Author: Sam Cel Roman

I'm pretty cool
TV/Film

The Second Dirty Secret of Romanian Television

Well we’ve all arrived in a new year and I’ve found myself moving in new directions. On a personal note, I’ve committed myself in earnest to learning the Russian language, which has come in handy as I work on perfecting my technique for monitoring, interpreting and analyzing global media, particularly the world’s television news channels. Assuming you can speak or at least understand all of … Continue reading The Second Dirty Secret of Romanian Television

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman16 Comments
Преступление и Наказание, Politics

Merry Christmas, Mr. Prime Minister

Yesterday night, the press was ready. Camera crews and journalists circled the property, everyone ready to spring into action when they heard the shot go off. Last summer the comically tragic long-running drama called Politics in Romania was dominated by the story of the conviction of former strongman PSD party leader and ex-Prime Minister Adrian Nastase. Bam, they got him! A win for the good … Continue reading Merry Christmas, Mr. Prime Minister

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman3 Comments
Politics

The people have spoken

Living in Romania you’d never know there was a country next door called “Ukraine” that covers half of this country’s borders. Unless there’s a fistfight in the parliament* you almost never hear about what’s going on there. Lately though Ukraine’s been in the news because of the ongoing protests, boiled down in black and white as the “evil” pro-Russia government of Viktor Yanukovich versus the … Continue reading The people have spoken

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman3 Comments
Word of the Day

WOTD: Purici

I’m always out there looking for words in Romanian that you can’t easily find in the dictionary or that the online translation websites aren’t smart enough to handle. Today’s word is purici (poo-reetch), which under ordinary circumstances just means “fleas”, as in the jumping, biting insects that sometimes infest mammals. Etymologically the only related word in English is pruritis, the “fancy” medical term used for … Continue reading WOTD: Purici

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman1 Comment