The Golden Hours: we talk again with Saddo & Aitch, curator Diana Marincu and Calina gallery owner Alina Cristescu about the new show, and life.

Our good friends Saddo & Aitch go to Timisoara to open a new show @ Calina Gallery on Monday May 14, and we are happy to share the news.

“am timp liber si experienta”

we were happy to receive quite some interest in our humble announcement of super interns wanted, and after quite some time in interviews and tests we got ourselves a Super Bogdan.

sonia micu x a camera

Catching Sonia Micu for a camera experiment was not easy.

She’s always on the move, as of recent – in her role as regional brand manager on one of your most loved brands (hint for Ro readers:  “bing-bang”) she travels A LOT all over Europe;   23 countries, to be exact.… Read the rest

a sitdown with Nicu, also known as Kitra, who also represents Titi, both of who run Eldercut, under which they produce Sando, and now also Bucur, to be shown at new Vatra.

girls, something that exists,

well, if you are into friday noon mind benders, here’s a little existentialism. a little frege-russell pov. a little slutty grammar. it goes something like this: everything exists, somethings exists, some things do not exist.… Read the rest

a method

how exactly certain people do what they remarkably do? what’s their method? welcome to our new section

nata rebeja x a camera

Quick test:  this young woman on the bicycle is

A) an art director and photographer

B) a small shop owner

C) a senior java developer

D) or an event organizer?

Hm?… Read the rest

spelling bee, hashtag starbucks hashtag ro

ahem. right. so here it goes. starbucks, after making the coffee we all secretly crave for but publicly deny its worth, wants the awesomest in-store experience. and what better way to do that than shit on your name.… Read the rest

the artist is present, DVD release

it’s been two years since marina abramovic‘s the artist is present ran at moma. but you know how it is, after such retrospectives. things need to settle down. the brain needs time to process.… Read the rest

interns wanted

At a page, we are lucrative two, and we like to surround ourselves with people just as crazy as we are with getting a good product out.

Right now we are looking for an intern (or two):    an energetic young gun with at least 4 hrs per day to dedicate to uploading and editing new articles to the website, researching fast and furious, processing tons of images, creating our newsletter, helping us set up and run our social media outlets, outreaching to tons of people in Romania and beyond for contributions and collaborations, assisting in interviews, shootings and post-production processes, and even pitch his/her articles and ideas as we grow this baby strong.… Read the rest

a sitdown with Georgiana Toea about her Artskul, and other horses

For a period of one month we had Mara Militaru helping us out as an intern here on a page.   Seemingly shy in person, she can be spot-on lethal with written word, and she’s sharpening this weapon of hers on Saturdays at the courses of ‘Jurnalism Ratacitor’ (En:  Perplexed Journalism) with Vlad Ursulean at Artskul.… Read the rest

irina ivan x a camera

Our camera travels to London for a very special point of view. Meet Irina Ivan, player in one of the leading investment banking advisory firms in the world. She worked at lehman, nomura & lexicon.… Read the rest

luminita molico x a camera

OK guys, I don’t know where you stand on matters of heart.

And yet the sheer fact of you reading our page tells me that if you were (my male friends, duck for cover) to throw a wedding TOMORROW, you would want it to be (quote) darn bloody special.    … Read the rest

vlad mihai x a pocalypse

A printemps warm morning, when everyone is awake for like an hour or two, around 11:30, repeating their to-do list for the day inside their head while having breakfast, or already on the move, or at the office…

monica barladeanu x a camera

We take a glossy in our hands and look at the glamorous pictures of an extremely happy celebrity on the cover. It sometimes feels like it’s a walk in the park for them, doesn’t it? … Read the rest

clooney marry me

clooney can act.  clooney can act the fuck up.  not just roles and parts in movies but also what he believes in. he can do more with the raising of an eyebrow than most actors can do with their bodies so imagine where getting himself arrested get’s him.… Read the rest

a sitdown with Sandra Mavhima & Radu Aldea ab their Collective Identity film, and more

“The body, by its own presence, has an identity wherever it is; its movement is the one conveying meaning to identity.” We reach out to Sandra Mavhima and Radu Aldea to talk about their Collective Identity film.

dana rogoz x a camera

The concept of personal branding is a relatively new one, and we would argue that Dana Rogoz can teach you a master-class.

