Don't fuckin vote!

It's controversial. I love this and hate this at the same time. I just think it's targetted for people less picky and untrusting than me :D And I hate politics. I'm boring by saying this. I like Obama.. (?) read more...

Censored video

read more...

Heidi Dark Chili

I am that kind of person that, right before a grand deadline, will sit on the couch drinking coffee and eating chocolate with chili and salt. By the way, welcome again to the bloggy blog. I am sure a long period of time will be gone again until I will have a subject to write about. Have not only that, but also time, will and strength. To write I mean.

You "heard" me alright. Chocolate with chili peppers and sea salt. I am too, that kind of person that is curious to try new things, especially to eat. Although, this time I wasn't the buyer :D I must say I don't like very spicy food, I just can't understand it, and I salute those who do. It's just a matter of taste. But this choco is fine. Surprisingly, what intrigued me more was the salty taste, you could even taste the salt granules melting on your tongue. Very sexy :)) Anyway, if you have the balls to try it, be ready, the chili is actually spicy, and you feel it just after the piece of chocolate had melted in your mouth. Another excellent advantage of this type of choco is that it doesn't vanish as quickly as the one with whole hazelnuts (put your favourite one here). Good luck to me finishing what I am desperately in need to finish and good day/week/month (although I hope we don't go so far) to all of you, choco lovers. Or not. In that case, you're lame. :P. read more...

June Update

Tough period of time now, guys. So, let's get rid of a few fresh and not so fresh open tabs that make my browser "move" slower and slower...

- btw, the "Question" has been answered, or NOT, that depends on what you like, really. I think the question is impertinent, the heat is always THERE, '0' is actually not zero, you can't divide temperature and really can't talk about "xtimes colder or hotter" (except for hot chicks and hot guys), let's stick with "xdegrees hotter/colder" :) (see the links provided in the post and comments)

- an autistic man that draws f*cking impressive stuff... again, it's about people with mental disabilities that have these really EXTRAordinary "powers"... check out Stephen Wiltshire's wiki page, drawings and videos.

[credits to ziazik]

- The Meth Project: a Montana project against Meth consuming, that's a drug (i wanted to write "horrible drug", but then.. what drug isn't HORRIBLE?!). The impact of the project lists "Teen Meth use has declined by 45%", etc. Very strong commercials, at the VIEW ADS tab on their site. Some said they're too brutal and overwhelming. But then... i said..we are talking about drugs, what do you expect it to be?... My favs, to say so, are "Laundry Mat" from Wave 1 of the campaign, "Jumped" from Wave 2, "Boyfriend" from Wave 3 and "Family" from the last Wave. Also, VERY disturbing print ads, just because the image stays there, instead of more images changing and gone in 30 sec, like in a commercial.


- unconventional marketing piece from Ogilvy&Mather for Calcutta School of Music.

- test for your taste in home deco stuff, very entertaining. for me, at least. if you'd like to find out what style you are, got to mydeco's web site. i love when companies do tests/games that actually are meaningful :) oh, i'm "funky modern", if that's of anyone's interest :P

- i hope you've watched last episode of LOST!!! Ou mi gad. intrigued, intrigued, intrigued! if you like, maybe read this about the episode ;) i never have time to read everything the net is providing about this freakin show :))

- i hope you've seen the "Office Meltdown" or "... Freakout", but here's your second chance, just in case...

and the other angle of course.
they are Russians! just glad to be able to use my language knowledge SOMEwhere :)) and yes, it does look fake to me, but you never know...

- i've been to the Sugababes concert last week in Bucharest, and uploaded a couple vids I made on youtube, here and here, and pictures on picasa. my face dropped when i saw Keo's performance, and.. it was rolling towards the exit doors when Akcent appeared on stage. but thank god, after 2 hours, when the girls came on stage, i was able to pull myself back together and enjoy their amazing voices. btw, for those who whined about the "lack of impressive lights, video projections, amazing decorations" be sure that the romanian show was like an add-on to their world tour and that they usually do have an awesome visual show, check youtube for that. i came for their voices and songs, so that didn't bother me :P


I actually AM doing my diploma paper now, actually working on it, I promise! So, probably long till smth new goes on this poor blog :D Wish me luck. Btw, if you've got some good info on unconventional marketing, pls pass it over to me ;) read more...

Question

If there are 0 degrees C today and tomorrow will be twice as cold, what temperature will there be tomorrow?

Philosophical (ok, it took me about 5 mins to get that right :D), really, question, asked by a friend on Yahoo! Answers and other means of mass communication :)
Some really good (first impression) answers he has got there, but he wants a NUMBER! Someone calculated -136.5C, but that sounds much colder than we would expect twice colder than 0 to be. I have a very good (thank god) excuse to pass this question to the masses and not give a logical personal answer right now, because I had an exam yesterday, one tomorrow, one on tuesday and one on next friday, if u know what I mean. I hope we get a logical and acceptable answer until I'm finished with the exams :D
Good luck with using your brain arsenal!

[credits to victor] read more...

Secret combination

Fresh news from Eurovision! Yes, I happen to watch it right now. I didn't intend to, but thank god (not!) I caught it on TV.
So Greece starts to sing, and here's what I hear:

Seriously! Not convinced yet?! Listen closer:


Oh sorry, switched them again... Ugghhh.. Well, sorry! but it's kinda hard to say witch one is the original.. Can YOU tell?

More: Tomorrow. It's kinda late. read more...

Pimps an' hoes

Romanian style

here

and

here.

