people

People vs Dogs

Yesterday I met a person who said he’d always been interested in working with youth and I found that so commendable. For my part, not only have I never liked working with people, but youth have scared the bejesus out of me ever since I was a kid. It was so bad that, up until some (few) years ago, I used to cross the road if I saw several young lads gathered at a street corner. I guess having a dog changed it. With Sam, I’m the lady with the white dog and even tough kids address me politely to know his age or his breed.

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Nice

I haven’t felt like writing in a very long while, I’ve tried to concentrate on photography, half guessing and half knowing what I’m doing. 😉  I can say that I’m slowly starting to get a grip on it, but the more I understand, the more there is left to learn. I did discover what I already knew, that I prefer intuitive pictures to the very technical ones and that’s always a relief, given that I’m such an anti talent when it comes to anything slightly technical. 😉

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My Oslo

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Lately I find myself fascinated by people. And, as it is with many other things, once you start looking around, you can’t undo it, you notice all sorts of patterns, all sorts of folks and funny behavior you just need to photograph. That being said, I’m not there quite yet. In fact the pictures with the best potential were the ones that got too blurry because I didn’t have the balls to focus or to go close enough. You see, in Oslo it’s not customary to take pictures of people without their knowing. But hey, I can’t help myself! So here they are. Lady in red, waiting by the bus. Continue reading →

Loneliness

Airports are such lonely places
People pretending to be busy
So they don’t have to talk to each other-
I’m good at this game
I can sit for hours
Without looking anybody in the eye-
I master this postmodern existence
To perfection.

I can read their restlessness, though-
They’re eager to go back to their homes
To their children or pets,
Or simply to put their feet up
And knit themselves a scarf.

The loneliness we bear is tangible
We’re clothed in it,
We drink it from our coffee cups
It’s dripping in our ears
From our headphones.

I’ve never felt more at home
And as disconnected amidst them,
Never felt as detached as today
But I don’t care, ’cause I have you.

No filter

“Don´t forget the shoes!”

The shoes, right!

Or else I´d have to walk bare-footed,

I´d probably burn my feet

On the ice.

 

“Don´t forget your coat!”

The coat, right!

I´ll keep that in mind

I should sew my buttons, too

It´s getting colder by the day.

 

Never mind, never mind,

There´s no place for so much feeling

The internet is flooded with words

And people in their right mind suffer secretly.

 

“People, you say?”

What do I care about people?

I´m my own people

My own species and my own kind.

I have no filter.

 

January, 2016

 

 

 

 

I´m a Communist Biddy

I´m a Communist Biddy joins the ranks of great Romanian post 2000 movies  and made me really proud to be Romanian. I have to say,  the way Europe regards Romania, both due to the problems with the Roma and on account of the crimes committed by Eastern Europeans, pride is not the first thing I have in mind when I think of my mother country. Pride seems to be reserved for those with a great historical past or with a blooming economy. Luckily, this is where culture comes in. One shouldn´t judge a book by its cover and neither should one judge a nation by its reputation. And while Romania´s people are the ones who bring shame to their country, they are also the ones who save it from disgrace.

But let´s get back to the movie. I´m a Communist Biddy is a warm and humorous family drama sprinkled with bizarre elements of Romanian culture, the tuica drinking, the living in the past and the worshiping of all things foreign. The daughter who emigrated to Canada and then moved to America comes back with her fiancé Alain, whom her parents insist on calling Alin, since that is a common Romanian name and they can´t be bothered with foreign pronunciation. One of the presents they bring home is a sort of an egg cutter that shapes the egg into a square. This absurd device is perfect to illustrate the admiration Romanians have for all things fancy, although they might not have a function at all. The whole audience laughed as hard as they could at this recognition.

After a while, the family is let in on the young couple´s secret, that they are about to lose their home if they don´t pay 15000$ to the bank. The parents agonize about it and end up mortgaging their own apartment to borrow money from a Chinese pawn-broker.

All in all, the movie is not so much about Ceausescu and the old communist times as it is about youth, nostalgia and family values. And since the mother lived her best years under Communism, she idealizes the impact it had on people´s lives.

You should all see it if you get the chance! And while I´m at it, check out this short movie, too!

Source: http://www.oslokino.no