A child star in Abracadabra end of 90′s (remember?… Read the rest

A Pocalypse x Zala Andrina Logar

Since I am a hopeless romantic, I would say that gives me roughly three months. I imagine it will happen one warm day, at the time when I will be on the verge of losing all hope. My phone will ring and then…

apocalypse (or, as we say, a pocalypse)

ready or not, they say it comes.

just like you, we are darn stubborn optimists.   but with all this chatter, and dozens of possible scenarios being thrown around, we grew curious, and set out to ask more people all around the globe to tell us their version:

welcome to “a pocalypse”, our new exploratory project, going live this week.… Read the rest

doru trascau x a camera

we know doru from the stage and from the limelight, ever present in the romanian music industry, he is one of the most committed, hard working and senior artist, accomplishing the impossible with his bands the monojacks and ab4.… Read the rest

the beard for my children

folks, you know i wear sunglasses all the time. sun, dark, cold, warm, they accessorize my face. they are like facial hair to me. speaking of facial hair, i wish i was in finland right now because the museum of helsinki brought forth a very nice postiche collection.… Read the rest

the good, the bad and the article

so, here’s a list of twelve great articles that inspired movies. check it out vin diesel, who knew? also, where’s all the president’s men? any other missed ones?

The Man Who Knew Too Much by Marie Brenner - The Insider
Death of an Innocent by Jon Krakauer - Into the Wild
The Muse of Coyote Ugly Saloon by Elizabeth Gilbert - Coyote Ugly
Racer X by Kenneth Li Rafael - The Fast and the Furious
The Return of Superfly by Mark Jacobson - American Gangster
Life’s Swell by Susan Orlean - Blue Crush
A Farewell to Arms by John Carlin - Live Free or Die Hard
Something’s Got to Give by Darcy Frey - Pushing Tin
Tribal Rites of Saturday Night by Nik Cohn - Saturday Night Fever
Adventures in Ransom by William Prochnau - Proof of Life
Blackhawk Down by Mark Bowden - Blackhawk Down
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S.… Read the rest

monkey see, monkey do

so here’s a thought: i don’t believe it’s about rich vs. poor, i believe it’s about smart vs. stupid. the problem is the smart people are being taken out of the game.… Read the rest

here’s a story of a funny business

i don’t know how you stand on things downloads, copyright and “piracy”. here is a quick test: megaupload. sounds familiar?

up in the air, read this, not that

on airplane reading, from a sufferer to a goner, in one click and a 5 minute read.

anything. a-ny-thing.

my bro turns 19 today, and yet i got nothing to wish him on his birthday. … Read the rest

a sitdown with Saddo and Aitch: about life and death and 30 skulls

this prolific couple bring together no less than 30 artists for their new show, Cranium, opening today, and we rush to ask them things now and eternal

here’s something special…

…to make you warm these long snowed-in cuddle-up-inside evenings:

a collection of Disney comics,… Read the rest

love is to be shared

Robert Montgomery confessed this to Dazed:  … Read the rest

the audacity to speech

i might just be thinking out loud but: people don’t want to be led because they are stupid or ignorant, people want to be led because they don’t want tot do the leading per se.… Read the rest

malcolm x for romania, the bullet or the ballot

there’s no way you can write about this and not stir a shit storm, so here goes nothing.

for almost ten days now, romania is in a turmoil. uprising of the many, some call it revolution, re-revolution, protests, even trash.… Read the rest

andrei fantana x a camera

here in romania we have a solid community of game developers. namco, vivendi, e.a., ubi, are all here representing. beside the giants with couple hundred strong teams of coders, testers and designers we have an emerging market of boutiques, smartphone app developers.… Read the rest

people like ryan.

i was in taxi, on my way to the airport, when i opened this short email from Barna.

he wished me a good flight and added:

uite (“look” in Romanian), no one goes to the airport like ryan gosling.

