Every so often I'll be featuring a "Getting to Know Your Neighbours" story.

That's right...the idea's to give you an "insider look" into the workings of the prominent players operating in Prague expat circles -- people whom you might not know about as you plough through your day. But considering that I know them well, now you will, too.

So, let's begin, shall we?

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The Prague Daily Monitor:

Given the wealth of already great Czech news WWWs out there (not to mention our very own CzechNews), you wouldn't necessarily hear about the "PDM" on your own. But it's been a going concern for the past few years now, believe it or not.

It's owned and operated by the able-bodied individuals at MonitorCE, steered in the right direction by prominent local and long-time American expats Bryn Perkins and Evan Mellander, and backed up by a bullpen of diligent editors, Czech translators, and various abstract writers.

Every morning at around 5:30, the PDM staff convenes at the paper's Prague 3 HQ to rifle through the various Czech dailies. It places particular emphasis on translations from Hospodarske Noviny, or "Economic Newspaper," a broadsheet -- which, despite its generic moniker -- is actually the CR's sole source of news which seems to hover high above the circus-like fray which otherwise passes for newsmaking in this cobbled town.

Then there are its various translations from the Schwarzenberg-family owned Respekt magazine, a PDM offering I'd highly recommend as well. (Apologies in advance to my readers from abroad for all the non-English links. Might I recommend the PDM's very affordable services as a solution, perhaps?).

From the moment they arrive at the office, PDMers -- as they are cutely known -- scour through the usual reams of sycophantic scribbles which passes for journalism here in the Czech lands to pluck out the choice bits which are actually newsworthy. They then translate these into English for mass consumption by all non-Czech speaking temps here in Prague. Non-Czech speaking because either they find our language too hard, too useless, or because they're unbelievably lazy and think that it's our responsibility -- all bloody 10 million of us -- to master their dominant tongue at the expense of our own. Not going to happen in this lifetime, though...

But where was I, the highlights, the highlights!

** every morning, at 08:30, expect a daily digest of yesterday's (and this morning's) breaking stories in your Inbox. In fact, as I write this post, my morning edition just arrived. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

** either in "abstract" format, or in its full article splendour, PDM news is comprehensive, diverse, and covers the wide spectrum of what passes for "news" in this country. PDM articles are short, punchy, and are edited by a competent staff of word surgeons who, in total, have over 53 years of editorial experience in other cities across the Pond. This eliminates over 50% of the usual crop of kiss-ass journalism which would otherwise make it into mainstream news channels, thank goodness. One of the main reasons why I think you should subscribe...

** The PDM breeds habitualization, making us into creatures of habit -- good for any alcohol-ailing nation, like ours. What's great about that is you don't have to go to a multitude of places to collect your morning inspiration. Sure, there are RSS and various other feed readers which can do this job for you -- which the PDM staff is actively working on to implement for oh-eight -- but the daily digest already covers this. Since it arrives like the Berlin train smack at half-nine, you don't have to look too far.

** In addition to news, you get editorial content as well. Like castaways congregating on an island paradise after a shipwreck, the PDM employs a master team of prominent one-time "expatriate" columnists, people like Kristina Alda, who opine on the latest happenings here in our Holy Republic. People who were once stars at their previous publications, but due to the machinations and pathetic insecurity complexes and proclivities of their former editors, they were cut off from their craft. Not mentioning any names now, m'kay? You knuckleheads already know who you are. (My handy advice to you: down the whole bottle of pills now -- not just one-by-one).

But what I like most about the Prague Daily Monitor are the people who actually make the magic happen, behind the scenes, like.

Unlike most beer-chugging, brothel-visiting, more-Czech-than-the-Czechs-themselves Western misanthropes who voluntarily chose to call Praha home -- either because they'd been roped in by the manipulations of a Czech siren, or were lured to these lands by the possibility of dating or wedding the total pushover known as the "Bohemian male" -- the men gripping the joystick at the PDM have a vision...a business model for the future which will become a going concern long-after the Czech Republic is absorbed as the 51st State.

And, that, BillyBob, is no laughing matter.