#Mihai Alexandru

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2003 - Number 2 - Nicola - "Don't Break My Heart"

Eurovision national finals often have contestants who keep coming back despite missing out several times before. To this point none have been as determined as Nicola Alexandru. She has been featuring in my blogs for some time now. Her first appearance was as early as 1994, then again the previous year to this 2002. If I'd have been compiling top 48s back in 1993, she's have been featured that year too.

In 2003, she finally won Selecția Națională having entered it every single time it was held, since the first one took place in 1993. In that time she'd had some bad results and finishes, but she always came back. It was a different story on her seventh attempt. Nicola won comfortably. In both the semi-final and the final she finished top of both the jury points and the televote. If anyone deserved a shot at Eurovision, it was Nicola.

What a song to enter with. Don't Break My Heart is full-speed Eurodance/Europop headlong rush that leaves Nicola almost no time to draw breath. Even the lower key verses are rammed full of lyrics, with almost no pause for oxygen. It's not as if she's taking it easy on her voice either. It's full on from the very first word. Yes, it's repetitive, and Nicola's distinctive vocal is straining at points with the power she's having to use to keep up with the propulsion imparted by the instrumental. It was written by Nicola and her then husband Mihai Alexandru, so at least she was the architect of her own trial.

The staging is novel. Two things stand out. First is that there is a story being told exclusively by the dancers while Nicola sings. The second thing is the relative lack of camera time Nicola gets. There're a lot of wide shots to try to take everything that's happening in. When there's a close-up shot, more often than not it's on the dancers Their high-kicking love triangle appears to end up both peaceful and polygamous, just so they can fit in the colours of the Romanian flag.

There have been other attempts to do some other choreographed story telling in Eurovision history, but rarely is it this complex. It's certainly attention grabbing. They shed so many of their clothes, this is the ultimate destination of Marie N.s performance two years ago. You're taken in not only by the momentum of the song but in trying to follow exactly what's going on.

It was the song that cemented the onset of the Romanian years of Eurovision. It finished 10th, their second top 10 finish in a row. It was a demonstration that Romania had worked something out. They had an approach to Eurovision that worked. Upbeat, high-tempo songs with inventive, memorable staging that people would keep in mind when it came to voting. Fan opinion still holds this in good esteem. It's as high as fifth in the ESC Discord global rankings for 2003.

I love the pace and energy, as well as Nicola's commitment to her moment on the Eurovision stage. Going into 2003, I thought this would be my winner but something else pipped her at the post.

[silviutolu-anastefanescu]

[geocursedtraveler]

Calea Victoriei

Today, I will take you on a new trip. We will walk along the most famous street in Bucharest, Calea Victoriei. Long ago, this street had a different name, so let’s explore its history and the stories it hides. We’ll begin with the various names this street has had over time. The first mentions refer to it as “the Great Street” or “the way to Brașov,” as it was a major route leading to that city.…

[nicolae]

Trădători și trădători

Macovei, Remus (2023), Trădători și trădători, Intelligence Info, 2:4, xxx,   Traitors and traitors Abstract In its long history, Romania has had no shortage of country traitors who, for various reasons, put themselves in the service of the enemies of the Romanian people. The actions taken by Romanian citizens, occupying important positions in society, who during decisive confrontations with…

[bmhasdeu]

Biblioteca Digitală OPAC 2023

Lansată în 2021, Biblioteca Digitală a Bibliotecii Municipale „B.P. Hasdeu” numără în prezent 183 de titluri disponibile spre lectură în catalogul online al bibliotecii. La crearea conținuturilor participă în 2023 filialele Biblioteca Centrală, Alba Iulia, Onisifor Ghibu, Târgoviște, Ovidius, Biblioteca Publică de Drept, Lesia Ukrainka, Centrul Academic Internațional „Mihai Eminescu”, Mihail…

[hopernicus]

Ep.218. Mihai Eminescu, lectura Alexandru Cazan

3 poeme în interpretarea actorului Alexandru Cazan

[jurnaldeoltenia]

Delegatia Consilului Judetean Dolj s-a intors din USA. Costelus Ilie Gheorghe ne-a oferit cateva amanunte despre aceasta vizita ...