Caution: There is a great chance that if you're not Romanian, you won't understand the humor. Because it's actually so sad, lame, unreal and deceptive :(

And long live the yellow matchy clothes! I have fun every day seeing specimen on the streets. read more...

Things I laugh at

Like this one:
"With the advent of Flash, men, women, and possibly some intelligent chimps have all been able to make their very own short films, right in their very own basements and holding cages!"
source read more...

Google image labeler

Recent Google addition http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/ - smart move to improve their services, and at the same time involve in this the users. The circle is complete :)) The game is having 2 users "compete" naming tags for a random set of images, given a certain amount of time. You score points and all that. I don't know very many details, but it seems quite cool. Very catchy game, and you really feel like contributing for Google. Try it for yourselves, it's interesting.
[credits to dima]

Another funny/cool/hot/neat etc thing that I found on the Internet these days is a set of pictures taken in Moscow of people organizing a dinner table in the subway train. Take a look.
[credits to POPSUGAR] read more...

Yellow

I love-love-love to obseeeerve new trends in crowds. The fashion in Bucharest is starting to sing at a few people's ear, but most of them are driven, like a big wave in the open ocean, by season trends - hot's, do's, must's, blabla. I love this phenomenon. It's ridiculous and very rapidly spreading.

A while ago I was looking for a pair of ballet flats (balerini) for the start of a new season. I saw a few pretty ones, among them a yellow colour. Very very pretty. The yellow was sort of pale, mustard, or smth like this, I'm not into colour-labeling (shame on me). But in the end I bought smth else. Anyway. Yellow.

Surprize! Just weeks after that I obseeeerve the yellow trend! Girls these days wear only this colour, and preferably flats. Yesterday, waiting for the train in the subway station, there were 3 girls, all 3 with yellow shoes, one of them was the temple of the Sun - yellow t-shirt, yellow jacket, yellow bag and yellow flats. OMG! UGLY!!!! What is even more disturbing and uncool is that the yellor-trend-colour that all of them use is the bright-clean-yellow, the sort of yellow that only little kids wear. Anyway, with all my respect to bright colours and high spirits, quit wearing all yellow... pleeeaaase.... Unless! Unless... you wear it in a way that totally doesn't remind me of the girl walking next to you and you have a very cool sense of fashion. It all depends, in the end!

And by the way, what's with the trend of matchy-matchy clothes?! It is NOT HOT and just without personality! Yellow shoes and yellow bag?! WTF? Not hot. Or purple. Yes, this is the second-trend-colour. Although I prefer it more that the bright-ugly yellow.

Note 1: The text contains language that some may find offensive.
Note 2: I don't pretend to be a fashionista, but things like this just strike my eyes.
Note 3: These are my PERSONAL opinions. Do whatever you want.

And, at the end, may I please remind myself, and maybe help others think about the sayings that 2 of my t-shirts read:
"Just be yourself, nobody else wants it." and
"Go against the flow." read more...

Ashton's Cool Pics

It's Ashton's COOLPIX actually ;)) As I researched the net, for my job, I stumbled upon a mini video banner with Ashton Kutcher in a club, taking pictures, girls, Nikon = interesting! :D At the end it said www.ashtonscoolpix.com so - easy to remember and I right away typed it in a new tab of my firefox. And voila!


It is a form on interactive advertising at its best. Poor Ashton had to do about 30 different scenes to match the pictures that would be uploaded by users. I checked Ashton, and here 's how he did. One little problem: it takes a bit long to load. And I have a 54 Mbps connection.

Good job for Nikon! Very nicely done, great actor/vip, great campaign. I like that they put effort into diversifying the specter of possible emotional states from the photos. Try it for yourselves. Btw, after you upload the pictures, blabla, it doesn't give you the link to Ashton's scene, which is...thumbs down.

I like the cameras, they're very cute, I respect Nikon, which from my personal point of view stands first in the category of digital cameras. I want a Nikon COOLPIX! :)) read more...

Volkswagen Touareg

It is going to be a commercial, but not the one I wished for. Because on Romanian TVs it looks slightly different. The difference is at the end, where the whole point is. Anyway, the, let's say, original version (the only one I could find on Google) is the following one, for the Dutch market:

"54% buys a Touareg because of its appearance. So we prefer to keep it clean."

The Romanian version tough, says smth like (I will check exactly) "we already know what a Touareg can do, so we decided to just keep it clean this time."("stim deja ce poate face un touareg, asa ca am preferat sa nu-l mai murdarim")

I agree the messages have a lot in common, but they are different also. The first one is focused on the appearance, the second - on the abilities of the car. I like the RO version better.

Acting! What a remarkable acting. I must consider working in a casting agency :)) The guy talks so naturally, the expressions, the pauses, the gestures are all in their places. Brilliant.
Notice, of course, how it is so different from aaaaaaaall the other car ads, where all we see is a SUV driving on rocks and muddy terrain. This is actually the whole "wow" of this commercial. I like when, seeing smth like this, I wonder "how come nobody thought of this before??" Cool.

Oh, good thing I remembered! The next ad for Lexus Hybrid is an older one, but made a great impression on first watch:

"That day - is TODAY." What a great line! read more...

Horton Hears a Who!

You have to watch this animated movie. Loved it! I'm a big, huge fan of Nemo and Ice Age, and this one is the new sh*t! :)) Not the best publicity for the movie, at least from what reaches my ear, but the movie is so great.

