Sunday, December 6, 2015
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Avon Castle. Earls of Egmont.
A History Of Avon Castle.
Ringwood, Avon Castle 1891 - Francis Frith - Photo!
Earl of Egmont was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It became extinct with the death of the twelfth earl in 2011.
The Castle itself was converted into flats in 1949/50, most now privately owned. (1949 - Planning permission was granted for the conversion of the Castle into nine self contained flats.)
Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland: Lohort Castle
The11th Earl of Egmont, better known in Alberta as Frederick Perceval, on his land near Priddis, circa 1948 Calgary Herald Archives.
The Stampede’s fascination with British nobility was evident in 1932 when Frederick Perceval, 11th Earl of Egmont was tapped to present the prizes at the livestock revue and children’s show.
Known as the “cowboy earl” Perceval, 18, inherited the title, an estate worth an estimated $1M, historic Avon Castle and a seat in the British House of Lords. The earl chose ranching in Alberta instead.
Perceval purchased 275 hectares of land and built a home outside Calgary, at what is now Macleod Trail and Willow Park Drive. As the city grew, the land was sold and Egmont bought the 2,000-hectare Two Dot Ranch near Nanton. He lived there until his death at age 87 in December 2001.
He loved the ranching life, horseback riding and motorcycles. He was a competitor at the Calgary Stampede, taking part in the chuckwagon races and the wild cow milking contest.
As a young man, he was quoted as saying,“I’d sooner stay in Priddis than go anywhere in the world.”
The Earl of Egmont - Telegraph
THE 11th EARL OF EGMONT, who has died in Alberta aged 87, became one of the Peerage's most romantic figures at the age of 15 when he reluctantly moved from a two-room prairie shack to Avon Castle, Hampshire, on his father's inheritance of the earldom.
Members of a junior branch of the Perceval family which had emigrated to Iowa and then Alberta in the late 19th century, the boy and his widowed father "bached" together on a 600-acre ranch at Priddis, near Calgary.
Ringwood, Avon Castle 1891 - Francis Frith - Photo!
Earl of Egmont was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It became extinct with the death of the twelfth earl in 2011.
The Castle itself was converted into flats in 1949/50, most now privately owned. (1949 - Planning permission was granted for the conversion of the Castle into nine self contained flats.)
Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland: Lohort Castle
The11th Earl of Egmont, better known in Alberta as Frederick Perceval, on his land near Priddis, circa 1948 Calgary Herald Archives.
The Stampede’s fascination with British nobility was evident in 1932 when Frederick Perceval, 11th Earl of Egmont was tapped to present the prizes at the livestock revue and children’s show.
Known as the “cowboy earl” Perceval, 18, inherited the title, an estate worth an estimated $1M, historic Avon Castle and a seat in the British House of Lords. The earl chose ranching in Alberta instead.
Perceval purchased 275 hectares of land and built a home outside Calgary, at what is now Macleod Trail and Willow Park Drive. As the city grew, the land was sold and Egmont bought the 2,000-hectare Two Dot Ranch near Nanton. He lived there until his death at age 87 in December 2001.
He loved the ranching life, horseback riding and motorcycles. He was a competitor at the Calgary Stampede, taking part in the chuckwagon races and the wild cow milking contest.
As a young man, he was quoted as saying,“I’d sooner stay in Priddis than go anywhere in the world.”
The Earl of Egmont - Telegraph
THE 11th EARL OF EGMONT, who has died in Alberta aged 87, became one of the Peerage's most romantic figures at the age of 15 when he reluctantly moved from a two-room prairie shack to Avon Castle, Hampshire, on his father's inheritance of the earldom.
Members of a junior branch of the Perceval family which had emigrated to Iowa and then Alberta in the late 19th century, the boy and his widowed father "bached" together on a 600-acre ranch at Priddis, near Calgary.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
It was written by Faith, Paloma / Harcourt, Ed.
A prophet took my hand on all souls day
He preached the value of deception
Changing shadows by shape shifters rules
Tales are never just for fools
The caught of conscience came before me
Presented me with a heavenly angel
He took my hand and asked me truths aside
To his questions I replied
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
Just close your eyes and make believe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
I am happy to deceive you
He stood as tall as red wood trees
Drank tea from a seamstress thimble
I didn't want to speak the honest truth
So I spit out lies that aimed to soothe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
Just close your eyes and make believe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
I am happy to deceive you
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
But do you want me?
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
Just close your eyes and make believe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
I am happy to deceive you
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
But do you want me? But do you want me?
Read more: Paloma Faith - Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Горькая правда и сладкая ложь?
- Хочешь услышать правду или что-то прекрасное? /перевод текста песни/
A prophet took my hand on all souls day
He preached the value of deception
Changing shadows by shape shifters rules
Tales are never just for fools
The caught of conscience came before me
Presented me with a heavenly angel
He took my hand and asked me truths aside
To his questions I replied
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
Just close your eyes and make believe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
I am happy to deceive you
He stood as tall as red wood trees
Drank tea from a seamstress thimble
I didn't want to speak the honest truth
So I spit out lies that aimed to soothe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
Just close your eyes and make believe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
I am happy to deceive you
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
But do you want me?
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
Just close your eyes and make believe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
I am happy to deceive you
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
Sacred lies and telling tales
I can be who you want me to be
But do you want me? But do you want me?
Read more: Paloma Faith - Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Горькая правда и сладкая ложь?
- Хочешь услышать правду или что-то прекрасное? /перевод текста песни/
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Belmont House.
Belmont House - Past Remains
Belmont House is set high above the pretty little town of Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast.
