It is a phizzwizard! It’s a ringbeller! It’s whoppsy!

How the hell can I train my creativity? It’s not that I have a button on my head which I press and ideas start flowing!

These were my first thoughts when I started advertising school a month ago. But, I have to admit that creativity did actually start to visit me more often this last month. Maybe we all have deep down inside our minds some imagination wells, who, just like oil wells need to be pumped out in order to be productive.

I also made a strange discovery: I identified my imagination pattern! And guess what? It stems from the first book I ever read, Roald Dahl’s “The Big Friendly Giant”. Whenever I try to pen down a script the dream labels in BFG’s cave pop into my mind, complete with Quentin Blake’s fantastic illustrations. And don’t you dare think they’re not cool. To wit:

“I is inventing a car that runs on toothpaste.”

“I is able to make the elektrik lites go on and off just by wishing it.”

“I is only an eight-year-old little boy but I is growing a splendid bushy beard and all the other boys is jalous.”

“I has a pet bee that makes rock & roll musik when it flies.

“I is abel to jump out of any high window and flote down safely.”

“BFG: Of course you like it. It is a phizzwizard! It’s a ringbeller! It’s whoppsy! This will be giving some little tottler a very happy night when I is blowing it in. Look in the jar carefully, and I think you will be seeing this dream.”

I think this perfectly explains my inability to produce any serious, scholastic work, like the dissertations I so badly have to write by June. Oh, well, at least I somehow tapped into the imagination wells.

image from bbc.co.uk

quotes from http://bms.westport.k12.ct.us/mccormick/rt/rtscripts/rtsbfg.htm as I only have the Romanian translation.

Larger than life

Life must be sweet if you’re one of the execs at BMW Russia or working for Moscow’s Mayor! A 6000 square meters billboard in downtown Moscow, complete with life sized cars- that’s what I call oligarchic marketing

pics via notcot.orf

Mean Girl

“If someone punches you, punch them back! If someone kicks you, kick their ass! Never let yourself trampled over!” This was the advice I received from my dad when I first got bullied as a kindergarten kid. He’s an ex-marine after all, so that might explain his not so “conventional” advice. And boy, did his advice work. It was a matter of days before I become some sort of tiny queen bee, with a clique and people to bully. And my attitude stayed with me all the following years-giving me popularity, attracting fear but also getting me into a lot of trouble, much to my mum’s chagrin. But somehow, I’ve been thinking of changing. Too much snark really affects your self confidence. And six facial fractures and a couple of days in intensive care make one wonder whether my attitude really isn’t too much. (though in the fracture case I was indeed attacked by a damn psycho but that’s another story).

Anyway, I’ve been making really big efforts to tone it down. But, life isn’t always that easy. So, today the old mean girl got her chance again. One of the general executives from the media corporation I work for annoyed me. ( I am a humble writer for the News TV, this lady is head of the News Agency and of our struggling – and incredibly bad- Women’s channel) She just seems to have a stick up her ass all the time and is really mean to people. Today, she snapped at me. I didn’t react on the spot- my “mean” reflexes must have been rusty. But 5 minutes later I was discussing her appearance with the entire redaction. She isn’t a very attractive woman. And I just happened to point out her strange,wiry hair. And suggest it looks a bit like she has pubic hair on her head. But that wasn’t enough. Even though everybody was laughing at her. When she passed me by I stood up and said “Look, it’s that obnoxious lady from ….channel. God, look at her face! And her hair: it looks like she stuck a carpet to her scalp!” She heard me. Didn’t say a word and left with a really offended face after the looks and the laughs intensified.

Childish, mean and utterly stupid. I know. Yet I felt strangely relieved. The old feeling of power I had in high school came back. Then the guilt hit me. It’s not that I fear loosing my job ( I am taking one month off anyway). But I fear this sort of behavior might only do me damage. I’ve lost friends and was hurt in the past because someone had out-bitched me just by pointing out my bitchiness. And loosing tastes terrible. Now I’m lost. People say my “mean” side is part of my personality and it makes me fun. So, should I give it up or just tone it down a notch?

