Owlspotting

After Arnold comes Robert Turcescu, one of Romania’s iconic media figures. Turcescu is the man on the May cover of Esquire Romania; in the story he talks about the sorry state of Romanian journalism and why taking a break has suddenly become an option.

Other great stories in this issue, include:
- Looking for Cristian Mungiu. An moving article on the director’s past year, and the toll the success of 4, 3, 2 has taken on him.
- Electoral season is upon us. Esquire marks the occasion with 14 pages of mayor-centered stories and photographs.
- The Romanian Stradivarius and the violin player that brings it to life.
- A good year for climber David Neacsu.
- A funny joke told by VJ Elena.

And more good stuff. You can download the table of contents in PDF, here.

After heaping much praise on the March issue, I’m back to do the same with the April one. Yes, I know it’s self-serving, but trust me, it’s worth it. There are some amazing stories in this one - well-reported, well-written and quite insightful.

Don’t let Arnold fool you - the magazine is comprised of 80 percent local content. We decided to translate the Arnold piece because he is an iconic figure all around the world. Not to mention that the piece is written by Tom Junod, which for me is enough to make me want to read it.

Let me preview some of the most interesting stories.

Dia Radu’s piece is about the consequences of accessing one’s Securitate (the communist secret police) files. Vasile Gavrilescu, a 71-year-old writer, did so. His life has never been the same since. This story is something like Das Leben Der Anderen, the German Oscar-winning film.

A very entertaining - but also profound - story on the disappearance of the Trabant, the East German classic. Gabriela Piţurlea has captured an interesting moment in time for a cult object that many don’t even consider to be car. The photos were shot by Andrei Pungovschi.

This is a story that I did on a man who dislikes routine so much that he’s prone to change gears when he is on top of his game. It’s a story about success, having it your own way and always building towards something better. Roald Aron shot the pictures.

Other stories:
- A great photo-feature on cocktail wizards and the drinks they mix.
- What I’ve Learned: Mircea Toma.
- Sexy women in underwear.
- The trickshot guru, Vali Carambol.
- The troubles of local media.
- and so much more.

* Designed by Raymond Bobar and Cătălina Zlotea.
* You can download the table of contents in PDF format if you wish.
* Same goes for the cover. Get it here.

A spectacular issue of Esquire Romania is on its way. The best we did so far I believe (followed closely by #4). It’s well-written and well-edited, hopefully offering something to every reader.

The cover of this special What I’ve Learned issue is graced by actor, director, writer and producer Florin Piersic Jr., a man who chose to go through life at his own pace - although many believe he went slow and failed to show any accomplishments thus far. In this story, I argue his time to shine has come.

Download the cover in PDF format.

You can dowload the table of contents pages - seen above - here.

Other goodies in issue #6:

• Wisdom and advice from the likes of Al Pacino, Petre Roman, Nadia Comăneci, Gheorghe Dinică, Dustin Hoffman and Leonard Doroftei.
• A portrait of a journalist in prison.
• A story on the generation of children left home by parents working abroad.
• A stunning novella by award-winning author Philip Ó Ceallaigh.
• Great fun with actor Andi Vasluianu.
• An experiment involving watching television at night for one week. What’s on at 3 AM?
• And much much more - including Hilary Swank’s long legs and tips on ordering a martini.

* Designed by the team of Raymond Bobar and Catalina Zlotea.

PS: Seen anything you liked in Esquire? Tell us via e-mail: esquire@sanomahearst.ro.

I wrote a bunch on this blog about the awesome Romanian movies of the past couple of years. Now there is finally a gorgeous story that puts all the necessary context around the idea.

Of course it does. It’s a piece by A.O. Scott after all.

I did my own version of this for CS Monitor in December — but it barely registers on the radar compared to what the NY Times did.

I also wrote a little about why Scott’s story works as a piece of journalism (in Romanian).

For a while now I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a blog in Romanian. When I say blog I mean nothing more than a medium that will allow easy publishing. Since I started teaching I’ve craved a continuous conversation on writing and reporting. I believe it would be beneficial to my students and, certainly, myself. Writing is what I do for a living and I think of the craft constantly. Blogging about it might help spread some of my ideas on storytelling to Romanian journalists and readers.

That said, I give you A scrie (it means To write). The blog is in the roughest form possible (let’s call it a beta of betas), with nothing set in place. It will hopefully find a form, a design and a basic structure in the next few weeks - but it will be mainly a vehicle to discuss non-fiction writing and the process by which such writing comes about. It might also showcase some of my students’s work and ideas/strategies from other working reporters (probably people I work with on putting out Esquire). It’ll feature stuff like this. Yes, it’ll be in Romanian.

Wish me luck and read me - if language is not a barrier.

PS: Owlspotting will keep going.

Bucharest, a couple of days ago. After a night of heavy snow, the city practically shut down. Being forced to stay inside and watch movies all day is not a bad start to the year. Especially if one of those movies is Say Anything. And yes, I’ve come to agree with this Washington Post story that has made me aware of this early John Cusack film: Lloyd Dobbler is the man.

But back to the snow:

An image from behind the apartment building.

Shot from the balcony. Pretty white out there.

