Barcelona – Nov 27 2012

Considering working abroad?

The increasingly competitive and down-sized job market in Spain has enhanced the need for professionals to consider work opportunities internationally. Meet global recruiters and professionals with a similar search in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

The event will take place at the Music Club of the very elegant Ornina. It is just few minutes walk from Maria Cristina metro station.
Be sure not to miss this evening filled with valuable information, opportunities, drinks, food and music!

Our special guests speakers and recruiters:
Elena Trigueros: Manager ADECCO Technology
Helena Serrano: Founder/Senior Recruiter at Medio Segundo

ENTRANCE: 10 Euros (includes a welcome drink and appetizers)

Manon and Alejandro

Chicago – Nov 19 2012

Gilda’s Club of Chicago will have its Annual Night of a 1000 Noogies on Friday October 19th at the Park West with Second City for entertainment and several Chicago celebrities present on stage.

We are proud to have Gilda’s Club of Chicago as our first non-profit partner and we would like to recommend this event to all our Chicago members. So join us for a night of comedic improv at this 9th Annual Signature Comedy Event.

Find more details about the event on Gilda’s Club Chicago’s web site

Gilda’s Club Chicago
Gilda’s Club Chicago is a support community for men, women and children living with cancer and their families and friends. The club offers a place where members join together to give and receive support. Help Gilda’s Club Chicago host more than 11,000 visits to the Club providing psychosocial support to men, women, teens and children impacted by cancer.

VIP Seating – $125 Get Tickets
Well drinks, beer and wine, VIP goodie bag and post performance celebrity meet and greet

Reserved Seating – $75 Get Tickets
Beer and wine

Tickets
Purchase tickets through the Google Checkout or call 312-464-9900

Chicago – Nov 17 2012

EuroCircle Chicago presents: THE MD FLASHBACK BIRTHDAY BASH – Saturday, November 17 @ Neo

I’m turning 25- again! 🙂 Come join us in helping a certain someone celebrate a birthday- retro style of course! It is our pleasure to invite you all, having been such a central part of the good times we’ve shared together over all of the years. And what better way to celebrate than with a musical retrospective, going back to the 80′s, when she first found her groove, purple hair and all! (you should dig up one of those old 80 photos)Take a step back in time with us at the legendary Neo Nightclub, to a time when the tunes were truly international, featuring everything from the Cure to Duran Duran and beyond.

No attitude, no pretension, and especially no over priced cocktails!
Just drop the magic word “EUROCIRCLE” for comp  until 11:30- $5 (half off) for EC members thereafter!!

DJ John Curely on the decks and taking requests for good new wave dance music only!

Houston – November 15 2012

Invite your global-minded friends and co-workers to convene for great food, wine, spirits, and live music. Solea cafe extended its happy hour prices to 8 pm for our event and offers complementary appetizers to EuroCircle guests.

Solea cafe is a place where the infusion of Houston’s vibrant international, multicultural scene bring about a melting pot of culinary cuisines. This tapas restaurant is cool, music is great and is a hang out place for many artists in Houston.

Don’t forget to RSVP for a night of fun and the opportunity to network with other global minded individuals.

New York – Nov 14-15 2012

Join Eurocircle and Questionmine at the NY Business Expo

We are in Booth 21 stop by and visit!
NY Business Expo 2012 is a disruptive and interactive B2B trade show that focuses on showcasing innovative products and services from startups and small businesses in the tri-state area.

The show includes five components:

Show Floor, Startup Central, Small Business Classroom, After Party, and StartEngine Demo Day.

Startup Central is a key component for this Expo. It features experienced entrepreneurs and investors in a one-on-one mentoring environment. Startup Central is free to attend, but we require you to at least work in the consumer web, software or hardware industry to talk to our mentors. Students are welcome too! Check out our mentors here. Sign up here.

Small Business Classroom offers excellent resources to help business owners become more skillful with social media, technology, sales and marketing tactics, etc. This component features 28 seminars that are presented by world renowned speakers such as Peter Shankman, Dan Porter, Jeff Bussgang, Carol Roth, etc. Check out each seminar here.

After Hour Parties

Open bar. Cool people. Unlimited networking. It just can’t get any better! If you missed any Small Business Classroom or Startup Central sessions during the day, this would be your opportunity to catch up with our mentors, speakers and exhibitors. Besides, you will be able to meet hundreds of small business owners and startup entrepreneurs here.

We hope you will join us at this great show as well as the after parties!

To sign up click on one of the above links or go here to sign up.

