"Czech Television presents a film by Petr Zelenka and his friends" "edit sound" "production photography" "written and directed" "B U T T O N E R S" " So let's start, Honza." " Sure." "What makes this century exceptional for you?" "For me this century is full of technology." "Exactly 50 years ago there was a great technological breakthrough." "Do you mean the invention of the electric guitar?" "That is not what I meant." "KOKURA LUCKY" ""Kokura, Japan; 6th August 1945"" "I was in the States in 1938." "In California." "A whole month." "It never rained once." "Really?" "We haven't had such a bad Summer in Kokura for ages." "We have bad Summers like this every year." "Once I was in Thailand." "There it rains only at night." "During the day it is fine." "We know you have been everywhere." "Here you can't even light your tobacco." "At least we have some." "In Europe it's worth its weight in gold." "We have it but we cannot light it." "That's just our lot." "The War is at full speed, the weather is useless and one cannot even swear." " Swear?" " Swear!" "Because Japanese doesn't have any swear words." "What does it mean "to swear"?" "To swear is when you address somebody or something using a rude word." "And it brings you relief." "We don't need to have everything." "In America I heard a man swearing." "In a bar." "He didn't stop for three minutes and never repeated himself once." "Can you imagine how relieved he was?" "So go to America if your own country isn't good enough!" "I didn't say that." "How can we win the war with people like you?" "And how can we win if we cannot swear?" " You want to swear about Japan?" " No, about the weather!" " It is Japanese weather." " And I say it is no good." "Do not quarrel." "What made that American swear so much in the bar?" "Some beer splashed on his shirt." "What kind of swear words do Americans have?" "Just swear words." "For instance, you can say, God damn this fucking weather!" "What does that mean?" "It means... that you do not like the weather." "Why don't you just say that you don't like it?" "Because it wouldn't relieve you." "When you swear, it brings relief." "You say "fuck" and you feel relief." "Do you understand?" " Uck?" " Fuck." "You must do it like this." "More firmly." "The American High Command planned to drop the atomic bomb on one of two Japanese cities;" "Hiroshima or Kokura." "Due to weather conditions it was decided in Hiroshima's favour." "Since then the Japanese have a saying "to be Kokura lucky"." "TAXI DRIVER" "Prague, Czech Republic;" "6th August 1995." " Where to?" " Just drive." "I'll tell you where." "Next right?" " You tell him." " Why always me?" "You tell him." "We want to make love." " Make love as in make love?" " Yes." "Make love." " So I guess some sort of hotel?" " No." "It has to be on the road." "He likes it best on the road." "On the road as in on the road?" "Yes." "On the road." " Alright then." " You're very kind." "I could take the old airport road." "There won't be any traffic now and it is a nice smooth route." " Fine." "Let's go then." " Let's go." " What about the traffic lights?" " What traffic lights?" "Those big ones at the junction." "We're bound to stop there." " Why?" " Red light." "If it really mattered, I could jump them." " On red?" " He'll deal with them." "Let's get going." "You don't understand me." "Those lights can be seen for miles." "The cops are always there." "I cannot imagine, forgive me, that this man is going to drive through them." "He'll manage." "But those lights could spoil everything." "You know the ones I mean." "The big ones with protective covers against acid rain." "This century works on a system of causes and effects." "But I am not satisfied with this sort of reasoning." "Sometimes events occur without logical cause or consequence." "That is when coincidences come into play." "Can you distinguish between different types of coincidences?" "Chance comes in various forms." "If I had a scale, then at the top would come miracles." "Then there would be things like telepathy, clairvoyance... and I think that coincidence is actually an everyday miracle." "I'm sorry." "What's the matter?" "Can you turn that radio off?" " What's so funny now?" " He went too slow." " Are you serious?" " He went too slow!" " How fast were you going?" " Sixty." "As usual." "See." "Too slow." "He was driving normally." "But you are completely wrecked." " You're the one who is