Voilà le soufflé!

It's rhubarb season and this souffle is absolutely amazing!

It's actually not so hard to make, so go ahead and buy those stalks!

Entropa

To my own delight, I finally got to visit David Cerny's Entropa which was on display at DOX Prague for almost a year now after it had finished shocking the Europeans in Brussels.

This David Cerny is one hell of an artist, he sure knows how to provoke and take the piss out of stiff issues in our world. I love his work because it's thought provoking and is not gratuitous - that is, there's always more than meets the eye and some meanings reveal themselves after a bit of thinking.

Of course, not all of his stuff may be emanating meanings and symbols but it's most always fun.

Have a look at the official booklet for some interpretations of the pieces, and think of some personal ones :)

Malta

Italy - football players getting off with they balls

Bulgaria - this has caused the greates rage, however there's more to its meaning. I've learned about the chilly relations between turks living in bulgaria and etnic bulgarians so this brings a whole new meaning to the depiction turkish squats.

France

Finland

Germany

Greece

Slovakia

Czech Republic

Slovenia

Holland

Latvia

Romania - we got away quite easy on this one!

Luxembourg

The big picture

p2p microfinancing

I've been spending almost 2 hours reading about online "p2p" microfinancing and how it can positively impact the ones less fortunate than us.

Reading my way through the footnotes on the wikipedia article about kiva i delved a bit deeper into the whole charity versus loan issue and about the psychological effects of real cases on one's willingness to participate.

One of them caught my eye especially and I think it leads to some intriguing ethical questions.

My opinion is that if the whole effort is honest and has good, measurable results, the means are justifiable for the greater good it produces.

I encourage you to have a look and judge for yourselves.

This is my 100th post btw, yaaay! Good reason to resurrect my blog a bit!

Czech your wallet

 

This little 'innocent' price list has been in Karlstejn for at least 3 years because I remember it from the time i first visited the place...

I'm surprised that nobody pointed out the ridiculousness of having the price written in letters!! for people who understand czech (therefore more or less locals). They probably did this in order not to make the 'foreign tourist price' seem like a rip off.

Well, guess what, it makes it look as twice as much the rip off, having that embarassing price list hung up there...

Oh and, btw, I took the czech version of the tour (i think they give out some english leaflets actually) and it wasn't much, almost not worth the STOPADESAT KORUN... sheesh!!!

George Orwell's cup of tea

Prague is a very cultural city: there is always something happening in any immaginable art field. However in some of them there's the language barrier which is totally understandable obviously. My basic Czech skills aren't of much use when attempting to see a play for instance.
There are fortunately some very good workarounds: I discovered here the non verbal theatre which can be fascinating really as I've already seen two such shows - it emphasises how speech is merely one of the many forms of communication, many times not necessarily the best one.

The second workaround is actually proper theatre in English. Thanks to the large expat community in Prague and to the people who care about their theatrical cravings, there is the Fringe festival every year for 8 or 9 years now.

And since i have a weakness for theatre I fully profited from this veritable 'theatre season' and saw 7 performances, some better than others. If you read till here you might be wondering about the title - well here it is: I saw a really good performance of George Orwell tonight, he was telling the audience stories from his life 'through' a really good actor who spoke at an alarming pace which really kept me attentive for the full hour and a half.

Apart from reading 1984 which is a chilling experience and an mind opener in respect to world politics I didn't really know much about him. Turns out he was a very interesting character, an idealist escaping from life's unfairness in his work. A thing he failed to mention in tonight's performance however - quite unforgivable for an Englishman trying to set the world on the proper course - was how to make proper tea!

Toriholic

Tori Amos has a new album only 2 years following her previous one and more excitingly, she's on tour again visiting Prague. I can't wait to see her again!

You can listen to her new album on we7. For me it happends that initially her songs don't get to me that much (maybe also because the lyrics are hard to understand) but after listening to them a few more times, I really become addicted to some of them! I guess it's just the same with people, it takes time to start apreciating the ones who really matter.

Enjoy and really, do go and see her if she comes on tour somewhere near you. She's the one of the best live acts (if not the best!) i've seen so far!

Fiti darnici

O initiativa foarte faina in lumea virtuala romaneasca care mertia toate laudele si care sper sa va inspire!