Delegatia Consilului Judetean Dolj s-a intors din USA. Costelus Ilie Gheorghe ne-a oferit cateva amanunte despre aceasta vizita …

Delegatia Consiliului Judetean Dolj a mers intr-o vizita in USA. Acolo au avut loc o serie de evenimente la care au participat si o delegatie a Patronatelor Romane cu oameni de afaceri din Romania. Ambasada Romaniei din USA a organizat chiar de Ziua Nationala a Romanie o receptie.. Un alt eveniment a fost Summit-ul oamenilor se afaceri Romania – USA.. Delegatia Consilului Judetean Dolj a…

[levbolton]

Zdob si Zdub my beloved <3

i always thought one would need to be accoustomed to some of the culture and history to understand their music (moldovenii s-au nascut that goes over the italian dude visiting moldova and the taxi driver tryna deceive him by telling it's in the south so he can cash in more money, not to mention the lyrics and the whole stuff that goes during the video, including the ending where he goes "take this cheese to italy and tell my wife that i miss her" since it was around a time where a lot of romanians and i think moldavians too were in italy, or even trenuletul, one wouldn't understand how important the song is, considering it was in the war context, the lyrics meaning, the fucking carpet with stephan the great, like if you don't know who that is (spoiler alert he's vlad the imapler's cousin) i doubt one can fully comprehend the music, yeah the sound is great but the song isn't about a "train" as many reduced it at, all their songs are filled with folk and culture)

it's sad that no one else does music like they do, it's a fun mix of folk and rock (there's cuibul but it's not the exact same)

How come you speak romanian as an australian? Do you have family, a partner, friends or workmates that are romanians or is it just a personal interest?

Them

I don't know anyone in person who even speaks Romanian. I knew a couple of words already because of Dragostea din tei, and I knew it was the language with the intriguing hyphens, but I never considered learning it until these guys came along and before I knew it my playlists were full of Romanian songs and I was starting to pick up actual grammar and I figured I ought to do the thing properly. Now I have a 376 day streak on duolingo and an entire pastoral ballad in my brain and I regret nothing.

I love it so much. It makes me want to write poetry that doesn't start with foaie verde lol

[vladdocs]

CD SHORTS: explaining the IMPALEMENT punishment

"Remember, who started impaling people first!" (Corpus Draculianum, doc. no. 37)"

Vlad Tepes did not impale everyone he laid his hands on, as some propaganda sources have claimed, amplified beyond measure in the modern era by the Dracula myth, Hollywood, and gothic and pop culture. The first cases of impalement in Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages date back to the 13th century and involve the excesses of the Teutonic Knights in Livonia (present-day Lithuania). A document from 1480, almost 4 years after Vlad Tepes' death, is the first attestation of this type of execution in connection with a Wallachian voivode. In this document, Jupan Neagu threatens the Brasov citizens, reminding them of Vlad, who allegedly introduced impalement in the region, with which he punished them so cruelly in his multiple campaigns in southern Transylvania. Tepes respected the written and unwritten laws of the country and the privileges of the nobles. Therefore, no document attests that he ever impaled a boyar or a member of the Basarab dynasty. The elites had the privilege of being beheaded. However, this did not prevent him from impaling their people, as exemplified by the episode of the pretender Dan the Young, who had failed in his attempt to take the throne. Under Ottoman influence, this type of punishment became widespread in the 16th century, the one who used it most frequently being a contemporary of Mihai Viteazul, Alexandru the Bad, at the end of the century. Impalement was not only a punishment but also a grotesque spectacle of power. The condemned were subjected to a particularly painful and slower death than we would expect. The craft of impalement involved avoiding vital organs. The impaled person had to stay alive as long as possible, to struggle, to scream, to beg, so as to shake the onlookers, to terrify them, and to ignite fear in the heart of anyone who would dare to defy the authorities.