… Read the rest

the source of the power, the beans to an end

when a bearded man talks, you listen. you do so for many reasons but mainly because of his beard. the same way samson had hair on his head for a reason, the bearded man draws power from his facial hair.… Read the rest

oana vasilache x a camera

oana is tier 1 in the romanian styling community. right now she is fashion director for glamour magazine, but we never know what’s next, we only know what was. name the magazine, she styled for them in the past.… Read the rest

this is an event

we didn’t have “an event” category here before – we kinda said we want to stay out of current stuff, and be able to sit back and reflect on whatever, whenever – but i guess it’s time to announce the first event (of sorts).… Read the rest

don’t be an asshole

during winter vacation you give yourself a full break.  everything is allowed.  even watching Hancock, among other.  between Xmas and NYE, no remorse.  whatever be.

so there i was, after this silly movie, amending my 2012 resolution with an extra point. … Read the rest

done in sixty seconds

this pretty blonde girl runs out of a car. she is running from her father, from her past. she hides in a small out of sight village. the folk there treat her very bad.… Read the rest

what makes a gentleman

the web is full of gentleman advice.

to every established glossy trying to make a decent man out of you for some time now, over the last years there have bloomed hundreds and hundreds of online destinations exploring the New Man, from the way he dresses, eats, drinks, grooms, reads, listens and travels, to the way he earns and spends, dates and mates, builds and decorates, makes friends and influences peoples, among other.… Read the rest

The Avocado Affair

On how popular culture can easily be perceived as “the truth”… Read the rest

Mihai Dobre x a Bucharest

“Hello, I am … and this is my Bucharest.”

in a phrase, that is what our new project is all about.

if you’ve been following our posts since recent (soft) launch, you might have noticed that we exercise a particular exploratory interest in the Bucharest.  … Read the rest

your mornings will never be the same*

(*guaranteed!)

who am i to talk about waking up.  i am exactly the patient in (Dr.) Barna’s case study:  i put my alarm clock for 8 AM, then leave it on snooze every 15, finally turning it off 9 AM-ish. … Read the rest

man created the ring

let’s get one thing straight: man created the ring. it wasn’t a woman that picked up the husband’s hammer and let it fall on the anvil to produce a hollow piece of metal.… Read the rest

igu x a camera

i am not sure that Igu, the man behind your daily web staple on all things cool and now www.feeder.ro, needs a lot of introduction.

so here are just 3 random little-known facts about him, a page exclusive, somewhat:

1) you’ve seen Igu with cameras big and small, but he was never THAT serious about photography. … Read the rest

occupy 1st of december, or our best national interest parade

folks, i love myself a nice parade. it’s provocative and gets the people going. also, i get mushy at all opportunities to celebrate and brag in a symbolic and theatrical way – it’s just so heart-warming.… Read the rest

A bit of context about the economy!

why everyone should buy DoR & some industry protectionism

it really doesn’t matter why i like DoR magazine.

it doesn’t matter that they are local, authentic, extremely literate people who generate content in a city/country we think has nothing more to say.… Read the rest

razvan crisan X a camera

You snooze, you lose and some ringtone etiquette

the first thing you should do well when your day begins is to wake up properly. and the snooze is your enemy.

the biggest mistake would be to put your alarm earlier than needed.… Read the rest

major league people

surprise, surprise:  we need better parents.

