MDNA promo shot by Mert & Marcus

Because for me this is what MDNA is. Madonna falling down – and here comes the twist – into Wonderland. I’m not afraid to say it: Madonna’s new record is not the new Ray of Light or Confessions, it’s not even the new Erotica. It’s BETTER then ANY of these. We have here the dance queen, the weirdo, the trash princess, the spiritual godess, the bitch, the sexual icon, fighter, the broken flower, the new yorker and the londoner, the mother and the daughter on ONE album. Finally on one album we see all the Madonnas we love or hate, but most importantly we all KNOW. And not surprisingly at all, we also have TOTALLY new sounds, what in some years the fans will refer to as “The MDNA Sound.” Unquestionably incredible.

I’m lucky enough to publish some reviews in the next few days, in English I’ll write for The Wild magazine, in Hungarian (if you’re interested but you don’t speek Hungarian you can always use Google translate ) for the Marie Claire blog and in print for the EXIT, one of Hungary’s best known weekly program magazines. As I live in Tel Aviv I already have my ticket for the opening night… so stay tuned for more. And for now, the lyrics of my favorite one… a song of Madonna, The Believer. A heartbreaking poem fit into tingling, crying, whispering classical music. Written by Madonna, Willian Orbit, and a Laurie Mayer, someone who I never heard of, but I think I should. Listen to the song here on SoundCloud.

When I move a certain way
I feel an ache I’d kept at bay
A hairline break that’s taking hold
A metal that I thought was gold

And pure so sure I’d struck a vein
I wanted you to feel the same
So when you did ignite a spark
Rescue me from all this dark
See our hearts are intertwined
Then I’m free, free of mine

I’m falling free

And see our hearts are intertwined
And then I’m free, I’m free of mine
Deep and pure our hearts align
And then I’m free, I’m free of mine

When I raise a certain wing
And crawl beneath that growing thing
It throws a shadow over time
And keeps yours falling next to mine

Your days were meant to fly and do
I fall and fold mine into you
And what you take is just enough
And what you give is what I love
And when you lift you raise the sail
And then I’m free, free to fail

I’m falling free

Deep and pure our hearts align
And then I’m free, I’m free of mine
When I let loose the need to know
Then we’re both free, we’re free to go

When I lose a certain claim
That tries to know and needs to blame
Whatever river runs aground
It turns my head and washes down

The face of God that stands above
Pouring over Hope and Love
That all of might, and life, and limb
Could turn around and love again
When I let loose the need to know
Then we’re both free, free to go

I’m falling free

Deep and pure our hearts align
And then I’m free, I’m free of mine
When I let loose the need to know
Then we’re both free, we’re free to go

UPDATE: Personal milestone. After I published my review on The Wild blog, Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary shared my link on his Twitter. One of  THOSE moments… thank You. 

Kabbalah isn’t what most people think it is. It isn’t a Jewish thing. It isn’t a Madonna thing. It isn’t a self-help thing. It’s not a religion, and in truth, it’s not even spirituality. Kabbalah is a 2000-year-old wisdom for change that over a million people around the world are learning. It is the same wisdom that was once taught and understood only by thought leaders throughout history, including Plato, Sir Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein, all of whom used it to uncover the fundamental nature of this world—ahead of their time. Today, because of modern technology the wisdom of Kabbalah is available to anyone who wants to learn.

A bestselling author and luminary authority on Kabbalah, Yehuda Berg is part of a long line of Kabbalistic masters, and the son of Rav and Karen Berg. Recognized as “the world’s leading authority on the Kabbalah movement” by Newsweek, the magazine named him as one of the top five rabbis in the U.S. in 2007. In 2009, GQ magazine’s The Gentlemen’s Fund honored him for being an Agent of Change in the field of Education. Yehuda has authored more than 30 books on topics ranging from self-empowerment and depression to sex and the Bible. His bestsellers are “The Power of Kabbalah” and “The 72 Names of God”, which have been translated into 20 and 14 languages respectively. His daily Tune-ups are sent to more than 200,000 fans, and he contributes regularly to Huffington Post. Yehuda speaks internationally and teaches thousands of people from all walks of life. He believes in the power of human consciousness and personal transformation, and utilizes Kabbalah as a tool for change.

