It may be worth learning Romanian just to understand the spoof below. Luckily (just after I spent time translating it all), I found a subtitled version:
P.S. I liked Avatar. But I liked this too 
.
You’ll be smurfing soon – Avatar after Oscar
March 19, 2010
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Funny, Movies | Tagged: Avatar, spoof | 
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Posted by explorish
Rumania, 1964
March 19, 2010“London exhibition. Two teenage girls (twins) look at some of the Rumanian Craftware on display at the exhibition. Rumanian women demonstrate weaving techniques.
Rumania – countryside. Farmer and his herd of cows. Scenic shots of the countryside. Carpathian Mountains. Narrator details some of Rumania’s history. Scenes at a racecourse. The tote. Bookmakers. Trotting race. Narrator makes jokes about the Rumanians being capitalists. Chairlift at the skiing resort of Poiana Brasov. Various shots of the countryside – some views from the moving chairlift. “Sport Hotel” with holidaymakers drinking cocktails. Museum opens its gates – ornate architecture. Churches and monastery in Moldavia.”
This is the very British way of describing a very British documentary about Romania. From 1964. Delightful. Watch it below, or here, where you can also read the full script.
Thanks Alina for the tip!
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Posted by explorish
Romania builds giant statue of vampire god
March 18, 2010“Under the influence of the vampire god pantheon since the Middle Ages, Romania, now member of both the European Union and the Middle Earth alliance has finally announced today the completion of one of the countries’ most prized art works: a giant statue of the vampire super-god Tudor Vladimirescu, a guardian and fatherly figure mentioned even on the banknotes.
Built entirely out of red marble and gold by ottoman and Hungarian slaves, and measuring over 30 meters high the statue is conveniently placed in the center of downtown Budapest, the countries’ capital so that all living mortals can worship it and pray at it’s altar.
According to Romanian officials the statue is only one of many religious monuments to be built in the coming years out of European money and tax collection. “We are very excited to unveil as many new ridiculous spiritual sites as we can, in the near future, as we are convinced that the only way to attract tourists and popular support is by offering human sacrifice to our extremely tolerant gods,” said the Romanian PM, Gheorghe Hagi, a known worshiper of razor blades and energy drinks.
Although the weather seems to be very moody lately, government officials say that they are confident that the first human sacrifice hosted by the statue will take place by late March “when the moon is right” and the werewolves start hibernating.”
This piece of news is copied in its entirety from trombon.ro, formerly known as times.ro. Was too much of a good match. Curious how many foreign TV stations will believe this as true, like in the Tahiti case. 
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Posted by explorish
International Women’s Day
March 8, 2010“Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc). In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother’s Day and St Valentine’s Day mixed together.”
I had no idea, but
“The first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it came to commemorate the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The idea of having an international women’s day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions.”
Anyway, in spite of moving out of the socialist block, in Romania it is still celebrated, as well as in other Eastern European countries – for the complete list, check the wikipedia article the quotes above are from.
Typically what you do is give flowers to women in your life and try to spoil them in whichever (good) way you can. I’m never sure what you actually say on March 8th, I don’t even think there’s a special greeting, so I usually say – dear ladies, have a nice spring!
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Posted by explorish
Paula Seling to represent Romania at the Eurovision song contest 2010
March 7, 2010Actually, it’s Paula Seling and Ovi (Ovidiu Cernăuţeanu), who is both composer and performer, but wanna bet that people will be talking mostly about Paula? She’s pretty. And has a good voice.
The song? De gustibus non disputandum, up to you if you like it or not. Watch it here:
It was selected following a national contest. To get an idea about what’s on in Romanian Eurovision-style pop music, Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by explorish
Another one bites – the Duster
March 4, 2010The concept car presented in Geneva in 2009 looked out of this world, especially for a Dacia, 20 years ago the world’s worst car:
Of course, not much of the concept car has reached us consumers, however, the world is expecting with interest how the just launched Dacia Duster SUV will do:
“The rise and rise of Dacia is a remarkable phenomenon. From nowhere in 1999 when Renault bought Dacia, it’s been transformed in to a producer of budget cars for emerging markets. 1.25 million Dacias have been sold in the last five years and, with consumers in traditional car markets becoming ever more budget aware, Renault feels the Dacia will find a ready market. They’ve already had success on mainland Europe and now they’re biting the bullet to make RHD cars.
But Dacias are not exactly the Lada of the 21st century. In a similar way to Hyundai, they have moved quality upmarket but kept prices sensible. The new Dacia Duster is a budget-busting compact SUV – Skoda Yeti Sized – offering 1.5 litre diesel with 104bhp or a 1.6 petrol with 84bhp. And you can opt for 2WD or 4WD. An prices start at a very reasonable €11,900. Including tax.”