Thomas Friedman reminds the obvious – and hence, often forgotten:   whatever problems the educational system faces (he speaks of the U.S. but let me extend), and however long we debate for a rethink and reforms, or commemorate what schools were “before”, more often than not, it is parents that make the difference.… Read the rest

Razvan Botez x a camera

Some develop a special relationship with their barbers, others with their tailors, and a lucky few with their gardeners,  when us three, we seem to agree that no one in our times can underestimate nurturing a good, trustful relationship with their “IT guy”.… Read the rest

Fast tracking the dum-dum remake

hesse and others wrote on how the work of an artist takes a life of its own and wonders the world, many times swallowing its own author. look at the above painting of goya.… Read the rest

Andreea Vasile X a camera

Andreea Vasile is a journalist and enthusiastic learner, who has always poked the norm and convention.

Her world is never black and white:   she seems to have a special radar for seeing the good in things, in spotting color and nuances in a sea of darkness.… Read the rest

cooking and beyond

sometimes a random read takes you million places.

here’s where “Are Apps Making Cookbooks Obsolete?” transported me:

1) the moment of iPad is now.

i am not that much of an early adapter of gadgets.  … Read the rest

Gabi Dobre X a camera

Trained as a nuclear physicist, Gabi Dobre still just couldn’t contain his natural curiosity.   So he applied it to journalism, instead.   Funny enough, you can see it in Gabi’s work, when he discretely, methodically, persistently, and with great precision breaks a subject down, to only reconstruct it for his readers, just like a scientist would with a bloody atom!… Read the rest

Design Around The World

Smaranda Nicolau X a camera

Smaranda is 25, lives in bucharest and is a close friend of ours. in her early life, she ventured into philosophy and communications and is now once again a student in acting school, at our very own UNATC.… Read the rest

a camera (new project at a page)

here at a page, we are very visual people.

we love the process of our mind when it frames the abundant flux of content into images. when a conscious decision is made to border what our eyes see on all sides until it leaves but a photography of the place, person or feeling we have in front of us.… Read the rest

the apple eve took a bite of

folk, people of this world, apple (as in the company) is our civilizations apple. just like the western-judeo-christian-civilisation-proto-woman eve had hers. and it’s been proven that if we bite out of the apple things change.… Read the rest

Lo-Lee-Ta

here’s a short line of thought. i was browsing and i found this picture. it took about a fraction of a millisecond to think of lolita. to me, for that moment, she was lolita.… Read the rest

If it looks the same, feels the same, sounds the same then it must be the same!

My feeling was that the newly launched French publication “The Good Life” is an identical copy of, the by now veteran, Monocle magazine. However it is not the same! 

Yes it is in French and it has a bit of a different positioning – a men’s hybrid magazine.… Read the rest

what would (i) do?

when i was a high school exchange student in the U.S., i remember seeing lots of kids with WWJD wristband.   hm?  i asked.  What Would Jesus Do,  a constant reminder.

you know them well

i think for advertising folk (and most of you in services, really), we desperately need a massive run of WWiD bands. … Read the rest

football, eh, bloody hell

If I lose control of these multimillionaires in the Manchester United dressing room, then I’m dead. So I never lose control. If anyone steps out of my control, they’re dead.

says Sir Alex Ferguson, in a piece in T Magazine.… Read the rest

tree of life and freud’s study

kant was born in konigsberg, prussia, and he never left his home town. ever. but he took everyday walks, precisely at 3.30. people used to set their clocks by him. anyway, newton had his famous apple, kant had his tree.… Read the rest

Antipa Grand Multiplex

it was last weekend when i was driving my mom around the city and i saw the queue at antipa for the second time. i told her that this sight makes me feel good, it makes me happy, seeing all these people staying in line to visit the newly open museum.… Read the rest

Razvan is too modest, so I will.

Persistence is not about doing the same thing over and over again. Persistence is about having the same objective. And the tools and routes and resources can very. The objective is one.

