Books · Observations · Humour

How many books have those who name a favourite on a topic really read

So amusing, when people say "one of my favourite books on the subject", as though implying that they have read a great multitude of books on the subject. But they have not. We all know perfectly well that they have not

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Moscow · Observations

Speaking of Sklifosovsky

Speaking of Sklifosovsky. Many who drive past the handsome blue building with the colonnade on the Garden Ring do not even realise that it is no country estate or palace of Praskovya Zhemchugova, but a working Orthodox church

Books · Observations · Science

Do you think Plato would have befriended Nietzsche?

If Nietzsche holds that To create a new heaven and a new earth, one first had to destroy … the former highest values then for Plato true values are eternal and immutable ideas, such as goodness, beauty and justice. They are not the creations of man but patterns to which the

Cinema · Observations · Society · Pop Culture

Joan Rowling on the young “Harry Potter” actors and the stance of those who played villains

It is good that the chief villains of Harry Potter, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter and Tom Felton, in fact support J. K. Rowling, refusing to join the pile-on against her and openly showing their gratitude to this woman. Remember the interesting observation J. K. Rowling once made about

The East · Books · Observations · Mores · Humour

Theories on the origin of the word kolbyag, used for foreigners in Ancient Rus'

There is an old, forgotten Russian word, kolbyag, used in Ancient Rus' to denote foreigners. Which foreigners exactly is not entirely clear: according to one version, the kolbyagi were predominantly of eastern origin. Such too are the foreigners named in the Russkaya Pravda "Varangians" (Western Europeans) and

NB! · Cinema · Observations · Humour

Curiously, among the companions of Odysseus (Matt Damon) in Christopher Nolan's new film is a character played by the South Korean actor Will Yun Lee

Observations · Society · Pop Culture · Humour

The United States ends penny minting as each coin costs more than three cents to make

The United States has stopped minting the penny, that is, the copper one-cent coin. A vast country, a great economy, space-age technology, and yet things did not work out with one small piece of copper. They counted, they reckoned, and they discovered that producing a one-cent coin

Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society

Paid admission at GES-2 and reflections on ideology in contemporary art museums

I know the news is stale, and that everyone has spent the past week and a half in embarrassment and has even stopped talking about it. But since I was away travelling for a long time and did not follow events closely, I am doubly unhappy about this innovation. Though,

NB! · Observations · Society

Why Every Organisation Must Have an info@ Email Address

Cinema · Books · Observations

Frodo Baggins Was 33 When He Received the Ring of Power

He set out from Rivendell for Mount Doom only 17 years later. All that time Gandalf was gathering information about the Ring. Thus the Ring was destroyed when Frodo was already past 50. In the film adaptation, all of this took no more than a couple of weeks, three at

NB! · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society

Non-stop vandalism in churches, cemeteries, squares and memorials across Europe

Non-stop vandalism in churches, cemeteries, squares and memorials across Europe. But the most frightening thing is that this is only the beginning

Art · Museums · Observations · Mores

Following the Example of Their Elders

In the painting by Vasily Maximov (1844-1911) from the collection of the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum, we see a boy secretly drinking wine, unbeknown to his parents. The painting is called "Following the Example of Their Elders". Our youth love luxury, they are badly brought up, they