Owlspotting

*** Acesta este primul dintr-o serie de trei eseuri (pornita de aici). Text publicat original in update-ul tematic “Furtul la romani” pe dbrom.ro in 2002. celor care mi-au furat televizorul…. cand nu fura, vinde ce a furat. e rapid, dibace si neobosit. e o masina care ar putea trai fara mancare, fara bautura, fara somn […]

The Bucharest bird flu quarantine was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered this afternoon, when host Mellisa Block interviewed Radu Tudor of Jurnalul National about the situation in the Romanian capital. Tudor’s performance was similar to that of other journalists NPR calls in countries or regions they don’t have their own correspondents in. Tudor sounded […]

Severeal suprising pairings emerged at the official drawing of the group stage of one of the most anticipated competitions of the summer. “Campionatul Mondial de Bere Romania 2006” (The World Beer Cup) is organized by Romerican with the blessing of consumer of horrid beer everywhere. (Owlspotting is a self-designated patron and booster–we were too cheap […]

This week’s European Comission meeting (the one that supposedly was going to decide Romania’s European future) was pretty poorly covered by major American newspapers. But if you want the quick and dirty without swimming through Romanian media speculation or American media ignorance, just read the first two sentences of the Economist’s coverage of the result […]

Update: ABC’s “Good Morning America” ran a story today with video taken during MDRI’s visits. The story–with the MDRI footage included–is here. “I don’t blame the staff, I blame the authorities,” the MDRI official tells ABC. It’s about time Romania’s orphans returned on the international media scene. Today, The New York Times printed a story […]

A friend of mine asked me a couple of days ago to give his new project a link: Flame.ro. He asked not because millions of people are reading Owlspotting (they aren’t) but because Google is a fan of outgoing links. So I thought I’d do him one better and take a page out of the […]

My brother proudly told me yesterday that along with his friends they discovered “asphalt sleighing.” “Ne-am dat cu sania pe asfalt, ba,” he said. I asked him if there was any visual proof (like other Romanian provide) and he sent me five videos that chronicle this new night-time Romanian practice. How did they do it? […]

I just saw my Steaua clobbered by Middlesbrough in the semifinal (Final Four) of the UEFA Cup and I’m pissed. I skipped work, drank vodka by myself in a DC dive that broacast the game and actually paid $5 to see 11 idiots huddle and tremble in their own penalty area like lost sheep. Steaua […]

Romania is heavily featured on YouTube, the immensily popular amateur video site. A search today revealed more results than I was willing to scroll through. Below is a compilation of some of the tings I’ve seen. The obvious thing to note is that Romanians like to shoot and upload videos of themselves and/or their friends. […]

Lume, lume! Mare anunt mare: Romania se arata New York-ului sambata 6 mai in cea de-a opta editie a festivalului “Ziua Romaniei NYC”. Si daca e sa te iei dupa formatiile anuntate, va fi o zi in care vei fi mandru ca te-a facut mama roman. Nimic nu tipa “Romania!” ca formatia Akcent, un ansamblu […]