Yeah! today you witness the beginning of a beautiful relationship. it’s high time for me to admit that i have a steady relationship. with my blog :)) another milestone. so, i now give you my new and improved blog – http://simonaoprea.ro. (this blog will no longer be updated)
For some of you, i have a special request – please update the links on your sites with the new address of my blog.
Come and visit for now, i have cookies :D- http://simonaoprea.ro
I made a decision to temporary put myself on the first place. And adventure. And long forgotten hobbies (like photography). Not family, not bf, not work, not friends, not sports, not money, etc. This was easy, but what came out of this wasn’t, or isn’t to be more exact. When I first started to think about solo traveling in Thailand nobody took me for real, maybe they knew I was too tightened to life here and I was speaking gibberish. But face it, I don’t really have (for now) REAL responsibilities, except for my own happiness and how I manage that, through me and through others around me. I’m not blind, people around me have great impact on me and I have great impact on them, but too many times I was thinking about the consequences of this fact and made decisions under this influence. All I want now is to take some time, spend it with myself. I was asked some time ago which was my superpower. I thought that I needed time to figure this out, but I already knew what was it: just being myself and being able to let myself go in the same time. Sometimes I look like sleepwalking through my life and sometimes i am more sober and capable that i ever thought i could be. This situation is no exception.
People around me acted as if “it will pass”, “it’s just a phase she is going, she won’t really see it through”. But I did. I (tried) to explain my decision to people important to me, I talked to my boss, I bought plane tickets. Then, people RE-ACTED. Some reacted good, much better than I expected them to (parents, colleagues, boss-btw, thx a bunch, guys!), some re-acted bad and made me (not to rethink my leaving, as they would have wanted), but made me sad that they weren’t there for me, that I couldn’t share the excitement, that they couldn’t be glad for me and that they couldn’t see my decision as a sign of a REAL step in sobering myself.
Maybe it’s just me, but when you are in a relationship you don’t “breathe” only that relationship. You need to be able to breathe by and for yourself, as an individual, as a part of a whole, in order to be able to breathe inside the relationship. Why can’t we just be relaxed and feel at ease with the other’s way of being even if it is different than ours? Why can we accept that THIS brings people together much more than trying to sculpture the other as you want him to be..
I let myself once be influenced and the result was that I didn’t do what I felt like doing. Back then, I was thinking too much with my heart, ignoring what my guts and mind were saying.. I don’t really regret it in the mean way, but now, a couple of years later, I still think about that moment like of a lost train or bad inspiration and I wished then for myself that I wouldn’t do this again, that I will listen to my guts, heart and mind. IN THE SAME TIME, hopefully. Life doesn’t give us any guarantees, I realized that. we only take leaps of faith or make decisions that we must assume for ourselves. What ever this means. I have to always think ahead and live my life as I know best.
Even if I don’t leave now, this feeling won’t stop, I won’t be able to take some time for me and my staying here, now, isn’t/won’t be a guarantee of a future whatsoever anyway. I’m certain that in one way or another, my leaving like this will definitely mean a change for me of some sort. And for others impacted. I’m no fool. As I can change perspective, everybody can do the same. It will enrich me and I’ll definitely find more goods than bads in the end, and if less fortunate things happen, I’ll make sure that I’ll find the courage and power to congratulate myself because I went through this by making the best of it. MY best of it.
Please note that ..”Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neale Donald Walsch
Recipe for a live multi-player game – as seen in the exciting and flow-creating Game Design Lab 1.0
How much time it will take to prepare: 48 hours challenge
An ordered list of preparation steps
-listen and acknowledge the word “FLOW”. you won’t understand if somebody tries to explain it to you. You’ll feel it when it comes. It’s like when you ask somebody how is like to be in love :)))
– get to know the other designers on the playground
– find out what are their games
– enjoy the fact that you aren’t alone in this game design thingy and there are others ..out there
– chill at the fact that everybody is a little foggy on how things will further develop. You’ll create a live multi player game, in which every player brings and plays…himself.
– discover the hero sitting next to you and his superpowers
– find a way to jump start the design (we know that you have some inspiring people around you and discussions and ideas will overflow. that’s the idea – part of the FLOW)
– establish the basic scenario, what’s the theme of the game, the red-wire
– participate in game design councils!
