NB! · Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Alexandr Radayev
The East · Art · Museums · Humour
If the Wizard of the Emerald City Had Not Been a Charlatan
"The Gates of Paradise" is an exceptionally rare pair of Indian spectacles of the seventeenth-century Mughal era, whose lenses are carved not from glass but from a single enormous emerald, probably weighing more than 300 carats in its uncut state
NB! · Observations · Education · Humour
A question: does anyone seriously believe that in Ancient Rus' they could not reduce fractions, and failed to grasp that the Thrice-Nine Kingdom was really the One-Third Kingdom?
NB! · Architecture · Observations
Sagrada Família in Barcelona nearly complete after 144 years
The bandura is nearly finished. After 144 years. Was it worth dragging things out for so long? The question remains open
NB! · Humour
The Sole True Purpose of Margarine Has Been Found
Coming Up · Art · Paris
“Eugene Onegin” Staged by Ralph Fiennes Runs at the Palais Garnier Until the End of February
Until the end of February the Paris Opera is staging a new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, sung in Russian, at the Palais Garnier. It is Ralph Fiennes's directorial debut in opera. The performances are enjoying enormous success. Le Monde praises the production for its theatrical
The East · Nature
Chinese photographer Wei Anqing shot macaques in snow on a phone in 2025
"Snow Spirits" The Chinese photographer Wei Anqing, 2025. The photograph was taken on a phone camera
Archive · Books · Ethnography
A Nenets Girl with a Book
Konstantin Dorokhov, 1938
NB!
Metal sculpture and two paintings of green arbors in a gallery room
Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations
Vilgeniy Melnikov and Oleg Maslov’s exhibition “Garden Keeper” at the Ekaterina Foundation on Kuznetsky Most
The Ekaterina Foundation on Kuznetsky Most: city centre, spacious bright halls, not a soul about, so why not go? Two exhibitions are currently running there, and I dropped in to have a look at Vilgeny Melnikov and Oleg Maslov with their walk, "The Garden Keeper". A pleasant, unassuming
NB! · Cinema · Humour
The Scottish-Ugandan Joan of Arc, Mandipa Kabana
The Scottish-Ugandan Joan of Arc, Mandipa Kabana. In a stage production, admittedly, not in a film
Faith
Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov on vigilance, faith and love in dangerous times
The times are hard and dangerous. The enemy advances subtly, cunningly, and draws near. One can feel the breath of the Antichrist. On no account give way to panic. It is precisely now that signals are coming which incline us to draw closer to God and to one another. Let