Czech culture at home: 5 picks for good films, eats, and reads this weekend, Jan. 15–17, 2021

Let’s face it, the weather outside is not conducive to heading out and getting on your skateboard. But through the film King Skate, you can enjoy that and more as this film explores Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 80s. Something completely different, this film on AeroVod explores love at first sight and an endless party with cult figures of Czech and world skateboarding in the stories of broken bones, unbreakable friendships, and a wild ride for freedom. The film is in Czech but contains optional English subtitles, it received the Czech Lion award for the best documentary film of 2018. It is also available to watch on the Czech version of HBO GO.

New York-style Italian meatball subs?! YES PLEASE! Rocco’s Meatball subs are to die for, with their meaty cheesy goodness, but you may have to throw out the New Year’s diet plans! Rocco’s is currently offering a 30-percent discount on Bolt foods so there's no reason not to try Prague’s first New York-style Italian joint this January. And while restaurants are closed for sit-in customers your can order your meatball or eggplant sub, pasta, and more for collection and delivery. Order online now.

An open-air exhibition exploring photo censorship opened on the pedestrian zone of Prague’s Na Příkopě Street this week. The exhibition, "Undesired Moments (Nežádoucí okamžiky)" runs through Feb. 14. It has more than 20 double-sided panels with 134 photographs, mainly from the Czech News Agency (ČTK) archives. Some photos have been manipulated to delete people. Other photos were banned by censors for a wide variety of reasons. In still other cases manipulation occurred with misleading captions. The exhibition staged by ČTK highlights methods of censorship, manipulation, and forgery in photojournalism. The images can also be viewed online with text available in both Czech and English.

The reSITE Design and the City podcast from the team at Manifesto is a must-listen pod for anyone interested in art, architecture, and design! The second season of the podcast "Design and the City" recently launched with the likes of Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV and The Why Factory, graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, filmmaker Gary Hustwit and Founder of Madame Architect Julia Gamolina. The season is focused on all aspects of city-making, urban development, architecture, and design. You can listen to it on all good podcast providers including Apple Podcast and Spotify. The next episode will be released on Jan. 19. 

This book, featuring a foreword from British Prince Charles no less, is a tribute to the centenary of the birth of Jiří Louda, the renowned heraldist, and also the author of the Czech national insignia. Louda got to know Britain well during WW2, when he left his home country for Great Britain, where he graduated from officer’s school and became a parachutist, to join the war effort from abroad. It’s one for the history buffs with Charles stating that the publication “can only serve to deepen an understanding of British history in the Czech Republic.” It was published by UP University Press at the end of last year and is around 600 pages. It can be ordered online.