octobre 2012

(Image source - Iulia Hasdeu by Maillart) Browsing through Whatafy earlier on today, I came across a post on the Castle of Iulia Hasdeu in Campina, a site with a story attached to it (as everywhere does in the country of my heart) that has fascinated me for many years. It inspired me to go off and do some further research of my own. There are many wonderful sites out there full of  information on this breath-takingly impressive, sad, yet peaceful monument built by a bereaved father in memory of his lost child. Several of them... [Lire la suite]

(Image source) The pix on FB have become so hilarious, the jokes so delicious, the FB page (with 2,091 appreciative 'likes' as I write) set up dedicated to Marga and his bloop so funny that I can't resist writing a post on the ICR director's latest strategy to promote Romania's new cultural values through science and technology. What's wrong with that, I hear you say. Romania deserves to be recognised for its science and technology as much as for its artistic successes. Indeed. But did Marga suggest Henri Coanda’s invention of the... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) When I dropped by FB this morning to see what was new in the country of my heart (along with the rest of the world), the first thing I fell upon was a photo (see left) of a plaque from Colegiului Andrei Saguna, Brasov, marking the very spot of the first ever performance of Ciprian Porumbescu's operetta, 'Crai nou' (New Moon). Off I went to find it on youtube. I recognised it at once, not because I had heard it in concert, oh no... but because those opening bars of the first aria are the very same as those played on... [Lire la suite]

(Image source) My instinct says no it doesn't. I find it difficult to imagine such a prize awarded to a 'non-person' as such and feel there were far more deserving bods out there (hundreds of them probably not even nominated). Having said that, there are precedents for organisations rather than individuals winning the award, eg. The Red Cross, so that particular moan is a lost cause. These arguments aren't, however: surely, human rights in Europe owe more to the European Convention of Human Rights than the EU. And, IMHO, post-'45... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) I have just read the news of Omar Hayssam's two year jail sentence for skipping the country in addition to 20 years for terrorism, says Ziare.com. I wonder how many he'll actually do? For those of you unfamiliar with this story, I'll rewind a little. Hayssam arrived in Bucharest as a student at the beginning of the 1980s, graduating from the Railroads, Roads and Bridges Faculty of the Bucharest Construction Institute, according to Wikipedia. He married Adela, had seven children, and became a Romanian citizen post-'89.... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source: A.Oglinda) I'm so appalled I can barely write, though I suppose one should have become used to such scenes by now. 25 people were arrested and bundled into a police van (more like a lorry) near Hala Matache in Bucharest today. Why? Because they dared stage a peaceful protest without authorisation against the imminent destruction of the monument which Oprescu says will simply be 'moved' 37 metres along the road, although we know full well that such an action will be the end of Hala Matache once and for all... Many of... [Lire la suite]

Well, today is the day when Dan Diaconescu (otherwise known as DD) has to come up with the colour of 45 million euros for Oltchim chemical plant, even though the task book gave 2013 as the deadline to pay, he said. He won the open tender to buy a 54.8 percent stake in the industrial chemicals group last week, offering 45 million euros, or more than ten times the starting price. Most think he'll never do it. Ronnie Smith for Romania Insider writes, "There was no detailed prospectus issued and no proposals, offers, ideas or guarantees... [Lire la suite]