Jim Carrey is the voice of a big, super funny and miraculous elephant and I haven't been distracted by this knowledge, because we weren't quite sure it was his voice. Anyway, watch watch watch, if you haven't done it yet!
I was amazed, absolutely..., by the creators' imagination, there are scenes in the movie that, if you think through it, you realize how much creativity was just poured into it, into each animated character. And that's what excites me, what impresses me. One example of such a scene was when the major's family was at the breakfast table, the whoooole family. You will see what I mean, when you watch it :P They have a great website too.


Another recent great movie we've watched was "There will be blood". Daniel Day-Lewis, lead actor, won the Oscars this year, so I guess I'm not in the position to appreciate his work, because it has already been done by designated people :)
It starts very slowly, very intriguing, but believe me, the last few seconds of the film are truly disturbing and exciting. I want to mean that the film has it all. Don't forget to watch this as well ;)
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American boyzangalz

Estelle feat. Kanye West, American Boy (2008)
New joint (yeaaaa) on MTV, kinda rapidly grabbed my attention, kinda feels like Jamiroquai, and surely smells British. Buttis good! :)) Wonder if this Estelle is going to last :P


Lenny Kravitz, American Woman (1999)

Claaaassic.. Sort of catches me staring boringly at one point at a moment, but after minute 3, the final part rocks! :)) OOh yeah. Nothing in this stuff.is.relevant. But. Music's good. 's ok. Bye bye! read more...

Banii nu se mostenesc

Rebranding la CEC recently :) Whatever. Cu toate ca noul logo looks nice. Yep, iata de ce m-am hotarat sa scriu in engleza.

Uitati un spot, pe care parca nu l-am mai vazut, cu toate ca, dupa cateva reruns ale clipului, parca incolteste in adancul creierului meu o presimtire-amintire. Anyway. Reclama:

Iarasi, sunt ca de obicei impresionata de acting, in some way... Personajele (adicatelea actorii) au fost alese foarte reusit. Nice.

[credits to IQads] read more...

Persil print

"Every stain has a beginning. And an end."
Genial!

Just an occasional print, seen on IQads today... Loved its simplicity and "genial"ness. read more...

SATC the movie

Yay! Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda, and Mr. Big! are back together.I know you know, but I had to do a post about this. The cast had a recent appearance on Oprah's show and they all are so sweet. Personally, not a crazy fan, but nevertheless, watched all the seasons (most of them beside my man!) and a fan of Carrie, yay! She is what I imagine about "sweet", from how she talks to what she wears. I think what adds to this is her blond hair and her little eyes :)) I don't know, that's just how I feel :D

Official Trailer Sex and the City, The Movie


Oprah Show, SATC, part 1 (May 1st 2008)


Oprah Show, SATC, part 2


Oprah Show, SATC, part 3


Oprah Show, SATC, part 4


Oprah Show, SATC, part 5


Oprah Show, SATC, part 6


And, thanks to POPSUGAR, I present you some behind the scenes pictures of the movie, so [credits to popsugar]
(use the buttons to speed up, slow down or pause the slideshow ;))

Plus:


and



Hooray! Brilliant.

[credits to ina]
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Garbage

Coming back "home" from home is always strange. But things like these always cheer me up, wake me up in the real world and turn me back on track :D



Say hi to Rallookas :))

Notice her dancing skills, "front of the camera" skills, and lastly, yes, lastly, her singing skills! Fantastic!

Another one, I promise it's worth it:


Have a great week everyone ;)

[credits to dima] read more...

End of the year

... academic year. That's what I like to call this period. And this "end of the year" smell floats everywhere, espEcially in my university. Whatever happens, whoever happens, the last couple of days at school are THE SAME. Everybody's stressed - everybody's happy. You know?...:) But generally people are happy and smiling, because the side of the brain that whispers "It's the end of the year, the end of all the suffering, time for relaxation" wins. I think that only people who have some degree of unstableness in their brain, will fail and go nuts (bananas :D). Hey, great timing for this poster, unconventional in a way.

It is always about chaos. Today, and my colleagues can surely confirm that, was THE perfect example. Add a drunkish teacher and a herd of "end of the year" silly kids. You know?...:) Oh yeah, and taking pictures. You know?.. I mean, it is always like this. I love this. :)) And, sorry.., seeing classmates you have never/hardly ever/rarely seen. THE END. Viva la revolucion! :)) Sorry, it's the craziness. read more...

Parchez.ca

Foarte cool. Cu toate ca nu ma agit prea tare din cauza problemelor de trafic din bucuresti (1.n-am masina, 2.folosesc mereu metroul) stiu ca 120% din conversatiile celor de aici vizeaza anume asta. Pentru cei cu simtu umorului, si, mai ales, cu simt, u know, site-ul asta le aduce niste stickere pe care ar putea sa le lipeasca pe masinile a caror proprietari se poarta ca niste.

Repet: http://parchez.ca/

[credits to santa!]

apropo, cine stie de bug mafia, parazitii, otherz alike, recomand postul asta de pe blogul subasalt. read more...

Oddest Sport

Img Source: SI.com, Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Long-time dilemma here - What is the oddest sport? Weirdest, goofiest, however you define "odd". So I launch this challenge for your crazy brain.
My proposal for today is Curling.
Isn't it ODD? Com'on!?!





"If you knew that the preliminary rounds of Olympic curling began this week, you're probably on the team. The rest of us are even less interested in curling than Britney is in a car seat..."

Accidentally found this funny article here.

Note: Yes, I use to watch this sport on TV, but it is just ODD! No offence. read more...

