descriptum40

As I stand at the desk and watch the screen of my laptop, 2009 flows in front of my eyes. I do not know how other people feel about this year. I guess many are unhappy, and for a good reason. Personally, after a short retrospective, I feel it was a good year. It could've been better, true, but it was still a good year.

Because
- I visited Poland and Bulgaria (each of them for the very first time, if I do not count the crossing of Bulgaria 10 years ago) and I was delighted by both. It is for the second time in my life that I go abroad twice in one year. Not to mention that the tourist delights came only after the other accomplishments: a tournament in the case of Poland, which we kind of ... unexpectedly won :), and a international conference in Veliko Tarnovo where I was really satisfied with the way things worked out;
- I rad like two dozens of really good books and bought as many. Generally, I actually learned a lot this year - and I do not only mean study;
- I went to lots of good concerts (both classical and modern), like never before. Among them, Tarja Turunen, Nigel Kennedy and even Madrigal;
- I went on with this blog (now in its third year of existence, which is quite nice, and on a quota of almost 200 posts) and got to take part in a few events about blogging - one of them was the very instructive WBF;
- I finally published something of my work, on paper;
- I made my first TV appearance (hopefully, not the last one);
- I lived as much as possible and not simply survived;
- most important, I finished most part of the work on my PhD.

And I am sure I forgot some things.

How could it have been better?

- I could've make a better use of my time;
- I could've finished for good my PhD (still a work in progress at this moment).

As about 2010, I do not want to speak too much, and to spoil the surprise :) But I would be very satisfied to finally finish my studies and to go on publishing on my specialty. Anything else would constitute a bonus.

24 hours from now, I shall be, as I do every time, in the Revolution Plaza - the heart of Bucharest - in the very place that marked 20 years ago the crucial change towards freedom. Not to protest, but to celebrate (btw, I plan to write - in the near future - a series of articles on freedom, on the republic and on the revolution, in the Romanian case, so stay close). You can also join me, as Live revolution will be transmitted live on Pro TV.


I wish you all a happy new year, and I hope 2010 will be better than 2009, for all of us.

See you, next year.


Best,

descriptum39.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

descriptum38.

state> good
soundtrack> P. Dinev - Bogoroditse Djevo, Raduisya (Bulgarian Orthodox music)

Caroling season began in Romania on December 6th. It will end before St. John's day, on January 6th. I was only a kid when the public profile of this old habit changed, and the change was tremendous. Immediately after the fall of the dictatorship (and the collapse of the communist media) carols - as well as all the religious marks - came back on TV. Actually, many of the first ever recorded carols I saw were carols recorded during the former regime, for good image in the foreign (capitalist) countries. And when saying this, I imply that the recordings were Madrigal recordings.

In Romania Madrigal is not only a (very good) choir. It is an institution, as it was, for a long time, the best cultural act you could find in the country, and one of the few Romanian choirs you could listen to abroad. Details here.

A week ago (yes, a long time, I know) I had the joy to see and to listen to Madrigal in concert, for the very first time. My joy was greater, for 2 reasons: 1. there were only carols in the concert; 2. many close and good friends were on the stage, as part of the team of the new Madrigal choir (which is still one of the best choirs in Romania), beginning with the conductor - btw, Bogdan, thank you for the invitation! The concert was very nice. I was also lucky enough to get the best seat in the house :)

Unfortunately, I don't have yet a video camera, so I couldn't record anything. But to get an image on Madrigal singing carols, I invite you to go ... back to 1972. And if you are located in Bucharest, Bogdan told me another concert is programmed on Tuesday.

Enjoy.

blogging7. What did I get from WBF2009?

I think everybody who participated at the event asks himself this question.

I do not know if the World Blogging Forum brought new things for the A list bloggers invited, but for me it surely did. I was faced for the first time with the whole range of issues concerning blogging, from freedom of expression to monetization, the use of branding and social medias. Thus I came to a better understanding of the strong points and weak points of blogging.

At this point, in my view blogging means different things for people who find themselves in different situations throughout the world (it wasn't like this before the event). In the western world, it represents perhaps a posibility to become noted and eventually to win some money - so monetization and the ethics associated to it are important here. Meanwhile, in other countries throughout the rest of the world, the simple fact of expressing your views on a blog is no less than heroic (and a very good example is Yoanni Sanchez), so freedom is the important subject there - and some associated matters, like the free access to internet.

Unfortunately, the Forum did not discuss very much the last subject - the subject of free access to internet. There were some words of the bloggers from the Caucasus and the presentation of Zhou Shuguang from China - and that was it. While, you know, for me the greatest tragedy in the online world at the moment is that there are countries where there is no access to internet at all. Such is the case of North Korea, and an almost similar situation is that in Cuba. In my view, this is the absolute priority, and it should get much more attention. On the other hand, there is a false normality in countries like China, Russia or Egypt (and the excellent presentation of Wael Abbas addressed specifically this issue of false normality). Our world is definitely not as democratic and free as it should be, and credit for this is due in good measure to ourselves.

It is for all these reasons that I believe regulating blogging is not only very complex, but also extremely difficult. How can we put in the same document rules regarding freedom, free access to internet, but also monetization and its ethics? Don't we speak in this case about issues of different order of importance - or, if you like, different degree of priority?


As for specific points, you may have noticed that a new box appeared on this page immediately after the Forum - the Twitter box. This has a story. I knew about Twitter quite a while ago and I considered it, in the Romanian context, rather a fashion mark than a true social media tool. I still believe this is partially true and can always be true, if Twitter will be used for completely irrelevant topics (like, for instance, you know that you're ugly if....).

However, I had the opportunity to catch in one place Matthias Lufkens, Pedja Puselja from Serbia, and the legendary Ramon Stoppelenburg. Oh, and also Eric Dupin. It was during the dinner at the Carul cu bere restaurant. Very impolitely, I interrupted a discussion about social media and asked them why should I use Twitter. ALL of them were categorical and fast about it: Twitter is the best tool to promote your blog, your views and your ideas. Ramon Stopellenburg even .... twitted about it, asking his followers my question. So, this is it. Topic closed.

I also had a small conversation, during the first day of WBF, with Nadia Dincovici and Petru Terguta about the current situation in (The Republic of) Moldova. They both believed there will be pre-term elections. The events that took place this week (on December 7th, the elections of the president of the Republic of Moldova failed due to Communist opposition) proved they were both right. Well, that means new parliamentary elections in the summer of 2010. I came to believe it is the best solution to the current situation. The funny thing is that the political situation there will be more and more alike to that in Romania, with 3 main political parties - the democrats, the liberals and the liberal-democrats, as the communist will most likely vanish (the process already started, and it will gain speed during the next months).

This is, for the moment, my last post on blogging and the WBF. And I take this oportunity to address you this invitation: feel free to comment any issue concerning blogging on this blog.