– create a great story line, one that you are looking forward to experience live
– consider level design, play mechanics
– bear in mind that even if the game design gives you an intense experience, ideas and next steps will be best discovered by accident and by actually…playing the game
– it’s ok that when playing to feel a healthy and inspiring sense of competition – also part of the FLOW
– afford enough play time
The required ingredients:
– open minded and inspiring players
– a creative environment – try another planet (our case HOME Matache)
– quests and challenges to undertake
– a play-face and colored mind
– smart phones – haha :)))
– superpowers, heroes
– desires and ideas on how to make the world a better place and to save the world from cavities :))
– breakfast, beer and cocktails
– gaming instructions and game design councils :))
– adrenaline, vibe and energy to go
The number of servings: 30 + players
The texture and flavour: chewy design, crispy fun, flow flavour, cocktail colors
When you are finished you’ll have a nice taste of game design, an exquisite feeling of accomplishment of being part of the game. A rewarding experience and the start of …a beautiful friendship :))
Our game levels:
– The future good-doing society – inside games: discover your superhero by asking questions (yes/no answers) ; imagine the future society: sexy city, green buildings, next leaders by making one phrase per team, including some funny words
– Create your city map – get outhere! several checkpoints with QR codes, catch as many as you can. Photographs on your way: social issue, touristic attraction and local business.
– Urban trolling and quest endeavours – put you mind and social capital at work! make people smile, find a stranger’s story, find hot spots which can be turned into urban art. bring videos and photographs as evidence.
– Cocktail lab – create THE Cocktail. first make the teams’ inventories and negociate with other teams for exchanges. What’s the catch? Only by asking questions!
Thanks to playmakers industries, you guys rocked! And thanks to all the players who made this awesome game happen!
See ya soon on the playground!
I always was more of a think bigGer fan than of think big, a cliche nowadays..think bigger is related for me to always find new ideas, new ways to interact and to stay focused, by staying “deviated” all the time 🙂 I cannot explain, but i think that i find balance when i get myself in all sorts of scenarios and situations. Then I force myself to come up with a solution, a plan to see it through. I don’t run from happenings in my life, i create them, encourage and embrace the need for fresh and intense interactions, that evolve one step at a time, revealing new possibilities every step.
This is why i registered to take part in an exciting activity this weekend, first of its kind in Bucharest. GAME DESIGN LAB. not a workshop, not a training, but a funshop, a 48hours challenge to put together a live multi-player game. You learn to embrace the power of collaboration and play to overcome the challenges in your projects.
Everybody has its own superpowers and everybody is a hero of some kind. When you play, everything falls under a new perspective, any quality or skill can become superpowers when used right, under any personality can hide a hero, every little thing you have in hand can be used as a new resource that gives you a push to play further. And by the playmakers’ superpowers combined, we design a GAME.
From the registration form, these guys set their mind to determine me to focus more and be conscious of the way i am, of how i want to play, of what i can put and bring out there, for others to create upon and construct further on.
I had to ask myself what’s my superpower. Everybody should do that. We are who we are, but it’s hard to see our qualities, abilities, not to mention…pick out from ‘the bunch’ what can be named and considered a superpower. It can be like in marketing -the concept of market positioning. Define a superpower you have, that others didn’t name it yet and it’s yours to keep, master and PLAY with it. and SHARE it, of couse, for the greater good of the GAME.
What superpower are you going to share with us during the game lab?
– being myself and being able to let myself go in the same time. Sometimes i look like sleepwalking through my life and sometimes i am more sober and capable that i ever thought i could be.
– finding always more goods than bads. when less fortunate things happen, i find the courage and power to congratulate myself because I went through this by making the best of it.
Not sure my superpowers sound for all of us like superpowers, but for me they are because being myself like this have sorted out some crisis only a superpower could have. I undertake this lab with the desire to develop myself by experiencing life and undertaking its quests, trying to follow freshly designed paths. by PLAYING in a word.
I always play around. my entire life is about playing, about games and crazy sports, about all sort of activities that fulfill and give me energy, that keep me focused at work, be keeping me focused on BEING ME the rest of the time. All this time i kept and thought of the two plans as two separate things: playing as the engine for my personal life and …well jobbing. Maybe it’s time to reorganize and rethink this as two plans that can benefit from one to another. What if playing, gaming can improve my professional life? how do i do this? what are my tools, who are my team players? what new territories can i discover?