Preotii rulez prea tare

Eu o sa pun "traducere" daca nu e clar pentru toti, dar sper sa se inteleaga. Imi place la nebunie sa aud moldoveneasca, mai ales "in doua" cu rusa, mai ales aflandu-ma in anturaju bucurestean deja de 3 ani. Rulez!! I love my country! :)) [da, filmat in Moldova, Republica Moldova]

Inulea, thank you so much! You made my day! Um.. adica.. "ni-ai facut zîua!" :))

[credits to ina] read more...

Shake your pom pom

Missy Elliott - Ching-A-Ling music video

Also on Missy Elliott's website.
Love the video. Missy rocks, as usual.
Did you see the four guys' moves? Ouch! read more...

Poor thing

I think: it may be fake; this proposal method is bad; poor girl; poor boy; awkward situation for the players; the guy is nuts; the girl is somehow down to earth, good for her; fun commentators ("young man, he'd probably get over it in 10, 12 years" =))); the outfit is ugly; the hair is nice; wanting to make SUCH an impression over your loved one is suspicious, smth is wrong with their relationship :)
What would YOU do if you were him / her?

Another, this time successful, public proposal here.
read more...

Job safety

http://www.urlskit.com/trud/
esp. for those who know russian, but the pictures are self-explanatory anyways, so take a look ;)

[credits to mih] read more...

Do one thing every day that scares you

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts.
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Stretch

Maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Your choices are half chance.
So are everybody else's.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

...the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.


These are excerpts from an article, found here. The "video" is also featured.

[credits to vali] read more...

B&J tied the knot

Yay!!! Finally. I'm happy for them. No wedding photos, no evil rumors, which I am happy about. I always appreciated the way they treat their intimate life. Good for them. Congrats!
Anyway, the paparazzis got their freakin shots of the 'guests' arriving at Jay-Z's appt. in New York, here from People magazine. read more...

Madonna's new video

Again Timbaland. Again Timberlake. No comment.


Honestly, with all my respect to his talent, Timbaland is just too much. I'm feeling awkward towards this, because under his music guidance artists like Aaliyah, Missy Elliott and, recently, Nelly Furtado, made stuff that really inspired me. When I heard how Madonna's song starts, I got chills all over me. The "freaky, freachy, cheeky" sounds just like ooooold time "Try Again" from Aaliyah.

By the way, this video is really important to me, it was a whole phenomenon back then :D

Ok, so I understand, maybe it's a signature "freaky, freaky", but - please - no more.

Madonna sounds as awkward as ever, on top of these sounds, Justin is just the same as always. God.... BIG mistake.... Or.. maybe it's just an opinion...?
I liked just the first few seconds, after Timbaland's "freaky, freaky" intro, it was somehow entertaining to me (made me want to move :D). And yeah - the way he says "Madooonna" :)) And of course!, Madonna is excessively trying to show and PROVE that she is not what her age might suggest... holy shnappes.
read more...

Kitsch

I found this and though it's a kitsch to put up on blogs "very popular videos", but I WILL do it, because, personally, I have never seen it. It was given as an example in an article related to virals. Well, hell yeah, it has 4,215,387 views as of today. It's not very impressive, but maybe I can get feedback on what YOU think and if you've ever seen it. Probably Romania wasn't that "touched" by its viral aura :)


Let me just let me tell you about one more viral: Soulja Boy. I love it :D The CNN people name it "the hip-hop macarena" :))


Beyonce did it too, as part of her performance of the "Soldier" song (Destiny's Child), in her world tour, last year.


Lots more on YouTube, including prisoners, kids ballet dancers, cheerleaders and even soccer players :)
Have fun!
read more...

Rickroll

So we stumbled upon this ridiculous vid last night, and laughed for about 2-3 full-length videos :)) but didn't know the actual meaning of this Internet phenomenon.

Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley (1987)

The song even has a Wiki page and interesting stuff about it :D It is known as an Internet meme, which is smth that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet (reminds me of virals). People would place links that seem relevant to the subject, somewhere on the Internet, which actually takes the users to this video clip, smth like a prank. Anyway, if u want to know more consult the provided links ;) Don't worry :)) - no Rickroll pranks! ;) read more...

Socks and sandals

Please don't wear socks and sandals together! OK. Bye.
No, really, let's talk more about this ;)
Here is someone really dedicated to this cause, please take a look.

Wearing socks with sandals is ugly, unacceptable, stupid and just... DO NOT DO IT!!! :)) this is so funny --> here is the official petition for this holy cause.

Other DON'Ts here*:
- dirty hair (if u have a rational excuse for it, just put on a hat or smth)
- dirty anything :D
- burned blonde hair (i know, hair again)
- tons of gel in your hair (oh yeah, that IS hair again)
- socks over your pants (unless there is an acute need to do so)
- manea** playing loud (even not so loud) on your cell phone
- paper-white boots
- black stuff underneath nails
- "eaten" nail polish (britney style)
- extra-large lady sunglasses on guys
- black leggings and denim mini skirt (especially if you're not SLIM)
- sparkly whitish eyeshadow (and blue eyeshadow with blue eyes!)
- golden sparkly sh*t on granny-type blouses worn by teenage girls (i don't think u can't afford a simple, plain, nice&clean t-shirt instead)
- orange skin (artificial tan)
- 1 cm thick face foundation
- all-over sports wear (believe me, u can detect a person who really is going to do sports)
- evening-type, elegant shoes in the middle of the day
- too much makeup
- too much accessorizing
- too much anything
- to be continued...

