My trips in 2001

Mátra mountains (27-29 December)

A short 3-day walking trip to the Mátra mountains. Our base was Nádújfalu at the northern slopes of the mountain, proud of its old church with its painted wooden ceiling. We also visited a Buddhist stupa (one of the two in the country) in the small village of Tar.

Szombathely and its environs (1-3 December)

A short 3-day trip to the West of the country. Our basis was Szombathely, the proud capital of Vas county. We found it less appealing than expected, which was probably due to the very ugly (cold, humid, foggy) weather. The local museum was also closed, which shows that the city does not really expect tourists in wintertime. Fortunately some neighbouring locations compensated us: the charming Kőszeg and the surprisingly lively Lockenhaus (Léka) with their castles; and Eisenstadt with its proud Esterházy Palace, where Haydn used to live for long periods of his life.

Herend (24 November)

A short day trip to the home town of the famous porcelain manufactory. The museum and the mini-manufactory is definitely exciting and I was very much surprised by the fact that Herend has become the largest porcelain manufactory, "overcoming" more (?) famous porcelain-makinglocations like Meissen, Sevres and the others...

Székesfehérvár (11 November)

A short day trip to a nearby royal town: Székesfehérvár used to be the city where most of our kings were crowned and buried until the XVI. century when the Turks invaded the country. They captured and later destroyed the city (as well as many others), so there is little to be seen from this glorious past. Still, the old town has been rebuilt in Baroque style (as well as many other Hungarian cities) and has a nice atmosphere.

Vác (1 November)

A short day trip to a nearby riverside Baroque town, definitely worth a visit.

Madrid and Lisbon (5-10 October)

This was supposed to be my main trip of the year, visiting not only Madrid and Lisbon, but other places in Portugal, and also Rome. Unfortunately I had to break the trip and hurry home to see my mother who was suddenly taken into hospital.

Copenhagen (18-21 August)

Once again I extended a business trip and spent a weekend away from home, this time in Denmark's nice capital city. This was my second visit to Copenhagen. In 1997 I spent a day and a half there walking around in the centre and I also went to the Carlsberg Brewery (which I can recommend to everyone, not only to beer-lovers!). This time I I visited other museums, like the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, the Copenhagen City Museum and also Rosenborg Slot, a wonderful renaissance summer palace built by the (probably) most popular Danish king, Christian the 4th. This palace also houses the Danish Crown jewelry nowadays.

Ráckeve and Ócsa (5 August)

Exercising my newly acquired driving skills, this was my first car-trip outside Budapest. It wasn't very long, lasted only for half a day. In Ráckeve I wanted to see the old Serbian Orthodox church, but it was closed (despite the sign at the entrance that said otherwise). Although I managed to take a few pictures from outside, this was a disappointment. The nearby village of Ócsa did compensate me, however. Its beautiful XIII. century Romanesque cathedral was open and I even got a short but informative guided tour by a pretty young girl. There are some wonderfully renovated peasant houses nearby, also open to the public.

Balatonfüred, Hotel Marina (4 August)

I spent a sunny Saturday on the lake Balaton. This was a "team building" meeting with my colleagues. I am not sure whether we became a better team, but we definitely had fun.

Dublin (13-17 January)

I extended a business trip and spent a weekend in Ireland's nice capital city. The weather was marvelous, bright and sunny for both days, which is probably not very typical. Dublin is a nice place to visit: Trinity College and especially the The Book of Kells in the Library is worth a visit. Merrion square and its neigbourhood provides a nice open-air exchibition of Georgian style architecture: I took a number of photos there, mostly concentrating on the colourful doors. You must also spend some time in the two main churches, St. Patrick's and Christchurch Cathedrals (prepare to pay entrance fees!), I liked the floor of Christchurch, covered with colourful tiles, giving the interior a very warm atmosphere. In Dublin you must also taste Guiness, the famous Irish stout. One option to do it i to visit the Guiness Brewery: its exhibition area has been moved to a new location recently, presenting all aspects of beer making, including the ingredients, the technology, the storage and the marketing of the product. At the end you receive a pint of Guiness in a tower bar where you can enjoy the nice panorama of the city. However, the entrance fee is rather high (9 Irish punts), so if you are interested in the beer only, visiting a pub is a cheaper option. And you must do that anyway. Pubs are everywhere, but if you want to enjoy Dublin's nightlife at its best, then the Temple Bar area is the place to go, where you can find not only traditional pubs, but all kinds of resaurants and cosy cafes. In summary, Dublin is a nice, friendly and lively place, which I definitely recommend to visit.

