NEWS: Serbian Village Salutes Rocky

CELEB: Serbian Village Salutes Rocky

Superstition provokes bizarre behavior in us all, giving us free reign to indulge in wacky "good luck" rituals. Some people hold their breath when passing a cemetery, some prefer to rub a dead rabbit's foot stashed in their pocket, and some even erect shrines for sacred figures they think will summon good fortune.

That said, officials from the small, disaster-prone Serbian village of Zitiste, located just north of Belgrade, have announced their decision to build a public statue of Rocky Balboa, the imitable film character that boosted Sylvester Stallone to fame in the late '70s. Zitiste locals hope that bringing the Italian Stallion within their borders will boost village morale, seeing as the "jinxed" community has repeatedly suffered wrathful floods and landslides, prompting many villagers to seek residence elsewhere.

umm.. wow.

How totally absurd. As a Serb, I know for a fact that ROCKY has no cultural significance to that region of former Yugoslavia. Why not choose Hannibal Lecter, Superman or Godzilla for that matter? Do they think it will function as a Band-Aid for the horrors of war that still choke the nation's people during their nightmares?

Wow.

They can make it out of tin foil.

Great, now if only Kazakhstan would honor Borat!

Hannibal Lecter is evil and did not have to fight to reach his place in society. Godzilla is not human, and often times evil, and he also did not have to fight to overcome poverty to reach his place in society.

Superman? Again, not human.

I think the better question is: Why not Rambo?

Maybe the money would be better spent to build... Oh I don't know.. Some sort of dam or levee to keep the recurring flood waters from ravaging the town?

No, no, a staute of a celebrity would certainly do the trick....

makes sense to me

Holy old story. They put that up a looong time ago.

"There are no friendly civilians!"

it's true. i'm from philly and ever since we put up the Rocky statue we haven't had a landslide....believe in the Rocky.

Weird. reminds me of something else...

I visited a Bosnian town called Mostar a couple of years ago. It was the scene of some horrific battles between Croat and Muslims against Serbs, then later Croats against Muslims.

After the war the town was uttterly polarized on ethnic divisions, but yet one figure moved that city to erect a statue.

no less than Bruce Lee:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3620752.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4474316.stm

btw, visit Mostar if you ever can. The beautiful reconstructed old bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stari_Most) over the river neretva is something to behold.

l8rs

funny i have the same statue in my closet

I think any town that puts up a statue of Hannibal Lecter would be crossed off anyone's 'visit anytime ever' list. Although if a town feels it needs to celebrate a murdering cannibal with a statue I suppose it would deserve exactly what it got.

I think if a town wants to put up a statue of Rocky Balboa, let it. If it makes them feel better, if they like it, if it gives them some civic pride...why not?

No, it's not going to cure the ills of the world. But the weirdest things can make people feel better.

I heard they took down the Rocky statue recently, any landslides since then?

If it serves the cause... Well, build it! I would personally chose different heroes but while better suited they might be less effective as they are not accepted by the general public.