Please let me know what I can add to this list and what I said wrong above.

*Yes, I have read "Manual de Stil", Dana Budeanu. Cu toate ca sunt o tona de trimiteri la marci prea pretentioase, manualul e bun! Cumparati-l sau vi-l imprumut eu, all it takes is to nicely ask :)
**'Manea' is a very popular genre of music in Romania especially among gipsy population. (No, I am NO racist)
read more...

Fail

Some of them are old, some of them are not so funny, but most of them rule! Enjoy.
http://fishki.net/comment.php?id=33050
[credits to dumitru] read more...

Again my music sh*t

Last night I took my 2 concert dvds that I have off the shelf. I watched them again (a cata oara!...) and I had peace again :)

I think people should never be ashamed of what music they listen to, if it really is the music of their soul. It represents us. But at the same time, if it's "the music of soul" then it is very intimate, very "yours". I get modest in this cases. Not many of my 'friends' know I went to Beyonce's concert for example. That's because I really loved it and didn't want anybody to spoil it for me. When you attend smth like it, the 'impression' that you get is really authentic and real, like more real than anything. And letting other 'impressions' into you is no good. What can I say?... I STILL cannot believe I was there.

Both of them (B and Amy) are controversial artists. But I love them as they are. Amy Winehouse is a real piece of garbage..in a way. More people name her a "train wreck". I feel so helpless when listening to her and then getting all the trash news about her. A strange comparison takes shape in my head. Aaliyah died in a plane accident, being such a nice, grounded, talented girl. Amy is bloody talented but she drives her own death plane. In some way that is her, her personality, her uniqueness. It's amazing how she is so distinct from eeeeeeverybody else. But I would be so happy if she gets off the drugs and all that. Heehh....
Beyonce probably gets even more trash on herself from people. Too this, too that. If you 'know her' only from the "Baby boy" video, than u don't know nothing. I don't even know where to start.

Any way... let's watch some vi-de-o-z from You-tu-be with the ladies' concerts. Please let me say that there is nothing harder that picking smth out of the shows.

Trailer for Ms Amy Winehouse's "Live in London" DVD.

And one of the other trillion songs I love from her. "Wake Up Alone".


I couldn't find a formal trailer for Beyonce's DVD (holy shmokes!). So let's see 2 of the songs from "The Beyonce Experience 2007" - "Me, Myself and I".


...and..brrr... "Dangerously In Love".

read more...

Don't judge so fast

Always a big fan of not judging (esp. people) very fast, and introducing an interesting video clip off the MTV monitor :D

(Uniting Nations, Do It Yourself)

I don't believe you haven't seen this, but given what I originally shared here, this ad compilation (mostly from Ameriquest) is a very to-the-point addition to the topic.
read more...

Amerie

Somebody once told me I looked like Amerie :))
She is a singer (for those who are currently asking themselves "wtf?!") and I listen to her songs from time to time. It's because she sings RnB and is a lady, some will say :)) Anyway, there's smth in her songs that make me "move", a term mentioned before in one of my posts.
Her ethnic background is quite curious stuff, with an African American army involved father and a Korean mother. She speaks Korean at home too. She is a very fortunate mix between these two races, from which she grabbed the best features :)

I 'discovered' her a couple of years ago, if any of you remember the video&song of expired Ricky Martin with Fat Joe and...tadaaaahh - Amerie ("I don't Care"). Or was it earlier..hmmm... Gooood god, that songs just sucks.. Anyway, I sensed smth in her therefore.. got myself her records. And as Russians would say "Dlea liubitelei".. Trying to get you a translation..would be "For those who really like this style". I know I didn't translate anywhere next to "well enough", but you get the idea. Anyway, it's very RnB and probably, in this part of the world, it's addressed to a niche of market :D

I love love love this. And it has my favorite Eve in it, too... :D

1 Thing remix feat Eve, from album Touch, 2005
Yes, she hasn't got the best voice in the game, but the music - my stuff.

Another super power song is "Gotta Work", here is a live version of it... turn the volume up a bit ;)

Gotta Work from album Because I Love It, 2007
read more...

Cat talk

I have always had cats at home. I love them enormously. My cat back home right now with mom is Kosti. I miss him a whole lot...:(
I got to the point where I know pretty much all their behavioral tricks, I just love to observe them. One of the most marvelous "features" of cats are the way they sound in different situations. Actually, every cat has its own voice, way of meow-ing, there are talkative and silent cats, just like humans :D I loved this video on youtube, it shows how full of character and how expressive cats can be, if you pay attention to their little (should I say short :D) life. Please enjoy:



Some cat-loving people "translated" what the cats where talking about, hilarious ;)
read more...

Turn off the lights, they say

First take a look at this video on youtube. [credits to vali]
I love Earth. I feel strong impact when I see/hear devastating facts about it. I also love social/environmental cause-sustaining ads and whatever else. Because they are cool. Not cool in a happy way. They are nicely done, effective and smart. I will have to post later some day a few unconventional social campaigns.
This video is ok. It tells about something quite serious, objective. But it's not entertaining, or at least different, i mean in the way it's done. I really believe they could have done a way better job.

