Reviews

Entries Tagged as 'Reviews'

Retrospectiva Mario RICCI (Italy) Retrospective

February 17th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Art Exhibitions, Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE, Reviews

Retrospectiva de peisajii – Mario Ricci, Italy Retrospective of Lazio Landscapes.
Romanian-born Mario Ricci comes from a dprominent family of architects, painters and leaders of the intellectual and cultural set of the 20th century Romania.
He distinguished himself in his career as a Civil Engineer with outstanding projects in Germany and the Middle East. His works as an amateur painter is part of a family tradition which includes his late paternal aunt, Zoe Ricci and step grandfather Dimitrie STIUBEI (1901-1986), both of whom died in exile.
Early in his artistic career Mario Ricci worked in the atelier of his grandfather on large official commissions in Tulcea and elsewhere, After his move to Germany Ricci had made made many copies after great masters as a means of acquiring different artistic skills (see his copies after Monet and van Gogh, above.

Commentaires sur un “Diskos” Orthodoxe

February 17th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Art Exhibitions, OPINION, PEOPLE, Reviews

Jésus parlait en paraboles, utilisait donc des symboles ; les premiers chrétiens les utilisaient pour communiquer en se cachant : cependant, la symbolique chrétienne n’a pas l’importance des autres, puisque le christianisme n’est pas une religion ésotérique, mais bien au contraire, exotérique. Il n’y pas d’initiation secrète réservée à une caste. Sur votre diskos j’ai observé des choses que vous avez sans doute devinées sans difficulté et en dirais quelques mots sans trop m’étaler.

Il y a d’abord la séparation des trois enceintes, *[i] l’enceinte centrale représentant une église, symbole de la Jérusalem Céleste. Le mot Iérusalim en slavon y est d’ailleurs ajouté, et ce n’est pas pour indiquer que le diskos appartenait à une église se trouvant géographiquement à Jérusalem. Puis, l’enceinte qui l’entoure, l’Église terrestre où poussent les arbres de la sainteté et se trouve aussi l’emblème du pouvoir royal terrestre (l’aigle bicéphale). Un anneau les sépare, et sur cet anneau il y a des oiseaux, oies ou cygnes. Le tout est entouré par un autre anneau, des eaux peuplées de poissons contenus dans un genre de branches, de palmes, ou la représentation de l’eau courante. C’est possible, car ce sont les flots de l’eau de vie.
In the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, the Paten is called a diskos. The diskos is usually more ornate than its Latin-Rite counterpart, and must always be made of gold or at least be gold-plated. The diskos may be engraved with an icon of Jesus Christ, the Nativity of Christ, a cross, or more frequently, an icon of the Theotokos. For Christians of the East the diskos symbolises the Virgin Mary, who received Christ into her womb, and gave him birth; and also the Tomb of Christ which received his body after the Crucifixion, and from which he resurrected. During the Divine Liturgy it is not only the Lamb (Host) that is placed on the diskos, but also particles to commemorate the Theotokos, the Saints, the living and the departed. Thus, on the diskos is represented the entire Church: the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, arrayed around Christ. During the Consecration of a Church, a diskos is used to hold the relics of the saints which will be sealed in the Holy Table and antimension by the bishop.

In the usage of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the diskos usually has a flat bottom with no foot. Additionally, it has a raised edge, forming a relatively high rim, preventing particles of the offered elements from falling to the floor.

Deceniul Pierdut al Romaniei (Tom Gallagher)

November 13th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Books, OPINION, Reviews

