Wow!

Exactly one month ago, I completely revamped the site. I’m guessing most of you like the changes as traffic is between 2-3 greater, as far as I can tell. Awesome! I’m definitely loving all the likes, comments, input, shares and other signs that you guys (and women! and transgendered people!) are enjoying the new format.

I’m also excited to announce that we’ve got one new contributing writer. You might have seen his amazing story today, an expose of the “crazy” guy who scaled Cluj-Napoca’s City Hall. Woah! I had some adventures in my “good old days” in Unicorn City but never did anything half as fun as that. Definitely jealous :)

If you’d like to be a writer here too, the process is easy. Simply drop me an email at samcelroman@gmail.com. I’m definitely interested in whatever it is you have to say. If you just want to post photos (that you took!) of Romania, that’s cool too. Or poems. Or 4000-word jeremiads about how I’m a fool and everything I say is wrong :)

Just as a reminder, I’m more than welcome to see some writing here in Romanian as well. The other day I decided to investigate whether anything had changed since 2012 when I took a look into the scarily superficial word of Romanian bloggers. Sadly, it’s even more facetious and vapid than ever. I saw “fun” titles like “Children Who Are Loved By Their Parents Are Happier” and stupid listicles like “5 Things to Eat to Have Clearer Skin”. Yawn.

Don’t get me wrong – there’s a place for funny quips, beauty tips, and tidbits about what’s going on in Romania. But where is the depth? Where is the analysis? Where is anyone doing any kind of investigating whatsoever outside of the rare Gandul article or DW (Romanian edition) journalist? Any in-depth thoughts beyond “Jeepers Moldova sure needs us to rescue their dumb loving Russian asses”? Christ!

I seriously have to ask – can anyone in Romania write sentences longer than 7 words? And is there anyone doing anything without doing it to get free shit from companies and bullshit ads? Sometimes I get a serious Henry V vibe, wondering who will rid Romania of these zombie-brained bloggers. Oof.

Oops, I promised myself to make this post light and sweet and here I go on one of my rants again :P

Don’t let me scare you. I’m open to just about anything and everything, in Romanian or English, as long as it’s authentic. Leave the platitudes and triple obvious advice for your next piece published on hotnews.ro :P

If you want to write here, just email me. And if you suffer from the typical Romanian crippling fear of not being good enough, just send me your thoughts in an email and I’ll let look over it. Cool? I’ll even let you use a pen name so no one will know it’s you! :O

In the meantime, enjoy a slice of virtual Romanian cake! *yum*

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!