The East · Observations · Science
If you thought galleys were obsolete by the Age of Discovery, think again. Here, by way of proof, is an image of an Ottoman galley in the Black Sea, late sixteenth century. And although by this time the strong maritime powers, the Ottoman Empire among them, could boast a great
London · Observations · Society · Humour
The Bank of England is considering replacing the images of Winston Churchill and other historical figures on its banknotes with other "symbols of national identity". Among those named are Stonehenge, the oak tree, fish and chips and football. Though why stop at fish and chips? Let us go
Moscow · Observations · Society · Paris · Nature · Humour
Extreme heat continues in France. The red alert level has been declared in 16 departments of the country. Since yesterday the top floor of the Eiffel Tower has been closed to visitors because of the high temperature. Abnormal heat is also being recorded in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands.
NB! · Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
The cover of Bryan Ferry's album Olympia with Kate Moss is a reference to Édouard Manet's painting "Olympia". The musician says he wanted to convey the spirit of the picture without copying the pose. Doubtful, of course. The resemblance is, in truth, nil. Presumably
NB! · Observations
Cinema · Books · Observations
In the 1960 French film adaptation of Voltaire's "Candide, or Optimism" I noticed an interesting detail. In the twentieth-century version, Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh lives not in Westphalia but somewhere a few steps between Alsace and Lorraine, and this time he, like previous generations of
Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Society Pages
Yesterday Sistema Gallery opened three exhibitions at once, to mark the gallery's third birthday. The project that impressed me most was Daria Pasechnik's "Posts from Nowhere", done in an enchanted, fairy-tale style. The artist explains that she is exploring the longing for visual
NB! · Archive · Moscow · Observations
Children sunbathing near Arbatskaya metro station in the 1960s. Consider how much more human and simple life in Moscow was sixty years ago. Today the city is deprived of such ordinary joys, yet it is drowning in formal conveniences
Architecture · Art · Moscow · Observations
But a cursory glance through the catalogues reveals that this is not the only likeness of the disgraced monument on the artificial island at the confluence of the Moskva River and the Drainage Canal, not far from the Bersenevskaya Embankment. On the same occasion a whole series of similar medals
NB! · Archive · Observations
Geography · Observations · Society
From the news of the list of the twenty largest economies in the world: Spain is still on it, China has still not overtaken the USA, though for years we have been promised that this is about to happen (the gap, incidentally, is huge), but the gap between second and
NB! · Moscow · Observations
A floating drilling rig on a pontoon raft on the Vodootvodny Canal, on the Bolotnaya Embankment side, between the Patriarshy Bridge (closed) and the Maly Kamenny Bridge. What are they drilling for? I have grown curious.