Profesorul Tom Gallagher, analist politic al Romaniei, este un iscusit cunoscator al tarii noastre: clarviziunea sa, sub un unghi britanic, pigmentat de spiritul acid al stramosilor sai Irlandezi ne prezinta o imagine fara farduri a Romaniei, asa cum nu am vrea sa o stim, in toata splendoarea ei Carpato-Balcanica cu un puternic iz Oriental: caci fie ca am vrea sa ne confruntam cu noi insine si sa ne vedem precum imparatul despuiat, sau fie ca am dori sa ne amagim in continuare si sa ne credem scapati de napasta trecutului dictaturii comuniste, titlul cartii ne spune totul, incapsuland in cateva vocabule esenta mioritica a Romaniei de azi: Zece ani pierduti si marasmul unei neimpliniri!
Tom Galagher se fereste sa ne dea solutii, dar analiza lui ascutita a fenomenului politic si social romanesc este suficienta ca sa sugereze, prin excluderea practicilor negative si destructive romanesti, care ar fi alternativa. Si totusi sa piara gandul ca i-ar apartine doar acestui analist britanic calitatea de a ajunge la o concluzie lucida a “deceniului pierdut” sugerat chiar de imaginea copertii cartii: Am ramas, intr-adevear de caruta!

Am ramas, intr-adevear de caruta!

Hungarian ‘Savoir-faire’ and Romanian Navel-gazing

November 1st, 2010 · 1 Comment · Art Exhibitions, OPINION, Reviews

The Hungarian savoir-faire and Romanian narcissism:

Footnote to the Hungarian Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, Piccadilly on: “Treasures from Budapest – European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele”

Architect Octavian Ciupitu, “Curierul Romanesc”, Sweden, September 2009 – Book Review

October 26th, 2010 · Comments Off on Architect Octavian Ciupitu, “Curierul Romanesc”, Sweden, September 2009 – Book Review · Books, Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews

an extract from the book “La Apa Vavilonului” (At Babel’s river), volume 2 (2001) by Monica Lovinescu (1923-2008), journalist, political analyst, radio broadcaster, anti-communist and Human rights Activist exiled in Paris:

In Romania dissidence was an exception. Our resistance was present when it did not exist in the other satellite countries and it ended just as it started with our neighbouring countries. We fought and died in the Carpathian mountains, as the West was blind and deaf, basking in its victory and forgetting its hostages. From the prisons where our élite was destroyed in the 1960s emerged only the shadows of our earlier determination. Three successive waves of terror – 1948, 1952 and 1958 – had drained the collective organism. We caved into, a near-total silence. We sacrificed ourselves for nothing. With this sense of utter uselessness most of the survivors emerged from the jails, some of whom, while “free”, remained at the beck and call of the Securitate..

STOP PRESS: Romanians @ the Vancouver International Film Festival – 2010

October 4th, 2010 · Comments Off on STOP PRESS: Romanians @ the Vancouver International Film Festival – 2010 · Diary, International Media, Reviews

STOP PRESS: Romanians @ the Vancouver International Film Festival

(September 30 to 15 October, 2010)

Our Canadian Correspondent informs us about the following SIX Romanian Films being shown at the VIFF:

1. Aurora
2. The Autobiography of Nicholae Ceausescu
3. Belly Of The Whale (Burta Balenei)
4. Derby
5. If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle (Eu Cand Vreau Sa Fluier, Fluier)
6. Morgen

Book Review – ‘Train to Trieste’ by Domnica Radulescu

September 17th, 2010 · Comments Off on Book Review – ‘Train to Trieste’ by Domnica Radulescu · Books, Diaspora, OPINION, Reviews

‘Last Train to Trieste’ by Domnica Radulescu
During the 20th century Romanians made France or Germany their adoptive country, although some settled elsewhere in the world. But those Romanians who wrote in French or German were little translated in English and even fewer of them wrote in English. We can think of Panait Istrati, Countess of Noailles, or Princess Bibesco, before WWII who wrote in French and after the war, amongst the exile novelists such as Virgil Gheorghiu, Mircea Eliade, Vintilă Horia, Gregor von Rezzori, Herta Muller, who wrote in French, Romanian or German.Nevertheless few of their titles were rendered in English and amongst the latter fewer still became bestsellers, let alone enjoy the accolade of an International Prize.

If the Czechs had Kundera, the Albanians Ismail Kadere, so far the spotlight of international repute has generally bypassed Romania, leaving her literature in the shadows. This lapse could not be assigned only to the paucity of translation alone, but primarily to the absence of a broader perspective by the Romanian fiction writers, who were reduced for far too long, by Nicolae Ceausescu, to write in the wooden language of Marxist sycophantic speak.