The 60 movies I saw in 2001

Legend:

• : Best of the crop. I usually pick 5 movies at the end of the year to receive this mark. By clicking on the icon you get to the list of the selected movies for this year.
• : Films I really recommend. I am not so much choosy, so quite a few movies receive this mark.
• : Films that you should really avoid. I am rather tolerant, so not very many movies get awarded with it.

Small time crooks (30th December)

A hilarious Woody Allen comedy. Enjoy!

Csocsó, avagy éljen május 1-je! (26th December)

A comedy about the funnier side of darkest times in modern Hungarian history. It is a bit like the other movies by Róbert Koltai. A reasonable effort, although it won't achieve the fame of Tanú by Péter Bacsó.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (21th December)

A long-awaited and very much hyped film. It is an entertaining movie, correctly filmed and very spectacular. It lacks the humour of the book, but it is still rather enjoyable.

How Harry Became a Tree (4th December)

A story capturing my mind: although most of the audience in the cinema were laughing a lot and the two user comments I found in IMDB both claimed it was a funny movie, I found it rather sad. It is about the anger of a man who cannot handle his personal tragedies and decides to challenge the most powerful man in the village with no reason. The events eventually lead to an inevitable tragedy. The striking motif of self-destruction in this movie is similar to the one that exists in the Balkan and beautifully presented in some Kusturica movies, so despite the Irish environment, the director's (Goran Paskaljevic from Serbia) origin is clearly felt.

Harem Suare' (25th November)

Although the exotic story looks exciting, this film is probably too slow-paced. It does manage to convey a certain atmosphere, but I found that this wasn't enough for a good movie...

The Emperor's New Groove (17th November)

No need for comments, see it yourself, enjoy and laugh!

Cats and Dogs (3rd November)

There are a few funny moments in this film that makes it tolerable. I have seen worse movies this year, to continue with a positive tone. Otherwise it's in the "not recommended" category.

Nexxt (Frau Plastic Chicken Show) (2nd November)

This movie had a similar effect on me as Titus earlier this year: I "liked" it as a remarkable movie presenting us how the modern media dominates our world. At the same time, it had some brutal scenes which shocked me. I can recommend this movie but you should prepare yourself before you go!

Tango (28th October)

This is a remarkable movie, even though I was not very much impressed by the cast and the story: the music and the dancing scenes compensate for that.

Segunda piel (20th October)

Yet another Spanish movie pecked with erotic scenes. This one is a rather mediocre one, in my opinion. If you want to see love scenes between two men, you may want to go for this film, but personally I found these (otherwise well-played) scenes disgusting and they made me feel sick.

Planet of the Apes (18th October)

Not a simple remake of the classical movie: the story has been changed quite a bit, not necessarily for its benefit. The pictures, masks, effects etc. are much more spectacular, of course. Enjoyable if you like the genre, but nothing extraordinary.

Macerás ügyek (13th October)

This movie mainly sells itself through its unique slow-paced and somewhat surrealistic style. It is a 'classical' love story and it has some very good touching moments, although the script is not very good (a common problem with Hungarian movies).

Franciska vasárnapjai (27th September)

Another surprisingly good Hungarian movie. How to make an almost idyllic story about the worst period of Communist dictatorship: the answer is in the soul of the main character, a young good-hearted woman who manages to maintain proper behaviour even as a member of the Communist police.

Moszkva tér (25th September)

A surprisingly good Hungarian movie, presenting how teen-agers experienced the years of change in Hungary. Although I was a few years older at the time the atmosphere was familiar and the movie captured me.

Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre (22th September)

Even Sophie Marceau's presence and the few (very few) good French gags are unable to save this otherwise slow and boring movie! A disappointment.

Liam (16th September)

The latest Stephen Frears movie is worth the ticket price, I think. In a more critical mood I would say that it is "yet another" British working class movie blended with a politically correct presentation of antisemitism and fascism and a critical presentation of the Catholic church in Liverpool in the 30s. However, I am in a more positive mood and I am inclined to say that this is "yet another" British working class movie with all the benefits: good story and good acting that makes you sympathize with the characters.