Have a very schtroumpf day!

This year the smurfs or the schtroumpfs, as I called them when I was a kid, turn 50! Hmm, I’m pretty certain Schtroumpfette and Schtroumpf Vaniteux have had some work done but what the hell, if it keeps them looking good Schtroumpf ahead!

In the end, a clip from Donnie Darko where Donnie discusses the “existential nature” of the Smurfs/Schtroumpfs. Don’t tell me you never wondered about it!

Strumfanie inainte! ))))

Exploring the Andes from the editing room

“At last, my greatest creation! It is compleeeete!”- anyone remember Dexter’s Lab? Yep, that’s me right now. I finally wraped up the Andes documentary! And it took me three whole weeks! No finals have ever made me so tired as editing this documentary. Whoever thought a documentary only requires some people willing to travel and a guy handy with a camera was wrong. Yeah, we were lucky enough the lovely members of Explorer Club gave us the tapes (more than 12 hours of recording) of their trek over the Andes for free. But after all the time I spent in the editing room I think I could get a job as an Andean guide if I ever fail at journalism. Why was I given this task? Well, my boss thought I am some sort of expert on Latin America since I talk non stop of my adoptive Chilean family and of my plans to reach Chile and Argentina one day. Anyway, in spite of my Chilean and Argentinian connections viewing 12 hours of footage, re-writting the scenario of the documentary over and over again, choosing the best scenes, picking the right music and deciding which moments to cut or minimize so everything would fit into 26 minutes wasn’t easy. In fact, it was one of the hardest thing I’ve ever done but, after seeing the final results, I couldn’t be any prouder! Sure, I’ve been finishing work at 10:30 pm, going to bed at 11 pm(unheard of before), fighting with the editors, the producer and the graphic designers but in the end I think it was worth it. Besides, I had a pretty neat excuse to cut classes.

My final thought on the Andes, Chile and Argentina? Well, I’m gonna repeat it : Can’t wait to get there!!! Saying the scenery was breathtaking would be an understatement. And I already knew the people are great. I did find out the difference between llamas, alpacas and vicunas. And decided newborn alpacas are the cutest creatures ever! I enlarged my culinary Chilenismos with lomo a lo pobre, sopa de mariscos and beer in a pitcher(amazing sollution for serving alcohol). I am certain now that Argentinian guys are the hotness! And, after, seeing that kid from the human orchestra dance in Santiago de Chile I remembered dear Marnie’s demonstration on Chilean vs US dancing. It’s all in the chest- hips coordination, baby!

PS: I got the pictures from the expedition from explorer.org.ro

BS

I wanted to go to the mountains this weekend. I long to see the snow like a child longs for candy (at the moment it’s just freaking cold in Bucharest but the mountains do look like cotton candy). But, as I sold my soul to a certain media company some months ago and tomorrow is December 1 (our badly chosen national day- who the fuck wants parades in winter) I have to stay here and work. Work by wearing a stupid scarf printed with the national flag and RTV’s logo, distribute books and interview passers-by. I swear this was not in my job description but as I have just recently gotten a raise I can’t complain. Oh, and the books won’t be just any books, noo! They’re entitled “You make Romania” and are supposedly written by the Romanian people. By “the Romanian people” they mean all the crazy old farts and frustrated housewives who bothered writting their oppinion on RTV”s forum or on the walls stationed downtown in most of the big cities around the country. I’ve never heard such bullshit in my life! But, apparently, tv is all about bullshitting. Which leads to the day’s conclusion:

 

Ra-teoviziunea

“Cat primeste Teo de la Vantu:

600.000 euro ? prima de instalare
420.000 euro ? salariul personal anual
480.000 euro ? salariul anual al echipei
Total: 1.500.000 euro”

Cat primeste un redactor la Realitatea? 300 euro/luna. E drept, niciun redactor sau reporter de la RTV sau Romantica nu e un brand ca Teo . Apropos, ca sa ajungi un brand trebuie cumva sa urmezi modelul si sa te rogi frumos de sefii ai mari? Ca daca e asa, promit ca-mi schimb strategia de cariera.