andreinicoara.com

Well, doing a bit of cleaning around the blog I discovered that I started writing and posting photos exactly last year. First post – a ‘hello world’ kind of message – was posted on Jan 31, 2009. So, with a delay of 4 days – happy birthday to my blog!

I wonder what the second year will bring – more photos for sure – but what else? Last time I traveled I found that it is pretty hard to blog ‘on the road‘ so probably travel posts will come once I return home. A lot of people asked me how much a specific trip did cost (there is a general idea that traveling is extremely expensive) or how I organize things (when I …err….organize). Maybe this kind of information would be helpful / interesting.

I am also playing with a few idea in my head regarding the ‘why’ and ‘how’ I travel – so maybe some posts on these themes. It’s going to be an interesting year…I think.

Any comment with suggestions on themes will be appreciated. Not necessarily put in practice of course.

After a long period of freezing under the snow and quietly longing for the weather in Asia, it seems we are nearing spring. Finally.

And so I start again to fret about new destinations, new travels, new adventures… Maybe I will not leave very soon (or who knows?) however I started again to look over guidebooks and most importantly over pictures I took last year.

And so – expect to see a new set of pictures coming soon!

Nu, nu e (inca) vorba de mine in casa noua, desi o sa fie in curand un post si despre asta.

Este vorba de relocarea “virtuala” a unei bune prietene, care acum are propriul domeniu si a shiny new Wordpress. La a carui instalare cu modestie am participat. Bianca scrie despre fotografie, despre ceea ce incercam sa realizam ca oameni, despre pasiunea ei pentru biciclete (haha) si ii place sa creeze liste. De cate 20 de lucruri.

Va recomand saaruncati un ochi -  blogul Biancai >

I’m bad at it. I am leaving on Saturday and I still have no hotel reservations, no real plans, and I still have printouts from Lonely Planet lying around the house – unread… Even my passport is still at the embassy (Vietnam embassy, going there on Thursday to pick it up).

These 2 weeks I tried to do so many things that of ocurse I screwed up some of them. And I’m leaving on holidays tired, with a slight cold, and with unfinished business left at home. So, beside NOT doing research for my upcoming trip, what’s new?

• finally managed to go to Online MeetUp conference, an event organized by Orange, taking place at Orange Concept Store, in order to mingle with people from the online world…interesting experience
• today I am spending a lot of time at RoNewMedia at some workshops and the gala for best Romanian websites. I actually was in the jury, so I am really eager to find out the winners – this though means I will arrive after 10pm home. Again.
• met with elementary school ex-colleagues – so many years later and so little have people changed. And I mean this in a good way! Was a joy to talk with most of them!
• moved office – descended one floor – which meant irregular access to business email and network – so yesterday was a pretty useless day. Of course, I have to compensate the following days!
• I still have a backlog of photos to process, especially from Nijikon2009 – where incidentally I met an old friend who was promoting Warhammer (the miniature game)

And now? Back to booking.com, travelblog.org, lonely planet et all.

While I still haven’t processed the last batch of photos from the Helsinki trip (the ones from the Sveaborg / Suomenlinna island), I did browse the net and found a few interesting links and newsworthy items.

The great news is that lazy-blogger Cristi restarted writing on his blog. A new look, a new language, and a flurry of posts in just a few days – I see great potential! And it’s said the third time’s a charm, right? So, blog.cristianradu.com is reborn!

I also read  a new photography blog (new for me, somewhat), where the latest highlight are photos taken in Iceland. Brilliant images! Pay a visit to La vie en gris – warning: it might give you a strong urge to travel and see the world through the camera lens.

The last blog-link for today is Go Backpacking, which I found by reading @Lonelyplanet. A lot of interesting stories, very well written and informative. The posts from a 15 months long trip around the world will probably keep me interested for a long time. An example of a very interesting post is “cost of a trip around the world“.

This week also saw the introduction of autumn special offers from a few airlines. KLM, Air France, MALEV and probably others started a new round of fighting for our travel budget.

KLM - highlights include round-trip to Amsterdam for 139 Euro, Air France – Paris for 149 Euro return. Malev has other interesting offers, a lot of them appearing as best buys in Skyscanner.

I will also return to the good habit of posting photos on the blog, but until then feel free to enjoy the photos an stories from the first links.

Manowar – final concert of Bestfest – started the show in force. Yet not long after the start one generator exploded. Quote from Manowar : did Metallica play in Romania ? Did their generators fail ? No – why? Because we’re the kings of metal!!!! We’re sorry forthis piece of shit equipment. But we continue the show!!!

And they’re back! Manowar resumes the metal storm.

And here we go again…sound failure. Maybe Manowar is toohard for Bestfest’s sound equipment?

So here I am – blogging live from Santana concert! Those that follow me on twitter @andreinicoara probably know what’s happening right from Bestfest.
It’s a great festival, at least compared to our small selection, and tonight a lot of nice bands played. And the best news? No rain since 7pm.
People waited a lot for Santana, or even came specially to see his concert. The earlier bands could not gather the same level of interest. Even Moby had a smaller crowd here. And it’s a shame. I mean, what is the purpose of a festival if you come only for one band? A little openness to new bands would be welcome!

Having said that – I am really enjoying the concert. Maybe not as much as Moby or Motorhead, but this does not mean I am not very happy ! And yes Santana does an amazing performance.

And now – back to singing along. Badly.

Yesterday was a great day at B’estfest. The first 2 big names at the festival – Motorhead and Moby – and the first day of the festival proper (the day before it was day 0. If you are confused by the festival days numbering, so am I).

The line-up was Les Elephants Bizarres, Grimus, Ayo, Polarkreis 18, Motorhead and Moby. The Silent Disco is not really a concert, although it is a good idea and a nice place to relax a bit after the last concert.

I arrived in time to catch the last part of Ayo. I am not a huge fan, but her voice was pretty nice. First minutes at the festival were as usual spent on searching for some friends, waiting for others and trying to coordinate between 3 or 4 groups. Of course I failed, and some of them I only saw at the beginning and then lost track of. I imagine the nice part for a concert were you stay the whole week is that you can socialize in the day (or in the pubs at night) and as for concerts…every fan for himself.

(continue reading…)

One word describes the first day at B’estfest: rain. Lots of it. Expanding a bit – rain, storm, thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening…oh that’s from something else. The pouring rain was real though.

Having said that, the concerts were very nice, and I really enjoyed being there. The fact that I stayed after The Killers left the scene says it all. I missed The Snails – a RO band that has some nice songs, however I couldn’t leave office earlier. And the traffic was a nightmare. I arrived just in time for the Patrice concert. Last time when he was in Romania I could not attend it, but I knew he sounded good. And the show – somewhat short – was enjoyable. He also did an improvised (soon to be summer hit) “it’s rainin’ in Bucharest”. In the end the rain was too hard and he left the scene.

Before the next concert (White Lies), Catalina (thank God for that!) spotted some of the last rain ponchos given by the Romtelecom promoters. This lucky thing proved invaluable, as the rain continued all through the night. We met some friends – mostly colleagues from Orange – and I dutifully consumed a few beers (as I normally do at a concert). Keeping the rain outside my beer glass proved tricky though.

White Lies concert was good, not overwhelming though, but I will not hold that against them. I am no big fan. However The Killers really stole the show. They started in full force with “Human” and continued with all their hits. Some also from the new album, which sounded pretty fine. Oh when I said in full force – I meant it. The force of the bass was so great that my ears actually hurt. The fact that we stayed right in front of the scene, near the fence, made the thumping bass very close and personal. I had the impression that my hair was trying to jump from my head. Interesting sensations.

The concert ran it’s full length, and the crowd was extremely pleased with the performance. Not all the bands can pull a show with so much force and enthusiasm, especially when the fans are soggy and the rain is steadily pouring.

What I think so far about the festival?

• I liked the fact the for once the promoters offered useful stuff
• disliked even more the serving skills, or lack of, from the people serving drinks (maybe only personal experience?)
• the sound was a bit too heavy on the bass so the concerts sounded a bit too rock-like
• not much really changed from last year festival (it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it tends to get old)

The conclusion? Can’t wait to go to tonight’s concerts. Ayo, Motorhead, Moby…It’s going to be an amazing evening. Especially as it is raining now, so hopefully the clouds will finish their job before the start of the show.

And as a preview for tonights – a linky I received from Mihnea – Motorhead: Ace of Spades.

Ok, so now it’s 19 days since I last wrote on the blog. I have a few hundred photos waiting to be processed and uploaded, still  a lot to write about the trip to Paris, a few interesting happenings in Bucharest, and yet I haven’t written anything. Not a single word.

I am actually ashamed about this. I do hope that the coming Bestfest will change this. Or at least the virtual dust settling on my files will. If not, the soonish trip to Vama Veche might.

So, if you regularly check the silence on this blog – stay tuned.