On the other hand, what can be entertaining about this fact? And for me, personally, this issue doesn't really beg for super cool things in it, but I'm sure for most of people it does.
Apart from that, I'm very glad for this "action" that already took place in Australia. There are a few more cities that join this year. I agree that this is not going to save our planet very fast, but taking action is always good. I just hope it will get enough social awareness. I don't understand people who say " I'm sick of all this global warming shit". Well, then, you are just plain unconscious, limited, greedy, call it what you want.
I think when the whole globe will switch off its lights, that's when it will be saved. But not in a million years this would happen. Sadly.
I wonder what "awareness" will Bucharest be glad of, cause I really doubt people will care about this. Starting with the old lady living next to me. Although she got the fluorescent light bulbs! :D
Speaking of light bulbs, here is a cool ad from WWF France.

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Left or right brained?

I wrote a post a while back about left and right brain phenomenon. I remembered I did a test on facebook that tested one's brain for left/right dominance. My results were that I'm left brained, so - no creative side for me :)) Too bad, I thought I was a little. Despite the test results, I completed the following "extra" test with 100% accuracy. And that was naming the color of some words, not the words. You know, for GREEN the correct answer is RED. And they said something like "well, that's quite good for a left brained person" :D I calmed a bit down after this and was proud of myself :)

For testing yourself, you can try answering this simple question: is the dancer spinning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If you think it's clockwise - you're RIGHT brained :: subjective, creative, intuitive and holistic
If you think like meself - you're LEFT brained :: analytical, logical, rational and objective

But then it said Einstein was left brained also, isn't that something?!!
Right brained specimen are Shakespeare, Mozart and Picasso for example :((

PS: Really people, how in the world could she be spinning clockwise?? I'm desperate.

Later edit: OMG OMG OMG!!! I made her spin clockwise!!! OMG!!!!! I'm a genious :))) wow.. Can u spin it the other way that u first thought of?? ;;)
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Hearing test

An impressive hearing test. i dare you to take it. not many of these these days :)
Use headphones for better results. I promise there will be no monsters jumping at your monitor :P it's not a joke.

Share your results with me please :) read more...

NYChildren

I was very inspired and childishly happy with the world (?) when I found this on the Internet. It's a long-time project of a fantastic photographer (based only on what I managed to see) who had this idea a couple of years ago. He thought of photographing children that are from every country on Earth, but who currently live in New York.

Kinda reminds me of other photography experiments, or call it what you want, that use pictures to show evolution of a woman's body, or anything else, like a guy that just took photos of himself for years and years just his face, every single day, wherever he was at that time. But this one is so much more different. It actually has a very strong substance. Imagine... one city in this world that has kids that originate from every country. These are times when I have a crazy, unstoppable urge to visit NY. And generally, I'm a very urban girl. I like cities and what they involve. Although I love hanging outside, practicing sports and whatever. Don't get me wrong. Although I now live in a city that EVERYBODY seem to hate, with such an enormous, angry and ever-growing hate, ever-developing, ever-evolving...Grrrrhhh... :))
But I don't like kids. The photos are so beautiful, aren't they? Adorable. I like kids in photos :) Kidding, actually I'm not that hateful on children, but I just can't call myself a child-lover. Or how are they called :))

New York is the heart of our blue Earth in a way. You can find anything there. It's colorful, rich, diverse, pulsing. I learned that not visiting it, but I'm sure of this anyway :D All the countries in the world, all the cultures, all the religions and traditions, all this - in one city.
I loved this "promo" material, it's amazing. Did I say Danny Goldfield is the photographer (wow- the photos) and the project is called NYChildren? :D and that his web site is www.nychildren.org ...

Also, the countries that are still to be captured are listed on Danny's web site, maybe I can help a liiiiittle bit spread the word and help this cause for reaching its ultimate purpose.

Another thing that I sssooo appreciated in this 'art form' was that the pictures are so artistic. Kids are represented in all various ways, the photographer captured so many different emotions. There are portraits with hands on half the face, kids yelling or laying flat on the floor :D (that one actually from Romania) As much as the collection is so diverse by its nature of representing all the countries from the world, it is also on top of that diverse by states of being and emotions expressed. AAhhhh... nice :)
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How many states can u name?

CAUTION: Highly unrecommended for America haters :D.
I was working on some papers and got to use abbreviations of American states and had trouble with many of them. I didn't quite knew their full name just by the abbreviations, except for TX, NY and..some that sound obvious to me. So I googled for "state XX" for the ones I didn't know and the results were instantly enbrightening (i guess they didn't invent this word yet). Then I took a break and thought "How many US states DO I know?" Ok given the fact that I lived in the US for a year. I opened the notepad and started to list states one after another, the ones that came to my mind. I had 23 states when I suddenly stopped and there was a loooong pause before I added "Massachusetts". I was just plain curious, the kind of curiousness very reminding me of my childhood, when I used to do stuff like this that apparently has no sense.
For those who "dig" what "i'm talkin 'bout", y'all can try this for yourselves, it's kind of fun :D If you want to do the little experiment and not be influenced, do not click "read more", I put there the list with states as they came to me in a straight memory burst.

texas
new York
new hampshire
vermont
washington
wyoming
louisiana
missouri
tennessee
oregon
iowa
ohio
florida
california
montana
mississippi
virginia
alaska
alabama
arkansas
new england
north carolina
23 south carolina

ps: ok, 22, cause new england ain't a state [blushing] read more...

Finally, I share

You know like when you have something you really like and enjoy, and you really want to share it with somebody else because you want to show them the cool thing that you found, yeah, like youtube stuff, that's what I many times feel but never got the chance to share this (you'll see later) here.

Let's start with a phenomenon that truly makes me go crazy (in a bad way).
Q: "What music do u listen to?"
A: "Good music!"