Best,
Alex and the Eurocircle NY Team

Swap Sofas – Travelling with a Low Budget

Many of us loved to travel much more but frankly not all of us can afford it. I have traveled both ways, a few super luxury trips where you pay $10,000 for a week’s hotel or a rented villa – and sometimes I have stayed with people I don’t even know.

You can stay pretty much all over the world using sites like CouchSurfing.org or Itamos.com

These sites will connect you to people who will host visitors in their homes – mostly for FREE! Pay attention what the hosts say as usually they are pretty honest and accurate. As always, be careful; there are some not-s0-nice and not-so-honest ladies and gentlemen out there. Scrutinize the photos provided carefully and check all references available.

Sometimes you share a room, sometimes you get your own room. No charge!

In addition, you can choose to stay at youth hostels, which are really for everyone – not only for the teens and young people. I have some friends in New York who use house-swapping companies such as HomeExchange.com and HomeLink.org. Those sites usually charge a membership fee which is usually around $150 per year. The arrangements vary from luxurious houses to small apartments.

My friends have a small 2-bedroom apartment on West 72nd Street in Manhattan. They have swapped to a big house in Austin, a beautiful penthouse in Sydney Harbor and so on.

Sometimes they also offer renting instead of just swapping.

Kaisa

The World’s Leading Nations as Coffee Drinkers

I have followed with a great interest when Starbucks is going to try to take over Finland. Mind you, I actually don’t want them to go there as I think Finns can open nicer coffee shops themselves. The reason why I am so interested in this is because on a per person basis Finnish people drink the most coffee. It drives me crazy when Americans seem to think it must be the USA because of Starbucks. Someone just told me Starbucks opened at least one shop at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport in April 2012 – and expect to open several in the next 2 years.

It is part of Finnish culture drink coffee (or tea in some cases) quite a few times during the day – and many people like my mother always have the afternoon coffee break and evening coffee break. The USA leads the world in coffee consumption only in one regard because it is such a large country on an aggregate basis, they consume the most coffee. However, on a per person basis, it’s actually only under 3 kilograms (about 6 lbs) how it’s measured globally, and that puts Americans into 17th place globally. Pretty much on par with their lovely neighbor Canada.

There are lots of other situations that the Scandinavian (strictly speaking Finland is not Scandinavian) nations lead the world when it comes to many important things like gender equity, education, income equality and environmental matters. Maybe not surprisingly, it’s not just Finland where they need a lot of coffee amidst all the darkness to make it through the day. Norway, Sweden and Denmark — all of those four countries take the top four stops globally in the world for coffee consumption.

Italy, the country that gave The World Lavazza, illy, espressos, and have all these coffee bars where Starbucks idea came from — they do not even they make it among the top 10.

Starbucks has a very strong brand name, which as I am writing this has a cloud hanging over it. Reuters has suggested that Starbucks used offshore licensing, transfer pricing that routes profits to Switzerland and intra-group funding to reduce their UK profits. To make it simple this resulted they haven’t paid any taxes in the UK for the last three years.

A Starbucks spokeswoman told to Reuters: “We seek to be good taxpayers and to pay our fair share of taxes … We don’t write this tax code; we are obligated to comply with it. And we do.”

Kaisa

Meet Austin/Lima Sister Cities Committee

We invited all the City of Austin’s International Welcome Ambassadors Organizations to tell us who they are. Carol Hayman, the current (2012) President of Austin/Lima Sister Cities Committee kindly provided us information about their group.

Carol says “Austin/Lima Sister Cities committee’s mission is to strengthen the relations between the two cities through shared activities. Our goals are to foster cultural, educational, and humanitarian exchanges as well as raise awareness of Lima, Peru and Peruvian culture here in Austin.

One of our main activities is to organize annual art exhibitions in both Lima and Austin. The exhibition in Austin is up for the month of October at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection Library, University of Texas. This is a wonderful opportunity for Austinites to see beautiful work from artists in one of our 12 Sister Cities, as well as work by local artists, much of it with a Peruvian or native American theme.

In addition, the Peruvian Consul General, Sr. Carlos Polo will be leaving for Peru so we will be having a farewell reception at the Benson on October 27th, 2012 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

We hope you will join us for that as well. The exhibition is also a fundraiser for the Centro Para Madres Adolescentes, in Lima.”

For more information please contact the President of the Austin Lima Sister Cities Committee, Carol Hayman, at 477-3099 or visit the committee websites at

http://www.austintexas.gov/department/lima-peru
http://www.austinlima.org

Kaisa

Atlanta – Nov 07 2012

Greetings everyone:

Our November get-together will be on Wednesday the 7th (NOT Tuesday) and we will meet at the newly opened Restaurant-Bar MODERN located at 3365 Piedmont Road (Tower Place).