wrecked." " No I am not." "I don't need to do it by taxi." "We are here because of you." " Not because of me." " Well because of who then?" "We don't do it in a taxi with Pavel." "I couldn't care less what you do with your husband." "We don't do it in a cab." "I guess not." "That'd be something," " Pavel in a cab!" " Do you know why it is?" "You tell me." "I'd like to know." "It is because you don't eat meat." "You are malnourished." "You have no blood inside you!" " You eat meat, don't you?" " Yeh." "It isn't as if he doesn't like meat." "He would love to eat it." "But he doesn't so he can prove himself morally superior to me." "How much do we owe you?" "Nothing." " Lf it didn't work out." " It certainly didn't." "You are very kind." "Few taxi drivers are." "They're certainly not." "I take tranquilisers to calm me down." " Can we have some?" " That was a joke." "It was a joke." "You don't eat meat and you don't get a joke!" "Take us to the concert hall." "10 Lipanska Street." "Can I ask you something?" "Would you do me a favour?" "Naturally I'll make it worth your while." "What's it all about then?" "It's a little embarrassing." "I am going to catch my wife in the act." "Really?" " I need a witness." " And that's supposed to be me?" "Yes." "All you'll need to do is stand and watch." "And remember everything you see." " Wait a minute." "I don't think so." " Why won't you do it?" "I can certainly take you there but that's all I'll do." "Your wife was never unfaithful to you?" "Never." " Not even once?" " Really, never." "You're out all night." "You don't get back till dawn." "That is, if you're married in the first place." " Eight years." " Me ten." "I still think she only married you because you drive a cab." "She can do whatever she likes and you know bugger all." "I bet you met in a taxi." "I am not really a taxi driver." "What do you mean you're not a taxi driver?" "And we met at the movies." "Press the sneezing nerve under your nose." " So you won't come with me?" " No offence." "I'll manage somehow myself." "Do you know what?" "Let's stop for a coffee first." "Two espressos." "What did you mean about not being a taxi driver?" "I am actually a make up artist in Czech television." "And have you ever driven anyone from television?" "Sure." " Did they recognize you?" " No they didn't." "I have this moustache." "I put it on like this and no one recognizes me!" "Can you disguise your voice as well?" "I speak like this, sit behind the wheel and no one recognizes me." " So should I come with you?" " I'll manage on my own." "But could I borrow your moustache?" "Sure." "But for these situations I recommend a special one." " Will you wait for me?" " I'll wait." "Mrs Tyl please close your vent." "There's a burst pipe." " What vent?" " Let me in to fix it." " Please will you forgive me." " Sorry." "I thought my wife was here." "I am sorry to have disturbed you." "I am crazy." " So this isn't your wife?" " No she isn't." " You are not?" " No, I'm not." "So who was there?" "I have no idea." "There were complete strangers." "It was a tremendous mistake!" "My wife is an extraordinary woman." "And I am a suspicious idiot." "And how did you come up with ten Lipanska street tonight at ten?" "I just did." "But imagine if she really was there?" "That would be pretty bad." "But it wasn't her!" "You can pull in here." "That'll be exactly 120." "Thanks." "That's a fine price!" "That's a fine photo." " That is my wife." " Let me see." "She has a distinctive nose." " But she is an attractive woman." " Yes she is." "Well thanks again." "I am Franta." "I'm Pavel." " Goodbye." " Goodbye." "RITUALS OF CIVILIZATION" "RITUALS OF CIVILIZATION" "When I woke up this morning I couldn't get up." "I just lay there and stared at the ceiling." "Then I noticed her bed and I moved over to her bed because it occurred to me that I might sense her presence there and finally understand why she left me." "But it didn't work." "So I went back to my own bed." "When did you last comb your hair?" "Then I thought what if I tried wearing her clothes, maybe I could sense her presence more." "When did you last comb your hair?" "So I tried them on but it didn't work either." "When did you last wash your hair?" "Do you ever brush your teeth?" "As soon as you came in, I noticed that you have sticky hands." "You don't even wash your hands, do you?" "Yes I do." "Well, go and wash them." " Hey, here's the first one!" " Whose