Cinema · Observations · People

Louis Malle’s Film “Volchonok”, Based on Georges Darien’s Novel, and Julien Guiomar’s Talent

Mont-Saint-Michel, Julien Guiomar and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Philippe de Broca's film "L'Incorrigible", 1975. If you fancy watching something human, beautiful and heartfelt over this long weekend, it comes recommended. And, while you are at it, there is another film with this

In the Press · London · Nature · Humour

Obelisk, a royal guard horse, killed pigeons and was sent for psychological retraining

In 2016 The Field reported that Obelisk, a horse of the Household Cavalry, lured pigeons by spitting oats from his mouth. And when the pigeons came close, he trampled them to death. And he did this regularly. In the end the horse was sent away for "psychological retraining"

Archaeology · Ethnography · Humour

Barrier Canyon pictographs in Utah that gave their name to a style of rock art

Pictographs in Barrier Canyon, otherwise known as Horseshoe Canyon, in the desert of central Utah. The little figures, in some respects resembling people, in others insects, in others your common-or-garden extraterrestrials, have given their name to an entire style of rock art: similar petroglyphs are said to be

A woman with dark curls, in a black dress and lace glove, presses her fist to her lips. Behind her, blurred, a bald man in a waistcoat reaches out. Both wear white face paint.

NB!

Two figures in white face paint on a dark stage: a scene from a performance

Coming Up · Books · Museums

With one of the country's principal theatrical events drawing near, the Melikhovo Spring International Festival, which this year runs from 23 May to 1 June at the Anton Pavlovich Chekhov Museum-Reserve "Melikhovo", has gathered for you…

"Uncle Vanya". "Theatre Ark in Dubrava" Drama Theatre (Sergiev Posad). This play by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is more than a hundred years old. The company behind the production asked itself: "Who are these people, Chekhov's heroes, now, in the 21st century?" "

Archaeology · Archive · The East · Books · London · Museums · Observations · Ethnography

Inflated skins in Assyria and on the Pamirs in the accounts of Zarubin and Bobrinsky

I am reading the diary of Professor Ivan Ivanovich Zarubin about his journey to the Pamirs in the summer of 1914. He describes sailing down a mountain river on a raft made of inflated goatskins. It brought to mind the Neo-Assyrian relief of the 8th century BC from the

Observations · Education · Society · Humour

The rule for spelling the suffixes of Russian present active participles

By the way, why is it a pack of "barking" and not "barkaing" dogs from the Western kennels? Because in the suffixes of the active present participles, that is, those formed with the suffixes -ushch (-yushch) / -ashch (-yashch), we write the letter u or yu if

Cinema · Observations · Mores

Family happiness in the grandparents' scene from the film about Willy Wonka

I don't care for the Willy Wonka film, and I can't say what is most dreadful about it, the script, the staging, the costumes or the acting, but I sometimes recall the scene in which the grandfathers and grandmothers of the luckless boy huddle together on

The Sistine Chapel with a metal framework and protective layer on the floor, and the fresco “The Last Judgement” on the far wall.

Faith · Observations · Heritage · Rome · Humour

A Second Floor Level Is Being Built in the Sistine Chapel to Protect the Historic Pavement During the Conclave

A False Floor Goes Up in the Sistine Chapel, and Then We Shall Be Told: Heaven forbid, no under-the-carpet manoeuvres! The floor of the Sistine Chapel has been covered with a protective layer, and a platform is being erected on top of it to serve as a second

NB! · Books · Society

“Skotsky khutor”, alias “Skotny dvor”, “Skotsky ugolok”, “Ferma enimal” or Animal Farm: A Fairy Story

A model of a mammoth with long tusks and shaggy brown fur stands on a wooden shelf beside a pencil.

NB! · London · Museums · Palaeontology · Humour

A model of a mammoth is kept at the Natural History Museum in London

London's Natural History Museum houses the most charming mammoth of all times and peoples. A model, not the real thing

Faith · Art · Books · Humour

Book against the papacy by Huguenot pastor Steverslot, published in Holland in 1720

A Robo-Pope in an Engraving from an Anti-Catholic Publication of the Eighteenth Century. A book of 1720 with the witty title "Pope's Porridge Served on the Dishes of the Huguenots, Considering the Papal Rise, Idolatry and Abuses in the Veneration of Images, as well as

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