Du poil sous les roses (15th September)

Do you remember your sex problems as a teen-ager? If not, watch this movie!

Jurassic Park III (14th September)

Spectacular scenes but otherwise thin story with easily calculable turns. Forgetable.

Dr. Dolittle 2. (6th September)

Weak and boring story. Very few good gags and I suspect that the original version (this movie was dubbed in Hungary) is even weaker.

Gabbeh (27th August)

The second movie from Iran I saw this year. Although Gabbeh was not as revelational as Bad ma ra khahad bord (probably because I already expected something exceptional) it is a beautiful poetic movie with wonderful pictures and a great and unique way of story telling. It seems that movie-makers in Iran know something that the West already forgot: cinema is art.

Bridget Jones's Diary (26th August)

There is the software term WYSIWYG, which is the abbreviation of "What You See Is What You Get". (The term applies to word processors which produce exactly the same format of the document in printing as what the user sees on the screen. Or at least so they promise.) This movie is a WYSIWYG movie, promising an easy summer evening comedy with witty jokes and a guaranteed happy end. Part of the contract was not to provide any food for thought. I got exactly what was promised: I laughed quite a lot, enjoyed the correct acting and I was happy with the end. This movie is an Oscar suspect, I believe.

Ça ira mieux demain (16th August)

This is a French version of the same genre into which Fast food, fast woman belongs. Easy metropolitan comedy, with a lot of witty French gags. Enjoyable.

Le Placard (??th August)

Enjoyable French comedy.

The Legend Of 1900 (28th July)

A sad tale about a talented piano player who spends his entire life on the board of an ocean cruiser, because he is restricted by his complex that prevents him from following the girl of her dreams.

The Man Who Cried (26th July)

I had ambivalent feelings while watching this movie. On the one hand, I liked it: it is visually beautiful, the characters are well chosen and the story (although it is "yet another" story about Jewish identity and antisemitism) is unique and touching. On the other hand, I often felt the movie mushy and slushy.

Evolution (19th July)

Motto: "a nightmare from DreamWorks". Well, I really deserve this. I really should have known... My only excuse is that I was looking for an easy and entertaining summer movie and I hoped that DreamWorks would produce acceptable quality. Unfortunately, this was not the case: Evolution is a dull movie.

Saving Grace (15th July)

Yet another easy British comedy. Acting is excellent as usual. The scenery is beautiful. The story is far from perfect, the ending is especially weak. Still, this movie provides reasonably good entertainment for a nice summer evening.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (8th July)

The mistake of the year.

Der Krieger und Die Kaiserin (7th July)

A touching love story: Cinderella motives blended with German Trainspotting style.

Les Visiteurs en Amérique (30th June)

An easy comedy for a nice summer evening.

Sue (27th June)

A previous piece by Amos Kollek about the dark side of metropolitan life: loneliness, unemployment, homelessness, hopelessness. This movie is a portrait of a woman (Sue) in her mid-thirties. Sue is lonely, has no job and cannot afford to pay the rent of her apartement. Her efforts to find friends, to find a partner or to find a job gradually fail. She gets to an unstoppable downward spiral and at the end of the movie we see her sitting on a bench in a hopeless situation, totally depressed and lost. I have seen several movies with similar stories: what makes this one different is that it on emphasizes Sue's personal responsibility in her life: she gets several chances throughout the story but cannot grab them. The real reason of her fall is not her financial situation or her joblessness, but her inability to find proper relationships. If society is responsible for Sue's fate (and I do think it has a share in it), then this responsibility lies somewhere deep in the roots of our society, the way we all think about our relations towards other people.

Shrek (22th June)

An early XXI. century fairytale. Or rather, a parody. The animation is amazing (what else did you expect boy, this is DreamWorks...), the story and characters are entertaining, so my general impression is very good. Still, a remark on the so-called "message" of the movie. It is supposed to teach us to be tolerant and respectful to other people (and ogres, too ;-))). However, some of the gags went against this very message (when the frog and the snake are turned into balloons, for instance): this shows that the creators themselves didn't really care about this message.

