Dragos of @Argumente blog writes a beautiful post about Tom Wilson's article Lost in Translation published in Ziarul Financiar. Here is an excerpt:

« [The article is] about the discontinuity between Romanians' obsession about the image foreigners have about Romania (arguably inherited from Ceausescu's time) and the inability of a national promotion of a picture (at least) closer to the reality. »

Many people felt the same about this issue. A couple of weeks ago, a British team of brand designers and motion graphic artists we were working with at the time, were absolutely thrilled about many aspects of Romanian life they wouldn't thought of: the footage shot on Bucharest's streets was looking like it was shot in a western city, the fusion-style restaurant Balthazar felt like they were back in London for a couple of hours, many clubs were cool enough to spend time in, the cinematography crew was up to the required professional standards, and so on. The shock comes from the difference between the projected image and the reality.

But let's get back to Tom Wilson's Lost in Translation (Tom Wilson is a freelance writer and has written for The Face, Dazed and Confused and The Independent. He lives and works in Bucharest), a funny-dash-sad piece about Romania's MTV generation, girl group 'Sexxy', spectacularly self-deprecating Romanians, disguised reality and 'rapper' Fizz looking like a 'third division footballer that's got dressed in the dark'. Here is the opening paragraph to get you going:

« Writing about Romania in the western press is a difficult business. As a freelance writer, it's spectacularly tricky to get anything commissioned which puts a positive spin on events in Romania. The interests of foreign readers are limited, and if it's not about orphanages or intimidating tower-blocks, there's little chance of your work getting published. Good news from Romania is often 'non-news'. So imagine my delight when I was commissioned to write an upbeat feature on youth culture and 'the MTV generation' for The Independent newspaper, a well-respected UK broadsheet. »