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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.

I’ve just read a piece of news that angered me a great deal as it smelled fake, but as I looked into it, I did not find the clear rebuttal I expected. It’s based on an obscure survey question that had not been reported in the media and now is fodder for fake news sites. The title is based on an 80s Italian song which roughly means “rogue nostalgia”, combined with the Romanian spelling of the word that stands for “rogue”, which, in the latter language stands for an insult, meaning “scoundrel, villain, miscreant”. 

I promised a reader to answer a thoughtful provocation on Herta Mueller and I finally keep (or try to) my word. I am replying to Mr Mihail Lungu in regards to how opportune and appropriate was my declared enthusiasm for her work and her Nobel.

I’m not a nationalist and though I wish my Romanian friends “La Multi Ani” for our national holiday, a small part of me is uneasy, because nationalism means association with people who share your ethnic background, some good, some bad, but in our case (and, of course, excepting those I know personally), mostly bad.

Predictably, the fire at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest has resulted in calls for moar regulation! and a search for the culprits. Interior Minister Oprea can breathe now that the media is no longer focusing on his killing of a policeman through unnecessary, elitist motorcades. Let me explain why the requests for more regulation are misguided.

It's a sad day for Ioan Pop, his family, and Romanian Christian Orthodoxy in general, but on the bright side, the abused women are finally getting some closure and Ioan Pop won’t have a chance to repeat his weird brand of sexual religiosity. As usual, I am not content with only reporting on the news; I have a few other things to say.

Blegoo, previously profiled and published here, took some time off from shovelling to write an article for this blog, as a guest. I’m publishing it here as encouragement (longer version), with the spelling mistakes left uncorrected but listed at the end, and also detailing there the formatting work I (still) had to do.

Although I have written briefly about progressive rock, I shied away thus far from Romanian progressive rock. That's rather odd, considering that the apogee of that genre in Romania is universally considered to be the eponymous Zalmoxe by Sfinx, released (more like “censored”) in 1978.

Despite this being one of the reasons I started this blog, the more I try to engage in online debates, the angrier and more unsatisfied I get. Before I decide to completely and always avoid them, it may be worth looking into why they are this way.

The stuff I haven't told you yet about Anaughtia (see previous and still unfinished, at this time, article) is on my mind, fighting its way into a sequel. But it will be a while. There are other stories for other blogs that also searching for a way out of my head. Until then, a somewhat easier subject, on Sweden.

I recently got an article from our very own Blegoo, who wanted to see his thoughts published and critiqued around here. It required serious formatting, but I thought it’s a free service I can provide to the second highest commenter (in terms of quantity) on this blog. My comments will be highlighted inline and concentrated at the end. 

My reservations notwithstanding, I suspect most of the people who voted for Iohannis do not really know who he is, apart from the fact that he is not Ponta. I'm trying to bring a bit more color and background to his wooden personality.

In my previous election adventures, I have relied heavily on the 'testvote' application and even shared and commented my results with you, my readers. I was planning to do the same this time, then I noticed something peculiar: all the candidates have virtually the same position! Upon further investigating, it appeared that either the application has been updated in the meantime or there was an error due to poor Internet connectivity and bad coding.

As I’ve been getting closer to a long-planned trip to Europe, I had to face the prospect of more hostility and less-than-enlightened assumptions related to my ancestry. I am quite tired of going through that and have been preparing to start answering the question “where are you from” with “Dacia” – and will be doing so starting tomorrow. With this article, I will answer the follow-up “isn’t Dacia a car?” or “what is that?” or “where is that?” with “look it up!”

I recently read a longer article on Bloomberg about Romania and its lagging infrastructure - more specifically, roads and highways. Much to my surprise, all that I was reading on other blogs (or hearing from my relatives) was described and explained as facts. (blmbrg-cows) 

Discussing the tragedy is inescapable. I had started doing this a few days ago, focusing mostly on Andrei Anghel, but didn’t have the time to say all that I wanted to say, which is why I’m continuing here.

While writing about Jihadi Jay Abdo, I had started writing about foreigners who study in Romania and half-way through I realized that this deserves a separate article. I had previously assumed (nature) that the Romanian prime-minister’s (Ponta) many scandals, some centered around his plagiarizing of his doctoral thesis will taint Romanian education and significantly decrease its appeal. Further investigation revealed that many are still interested, although it is hard to determine to what extent the scandals have caused the Romanian tuition fees to be the lowest in Europe, or that is due to other market forces. As usual, the links are listed at the end.

I have been staying away from the news of the moment, but this recent tragedy hits extremely close to home, whichever way a member of the Toronto Romanian diaspora (including myself) chooses to define that notion.

I don't how much I will end up writing and whether or not I will password-protect part of it - I just know that I do. If it’s not obvious, the title makes reference to a movie about mother-daughter love with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson (clips: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

I recently watched a with a rather long title (Cand se lasa seara in Bucuresti sau Metabolism) movie at TIFF13 and I thought I share my views with you. The article is unfinished, but I feel so sick, I might have a brain-wasting disease and I’d better publish it while I still can.