Fast food, fast women (16th June)

An easy metropolitan comedy. A little bit a'la Woody Allen, although the director is actually Amos Kollek. Quite nice.

Tea with Mussolini (15th June)

A typical old-fashioned Zeffirelli piece, simple and straightforward story, packed with emotions as usual. And that is why I loved it.

Les Rivičres pourpres (9th June)

A French thriller, a rather good one in its category. The otherwise not too original story is set in the Alps: the mountains provide a strong atmosphere for the movie and result in some breathtaking pictures. Photography is anyway probably the strongest point in favour of this movie.

Ŕ la verticale de l'été (8th June)

A Vietnamese movie, a rare phenomenon in Hungarian cinemas. It is a bit strange in the beginning that all those Vietnamese characters speak French (obviously caused by the French cooperation in the making of this movie), but otherwise this is not the only French influence in the movie: this could have been a typical French story about the eternal problems of one's private life, love, marriage, deception, the search of happiness.

La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (7th June)

This is a story about people who follow their principles and accept even the most extreme consequences (death, in this case). Not very many such persons existed in the XIX. century and I am sure that even less exist today. Still, it is good to see examples of good people, even if you know that you will never follow them and you hope you will never have to make similar choices in your own life.

Entre las piernas (3rd June)

This movie is categorized as an "erotic thriller" by the advertizers. More or less true. However, the special Spanish taste, lots of unexpected turns and some frenetic gags make this movie much more enjoyable than a usual piece of thriller.

Le gout des autres (27th May)

This is a wonderful movie. Agnes Jaoui's movie slighty reminds me to Eric Rohmer's style, although the story is less idyllic than in his movies (times are less idyllic, I believe). Of course this is not simply a "Rohmer copy", far from that. It tells us how people search for happiness and how easily they fail in their search. They may fail because they trust each other too much, or they may fail because they don't trust each other enough. They may fail, because they have prejudices against other people, even though they are the ones who claim themselves free of prejudices.

Le Pacte des loups (12th May)

This movie seems to be part of the French offensive (AKA Galliwood ;-) to gain a higher share in the international market of entertainment movies, i.e. to break the dominance of Hollywood. I don't know how they will succeed, I suspect they have a long way to go, even though there are several other French moves shown in Hungarian cinemas these weeks, which has not been the case for some time. Anyway, this movie provides good entertainment: the story is schematic but still more complex than in an average Hollywoodian counterpart and the images are spectacular.

Sacra Corona (30th April)

This movie was created by the financial support of the Hungarian government as part of the various celebrations of 1000 years of Hungarian statehood. This is a very respectable act, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to create an enjoyable movie. This is indeed a pity, as it could have been a very memorable costume movie. The script is based on true events of XI. century Hungarian history: the story of King László I. whose coronation closed the long chaotic interregnum after István's (the founder of the state) death and consolidated Hungary's position as a strong Christian Kingdom in medieval Europe. This story is full of battles, politics, conspiracy, hate and love. It could have been the basis for a script as exciting and deep as a Shakespeare tragedy. Unfortunately the script-writer was not able to come up with anything usable: the script is extremely weak. So is the acting, although I don't want to blame the actors too much, as it is quite hard to act well in a story falling apart. It seems that the creators of this movie were concentrationg too much on celebrating and on telling us lessons, instead of creating a good movie.

In the Mood For Love (29th April)

Action fans would hate this movie. I loved it because of the way it presented moods and emotions: love, empathy, loneliness and unhappiness. Talented photography and the wonderful violin music added a lot to the magic of this movie.

Enemy at the gates (20th April)

A duel of snipers in the ruined Stalingrad. A very good war movie: although some threads of the story are a bit weak, the scenes of the sniper battle compensate for that. Also, there is striking love scene, I will not forget.

Rat (16th April)

It seems that Irish film-making is coming onboard: after The Snapper and Waking Ted Nevine this movie managed to reach Hungary, and I am glad that it happened, as this is a rather enjoyable piece of film-making, with a couple of strange (and thus exciting) gags and with a spoonful of moral lesson.

Malena (14th April)

A touching Italian movie: a WWII story about a beautiful Sicilian widow who becomes victim of the intolerance, envy and hypocriticism of the people of her town.