is it?" "It's Zdena's." "Isn't it a strange custom to destroy the keys of one's former partners before getting married?" "Not the keys of the partners, the keys to their flats." " Silly." "But isn't it strange?" " It's an old Jewish custom." "Get away!" "Jews marry their first partners." " Then it's a punk rock custom." " Why punk rock?" "Because punk rockers have to destroy the keys so they cannot return to their former lovers." " What about this one?" " Maybe it can still be used." " It's not destroyed enough." " Let's give it another go." "Wait!" "The train ran over him." "Don't you understand?" "You don't care." "I do, but what am I supposed to do?" " You should've helped him." " How?" "It's all over." " I know." " Then get in." "Come on." " I can't go anywhere." " You want to go back there?" "Excuse me." "How about going for a drink?" "My heart beats fast when I sleep in the morning" "My heart beats fast when I sleep in the morning" "I am sad at heart and hopeless in love" "Left all alone, totally alone... and still I don't know why she left me." "Why are you so evil?" "So little time and no strength left." "My dear Sir, we both know very well what your problem is." "You are a decent man but also very weak." "Frankly it isn't within your power to change." "That is why your wife left you." "Let's not pretend that you will suddenly become capable or ambitious." "But there is one thing you can do." "You can create a strict regime of everyday habits." "Start with getting dressed properly." " Concentrate on daily hygiene." " I do wash." "Build for yourself once again the rituals of civilization." "Occasionally I wash." "Not "occasionally":" "You must do things regularly." "You know how English prisoners survived Japanese camps in WW2?" "Everyday they brushed their teeth and shoes." "Twice a day they ironed their shirts." "Isn't that too often?" "Naturally." "But psychologically it helped them survive the war." " But I am not in the war." " Of course you are." "We are all in the war, metaphorically speaking." "None of us knows what lies ahead." "Our wives might desert us, or a car might kill our children." "How can we tell?" "But everyone can at least clean their shoes." "So try to believe that if you clean your teeth and your shoes you will live a relatively content life." " I don't think that's true." " Truth is of no use to you." "Only by accepting a harmless lie can you avoid a collapse." "Collapse?" "This is how you will comb your hair." "Whenever you perform this action you will find yourself anew." "Is that clear?" "You must start at the beginning." "Be aware of yourself and develop the rituals of civilization." "Otherwise this crazy world will knock you down." "Hey, that singer had an incredible face didn't he?" "With a face like that I would jump under a train." " You're so cynical." " And you are so casual." "A couple of drinks makes everything alright?" "It's not the drinks." "It was the music that did the trick." "I don't understand how someone could jump under a train." "Yeh, a train!" "It's such a stupid boring way to go." " Silly!" "It's that he's dead." " Maybe he was getting married." "Can I go back to what we were saying just before?" "Do you see media as being important?" "It is what I call the disinformation crisis." "There is ever more information from ever more sources..." "Get up!" "Fuck!" "Leave her." "She is dead." "It's going to explode." "Don't be stupid." "She's dead." "It's going to explode!" "Get up!" "We have already discussed the atom bomb once tonight." "We also spoke about what makes this century so special." "Now I have for you a really interesting guest." "His name is Robert." "Hello Robert." "THE LAST DECENT GENERATION" "THE LAST DECENT GENERATION" "Naturally we'll pay for the upholstery." " Nonsense." " Let us cover the damage." "It can be sewn." "Don't worry about it." " You are an extraordinary man." " So are you." " Thank you." "Bye." " Goodbye." " Good evening." " Sorry to have kept you waiting." "Ladies first." "We like to do things properly here." "Please go through." "Jiøí." "It's lovely here." "The sofa is very nice." "My wife restores antique furniture." "Jiøí is also interested in history." "I thought you were a television director." "Something like that." "We don't really know what you do." " I don't do anything." " Pavel never said anything." "My husband teaches Japanese." "I understand that Japanese has no swear