GAME ON!
From the 8 principles of fun – it’s not necessary for people to have fun when doing everything, but life is better and maybe great when you have fun doing anything.
WORD!
I’ve always told myself that i wouldn’t talk about Romanians, i should refrain from this discussion. About Romania yes, but about Romanians – no, words written don’t explore the whole idea of being a Romanian and i think that foreigners don’t understand us completely and they only pick up some cliches. Even me, when i’m asked about my people i don’t know exactly if i should give the official statement (hospitality, simple people..) or try to explain and maybe even justify some facts. when i’m asked to talk about Romanians i surprise myself with using very strong words, very decisive and explicit, like an attorney in court, who says his final pleading.
I think that (from the countries that I’ve visited and many people of different nationalities that I’ve talked to) Romanians are among the most difficult nationality to discover, to understand and explain. And i’m not referring to culture or education facts, i’m talking about character, fears, strengths, mentality and communist inheritance and the experiences lived for more than 20 years now that changed us and influenced our future selves.
So, i guess that before stupid logos, tv commercials, cheap outdoors, ordinary slogans, expensive and controversial campaigns for Romania, a national brand should be created and promoted by its people, citizens and we first have to decide how we think about us, take a moment and reflect on how we would describe ourselves.
Is it hospitality that defines us? Yeah ..right. where is this hospitality, cause it’s a concept so old and rooted that it has almost lost it’s value and significance somewhere along the way!? I guess we don’t mean couchsurfing or other ways to accommodate tourists or when we have opportunities to accept guests. Maybe we see this hospitality in the countryside, at simple and humble people. But in urban areas, i don’t see this as a trademark, even if my team an I conducted an entire campaign strategy based on Romanian hospitality (funny one though, much exaggerated) at Communication Olympics to stimulate tourists in Scandinavia to come to Romania . Maybe i will later edit here. but it was under the laws of advertising..a sort of poetical license. 🙂
friendly – yeah right here also. cause we always shake hands or what? i read a study somewhere that says Americans are shocked when they come to Romania and see that we shake hands for almost any reason. We are friendly only when we want. we first are judgemental and then friendly, only if the other person suits our expectations. We are not used to take a person as he is and learn something from every experience, not all of us at least. I see this only happening among the young generation, that has encountered many types of characters while traveling abroad. But most Romanians still think in stereotypes and are under the influence of communist inheritance.
beautiful girls, cheap booze, great clubbing – got that right. :)) or maybe is the cheap booze that influences the other two ?:))) sarcasm noted here
hard working – hard working or hardly working?! hard working is a concept related and used together with the hospitality issue in general. maybe we are hard workers, putting in more sweat than inspiration in finding and cultivating favorable contexts. I also think that Romanians are very flexible and adaptable to every situation.
communist inheritance and the experience of 20 years consumer society – from many bad heritages (from behavior point of view) inherited i want to talk about fear and distrust. We fund ourselves raised (as a nation) to always look around us, always second guess others, always having a kind of inferior attitude or building an overprotective shield. I always surprise myself looking at people getting in the public transport in order to catch their distrustful and query eyes looking for any sign of territorial interruption from behalf of others around them. they keep their purses close and tight in front of themselves. Take the daily example of me: i’m always looking around when i step off the car, open the trunk or smth, always with the fear that somebody might see what’s inside and smash my car afterwords. This ..situation really happened to a close friend a couple of weeks ago in the overrated – Historical Center of Bucharest. That’s sick! i kept in mind that this could happen, but i didn’t take it for serious consideration actually..until really happened.
What is normal for us (to be careful that something bad could happen) is very abnormal to foreigners that don’t even take into consideration this probability. Two years ago in Switzerland there was a store with all kinds of holiday decorations for outdoors. The store was closed, but boxes with decorations sticking out were kept outside, during the night. for many nights.
And nobody was stressed out cause of that, nothing was stolen and i was wow-ed by “their normality”. cause in “my normality” the boxes outside (even locked) weren’t to be left outside from the very beginning… and that’s only an example. there are many like this. i am completely mystified by the gap in attitude, the difference positive thinking and lack of negative experience are doing!!
not to mention that Romania doesn’t even have such a high rate of criminality. but has a high rate of negativism, misdirected protection and baggage of experiences that spoke for themselves and speak even now.
