NB! · Observations

The State of Play

NB! · Society · People

The ballet master Natalia Kasatkina, awarded the Order of Friendship, responded to the honour most poetically: "I value very much the words that are usually spoken or written along with this order

The ballet master Natalia Kasatkina, awarded the Order of Friendship, responded to the honour most poetically: "I value very much the words that are usually spoken or written along with this order. But my own reply is always the same: I serve Labour Ballet!"

On the poster a man pushes against a door behind which a ghostly figure stands, while a woman, a nurse and a girl stand behind him beneath a wreath.

NB! · Archive · Mores · Society

Christmas poster of 1918 urging people to wear a mask and wash their hands

Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep a safe distance. Christmas poster, 1918

NB! · Observations

So nice 🥰🥰

Young man in a peaked cap and uniform with medals, a tear on his cheek, framed by a wreath of red roses against a cloudy sky, with a red star and hammer and sickle below.

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Portrait of a young soldier in Soviet uniform within a wreath of red roses

NB! · Art · Pop Culture

An Excellent Alternative to New Year Cards: The Work of the Photographic Artists Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard

NB! · The East · Art · Cinema · People · Pop Culture

Christmas cards in the style of a Persian miniature by Eyvind Earle, one of the artists of Disney's 1959 "Sleeping Beauty"

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Good Lord, just look at these conceited monarchs!

Good Lord, just look at these conceited monarchs! Porcelain figurines of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette by Neapolitan craftsmen of the 1800s. True, the porcelain personages have ended up with rather Habsburg jaws; in two-dimensional images they generally look far better

Screenshot of a Dostoevsky bookstore post about Alexander Radaev's new book The Parnassian Mocker. A comment about delivering a planner is circled in pink at the bottom.

NB! · Archive

Screenshot of Dostoevsky bookstore post about the book The Parnassian Mocker

NB! · Books · Observations · Humour

One might say I have fulfilled the dream of any author: to stand, if only for a moment, beside the diaries of Alina Hess

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · People

Incidentally, in June Prince Philip Mountbatten will turn 100

NB! · Books · Observations

Nadya Obolentseva has asked an interesting question, but to my mind the choice is obvious

Nadya Obolentseva has asked an interesting question, but to my mind the choice is obvious. P.S. Both books go beautifully with the Hermès tea service ❤️