Books · Humour
"Hamlet" is a coarse and barbarous play which even the common people of France or Italy would not deign to read. Hamlet goes mad in the second act, and his beloved in the third. The prince kills his beloved's father, pretending to kill a rat, and
Art · Books · Humour
Thereupon the Town Governor took off his own head and handed it to me. Examining the box lying before me more closely, I found that it contained, in one corner, a small barrel organ, capable of playing certain simple pieces of music. There were two such pieces: “I'll
NB! · Humour
Observations · Society · Pop Culture · Humour
Loro Piana placed under judicial administration after details emerge of its clandestine production in illegal Chinese workshops right in Milan. Serious labour violations in the Italian fashion industry have long been a matter of talk, and every so often the fashion world is rocked by another scandal. Dior, Valentino and
Faith · Observations · Society · Humour
The Prime Minister of the French Republic, François Bayrou, has proposed abolishing the day off on Easter Monday and on Victory Day, which in France, as in other European countries, falls on 8 May. Formally, this is to cut the budget deficit. Of the 11 public holidays on which the
NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour
Comrades, why are you crowding into a queue when the ticket terminals are perfectly free? A strange habit, all the same
NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Humour
I cannot describe the feeling with which the museum attendant learned that the figure in Vlad Mamyshev-Monroe's photograph is a man in disguise. Thank you, Lord, that naivety still lives among people, and a truly holy simplicity
NB! · Faith · The East · Observations · Ethnography · Humour
Astonished by the qualities of the Korean mythical creature Yeongno, which devours corrupt aristocrats and state officials, and which, if it consumes a hundred such wealthy men in the course of its life, is admitted to paradise. Fairy tales one longs to believe in
Archive · Moscow · Pop Culture · Humour
L. P. Orlova, back at the Mossovet Theatre after yet another successful plastic surgery operation, discovers in the programme for the production of "The Strange Mrs Savage" the name of V. P. Maretskaya set against her own role of Mrs Savage, 15 February 1973. Dissatisfied with V. P.
Observations · Mores · Society · Humour
“He came in a suit and did not look like a madman”. a brief but pithy remark on the social importance of observing the dress code
Archive · Monarchies · Paris · People · Humour
Louis XVI could not abide cats and was mortally afraid of them. Once, during a brilliant reception at Versailles, a cat somehow slipped into the hall; Louis, beside himself, leapt from his seat, seized a heavy candelabrum and killed the animal on the spot. On another occasion, hammer in hand,
NB! · Observations · Humour
Enough hanging from the ceiling. Back to the reality of the new working week!