For those of you familiar with the area, it is the old Copeland’s restaurant location. Free parking in complex garage or valet for $5 if you prefer.

Start time is 7:30 as usual and we will have appetizers on hand. We will gather around the bar area and also have access to the outside patio (weather permitting).

See you all there!!!

THe Atlanta Eurocircle Team
atlanta@eurocircle.com

Austin – Nov 04 2012

Tickets at http://www.austinpolishfilm.com/HOME/2012_Festival for the 7th Annual Austin Polish Film Festival (APFF), taking place November 1 – 4, 2012, at the Marchesa Hall and Theater. This is a unique opportunity to see Polish feature films, documentaries, and shorts in Austin! Films have English subtitles. The APFF will present 9 feature films, 3 documentaries and 2 short films, plus children’s animations. The APFF will also feature discussions led by film director(s), other guest artists, and community educators. During the APFF, a Polish poster exhibit featuring a collection on loan from the Chicago Polish Museum of America will also be held at the Marchesa Hall.

The 7th APFF opens Thursday, November 1 at the Marchesa Hall and Theater with a gala reception. The gala opening will feature guest director, Ms. Maria Sadowska. Ms. Sadowska will be introducing her film Dzień Kobiet/Women’s Day (2012) to Austin audiences. A new guest for the 7th Austin Polish Film Festival will be Katarzyna Kwiatkowska, (b. 1974), who has been featured in over 10 Polish feature length films and starred in many Polish TV film productions. She plays the lead role in Dzień Kobiet/Women’s Day. Ms. Kwiatkowska will be attending the 7th Austin Polish Film Festival with the film’s director, Ms. Maria Sadowska.

For a listing of APFF tickets, films, times, program updates, and sponsors, please visit http://www.austinpolishfilm.com/HOME/2012_Festival

Ticket Prices:
Austin Polish Society Member prices are:
• $8 per ticket per film for adults
• $6 per ticket per film for students
• $65 for VIP passes (includes Polish buffet on opening night and all 13 films and events) Best deal!
• $30 for Gala Opening Night + Film

Non-Members
• $10 per ticket per film for non members;
• $7 per ticket per film for student non-members:
• $75 for VIP passes (includes Polish buffet on opening night and all 13 films and events) Best deal!
• $35 for Gala Opening Night + Film

To join APS: http://www.austinpolishsociety.org/new/membership

Children under 12 are free. Austin Polish Society is a non-profit organization. Fifty per cent of the proceeds support Polish or Polish American students and scholars, Donations are tax deductible.

Maria Sadowska, 7th APFF Guest Director
A composer, arranger, writer and a director, Maria Sadowska (b. 1976) is also an accomplished Polish singer and songwriter who began her musical career at age 14. She is a graduate of the Academy of Film and Television in Warsaw and the Łódź Film School. Her student feature film, entitled Wings, was shown at numerous international film festivals. Her other movies include: Interrogation, A moment before…, A couple of scenes from the life of an artist, Who am I still, and Love me a little. Ms. Sadowska was co- director of Demaquillage – a film consisting of three episodes, in which young female directors portray contemporary life. Ms. Sadowska calls Dzień Kobiet her “feminist western”. It is Ms. Sadowska’s feature film debut.

Dzień Kobiet / Women’s Day (2012, 90 min)
Halina, a modest cashier in a chain grocery store is dreaming of a better life for herself and her gifted 13 year-old daughter, Misia. She soon gets her chance when she becomes the store manager. She discovers that the price for a higher salary and a better standard of living is dishonesty, manipulation and deceit. She turns from victim to villain at work and she is so consumed with her work that she fails to notice her daughter’s addiction to computer games. She will soon have to start her journey for forgiveness…

Supermarket (2012, 84 min.), directed by Maciej Żak (b. 1962)
, is a dark, mysterious story about a young man who is arrested for a crime in a big department store. The reason is unclear. He is sent off for observation to a psychiatric ward, where he tells a story about the events of a New Year’s Eve crime. His tale becomes a horror story involving a married couple, whose life was forever changed by the events.

My Name is Ki (2011, 93 min.), directed by Leszek Dawid (b. 1971), is a story about Ki, a young woman who refuses to play the part of the tired single mother; she wants to live a fast-paced and colorful life. Will her relationships with men help her to grow up and embrace love and responsibility for her son?