Out front, people are trying to dig out their cars.

Good luck with that.

PS: Happy New Year!
PS2: For a few years now I’ve paid attention to the first track that I hear in a new year. This year, courtesy of a TV jingle, it was Nicole’s Whatever U Like. Oh boy.

Esquire is moving forcefully into the New Year with another strong issue - complete with ruminations on the European Union, the meaning of life (by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton), women’s underwear (by me) the state of Romanian culture (by Sorin Adam Matei) and so much more (check out the summary pages below). Johnny Depp graces the cover of this issue, which should ensure plenty of women readers. It’s funny. Even though Esquire is a men’s magazine, plenty of women read it and enjoy it. I’ve even heard some say that they wish there was a women’s magazine that printed the types of stories Esquire does.

I did mostly editing for this issue (editing is cool), but I did write a column for “Influence”. It argues that while you try to make the world work in your favor, other are doing the same. And sometimes they do it better than you. I also interviewed Nicoleta of pop band Hi-Q and thought up a “If you do this, then that” Valentine’s Day chart.

Other goodies in issue #5:
- Romania & EU: One year together
- Charlize is a woman we love
- Sean treks through Romania searching for the perfect saorma
- Working to write
- The bombing of Radio Free Europe
- Adrian-Silvan Ionescu, a man of the 19th centrury
- Radu Paraschivescu on selling stuff
- and much much more (including tips on how to brew the best coffee, Bradut on PR practices, the best acting performances of 2007, and a spectular pictorial featuring Romanian snowboarders and skiers).

* Designed by the team of Raymond Bobar and Catalina Zlotea.

PS: Seen anything you liked in Esquire? Tell us via e-mail: esquire@sanomahearst.ro

I’ve been keeping an eye on the emerging “best of 2007″ lists, curious at what albums moved people this year (Stereogum does a nice wrap-up and links to even more). There’s probably oodles more of these lists to come, but I can’t help contribute mine. I did a pretty thorough run-down last year, but I’ll keep it simpler this year.

Let me just say that, since the Decemberists didn’t put out a record this year, there’ll be no ranking. And since there is no ranking, there is no need to go higher than 5. Here are my top 5 records of 2007, in no particular order:

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta
Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
Voxtrot - Voxtrot
Travis - The Boy with No Name

There were plenty of other good ones (play some here), but I had each of these on heavy rotation on my IPod for weeks. To please my list-making self, I also wrote a quick one for Esquire’s December issue, listing 20 great tracks that people should have heard in 2007. This is one playlist I’m proud of. Enjoy.

1. Voxtrot - Firecracker
2. Gogol Bordello - Wonderlust king
3. The Decemberists - Culling of the fold
4. Rilo Kiley - Silver lining
5. Bright Eyes - If the brakeman turns my way
6. The National - Mistaken for strangers
7. Travis - My eyes
8. Band Of Horses - No one’s gonna love you
9. The New Pornographers - Challengers
10. Hallelujah the Hills - Hallelujah the hills
11. The Avett Brothers - Die die die
12. Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate like a Promethean curse
13. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - History song
14. The Broken West - On the bubble
15. The Arcade Fire - Intervention
16. Okkervil River - Our life is not a movie or maybe
17. brakesbrakesbrakes - If I should die tonight
18. Modest Mouse - Dashboard
19. The Shins - Turn on me
20. Bloc Party - Hunting for witches

For those who have never read Esquire Romania and are curious how things are written, we’ve put a story from our latest issue online. It’s available on HotNews.ro and it’s about the generation of children born after communism. We sometimes refer to them as the Children of the Revolution.

What do actor Dragos Bucur, TV and radio personality Andrei Gheorghe and Internet entrepreneur Cristian “Igu” Vasile have in common? Besides being men in today’s Romania, they are also among the stars of the fourth issue of Esquire Romania, an issue of firsts. It features our first Romanian cover — graced by Dragos Bucur (see below). It clocks in at 140 pages (more than 100 of which are packed with top-notch content). It’ll be out by December 1 (first). And it has an orange spine (trust me).

Esquire #4 is also my first glossy magazine cover story (the preview below is the opening spread). I always loved the first months on the staff of a newspaper - that slow progression towards getting your byline on A1. With magazines the joy isn’t as personal, but it’s still exciting. The story on Bucur is 10 pages long and it tells the story of a 30-year-old man who knows what he wants from his professional and personal life (as well as from the media). The photos were shot by Cosmin Bumbut.

Below are the two pages of contents. Click the thumbnails to see the larger version. For a better and closer view at the contents, download the PDF.

Other goodies in issue #4:
- Andrei Gheorghe is one mean Santa
- Malvina tells a joke
- The terrors of the Pitesti prison
- The children of the ‘89 revolution
- Igu’s nostalgia and LaTrecut.ro
- Norman Mailer’s last profile
- Radu Paraschivescu on soccer
- Halle Berry writes on Halle Berry
- and much much more (including hot drinks, the obituaries of 2007, free biblical advice, cars and the way to the elusive haircut).

* Designed by the team of Raymond Bobar and Catalina Zlotea.

PS: Seen anything you liked in Esquire? Tell us via e-mail: esquire@sanomahearst.ro