Bucharest Under Snow

I love Bucharest under the cover of snow. Gray buildings become milky white, trees no longer look desolate.

And while some may be unhappy with snow-covered streets and sidewalks, I think they make Bucharest, for once, a city in which one can truly live: traffic is slow and careful, there's less noise, the fewer people on the streets are nicer. There's an air of tranquility and peace enveloping the city. And it somehow reminds me of that superb Christmas all those years ago.

Let's enjoy this until the ice or slush sets in.

Why I Didn't Join the Bucharest Protests

Photo: George Calin via feeder.ro

Simply put, because I'm not a hypocrite.

I'm not one of the disenfranchised people that initially started the protests and that fought the riot police. I'm not one of those directly affected by the state cuts. I don't believe President Basescu is the mother and father of all evil (in fact, I think the opposition is worse).

I am not a member of the system, nor am I entirely outside of it. I make a (pretty decent) living by selling dreams and by validating big egos. I work in advertising and marketing-related fields where I see people as consumers and art as an industry. I visit an expensive dentist and have access to good quality health care that I afford to pay for. I maintain a lifestyle where I afford paying for 1 piece of handmade bonbon more than other people pay for a full-size chocolate tablet. I'm spoiled, and so are most of my friends.

But it's not, entirely, about that. Rather, I can't join a protest whose purpose and objectives I can't understand. I can't join a protest where people are protesting for literally hundreds of different reasons. I can't join a protest just because it's cool.

That's not to mean I have no reasons to be unhappy about the current state of affairs in Romania. On the contrary. Things like:

• the perverse relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Romanian state, the Church's funding of its operations from the national budget and the building of the horrible National Redemption Cathedral
• the overall Christian-Orthodox religious debauchery in the country, its pressure on non-believers, its attack to dominate all aspects of public and private life;
• the lack of support for small & medium businesses;
• the lack of support for individual economic initiative, and discouragement of anyone who is not an "employee";
• Romanians' hate against minorities, no matter their kind, shape or form (from LGBT people to different ethnics, religons etc); basically, Romania's hate against being "different";
• Romanian banks' predatory practices, which are bankrupting families all around the country;
• a taxation system that is still absurdly complicated;
• a horrible under-financing of the arts;
• and the list could go on and on and on.

all of the above are things that directly lower my quality of life.Things that frustrate and annoy me.

But for none of the points above will people go out to protest. Or, to refine it a bit - a large majority of those protesting in the last few days in Bucharest would never go out to protest in favour of any of the points above.

And while I may agree with their demands, and while I may understand and have sympathy for their grievances, it's not reciprocal, and it ends there.

For those looking for a bit more context, please read this piece in the Economist and this one in the Guardian.

ww110803

If there is an equivalent for grandiose in techno, then this is it.

Thank you, Steve!

You will never be forgotten.

Fun & Frolics on the Black Sea coast

This is a collection of some of the coolest footage I've shot @Spirit of Burgas 2011.

Vicious cirlces

When we first started Heineken's Electrolab podcast, back in 2009, there was no other electronic-music podcast on the Romanian market. We set out to bring fresh electronic sounds from Romanian producers and DJs to the world. And we offered artists the exposure and boost that a brand like Heineken can offer. That's why it worked. That's why podcasts like Wax Treatment, XLR8R or RA work. All those podcasts offer their contributing artists exposure and validation. In return, the artists deliver some of best mixes around, which further strengthen the brand image of those outlets. It's like a vicious circle, of the good kind.

This year, in Romania everybody's doing podcasts. What is your podcast's vicious circle?

beta

1 Year Ago Today

1 year ago today I met genius Skream, rude-boi Cosmin TRG and watch-this-kid Whiteroly.

Not a bad day. Not a bad day at all.

End of Innocence

Daft Punk acapella