Books · Observations · Humour
"What news have you?" "I have heard nothing." "How can you have heard nothing, when you are always in the company of great men?" "No, Your Excellency, nothing has been said to me." "That cannot be; at the very least you
Books · Observations · Humour
It is foolish to think that one must read every book one has bought, just as it is foolish to criticise those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It is the same as saying that one must use up every fork, glass, screwdriver or
NB! · Observations · Humour
Archive · Moscow · Observations · Society
I was leafing through an album of photographs of 1930s Moscow and came upon a picture of Theatre Square decked out for May Day with outline models of tractors and ploughs. You know, for all the naivety and artlessness of such agitational dressing of urban spaces, it looks far better
Books · Observations · Education
In the Russian Academy of Sciences' Russian Orthographic Dictionary, biennale and b'ennale are recorded as nouns of masculine or feminine gender. The dictionary of foreign words, by contrast, makes biennale neuter. In practice, meanwhile, we see that biennale is most often used as a feminine word. Though
NB! · Observations
Faith · Books · Observations
Who can speak of joy without having known pain, or of peace without having seen and known strife? At dawn the day is parted from the night, and each is known in its own nature and strength, for without contrast nothing is revealed. No image appears in a clear mirror
Faith · Observations · Society · People
Europe will be all right when we see its rulers at prayer in church, and not at pop concerts. It would be as well, of course, if they looked like Charles de Gaulle in church in 1960
Books · Observations · Mores
The English journalist Bruce Chatwin on collecting:. The acquisition of an object is in itself a quest for the Grail: the hunt for the prey, the moment of recognition, the decision to buy, the loss, the fear of financial catastrophe, the dark cloud of uncertainty ("Is it a fake?
Cinema · Observations · Science · Education
Did you cover this at school? Or at the very least, do you remember Sandra Bullock's talent-show number in the film "Miss Congeniality"?
NB! · Art · Books · Observations
NB! · Architecture · Observations · People · Humour
You ask why I don't care for Le Corbusier? Because he led us from the first to the second