Excerpt from an article on carsuk.net.
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Posted by explorish
Angelina’s Romanian friend
March 1, 2010Yes, THE Angelina. This is how I heard about Ion Bârlădeanu, one of today’s much appreciated pop artists – from a news piece about Angelina Jolie. Which I didn’t mind at all.
Angelina Jolie & Ion Bârlădeanu. Source: romaniantimes.at
“Romanian collage artist Ion Barladeanu has met Angelina Jolie in Paris, where he exhibited his art collection called “Realpolitik” at the Anne de Villepoix gallery. The Hollywood actress talked with Barladeanu for about two hours and said she was impressed by his work and life story.”
…
His work was discovered two years ago by Romanian curator Dan Popescu, who exhibited his collages at the H’Art Bucharest gallery. Later, Romanian director Alexander Nanau made a documentary film presenting Barladeanu’s amazing life journey that was broadcast on HBO Romania.
Barladeanu’s collages are considered by some critics as masterpieces of pop art that are as significant as Marcel Duchamp’s or Andy Warhol’s work.”
If you’re interested in the Angelina part of the story, read the whole article above here. If however you’d like to know more about the artist, read the Guardian full coverage about Ion Barladeanu’s beyond-hollywood-esque life story here.
2 Comments | Art, People, Romania in the news | Tagged: Angelina Jolie, Ion Barladeanu, pop art | Permalink
Posted by explorish
Spring traditions – choose your “Baba”
March 1, 2010March 1st, the first day of spring according to tradition, brings not only the celebration of “Martisor” (an amulette of white and red tread woven together, which we spoke about here), but also another interesting myth in Romanian traditions: Dochia’s Days or “Babele” – “The Old Women”.
This old lady called Dochia has been the subject of numerous stories and has been depicted in various ways. The one we talk about here depicts her as an old mean woman, called “Baba Dochia” (old Dochia, read “bubba doe-kee-ah”) who wants to get rid of her daughter-in-law by forcing her to do various hard–to-accomplish tasks (nothing unusual here). One day, she sends her to wash the wool until it becomes black. Because she is unable to comply with this requirement, the young woman starts to cry. Suddenly, she finds herself in front of two men, God and St. Peter, who darken the wool after hearing the story. Seeing her task fulfilled, the mother-in-law sends her back to turn the wool white again (duh). While struggling hard to whiten the wool, Read the rest of this entry »
British business in Romania
February 25, 2010
Parlament Palace in bustling Bucharest. Photo by the maVerick
“When Liverpool FC take the field for their second leg UEFA Europa League tie against Unirea Urziceni in Romania, there may be a fair measure of divided loyalty on the home terraces. (a.r.a.v. note: well, actually, we think you’re wrong on just this particular one, guys )
It’s not just that the soccer-mad Romanians follow the English Premiership almost as closely as we do: many of Urziceni’s residents also work for a British firm, women’s fashion manufacturer Alison Hayes, whose 1,000-worker textiles factory is by far the town’s largest employer.
Alison Hayes is just one of more than 4,000 UK firms operating in Romania. UK investment in the country stands at more than €4bn, making us one of the country’s top 10 foreign investors. Despite the recession – which has hit Romania hard – UK exports totalled around €700m in the first nine months of 2009.”
Read the whole article in yesterday’s The Telegraph here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/europa/7306099/Business-in-Romania-a-country-thats-fast-off-the-Bloc.html
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Posted by explorish
You have an excuse
February 24, 2010Go hug/kiss/caress/…. /smile at/dance with someone you love. She/he will be surprised by what’s gotten into you (Valentine’s Day is gone, after all).
BUT – you have the perfect excuse: it’s “Dragobete”, the Romanian Valentine, so no one will blame you. More about this ancient celebration, a few posts back.
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Haiti, Tahiti, they all sound the same
February 24, 2010
“A hilarious incident took place yesterday in Tahiti, where a battalion of the Romanian army caused hysterical laughter on the paradise island in French Polynesia.
The Ministry of Defense made a regrettable mistake about the destination of its aid for earthquake victims in Haiti, sending a battalion of mountain troops and 2000 tons of supplies – water, blankets, medicine and food – in the opposite direction, to the Tahiti island, located in the South Pacific.
“I say we should not make a big show of this thing. I mean, the names sound very, very similar. Haiti, Tahiti, Mahiti, Papiti. To hell with them, they sound all the same”, Defense Minister Gabriel Oprea told times.ro.”
…
The above piece of news with the respective picture, published on the Romanian website times.ro, went around the world. Russian, Hungarian, Latvian and Italian journalists broadcasted the news, which went not only around the internet but soon reached even Colombian television.