Bad ma ra khahad bord (7th April)

A movie from Iran: not much action, but a lot of poetry. Simple and enigmatric at the same time, this is one of the most wonderful and powerful movies I have seen in recent years.

What women want (1st April)

An easy and forgettable comedy.

Le Libertin (31th March)

A pikant French comedy. I sort of liked it, except the modern music.

Volaverunt (16th March)

A correctly filmed historic crime story filled with passion, eroticism and politics. Especially recommended for Goya fans: it is the story of the painting Nude Maya.

Chocolate (15th March)

A nice fairy tale, mostly sweet, sometimes a little bit bitter, just like good chocolate. Don't take it very seriously and prepare to go to a fine confectionery after the movie!

Nurse Betty (10th March)

A good piece of movie, the acting is particularly excellent. Otherwise it is a typical Hollywood satire with the usual sense of balance between box-office constraints and the creator's motivation to tell you something that is beyond entertainment.

Onegin (2nd March)

An excellent adaptation of a classic story about love and ignorance. All men should learn from it.

Billy Elliot (26th February)

On the one hand, this is "yet another" British working class movie, like Brassed Off, Little Voice, The Full Monty or many others, using even the very same patterns of story-flow and characters: the turns can be guessed well ahead and often you know what the next sentence of the chap (the miner, of course) will be as you met him already seven movies ago. On the other hand, this is a wonderful and touching story that carries you away so much that you don't care about the conventional solutions, you just sympathize with the people in it.

Wo hu zang long / Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (24th February)

This is a wonderfully directed, photographed and played movie. It is also a great story. The exotic touch adds some extra spice, but it is really a minor factor. This movie is nominated to 10 Oscars this year and (considering the other nominees) I would grant all of them without much hesitation. Gladiator, the other contender of the same epic genre, may be up to this movie in technical effects, but neither its story, nor its acting comes even close to this film: Gladiator is pure entertainment whereas this movie is real art.

Titus (10th February)

This film shocked me. It is an excellent Shakespeare adaptation and so it manages to convey the atmosphere of the original play. Now, as Titus Andronicus is an extremely bloody story dominated by cruelty and revenge, succesfully conveying it will shock you. Or at least it shocked me. My first impression was rather negative as I soon realized that this movie follows the trend of some new Shakespeare adaptions in which the historic setting of the story is changed and some kind of fantastic mixture of various ages is used instead: as in this movie too, often XX. century is blended in to give a more contemporary look and feel. Although this "pattern" can work (the ideology behind it is the emphasis on the timeless nature of the story) and I tend to appreciate it, it is becoming overused nowadays and I have seen quite a few recent adaptations that tried to use it as a fancy trick hiding the otherwise poor quality of the movie. However, Titus applied it with quite good imagination so I soon accepted it, and anyway the film in general (and acting especially) was quite ecxellent so the horrors of the story soon carried me away.

El Coronel no tiene quien le escriba (3rd February)

Based on a short novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, featuring excellent actors/actresses, this is a film about dignity in a world dominated by poverty and devastation. Note, however that El Coronel belongs to the type of movies that require an appropriate mood. I expected something lighter and then the atmosphere of hopelessness struck me so strongly that it prevented me from "properly enjoying" the movie. Thus I am still "digesting" it and although I know it is a valuable piece of art, at an instinctive level I "refuse" it.

Snatch (20th January)

Two factors make this movie rather enjoyable: the fast-paced script with some unexpected and hilarious turns and the number of original characters. Otherwise the movie is very similar to Guy Ritchie's first movie, the Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.

Meseautó (7th January)

Trendy is the keyword for this easy comedy, which is a remake of a classic from 1934. Remakes of popular movies from the 30's and early 40's seem to be trendy nowadays in the Hungarian film industry (see also Hippolyt from 1999). Obviously, the producers wanted to build on the success of the original story and they could easily do so due to the similarities between 30's and 00's in terms of social trends. Meseautó will be probably a solid financial success (a surprising new trend for Hungarian movies) in the trendy cinema multiplexes because after the decade of overwhelming dominance of Hollywood it is now trendy again to go for local productions (at least the showroom was packed when I saw the movie). Otherwise the movie is rather mediocre, except for a few enjoyable gags.

