New Orhan Pamuk book fresh out of the oven

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I read this piece in the New York Times Review of Books on Orhan Pamuk’s latest book - The Museum of Innocence. It already has a web site dedicated exclusively to reader reviews - http://themuseumofinnocence.com I’ve read most of his books and have felt differently about each one, with Red and Snow at the top of my list and Istanbul closer to the bottom. That being said, it’s always nice to read books by non-Western writers, folks whose sensitivities are more closely aligned with my own or who, at the very least, come from backgrounds that I can relate to.

Pamuk, even though Turkish, is one of them. And it makes sense, I think, because if you scratch the surface differences, Turks are not unlike East Europeans. Yes, Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country, geographically divided between the European and the Asian continents, with a language of Arab roots and a history as a sprawling empire (who often encroached, or tried to, on Romanian territories). But all the shared history and geography, the incessant trade and similar habits (baksheesh is a Turkish word for a Balkan habit that was adopted by everyone from the French to the Americans), the fondness of soccer and a certain intensity that is hard to explain or justify in the absence of historical context – all of these things conspire to make Orhan Pamuk’s next book a most exciting promise.

Of course, in full disclosure, I’m also personally invested in everything Turkey because I used to do work for the Turkish Embassy back when I lived in Washington D.C and still scan the papers for news of Turkey every day – old habits die hard.

The Fresh Prince of PV

Der Spiegel reports that Bavaria’s Prince Albert of Thurn and Taxis wants to build the world's largest solar park in his native region, taking advantage of lower panel prices and state-guaranteed prices for renewable electricity.

In Germany, the system is set up so that utilities effectively buy electricity from producers at set prices, allowing the latter to amortize the price of the install relatively shortly and even turn their wind turbine /solar panels into income-makers. See feed-in tariffs.

But the new “Sun Prince” is encountering resistance from unexpectedly non-pragmatic Bavarians who complain, somewhat poetically, that: "Where now the eye glides over the Gäuboden countryside, our citizens will only see a gleaming glass desert."

I have to admit – when you put it like that, I’m almost convinced. Remains to be seen if the local city council will feel the same in the face of almost 1 million euro in additional taxes to the city from the 18 million euro in annual electricity sales the Sun Prince hopes to earn.

The Finish Line: The Top Three Candidates and Campaigns

Recognizing that as a remote blogger it’s sometimes difficult to convey the on-the ground excitement and ‘feel’ of the 2009 electoral campaign, I took the time to run a short analysis of the online presence of the three main contenders in the race for Romania’s Presidency. Hopefully this will help enlighten some of our readers on the tone and content of the race.

First, a caveat: unlike in the US, where presidential campaigns seem to start ever earlier and cost exponentially more from season to season, in Romania, the campaign per se officially opens one month ahead of the first round of voting. Also unlike the US, Romanian politicians receive equal and free TV and radio ad space. Campaigns are funded with public money. Some analysts estimate that the total cost of this campaign to Romanian taxpayers could be as high as 50 billion euros or roughly 75 billion dollars (including hidden costs and losses incurred because of the government’s paralysis in the aftermath of the no-confidence vote that ousted PM Boc earlier in the fall).

And now, the three campaigns, as promised, in no particular order:

1. Train Basescu, available at www.basescu.ro – The Incumbent

Basescu’s campaign, updates of which are available on Twitter, is centered on the slogan: “Basescu Fights for You!”, using a humorous and slightly-self deprecating tone, playing on Basescu’s perceived authenticity. Orange-heavy design, in line with Basescu’s previous “Orange Revolution.”

Translating freeform from one of his campaign posters, for your enjoyment: “Last time around you voted for a president with one eye bigger than the other and with a rogue lock of hair ruling a bald skull. Looking back, I admit I haven’t been given the best nicknames ever:

‘the one-eyed,’ ‘the sailor,’ ‘baldy,’ and ‘Capt’n’. But I know that I can’t win your trust with pretty eyes or fancy haircuts. It was my realistic vision and my determination that gave me presidential sex-appeal in your eyes….”

On the web site, Basescu also champions his pet cause: a referendum coinciding with the elections to turn Romania’s two-chamber Parliament into a unicameral body. This is his cartoon take on it:

“Why do we need two people to do the same thing?” (on the left – Representatives; on the right – Senators)

2. Mircea Geoana, available at www.mirceageoana.org – the Center-right Contender

Mircea Geoana is running on a platform of “Unity and Trust,” and, surprisingly, uses a white, black and red palettein his design, red being a color that is (or used to be) associated with Communism in my part of the world, hence a no-no in previous elections. Whether that’s savvy or insensitive, we will find out next week. The younger folks definitely don’t seem to be bothered.