DEAR ME,
I’m sending this letter because i’m just worried about you.I know that from the beginning of this year you’ve been in a limbo phase and wanted to check up on you. These couple of months have been rather rough and edgy, you’ve been living life as you always wanted, intense, with many ups (and also downs), but with difficult choices, with experimental situations, but hey, that’s WHO YOU ARE. You keep saying this, but this doesn’t absolve you for every mess and complicated situation that you get yourself into or even find yourself in (when it already escaped from your control). It doesn’t free you from guilt or blame or their consequences.. someday you will just have to face the facts, face WHAT YOU WANT and stop being afraid of taking ONE MORE HARD&DIFFICULT CHOICE.
You attract many complicated situations and then you find yourself tangled, having no plan whatsoever, getting a hand of all these as you roll. Yes, that is who you are, but everyone should check up on himself once in a while and draw a between-phases conclusion.
Since i know you, you’ve always been between one or more complicated situations: either the choice was simple/dramatic maybe, or far/near, or permanent/temporary, etc you’ve been struggling for something and didn’t quite feel at ease with all your choices in the long run.
You are appearing and acting egoistic, doing everything that comes to your head, without considering all the facts and implications. you just do, act, live your life no matter what the costs “of living” like this are. I see through you. you aren’t THAT egoistic as you would like to be or would like to appear. If you were like that, you wouldn’t have struggled after taking the tougher choices, always questioning yourself on the side, seeing if you really can reward yourself with a “thumbs up” smiley..
You are egoistic and independent to an extend that you act on intuition and emotion rather on logic and don’t consider anyone or anything on the side, like a bull aiming for the red color. IN THEORY, you would like things to be more simple, but you are almost certain that this won’t turn you on or won’t keep you interested in the long run. You LOOK for complicated things, need that adrenaline rush from these on-the-edge-situations almost as you need snowboarding, paragliding, kitesurfing and motorcycling stuff!
I know you can take up and cope with any situation, because you find ANY EXPERIENCE WORTH TAKING AND RISKING in order to learn something new about yourself and about the others involved. what went wrong, what was good and, like any optimistic, you find always more goods than bads. in some almost twisted way you find the courage and power (!!) to congratulate yourself because you went through this.
You put yourself out there and learn on the move about you and about what you want. this may be a good thing. I always considered yourself to be more of a person who better regrets doing something at a certain moment (when THIS choice appeared to be the BEST ONE) than regretting NOT doing something, sometime. But this also may mean a bad thing. without mentioning that you can hurt exactly the people that you don’t want to hurt. You learn about what you want on the move, as you seek to keep up with every change in your life, learn about yourself … only being yourself and by letting yourself go at the same time.. sometimes you look like sleepwalking through your life and sometimes you are more sober and able that you ever thought you could be…
You are now scared of the many things that can go wrong AND of the many things that can go OK, but seem to be wrong also..Curiosity, emotion and this need of yours to discover new experiences and new limits got you here in the first place..
Clear out your head, lighted up and you should discover what you want and really need. Take the Paris trip as an opportunity both to forget and to consider yourself and yr impact on others. Do not overthink it or hesitate and be superficial. Let go and then maybe everything looks more simple. You are at a difficult crossroad and it’s high time you acknowledge that and act for damage control or just …be in control.
Keep me posted, hope to hear good news! whatever good news may mean at this time 😉
Sincerely,
ME
Les ingredients clés pour une escapade magnifique à Paris:
PS: J’ai trouvé quelques bons conseils sur – http://www.spottedbylocals.com/paris – génial!
Les actualités et commentaires à venir prochainement!
from the creators of “a NICE per day”…. :)))
I guess i’m going through a theater phase these couple of weeks. Although I did some dabbling in theatre a couple of years ago, i haven’t thought of myself as a frequent theatre goer. i’m more of a movie-person than a theater-person, but not because i don’t love plays as much as films, but it’s actually a strive to catch a good and honest ticket at the theater nowadays. it’s quite a hunting experience.