Kis utazás (5th January)

A Hungarian movie about the sunny side of the Communist Bloc, from the 70's. A group of teenagers travel to DDR (the former GDR) for a summer work camp. Nice gags, nice stories. Wakes your nostalgic feelings...

Black cat, white cat (1st January)

A recent Kusturica movie. Good as always. Frenetic as always.

A 8 színházi előadás, amit 2001-ben láttam

Jelmagyarázat

• : Előadások, amelyeket igazán szerettem. Nem vagyok túl válogatós, elég könnyen adom ezt a jelet.
• : Előadások, amelyeket nagyon nem szerettem. Elég toleráns vagyok, úgyhogy ritkán szerepel ez az értékelés.

Bertolt Brecht - Kurt Weill: Koldusopera (Katona József Színház, 2001. november 14.)

Bár volt néhany rendezési ötlet és általánosságban véve is tetszett a darab aktualizálása (ami sajnos jogos), az előadás mégsem tudott úgy magával ragadni, mint a korábbi Katona darabok. Azért ajánlom mindenkinek.

Bálint András Márai estje (Radnóti Színház, 2001. november 10.)

Márai a magyar irodalom egyik nagy, a változások után újrafelfedezett alakja (pontosabban az irodalomban hozzám hasonlóan kevéssé tájékozott emberek számára volt ez újrafelfedezés...): Márai '45 és '50 között írt naplóiból hallunk célírányosan válogatott részleteket, amelyek egyrészt Márai emigrációjához vezető útját írják le, másrészt Márai néhol a közgondolkodástól eltérő, de mindenképp figyelemre méltó véleményét mutatják be a magyar irodalom nagy alakjairól. Elgondolkodtató előadás.

Anconai Szerelmesek (Radnóti Színház, 2001. június 5.)

Számomra talán az idény legjobb darabja: önfeledt szórakozás, idilli történet boldog szerelmespárokról, rengeteg humorral fűszerezve, amely alapvetően kedves és elnéző, bár egy csipetnyit fanyar, a nézőre kikacsintó: "tudjuk, hogy nem igaz, hogy ilyen nincs, de olyan jó beleélni magunkat, ugye te is így gondolod, kedves közönségünk..." És a kedves közönség így gondolja, a tapsból ítélve.

William Shakespeare: Lóvátett lovagok (Vígszínház, 2001. április 25.)

Bár messze nem a legjobb Shakespeare darab ez, azért így is jó az előadás, néhány remek poénnal és nagyon jó magyar fordítással. Kellemes szórakozás.

Carlo Goldoni: Szégyentelenek (Új Színház, 2001. március 19.)

Egy frenetikus, szabadszájú komédia egy frenetikus előadásban, amely ráadásul remekül ültette át mai környezetbe a darabot.

Carlo Goldoni: Mirandolina (Radnóti Színház, 2001. február 28.)

Vidám, de azért tanulságos történet, jó előadás néhány remek alakítással.

William Shakespeare: Athéni Timon (Radnóti Színház, 2001. február 20.)

Formabontó előadás, amely az előcsarnokban kezdődik és egyes jelenetek ott is folytatódnak. Alkalmanként a nézők is ingáznak, amikor nem, akkor a színpadi videokivetítőn követhetik az eseményeket. Nemcsak a technika, a nyelv is modern (rapbetétek is elhangzanak például) és Shakespeare athéni alakjai hangsúlyozottan maiak. Persze nem nehéz aktualizálni a témát, amely a pénz és a hízelgés körül forog. Bár számomra a második felvonás kicsit gyengébbnek tűnt, így is egy emlékezetes marad ez az este.

William Shakespeare: Sok hűhó semmiért (Vígszínház, 2001. január 8.)

Remek alapanyagból remek előadás. Bár Kenneth Branagh emlékezetes filmje látványosabb és szerintem a színészi játék tekintetében is jobb, mint ez az előadás (ami azért nem szégyen), ugyanakkor a színházi változat szabadszájú és modern fordítása lenyűgöző és a jellemeket is árnyaltabban mutatja be a rendezés.

Mobile telephony in Hungary

The cellular phone penetration is about 48% in December 2001.

Westel900

about 2.493 million subscribers in December 2001

Pannon GSM

about 1.953 million subscribers in December 2001

Vodafone

about 450,000 subscribers in December 2001