… Read the rest

An Education

like all average white boys, i went to school at the proper age of 6. so started my adventure in the education industrial complex. when i reached 5th grade the first shift in the system happened.… Read the rest

Free tips for Bucharest City Hall 2

For quite a long time, although unintended, Bucharest had a open air horror museum right in the center.  Filled with all the excitement that comes from putting your life at risk crossing the city center by foot was almost certain to leave you with some pretty strong memories of the wrong kind.… Read the rest

sitting on the top of the world…

… is which capital?

at a page, you see us quite interested in the subject of urban living.   we travel, lots, and we constantly connect to people from all around the world, which stimulates well this curiosity and analysis:   Barna is just back from a 10-day Paris escape, which he covered both here and at allhollow blog, Razvan is now touching base in Helsinki on average twice per month, , so you see him learning and applying, i am just back from Slovenia and am preparing a cute feature on my summer indulging in Istanbul, and we are just getting started on Bucharest.… Read the rest

I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me Superman

speed of light made me an old school skeptic. one night i was looking at the stars with my dad when he told me that we don’t know if those stars are even there anymore.… Read the rest

Paris is Old

i was in paris for 11 days. wasn’t my first trip so i did not indulge in tourism. wasn’t my second trip so i did not indulge in contemplation. neither my third so i was not ventilating to see the real paris, nor my forth as a quick get-away-vacation.… Read the rest

Rumor control, here are the facts: Colbert & the Radiohead Effect

nation, it is no secret that i am a colbert admirer. he grew on me after jon steward’s half hour didn’t quench the thirst of pundit satire anymore. anyway, sometimes, when i travel i don’t always get to see the daily jon&stephen bundle so when i return home i patiently download all that i’ve missed and see it through.… Read the rest

the portrait of a library as a posibility

what i always loved ab Bogdana is that she always brings a different, uniquely her perspective.

following our essays (Barna’s, Razvan’s, and mine, incl a post-event review), in effort to re-imagine the library, she builds on that and contributes with a fresh angle:   that of the ritual, of a hero, and of closeness.… Read the rest

where best advertising happens

i was in Rome in a vacation last year, couple days only, and thought i just pass by our office there, see the place, and meet and greet some people.

Marco Carnevale, a veteran of Italian advertising, creative director at McCann Rome, was the kindest of hosts, and we spent full 2 hrs in his office – jam-packed with books, music records and shining beautiful electric guitars among the stacks of magazines and ad boards and posters – talking about stuff that stayed top of my mind ever since.… Read the rest

a sit-down with Nikolay

For his 23, Nikolay Vanchev has done a hell of a lot.  He presented just some of his work to fellow McCann creatives from Romanian office in an informal Friday get-together, and they asked him a sincere “WHEN did you manage to do all that?”

Niki, as we started calling him, just spent 2 weeks here in Bucharest on a “creative exchange” visit to local advertising hot-shop McCann, to share, contribute and learn. … Read the rest

5 unique things about Bucharest

We set ourselves the goal of findind the good & interesting things about living in Bucharest. Andrei started here and I am continuing now with some more!

1. The taxis: where else in Europe can u get a cab and pay only 6 euro from the center of the city to the airport?… Read the rest

exactly.

i dont mean to appear a smart arse, but told you so.

the Night of the Libraries is a great initiative, yet the delivery – of the libraries themselves, in Bucharest, of what i visited – fell short.… Read the rest

on interest

I am sorry, Romanian libraries.  I have no interest.  Toward you.

Yes, I will come to Noaptea Alba a Bibliotecilor.  And I am sure a lot of people will.

Once.… Read the rest

thoughts on reshaping the public library concept in Romania!

The public library in Romania is crumbling both from the infrastructure point of view and from the concept point of view! Not much research but lots of fresh thinking has appeared in places including this article and with initiatives such as  the opening of the “grand” National Library and Noaptea Alba a Bibliotecilor  there is renewed hope for a shift in the right direction!… Read the rest

gutenberg is dead. long live the print.

don’t be scared, libraries have failed us before. today, we thing this is due to fewer and fewer actual readers, as our younger generation turn not just from books but from reading altogether.… Read the rest

city theory 101

andrei kicked off our city involvement. and just so you know, we mean business. a bucharest and then some.