I love the feeling at the exit from a play. is very different, like the play itself was a marvel and you must behold it as long as you can. everything is so life like and you can probably find yourself in most of the situations depicted..i realise that theatre is so rich in what it offers and i guess, when i’m going, that i’m kinda envious on their world all together, but glad to be a part of it for a while and catch that feeling of “the world’s a stage..”
movie nights are always fun when Orange Wednesdays happens and you can see all the cinemas full and crowded…for a Wednesday night. Theatres are just as full and getting a ticket is a time costing adventure, but when you think of it, can make worth your while much more than a movie does, theater can reflect ideas and situations in a way that the film and tv industries simply can not. And suddenly, after hunting the theatre ticket so much and looking forward to some play, it even becomes oddly affordable 🙂
So, i think i came across an addiction or something, i can’t help myself looking for more tickets at different plays:)
in the last month or so i’ve seen:
Doctori de femei – great comedy of situations, yet very unusual location for a play; freakish audience (not really theater goers, but the ones who enjoy very-easy-to-digest comedy TV shows). the end of the play finds you in high spirits. so that’s a real push to go and see it.
Crima la Howard Johnson – ok for a play, a little lower on jokes than the previous one. same location which is a turnoff in some way
Fantoma, dragostea mea! – seen it on a going-out-with-my-mom night 🙂 definitely a nice and easy play, full of humor. the actors are great, in fact Marius Florea Vizante kinda surprised me throughout the play, a remarkable acting experience ! the play made me feel exultantly joyful. seen it at the only project based theater in Bucharest, Metropolis.
and ..coming up next (i have already tickets for):
Straini in noapte – to be continued
Enjoy!
Saturday (last weekend) when i got up i stared at the snowfall for a couple of minutes, gazing at the snowflakes and how they touched the window. and then i realised “gosh, how i missed this moment and nearly missed it again. literally!” afterwords, i fell asleep more calm and lighthearted than ever. rarely we take some time for ourselves and for the world around us. we take everything for granted and don’t have the time to enjoy the beautiful things that are laid in front of us, just as that. we crave for the most twisted and complicated things that some kind seem beautiful to us and amazing and ignore what’s THERE, NEAR, for us to take.
so that was my nice thing for the weekend. in fact, was the nicest among other nice happenings 🙂
so, i launch a new category on my blog – A ‘nice’ per day.
why do we always have to be reminded about enjoying and loving simple things in life and about being optimistic and seeing what’s around us?
why are we keep forgetting what we love, what we see, who we are?
i often say the same thing. embrace yourself as you are and see beyond. be authentic and truly be who you are ..
Nobody asks you anymore what kind of music you listen to.Some years ago this question was a real trademark. I think most of us are familiar with ASL,PLS thingy. After these two,immediately came “what music do you listen” which was considered a sure cause for ‘elimination’! If you managed ok, beyond this point everything was a piece of cake and a DEFINITELY MAYBE! 😀
Music frenzies are divided nowadays into two categories (especially in Romania): normal people who like music and have developed a music culture. PERIOD. And red necks who like gypsy music. Please note that this has become an UNDERSTATEMENT in Romania..
We also have GOOD gypsy music, but i’m not talking about this kind, unfortunately.. You don’t really need to have ‘an eye’ for these things to have a look at someone and easily fit him/her in one of these 2 categories above…I’m mostly ashamed by the ‘general’ music in my country because some judge all of us cause we don’t get enough credit to the gypsies and don’t promote their culture…
I for one think that we GAVE and still GIVE TOO MUCH credit and the trend of positive discrimination is taking over, as it still is wrongly understood. The uneducated part of the society and the general trend of gypsy-ism have transformed Romania into an outrageous and insulting reign of ‘manele’ ..!! (editors note-‘manele’ is the gypsies’ music, but not the traditional and authentic one unfortunately, but the type which combines Balcanic, Oriental, folk music with dance, pop ..well every other types of music we can possibly name. ‘Manele’ genre comes from ethic gypsy communities-‘Rromii’ in Romanian. But this type of ..music can be heard not only in gypsy communities, but in Romanians as well, as it resides in poorer urban and countryside communities)..
First of all i would like to saythat staying at home these couple of days got me thinking to past times and the music i was listening a couple of years ago, the clubs i was frequenting, the friends/ the gang i was with etc. Yesterday i cleaned my iTunes Library and made myself a playlist of all time favorite songs I like to hear from time to time, arranged the albums and so on.. and i realized how much my taste in music has changed over the years. I always considered myself having the music culture ‘running through my veins’ and, depending on the mood i was in, i listened to a certain genre. Music is a culture that greatly reflects our way of being, our character and disposition.