words." "My dear, Japanese certainly lacks a number of expressions." "For example?" "For example "Fuck you"." "Fuck you." " To our children." " That it all works out for them." "I understand that our children want a modest wedding." " Just parents, witnesses..." " Yes." "This surprised us." "We always imagined a big wedding like ours." "Lots of cars, flowers, a good spread..." "We should be grateful that they want us at the service at all!" "Though we can't be sure till the last moment with young people." "It's very important for us that our daughter is treated well." "That she does not - forgive me - join a bad family." "That she joins a good family." "That's why we wanted to meet you." "Not that we wouldn't have invited you anyway." "We've wanted to invite you for ages only we weren't sure..." " Now I have got things mixed up." " Excuse her." "I had a glass to steady my nerves." "Now we see that of course you are a very respectable family." " We shall not talk about it." " Forgive me." "Do not apologize." "Naturally, you wouldn't allow your daughter to marry into a family of strangers." "We're also concerned about Pavel." "He's an exceptional boy." "He is the apple of my eye." "I couldn't get pregnant for ages." "I said to myself, what the fuck am I supposed to do?" "Jiøí went to be examined but everything was alright by then." "Continue, Jiøí!" "Examination, yes." "I remember I was curious how they would examine me." "I imagined that there would be some magazines..." "But they screened a scene from Closely Observed Trains!" " Which one?" " The one with rubber stamps..." "Have you told Menzel where they screen his work?" "I am sure he's not getting his royalties!" " You know Menzel personally?" " They studied film together." " You also make films?" " Only home movies when our daughter was young." "Sylvia is forever watching them." "I haven't had a chance to tidy up." "Forgive me." " Can we look at them?" " Certainly not!" "I'd like to see them." "Best not." "They always make me cry." " Why?" " I don't really know." "My wife is a real sissie." "When children go, parents have to learn to communicate again." "I am not sure I will be able to do so with Honza." "You don't know how to communicate with me?" "No." "Well, fine." "Let's look at the film." "But I warn you, it's black and white, no sound..." "My wife made it." "Don't worry." "We are average viewers in every respect." "Sit on the sofa." " I would prefer over there." " Jiøí will sit on the chair." "But I reconstructed the sofa myself." "Lf you'd seen it before..." " It is very nice." " Lights!" "Sometimes I wonder if they ever speak about us." "Hard to say." "Sometimes I feel they don't speak about anything at all." "Young people today don't appreciate communication." "Do you know that Jana doesn't even read a newspaper?" "The youngsters don't have what the English call "class"." ""Class?"" "Standards, manners, upbringing." " They think they don't need it." " And that is just the problem!" "It's a problem but their lives are poorer for it." "I sometimes feel that we are the last decent generation." "The last generation that sticks to certain rules." "There's no reason to get married." "But they want to!" " Lights!" " Please let's sit down inside." " Truly a delightful child." " It always makes me cry." " Honza, come here!" " What is it now?" "Can you believe it?" " What's this?" "Didn't you sew it?" " Yes, I did it with waxed thread!" " I asked you to promise me." " Be quiet." "We'll have to tell them, Jiøí." " What do you want to say?" " You know very well what!" " Has anything happened?" " No, nothing's happened." "Jiøí is responsible for that." "You see, Jiøí is a knoflíkár." " Excuse me?" " Actually it's quite harmless." "They install dentures between their thigh muscles and when no one is looking they prize buttons from upholstery." "For example from taxi seats, or from antique furniture etc." " Who are "they"?" " Knoflíkári." "But that can't be possible." "With their thigh muscles?" "No, using the dentures." "Jiøí." "Come on Jiøí!" "Here you are." "Fantastic!" " Can we see them in action?" " Jiøí, show them." "How did you manage to pull out the buttons?" "I will never show you." "That is incredible!" "How skilfully you managed to prize loose the buttons!" " What did you call them?" " Knoflíkári." "It's from Czech." "In English they are called Buttoners." "Why do you this?" "Did you have a bet with