Carevasazica, http://www.oamenidarnici.ro/

Exploring food

Thinking about posting some of my culinary (happy) experiments here.
Today I've mixed some recipes I've read on the internet, added a bit of personal twist and came up with pan-grilled (no place for an open fire unfortunatelly) salmon with cream&caper sauce, home made american potatoes and soya-sauce beans.

Went perfectly well with a 'Feteasca Alba' from Panciu. This is a typical romanian type of wine, with quite a nice 'grape flower aroma', to quote comrade, doctor, engineer, economist Pusca here.

If you're keen on more details, I'll add the recipe as well :p

Representing my corner of Europe

I was very nicely surprised when i heard that my county will represent Romania at the European Regions' festival called Taste Europe that was organized in Prague as part of a summit related to the Czech EU presidency.

They had a really nice stand at Mustek, decorated with traditional handcrafted quilts, wooden masks and icons. The hosts were also dressed in what i believe is the local traditional costume (each region has one specific costume). To my shame, I am not really a connaiseur of folklore dress etiquette so i couldn't really say if it was authentic or not but it sure looked very nice.

They were present there for only two days, leaving before the weekend so even if I'm not a hardcore folklore fan, as i said earlier, i still sacrificed my lunch break to attend a concert from 'Tara Vrancei', a local folklore group who put on a very nice live representation.



It was almost surreal to meet these people from my hometown's local administration and have a chat with them about how things are going back home, how some really good wines are totally unpromoted abroad but how at least they could bring some to give a taste to praguers.

They also had this delicious smoked cheese called cascaval(from italian caciocavallo) which is prepared by the villagers in the mountains and shaped in nice artistic wooden casts.

Vrancea is a very culturally rich area where people have kept old rituals and crafts but it's unfortunately very little known even to the locals (myself included) due to poor or nonexistent promovation. It's sad to see that even the historically flourishing vineyards are slowly degrading and badly managed. It's also a bit embarrassing for me that I've visited quite a few places in Europe but have seen little of my own small county. I'm planning to set out to the wild and remote Vrancea sometime in a future holiday.

But all in all, their presence in Prague was enchanting an very well set. Despite being a legendary set for a definitory and rather fatalist Romanian pastoral lyrism and also the epicenter of earthquakes in the country, Vrancea's people are joyous through their lively music, colourful costumes and probably, most important, the delicious wines.


You can find some more photos on my picasa album here.

About responsibility in a much more immediate way

It so happens nowadays that when people talk about responsibility it refers to more general concepts: finishing your studies, being good at your work, living healthy and so on.

The lack of responsibility however hits unexpectedly many times in the most brutal ways when people ignore its most basic purpose: to avoid any harm to others or yourself, not to behave recklessly.

That kind of life threatening behavior is far more common in our modern ultra developed world that should ironically make our life safer and easier. I bet people die in car accidents more than from some common diseases. It doesn't really stand out until it confronts someone you know or some friend of theirs.

I knew there are way too many reckless drivers in Romania and that it's turning into a big problem and I've recently learned about a friend's colleague who's been in an accident and has good chances of recovery in a clinic in Germany.

What's even more revolting is that her treatment wasn't paid for by the insurance since it could have been handled in Romania as well (but of course with much less efficiency because of the technological differences) so she must rely on your help to pay the expensive recovery treatment that would give her the best chances.

If you are able, please donate (paypal should be available soon, try to get in touch with the family/friends via the blog)

Ti-am luat un martisor :)

Mergi la vot!

Daca speri ca votul tau valid, laolalta cu cel al altor milioane de concetateni sa faca diferenta, sa aduca o guvernare sanatoasa, matura si constienta de actiunile sale, un fel de democratie ajunsa la majorat care n-o sa mai injure, sa se imbete ca o scroafa, amestecand legile, sau sa fure bani din casa, fie si de frica pasibilitatii de pedeapsa, atunci inseamna ca trebuie sa votezi intr-o Romanie dintr-un univers paralel.

Daca totusi nu vrei sa astepti pana ce calatoriile interdimensionale vor fi posibile, votul tau INVALID ar putea, ipotetic vorbind, laolalta cu votul la fel de NUL al altor milioane de concetateni (ce optimism!) sa traga un semnal de alarma la adresa clasei politice de cacat care nu ne reprezinta. Ar fi un scenariu ipotetic foarte interesant de urmarit, alegerile ar fi invalidate si s-ar repeta probabil pana cand nemernicii cei mai mari s-ar retrage eventual din partide facand loc unor viitori politicieni cu o mentalitate mai sanatoasa. Bineinteles ca n-o sa se intample asa ceva vreodata, dar merita incercat daca sectia de votare nu e prea departe, si e frumos afara. Macar asa, ca sa ai sentimentul datoriei civice de a trimite un sincer sictir minunatilor tovarasi conducatori.

