NB! · Cinema · Observations · Humour

Lyudmila Prokofyevna Kalugina in the film "Office Romance" is, by the plot, only 36

Lyudmila Prokofyevna Kalugina in the film "Office Romance" is, by the plot, only 36. Alisa Freindlich was 43 at the time of filming. Do take care of yourselves, stress included, so that at 36 you are not played by a lady of 43

Books · People · Humour

Elizabeth Jane Howard on her own laziness and the habit of sleeping late

"I'm not lazy. I'm just very gifted, but instead of being good at music or mathematics, I am skilled at sleeping late" Elizabeth Jane Howard, writer, actress and model

NB! · Monarchies · Humour

Only this king stood 160

NB! · Observations · Humour

When You Decide to Have a Haircut in Self-Isolation

Books · Observations · Education · Humour

The Kultura Television Channel

The Kultura television channel. Former Minister of Culture Shvydkoy reminds viewers that the Decameron was written during the plague of the 14th century. Are you serious? That is the eighth-form school syllabus

NB! · Humour

You Take My Meaning

Observations · Mores · Humour

The drunkard's cloak and the scold's bridle as punishments for drunkards and quarrelsome women

The drunkard's cloak: a barrel with holes for the head and arms, in which alcoholics were dressed and sent to walk about town, though sometimes the man in the barrel was also tied to a post. Beside the drunkard stands a quarrelsome woman in a scold's

Observations · Society · Humour

The Brezhnev constitution contained a good deal of absurdity of its own: the USSR was described as a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat that had fulfilled its tasks and become a state of the whole people, "developed socialism" was defined as a s

The Brezhnev constitution contained a good deal of absurdity of its own: the USSR was described as a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat that had fulfilled its tasks and become a state of the whole people, "developed socialism" was defined as a stage on the road

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Rome · Humour

Overdosing on fillers: when the Emperor Trajan cannot be told from the Emperor Vespasian

Overdosing on fillers: when the Emperor Trajan cannot be told from the Emperor Vespasian. The large marble so-called Bosham Head of AD 121 was found in West Sussex in 1800 and is on display at the Chichester District Museum.

Books · Observations · Society · Humour

Playwright Noël Coward and propaganda for US entry into the Second World War

A doomed quotation of the day, and very much in season. Though, given that at this very minute the dollar stands at 75.63/72.63, one is tempted to cite Gandalf the Grey’s “Fly, you fools”. As it is, it is curious that the celebrated British playwright Noël

The East · Monarchies · Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour

Maxim Suchkov, the Russian editor of the American Al-Monitor, has drawn attention to the setting of Putin's talks with Erdoğan on 5 March: behind Recep stands a bronze Catherine II, who routed the Turkish army, destroyed the Turkish fleet at Ochakov and I

Maxim Suchkov, the Russian editor of the American Al-Monitor, has drawn attention to the setting of Putin's talks with Erdoğan on 5 March: behind Recep stands a bronze Catherine II, who routed the Turkish army, destroyed the Turkish fleet at Ochakov and Izmail in 1768-1774 and

Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Written in just 8 hours, Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" was once acknowledged as the most performed and popular piece of music in the world

Written in just 8 hours, Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" was once acknowledged as the most performed and popular piece of music in the world. I even had it as the text-message tone on my Nokia 6630