someone?" "Because nothing else excites him." "Really?" "It excites you more than sex, more than travelling?" " More than food?" " I'm afraid so." "It's a perversion." "I see, a perversion!" " We'll pay for the upholstery." " Don't be silly." "Those leather buttons never really matched anyway." "My wife restores antique furniture." "Why are you running off?" "There's something I wanted to tell you." "No one has ever made me take life seriously, not even my wife." "I do not believe in God, nor democracy." "Nor money, although it is sometimes peculiar." "I believe in human originality." "Even if one has to be an original pervert." "Forgive me." "In short, I welcome people like you Buttoners." "Please come through." "Now I finally understand why you were so interested in that sofa." "Let's not be so formal with each other." "To human originality." "Thank you." "Tell me, do you have some sort of club?" " What do you mean?" " Do you write to each other?" "No." "Buttoners are very private people." "They prize loose the occasional button and do not lack anything." "Anything at all?" "Once in Japan we found a set of dentures." "Remember?" "Of course." "They were at the lost and found office at the station." "I could not understand how someone lose their dentures." "Could they have belonged to a buttoner?" "I am sure of it." "Do you remember when we were in Turkey we came across that couch in the foyer." " In Turkey?" " All its buttons were missing." " You're right!" "It was green." " It was a pink couch." "Green!" "I can see it like it was yesterday." " It was pink." " That was what struck me as odd." " It doesn't matter." " It doesn't matter." " You travel a lot?" " We try to." "One must always meet new people." "All kinds of people." "Getting back to the children." "The... it isn't hereditary." "Pavel has never shown any interest." "You can rest assured." "Perhaps we ought to reveal something about ourselves too." "We also have something that excites us more than anything." " More than sex?" " No comparison." "It is something that we have never told anyone but seeing that we are becoming close..." "But there is a catch." "It requires a little preparation." "No." "Eat, drink!" "We'll give you a shout when we're ready." "Some claim this project is of the same importance as the landing on the Moon or dropping of the atomic bomb." "The main aim of the project is to take frozen human sperm into space so that life may continue somewhere else when it will not be possible here on Earth." "It is hoped other civilisations will find the sperm and use it to make new human beings." "In selecting sperm donors intelligence was the most important criteria." "FOOLS" "The eight twenty is going to be late again." "That would never have happened when I was doing it." "Nonsense." "It happened to you all the time." "Come off it." "Why do you think they sacked you?" "Come off it!" " Look what I found." " You were at the rubbish tip?" " No, by the house." " Did anyone see you?" "No, nobody." "It still works." " What is it?" " I don't know but I like it." "The Guiness book of records was asked to join this project because we are experts in unusual human accomplishments." "We were asked for a list of suitable donors." "What's this about?" "They want to send sperm into space." " What do they want to send?" " Sperm." " What sperm?" " Normal sperm from men." " And why?" " So that the civilizations can find it." " Civilizations?" " Yes, civilizations." " What civilizations?" " What civilizations!" "Civilizations in space." "That's where we're sending the sperm." " We are?" " Not us." "The Americans are sending it up there." "Stop asking stupid questions and watch!" "Four million men were selected from all over the planet." "This is roughly one man in 1000." "Each has a particular talent." "For some it's music, for others sport." "Some are plain peculiar." "I didn't hear anything about this." "That's no surprise." " Do you want a beer?" " I'll have some of yours." "This is interesting;" "here we use this apparatus to preserve the most important part of the sperm, the DNA." "It turns out to be the same substance used in Chinese food." "Here the sperm is cooled and combined with a certain liquid." "Do you think we know anyone who gave?" " Who gave?" " Lf we know anyone who gave?" " Gave what?" " Sperm." "I don't know." "They said one in a thousand gave." "Why a thousand?" "There was always one in a thousand