De fiecare data la alegeri e un procent neglijabil de voturi nule, oameni care desi s-au dus la vot, n-au avut cu cine vota dar au vrut sa dea de-nteles ca doresc sa voteze (mai degraba, sper, decat ca sunt niste retarzi care nu nimeresc cu stampila interiorul chenarului). O campanie bine organizata care sa indemne lumea la un vot frumos si nul ar putea creste procentajul asta la un nivel mai de bagat in seama. Pe mine m-ar interesa la culme cum ar reactiona nemernicii care se asteptau sa fie votati, sa se vada neputinciosi tocmai prin faptul ca sunt ignorati. Sigur, vor fi uitati de istorie, dar pana atunci e prea tarziu si am putea sa-i facem uitati, sa-i mumificam inca din timpul mandatelor lor abjecte. Mai mult decat orice proces penal sau atac mediatic care, acordandu-le importanta, starnesc spirite indobitocite gata sa-i pupincureasca, ignorarea i-ar anonimiza si reduce la tacere.

Asta e cam singurul instrument democratic de care dispunem ca sa ne exprimam dezgustul si ar trebui sa profitam de el daca ne pasa cat de cat. Pentru ca indifierenta e si mai nasoala, si asta n-am zis-o eu.

Asa ca, sper ca n-o sa votati cu cine nu trebuie anu asta.

Happy un-voting!


Update: pentru cine are totusi chef si nervi sa voteze, iaca niste informatii interesante:

Photo of the day

freshly made by me, about 1h30min ago :)

And by the way, i've finally created a flickr account after being very skeptical about it.I now kind of discovered its much more social nature, compared to Picasa, and i'm enjoying it.
One of the reasons i didn't like flickr was the small pic size showing by default.Well, that's not an issue anymore if you try it with CoolIris, the coolest firefox plugin.
You'll love it!

The future is now

So it's all nice with all the eco friendly energy and all, but soon all this crap will obviously fail because nobody will afford it except the fancy-pansy, highly developed countries counting, what, 10% of the population?! What about all the rest who won't afford it? Well it's probably gonna be back to that seemingly never ending source of energy: good ol' nuclear power.

It's not to early to plan your future nuclear business, no sireey... say you'd want to forecast an eventual depletion of nuclear resources, or the half life of all that waste that will result from the processing?! Hire a bunch of phisicists (all over the place these days), pice of cake, right?! Well, it's not that simple, that dreaded Y10K is way closer than you'd think...

Gives you somethin' to chew over, doesn't it?

Not a great weekend

To visit Prague:
Or Bucharest:

And I thought these places are geographically kinda close, sheeeesh...

Freezing Prague

Today at 17:10 in the busy metro station 'Muzeum' in Prague, there was a 1 minute moment of coordinated 'freezing' for which I took a 20 min break from work to see :)

I would have expected something similar to the NY Grand Central station freezing but this is what came out instead:


There were too many people who took part in the event so anyone could hardly move through the station but the interesting effect was, that through all the noise an agitation of an overly crowded metro hallway, all of a sudden, the majority of people made complete silence and stood still while a few confused 'outsiders' wondered what the hell was going on.

I'm somewhat proud of having overheard the following conversation (in Czech, of course) between two elderly women that had no idea what was going on:

woman1 (towards shop assistant): what's going on here?
shopAssistant: ... (totally into the experiment)
woman1 (puzzled, towards woman2): i just want to go to the metro, are you going to the metro as well ?(asked as if expecting an important confirmation that she still had a grip on reality)

woman2 : yes, sure, i'm going to the metro.
woman1: sigh of relief (i made this last one up)

It's amazing how so many people made their way to this apparently trivial and meaningless event and took it so seriously. If only other causes would have the same impact...

And to finish, the event coincided with a larger Prague and Czech Republic, actually, Central Europe, freezing. No, not the people(unless forgotten outside) but the weather. It snowed as if X-mas Sunday is coming, not Easter. And yes, now it's freezing: -1 Celsius.

Here's another video (first was made by me) that shows the whole atmosphere better:


And, as expected, it's also in the news.

