Owlspotting

I had coffee with a friend today and we somehow ended up talking about akward social moments. She mentioned being in elevators with strangers and all those seconds that seem to strech forever before the doors open and you can return to your personal space. I realized during our chat that many of the social […]

I always believed that the main problem with summer was the heat. Without heat, summer has the potential to be a really great season. That’s one of the few thoughts my mind could articulate while in Greece, where the heat just refused to let me do anything much besides nothing. Below are a few random […]

In Romania we read a lot of literature by dead white guys even though a lot of modern literature is being translated. One author that hasn’t had the pleasure of a translation yet is Jonathan Safran Foer (see photo), who penned the gorgeous “Everything is Illuminated” and the mind-blowing “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” I […]

You HAVE TO read the cover story of this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. “The Brand Underground” is the most fascinating analysis of the mainstream/subculture tensions of modern life that I have read in a while. Rob Walker has been writing about consumer culture for a while and he has a weekly column in […]

Owlspotting was reviewed by the blog critics at I Talk 2 Much. Two hands out of five. It did well in looks, but it appears the reviewers were scared (and scarred) by the lenght of the posts. Why am I not suprised? No one ever taught me how to go about stopping. Here’s what they […]

*** Acesta este al doilea dintr-o serie de trei eseuri (inspirata de urmatoarea carte). Text publicat original in update-ul tematic “Bucuresti” pe dbrom.ro in 2002. Primul eseu, “Hotul dumneavoastra” il gasiti aici. am baut ultima gura de cola din cana mea rosie cu ferrari. inca imi e sete, dar nu mai am nimic de baut. […]

The New York Times Magazine ran a spectacular cover story yesterday discussing the future of books in the digital age. This was not at heart a debate over the fate of paper and the loss of tradition, but rather a discussion of technology, its impact on culture and the (potential) fullfilment of the human dream […]

In a world dominated by e-mail, there is little excitement over letters, unless they happen to be sent from Iran. And the attention grabs front-page headlines around the world when the author happens to be the Iranian president and the recipient the President of the United States. In the ongoing diplomatic back-and-forth over Iran’s nuclear […]

Dear readers, Welcome to the new and improved Owlspotting. We have tranfered the blog to a dedicated hosting space and changed the Blogger platform with WordPress. Short of a change in name, it doesn’t get any bigger in the blog world when it comes to change. A few thoughts: — Thanks to all those that […]

Here we are as Simpsons. You can make make yourself into a Simpson, too. Go here.