[mioritic]

A rather wordy postcard sent from Hamburg on Thursday, 29 August 1912 to a Captain Cesar Peretz staying at the Hotel Hungaria in Budapest.

According to an article in Românul newspaper (Bucharest) from 8 (20) May 1899, Peretz served in the cavalry of the Romanian army and was promoted from lieutenant to captain on 10 May 1899.

His name appears again in an article from Adevĕrul (Bucharest), on 2 July 1908, where he served as a witness alongside the surgeon Thoma Ionescu, and the politicians Mihail G. Cantacuzino and Ion Mitilineu, at a duel between the landowner George Ulise Negropontes and Mihai "Mișu" Marghiloman (the son of Iancu Marghiloman and brother of future Prime Minister Alexandru Marghiloman), apparently because of an insulting letter Marghiloman published in the newspaper Dimineața. The police attempted to stop the duel, and the two men made up, it seems:

"Those who witnessed this duel say that both combatants had a firm attitude on the field and showed great courage; it was an emotional scene. Negropontes extended his hand to Marghiloman, recognizing the latter's chivalry. Both adversaries reconciled, regretting what had happened and assuring each other that they would preserve their friendship in the future."

Cesar Peretz died in January 1929; a funeral service was held in Bucharest's Silvestru Church on 27 January of that year.

From my personal collection.

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2002 - Number 11 - Nicola - "I do"

Nicola's back! I've already written about her 1994 entry and if I was doing top 48s back in 1993, she would have been in that too. I Do is her honorary third appearance and I strongly strongly suspect she'll be back in the future.

She's now going by the mononym Nicola and she's a mainstay of Selecția Națională. I Do is very much her style of grand electro-pop. Full of drama, maybe even melodrama. The synths saw their way through the chorus building pitch of intensity. There's brass, or at least fake brass, parping even more tension. Underneath it all is a relatively standard four on the floor disco beat. This is danceable. There's even a mini-breakdown prior to the finale switching from dramatic declarations of love into something funkier, with the introduction of backing singers, rather than the multi-tracking of Nicola's distinctive raspy vocals that we've heard throughout the song to that point.

It's well constructed and well delivered. Nicola finished fifth with this, her best result to date, and this is her sixth attempt to qualify - things are looking up! The song is written by herself and her then husband Mihai Alexandru, one of Romania's leading pop music producers. He has been involved in all her of her previous songs, even performing alongside her in 1998. They finally seem to have struck gold.

She's still got several more appearances in national finals and more to come. What's next for my Queen of Romania?

[silviutolu-anastefanescu]

[arhitectul]

O viata si inca o zi, Alexandru Mihai Gulie

[nicolae]

A fost inaugurat Centrul european de competențe în domeniul securității cibernetice (ECCC), cu sediul în București

Ceremonia de inaugurare a avut loc cu participarea unor invitați stimați printre care ministrul român al Cercetării, Inovării și Digitalizării Bogdan-Gruia Ivan, secretarul de stat și purtătorul de cuvânt al Guvernului Mihai Constantin, fost negociator șef al României pe probleme cibernetice în Consiliul UE. Alexandru Nazare și Rectorul Universității Politehnica Mihnea Cosmin Costoiu. Odată cu…

[goalhofer]

2024 olympics Romania roster

Archery

Mădălina Amăistroaie (Suceava)

Athletics

Alin Firfirică (Timișoara)

Andrei Toader (Râmnicu Vâlcea)

Alexandru Novac (Adjud)

Andrea Miklós (Cluj-Napoca)

Stella Rutto (Bucharest)

Delvine Relin-Meringor (Bucharest)

Joan Chelimo-Melly (Bucharest)

Alina Rotaru-Kottmann (Bucharest)

Diana Ion (Bucharest)

Elena Taloș (Câmpulung)

Bianca Ghelber (Roman)

Daniela Stanciu (Buftea)

Boxing

Lenuța Perijoc (Siret)

