Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2002 (14. évfolyam, 4-45. szám)
2002-06-14 / 24. szám
AMERICAN Hungarian Journal KJ THEATER REVIEW MEDITATIONS by Dr. Bela Bonis Pastor (562) 430-0876 First Hungarian Reformed Church, Hawthorne What is faith? Does it seem to be something intangible and invisible to you? And perhaps, therefore, unreal? Is it just a vague, spiritual quality detached from the physical world around us? Well, God has certainly identified it with things which you can handle and see. For He has given two sacraments to the Christian Church. In fact, they deal with every-day physical elements which are very close to you. We call them signs and seals of God’s grace. Today I talk about the first of these two sacraments, which is Holy Baptism, instituted by Christ himself when He sent his disciples out into the world to preach the Gospel. He told them to call people to repentance and faith, and then added: "He that believes and is baptised shall be saved." Thus, administered with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a basic bond with the Holy Trinity, that is, with the whole being of God. But many people have greatly misunderstood the Christian Church in its use of baptism. Some seem to think we believe the water itself has some kind of mystical or magical power to wash away our sins. That’s one extreme. Others seem to think we are only going through some kind of traditional rite which is little more than a form, a kind of name-giving ceremony. That’s the other extreme. Both are wrong. As a sign and a seal of God’s grace in Christ, it points to the blood of the Cross, which washes away our sin - just as water washes away dirt. We see the scope and purpose of Calvary in that water. So to those who take Baptism seriously it is indeed a mark of distinction, a covenant of grace, an agreement between two parties. In this one, God promises to be our Savior in Christ, and He confirms that promise with a visible sign and seal. This is something that involves whole families, children as well as parents. Read Acts 2:39. So Holy Baptism puts us under solemn obligation, seeing to it that the same child on whose behalf all of us in this congregation made a most serious commitment in Holy Baptism will make himself or herself a believing and growing Christian with confession of personal faith upon reaching the age of confirmation of faith. Hence our tradition stresses the importance of Christian nurture to a life-long growth into Christ. "MY KILLER, MY KID" It was for the second time that Erzsi Cserey has presented, in Hungary, Gerty Agoston’s monodrama My Killer, My Kid; she had performed in it first at the Kisvarda Festival of Theaters from Abroad. She re-created her part now in the frame of an International Theater Festival at Eger, Hungary, where Karoly Sziki directed the play. A mondrama - monologue-drama - may well mean hell for the actor or actress. The Artist is all alone on the stage, he has no partner in the play, - no partner who would give him or her the cue - none who would get involved, together with him or her in the conflicts: there may be a lack of dramatic explosions. Therefore, many monodramas are no more than the monologue, created by the author, spoken by the artist. However: if the author wrote his work in such a way... if the director does direct it in such a way and, above all, if the actress plays it in a way that the audience does not only see and visualize her, but also those characters who are not present, physically... then we - the audience - will feel and touch those other characters and the monodrama will become a true drama. On Karoly Sziki’s stage where (the director) shows a preference for white and red color shades, Erzsi Cserey’s starts her play in a deep abyss of feelings and she will stay in high gear up to the very end. I daresay she plays this drama in "burgundy" colors, ...of course we can never fully analyze the psychology of colors, but "burgundy" may be the color combination of Death and Grandeur. It tears apart, and it overcomes. The author, Gertrud (Gerty) Ágoston has shown us a mirror of our society, a social painting of our time, in this piece of art that tears apart the secrets of the soul, and is built up forcefully; a mother (Erzsi Cserey) has lost her idolized husband early in their marriage. She has been left behind With her young son, she spoiled him, pampered him and brought him up the wrong way. The mother suffered in vain ...between the advice of a psychiatrist and her own wrong educational principles: there is an innate sadist streak in Robby, her young son; first, he tortures the child; then, he kills his victim. Excellently directed by Karoly Sziki, the actress, Erzsi Cserey, plays this "Hell of a Life" from beginning to end, she trembles and shivers through these 40 minutes of monodrama... Erzsi Cserey, as the mother, will make the audience understand why she does feel she must poison her little son (the murderer) who has been in jail for some time now... but the mother manages to stay alone with him and she will give him poisoned grapefruit juice to drink... This is the mother’s way to save her son from Justice, from living his life (a murderer’s life). But because she is a mother, she, too, cannot go on living. She kills herself - there are three victims now: Robby’s little victim, Robby, the young murderer and his mother, too... Erzsi Cserey lives through this tragedy with deep feeling, she feels it all and lets us visualize plenty of question marks, probing the dope-infested "crimes on the tube" - infested, television