1 Martie :)

Desi la Praga primavara a inceput cu tunete, fulgere si vijelie de parca suntem in iulie, sa speram ca baba Dochia n-o sa-si faca de cap prea mult si o sa avem parte de o primavara frumoasa :)

Si pentru ca martisoare nu sunt pe-aici, am agatat unul in banner :)

Photography basics - a great technical walkthrough

What a nice train model, isn't it? Well, actually not, your brain has just been fooled, with the help of a bit of photoshop (well, maybe more than a bit) and some wise depth of field optical trick.
The original image is here. If by this line you don't care about the technical stuff behind, just stick to the neatness of this 'photoshopped' image and ignore the rest.

For all you photography enthusiasts out there, i found a great resource for learning about the basics of optics involved in the camera settings/parameters on Microsoft's channel 10 (which by the way, has lots of interesting stuff for geeks).

I've seen a few pages trying to take you through the principles of photography but none of them succeeded in offering detailed explanations for all the technical stuff like this one. And i hate physics, we should get this clear from the beginning, so I'm not a technical freak. But it's really useful to know the story behind all the camera settings to get a better understanding of what's actually going on with all the light and lenses. For me these articles filled some knowledge gaps i had for quite a while.

It tends to get a bit too technical, so it's not for everyone, but haven't you always wondered for example, what is the resolution of the human eye? Or what defines sharpness? Or, God forbid, whether you have become a bokeh whore (i'm not linking to this one, you should read and discover the meaning yourselves).

Homer Simpson, Rembrand style

My art section strikes again!


Well, if this ain't art, i donnow what is :D
Here's a cool collection of Simpsons paintings via clandestino.
And there's more funny stuff too

Movies ain't what they used to be

With all the political correctness - viewed in a broader sense - that censors most of the western culture's possible offensive parts, it's quite difficult to enjoy a movie that allows the director to display his ideas exactly the way he meant to show them, without any artificial barriers, all in the name of art.

This is what came to my mind after having seen ... ...novecento, a remarkable epic movie depicting generations of the same family of peasants in rural Italy living their anguished life throughout the politically divided environment at the beginning of the century.

The movie that lasts 5h in the uncut version, is molded on the lives of peasants and their fight for their rights and has some very raw scenes that make it so believable and natural. And believe me you can hardly get bored watching this movie. I had to do it in 3 stages because of the lack of time but it is quite captivating.

There were scenes in the movie that would be totally unacceptable in a contemporary movie in the name of political correctness or whatever you might call it, or even suppose the scenes would be allowed, it would be with the price of a very strong advisory rating.

I haven't seen many old movies so far, but i was surprised and bewildered at some of the scenes such as the slaughtering of pigs or a duck hunt that showed the agonizing birds which fell in the water. I bet quite a bunch of animals were seriously harmed during the making of this film, and if you come to think of it, why wouldn't they be if it's in the name of art? Why would we feel better knowing that ducks didn't die in a movie while we thrust our teeth in a juicy roast duck sitting in our comfy chairs? If this isn't petty hypocrisy then what is?

If countless animals get killed for food daily, why wouldn't a couple die on the screen? It doesn't look good? It's better not to know how that salami got to be in the fridge, or maybe that fur coat on the hanger? You betcha! (I haven't converted to be a vegetarian, but i was just thinking about this no-harmed-animals-in-movies policy)

Moving from the animal issue, there were scenes such as menage-a-trois with an epileptic, naked children, de niro naked, and other stuff more or less shocking such as massaging a horse's ass. I think these things spice the movie just at the right moments so you don't get bored watching.

One down side of the movie was the dubbing, because it was quite obvious none of the versions had the original voices (there's a stew of actors of different nationalities in the movie). I had the first 2h in Italian and the rest in English. I'm inclined to say the Italian part sounded better since it all happened there it makes it more believable, however DeNiro and Depardieu's original voices were dubbed. The English version allowed young DeNiro to talk but canceled most of the other characters' original voices which made them sound rather funny.

Another downside is that the director insists too much on the political aspect of the movie, himself being an advocate of communism in his youth. This results in pathetic scenes towards the end of the movie showing how the communist proletariat vanquishes the last trace of 'despotic ' ownership of the bourgeois ruling class. I was a bit disappointed by the movie ending this way, but I warmly recommend it nevertheless, at least to see the surprisingly young DeNiro and Depardieu(same big nose though)