who contributed." "So there was only one!" "In each thousand there was just one." "In the second thousand two." "So there were two?" "They said that four million gave; one every thousand." "How many thousands is that?" "I don't know." "Work out yourself how many thousands." "In every thousand, there was always one who gave." "999 went home." "Another thousand came and again that one gave." "And the rest went home until they'd chosen four million." "Where did they find four million men?" "Probably no one from our depot gave." "Unless Franta Brabec did." "Hey?" "What?" "Unless Franta Brabec did." " Unless Franta Brabec did." " What?" "No one at the depot gave apart from Franta Brabec." "Give me that beer and go and sit in your place." " It won't open." " I can see that it won't open." "Nothing opens for you." "Sit in your place and stop watching me." "I've been very fortunate to go into space three times." "Two of those flights reached the moon." "The last one was Apollo 17." "I hope I will enter history as the last man in the 20th century who left his footsteps on the moon." "So I'm glad to contribute." "To have part of me fly among the stars." "For space is truly unbelievably beautiful." "Even Franta Brabec didn't give." "He's got a little one." " What?" " You know." " A little what?" " You know!" " A small dick?" " Yeh." "You really are stupid." "The size of one's dick has got nothing to do with it." "Really?" "What matters is whether you're stupid, not the size of your dick." "You're so stupid they wouldn't chose you in a million." " A million what?" " A million years." " They'd choose you I suppose?" " How could they chose me?" " See." "They wouldn't!" " You really are stupid." "Some say our choice of donors is unfair." "Only human sperm is being sent although of all animals on Earth humans are exceptionally aggressive, cruel and arrogant." "If our planet is ever destroyed we are bound to be responsible." "Perhaps new human beings will continue damaging other planets." "It might be better to send the sperm of whales or dolphins or pollen from dried flowers and have done with." "In any case, Franta Brabec doesn't have a small dick." " He doesn't?" " Nope." " Wait, how do you know?" " I just know." "Alright, but how do you know?" "Don't meddle with what doesn't concern you." "It does concern me!" "If you started with Franta Brabec..." "It's always you who starts with Franta Brabec." "So don't meddle." "I will meddle." "You can be sure of that!" "There was something between you and Franta, was there?" "Even if there was no one could blame me." " Well was there or wasn't there?" " Don't start!" "No one'd blame me because I live with a fool who scrounges off me." "That's all you know how to do!" "And get back in your place!" " I scrounge off you do I?" " And you never took me places." "You should've married Franta Brabec!" "America launched this project because it feels ashamed." "Ashamed for atrocities that were committed by Americans." "It's a bomber." "Great." "The doors open and the bombs come out." "It's a shame that Peter isn't here." "He'd like this." " What would he like about it?" " Quiet!" "It was Americans who dropped the A-bomb for instance." "This will be an American way of performing a service for all mankind." " He's brilliant." " He's an idiot." "He's directing traffic and dancing at the same time!" " Who's this?" " That's him; undercover." "He's an idiot." "I'd run him down." " Why?" " Don't start." "What are you doing?" "How dare you!" "You're a scrounger so don't switch over!" "Put it back." "I just wanted to see what was on the other channel." "Be grateful you can watch anything at all." "Typical." "I've missed it." "He's another idiot." "They could've asked me instead." " And what's your special talent?" " There is something I can do." "Yeh, I forgot." "Spitting at trains." "Very impressive!" "You show me someone who can lie down between the tracks and hit the train right on the "8"." " At full speed!" " Get out of my way!" "Even your Franta Brabec couldn't manage that!" " Why would he want to?" " Because he couldn't do it!" "By the way, Franta Brabec is good at plenty of other things." "He isn't so stupid that he has to gob at trains." "Wait a minute." "What's Franta Brabec good at?" " Don't you start!" " What do you mean don't start?" " What's Franta Brabec good at?" "!" " Don't meddle." "It doesn't matter what Franta Brabec is good