Ai WeiWei says cities are mental conditions. agree or not, cities are something, which means they can be studied, especially mental condition ones.… Read the rest

the quote that does not exist

damn, this is the life. i can’t say i’ve had much something-something for bloggers. i mean, sure, i’ve got some favs, but always had some sort of a reserve to the meaning of the whole thing.… Read the rest

a man at his place

it is a mesmerizing sight:  a man at his place.

if you have a chance, make 40 minutes to watch Terry Sanders’ 1967 “Portrait of Zubin Mehta” documentary.

the last scene is Zubin conducting Mussorgsky / Ravel “Pictures at an Exhibition”, and he is just intense. … Read the rest

cities are mental conditions

“This city is not about other people or buildings or streets but about your mental structure. If we remember what Kafka writes about his Castle, we get a sense of it.

… Read the rest

never, even done

never, ever, eeever.

do you feel the same?  like it just doesn’t stop?  and you’re busy busy busy.   all the time, there’s smth to be finished, launched, changed, amended, fixed, replaced, rethought, read, re-read, rewrote, replied, and a myriad of other verbs. … Read the rest

re-imagining the library

the very first edition of White Night of Libraries will happen this year in Romania.
it is a brave, much-needed initiative.
on the night of October 1st, 2011, some 50 (and growing) libraries and partnering institutions all around the country will open its doors for thousands of visitors.… Read the rest

free tips for Bucharest City Hall

In this section I decided to start giving out free advice to Bucharest city hall in the hope that one day things will change for the better. I am not claiming to be an expert in urban development just a concerned citizen!… Read the rest

the Finnish way

I have been visiting Helsinki lately, and one of the things that struck me as I read into their heritage and history is that among the many reasons why they are so highly successful today is because of a particularly odd event in their history. … Read the rest

starting good food culture in Romania

If I were to do like Moses and split things in two I would say there are two places where you can interact and judge really fast what a country’s food culture is all about: A.… Read the rest

gulp

damn.

me, i am alright.  thanks.

now, Carol Bartz isnt much so.  these are her words.

firing smells.  never an easy thing, for both sides.  i remember myself in my early 20s, when i needed to fire a copywriter who was, hm, not up to our expectations. … Read the rest

i love me a good title

Barna’s note on eccentricity is witty and unexpected.

best part?  its title.  i reread it a couple times.  hold it, who’s hair, who’s what?..  haha.

never underestimate the power of a title, i thought.… Read the rest

remember remember the XXth of september

the 10 year landmark is coming, and i have little to say about this. ironically, assaf shaham’s project american dream describes best my mood about all this. yes, in september  i am an american, sue me.… Read the rest

la could have been something

this guy, john lautner, was born 100 years ago, and he created the iconic image surrounding california and la. he did it with mansions. if you listen to craig and many la natives, that charm gradually faded and is lost today,

viva nostalgia, i imagine the ghost of kubrick living in all of them at once,

cbs cares,

… Read the rest

lady gaga might have the hair of peter o’tool but she ain’t got marilyn manson’s vagina

recently, watched lean’s lawrence movie, well, pretty much the only lawrence movie there is. the first time i saw it the funeral scenes they didn’t make an impression. it’s about people remembering lawrence as a flamboyant character.… Read the rest

barber’s

on heroism

I knew a man who cried about having no shoes, until he met a man that had no feet.

Cristiana told me about Jake.  he’s sick.  i dont know exact details, but his legs will soon be amputated knees down…

wuuf. … Read the rest

what is…

there’s a stimulating article in NYTimes Arts / Music section, where Zachary Woolfe, opera critic, reflects on charisma.

Bucharest(s)

the first

our first post can be about a million things.

yet there’s none more important right now than this above.   a sense of arrival.

we go places.   daily.  real, virtual, imaginary.

A Page can become one of them for you.  … Read the rest