Learning, learning, learning!

It is getting clearer and clearer to me that you can’t find someone in Romania to teach you about CG. It is something that i would like to learn, a little something that could help me in my career as a cinematographer. I tried finding courses, persons who would like to share they’re craft but i do believe that the community in Romania si small if not nonexistent.

Whats left? Well to be honest to start from scratch, have no help but a strong will to learn. I have bought and downloaded several books on the subject and i started reading and learning. I have the programs, i have the computer and all i need now is the will to learn. I have the passion for it, i mean i like what i do but when it comes to learning things i hate doing it the classic way.

I keep telling myself every day: Alex, you can do it! and untill now it has worked. Hopefully it will continue to work. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Problems occur. Solutions dissolve.

Something troubles me these days. I do not understand how has it come to this. People don’t seem to acknowledge the power of information. The fact that we have come to a point where we have information at out every step. A few hundred years ago there existed people who would have died just to have information about anything, everything. Of course that was not possible, neither then nor now.

The main problem i detect in todays young minds is that with all the information around them they have come to a point where they decide that they do not need to learn things anymore. They do not need to read new things, learn about new things, see new things, hear new things. They tend to stick to a small set of valours and principles that make them think in only one direction. It’s a sad situation that I have come to see in today’s society and the portrait that i have painted in these two paragraphs are in no way exaggerated.

The facts are  there for everyone to see but no one really does anything about it. If i think about it more I do not believe that we need to have someone to guide us, teach us, make us evolve, take the next step. No we only need the will to do this. I do hope that I will have this will with me for a very long time and even in a higher quantity because as we speak I am not happy with the way I am progressing as a person.

Osama bin Laden. An apology.

I woke up on the second of May to read in all the newsletters that i got in my email account from different publications the following title: “Osama bin Laden is dead!”. I have to say that at first I thought that it was a joke, something that the american press would put out just for fun. After opening the tv a continuing to read different publications on the net I started thinking that it could be true.

Was Osama bin Laden a terrorist or just a person fighting for a cause, someone who tried to do something against the oppressors of his religion, with the weapons he had at hand. People call it terrorism, I call it fight with what you have.  I would like to write more on the subject but I feel that many people around me will start to ask questions that I would not like to answer.

JAPAN…

It’s getting harder and harder not to think about Japan these days. I do believe that this is the harshest natural catastrophe that has occurred in the last two centuries. I have to say that I really admire the Japanese nation. They really deserve the respect of the entire world and when they need help the most the world is still preoccupied with wars, economies, politics. It’s a shame but in the end we all are humans and that is how humans react.

RESPECT JAPAN!

Black Swan

“Black Swan” has been the surprise of the year when it comes to films. When I saw it I was sure that for me personally Mark Romanek’s “Never let me go” was going to be the film of the year. I was wrong. When I managed to see “Black Swan” I heard a lot of good things about it like how Darren Aronosfsky made a sensational film, how Natalie Portman is going to be one of the favorites for the Oscar award.

I have to say that this time I have to agree with the critics and give the recognition that the film deserves. I have to say that it has everything a succesful film should have. It has a great script, a brilliant director, a great cast that really blended together perfectly to make a superb film. I will not make a short presentation of the film, you can find that on the internet quite easily, I just want to strongly recommend this film and promise you that you will not regret spending 2 hours at the cinema, at home, etc.

Thoughts on Bucharest.

It’s almost Christmas time. I have to say that I really like this part of the year. It brings me joy, it brings me happiness, I get to have the free time to do the things I like the most. Snow is a big factor in this equation. I like, it but there is a problem with it: Bucharest, the city where I live tends to get messed up when it snows. Traffic is worsened, bear in mind that it isn’t that pretty when it isn’t snowing, it’s hard to travel afoot because of the snow combined with salt or sand. Most of the time the sidewalk ends up to look like war trenches.

All in all it is a great city, it’s full of light, full of people, full of activity, full of places where you can go and have a good time. That’s the advantage of living in a big city: you always have something to do if you just use you’re imagination and if you get informed properly. So cheers to Bucharest with its good parts and its bad parts and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A sack full of dots.

