Seneca Anti-cafe: A place where nothing belongs to us, just the time is ours

On 1 Ion Mincu Street, hidden between the cement buildings lies a magical place where time is the most valuable thing. Seneca Anticafe, for this is its name, is the first place in Romania that promotes the concept of “anti-cafe”, firstly initiated in Russia and then adopted by other countries, like Germany, France and Italy. Founded by Anastasia Staicu and Victor Alexa, this little piece of Heaven distinguishes itself from other cafes through its purpose: the value of time.

As soon as you step in Seneca Anticafe you feel yourself get rid of all your worries, stress and problems you have at that time. You even leave your name at the door and become a new person, even though it is for a short period of time, a celebrated person, such as Cicero or Seneca. Each visitor receives at the entrance a bookmark which has the name of a philosopher or writer inscripted on it, which is then registered in a computer. This way, from the moment you enter this place until the moment you leave this place of wonders, you have been reborn.

After this “ritual” is finished, you are the master of your own time. It is up to you how long you’re going to stay here or how you’ll make this time count; in Seneca Anticafe you can do a multitude of things. You have at your disposal a vast collection of books carefully selected that are waiting to be read, computers or tablets on which you can work without being bothered by anything, Internet, unlimited Wi-Fi connection and many others. There is even a separate room, where silence rules over, a perfect place if you desire to study of if you want to have a relaxing conversation with a loved one. Or, if you’re in the mood for a snack or some freshly brewed tea, you are welcome to use the small kitchen, where you can find all types of delicious tea, biscuits or even heat up your packed food.

But how much does the access to this place cost? If you think you’re going to spend a small fortune, think again. In Seneca Anticafe you don’t pay the consumption, but the time; 8 lei (the equivalent of around 1 pound 50) for an hour. And if you don’t feel like leaving this magical place, no worries: after 5 hours the time “stops” and you won’t need to pay any fee.

“We tell our guests: look, the price for one hour is 8 lei, but you’re the one who makes your time valuable” explained Anastasia. “For us, it is more important to come here and put accent on the productivity, and not the consumption” added her colleague, Victor. This is the reason why the two founded the first anti-cafe in Romania; to make people realise how precious time is and convince us to make the best out of it. We live in an era when time is essential to us, but we waste it on trivial things, without enjoying a few minutes of relaxation. In such times, the appearance of this place is like a breath of fresh air.

Being very new in this country, at first romanians did not completely grasp the concept of an anti-cafe and therefore, considered this charming place as just another regular cafe, where you could eat and drink as much as you could for a cheap price. “Some viewed this place as a tea house where you fill yourself with food and drinks for an hour... But this is not about that”, said Victor. “We don’t tell people not to consume - of course they can! It’s just that we don’t want this to be the main attraction of this venue.” However, slowly but steadily, romanians found out the real purpose of this anti-cafe and happily accepted Anastasia and Victor’s ideas.

The two owners continue to improve this outstanding place and promise us to host a variety of events, like philosophy seminars or art exhibitions for young artists. Meanwhile, Seneca Anticafe awaits its beloved visitors every day of the week from 10 am to 8 pm.  

(Photos belong to Mediafax)

Book review: "Under the Dome" by Stephen King

Everybody knows the master of mystery novels, Mr. Stephen King. His literature works has fascinated the whole world and he has never failed to scare the wits out of us all. As an avid fan of his works, I felt the burning desire to make an analysis of one of its amazing novels, Under the Dome.

PLOT

Set in  Chester’s Mill, a small town in Maine, “Under the Dome” is a 1074 pages novel about the mysterious appearance of a dome (hence the name) which separates the town from the outside world. The book is definitely not for the faint hearted as it depicts numerous gory accidents that are caused by the sudden materialisation of the invisible force field, such as a plane crash, car explosions and many others, as well as the ones that occur inside the dome due to various reasons (no spoilers!), all of them being extremely bloody and messy (after all, Stephen King IS the master of contemporary horror literature!). Also, some readers might find the foul language and sexual content quite disturbing, so be warned. Nevertheless, this doesn’t change a bit the greatness of this book!

While the plot itself appears to be intriguing, yet very simple, I can assure you there’s more to this book than it seems at a first look. King describes in a realistic way how the inhabitants of The Mill cope with the inability to get out of the town, as well as the loss of contact with friends and relatives from “the outside”. They have to start saving up their remaining resources and use them wisely in order to survive as long as they can until the American Government and the Military manage to remove the dome. But that’s not all, as King sprinkles the storyline with loads of plot twists and slow discoveries of each character’s deepest secrets, which will surely keep you on the edge of your seat!

CHARACTERS

As you would expect from such a long piece of writing, the number of characters is quite hefty, but don’t worry; at the beginning of the book there’s both a map of Chester’s Mill and a list of the most important characters in the book, which I though was a really cool addition to a novel! What’s interesting and unique about this book is that the story does not revolve around one main character, but instead it combines the perspectives of many characters in order to give the reader an insight into their views of the incident, as well as their personalities. In the spotlight we have Dale Barbara, a military veteran and a short-order cook at a local restaurant, who is suddenly reintroduced into the military in order to solve the problem of the dome from inside and maintain peace in The Mill. As the story develops, he receives help from Julia Shumway, the town newspaper owner, Eric “Rusty” Everett, a nurse at Chester’s Mill’s only hospital and his wife Linda, Brenda Perkins, the wife of the chief of police, Jackie Wettington, a police officer and three teenagers that aid him in his mission. However, as every other story, there are also some bad guys, the main antagonists being James “Big Jim” Rennie, the Second Selectman of the town and his son, Junior.

In terms of complexity of the characters, they aren’t extremely complex, nor do they go through a psychological development. They can be easily categorised into “good” and “bad” and they only seem to revolve around one particular characteristic. However, there is one character that distinguishes herself from the others and that is Andrea Grinnel, the Third Selectman, who changes from a drug addict to a strong and fierce woman.

PERSONAL IMPRESSION

Overall, the book was absolutely fantastic and after reading it I finally understood why Stephen King is considered to be one of the best writers. As an aspirant writer myself, I was mostly impressed by how he manages to create such a kaleidoscopic plot by joining every character’s view on a single event. Also, his unlimited imagination, the way he describes every little detail and how he strategically places a plot twist when you least expect it is absolutely fantastic! One thing that disappointed me though was the ending, as I found it a little bit…softer (probably not the best way to describe it) and not as interesting as the rest of the book; it definitely wasn’t foreseeable, but I felt like it didn’t quite fit the rest of the novel, which was spine tingling and dripping with mystery. I’m not saying it was bad ,but I would’ve expected something to top off all the other plot twists!

All in all, “Under the Dome” is definitely one of the best horror and mystery novels I’ve read so far and it sure has made me eager to read other works of Stephen King! If you’re an avid reader of mystery books filled with plot twists and supernatural elements, then I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you!