The web site is heavy with rich media, and links to a variety of social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube and LinkedIn, offers user polls and features a (very up to date) blog where Geoana (in very strictly controlled language) offers his thoughts on the election and many others.

Most surprising to me, a link to the “BeRed BeCool”(orig.) campaign – by all appearances, Geoana’s young supporters banded together under the name “Red Caravan”, traveling throughout Romania and putting together performances of all sorts all the while campaigning for him. Some of the things young Romanians do to support their favorite candidate:

3.

3. Crin Antonescu, available at www.crinantonescu.ro – the Contender of the Liberal party

This is probably the best moment for a full disclosure: I am a supporter of Crin Antonescu, and if I was in Romania right now I would probably not only vote for him, but also volunteer. That being said, his web site is the least ‘glam’ of all three, and his message – the hardest to translate in English. His main slogan “Hai la Revolutia Bunului Simt” – would translate roughly as “Come to the Common-Sense Revolution,” except that the term he uses is “the good sense”, a combo of notions that encompasses reason, sensitivity, thoughtfulness and a degree of social justice, the antonym of “nesimtit” = boorish , ill-mannered, but also lying and cheating. His slogan is clearly asking voters to revolutionize and sack the lying, cheating, uncouth political class personified by Basescu.

His colors of choice are blue and yellow and I’m more than a little suspicious that his eyes were photoshopped to pop and match the blue background in a few instances (…)

In terms of social media sophistication, Crin is matching the competitors: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube are all available and up to date. But no Flash animation. Of course, that might also have something to do with the fact that he didn't get first dibs at taxpayer campaign money.

My favorite part of his campaign web site is the Crin TV channel (by the way Crin means Lily in Romanian) where you can watch streaming live talk shows and news bits featuring Crin Antonescu. I also like the downloadable stickers pairing his electoral message with some very basic rules yet often neglected rules of common sense:

“I don’t block the intersection and I vote Crin Antonescu”

That’s all folks!

Wish me luck – on Sunday I have to drive all the way to Hayward to vote.

Terrible PR: Qaddafi for Allah

Libyan leader, Col. Qaddafi, is trying out new recruiting tactics for Islam: one of them, with the blessing of the Italian government (actively making amends for its colonial occupation of Libya) is to organize soirees for Italian women who, he hopes, may be susceptible to change persuasions.

The Italians, used to being wined and dined on date night, or at least offered an espresso, left grumbling, unsatisfied by their first blind date with the Prophet.

Sitcoms vs. Life: Round 1

The other day, my friend S. and I were talking about old TV shows that we had both watched in our childhood and teenage years, when S. burst out laughing: “You guys got all the BAD American TV you could get!”

And, indeed, from the obscure Santa Barbara to the infamous Baywatch, we had them all, and, boy! was it fun. From 2 hours of programming before December 1989, mostly Ceausescu’s speeches and soviet cartoons, to a 24/7 outpour of sunny beaches like Santa Monica and glistening homes in Beverly Hills - the onslaught of American programming marked my generation of TV viewers deeper than we’d like to admit.

Not only can I relate to Alf fans (I rooted for him against the household cat), I also named my first two goldfish David and Hasselhoff. In fact I can still quote entire lines from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “They’re heroes in a half-shell and they’re… green!”.

Oh and Captain Planet … (okay, many Americans might not even remember Captain Planet, but I had a badge and a Power ring that I won in an acting competition when I was 12 and I was NOT AFRAID to use them).

















And of course, Married with Children – which I’m sure inspired many a Romanian man to adopt Al Bundy’s disgruntled, cannot-be-bothered attitude towards all things domestic. And while I’m on the topic of life mimicking sitcoms, I must note that out of a class of 30, about 22 of my high school colleagues went on to pursue careers in law inspired by Ally McBeal.

Anyways, while the abundance of bad and profoundly enjoyable TV shows helped our English proficiency, it also marked our generation by a profound cognitive dissonance: the difference between our living standards and those of our beloved characters was painful. Sometimes I blame American TV for the deeply ingrained materialism of my generation – because we had so little and wanted so much, many of us ended up caring more about things than about people, and more about money than about anything else.

But then, without American TV, how would I be able to look now at California’s beeches and say, in all honesty: “Yes, this definitely looks familiar”

Sitcoms = 1. Life = 0.

Say Cheese! around the world

In China people say eggplant or “qiezi” (”tchay-tze”)
In French, "Ouistiti", meaning marmoset (or I’ve also heard ‘Petite Pomme’ for better cheek bone definition)
In Latin American countries, the phrase used is "Diga whiskey" ("Say whiskey")
In Korea, one would say "kimchi."