The French TV channel Canal+ mentioned the story in a talk show. In the clip below, for the first minute and a half they discuss the subject and are mesmerized by the incident.
After a minute and a half, the clip jumps to the same talk-show the next day, where the host, after showing the Colombian news broadcast about the incident, explains that it was a… joke.
Even if you don’t speak French to understand what they’re saying, it’s worth watching their facial expressions .
The website times.ro is a satire. “The Onion” type. The blogger guy who launched this “piece of news” still can’t believe how journalists around the world simply do not verify sources before blabbering stuff to the public on a very serious tone. That while the respective article was tagged “almost true“.
Well, at least one thing we know for sure in these times of uncertainty: no matter where they are or end up, all Romanians are vampires .
More info in an article from Le Monde, in French, here. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by explorish
Not all winners take it all
February 23, 2010“If you don’t win a prize, no one looks at you”, said Florin Serban in an interview shortly after his return from the 2010 Berlin film festival, where he won the Silver Bear, the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred Bauer Prize for cinematographic innovation.
Wrong.
Even if you win a prize, but it is not the big one, no one looks at you. The entire media has all its cannons on Florin Serban, obviously for good reasons. Unfortunately, media seems to have no cannons left for Adrian Sitaru, another Romanian director who won a prize at the Berlinale – the DAAD (German Cultural Exchange Institute) prize for short film. Heck, even I forgot to mention him in the previous article about Florin Serban!
Apologies.
The movie is called “Colivia”, “The Birdcage”, and the jury said the following:
“A perfectly paced miniature, a chamber piece inside a Romanian tower block. Funny, heartfelt, with a wonderful rhythm. The director needs only 17 minutes to portray the three characters involved.”
Here’s a scene:
Unlike Florin Serban, Adrian Sitaru is Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by explorish
The Silver Bear. Not in Braşov, at the Berlinale.
February 21, 2010
Florin Serban at the Berlinale (source: berlinale.de)
Outstanding result for the Romanian cinematography at the prestigious film festival in Berlin. Florin Şerban (not even Romanian cinefils know who he is) won not one prize, but two:
The Silver Bear – The Jury Grand Prix
and
The Alfred Bauer Prize, “awarded in memory of the Festival founder, for a work of particular innovation”
with the movie “Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier” – “When I want to whistle, I whistle”.
CONGRATULATIONS!
More about Florin Şerban, here (in German). More about the movie, for those who like to read ahead, here (in German too). Still waiting for English language reviews and bio – the guy is completely unknown in the “outer world”, but that is likely to change. Will update when available. Meanwhile, for Romanian speakers or hardcore film fans willing to use google translator, more info in Romanian here.
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Posted by explorish
The Romanian Valentine
February 15, 2010
Looking for Dragobete (source: Hunedoreanul)
Valentine’s Day has caught a lot of momentum in the last 10 years in Romania, growing exponentially from a shy attempt at mimicking a Western tradition to a full-fledged commercially-driven event, mostly like everywhere.
This “imported holiday” caused a counter-reaction in some milieus, at the beginning mostly artsy people who opposed the over-the-top commercial spirit it perpetrated. After a few years this has led to re-discovering an ancient Romanian tradition, equivalent to a “Valentine” type celebration, the “Dragobete”. It is a paradox – without the Valentine’s Day import and the anti-Valentine reaction, poor Dragobete would have been long forgotten. Practically, Valentine saved it from extinction and… created competition.
The “Dragobete Day” is on February 24th. Probably the month of February was considered a month of revival, the day of 24th being the beginning of the agricultural year (sometimes it was considered the day when the bear comes out of the den). It is the time when nature awakens, birds start looking for places to build their nests and people, especially youngsters, follow the course of nature. Looking for mating opportunities, that is.
Dragobete is the name of a deity similar to Eros or Cupid. The son of Dochia, a famous figure in Romanian mythology (about her, some other time), was Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by daianbia
Ultimate survival – Transylvania
February 5, 2010Bear Grylls, the Discovery Channel survival expert, has been dropped (literally) in the Transylvanian forest, a place “crawling with brown bears”. There you go, Bear.
If you want to have a first-hand look at the wild Carpathian mountains, check out the movies below. Carpathians are considered ideal for hiking, being not as high as the highest Alps, thus more accessible on foot, but high enough to be challenging (Bear can testify). As opposed to the Alps, you find wide uninhabited territories (or, at least, not by humans), great wildlife (read: “big”) and outstandingly diverse landscapes.
Here’s what happened to crazy Bear:
Part 1
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Posted by explorish
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