I remember how i used to listen to music in high school and college..now, the iPod is stuck somewhere in the car, used only when at gym or when out of town. Radio in the car, radio at work 90% of time. In (high) school we gave each other tapes and later on CDs of favorite music, we made mix tapes with songs we loved and put in a special order just to say/express something we couldn’t..music was used then like a way of bounding a lot greater than it is today. Maybe because of the access we now have to music, maybe music is now too common and the tastes are too shallow..If you ask someone now what kind of music he listens, he maybe will give you an answer, but a really general one because ‘he likes many types of music”.
If you asked me especially in the last years of high school and first years of college, i spitted out at least one douzen Djs and several genres of electronic music that many even hadn’t heard about. I surprised then as i also took pleasure in listening rock for example. Back then we all were divided: rockers, hip hoppers, electonic music freaks or so on 🙂 Now the music is more refined and some may say that ‘you can even dance on it’ :)). our music at least!
So, i gave myself the courage to make a list of my mega giga extra favorite songs and put them in a special playlist which combines NOW with BACK THEN
Placebo – Running up that hill; Battle for the sun, Every you, every me ; Infra red;
Tiesto – Beautiful things, Adagio for strings, Love comes again
Armin van Buuren – In and out of love, Fine without you
Hurts – Wonderful Life, Illuminated
30 seconds to mars – Kings and queens, Closer to the edge
Phantom Planet – California
Red Hot Chili Papers – Californication, Scar Tissue, Under the bridge, Can’t stop
Deftones-diamond eyes
Sheryl Crow – Behind blue eyes
Gogol Bordello – Start wearing purple; Immigraniada ; Pala Tute; Think Locally, Fuck Globally
Scorpions – Winds of change
Empire of the Sun – Walking on a dream
Gotan Project – Una musica brutal
The Eagles – Hotel California
Death cab for cutie – Soul meets body
Breaking Benjamin – Diary of jane, Blow me away
Led Zeppelin – Stairway to heaven
U2 – With or without you, One, Sweetest Thing
Guns ‘N Roses – Sweet child of mine; November Rain
The Killers – Read my mind, When you were young
Pink Floyd – Another brick in the wall; Wish you were here, Comfortably Numb, One of these days
MGMT – Kids
Urma – Terminus, Buy me with a coffee
Manchester orchestra – I’ve got friends
Muse – Undisclosed desires, Resistance
(verrrryyyyy harddd to choose only a few songs) So, i reserve the right to continue the list :))
Pic taken during paragliding, a few minutes from landing on the beach 🙂
One advertising channel that i think could be more creatively and more efficiently used is the outdoor.
Why argue about having this…
(Photo credits: Hotnews.ro)
….when you can have this: via
A very creative outdoor campaign. The commercial titled Straw, Billboard was done by MacLAREN McCANN CANADA advertising agency for COCA COLA (COCA-COLA company) in Canada. It was released in the September 2010.
I don’t think that i’ve seen lately one wise and creative outdoor campaign. It’s a medium of high influence, offers traffic and visibility like hell and you can “follow” your consumer. Of course, it has to be eye-catchy, to have that distinguished function to wisely make use of the space (that we have it anywayz) and make enough buzz around the campaign and around the product thus communicated. have great impact on the perceptive and the behavioral plans in order raise interest in buying if they are coherent, interesting and creative.
Why make populist arguments to interdict the outdoor on the principle that outdoors look ugly on the “beautiful” and “recently renovated” buildings and the much so greyish buildings? why be so damn narrow minded? can this be because we don’t have a single outdoor campaign and when we think about it it still makes us smile or meditate upon it?
There are places in this entire world where every space counts and most of the outdoor campaigns use this opportunity to make people feel good when they see the ad, make them laugh or make them think at something? and this doesn’t happen if you put a car (for ex), a price and a headline…
This year was made the first study on outdoor commercials and their impact. D&D Research showed that 84% of the respondents have a positive attitude towards the street advertising, considering this kind of commercials to be useful and with the role to inform of what’s new on the market. Nothing on how creative we think now is the advertising area or how much/little they make use of the space and the locations where they are put, or on if they grow brand awareness or not.
