BasBasBas.com

Category: work

  • My first steps as a journalist…

    UPDATE – The pictures are online now!

    Okay, the video is online.. The pictures will be soon when I find a decent WiFi spot.However, there are quite a few pictures online already on the website of BNR. Go check out my article. Also check out the interview at the bottom of the page.

    This will all be broadcasted tonight at several times. Here is a list of the time blocks in which it will be broadcasted (times are listed for Dutch readers, so it’s GMT +1):
    19.30 – 20.00
    23.00 – 23.30
    01.00 – 01.30
    04.00 – 04.30

    It’s not possible to stream live on the internet site of BNR. If anyone knows a website that lets listeners pick a frequency and stream live, please post a comment. I’m too tired to figure out the key words I’d need to search for something like this.

    Wavelengths:
    London – 5900, 9600 / 9700
    Washington (for the night broadcasts) – 9700, 117000

  • Video – Balkan Youth Festival ‘07

    [googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7032606636796455293]

    For the people on slower connections, click here for a lower quality (faster loading) version.

  • Balkan Youth Festival ‘07

    The article as I wrote it for the broadcast on the English channel of Radio Bulgaria on Tuesday. Let’s see how much they keep. I’ll inform you tomorrow about the times and where you can find a webstream.

    The twelfth edition of the Balkan Youth Festival was one of European intercultural exchange by participants coming from European Union countries, as well as non-EU states. From Albanians to Swedes, Turks to Frenchmen, Bulgarians to Fins, Hungarians to Greeks, Macedonians to Spaniards, the festival aroused a feeling of “Europeanness” within every participant. During the day, participants as well as spectators could enjoy a variety of cultural expression ranging from folk music and dance from Kosovo, to breakdance performed by French, Bulgarian and Albanian b-boys, to graffiti painting by Turks and Macedonians, or join one of the horos initiated by one of many folkdance companies from various Balkan countries. Modern and traditional culture from all corners of the European continent came together in Sandanski, in Southwestern Bulgaria, to celebrate the seeming paradox of unity through diversity. The participants managed to inspire each other, and their enthusiasm could be seen throughout the many events of the festival. One expression of this enthusiasm was not witnessed by everyone. These were the parties at Hotel (Ask Geri for the name) where the participants were staying. On one floor one could find b-boys from different nations breakdancing together. Only a floor down you’d find a horo spontaneously erupting and lasting for several hours. Even though most participants were on a very exhausting sleep diet, the roundtable group got together every morning to discuss youth and the future of Europe in an informal setting. The twelfth edition of the Balkan Youth Festival was a great example of what Europeans can achieve through unity; a spectacle of cultural diversity inspiring people crossing the boundaries of age, nationality, ethnicity and language.

    It will be combined with an edited version of an interview I had with a Macedonian graffiti writer.

  • Back!

    I don’t know what it is, but every time I attend any sort of festival it follows this pattern:

    1) You arrive, full of energy.
    2) Every day, you are more enthusiastic yet feel physically worse.
    3) At the end you barely have enough energy left to do anything.

    I’m in a restaurant around the corner from my appartment now. Have to email some people. Articles will start showing up. The festival was evidently amazing!!

  • I was wrong

    Turns out I’m not going to Blagoevrad.

    Don’t feel sorry though… I’m going to a place called Sandanski which is very close to the Greek border and it’s going to be AWESOME. They informed me about the festival today. There will be graffiti and skateboarding, popular Balkan DJ’s (probably house/club), traditional music, discussions on problems in contemporary youth culture, et cetera. This place is like a resort I heard, the weather should be great, the whole town will be taken over by this youth festival and my stay there is (more or less) free! Plus with my press credentials I should be able to get to places you would normally not be able to get. Ahhh yeah! And I’m in a hotel with all the journalists attending, possible also the participants.  The only downside… none. Unless you’d hate journalism, which I don’t.

    How can I ever return to my life in Holland? Haha. More info on the festival: right here. I don’t know if I’ll pop into an internetcafe there, because it would take away my time from enjoying this festival, but I’m definitely reporting about this when I get back. This will be interesting :-).

  • Photo of the Day

    Or “?????? ?? ????”… Interesting Monday. A few things happened today, first of all check out this and this. I guess this is the first publication of one of my pictures, great 🙂

    So what else.. I basically got to know some more people from Radio Bulgaria (the international channel) and got my first official assignment… I’ll be joining a reporter and traveling to Blagoevrad (I believe, not sure) to report on a three day festival. I have no idea about the logistics of it all, or what this festival is going to be like, but I’ll be informed tomorrow.

    So I’ll be leaving for the south on Wednesday and won’t be back until Saturday, I guess. Time to get some more things sorted before I leave. Like the laundry.

  • My first day at work

    I’m going to enjoy this 🙂

    When I come back to Holland, I owe Anton’s mother one for helping me get into BNR. Okay, there are three things that I’ll be doing in the next while.

    1. Help with music programming for Radio Sofia (tune in). They launch the 17th, but are already broadcasting music and only music.
    2. Work in the editing room for Radio Bulgaria. I’ll be co-responsible for editing the news on the English website, but also other content (I guess I’ll be using Photoshop and making slideshows, etc).
    3. Join reporters and help them out. Awesome.

    Today I met more people and more was explained to me. Plus, I programmed the Friday night music from midnight until 7. You only get about 1-2 hours to do it and I’m not familiar with the database of their music, so it was a lot of browsing, clicking, dragging without too much thinking and organizing. Which is too bad, but maybe this will change after the launch of the radio.

    Anyway, this is great experience. I was already making mixes (2 will be uploaded soon) and now I can create playlists for the radio and help mix. Sweet. This exceeds my expectations. You can tune in on Friday (23.00-6.00 Dutch time) right here.

    P.S. The video is going to be on Youtube too, but I have to go home and compress it before I can upload it. I want internet at home.. Pfff.
    P.P.S. This weekend: travel to Veliko Turnovo and stay there one night and on Saturday I’ll watch Bulgaria vs Holland in Murphy’s, together with a group of Dutchmen stuck in Sofia 😉 Sweet.
    P.P.P.S. I know it sounds like a lot to do in one weekend, but it’s a national holiday on Thursday and Friday, so no work. Cool.
    P.P.P.P.S. Note to self: learn how to write posts without having to use so many P.S.’s.

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin