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Books · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society Pages
The Library of Foreign Literature opens a research hall with books of Vyacheslav Ivanov
What is the indispensable element of any scientific institution? Why, a hallmark of quality, an emblem that would shine like a star on the lapel of that institution's jacket. Today, in one of Moscow's jackets (the Library of Foreign Literature), a very important pocket was unstitched,
NB! · Cinema · Moscow · Observations · Humour
Stills from Marlen Khutsiev's 1965 film "I Am Twenty"
Stills from Marlen Khutsiev's 1965 film "I Am Twenty". So the young people embraced a little, rolled about on one another beside a football pitch, danced chastely, and nothing came of it: not a single Komsomol card fell off. Who knows what another 20 years will
Books · Moscow · Observations · Humour
It is alarming that Dasha Veledeyeva of Harper's Bazaar repeats the mistake of Lyudmila Sviridova from the bread factory, who was let into the general reading room (Hall No. 3, though the largest in Europe) and told that it was the academic hall (Hall No.
Girls, the academic hall is straight down the corridor, not to the right!!!
Observations · Society · Paris · Humour
Hidalgo and the Élysée Palace, a Libération image and rats in Paris
Hidalgo is finally ready! Destination: the Élysée Palace. I do not know who hides behind the pseudonym Coco at the newspaper Libération, but this documentary image vividly reminded me how, on my last trip to Paris, I happened to meet more rats than Parisians. The fault lay not with my
NB! · Faith · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
At a meeting with the Hungarian clergy, Pope Francis recalled Rubik's Cube and said it was a good game but not a model for life
At a meeting with the Hungarian clergy, Pope Francis recalled Rubik's Cube and said it was a good game but not a model for life. As ever, I agree with His Holiness, for everyone knows perfectly well that the finest model for life is Cindy Crawford
NB! · In the Press · Observations · Humour
Found the right person to redirect the journalists of REN-TV who ask me about extraterrestrial cities in South America
NB! · Faith · Observations · Humour
A bedtime reminder from the Prophet Ezekiel: do not forget to dress your dry bones in something decent, having not only clothed them with flesh but also endowed them with spirit
NB! · Observations · Society · Humour
Dear Liza Yankovskaya, there is such a word
Dear Liza Yankovskaya, there is such a word. Nepotism. Do google it at your leisure
Architecture · Art · Moscow · Observations
Dobryninskaya Metro Station (formerly Serpukhovskaya) Is Adorned with 16 Refined Bas-Reliefs by Yelena Yanson-Manizer, Wife of the Author of the Bronze Sculptures at Ploshchad Revolyutsii
The marble reliefs depict, for the most part, agricultural workers. This is presumably meant to allude to the chief farming trade of each Soviet republic. Why 16 republics? There were 15 Union republics, the RSFSR included, from 1956 onwards; in 1950, however, when the station opened, there was still the
Art · Museums · Observations · Society · Humour
A reader of novels in a painting by Antoine Wiertz in his museum in Brussels
If you want to feel lucky, simply know that in Brussels all the museums will reopen for the FIRST time since the start of the pandemic only on 15 October. To begin doubting your own luck, consider that this reader of novels in Antoine Wiertz's painting, from his
Moscow · Observations · Society · Paris
Metro accessibility for people with limited mobility in Paris, Tokyo and Moscow
The French on Opportunities for Normal Life for Disabled People in Paris: A Paralympian Carrying the Olympic Flame Cannot Get Down into the Metro. A reminder: in Paris only 9 stations out of 300 are fully equipped for wheelchair users. In Tokyo, by comparison, it is 186 out of 211.