Sala Samobójców / The Suicide Room (2011, 117 min.)
is directed by Jan Komasa (b. 1981). Dominik is the product of a success-driven marriage between businessman Andrzej and CEO Beata. With only 100 days to go before the final school exams, Dominik is on target to graduate with top marks and gain entry into the finest university. Through a series of humiliating events involving another male classmate, Dominik’s world comes crashing down. He sees the online comments his classmates are making about him on various social networks. Daunted by the thought of returning to school he reverts from real life and logs into the virtual world. Cloaked in his avatar, Dominik meets Sylvia, who hasn’t left the virtual world in years, and he joins her and her friends in the “Suicide Room”. Soon enough Dominik struggles to decipher what is real as common virtual experiences bleed dangerously into reality. Not only do the lives of those around him become threatened but Dominik’s own life is at grave danger.

80 Milionów / 80 Million (2012, 105 min.) in this action film directed by Waldemar Krzystek (b. 1953), five activists in Wroclaw withdraw 80 million złoty (USD $100 million) from trade union accounts, despite the strict supervision of the security police, on the eve of the imposition of martial law. Poland’s 2013 Oscar candidate, 80 milionów is an action-packed film and a true story about the hard times and the Polish struggle for freedom. Set in the southwestern city of Wrocław, one of the strongholds of the Solidarity
movement, the trade union leaders’ daring action took place just hours before the union’s accounts were blocked. The money helped organize Solidarity’s legendary underground activities over the coming years.

Róża / Rosa (2011, 98 min.), directed by Wojciech Smarzowski (B. 1963), is set in the district of Mazury (Masuria), located along the former Polish-Prussian border, between 1945-46. After World War II, the region – which had been previously subject to strident “Germanification” – is handed over to Poland. Residents with German roots leave for Germany. If they want to remain, they have to learn Polish and get along with new Polish settlers. In the summer of 1945, a former Army soldier who lost everything in the war, arrives in the area. The man comes to a house owned by a woman named Rose. As the widow of a German soldier, she speaks German and Polish. The visitor learns the dramatic story of the woman’s life – she was brutally raped by soldiers and forced into prostitution by the Soviets. New settlers in Mazury, who look upon her as a German, treat Rose with contempt. An emotional tie flourishes between the soldier and Rose.

Droga na drugą stronę / Crulic – The Path to Beyond (2011, 73 min.) is directed by Anca Damian (Romanian, b. 1962). Droga na drugą stronę is an animated documentary film that tells the story of the life of Crulic, a 33 year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on a hunger strike. Accused of stealing, Crulic is not provided due process. The acclaimed Romanian actor, Vlad Ivanov, narrates Crulic’s ironic voice over from beyond the grave. A strong visual style, the result of beautifully hand-drawn images, collage, stop-motion, and animation techniques, blend to create a striking, surprisingly integrated and memorable film. This film is a Polish Romanian co-production. Crulic – The Path to Beyond producer and president of the Polish Magellan Foundation, Arkadiusz Wojnarowski, is invited to speak and facilitate a discussion about this human rights film after the 3:30 screening.

Wymyk / Courage (2011, 85 min.) is directed by Grzegorz Zgliński (b. 1968). Brothers Alfred and Jurek are at odds on how to run the family company. While together, they witness a helpless girl being attacked on an urban train. Jurek stands up for her, while Alfred holds back. After facing a violent incident on a train, their lives change completely. The situation forces them to reveal who they really are.

Lęk wysokości / Fear of Heights (2011, 100 min.) is directed by Bartosz Konopka (b. 1972). Thirty-something Tomek has made a life for himself in the big city and has a successful career as a TV reporter and a happy family. His ordered life is disrupted when his estranged father arrives. Tomek decides to reach out to his father, although they haven’t seen each other for years. It turns out his father is ill. The relationship spans highs and lows that impact Tomek’s life permanently in this intimate family portrait.

Short Student Films

Chomik / The Hamster (2012, 30 min.), is directed by Bartek Ignaciuk.
Przemek, a beloved pet of two elderly people, Maria and Wacław, falls from their apartment window. The shocked couple find Przemek on the roof of their car parked outside the building. The hamster is barely alive. This seemingly trivial accident triggers an avalanche of minor catastrophes. The small, local community is incapable of finding a common language or common values to face the situation.

Mika (2012, 29 min.) is directed by Joanna Wilczewska. A young journalist is waiting and wondering – will she meet Him? Will it be a chance meeting? There are twists and turns in Mika’s life that result in unexpected consequences. What role does chance play in her life? How much of it is her conscious choice?

