NB! · Society
Alexandr Radayev
Observations · Pop Culture · Nature · Humour
Cindy Crawford in Giorgio Armani's 1992 campaign has two Rassies from «Electronic», the Russian schoolboy sci-fi film, at once
Cindy Crawford in Giorgio Armani's 1992 campaign has two Rassies from «Electronic», the Russian schoolboy sci-fi film, at once. I have always dreamed of having one like that. But then the Airedale terrier, bred in England in the mid-nineteenth century, is not merely handsome: it also
Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Letter in the name of Elizabeth II asking for three hundred dollars for a ticket to Britain
The Taming of the Shrew. What do you think: is that really Elizabeth II writing to say that she is not dead, that Charles has packed her off to a desert island so that he might become king, and that, having no access to the royal funds, she begs me
NB! · Monarchies · People · Saint Petersburg
Death of Empress Catherine II at the Winter Palace on 17 November 1796, aged 67
On 17 November 1796, Catherine II died in the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. The Empress was 67 years old
Architecture · Monarchies · Moscow · Heritage
The Red Gate in Moscow, Russia's first triumphal arch, and its demolition in 1927
The Red Gate was the first triumphal arch in Russia. The original, Petrine arch on Myasnitskaya Street was built of wood after 1709, and it burned down and was rebuilt more than once. In Catherine's reign the arch was pulled down and built anew. But under Anna Ioannovna
NB! · Books · Observations · Mores
Splendid household furnishings, dress, carriages, the luxury of the table: all this makes a man neither great nor worthy of respect, for none of it forms any part of him, but lies outside him and has no kinship with him whatever
Art · Society · People
Los Angeles artist Alex Schaefer paints burning banks during the 2008 recession
Perhaps the chief hater of the American banking system has been found. The contemporary Los Angeles artist Alex Schaefer rose to international fame when, during the great American recession of 2008, he began painting fantastical, politically charged plein-air pictures showing bank branches on fire, major bank holding companies in
Art · New York · Society
Bank of America expects art to become more affordable after Trump's reelection
Bank of America in Flames, Alex Schaefer, Oil on Canvas. Bank of America has compiled a new report on the state of the art market. Despite the anxiety expected among art market participants over Trump's re-election, conditions for buying art are improving. As the report explains, in
Geography · Humour
The Shetland Islands of Scotland lie several degrees farther north than Estonia
Estonia is the northernmost country in the world no part of which lies in the Arctic. Ps unless one counts the Shetland Islands of Scotland, which lie several degrees north of Estonia
NB! · Pop Culture · Humour
Spanish Ships, on Learning That NASA Has Found Gold on Mars
Faith · Monarchies · Society · Paris
In 2021 Emmanuel Macron changed the shade of blue on the national flag, explaining that he wished to return to the state the symbol of the French Revolution, which raised this banner
In 2021 Emmanuel Macron changed the shade of blue on the national flag, explaining that he wished to return to the state the symbol of the French Revolution, which raised this banner. Yet each of the colours taken separately carries anything but revolutionary connotations. Red goes back to the Capetian
NB! · Archaeology · Art