Black and white still of a creature in heavy make-up with tangled hair reaching forward, beside the words “Frankenstein 1910”.

Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

The first screen adaptation of “Frankenstein” in 1910 runs for 12 minutes

A Hundred Years Ago the TikTok Girls Were More Talented. Poster for the first screen adaptation of Frankenstein, 1910. The film runs for 12 minutes and is packed with metaphors of the meaning of existence and the search for the capacity to feel in earnest. The Monster looks more modern

NB! · Books · Observations

What can one say: an excellent choice of cover for the Iliad

Books · Observations · People

Portrait of Jorge Luis Borges, who lived from 1899 to 1986

In my next life I shall try to make more mistakes. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)

Bird and Tier e-scooters parked by the wall of the Archaeological Crypt in Paris, with Notre-Dame cathedral on the right.

Observations · Society · Paris

Paris to become the first European capital without e-scooters after a referendum

Paris Bans Electric Scooters for Good! Following the April referendum, in which 90% of participants voted against this appalling form of transport, Paris will become the first European capital entirely free of electric scooters. Good Lord, when will it come to pass in Moscow too?

Books · Observations · Education · Society

I have read the new draft of the 2024 Unified State Exam (EGE) and, besides the changes that hold little interest for me, not being a school teacher of Russian literature, concerning the number of tasks (11 instead of 12) and primary marks (48 instead of

So, in order. 1. When answering a question, one may no longer refer to any author at will; one must choose from those named in the question itself. 2. Russian literature before the second half of the nineteenth century has vanished from the codifier of core texts. Now the first

The East · Observations

It all depends on the angle

Photograph by Sami Uchan, Istanbul

NB! · Observations · Humour

Whose Side Are You On?

NB! · Faith · Observations · Humour

Sunday School Lessons Were Not Wasted

Monarchies · Observations · Society

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage airport to be named after Elizabeth II with Charles III's consent

France is to name an airport after Elizabeth II. The proposal to rename the airport in the small town of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage on the shore of the Channel was sent by the town authorities to Buckingham Palace soon after the Queen's death. And at last Charles

NB! · Observations

Apologies

NB! · Cinema · Observations · Humour

Still Waiting for a Sitcom About This Woman

Cinema · Observations · Mores · Humour

A post-Soviet person, raised in a standard-issue flat behind an iron door with three locks, itself set over a wooden door upholstered in leatherette, with a bolt, a latch and a little hook, cannot grasp the true horror of American films, in which the most

A post-Soviet person, raised in a standard-issue flat behind an iron door with three locks, itself set over a wooden door upholstered in leatherette, with a bolt, a latch and a little hook, cannot grasp the true horror of American films, in which the most terrifying things (a