Documentaries

Druga Strona Plakatu / The Other Side of the Poster (2010, 52 min.) is directed by Marcin Latałło (b. 1967). Ania must design a poster for a documentary about the Polish poster school. But unlike contemporary film posters, which are supposed to sell, hers must speak to the rich history of Polish poster culture. Polish poster art is one of the most important graphic movements of the 20th century.

In the postwar Polish reality, where communism dominated and the streets were drab and gray, posters were not only a better propaganda medium; they were the only color in an otherwise dull city landscape. Polish designers constrained by censorship, elevated posters into a functional art. The artists used very subtle, but expressive metaphors. What was later named the “Polish Poster School” was a movement that became an artistic trend transforming the posters in Europe. The film features archival material with the masters of the Polish poster school, Henryk Tomaszewski, Jan Lenica, Roman Cieslewicz and other leading poster artists from Poland and France. There are interviews with film directors, curators, museum directors and art critics. A wide selection of historical posters is also featured. The film has received many international prizes. This is the first Polish documentary film about this important 20th century graphic movement.

Beats of Freedom (2010, 72 min.) directed by Leszek Gnoinski and Wojciech Slota, also known as “How to Overthrow a Totalitarian Regime with the Use of a Homemade Amplifier” is a captivating documentary film about the birth and evolution of rock music in Poland. Colorful memories and surprising confessions from the country’s greatest musicians make this story memorable, as does the hard sound of Polish rock. Take a trip into a very different world that will open both your mind and ears. Beats of Freedom is a window onto another reality, created via unique, often shocking recordings from the last 50 years.

Andrzej Wajda: Róbmy zdjęcie!/Let’s Shoot! (2009, 52 min.)
, directed by “The Paladino Goup”, Maciej Cuske, Thierry Paladino, Marcin Sauter, and Piotr Stasik, is a fond, but realistic look at the legendary Andrzej Wajda at work on the set of his award-winning 2008 film, Katyn. Wajda, awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2000, was closely watched by members of the Paladino film team during the shooting of this documentary film. On the set of Katyn, Wajda is busy directing, talking to his collaborators, to the actors and technicians, and, sometimes, resting between takes. The documentary reveals how meticulous the director is on the set: while he observes the actors, sits for photos, talks to the extras or takes a paintbrush and corrects some set decorations.

Wajda believes that one should photograph temper and energy, using this to inform the final film. He subsequently grows impatient when set preparation becomes prolonged (“Come on, let’s shoot!”). He never wants to lose those elements.

Children’s Polish Animations (FREE) presented on Saturday, November 3, from 1 pm to 3 pm at the Marchesa Hall & Theater location. Polish language teacher, Ms. Magda Boudni, will be providing activities, films, and snacks for children (ages 4-12)

Artist Workshop with guest artist Austinite Mig Kokinda – Saturday, November 3, 3 to 5 pm (FREE) followed by Polish Poster documentary Druga Strona Plakatu / The Other Side of the Poster (2010, 52 min.) at 5 pm

Artist’s statement: Posters have always looked good to me – the W.P.A., World War II propaganda and art nouveau spawned some of my favorites. I have always like making things, and as a teenager I began drawing flyers for punk rock bands. My early designs were fairly retarded, but I kept trying and eventually learned the basics of silk screening.

The first attempts at full color posters were also fairly retarded – I didn’t use hinges, so multiple colors were registered by hovering the screen above the print, squinting through the ink and hoping to set it down in the right place. Eventually I got a job as a silk screener, but by then a love for spray paint began to blossom. Experimentation using stencils and spray paint started around 1992 or 1993; today, almost all of my posters use this medium. The drawbacks to this are limited runs (above 40 prints and the stencils need re-cutting), a time consuming process (hampered by moist or cold weather), and a destruction of brain cells (hopefully slowed by a mask). Everything is done by hand, from designing and drawing it to cutting it out (I am lost on a computer) – making it a lengthy labor.
Why do it this way? Because it is a labor of love. I would rather spend my time doing something I enjoy than wasting my time doing something to get by. The colors, images and overspray make a poster unlike any other – and each print in a run is unique unto itself. Heck – they even smell more than other posters, too.

Mig Kokinda Exhibit
Mr. Kokinda will have an exhibit of work from November 1-15, 2012 at the Marchesa Theater and Hall, 6406 N I H 35, Ste 3100. The Gallery is open from noon to 5 pm, Tuesday-Sunday, closed on Monday.