MetaFilter posts tagged with romania

1989, revolution in Eastern Europe

Kattullus — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:49:20 -0800

The BBC World Service has put together a special report on the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe (they also have a simpler portal). There is a wealth of material, including TV reports on key events from the BBC archives, interviews, a map timeline, a report on Catholicism's role in the 1989 revolutions, a first-hand report of what it was like to gather news in East Germany during that time and much more.

Herta Müller is the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Literature

Kattullus — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:10:13 -0800

This year's Nobel Laureate in Literature is Romanian born author Herta Müller, who writes in German, as predicted yesterday by M. A. Orthofer of The Complete Review and Literary Saloon. Here's an interview with Herta Müller and a short bio.

Beautiful music by Romanian composer Ciprian Porumbescu

crazylegs — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:12:07 -0800

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.

Revolution in Moldova

vkxmai — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:24:09 -0800

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. Smaller groups of people across Romania, including Bucharest, have shown their support for the anti-communist protests in Basarabia, as the Republic of Moldova is often referred to in Romanian. Recent reports have also indicated that buses carrying supporters from Romania into Moldova, as well as Moldovans attempting to enter the capital, Chișinau, are being turned away. Moldova’s current president, Vladimir Voronin, believes that there was an attempted coup d’état. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has also weighed in on the events. The Eurasia Daily Monitor offers insightful coverage and opinion pieces on the politics of the region. The wikipedia article on the Republic of Moldova, despite arguments over the official language of Moldova and recent nomenklatura changes by the Voronin government, is quite in-depth. The article on the breakaway region of Transnistria is also useful for understanding the Russian response to the recent events.

Online Visual Journalism

netbros — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:45:33 -0800

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. The Afghan Diaries is a three-part documentary about Danish soldiers who put their lives at risk in order to defend our "peace loving nations" against global terrorism. Life After the Tsunami. Four years have passed since that horrible South Asian disaster. See the results of relief efforts. Bucharest Below Ground follows people living in the abandoned heat pipes behind the Casa Radio building. Children call this home. In a fast paced world where time is money and materialism is more important than anything else, some people give up everything to live in harmony with nature. Into the Wild is the portrait of a man who owns nothing, yet is happier than most. Wave after wave, they formed a veritable river of humanity that flowed onto the banks of the Ganges to celebrate the greatest spiritual festival ever held in the history of the world, the mighty Kumbh Mela. And from the San Jose Mercury News, Left Behind, a visual journey through some of Mumbai's worst slums areas. Shot around Bandra East, Mahim and Dharavi, there's also some great footage from the Deonar dump site situated on the outskirts of this mega city. All this, as insight into some of the video and multimedia pieces that we will be seeing a lot of coming from visual journalists in the near future. With the new Canon 5D Mark II at hand, productions like these, will inevitably be a lot easier to produce.

Do you know these children?

Asparagirl — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:32:10 -0800

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. Sadly typical story: "The infant was hungry and crying, so her mother asked for milk from a Polish couple that happened to be on the train station. The Polish man brought milk for the baby. Then the Jewish mother asked if they would want to take the baby as their own because she could not keep it. This couple did not have any children, so after some consideration, they agreed. They asked the Jewish mother who she was, but she told them that it was better for them and for the baby not to know who she was. She then gave her newborn baby girl, who was probably one month old, to the Polish couple. The Polish couple raised the girl as if she was their biological daughter and never told her how she had come into the family. The girl grew up, married and had a son. It is this son who wants to find his Jewish roots..."

Cosmin Bumbuţ

fire&wings — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:41:36 -0800

Cosmin Bumbuţ, Romanian photographer. [nsfw] His fantastic photographs of the mines at Rosia Montana are a good place to start. Another site with some additional work (and poorer navigation.) here. Short bio here.

"New Wave on the Black Sea"

lovejones — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:16:00 -0800

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.

Euro-ricers in Romania

Doohickie — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:36:05 -0800

Pro-street Romania Auto Club Yeah, bad parody, but if you do anything with cars, you know these people.

The Merry Cemetery! It rhymes!.

arse_hat — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 22:12:59 -0800

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.

Urologist slices perfectly ok penis

elpapacito — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:49:05 -0800

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).

Countess Dracula

sluglicker — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 16:39:56 -0800

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.

Master Manole

empath — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 13:33:30 -0800

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.

is this fundamentalism?

cbjg — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 03:57:42 -0800

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.

bucharest gourmet

pieoverdone — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 06:43:28 -0800

While looking to cook something new, I found a woman's story of growing up in Romania and her immigration to the United States.

No hope? No direction? We have answers.

loquax — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 21:14:46 -0800

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...

Street art not graffiti

vacapinta — Sun, 04 Apr 2004 10:27:43 -0800

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.

Images of the Rom (not what you think... probably)

taz — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 05:57:36 -0800

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.

Alexandra Nechita, petite Picasso

mediareport — Mon, 03 Mar 2003 16:18:53 -0800

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.

hatutah — Thu, 07 Nov 2002 12:19:24 -0800

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.

justlooking — Wed, 30 Jan 2002 21:41:59 -0800

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)

Tubes — Fri, 19 Oct 2001 15:33:05 -0800

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.

sixdifferentways — Mon, 11 Jun 2001 07:50:56 -0800

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.)