Newspapers, of course, won't listen to reason, convinced that news never sleeps, and put out the same number of pages as ever — no small trick when all the usual sources are off at the chata with their mobiles switched off.

So brace yourself for stories about dumpling eating contests, long and complicated corruption trials, the weather, and what's known in the trade as lifestyle trend stories.

Not that these can't be well done and informative, of course. But short of another CzechTek, the techno music party that became a police melee (and the story of last summer by virtue of being just about the only newsworthy thing going on), this could be a good time to catch up on housecleaning.

This phase is generally marked by the end of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Thank goodness that the stories from that fine bacchanalia are at least still fresh.

Some of the faves heard around the Hotel Thermal, the festival's HQ, were those of Danny Trejo, a co-star of Maggie Gyllenhaal in the Crystal Globe-winning Sherrybaby. Known to many as "the knife guy" in Robert Rodriguez's film From Dusk Till Dawn, Trejo, a former San Quentin inmate and drug dealer, recounted last week that he had a little trouble with the role of a blade-throwing assassin.

In real fights, he advised Quentin Tarantino, who wrote the movie, "You don't ever give up your weapon."

Another memorable moment came during the fest's closing ceremony, when Robert Shaye, who founded New Line Pictures as an indie distributor in 1967, accepted his own globe for outstanding contribution to world cinema. A tribute video, which lavished praises upon him for his courage, integrity and independence, featured prominent dollar figures, reminding the audience of world filmmakers (most of them bound by low budgets) that this Hollywood outsider made $3 billion worldwide on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Ouch.

But not all tales of excess are from West Bohemia, even in a week such as this. One intriguing new slogan for Pepsi Max is now making the rounds of Prague — and presumably the rest of the country: Chuť do poslední kapky or "Good to the last drop."