Three Ideas That Crossed My Mind Yesterday

A girl gets up from the bed and walks to the bathroom just to find herself flooded in a few seconds. She then suddenly wakes up in this world where everything is familiar, only….younger. I had a dream about that and I thought it could be a movie script. The girl has an accident and she continues her life in the memories she gathered over the years. The others see her as being in a coma.

Some months ago I was complaining to a dear friend who has all these great ideas about how to make this world better that he doesn’t do anything about them. Now I realize that people who are just speaking about their ideas and not doing anything are just as valuable as the “action” people because they help circulate ideas. They take ideas from here and there, they sort them and combine and maybe come up with something better and then they pass it on to other people. And this way, one of those great ideas in going to get to the years or eyes or a person who’s actually going to do something about it.

I just passed a building which had written “Forever Living Products” on it and a logo of an eagle. No idea where it comes from but playing a bit with the meaning of words I got to this: why would people want to buy things that live on this planet more than they do ? People want to “bury” objects, like computers and cameras and old clothes. And when they get new ones, they feel younger. What about people buying in the second hand shops? Do they have another relationship with time and getting old and death? Like, they’re less scared of it? Just an idea.

Sun Flood

I love it when sun floods nature.

I make faces when the sunshine attacks my eyes and I don’t turn my head round.

I escape from four walls and walk recklessly into the light.

The sun light.

Radiolab

I first heard about Radiolab at a conference in November. Pat Walters, one of the guys working there had a talk about innovative ways of telling stories. I immediately wrote down the link where I could find stories told on radio but it took me a month to go back to my notes and actually check out what it was that they were doing. Well, it took a while until the right moment came, but there it was on a website, my Christmas miracle: loads of podcasts on which I could listen to stories like I never heard before. I’d stuff the headsets on my head, push play and I’d find myself captivated by voices, ambient sounds, special effects, mystery and science.

The Radio Lab people do what I’d like to do: make science accessible to people (especially kids) by taking it out of its’ shell of pretentious and boring language and communicate it in a way that is both funny and full of meaning.

From their list of podcasts, I chose one for you. What you’re going to listen is the flow of an idea about life and its evolution from cellular communism to species liberalism and to, well, different scenarios about the life forms about to be created.

(So-Called) Life

 

I Follow Rivers

I kept hearing bits of this song wherever I went: in shops, pubs, even on the street. But I never really knew how it’s called or who’s playing it. Until today.

Lykke Li is a Swedish girl and her song is called I Follow Rivers. The video is moving and I kept guessing with my friend what the story is. It involves death and pursuit. The characters are powerful. The filming is unique.

Do watch it.

Message to new visitors

Dear visitors,

In the last few days I got the biggest traffic on my blog since I first started to write it. I didn’t make any big effort to promote this blog, but I suppose that the article in Dilema Veche did it. The thought that so many people visit and stop for a minute on my pictures and text motivates to write more often.

Thanks for dropping by, I really appreciate it.

Manu

PS:

This is a picture my brother took of me in a magical forest near my home in Botosani.

Paper dress

Last week at the Hilton’s me and Mihaela dressed-up in paper. After years of making paper dresses with the students from the high schools she was working at, Mihaela decided to go freelance. She’s running workshops  for people who want to make beautiful things out of scrap paper.

If you wanna see how skilled you are in creating your own dress,  check out Mihaela’s blog:

ilovepaperdress.blogspot.com

Getting ready for the party, Mihaela made by accident a little heart  out of foundation cream.

 

Romance

The Designer

 

The Dresses

 

 

 

 

 

Kids at school

 

I visited the school where Mum works and I took some pictures of the youngest students.

Titu

A few days ago, I took a long walk in Titu and I took pictures.

Titu is a small town about an hour train ride from Bucharest. Renault is building a new research centre there, and that will probably bring the people living in the area more jobs. The place is full of big deserted buildings, guarded by men and dogs; the industrial factories which died slowly after the revolution in ’89.

Nature is taking over.

The music I used for this slideshow is composed by Xerxes, a Norwegian who does electronic music and publishes it on internet for free download. You can find his music here:

ftp.scene.org

Please watch the slideshow full screen.

For A Cat Lover Lady

This cat lover lady introduced me to Magnetic Fields. Thanks.

 

Vigilant cat on the streets of Montpellier

Ali's fluffy cat in bed

 

Graffiti cat in Bucharest

Vama Veche Forever

Vama Veche is like no other place I’ve been. Time seems to go by differently: there’s no past, no present, just now. An undefined now. No news, no people going to work, not a lot of changes. Hippies and punks, families and nudists, tourists and travellers.
Here’s a slideshow I did with pictures I took this summer in Vama Veche and David Bowie’s music: