Comments on: Deșteaptă-te, române!

By: Liceenii « The Tar Pit

Liceenii « The Tar Pit — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:38:08 +0000

[...] I'd decided to watch this on the 1st of December and for what it's worth, it wasn't the worst movie that one could review. All else aside, and even [...]

By: They Live « The Tar Pit

They Live « The Tar Pit — Sat, 03 May 2025 10:08:49 +0000

[...] As to the first reason, I find They Live to be quite similar to, and certainly no worse than other 1980s B movies, such as, say, Terminator. Moan all you like about AI, but mechanized, that is, by-the-recipe film production was a thing back in 1984 just like it was in 1988, just like it fucking is today; the only difference is in scale and stupid CG, I guess. But other than that, you have the same trope with the lone hero who comes down to the city and starts wreaking havoc, as well as the femme fatale, the helpful sidekick, as well as the usual catchphrase a la Hasta La Bubblegum. The rest is social commentary that delves deep into the view of 1980s problems: the steel manufacturing industry was coming to an end and folks were moving into construction; the so-called "business" man gave his condescendent look to the oh-so-poor worker whom the communist couldn't "help" over on that side of the ocean. To all this add the salvation trope, where all that's needed for things to turn good for everyone is a good wake-up call. [...]

By: My Dinner with Andre « The Tar Pit

My Dinner with Andre « The Tar Pit — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:05:15 +0000

[...] that there's really no way to teach such things, per se. One can't simply wake up from the eternal slumber just like that, and few ever do anyway. Most people will go through life just like the proverbial [...]

By: Romania's debt of gratitude, or: a wartime story from Mihai Eminescu « The Tar Pit

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 16:28:52 +0000

[...] Let's nickname him "the daddy of the historical Romanian Liberal Party". [...]

By: Brașov, yet again « The Tar Pit

Brașov, yet again « The Tar Pit — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 14:14:38 +0000

[...] a family whose most notable member was Andrei, the guy who wrote the lyrics to Romania's hymn, initially titled "Un răsunet". Below lies a photo of the original [...]

By: Ion Ghica, Letters to Vasile Alecsandri: From the time of Caragea [ii] « The Tar Pit

Sun, 01 May 2022 16:21:02 +0000

[...] it behind their central "apartment blocks", as they naïvely expected that that alone would trump Christianity. The obscuration of course didn't do much, much like today's pantsuit tactics don't achieve much, [...]

By: A photographic tour of Bucharest; in today's issue: Lacul Morii « The Tar Pit

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 11:39:30 +0000

[...] ethno-blues group Nightlosers. Who -- by the way, if you're still living under the delusion that "nations" are still a thing -- are formed of a German vocalist/guitarist, two Magyars (the violinist and the [...]