and momementum of the New Labour in 1997, but after 12 years of Labour rule, there is a growing expectation for a change.

It's interesting David Cameron, a matter-of-fact politician representing quite a rigid, business-like party, ventured a personal, emotional address at the conference, orientated towards inspiration rather than policy details. Importantly, he chose to include references to his son's death, a personal tragedy that took away the 4-year-old Ivan this year and moved Britain.

Language to take:

81 by way of, as in "His talk included little by way of policy details",
82 make a pitch for, a useful idiom meaning try (persuade somebody), as in "Like many other speakers, she made a pitch for stopping Muslim immigration",
83 a widening wealth gap,
84 to default on one's debt = nie wywiązywać się ze spłaty długów

Academic pecking order

Four out of ten best universities in the world are located in Britain: Cambridge, University College London, Oxford and Imperial College London, but a whopping investment at Asian higher education institutions and their improved management mean their soaring reputation in international tables. Still ranking far from the top, with the Tokyo University barely 22nd, they nonetheless tend to move up, while American universities, now well ahead of the pack, with Yale and Harvard in the top three together with Cambridge, are overall in a descending trend.

Sorry you were out

Britan's discovering how its Royal Mail posties cut corners in delivering their parcels by leaving sorry-you-were-out cards even when people are at home to save themselves a load.

The 2009 Booker Prize award goes to Hilary Mantel for her novel set in the Tudor era.

The Polish right-of-centre government is being engulfed by a wave of corruption allegations in relation to illegal lobbying practices. There's been a huge government reshufflement, but if the affair is exacerbated by new, compromising facts, it might eventually bring down the Civic Platform or remove it from power for a long time.

Peak at the Press

The Guardian reports that Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduces a pay freeze in the public sector, which will mostly affect senior civil servants, NHS managers and other high-ranking officials, including quangos. The announcement came days before the Conservative Party Conference, in a way stealing the show from the Tories, who considered putting forward a similar move at their conference. The way the message was delivered is seen as a breach of an unspoken convention by which parties are not supposed to comment or announce policies at and around each other's conferences and the Labour Party broke that tradition ushering a programme associated with the Conservatives.

Good lanaguge:
1. a quango is an employee of a quasi non-governmental organisation,
2. frontline services include health care, schooling or the police,
3. "The decision was seen as a sign that the broadest shoulders must carry the heaviest load"

The Tories intend to raise the retirement age to 66 starting in 2016 to cut the budget deficit, a move announced by the shadow chancellor George Osbourne. With the average life expectancy at 86, it's essential that steps are taken. Now, a record 11% of men over 65 are still in work.

Good language:
1. unpalatable measure,
2. spending constraint

Stella and some scepticism

I find it harder and harder each year to warm up into the rhythm of the teaching season, which possibly indicates that I'm losing steam as an English teacher. How long is it going to take me? One year, two, three? I'm rather sceptical about the longer run, both in terms of my enthusiam and the market for English teaching in Poland. But it'd require immense strength to complete an educational and professional U turn now, leaving experience and habits aside and embracing something new. And it might mean a temporary fall in earnings on quite a large scale, but I could get over it provided there was a new direction for me to pursue.

Meanwhile, the Guardian published an interview with Stella McCartney, the ex-Beatle's daughter and a fashion designer, in which she sets out her environmental attitudes and talks at length about childhood, career and fashion industry.

Good language and facts to remember:
01. every inch means in every respect, entirely, as in: "Mozart was every inch a genius",
02. rye toast = żytni chleb,
03. Stella is an outspoken vegetarian,
04. You can try to reduce your carbon footprint,
05. A trenchant respect is a vigorous, keen, distinct respect,
06. Ecotricity is an English green energy company operating wind turbines,
07. Ben 10 is an American animated series,
08. McCartney's first collection was universally panned = harshly reviewed,
09. If you butter somebody up, you compliement them excessively, as in: He was a proficient flatterer, particularly good at buttering up young attractive women,
10. Biodegradable carrier bags are growing in populatiry.