NB! · Books · Observations · Humour

The bookshelf after you have bought another two thousand books without yet finishing The Wizard of the Emerald City

Black-and-white engraved portrait of a young woman with long dark ringlets and a lace shawl over her shoulders.

Archive · Books · Humour

Letter from Gustave Flaubert addressed to Louise Colet

"Pull as many faces as you like behind my back; my backside is watching you" Gustave Flaubert to Louise Colet

A cutaway drawn plan of the underground home Bag End in Hobbiton, showing the pantry, dining room and hall, signed by Emil Jensen.

NB! · Architecture · Cinema · Humour

Bilbo Baggins's home Bag End in Hobbiton on a plan by Emil Jensen

The Shire? Baggins? Quite some pile Old Bilbo has got himself

Diagram in three rows showing a woman with a black bob draping a rectangular sheet of cloth in three different ways, labelled a, b and c.

NB! · Archaeology · Ethnography · Humour

Three ways to drape a rectangular piece of cloth in ancient Egyptian dress

3 ways to embrace ancient Egyptian fashion with an ordinary bedsheet. Don't mention it

An elderly man in white robes and a white skullcap drinks beer from a glass mug while a person in black beside him holds another mug.

Faith · People · Humour

Photograph of Benedict XVI holding a mug of beer

For Such an Occasion, It's Permitted. Benedict XVI (1927-2022) with a little mug of beer

Art · Museums · Mores · Humour

A woman should be 70% devoted to the care of her knight and 30% beauty

That is precisely why, in the painting by Pierre-Auguste Vafflard in the museum at Évreux, the girl carries her beloved in her arms, and not the other way round. According to the painter's tedious version, the bridegroom has died, and the bride is kissing his weightless ghost.

Black and white photograph of Groucho Marx in round glasses, with dark moustache and eyebrows, holding a cigar near his face.

Cinema · Pop Culture · Humour

Photograph of the American comedian Groucho Marx holding a cigar

In every old man there is a young man wondering what happened. American comedian Groucho Marx

Archive · People · Humour

Alexander Kuprin: Muscular, Agreeable Strongman

*thanks Leo Tolstoy for his flattering review

Two firefighters in helmets work on a tiled roof above a large square with a colonnade.

NB! · Faith · Observations · Rome · Humour

The conclave has begun, and the author hopes its sessions will be long

A reminder that the conclave has begun. I do hope they will sit there a good while longer and give the matter proper thought

Cinema · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII in Charles Jarrott's film with Geneviève Bujold

Anyone dreaming of a prince would do well to watch the 1969 film "Anne of the Thousand Days", which won the Oscar for Best Costume Design. True, the film contains a number of questionable historical allusions, such as the presence of Mary Tudor at her mother's

Archive · Faith · Observations · Humour

In 1620, in Marburg, two spiritual men who styled themselves prophets preached repentance and foretold that there would be one faith, that Turks and Jews would be converted to the Christian religion, but only after a terrible war, famine and plague, and t

Any day now, I suppose

Books · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Byron in “Don Juan” portrays 62-year-old Catherine II in the full bloom of maturity

"Of course, her pleasant face bore traces of corpulence," – I recommend all ageists to read Byron's description of Catherine II, the imperial mistress of Don Juan. A not especially flattering beginning, one would think. But in fact Byron is kind and benevolent towards the 62-year-