OK... so you know what I mean! - How THE HELL should I know what "good music" means to you??!! Seriously! I try to NEVER say this. "Good music"... That's just plain crap.
You can only talk like this to YOURSELF, because anybody else will have THEIR understanding of good music. You know what I mean? Please never say it like that, cause it's really nerve-wrecking.

I hope we're all clear with that matter, now let's proceed with I wanted to share with. Good music for me includes songs from basically all genres except probably... weird folk stuff, country, and death metal that my little brain simply doesn't get. But even in country I'm sure I can find a song that I would like...somehow. But that's not important. I mean the genre is not that important. I like songs that have powerful lyrics, a deep meaning and especially if I can relate to it. I like songs that are complex, both musically and lyrically. I like when things are unsuspected, shaking, soulful, rythmic(whatever that spells). I like when the melody is hard to redo, i mean that it's unique and hard to re-play, I don't know if I'm making myself something clear. A melody that inspires and that makes me want to move. So yeah..you can ignore what I said till now, it doesn't make any sense anyway :D

What, in my opinion, fits in very well in what I want from music is RnB. Sung by ladies. Aha, because I can relate to them obviously. But I'm, at the same time, a long-time fan of Linkin Park for example. I like Puddle of Mud, Greed Day, Everlast, SOAD and Nirvana. But I like Joss Stone. This is so opposite. Anyway, today we'll talk about Alicia Keys :D

She's (one of) my all-time favorite! Her picture must be in the dictionary at the word "talented". So many song-talent-music contests use her songs and her standards to prove who's got it. You must remember "Fallin'" :) This was the song that, at that time, showed me something so different and that I knew I loved so bad. I felt the song in all my nerves and veins. Today, I accept, the song isn't what it used to be to me, it's old an' worn, but I still love it nevertheless. I love Alicia for being so down-to-earth and natural with us and with herself; for never seeing her on cover pages of scandal papers; for keeping up with "mr time" and proving her talent until now; for giving me stuff to think about and bringing out lessons of life thru her songs... So, agreed or not with what I said, please take something I want to share with you. It is horribly hard to pick smth from Alicia Key's repertoire, but this song is worth anything good.

"Some people live for the fortune
Some people live just for the fame
Some people live for the power, yeah
Some people live just to play the game
Some people think that the physical things
Define what's within
And I've been there before
But that life's a bore
So full of the superficial

Some people want it all
But I don't want nothing at all
If it ain't you baby...
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain't got you...

Some people search for a fountain
That promises forever young
Some people need three dozen roses
And that's the only way to prove you love them
Hand me the world on a silver platter
And what good would it be
With no one to share
With no one who truly cares for me..."
(If I Ain't Got You, Alicia Keys)

Before buying presents and flowers, before going on vacations and partying in clubs, please show the person beside you what you feel for him/her in your own words and gestures that don't include material things, superficial things. What good is it to have rings and fancy meals if there is no caring, respect or protection?... Before having ANYthing material, we need soulful things, pure love in our bodies and peace in our minds. I'm sure this song made a tone of people cry.

And please, people, if you read this blog share words with me, comments don't bite, they're always welcome! Sometimes I think of shutting this whole thing down, because it feels like nobody cares. But I'll push it anyhow. :)

PS: There is also a great version of this song, performed only by Alicia's voice and the piano here. Enjoy. read more...

Accidental genius theory

Just finished accidentally watching smth called "My Brilliant Brain" on Discovery. I haven't watched the entire show, but grabbed a good part of it. It was about these strange people that gathered savant-like aptitudes after going thru different medical disabilities. Also a twisted (judging by his hat) professor that tries to develop a machine that is able to activate the savant side in each one of us... All this really gave me some thinking on our human future...
Ok so there's this man, George Widener, who is an autistic, and he can tell what day of the week is any day is history or in future. They had his brain tested and it was revealed that when he does an activity (for ex naming objects that he sees on a screen) the parts of his brain that activate are different from a normal's person, when a normal person is asked to do the same thing. I mean, if we're asked to draw smth let's say our top right side of the brain activates, but when he's asked to draw, his bottom-left part of the brain activates. Which mean he has a totally different organization of the brain itself. Which is amazing... He also has an incredible sense of details, he drew objects with details of a technician.

Theoretically, the right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for creativity and the right part is the opposite one. Ok I'm not a scientist, just want to put it in my own words. SO, the majority of people have left dominance over right. This suggests that we are thinking of everything as a total, entirety, not quite attentive to details. Savant people have left side supremacy.

Another man's story is this ex-convinct and former heroin addict, Tommy McHugh, who suffered a serious brain accident. He was sitting on the toilet when he tried too hard and felt one of his veins fill up going straight to his head and bursting inside there, and then suddenly started throwing up blood and everything, i know :))The doctors took care of him, but his life changed 180 degrees after this event. He started to feel very sentimental and feeling like he has to express himself. He started frenetically writing poems, letters, then painting. His whole house turned into an all-around painting exhibition, yes, even the ceiling (and he even redrew the walls, from lack of more space). Anyway... he became a different person, excessively passionate about art, his wife left him because she couldn't stand him anymore, couldn't live with him under the same roof.
He wrote hundreds of letters in rhymes to doctors around the globe and one of them luckily responded kindly. She, herself (the doctor), suffered a similar 'thing', when her twins died after a misscarriage. She then started to feel a crazy urge to write, anything that went thru her mind. She was writing on paper, napkins, toilet paper, sticky notes, anything that was available when she felt like writing. She is a neurologist and she was able to control her madness with the help of medicine.

