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NB! · Books · Observations · Society
The Monarchess Arrives in Kyiv
The Monarchess has arrived in Kyiv. A note for all those whom feminine forms irritate: in fact they are an organic and perfectly fitting linguistic phenomenon with a long history. From the book "Life and Military Deeds of Generalissimo Prince Italiysky Count Suvorov-Rymniksky"
The East · Art · Museums · Observations · Mores
Do you remember the porcelain decanter in the shape of a fish, with little fish-shaped glasses, found in so many Soviet interiors?
Do you remember the porcelain decanter in the shape of a fish, with little fish-shaped glasses, found in so many Soviet interiors? We have such a fish at home too, inherited from my grandmother, and in two colour variations at that; it was mass-produced at the porcelain factory
Observations · Society · People · Pop Culture
The Legend of Marilyn Monroe Helping Ella Fitzgerald at the Mocambo Club and Its Critics
There is a much-repeated recollection of Ella Fitzgerald's: when she was not being invited to sing in clubs because she was black, Marilyn Monroe offered the manager of the prestigious Mocambo club to come and sit at a table right by the stage, reserved for all the
NB! · Observations · Humour
Greetings to all my Mayanist acquaintances
Greetings to all my Mayanist acquaintances. And no greetings whatever to the Fomenkoites 🙃
NB! · Art · Observations
John Bellany's 1985 self-portrait with his friend, the artist Alan Davie
Self-Portrait of John Bellany with His Friend Alan Davie. 1985. Two famous Scottish artists with strange creatures of the seashore, somehow reminiscent of Roerich and Konenkov
NB! · Faith · Observations · People · Humour
Well, well: Nikita Mikhalkov has moved to the Spas television channel
Well, well: Nikita Mikhalkov has moved to the Spas television channel. He tells us how the Emperor Constantine hamstrung his own horses(!), and how the Emperor Diocletian grew cabbages. For which, much thanks
NB! · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Humour
Meanwhile, on the First Channel: a sumptuous concert for the 180th anniversary of the Pushkin Museum
Meanwhile, on the First Channel: a sumptuous concert for the 180th anniversary of the Pushkin Museum. They are showing an excerpt from Kirill Serebrennikov's ballet "Nureyev". I too should like Renata Litvinova at my birthday (And preferably without Shvydkoy
Architecture · London · Observations
William Douglas's triangular house in South Kensington, once seven artists' studios
The celebrated "flat house" in South Kensington, built in the late nineteenth century by William Douglas on a tiny wedge-shaped scrap of land, is in fact triangular in plan, with its narrowest part just 180 cm wide and its broadest 10 metres. Originally the house contained seven
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Rome
I confess I became curious as to which doors in Rome might be called the oldest
I confess I became curious as to which doors in Rome might be called the oldest. Among the contenders are the doors of the Curia Julia, made in the 1st century BC and preserved even though the curia itself was destroyed. These doors now stand in the treasury of the
NB! · Archive · Moscow · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
The handsome Ivan Yankovsky backs the "I Want RGADA Remotely" campaign
The handsome Ivan Yankovsky backs the "I Want RGADA Remotely" campaign. Ah, Vanya, we all want things remotely just now, and not merely the State Archive of Early Acts. But it is a good and noble cause, and I support it wholeheartedly.
Observations · Mores · Ethnography
Hollow inside baked bread in folk omens: a relative's death or an imminent pregnancy
A note for the housewife: if a large hollow forms inside a loaf during baking, it may foretell the death of one of your nearest and dearest. Happily, folk omens are not ultimatums, and besides death they promise, for instance, an early pregnancy. The principle is clear enough: empty space