Each and every one of us has a Divine spark of potential inside, a purpose to fulfill in this lifetime. If we are alive, we are here on earth for a reason and we are capable of more. The reason our lives are filled with confusion, uncertainty and fear is because we are not on the path towards achieving our potential. But learning the wisdom of Kabbalah rouses us from our sleep, awakening us to our greater potential, activating our inner compass, and pointing us in the direction of what we came here to do—to shift our mindset and awaken consciousness on a personal level so that we can achieve lasting global change. This is the purpose of studying Kabbalah… and that is why you can’t miss this opportunity to meet Yehuda in Hungary, on the 19th of May, 6 pm sharp, at the Alexandra Bookstore, Andrassy avenue, Budapest. To register for the event, please click here.

Because they worth it!

Staying Alive is an MTV international initiative to encourage HIV prevention, promote safer lifestyle choices and fight the stigma and discrimination which fuels the HIV epidemic. Staying Alive is now the world’s largest HIV mass media awareness and prevention campaign. It features the world’s biggest stars from Beyonce to Justin Timberlake, Mary J Blige, Diddy, Kanye West, Kelly Rowland, to Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton. I was honoured and happy when the MTV Hungary asked me to be the ambassador of the campaign, and on the side of many other Hungarian artist, promote health and safe sex in the form of concerts, documentaries, public service announcements, TV film, film competitions and many others.

Staying Alive began in 1998 as a one off award winning documentary, of the same name, about six young people from around the world and how their lives were affected by HIV and AIDS and hosted by George Michael. Now, a bit more than decade later we’ve been hosting an amazing, all day event in the heart of Budapest, with free and anonimus HIV testing, exhibition, a press conference, and an all night long party with top bands and singers. Just one sentence from my speech in front of the crowd: let’s not call the people “sick”, or “ill”, who suffering from HIV. Let’s call them “healing people”.

There are so many people out there who are terrified of not being able to celebrate Christmas with us next year. You… we are capable of giving them a gift. The same way,as Dorothy needed all her friends to be able to get back to Kansas, the same way as Santa needs Christmas spirit to fly on his sleigh, they need us to believe. The cure is here with us! With the power of collective consciousness we are capable of changing our reality into a world where we all take care of each other. The Bible says, love your neighbour as you love yourself… well I say, sometimes it’s okay to love them even a bit more.

Fashion-smashion in Budapest!

Within the framework of the festival Digital Fashion Week offers a new showcase platform to the Hungarian fashion community of designers, photographers, and video artists side-by-side with international participants: replacing the format of traditional runway fashion shows, new collections are presented via fashion videos.

Along with our desire to become an international festival, we would like to create an authentic forum to present the fashion industry of Hungary, bringing recognition to Hungarian designers both domestically and internationally and initiate an ongoing dialogue within the industry in the context of an exciting and forward-looking series of events. Our intent is to provide appropriate communication channels and infrastructure, by including offline and online media, members of the fashion industry and the general public as well.

In recent years the new medium of fashion video – due to its attractive qualities and cost-effective mode of presentation – is gaining increasing popularity on the international fashion scene,which enables designers to keep abreast of rapid shifts in community-generated online media and allows their work to reach the widest audience.

The festival will feature two categories of videos: by-invitation and pre-selected from submissions through an open competition. The best featured videos will receive prizes from a relevant professional jury: Kathryn Ferguson, film and video director, Maroy Krisztina, Glamour magazine editor-in-chief, Lakatos Márk, stylist, tv personality, teacher, Oltai Kata, curator of Museum Ludwig – Contemporary Art Museum, Zanin Éva, founder&CEO of Sonntag Media, aestete, fashion critic, Martinkó József, design and architecture critic, journalist, Fliglauf Benedek, film director, Pálos Máté, filma esthete, editor of film magazine Prizma, Andreas Waldschuetz, video director… and myself, Steiner Kristóf, journalist, and – as they called me very kindly on the program sheet – pop culture expert.

In addition to the video screenings, the festival offers a variety of programs. There will be a slew of petcha kutcha presentations, interactive installation and film screenings on the topics of fashion and new media. Fashion meets culture in Hungary? I’m lovong it!

