Latvia

Wait, there’s a networking company in Lithuania called Santa Monica Networks? And they do business from Lithuania, through Latvia and Estonia, all the way up to Finland? Huh?

While I’m still waiting to see “The Singing Revolution,” it appears that there’s also a new great movie coming out from Latvia as well, “Defenders of Riga.” It tells the Latvian equivalent of the Revolutionary War. While it only came out several weeks ago, it’s the highest budget Latvian movie ever, at $4 mil USD, and has broken all Latvian box office records. As the YouTube entry describes: Story is about 11 november 1919. WWI was over but renegade german…

Wired News: By Cyrus Farivar 02:00 AM Mar, 06, 2007 RIGA, Latvia — At first glance, Hansa Buss’ new coach seems like any ordinary bus — it’s got big, not-yet-sticky rubber steps leading inside to row after row of seats. Curiously, some of the seats have electrical outlets mounted in the sidewalls of the bus. Farther down the aisle, in the midsection of the bus, is a kitchenette, complete with an espresso machine, a microwave and a small pantry area.…

I’ve been informed that at last check, my radio piece on the new WiFi bus in Estonia will be on The World today! Will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 3 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern –…

As if five weeks and eight countries (Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, France, UK, Estonia, Germany, Switzerland) weren’t enough, I just got word that The World (PRI/BBC/WGBH) is sending me to Riga, Latvia for a story tomorrow. Veljo and I will hop the bus to Riga (it’s five hours to the south), doing interviews Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I’ll catch my flight onto Berlin on Sunday afternoon, and Veljo will return home that evening. Now at least this time, I can…