Domnica Radulescu, known as an Academic rather than a fiction writer is only at her second novel, yet the omens are good: watch out this space.

Romania Unadulterated: Book Review – “Bread, Salt & Plum Brandy”, by Lisa Fisher Cazacu

September 11th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Books, International Media, PEOPLE, Reviews

The list of Ubuesque mishaps is endless and a great eye-opener both for the reader who could not imagine it and for the natives who got used to and put up with it for far too long!

But, thankfully, not all natives – for Romania is experiencing a brain drain of unprecedented scale and not just brains but muscles too – Romanians emigrate in droves to get away from the quagmire of corrupt officialdom – in the last two decades more than two millions mostly young able-bodied people have voted with their feet and left their country , not in good hear, but in dispair …

One of the statistics is Lisa’s Romanian husband and this is the SECOND ‘plus’ I had in mind as a benefit of Lisa’s Romanian experience: for this rumbustious and unflappable young lady would not allow her unpleasant experiences tarnish her romance with a dashing Mr. Cazacu. They get married and beat the bureaucracy at its game (o yes, even the American bureaucracy because we learn that there is some…) to live “happy ever after” in Texas!

Who needs a better happy-ending than this? in fact, on reflection there are bits in this account to please each and all readers. I for one, after overcoming the initial shock, I enjoyed this brave story in spite of its stark comments, or perhaps because of it.

A History of Geophysics At Cambridge, England – Book Review

September 9th, 2010 · No Comments · Books, OPINION, PEOPLE, Reviews

Last but not least I am bound to be nostalgic about that last chapter in Carol’s book which I witnessed at “Mad Rise” as the last PhD student of Sir Edward Bullard. Teddy, a successor of Sir Gerald’s, remained the last towering Head o the Department of Geophysics before it was diluted with Geology and Mineralogy to become the current Department of Earth Sciences. Teddy was always unconventional and enthusiastic about new ideas and steeled my resolve in querying the infallibility of Plate Tectonics dictum, such as the “rigidity” of lihospheric Plates in Persia, Tibet and Sinkiang – hence the birth, at Mad Rise, during the early 1970s, of the revolutionary concept of “non-rigid plates”, or “Buffer Plates”: four decades on this new concept gained international acceptance from an otherwise a very conservative and sometimes begrudging profession. Such iconoclastic exercise was not without its dangers in the ruthless rat race of the late 1960s – early 1970s and the chaps from Mad Rise know it too well. Carol Williams apologizes to her contemporaries for leaving out some of their seminal contribution and one must be forgiving and accept her plea in good faith, given the fact that one is compensated by huge helpings about some greats. Even Molly Wisdom is not forgotten: here the larger-than-life persona who, for twenty four years was a Departmental secretary, is afforded not less than seven entries, only to be dispatched variously as a “part-time typist”, a “former opera singer” (with a “shrill voice”…), “chairing” the Common Room table during coffee breaks… It seems as if Molly’s shrewd judgment of human frailties was too close for comfort to some who considered the Department as their sole preserve.
Dan P. Mckenzie, another of Bullard’s students, has generously produced the Preface, the Postface, his raft of scientific papers, reminiscences, his youthful portrait, and more, leaving poor Sir Isaac Newton with the consolation prize of “second best”.

William Blacker: “Along the Enchanted Way – a Romanian Story”

September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Books, OPINION, PEOPLE, Reviews

It takes an Irishman to write the best book on Romania since the WWII – the one before the war was yet another Irish – Patrick Leigh-Fermor.
William Blacker lived in Romania for over eight years in the early 1990s and went native, not just skin deep, but truly and convincingly: he learned the language, the customs, dressed as the other villagers of Maramures, learned their skills and traditions and listened to their stories steeped in ancient history: he was accepted as one of them surrounded with great affection and respect. He further went to one of the fortified Saxon villages, in Central Transylvania where he was “bewitched” by a beautiful gypsy girl with whom he lived for three years and by whom he had a natural son – Constantin.

Centre for Romanian Studies