It’s November. I never really liked this month, for one reason only:  it’s the month I was born in. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I was born but the way people celebrate you is just pathetic. From the moment the clock strikes 00:00 on the 17th the mayhem starts. You get phone calls, mails, facebook posts, phone messages etc. and all through the day people who barely know you, one they get a glimph of you they immediately act like they care and wish you a Happy BirthDay. What a way to spend the day. Never really liked to be in the middle of the scene, I always feel so exposed, people watching, analyzing, criticising without knowing shit about you. Ahh society is just a joy to analyze.

Enough about that. Just stupid thoughts. I know I have not been writing for a while now but for Allah’s sake man it’s just a blog. I mean who the f**k really reads this? A few friends, accidental blog readers, a few people who search me out for whatever reason on the web, on social networks bla bla.

Getting sick of writing but that’s because I’m not in the best of moods this evening. Don’t know why but I do feel like shit.

The year of the salamander

It’s September 2010. I have been so preoccupied with other things that I have not even noticed that the birthday of the blog of my little blog is this month. Actually to be more precise I started posting on it on the 2nd day of September and I guess I could have posted more, or I could have posted less, in the end it doesn’t really matter.

It is kind of stupid to make promises on this kind o sites like the ones: I promise I’ll post more on my blog, I promise I’ll post better things and not take blogging as a joke bla bla. I was talking to friend of mine just the other week who was asking me and criticising me at the same time that I should start posting more serious things o the blog, that it can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it right, that I have great potential on writing about films, that I should start trying to make money out of it etc. To be frank, it was more like a mother’s talk and you know how those are.

I guess I will start posting more about movies, the ones that I like, that I consider to be good films etc. etc. So be prepared world to be amazed. )

That’s about it for today. Cheers lads!

Back in Sports

I have not written anything in the sports section for a while now and I guess it is time for a new post. Much has happened since I last posted. Inter are the current Champions League holders, Atletico Madrid got the Euro Cup and the SuperCup, me and my team got to play on the main table at the streetball tournament Le Quai 54, a proud and important tournament as it is my last one. Yes sir, I’m retiring from basketball because of physical problems not because the love for the game has vanished or something.

But enough about me and my problems let’s take a look at what Steaua Bucharest is doing as the season in Romania has started for about 7 weeks now. They started with Victor Piturca as head coach in the summer, he managed to build a team out of players he knew very well but he only managed to remain at the head of the team only for two weeks as he got in an argument with sponsor and best friend Gigi Becali. So as we can see Steaua needed a coach as the Euro Cup qualifications were coming. An old club glory took up the responsibility of the team, Ilie Dumitrescu, one of Steaua Bucharests finest players in all of its history. But what are the problems he is facing at the club now a days?

Well to start of he is still trying to bring the fans back to the stadion as the are still at war with Gigi Becali and he is also trying to build a team out of 20 new players. Yes, Steaua managed to transfer this summer about 20 new players. About 13 came with the first coach, Victor Piturca and the rest came from dyeing first division champions 2 years ago Unirea Urziceni, a team with heavy financial problems who is certainly facing disappearance from the first league next season. Ilie Dumitrescu has managed to win all the league games he has had as head coach an managed to defeat Grasshopper Zurich and reach the Euro Cup group stage. All is well for Steaua at this point but a few changes in the main squad has occurred these days and I hope the ex-Unirea boys manage to integrate as soon as possible in the team. We are in first place at the moment and I’m hoping we stay there till the end of the season.

Until next time, Cheers!

The Wave. A possible experiment.

I have been for a few day’s now in a mountain resort in Romania called Moeciu for a series of conferences and debates concerning totalitarism, to be more precise communism and to answer the question if whether or not Romania should have a museum of communism. But the debates are not over so I can’t really answer the question just yet .

Moving on. That is not what I want to write about. Every night we have been projecting for the participants and for everyone interested a series of film or documentaries with historical themes. Last night we projected a German film called The Wave ( Die Welle the original title) that appeared in 2008. It is based on the novel of Todd Strasser and the script is written along with Dennis Gansel who is also the director of the film.

Now the film is not the best I have seen when it comes to filmmaking but the idea of the film combined with the way it was filmed it is quite interesting. Most of the lines are clishe’s but I guess that’s how it was intended and as I have read it was based on a real experiment that occurred a few years back. All in all if you wish to see an interesting experiment/film about how young mind can easily deviate into political extremism this is a really good film.