Anna Poslavska, 2010 Miss Ukraine, has a doppelgänger who frequently hits the Panera in Hallandale Beach; Maria Sharapova in The Ukraine

Anna Poslavska - Miss Universe 2010 (performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74fvpBu4BXU

Anna Poslavska, the 2010 Miss Ukraine, above, has a drop-dead gorgeous doppelgänger who frequently hits the Panera Bread in Hallandale Beach, the same one that I frequently patronize, hence my stealthy detective work here.

Actually, truth be told, it's hard NOT to see her when she's around.
Photos at http://www.missuniverse.com/members/profile/468746

Yes, in Hallandale Beach, scene of so much unspeakable undemocratic negativity at City Hall under the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew, we'll take our small victories where we find 'em!

November 26, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of Panera Bread, Hallandale Beach, and one of the two condo towers of The Duo north of it.

As it is, with the the popular Russian restaurant/nightclub Tatiana across the street on Hallandale Beach Blvd., the Panera is already a very popular spot for Russians in northeast Miami-Dade and southeast Broward County, as any weekend afternoon trip there -like yesterday's, for example- proves when you hear the Russian words flying around on cell phones and among people who at least appear to be speaking via Skype with their headphones on. (Unless they're practicing with their Rosetta Stone language DVDs.)

There's also lots of cute and friendly Russian-speaking female employees there, though I suppose that some of them could actually be Ukrainian like Señorita Poslavska.
It's sort of hard not to notice the good-looks and the Cyrillic letters flying all around you.
What sort of friend would I be if I didn't mention this fact to you?

I really have a great facility with languages, if you hadn't noticed, but I must admit that I can't tell the difference between someone speaking Russian and Ukrainian.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/up.html

Now if only Maria Sharapova would swing by there some afternoon or evening when I'm there with some friends.
You know, in the name of Pan-Slavic cooperation?

If you didn't know, right before she was born, Russian Sharapova's parents lived about 100 miles from the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor in The Ukraine. They fled months after the 1986 explosion due to the deteriorating health conditions all around them while Maria's mother was pregnant with her, which is how Maria came to be born in western Siberia.

Yes, a photo with Maria is exactly what this blog needs!

Maria's forthcoming website is at http://www.mariasharapova.com/

Maria was the focus of a terrific mid-August segment on ABC News' Nightline that I've been waiting to post here on the blog when there was a good reason. Now there is.
It's the second of three segments and starts at 07:34. I'd recommend going Fullscreen.



ABC News Nightline, August 17, 2010
Out of the Ashes: Maria Sharapova
Reporting: ESPN's Rachel Nichols
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/nightline-081710-11425198

Perhaps even a photo taken with me and my friend Csaba, who for months I've strongly been hinting must start a good quality Hungarian restaurant and nightclub here in HB somewhere, so that good Eastern European food -and the platoon of Eastern European models down in South Beach who hunger for it- will have a place to call home where family and friends can go and relax over a good meal.

In the late 1970's, when I was at NMB High School, there was what was reputed to be a great Hungarian restaurant in North Miami on Biscayne Blvd. -near the Wax Museum- called something like Csarda's.
It always smelled intoxicating and delicious when my family drove past it.

I also remember it because the first time I ever went there, that very same week, my theater class at school got a brand new student with a Hungarian name, who rather instantly became one of the five most beautiful girls at NMB.

She had that whole friendly-yet-mesmerizing Eastern European good-looking thing going on from the very start, such a stark contrast to the girls at NMB.
Like, well, Czech-born model Petra Němcová: very sweet, very genuine and instantly likable!

And, this new student with the very Hungarian name sat in the seat next to me in class, hence my recall for all things Hungarian!

In all my conversations with Csaba, whether on the phone while he was up near Cleveland over the summer, when I filled him in on the latest behind-the-scenes antics at HB City Hall, or over a meal at Panera's since he got back, I've insisted that this new hotspot be called Club Csaba.
Hmm-m-m... developing...


Panera Bread #4705
1729 East Hallandale Beach Boulevard, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009-4621
Telephone: (954) 457-9310

Tatiana Russian Restaurant & Nightclub
1710 East Hallandale Beach Boulevard, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Telephone: (954) 454-1222
http://fltatianarestaurant.com/index1.html

Good news: 2 Days left to change Hallandale Beach's future; Bad News: Washington & Jefferson still dead, Spock & Jean-Luc Picard not yet born

First, the Good News: there are 2 days left to change Hallandale Beach's future for the better; the Bad News: Washington & Jefferson are still dead, Spock & Jean-Luc Picard are not yet born.

Seek thou which was lost: full-fledged participatory democracy in Hallandale Beach, Florida.

Last weekend, in order to drum-up some interest and make the citizenry aware of the need for a second pro-reform City Commission candidate to apply before the deadline passes on Wednesday afternoon, I made copies of the Public Notice at the top that appeared in the Miami Herald -but NOT on the public notice board at Hallandale Beach City Hall last week. (Surprise!)

I posted them at a number of high-profile places around town, including at what passes for the HB version of the Algonquin Round Table, the Panera Bread restaurant at 1729 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., in front of The Duo's twin condo towers that overlook the Diplomat Country Club to the north.