Why so blue?…

Love is a trav’ler on the river of no return
Swept on for ever to be lost in the stormy sea
Wail-a-ree I can hear the river call
Where the roarin’ waters fall wail-a-ree
I can hear my lover call come to me
I lost my love on the river and for ever my heart will yearn
Gone gone for ever down the river of no return
Wail-a-ree wail-a-re-ee
He’ll never return to me!

“budapest is a city i have always wanted to visit – rich history, their language is an isolate on the european continent [it's an altaic language more closely related to finnish, mongolian, japanese and korean than to any other groups], they have a culture of spending long afternoons in thermal baths, and the danube is a famous river. i was not disappointed!

my reason for coming was the hungarian custom nookanooka show organized by csap viktor, our man on the ground in budapest. the show featured 35 local artists, and i was blown-away by the enthusiasm and craft the artists applied to the competition. i will update the nookanooka pages on our website as soon i get the official photographs and artists bios from csap. larry tee was dj at the after party, and it was great catching up with him [i haven't seen larry since he moved to london]. i got to become friends with the madonna of hungary, kristóf steiner who splits his time between budapest and tel aviv and was our emcee for the evening. really great guy!

the only unfortunate thing was some planning issues, mainly the may day holiday weekend. like NYC on labor day, more than half of the city was out-of-town! hopefully the show will travel within buda or pest to continue the buzz when the city is back to full-tilt! i’ll keep you posted.

so, let me end by saying, if you haven’t thought of it, visit budapest! it’s affordable, extremely bicycle friendly [i rented a bike for 2 days and it was AMAZING] and full of things to do. as for best thermal, i recommend széchenyi. gallért is more famous [matthew barney's cremaster cycle was partly filmed there] but not as nice overall [poorly signed, only some of the staff are helpful]. széchenyi is in a beautiful park with an amusement part and museums, so you can kill a whole day there!”

My confessions on Leo…

Leo is a student whose wide eyes and curly hair project sensitive boyishness. He is vaguely aware that there’s something wrong with his relationship with beautiful Andrea. What’s worse, Leo’s mom is pressuring them to get married. Uncomfortable with Andrea’s requests for sex, Leo pretends he has to study. He goes to hide in the apartment he shares with a pothead who spends his days watching “Star Wars.” Away from everyone’s prying eyes, Leo searches online for friends. Timid and awkward at first, he invites one or two men to his room, only to have them leave when he says he just wants to talk. Then Leo stumbles into old girlfriend Caro, who has become listless and chronically depressed. As they grow closer, he finds that she, too, has a repressed secret. Leo’s visits to an understanding therapist, plus his new love for a candid man named Seba, help him begin to answer his questions about himself.

As the festival’s official site describes, the film explores the moments of unexpected connection that can lead to confession and acceptance. Love, loss, grief, guilt, desires, and fear are all more easily managed if we have the courage to face them.

You can catch the movie in Budapest…

…on the 21-22nd of May, in Művész cinema, at 20:30
23-24th of May, Puskin cinema, at 20:30
25-26th of May, Művész cinema, at 17:00
28th of May, Toldi cinema – ask for the details about the all day workshops and talkshows.

Jump for his love!

The so-called “Andy Warhol of dance music”, Larry Tee has served as one of the foremost influencers of the independent party scene worldwide, beginning with his production of the B-52′s smash hit, the eponymous “Rock Lobster”. Following that auspicious start, Tee’s tastemaking powers only increased, asout of his late 1990s Brooklyn club nights emerged the electro-rock hybrid “Electroclash” sound that became an international phenomenon. Not to rest on its success, Tee continued to push the bar forward with his recent dirty electro-house album Club Badd, featuring appearances by Princess Superstar, Perez Hilton, Roxy Cottontail, Diplo, and collaboration with Steve Aoki and Santogold its tracks are routinely featured in MSTRKRFT and Justice live sets, among others.

