what does an anchor do - it hooks you.

life after house m.d. was bad.



thank you for the moment of silence, now it's high time i wrote about something else.

yes, well, living in a country with no free press sucks. don't give me that moronic argument of  "there's no such thing as free press"; yes, i know, but i'm talking about levels of spineless slavery press that native english speakers merely brush with their "oh good, it's not us"/"meanwhile, in" bad anecdotes.

where was i. oh, yes. living in a country with no free press sucks. not only one has to go some considerable lengths in order to get a close-to-reality grip on what the hell is going on in one's own country, but the unparalleled amount of disinformation, unprofessional behaviour, incompetence and, frankly, bos taurus waste matter that the media industriously keeps throwing on said lengths could discourage even the most audacious truth seeker.

everybody dreams of a news channel or a newspaper or a news website or something that would present the news. for a brief period of time, i think romania had it. romanians caught a glimpse of what real journalism is all about. but, of course, a big bad wolf came and huffed and puffed.. and the script is well-known.

being an idealist is hard in this day and age. being an idealist with inside information on how life really works is harder. and it's downright impossible to keep that idealism if one works in certain domains, like advertising, politics or press. understand my surprise when i found a tv show that pummels all these three fields from the inside. i was absolutely bedazzled.

i'm talking about the newsroom. an hbo series that has just ended its first season of 10 marvellous episodes. with a jeff daniels like i've never seen before, an aaron sorkin that probably works on his masterpiece (in my opinion, the show has only two low points that can easily be disregarded: the opening theme and the soundtrack), a well-chosen cast and an out-of-the-park screenplay, the newsroom got me ensnared. it's the quixotic approach to a territory of ever-running windmills (direct references to be found in the episodes), it's the realistic personal stories, it's the alert humour ("i do not have subpoena power", "nobody's thoughts and prayers are with the fire"), it's the coverage of real and recent events (deepwater horizon oil spill, killing bin laden), it's the cojones that these characters have, it's the "not a moment too soon" thought that springs into one's mind while watching it. it's the fact that the world needs this show to be true so bad, it's like living in sudan and having a monsoon season. it's the freakin' last stand at the gates of mordor. it's epic. there are some moments in this show that one does not simply view or watch, but feel in one's gut, as they go up and bring a genuine lump to one's throat. and, surely enough, they leave one with an urge to punch a hole in the ceiling as one delivers one's battle cry.

those who know me are painfully aware of the fact that i'm not easily surprised, excited or impressed. very few things get me on my (in)tense side and even fewer make me literally jolt. well, this series is one of them. only specific music in specific moments gets me this kind of goosebumps.

there's a massive amount of commentary and opinion to be found on this show. not so staggering, the media coverage is carefully dosed and mixed, as the barricades are often just not climbed, mainly because the newsroom really hits where it hurts. these guys know the soft spots are many and none is spared. however, the irony of the situation is not lost on the viewer: for a show of such quality and panache, this is probably the smartest thing to do for a media that's torn between sponsors, ratings and quality: don't really talk about it.

so, there it is. i will not post any trailers. it's unnecessary, the show trails itself: almost any scene from any episode can successfully be presented as a trailer. here are three scenes, watch them. all of them. then go for the whole nine yards.

proof that romania is a free land.

coup, spontaneous movement, orchestrated, be that as it may, but in december 1989, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the entire country went in the streets to overthrow a regime that had deprived them of the most elementary human rights (too many to mention here), kept them hungry, thirsty and terrorized, and generally sunk them in darkness (both literally and figurately) for decades on end.

now, when romanians have food, drinks, free speech, free passage to other countries, access to pretty much everything, nobody really manifests. some hundreds of people for roşia montană, some thousands of people for bârlad (biggest street movement since the revolution, to be fair), some politically organised and paid demonstrations in front of the government that have pathetically failed in partying, some other hundreds of people freezing their asses off in the university square and ending by fighting with each other, vandalising or fighting with the police, and a couple of dozen people being taunted by televisions to keep shouting things that they didn't even understand - these are not national movements, and they have little-to-no power and influence upon our politicians.

do you know how to get one. how to drag people out. forget another communist regime, forget blatant abuse from the authorities, nothing like that would get romanians out of their homes and into the street. no.

try cutting the internet in romania for a week.

press 1.0.1.

breaking news: uluitor, halucinant, stupefiant, senzaţional, şocant, extraordinar, nemaiauzit, nemaiîntâlnit, nemaivăzut, primejdios, incredibil, uimitor, îngrozitor, nebunesc, dezastruos, emoţionant, ucigător, terifiant, cumplit, ruşinos, jenant, mortal, bestial, uriaş, interzis, demenţial, oripilant, formidabil, intrigant, fabulos, riscant, gigant, exploziv, neaşteptat, devastator, amuzant, periculos, epocal, groaznic, exclusiv, astronomic, surprinzător, infernal, tulburător, spectaculos, distrugător, haios, electrizant, oribil, sfâşietor, incitant, înnebunitor, fascinant, miraculos, imposibil, scandalos, grav, înfricoşător, superb, violent, excepţional, incendiar, alarmant, bizar, inedit, cutremurător.

update: n-o să-ţi vină să crezi, ai să rămâi cu gura căscată, dar ăsta e doar şapoul.

because fuck you, that's why.

that's right, facebook, i'm talking to you.

at second thought, i'm talking to mark zuckerberg's wife.

i like wrong humour. it feels right. it's just one of my ways of finding the fun part in an otherwise abhorring and senseless situation. and i will always stand for my right to inappropriately laugh at stuff, because the word "appropriate" is one of the main sources of unhappiness and sorrow in the world.

not 20 minutes ago i shared this one from the wrong stuff.

ten minutes later, it was removed. some sore-ass brain-freezed moronic creature probably reported it. so i decided to put it here.

and, to make it nice, here are two more.

the prophylactic block.

the situation when a prophylactic block is in order usually occurs while you're bleeding hours on one of the (too) many social media websites, procrastinating your day away and commenting on one of your friends' statuses, and you suddenly encounter certain comments from a certain character. and by "certain" i mean "stupid, ignorant, humourless". in both cases.

now, we all know who murphy was and how he contributed to the world. therefore, in absolutely all cases, murphy must be seen as an ally, not as an enemy. so listen to your ally's advice: at some point, that certain character will engage you by bestowing all his said stupidity, ignorance and lack of humour upon your presence there. maybe it was something you said, maybe it was his lack of medication, the truth is that it's virtually impossible to prevent this: once you're engaged in a comment exchange with such a person, you're bound to bask in a sludge of putrid neurons, freely pouring from that person.

so, this is when the prophylactic block occurs: before the engaging. you see their comments, you realise they're as dumb as a doorknob, it doesn't matter if they have a hot profile picture (actually, it's best to not even open their profiles), it doesn't matter if you've not been laid for quite some time and you think they would be your sure-fire solution, you must block them. sometimes it's tough, but it has to be done. it's like sleeping with a hooker when you know you're flat broke and don't even have a condom: say "pass" and everybody will be happier.

all you have to do is make sure you don't think of such morons as people who could be your online friends. if you've already lowered yourself to that point, it means that you have much more serious problems to deal with and you've already lost the war.