at." "What matters is what you can do and you can't do anything." "That's why you have to gob at trains." "Stick to the point!" "What's Franta Brabec good at?" "He is good at loads of things and you are totally useless that's why you spit at trains!" " You know why I do it?" " Because you're so stupid!" "I do it because you keep telling me I'm stupid." "I have to calm myself down." "I've been doing it so long that I'm probably, not probably, I am the best in the world." "That's why I deserve to have my sperm sent to the moon." "To the moon!" "And can you tell me who'd want them there?" "Don't you start." "Sit." "Watch." "And just don't start." "I am the best in the world so don't you start." "Show me someone who can hit the "8"." "I'd like to meet him if there is such a person." "So don't you start." "This is my thing and I'll sort it out." "Sit and don't start." "This whole fucking masculine project is just a lame excuse for laying around." "Men love to shove their pricks somewhere all the time only this time it will be the Andromeda." "If my husband does not care where his sperm is going then I do not care who will be the father of my baby." "She is an idiot!" "How can she not care who is the father of her baby?" "They don't care what happens to their sperm or who finds it." "Are you saying you agree with her?" " Don't start with that." " I certainly will start." "And stop following me!" "If I'm talking to you then I have to follow you." " So stop following me." " Lf we're talking I have to." "Go and watch." "Watch men who have achieved something." "You've done nothing in your life." " I have done something." " I forgot." "Gobbing at trains." "I have brought up a son." "I can't be so stupid if I have such an clever son." "And Peter is clever, isn't he?" "He's not stupid." "I can see that." " You can see something!" " I can see that he is not stupid." "Peter is clever because he doesn't take after you." "Because he doesn't take after you he isn't stupid." " So he takes after you?" " Certainly not after you." "Wait a moment." "So he takes after Franta Brabec does he?" "Look." "I will tell you something." " I was faithful to you..." " You were?" " I was but that isn't important." " It is important." "Even if I wasn't no one would blame me." "Because no woman would want to have stupid children!" "I don't know such a woman - except maybe your mummy!" "Now you've gone a little bit too far." "Please leave my mother out of this." "If I'd been unfaithful to you, it'd be a service to all mankind maybe those civilizations too, 'cause one idiot is quite enough." "You've never achieved anything and you've never taken me places." "You're a typical loser who even got fired from the railways." "Don't start, don't switch over and especially, don't meddle!" "Just be grateful that you're alive at all!" "THE GHOST OF AN AMERICAN PILOT" "Ghost, if you're with us, show yourself!" "He speaks English!" " He's probably an English man." " Or an American." "Ask him what day is it?" " It was during the war." " No, it wasn't." "It's the A-bomb!" " That'd be great." " Go on, you tell him." " It's from uranium." " Let him be." "He's shaken up by it all." "Do you see media as being important?" "It is what I call the disinformation crisis." "There is ever more information from ever more sources." "And each piece of information has an opposing view." "I'm not sure one can sort them out." "I do not see this world as something we can sort out." "Who is he?" "He's a ghost of an American pilot from WW2." " From WW2?" " You don't believe it, do you?" "No, I believe it." "He'll be on there in a moment. 91.9FM" "I don't know if you know the airport music by Brian Eno." "I have never been to the airport." "Don't bother." "The music is to calm people so they get on to the planes." "Then we have shopping centres which are also full of music." "Then elevator music or even in toilets so one is constantly bombarded and can never escape." "That'll be one hundred and ten." "And we'll even put some more music on the radio." "Come on then." "Let's play something." "I'm sorry." "We'll finish later." "We have already discussed the atom bomb once tonight." "We also spoke about what makes this century so special." "Now I have for you a really interesting guest." "His name is Robert." "Hello Robert." "Robert is the man who dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima back in 1945." "The number is 25-22-425."