You have to laugh; it’s sublime.

Bafta.

(Photo by Romer!can)

(Photo by Bunissima)

(Photo by Bunissima)

(Photo by Bunissima)

(Photo by Bunissima)

(Photo by Bunissima)

(Photo by Bunissima)

(Photo by Bunissima)

(Photo by Romer!can)

(Photo by Romer!can)

(Photo by Romer!can)

If you’ve never heard them play before, I recommend you give the Taraf de Haidouks sample video a try.

Pasărea cu clonţ de rubin
S-a răzbunat, iat-o, s-a răzbunat.
Nu mai pot s-o mângâi.

M-a strivit,
Pasărea cu clonţ de rubin,
Iar mâine
Puii păsării cu clonţ de rubin,
Ciugulind prin ţărână,
Vor găsi poate
Urmele poetului Nicolae Labiş
Care va rămâne o amintire frumoasă…

(Quixotically attributed to Nicolae Labiş,
although most likely written by Aurel Covaci)
English translation here

Did you know? One of the key heroes of the film Children of Men is a Romanian woman. I was caught off guard when I started to recognize what she was saying (since she did not speak English in the movie).

Mihai Panaitescu, a Romanian designer from Focşani who is attending school in Italy, developed this winning concept car design for French automaker Peugeot. In his design notes, he believes the car, Flux, will serve to bind the human with his natural surroundings rather then insulate. He goes on to imagine the car would be powered by hydrogen fuel cells and be constructed with very light-weight materials such as plastic and aluminum (aluminium).

Peugeot is actually going to construct the automobile as a prototype to show off at the prestigious Internationale Automobil-Ausstellungen auto show this September. They also plan an award ceremony in Geneva to honor Mihai and others in October. And they’re cutting him a check for nearly eight grand, according to C|Net.

Not too shabby.

French toymaker Norev plans to profit from the sale of scale-model diecast collectibles of the design. Even Microsoft gets a cut of the action as they announce their intention to incorporate the car into one of their video games for the Xbox. A whole list of other contest partners stand to benefit in various ways from Mihai’s creation.

Mihai Panaitescu’s Flux concept was chosen as the grand winner from some 4,000 submissions. Check out the second and third place winners. From there, you can explore some of the other interesting designs on your own. Or take a gander at Mihai’s graphic design using Star chips and other Romanian brands.