infested wrong upbringing of our children. She lets us feel all those dangers of our time. This is about the helplessness of a mother, the crucifixion of a mother, this is a "play in burgundy color and mood", a well written, well directed and superbly performed production, a perfect entity and, it goes without saying, it is the actress who puts the crowning glory on this theatrical evening. "My Killer, My Kid" is an exciting monodrama and the actress has every right to call her achievement an "ascent to Heaven." (Continued on Page 12) DENES FÖLDESSY Hungarian cooking and baseball have this in common: They both need to be enjoyed slowly and repeatedly. There is no other way to develop a fine appreciation of the subtleties of each. Some Hungarian flavors, like those of a paprika-powered goulash, are as bold and impossible to miss as a ball hit out of the park, but others require concentration to be noticed, such as the faint trace of garlic that perfumes the "heavenly" fried bread that is one of many specialties at TOKAJ, a delightful Hungarian restaurant in Vista. Yeasty, crisp and finger-burning hot, these deep-fried puffs of dough are served on the house the first time around, and afterwards cost $2 for a generous order. Operated by a young couple from Hungary. TOKAJ .takes its name from the famed Tokay wine that for centuries has been one of this romantic country’s most celebrated products. The wine list naturally includes several varieties of Tokay, including the deluxe Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos. And although the place is informal and unpietentious, a visit nonetheless feels like a brief vacation in Hungary, thanks to a collection of artworks and handicrafts, and to traditional music that is alternately grand, dramatic, as fast as a rhapsody and as light-hearted as a Gypsy tune. Dinners include choice of a warming, old fashioned-tasting chicken noodle soup or a green salad, and the soup seems the more authentic introduction to such Hungarian classics as pork-and-rice-stuffed cabbage rolls ($13), and sertesporkolt ($13.50), a rich pork stew that is seasoned with paprika and onion and served with a mound of tender dumplings. Dumplings, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, rice, red cabbage and sauerkraut alternately garnish virtually all dishes, and sometimes several of them are heaped on the platter, as with the "fatanyeros" served for two or four guests ($29 or $55). These massive wooden boards bear generous amounts of breaded pork schnitzel, garlic-flavored roasted pork loin and savory Hungarian sausage, and not too many diners manage to finish everything. Other excellent choices include the creamy chicken paprikash ($12.50), the delicately stuffed chicken breast Kiev ($12.50), and the Transylvanian cabbage, which garnishes sauerkraut with slowly stewed, deeply flavorful pork and beef ($13). To be sure, the list includes a hearty beef goulash ($14.50), accompanied by dumplings. Named for the restaurant, the Tokaj schnitzel ($13.50) stuff filet or pork with eggs, sausage and onion. Tokaj serves dinner nightly except Wednesday at 1717 East Vista Way. Telephone: 760-941-4626 Minden vendégünket szeretettel várunk: Hétfő, kedd csütörtök: 4 pm -9 pm. Péntek, szombat: 11.30 am. -10 pm. Vasárnap: 2 pm -9 pm. A tulajdonosok: Mihály és Ágnes Kotász. Happy Fathers Day! Credit Card Theft Thrives Online Tens of thousands of stolen credit-card numbers are being offered for sale each week on the Internet in a handful of thriving, membership-only cyberbazaars, operated largely by residents of the former Soviet Union, who have become central players in creditcard and identity theft. The marketplaces where credit card prices fluctuate with supply and demand in a sort of black stock market offer a window into a crime that costs the financial system $ 1 billion or more a year. They also show how readily personal information is being stolen and traded in the computer age. But the same Internet technology that has enabled the theft and sale of credit cards also provides a veritable transcript of the criminal activity, and a real-time peephole into the attitudes, ethic and sometimes honor among the thieves. The chat forums indicate as well that several dozen of the top participants recently have discussed gathering at a credit-card reseller's conference in Odessa, Ukraine, at the end of this month. "It's straight out of Capitalism 101 it's become a big industry," said one high-technology executive who surreptitiously monitors the Internet card markets, and who noted that die market price of credit cards fluctuates daily based on supply which, he said, is copious. "There appears to be an endless supply of cards out there,” he said. In recent days, the cost of a single credit card has been between 40 cents and $5 depending on the level of authenticating information provided. But the credit-card numbers typically are offered in bulk, costing, for example, $100 for 250 cards, to $1,000 for 5,000 cards, with the sellers offering guarantees that the creditcard numbers are valid. Security experts say the buyers of the card numbers in these forums are all over the world, but often come from the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Asia, specifically Malaysia. The buyers use the numbers in a variety of frauds, including making purchases over the Internet, having them fenced in the West, or even extracting cash advances directly from the credit-card accounts. DINING OUT With Restaurant Reviewer David Nelson TOKAJ AMERIKAI PVI mHHBaM MagyarIfcrlap y||