Party hosts, and support DJs, Kollektiva and Kunk have each put their own unique stamps on Budapest nightlife Kollektiva with its rave-flavored events featuring such acts as the Bloody Beetroots, Yuksek, Foamo, and Jaymo & Andy George; while Kunk’s indie-nu-disco styled parties have featured Anoraak, Russ Chimes, Thieves Like Us, and The Twelves as guests. Also DJing a special electroclash set in the bar area will be Budapest’s longstanding arbiter of indie, Gumipop.

Kicking off the evening’s happenings is the announcement of the Nooka toy figure design contests for Nooka, with none other than the creator of the accessory watch himself present, Matthew Waldman – who is a long-time friend of Larry Tee, coincidentally.

What: Kollektiva and Kunk present: Larry Tee (USA) + Special Nooka Design Night
When: Friday, April 30, 10pm – 5am
Where: Merlin, Gerlóczy u. 4, 1052 Budapest
DJs Main Stage: Larry Tee; TMX, FullStereo, Popbitch (Kollektiva); Cigi (Kunk)
DJs Bar Area: Gumipop DJs
Personal hosting by: Kristof Steiner
Entry: 1500 HUF

Caught in the Middle…

As contestants contort their bodies to fit through cut-out shapes in an advancing Styrofoam wall, it’s almost more fun to see them fail than to succeed. Hole in the Wall takes its cue from silly and sometimes outrageous Japanese game shows. The American version of this human Tetris game is over stylized and over produced, and as Carrie Grosvenor’s telly critics says: it actually is funny.

Contestants wear silver spandex suits accented with their team colors, while the kinda bitchy hosts, Balázs and Jani tells them that “It’s time (pause) to face (pause) the hole!” To be honest I don’t think I ever enjoyed so much falling into the pool, since we had a cute, blonde Baywatch kinda lifeguard, who always pulled me out of trouble…

What do ya all think? Did I look like the Tin Man… or more like Posh Spice?

“Last christmas… ” …I was in Budapest.

I know, I know… Hungary is freaking cold trough the wintertime. That’s why we, Huns love to warm up with a little booz – such as mulled wine from the Vörösmarty square. Enjoy December’s cheerful and fun event, the traditional Christmas Market near Váci utca, the heart of the city. Try kürtőskalács, aka chimney cake, a classic Hungarian favourite, and spy on the local fashionistas. Budapest is a real fashion hotspot, the most important shopping area in Budapest is Váci street and the side streets, Kígyó street, Petőfi Sándor street, and the historical avenue, Andrássy út. With it’s fancy Armani, Bubery and Gucci stores you surely will love it’s posh charm. Allee Shopping Centre is the „it girl” in town, in Buda. It has all the important shops and apperantly Hungary’s largest book shop, Libri. If you come here, you can avoid the most typical and most stupid gifts in Hungary, the white peasant blouse, tablecloth with tulips or a doll with Hungarian costume… kinda boring, right?

Well, nor for me. To be honest, I miss my home, I miss my friends and I miss everything… even the bad things, what used to make me really angry or upset about my country. I miss the trashy underground, Metro, I miss the short days and rainy nights and I truly miss some stupid fights and misunderstandings with my loved ones. I miss some Euro-culture. Close to the museum you can visit Gödör, a famous club, coffe place and exhibition centre. The program between Christmas and New Year includes thematic nights: Christmas – Chanukah, Jazz extra, Balkan Beats, and New Year’s Eve. It gives the essence of Hungary’s music, showing a wide range of world music, pop-rock, jazz and electric music performed by famous Hungarian performers. If you prefer words over music, meat Hungary’s English speeking theatre groups. „The audience should think about the way we live and what we are. Otherwise why do it? I’m interested in the possibility of redemption, however tiny that possibility is, and I know that forgiveness is very difficult.”
says Simon Stephens who’s story, Pornography is kind of a self-reflection for all of us.

After a deep impact of drama the best way to relax is going out. Alterego’s, Glam’s and Underground’s events are  listed in the petite calendar of the free Na Végre! and Company magazines – you can find them at the gay-friendly clubs and restaurants. And even if there is no special theme night, you can spin around the pole or grab glass of Hungarian wine – u decide if you wanna be a slut or a sophisticated gentleman. Whatever you choose, play safe, and come back soon. Maybe I’ll be back by then.

Marry Xmas and Happy New Year, Santa baby.