Another story was about a Sydney professor, Allan Snyder, who was very interested in this phenomenon of genius people. He, like most scientist, believe that, even as a fetus, a person's brain is developing in a way that the left hemisphere dominates the right one. Certain cerebral 'accidents' or abnormal events trigger, in this early stage, that some people turn out with right dominance.
He designed a magnetic tool with which he is performing experiments on his students :) He places the magnet on the left side of the brain for 15 minutes and applies magnetic stuff (don't know exactly) so that he kind of disactivates this part of the brain and lets the right part to prevail, to take control.
So he tested a student before and after this experiment, using the same 'games'. The student had to read a common proverb written repeatedly on a screen. Sometimes there were 2 "the"s in the proverb, but because the brain got used to the proverb and knows it, he didn't bother paying attention to the details. Then the student had to draw a horse on a piece of paper, just an image from his mind. Then he was asked to say how many dots where on the screen.
After the 15 minutes of magnet influence or whatever, he drew the horse with more details, very different from the first horse (which was looking like a brick actually), almost with artist-like features. He interrupted his reading, when he saw the proverb that contained 2 "the"s and read again correctly, reading "the the" just like it was written on the screen, and he was able to say a better number for the dots scattered on the screen.

I wasn't able to find the video with this exact show online, except a little trailer. It appear that the show is consisted of three parts. You can search for "My Brilliant Brain" on the Internet.

What made me really think again, like I said at the beginning, was the fact that possibly, in the future, we'll be able to wear "brain hats" that will allow us to achieve for an amount of time a desired mind-power or ability that we weren't born with. Like it was in the Matrix movie, when the girl learned to drive a helicopter by transfer of data from the computer. Or how they learned different styles of martial arts.

Interesting, huh?
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Jungle in the subway

I'm doing my diploma project on unconventional marketing. I believe this is such a wide and enormously interesting area, and still not so widely used, e!specially in Bucharest. I say Bucharest, because usually unconventional mk plays with city 'tools' and city media in general. Very happy to announce that something great happened in this direction. Take a look at this Lenor little jungle corner established in Bucharest subway, Unirii2 station. If you still haven't got a chance to see it, it's worth checking out :)


Although there is no doubt that this IS unconventional mk, I can also admit that this 'thing' was derived from a poster ad, or billboard, whatever. As a matter of fact, the central piece of the jungle is a poster with the advertiser's logo and message, which btw is smth like "It is so easy to feel like on a tropical vacation right at home". Anyway, "Tropical Fresh" says it all actually. I even think they could have done it without the pretty long (!) tagline. My opinion.
Great job with creating the tropical feel, I was quite surprised. The leaves are so abundant and vivid green and real! At least they look vvvery real. Great job! Plus they have two palm trees on either side of the 'construction'.

On the floor, they had some kind of an interactive screen with fishies which was - wow - another, if not the most curious, thing. At least kids where all over it, and I guess that was at their 'level of sight'. When stepped on, the screen made waves around the feet. Watch someone's video capture of the whole 'miracle' :D

I know it's great, super-duper, sweet, nice and cool, but the question is: is it worth?!? Can you i-ma-gine what money all this costed, and costs? Cause the leaves are really - WOW-REAL!!! I mean, when I think of unconventional, I think of cost-effective, and I mean cheap :D ad campaigns. I mean crazily unique and simple ideas. I mean originality. And honestly, this was too much :| There are so many examples when almost costless ideas, involving city sights and objects, make millions of money and as much satisfied costumers. Why couldn't they think of something more original and less expensive? Maybe people think that everything that is VA-VA-VOOM! is great, no matter what. I don't know...
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Smart ad

I'm almost speechless, but let's just say this is great! Great commercial. I adore unexpected endings, for anything. Especially when they are rrrreally unexpected. And again, I'm thinking... what a simple idea, huh? I wish i can do things like this in the future :D

[credits to feeder] read more...

Congrats Ratatouille!

So yesterday the Oscars took place in Hollywood. I'm so happy Ratatouille won in their category, cause I loved that movie :D "No country for old men" won best picture and I am still to watch it. The thing is that Oscars are not as popular and exciting as it used to be. I remember the "Titanic" times, when everyone was really thrilled with who-the-hell-is-gonna-be-chosen-best. Or maybe I don't watch movies as often, I don't know. Check out the web for the complete list of winners, red carpet pics and what more...
I saw "Juno" has won Best Writing, and I was advised to watch that film as well, so can't wait to do so. As for the rest, I've heard good words for "Atonement", "La vie en rose", and "Elizabeth"... and really haven't watched anything from the list except the cute animation film "Ratatouille".

By the way! To prove my enormous not-caring about nowadays cinematography, I must say I have just started to watch Lost. Yes, Lost! It's on for what.. 3 years now, and I have never watched it. I guess I was busy spending evenings in front of the laptop, watching all seasons of Two and A Half Men. Yeah, that explains it. Although, "just started to watch" means we're at Episode 10 in S02, so... yeah, they already opened the hatch :D I AM obsessed with the series, I hardly slept last night, because all I could see in front of my closed eyes was people in the jungle doing stuff :)) Isn't that something... And one more thing, we started to watch it just a week ago :D

More fun stuff, of course, all in one post, check me out with different hairstyles on. Of course you can laugh at me, I laughed at myself too :)) You're welcome to recognize the stars that I'm "wearing", aha..that's right! [by the way, try it yourself here!]


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