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I just learned of two significant Romanian movie events in Toronto: Porumboiu's Whistlers is having its (wide?) release and TIFF a "survey" of 50 years of Romanian Cinema.

I happened to be in the area so I decided to pay the consulate a visit, not expecting to be able to vote, but hoping to learn more info about my programmed visit for my passport renewal. I didn't waste a lot of time, but in typical Romanian fashion, someone managed to use my time with info that is likely useless.

I probably won’t be voting this year. I’m telling you about my failed attempt to register for “vote by correspondence” or “votul prin corespondenta” as well as my passport application.

I haven’t been able to find many movies with by Romanians or about Romanians at TIFF 19 (Toronto International Film Festival) I thought I mention them before the Festival is over.

The most important debating tournament in Romania took place at the “Mihai Viteazu” high-school and the reporter summarized a debate with a BIRT on whether the Romanian government should provide reparations to the Roma community for the Holocaust. This is worth a discussion.

The very recent new USR scandal featuring Andrei Caramitru and the Vice Romania “journalist” Sidonia Bogdan is both disturbing and funny. I don’t consider myself “journalist” but as a blogger I’ve asked candidates questions, with mixed results, and as a political candidate I often had to deal with incredibly idiotic interactions on Facebook, so I sort of see where Caramitru the Young is coming from as well. Let me explain.

In a recent post on his Facebook page, Raed Arafat, the Romanian EMS SMURDfather, complains that SMURD teams on the beach should not be expected to save people from drowning. As a Canadian-trained (RLSSC) lifeguard (salvamar), that strikes me as odd.

In a recently published article on Euronews (en-roadfat), Alice Tidey asks the question where in Europe are roads deadliest; the answer is posted even before the question: Romania. We decipher a recent “ProTV News” news segment (spt-victime) where Titi Aur, a “defensive driving instructor”, reveals a deeply seated murderous misunderstanding in terms of the rules of the road, a misunderstanding that he shares.

I keep reading about Romanian Police incompetence and I can tell you that I’ve seen far worse here in Toronto. I learned about former cop and current “forensic psychologist” Butoi telling us why a living girl’s carbonized remains ended up in a barrel (cf Romanian “butoi”). And beyond all these facts, inadequacies and incompetence, the question we want to answer even though we know we can’t is why?

Whereas in English "Caracal" refers to a “medium-sized wild cat”, in Romania it’s a small town, possibly named after the long disappeared animal. Recently, what may very well be a serial killer has been arrested after some agonizing, train-wreck of a police investigation. This would be the first such criminal there in a long time.

The title means “Romanians vote anticorruption”, but then I realized that Romanians know what happened, it’s foreigners who might be more interested in what I have to say about it. I wish I could write a celebratory article, but I can't. Most Romanians who lined up seem to think that they are voting against corruption, but have they really?

The elections for the European Parliament are coming up soon, and this time around, I decided to ask all candidates a few questions and post their answers. But before sending these questions, it makes sense to look at the details, the first and most important being that the voting day is May 26 between 7:00 and 21:00, local time (EST) and there’s not voting by correspondence.

#WTA has recently confused #Romania anti-#corruption #rezist #protest with people coming out in the streets to welcome and congratulate Simona Halep in her recent Grand Slam triumph (gsp-tnr). It’s not only foreigners not getting what’s going on, but even some of those protesting.

One thing about population in Romania that we can all agree on is that it is in free fall. A recent article has revealed to me that, supposedly, the number of Romanians moving out of the city and into the country side is greater than the number of Romanians moving into the city.

Whenever I talk to Romanians who want to come to Canada and I answer questions, I always end up being a bit upset. I find that people ask me too many simple questions they could answer themselves with Google and too few of the “important” questions. Maybe there’s a guru hiding inside of me, and here’s where I set him free.

I continue with my answer to a friend, started in asa.zamo.ca/immigrate2canada.

When friends ask me about immigrating to Canada, my first answer is always DON’T!. However, though I’ve already written about this in the past, I have yet do so in English, so I’ll do so here, especially since yesterday I answered another reader.

I have, in the past, dedicated ample space and time to the Romanian elections. Lately, I’m starting to get a feeling of futility. It’s a widespread disease.

The results of the latest PISA testing have come out. Will I manage to write about the educational styles in Canada (which is 4th, tied with Finland, after Singapore, Japan and Estonia) and Romania (48th out of 70)?

I was planning to go out tonight, and on my way out, my eyes fell on a headline: "Romanian nightclub blast kills 25". By the time I looked it up online, the casualties had gone to 26. And memories of a few nights in Bucharest came back.