Back in town: @IBTECH

Today,I started working again at IBTECH, the IT company of Finansbank where I worked between 2000 and 2006.

Again in Moscow,after a year

I was in Moscow last month, for two weeks.It's been more than one year since my last visit and I really missed this city.

Moscow has a mystical affect on me, I don't think the city is beautiful,but i still miss it,I miss the cold air, gray city, Cyrillic letters,metro and even the smell in the metro stations.

This visit was art oriented:) I visited 'Picasso in Moscow' exhibition at Pushkin's museum.This was my second Picasso exhibition,I also had a to visit 'Picasso in Istanbul' exhibition in 2006,well...I am more fan of classic art,clearly Picasso is not my style.

I also had the great chance to visit 'Khruschev and His Time' photo exhibition in Moscow House of Photography.


And finally, there was another interesting photo exhibition, Best of Russia 2009.It seems this is a selection of best photos among categories Russian Architecture, Nature, People, Everyday Life and Style. Here is one sample from style category

Romanovlar - Bir Hanedanin Sonu

I guess the book title tells everything: Romanovs- End of a Dynasty . The books starts with days even before Nicholas ascends to throne, the political and economical background is presented, then tells the Nicholas rule, his wife Alexandra, Rasputin, internal politics, his resistance to forming Duma-parliament, and the end of him and his family.This is the only book among many that I read telling the end of Romanovs in this detail,generally this chapter is explained in one paragraph ,revolution takes place and whole family is executed, this book has more than that,better details, longer version of story, their exile days...

12 ( 2007 Russian Movie)

12 is a very interesting movie! 12 people are members of a jury, locked down in a place to decide on a case,trivial case at first sight a Chechen boy kills his Russian step-father who is also a Russian army officer. The movie is takes place in a single place, the room that they are locked and there are mainly 12 characters, the jurors so easy to follow.I liked this movie,it is different and interesting, definitely recommended.Check the IMDB page here, nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe.

Ankara'da bir Sovyet Ajani

Although the book title implies memories of a Soviet Spy in Turkey, this is not the case, I guess the title is chosen for marketing reasons.The book is on a KGB agent who was unhappy with the soviet system so voluntarily gave USSR secrets to 'western world'. During his KGB days his way also crossed with Ankara- capital of Turkey, that's all.Anyway, I briefly outlined he subject of the book,it is a real life spy story after all, so good to read.

Happy New Year

Gray Wolves - Serye Volki (1993)

Another interesting movie, let me first list the names of characters in the movie and you will agree with me:

Khrushchov -you know him :)
Brezhnev - you know him :)
Mikoyan - you probably know him:)
Semichastny - head of KGB who is replaced by Andrapov who later became Soviet President
Shelepin head of KGB before Semichastny
Podgorny Chairman of Presidium of Supreme Soviet
Suslov - Politburo member, he was the one accusing Jukov with 'Bonapartism'

Yes! , very rich number of Soviet politicians.The movie is on Coup_d'etat in 1964 that these listed politicians organized secretly against Nikita Khrushchov to remove him from power and replace him with Leonid Brezhnev. The movie shows Brezhnev as a stupid figure that everyone agreed upon since he is easy to manipulate.

The IMDB link is here and a detailed movie info is listed here.

I stongly advice you to see this movie if you are interested in Soviet History.

Bucharest Parks -Bordei Park

Althought I had presented negative opinions on Bucharest in my previous blog entry, I must admit that it has a nice side also: the parks.Bucharest has several parks in it where people can recreate.The wiki entry says that there are 11.

I've only been to one of them,I 'guess' its name is Bordei from the list above.It was a small but nice,green park.

Canon EOS 500D and choosing a SD/SDHC card

After I ordered online my Canon EOS 500D (a.k.a Rebel T1i) for replacing my Sony Cyber-shot P200 that I bought from Garbushka/Moscow in 2005 which performed bad in low light conditions ....

The camera does not come with a memory card so I had to purchase one,I looked at the forums and was totally confused.Reviews on amazon.com said some users had problems running with Kingston Cards, some users had problems with Transcend, there were also reports of issues related to 16GB/32GB cards and also the Class-4/Class-6 debates...so I decided to ask Canon for a clarification. Here is their answer:

"We recommend using memory cards with a Speed Class 4 or higher. (As of December 2008, the movie recording function has been tested using SD/SDHC memory cards made by Panasonic, Toshiba and SanDisk.

The SD Speed Class is a standard that indicates the minimum guaranteed data transfer speed of the SD/SDHC memory cards. When you buy a new memory card, look for the Speed Class logo on the package.

It is highly recommended that you format the memory card in your camera. Formatting the memory card makes sure that it is going to work properly in your camera. This would be the best way to delete all of your images at one time."


I hope this helps anyone having confusion with buying the correct card.I will go with a Class-6 card from Panasonic, Toshiba or SanDisk.

Will the Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?

Another '1984' book:) a future-prediction work written in 1970 by Andrei Amalrik,a Russian writer. Used copies of the books can be found on amazon.com.