The outdoor advertising is growing continuously and should push companies to realize strong and with impact campaigns to deliver emotion and attachment in the public space. Maybe this is the reason why this year, for the first time, Clear Channel International sponsored the 2010 edition of Cannes Lions 2010. And maybe that’s why Coca Cola is still sitting on the facade of the Picadilly Circus in London since 1955, the greatest outdoor LED facade in Europe.
After waiting too many years to see live Guns N’ Roses finally they came to Romania. After buying a FALSE ticket to Golden Circle and realized on the day of the concert that it was FAKE, we had to improvise and to figure out a new way in 🙂 Golden Circle or not and with money on the tickets already lost. such a rush! we managed to find invitations and there we were! The long awaited hard rock group..on their songs i danced on tables in highschool and in the first year of college..
After waiting 2 hours from the announced hour for the GnR, the crowd was irritated, anxious, cold and eager to go home. GnR started at 22:20 pm instead of 20 pm..Touring to promote their last album ‘Chinese Democracy’, their first songs weren’t exactly on their style (but not bad) and didn’t sound so ‘warming’ on a bored and almost stoned cold crowd..so the first hour of the show looked like it let the public down and Axl didn’t look to be in shape and with a “i have to do this” figure..
After the first hour everything changes, the people started to warm up and feel the GnR songs that reminded them of the ‘golden years’.
The last hour of the show was GREAT, with Axl singing ‘paradise city’, november rain, sweet child of mine, don’t cry, knocking on heaven’s door, welcome to the jungle.. The new team, with top musicians like DJ Ashba, sounds very good and Axl, though kinda worn out, still has the show-making in his hands and he was awesome and in shape! Some should first listen to Ashba’s solos on youtube and then talk about his experience and his right to be on GnR. he is damn good. The live solo performances in the show were totally good!
GnR interacted with the public very well, though i can’t say that for all the big rock groups that already checked Romania. I must say that i was really impressed by the 2 hours and a half show and really moved when he picked up the Romanian flag. it’s a small thing and we really should be thankful ’cause he recognized the flag and that he knew which country he was in and didn’t salute with ‘Hello Budapest!’ like others did throughout the years…
I stayed at the Golden Circle, close to VIP section. the stage was rather small for a concert like this and from the Normal Circle no one could see too much of the show, especially because the screens were too small and some of them were there to show commercials at Vodafone.
There were many down sides in the concert’s organization, but overall i was glad to be at the CONCERT and to see live Axl and the crew. not to mention to experience thrills down my spine when i heard the songs that shook my adolescence and that the songs which i still sing with pleasure and dedication almost every time at karaoke 🙂
From my point of view, after the delay of 2 hours, many of the people there didn’t give a chance to the concert and to GnR. it’s true that it’s awful to appear after 2 hours in front of your fans ..buuuut as a fan you should be there and be square and have the time to listen to the concert until the end. from respect to GnR.
I think that those who left after an hour didn’t know where they really were and who’s concert that really was. They were touring for their last album and most of the crowd thought what? that they will start with singing Knocking on heaven’s door in order for them to recognize ONE song? come on..
Axl and Co put on a show that really worth the 2 hours wait! a 2 hours and a half show and the scene with the flag denoted respect for the public. Everybody who left at THE END of the concert was thrilled and forgot about the delay, the bad organization, the queues at the beer, the little screens, the few eco toilettes, and so on..
Axl was extraordinary and respected the public, being probably conscious about the delay and the uuuuu-s from the beginning. which were very few and dispersed as compared to the one’s “received” at their Dublin show.
What are we talking about?! we are talking about GnR, a group like Metallica, AC/DC which electrified generations! we were there for the concert itself and i didn’t care too much of the offset…Axl stays Axl with or without Slash or Duff or with or without organizations inconveniences…btw, i think i was lucky to stay in the Golden Circle and those who stayed in the NC couldn’t see nor hear too much.that was the general impression, at least. What D&D East Entertainment didn’t understand was that even if you sweat and bring a group like GnR in Romania, you still have to think about your ticket buyer, to try to please him by all means and by taking into consideration all possibilities and that he has to HEAR and SEE from all price ranges!
Label Extravaganzza 