Canoeing

Oleg Nuță (Bucharest)

Ilie Sprîncean (Criuleni, Moldova)

Cătălin Chirilă (Tulcea)

Cycling

Molnár Ede-Károly (Suceava)

Fencing

Mălina Călugăreanu (Bucharest)

Gymnastics

Andrei Muntean (Sibiu)

Ana Bărbosu (Focșani)

Lilia Cosman (Deva)

Amalia Ghigoarță (Lugoj)

Andreea Preda (Constanța)

Sabrina Maneca-Voinea (Constanța)

Annaliese Dragan (Bucharest)

Judo

Alex Creț (Oradea)

Rowing

Andrei Lungu (Bucharest)

Iliuță-Leontin Nuțescu (Suceava)

Andrei Mândrilă (Chișinău, Moldova)

Bogdan-Sabin Baitoc (Bucharest)

Claudiu Neamțu (Dorohoi)

Mihai Chiruță (Suceava)

Andrei Cornea (Broșteni)

Marian Enache (Târgu Cărbunești)

Florin Horodișteanu (Dorohoi)

Ioan Prundeanu (Fălticeni)

Florin Arteni-Fîntînariu (Suceava)

Florin Lehaci (Câmpulung)

Sergiu Bejan (Suceava)

Ștefan Berariu (Dumbrăveni)

Ciprian Tudosă (Fălticeni)

Marius Cozmiuc (Suceava)

Constantin Adam (Călărași)

Mugurel Semciuc (Suceava)

Mihăiță Țigănescu (Suceava)

Adrian Munteanu (Orșova)

Emanuela-Ioana Ciotău (Radauti)

Ioana-Madalina Moroșan (Siliștea)

Alexandra Ungureanu (Bucharest)

Ionela Cozmiuc (Câmpulung Moldovenesc)

Gianina Van Groningen (Gura Humorului)

Nicoleta Bodnar (Vatra Moldoviței)

Simona Radiș (Botoșani)

Patricia Cireș (Bucharest)

Roxana-Iuliana Anghel (Câmpulung Moldovenesc)

Iona Vrînceanu (Târgu Neamț)

Adriana Adam (Văleni)

Amalia Bereș (Pașcani)

Maria Lehaci (Câmpulung)

Maria-Magdalena Rusu (Vaslui)

Victoria-Ștefania Petreanu (Constanța)

Sailing

Ebru Bolat (Constanța)

Swimming

David Popovici (Bucharest)

Vlad-Ștefan Stancu (Bucharest)

Rebecca-Aimee Papuc-Diaconescu (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Table tennis

Ovidiu Ionescu (Buzău)

Andrei Ionescu (Buzău)

Szőcs Bernadette (Bremen, Germany)

Elizabeta Samara (Constanța)

Adina Diaconu (Slatina)

Tennis

Irina-Camelia Begu (Bucharest)

Ana Bogdan (Cluj-Napoca)

Jacqueline Cristian (Bucharest)

Monica Niculescu (Bucharest)

Triathlon

Felix Duchampt (Clermont-Ferrand, France)

Water polo

Marius-Florin Țic (Oradea)

Francesco Iudean (Bucharest)

Matei Luțescu (Bucharest)

Tudor-Andrei Fulea (Bucharest)

Andrei-Radu Neamțu (Bucharest)

Andrei Prioteasa (Slatina)

Andrei Țepeluș (Bucharest)

Nicolae Oanță (Slatina)

Silvian Colodrovschi (Aix-En-Provence, France)

Vlad-Luca Georgescu (Bucharest)

Sebastian Oltean (Bucharest)

Levente Vancsik (Bucharest)

Eduard Drăgușin (Bucharest)

Weightlifting

Mihaela Cambei (Dofteana)

Loredana Toma (Botoșani)

Wrestling

Răzvan Arnăut (Constanța)

Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu (Botoșani)

Andreea Ana (Mangalia)

Ince Kriszta (Sfântu Gheorghe)

Cătălina Axente (Galați)