Train of Thought: All smiles

People smile a lot more in the US than anywhere else I’ve been. At first, that got me thinking that people were very nice. Then, I began suspecting that they were just very fake. (Working in hospitality during my work and travel days helped compound that impression). Many moons and some reflection later, I realized things just aren't black and white. So, these days, I am of the opinion that a smile is a code.

The physicality of smiling alone is pretty awesome and varied - showing or not showing teeth, involving the muscles around the eyes , the ‘Duchenne smile', or not, etc. – but the cultural implications are even more complex.

Here's how I see it: The cultural code in the US holds that your smile is your best business card. And, indeed, it seems that the wider, whiter smiles almost always leave a better impression. People gifted with generous and shiny smiling apparatuses fare better in job interviews and are perceived as more trustworthy. The frequency of the act is also important – the more you do it, the friendlier and more open you appear.

This Boing Boing post details the differences between American and Japanese perception of smiles. I can only talk from experience.

In Europe, too much smiling can be perceived as a sign of shallowness. Few if any salespeople will smile at you in European stores, even in Anglo-Saxon friendly countries like Germany, Norway, etc. A transaction is a transaction, and while they’re nice and friendly, smiling is not a prerequisite. If you pay close attention, even Italians don’t smile all that much: they’re loud, gesticular, glib, and friendly, but fewer smiley faces. As to the French, I’m sure there’s no need to go there at all (…) In short, in business-like environments, smiling is seen at best as superfluous and at worst as a sign of dishonesty/foolishness.

As for Eastern Europe, American friends traveling to the region, let me give you a piece of advice: if a salesperson of the opposite sex smiles at you and is actually helpful – RUN!!!! Run fast and far, as they have ID-ed you as a ‘rich foreigner’ (practically synonymous in my part of the world) and they either want to a) swindle you; b) marry you, or c) swindle you, then marry you, then introduce you to their angry brothers. Ouch!

The Speech Gene

A Romanian joke/saying (it’s hard to differentiate since many start as the former and end up as the latter) goes something like this: “Why do they call it a ‘maternal tongue’? Because guess who uses it the most!”

That’s just my silly preface for this piece in The New York Times that looks at FOXP2, the gene that underlies the faculty of human speech – the title they bestow upon it is that of “maestro of the genome”:

The gene does not do a single thing but rather controls the activity of at least 116 other genes, Dr. Geschwind’s team says in the Thursday issue of Nature.
Like the conductor of an orchestra, the gene quiets the activity of some and summons a crescendo from others. …
Several of the genes under FOXP2’s thumb show signs of having faced recent evolutionary pressure, meaning they were favored by natural selection. This suggests that the whole network of genes has evolved together in making language and speech a human faculty.

Imagine hundreds of tiny genes mingling over RNAi cocktails and exchanging genomic business cards… As they say in my line of work, networking is key!

FH Global Vote: Presidential elections in Romania

This is an excerpt of the most recent post in a series that focuses on Romania's upcoming Presidential elections. You can read the rest of my piece on Fleishman-Hillard's Global Vote blog.


While Europe was busy marking the 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall with elaborate ceremonies and a symbolic procession of European and American political figures through the Brandenburg Gate, the mood in Romania was darkening. Twenty years after the bloodbath that marked the fall of communism, Romanians have been so hard hit by the recession and so disappointed by their politicians that few other than inconsolable parents stopped to remember the events and listen to the speeches.

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In a nutshell: East European countries

Eastern Europe (EE) for Dummies - Here's a grid of EE countries that I put together acording to a loose definition of "Eastern Europe" which excludes the Baltic states, but includes Poland, Czech republic and Slovakia, who consider themselves "Central European".

Thanks, Google Squared!!!

Introduction

It seems only fitting that this blog’s first entry should coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. After all, the author is nothing if not a child of that tumultuous 1989, when revolutions (velvety and otherwise) swept across Eastern Europe. Xenofornia is being born 20 years after Eastern Europe was dragged out of communism by young idealists who were not afraid to risk, and indeed lose, their lives. To honor that, I hope to keep the voice of this blog hopeful and open-minded, or at the very least, free of unnecessary sarcasm.

But the past makes only for half of the story, and half the author. The other one is firmly anchored in the present and was shaped by Western values acquired over years of American education and living and working on both coasts of the Unites States. If the first half was marked by oppression, the second was marked by opportunity. More than each half taken separately, it is the complicated and uneasy relationship between the two that shapes and powers this author.

At times funny, at times baffling, California seen through the lenses of a twenty something Romanian expat is, well, different.

So here it goes.