But even as you read this, I've known for a while that some pro-reform wheels were already in motion, below the radar.

It's my hope that these efforts will bear some fruit in the near future, since with two commission seats up on November 2nd, and with me and everyone I know in this city planning on voting for proven pro-reform Comm. Keith London, having to decide between the other two candidates already in the race, the Devil-we-know, William Julian, and the Devil-we-don't (well, I do but many of you don't YET) Alexander Lewy, that choice among lessers is no choice at all.

After everything we have witnessed over the past two years, the blatant misrepresentations, the chronic lies, the utter contempt for the state's Sunshine Laws and the numerous attempts to keep important PUBLIC information at City Hall away from the PUBLIC, this city desperately needs a second strong and unwavering voice on the Hallandale Beach City Commission that will fully represent the long-term best interests of the majority of its citizen taxpayers, and NOT just the usual longtime cronies with special interests, who have made out like bandits with the taxpayers dime.
Your dime.

A second strong voice on the city commission that will not only expect but demand increased public accountability, transparency and competency among the hundreds of city employees, many of whom have been isolated, unproductive, rude and unprofessional for years.

Which is to say, practically stealing money from you and your family, with the full expectation that you will pay their pension, to boot.
That has got to end right now.

Exclusive: The 2009 Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys of the Year'

And the "winners" of the 2009 Hallandale
Beach Blog Turkey of the Year Award are...

Owing to the overwhelming number of worthy
and estimable candidates for Turkey of the Year,
I have been forced to create four categories so
that the various nominees are competing against
like-minded competitors, no matter the levels
of incompetence, laziness, petty malevolence,
general lack of concern for others or general
half-assedness in the performance of their jobs
or in the public service.

One group of nominees is being considered for
their performances in Broward County,
including Hallandale Beach and Hollywood,
yet another for South Florida outside of Broward
County, a third for the Sunshine State, and one
for the 57 States of Barack Obama's America.



Friends, I hardly need tell you that the nominees
were all deserving in their own particular ways,
and it's a damn shame they can't all "win,"
but some hard decisions needed to be rendered
by yours truly, as some nominees just proved
more outrageously egregious than others.

You know what I always say, you have to give
people their due when they go above-and-beyond.

That's why I've spent so much time over at
the Panera Bread on Hallandale Beach Blvd.
the past two weeks, carefully going over these
decisions in between sips of Hazelnut coffee
and bites of Asiago Cheese bagels, deciding
which parties made the cut and which ones
didn't.

Over the next week, here on the blog, I'll list
ALL the nominees in the four categories and what
some of them 'brought to the table' this past year
to make them worthy of my consideration here
-and your attention- since in some cases,
their performances might otherwise be completely
unknown to you.

God forbid that you don't discover what they've
said or done before the year is up.

Plus, I suspect you'll now have a better means
of understanding and appreciating how the
'winners' accomplished their feats.

Trust me, in most cases, you'll be glad to know,
so that you will have a more fully-shaped picture
in your own mind of some of these people,
organizations and institutions.

In each category, when possible, I will attempt
to demonstrate thru photos or video how they
came to make the list.

I should also mention that for reasons that will
be made abundantly clear over the next few weeks
and months, there are certain individuals whose
personal and professional behavior, conduct and
words while performing their duties are so
egregious and harmful to the public good
and contrary to law that I will not mention the
specifics here now, preferring instead to share
them with you in the future after I have completely
finished making my formal written complaints
to the appropriate State and County officials
and law enforcement organizations in Tallahassee
and closer to home.

At that time, you will come to know the true
character or rather the lack of it in certain
people that you think you already know,
and I can tell you with certainty that you will
NOT like what they've been saying and doing
behind your back, in many cases, for years.

So, with all that said, here are the four 'winners'
of the 2009 Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys
of the Year'

a.) The 57 states of Barack Obama:
The Mainstream Media, MSM.

b,) The Sunshine State of Florida:
Florida Secretary of Transportation Stephanie
Kopelousos.

c.) The Hegemonic People's Republic of South
Florida: The Miami Herald

d.) The Corrupt and Crony-driven Duchy
of Broward County: Hallandale Beach DPW
Director John Chidsey.

The John Chidsey experiment in the City
of Hallandale Beach is a complete and utter
failure for the citizen taxpayers, residents
and business owners of this city.
He needs to go -NOW!

Coming Sunday: The Hallandale Beach Blog 'Turkeys of the Year'

The turkey balloon at the Publix on Hallandale
Beach Boulevard.
November 24, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Owing to the prospect of so many truly deserving
nominees, I've had to create multiple categories.
It's NOT just the usual suspects!

Now you'll see how my keen powers of observation
will pay dividends.

Now you know what those lists I've been creating
over at Panera Bread the past few weekends were
all about.

Deciding who's been naughty and who's been creepy.

By the way, if you can believe this, owing to their
efforts to cut costs, the corporate honchos at Panera
Bread have decided that they will no longer lay out
a carpet inside the front door on rainy days to prevent
customers from falling on their butts.

That's what it's come to under the first year
of the Obama Economy.
Saving pennies despite the obvious liability angle.