Roundup of the Week

Today's post is rounding up both the big news from Europe and some discoveries I've made. 

 

News

Bulgaria: This is the most recent and biggest news in Europe.  If you haven't followed up on it, simply scroll through my twitter feed to the right of this post to find numerous sources on it.  Borisov has made a somewhat unusually gallant gesture by stepping down, but it's also just that: a gesture.  His choice of words were, at the very least, an excellent homage to the fundamental ideals of democracy: "The people gave us power and today we are returning it."  Politics is part performance and that's part of its power, but the other part comes from action and there hasn't been much movement on that front.  It has been remarked that Borisov is the tip of the corruption iceberg, hence why people are still protesting.  Presseurop did publish an article showing the cyclical patterns in Bulgarian politics and pointed out that this isn't exactly new fare for the impoverished nation.  It shouldn't be surprising that Bulgaria has struggled so much to shake the weights of the past since it was the most loyal USSR satellite and had the most centralized and sovietized economy in the bloc.  Like everyone else, I'm waiting to see the results of these protests and if they will materialize into either a real political movement, simply a reactionary movement with no clear agenda, or a knee-jerk reaction to austerity that will mirror Greece. 

Dive Dive Dive Magazine

Dive Dive Dive Magazine is Estonia based and affiliated with B.EAST Magazine, which I discovered this week.  The affiliation says everything because I already wish I was cool enough (and Estonian enough) to be a part of this magazine.  Dive Dive Dive is a subculture magazine not quite like B.EAST.  Dive Dive Dive feels like a less sexy version and I don't mean that in a derogatory way.  B.EAST is like sex and fashion with its sleek and polished look, but Dive is like the DIY movement that carries subculture.  The design of the website feels like a hip scrapbook and the icons remind me of images from Lanica's animation (featured on the B.EAST post), so I get why there is a connection. 

B.EAST Magazine

I have spent the last day looking through my newfound love: B.EAST Magazine.  I did a search for CEE magazines and this was the first one to come up. The one that really caught my eye was a post about Polish animation. 

I will refer to what's written there because it's not only better than what I would come up with, but I'm also against plagiarism.  (The link sends you to an article that beautifully articulates the issues surrounding plagiarism.)  I also want this blog to create a CEE-obsessed network.  There probably is one that I'm not privy to, but I'm making one nonetheless!  I want to connect to these people.  Maybe you do too.  I certainly want to hitch my wagon to B.EAST Magazine.  After browsing their issues on the Fbook page, I was likely drooling.  I might have also struggled with my desire to subscribe versus save money.  Still working on that one.