The fiddle is usually associated with the hillbilly mania of people like Michael Cleveland (the nerdiest master ever to wield a bow), or the can't-get-it-out-of-your-head knees up party sound of celtic music. The violin, on the other hand, is associated with the elegance of orchestral music. They're actually one and the same instrument, applied to different sounds. And nobody wrote for this instrument more movingly than the Romanian composer Ciprian Porumbescu (1853-1883). Listen to his Ballad for Violin and Orchestra with your eyes closed, and weep for the suffering of the world.
posted by crazylegs on Jun 13, 2009 - 23 comments

Following the 5 April parliamentary election results in the Republic of Moldova, in which the Partidul Comuniștilor din Republica Moldova won nearly 50% of the vote, thousands of young people began a series of protests largely organized through Twitter, text messaging, and FaceBook. The protests quickly reached a boiling point early today, when Parliament was stormed. Much of the coverage in the European press is limited to Romanian-language reporting. Some of the most compelling imagery and video clips, however, speak for themselves. [more inside]
posted by vkxmai on Apr 7, 2009 - 44 comments

They call themselves Visual Journalists. Prime among them is the Bombay Flying Club, a group of photo-journalists who are using the latest web and flash technologies to frame their online news gathering and documentary storytelling. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 1, 2009 - 19 comments

Do you, or an older relative of yours, recognize any of these children? More than 70 children separated from their families during WWII, now all elderly men and women, are using the Internet to try to find some answers about their pasts, their families, and sometimes even their own names. They are soliciting help and suggestions in the comments sections on each story. [more inside]
posted by Asparagirl on Dec 19, 2008 - 21 comments

Cosmin Bumbuţ, Romanian photographer. [nsfw] [more inside]
posted by fire&wings on Jul 8, 2008 - 5 comments

Comprehensive profile, in the NY Times magazine, of the new crop of talented Romanian filmmakers. Be sure to check out the interactive component of the story, with clips and commentary on several recent films.
posted by lovejones on Jan 21, 2008 - 7 comments

Pro-street Romania Auto Club [more inside]
posted by Doohickie on Nov 19, 2007 - 18 comments

In the county of Maramures in Romania is Sapanta or The Merry Cemetery. From 1935 Ioan Patras, carved oak crosses with a scene from a life or death like the death of a young girl or this questionable bit.
posted by arse_hat on Jan 27, 2007 - 12 comments

Should have worked in a sushi bar. Newsoftheweirdfilter : before entering an hospital in order to have corrective surgery on your testicles, make sure your surgeon of choice isn't 1. slightly insane 2. short tempered 3.holding a scalpel (probably SFW, but may elicit a perpetual lack of trust in doctors).
posted by elpapacito on Jan 19, 2007 - 39 comments

Elizabeth Báthory is hot. I'd do her. The thing is she holds the world record (according to GWR) for being the most prolific serial killer in history. Supposedly, she may have tortured and killed as many as 2000 young girls, which probably makes her bi or lesbian (not that there's anything wrong with that). Some say she is the real inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
posted by sluglicker on Mar 18, 2006 - 62 comments

Master Manole built the Curtea de Arges Monastery. According to legend, he couldn't complete the work without sacrificing someone dear to him, and his hubris upon completing the work lead him to a tragic end. It's a touching story, and now you can play the game.
posted by empath on Dec 18, 2005 - 6 comments

Nun crucified at Romanian exorcism. A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said. "I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practice in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," Father Daniel added.

UPDATE: She was buried yesterday and the Principal monk has been charged with false imprisonment leading to death.
posted by cbjg on Jun 21, 2005 - 48 comments

While looking to cook something new, I found a woman's story of growing up in Romania and her immigration to the United States.
posted by pieoverdone on Mar 14, 2005 - 6 comments

Mint Rubbing: time and life management technique developed in Romania and practiced by millions of people worldwide. Learn to properly rub mint online and join the RMRA for free! Don't forget the testimonials and ancient wisdom...
posted by loquax on Aug 31, 2004 - 14 comments

Urban Haute Couture "is about street art and street art only. Since a couple of years ago there's a boom in street art. To be clear we're not talking about graffiti. We're talking about street art that is spraypaint/marker template based, stickers, posters and combinations of those. This new breed of street art, except for using the urban landscape as a medium, has actually nothing to do with graffiti." Cities include Berlin, Amsterdam and the Romanian Stencil Archive.
posted by vacapinta on Apr 4, 2004 - 16 comments

Images of the Rom: the Rrom of Romania from an award-winning book by Yves Leresche; The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe by Raulf Bauerdick; David Dare-Parker's Roma - Gypsies of Romania (the second image in the set won "Best Feature Photograph" in the Walkley Awards); the Chergari Gypsies in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria (by Stacia Spragg - background here); and Itinerant Gypsies in Romania by Valeriu Campan. See also the photo-article, Challenging Segregation of Roma schoolchildren in eastern Hungary by Jason Orton (article continues at far right), and an eviction series by Ph.D. student Cosima Rughinis: the Rom in Pata Rat (dump site), Cluj-Napoca, Piatra Neamt, and Targu Mures, Romania. For some context on the last, view some text snapshots (under "issues of Roma Rights") of the situation from the European Roma Rights Center.
posted by taz on Dec 10, 2003 - 18 comments

Faces of Happiness. Geometric Look. Irreplaceable. Meet "this rarest of child prodigies," Romanian-born artist Alexandra Nechita. An abstract cubist who took the art world by storm at age 8, she now has over 300 striking paintings to her credit.
posted by mediareport on Mar 3, 2003 - 16 comments

As Romanian factory workers prepare to sell sperm to a fertility clinic to try to reduce their company's debt one begins to wonder if capitalism is helping to fulfill Ceausescu's dream of increasing Romania's population from 23 million to 30 million by the year 2000, or if it's simply fueling the countries recent increase in the illegal sale of babies.
posted by hatutah on Nov 7, 2002 - 5 comments

Nineta's story: Video of a AIDS infected Rumanian kid fighting the medical bureacracy for therapy. Rumania has the highest no of pediatric AIDs cases - a legacy of the Ceausescu days when tainted blood and dirty needes were used regularly for blood transfusions (from WP)
posted by justlooking on Jan 30, 2002 - 1 comment

How did FoxNews get it before I did? Somehow I did not get word of this in a dozen e-mail messages: Ode to America from Romanian news editor Cornel Nistorescu.

It doesn't really say anything that we don't know already, but I guess it's special to hear it from someone on the outside, i.e. the much-loved 1973 essay from Canadian Gordon Sinclair.
posted by Tubes on Oct 19, 2001 - 3 comments

Romania learns capitialism well Along with a Dracula theme park, it's reported the government wants to help a group of US investors clone Vlad the Imapler (a.k.a. Count Dracula.)
posted by sixdifferentways on Jun 11, 2001 - 6 comments