Belmont House was the seaside villa of Eleanor Coade, the eighteenth-century inventor of Coade stone, and later the home of renowned author John Fowles.
Built in 1777 the house is a fine, early example of a maritime villa.
Eleanor Coade owned the house from 1784.
In 1883 Belmont was bought by a GP, Dr Richard Bangay who transformed the villa into a large family home.
John Fowles and his wife Elizabeth moved to Lyme in 1965; they had bought the secluded Underhill Farm.
Like many other parts of Lyme Regis, the land his home was built on was vulnerable to landslips. When part of the garden fell into the sea he moved to an impressive Georgian property, Belmont House.
John Fowles bought Belmont House in 1968.
John Fowles moved into Underhill Farm in October 1965, and then to Belmont House in May 1969.
Here Fowles wrote The Ebony Tower (1974), Daniel Martin (1977), Mantissa (1982), A Maggot (1985) and The Tree (1992), Wormholes at Belmont.
The Landmark Trust purchased the property in 2007 from His widow Sarah, two years after the novelist’s death, aged 79.
The Landmark Trust plans to complete the uncovering of the original maritime villa, also keeping its observatory tower as an example of its type.
Mrs Sarah Fowles accused the charity of hypocrisy for using the novelist's name to raise funds after years of “writing him out of the story”.
She said: “They are raising an appeal on his name but they are pulling down the main part of the house he lived in.
Local historian Ken Gallop warned that visitors would not see the house as Fowles knew it.
"It's going to rack and ruin,” he said.
The house overlooks the famous Cobb in Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep, who starred in the classic 1981 film adaptation of The French Lieutenant's Woman, was memorably pictured. John Fowles bought Belmont House just after he finished the book - The French Lieutenant's Woman, "I have offered £18,000 for Belmont House.".
'Its clothes were black...the figure stood motionless, staring, staring out to sea.' (John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman)
Elizabeth Fowles, John Fowles.
“Our life was Bohemian in the extreme; we had no clock, lived by desires; slept, ate, made love when we wanted. Took no exercise, went to parks, cinemas, read papers, argued, kissed, wrote letters. Neither E nor I have any time-sense, any morality about routines and conventions. On the whole for me a very happy time; a complex happiness; sex of course; she never tires me that way, never ceases, by simply being present, to seduce me; companionship being totally absorbed and absorbing somebody else…”
His love affair on the Greek Island of Spetses with Elizabeth, the married woman who would later become his first wife...having wooed her away from her first husband, a teacher, who was also his friend. Elizabeth had given up access to her only daughter to be with the man she adored.
John Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Following his time in the Marines, which he despised,he went up, belatedly, to Oxford, where he studied French.
After graduating, he taught English at the University of Poitiers, where he made a discovery that would have a profound and enduring impact: the joy of wildfowling (In British English, the term "hunting" is generally reserved for the pursuit of game on land with hounds, so the sport is generally known as "wildfowl shooting" or "wildfowling" rather than "hunting.") and, more generally, of being at one with nature. It was to dominate his life and much of his writing.
In 1951, Fowles went to teach at Anagyriou, a private boarding school on Spetsai, the Greek island that he has described as "a place that has always seemed to me to be near to Paradise". He was dismissed after 18 months - he was never in synch with another harsh regime - but the experience yielded the basis of what would be his second published novel, The Magus; and, more significantly, Elizabeth Whitton, who would be his muse and, for 34 years until her death in 1990, his wife.
His first novel, The Collector (1963), was a bestseller. His startling portrait of obsession with which, he said, he was "trying to show that our world is sick".
In 1965 The Magus was published, followed in 1969 by The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
The 1981 film version, with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, was nominated for five Oscars.
Fowles hit the big time in the United States and swiftly discovered how international fame "eats your soul and your heart out".
His only book of poetry, simply called Poems, came out in the USA, but not in the UK, in 1973.
John Fowles suffered a stroke in 1988 but he made sufficient recovery to carry on writing.
His first wife Elizabeth died in 1990 of cancer, only a week after it was diagnosed.
In 1998, Fowles married his second wife Sarah Smith.
Fowles once said if a novelist is to be a useful observer of society he must stand back from it and not become too active a participant. He has been true to his word, staying quietly in Lyme Regis, with Sarah.
There he curates the local museum, he copes with celebrity "mainly by rejecting it".
The restored Belmont House and garden open to the public admission free.
The 2016 open days are February 13-14 and September 10-11.
On Friday afternoons from April to October there is an exhibition on Belmont’s residents in the former stables next door.
- Belmont: from show-home to holiday home | Dorset Life - The Dorset Magazine
- Corfu Blues: Belmont House, Lyme Regis, home of John Fowles
- John Fowles' love letters to student sell for £25,000 - Telegraph :
John Fowles had a secret affair with a woman 43 years his junior.
Even setting aside the age difference, it was a highly unusual relationship, as a cache of letters written by the author, to be auctioned at Sotheby's. His lover, Elena van Lieshout, who was a 21-year-old Oxford undergraduate when the romance began, appears to have adopted the persona of Sarah Woodruff, the romantic heroine of Fowles's best known novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman.
The correspondence - some 120 letters and postcards, including several unpublished love poems - reveals that while the couple shared a bed, the romance was never fully consummated because Fowles, who was 64 at the time, had suffered a stroke. This was something Fowles bitterly regretted. He wrote: "It seems barbaric at times; that I've lost all sexual potency yet not sexual feeling."
This did not stop the pair role-playing, however. One letter reveals that a month after their first meeting, they re-enacted a scene from The French Lieutenant's Woman, standing in the same place where Fowles pictured Sarah Woodruff telling Charles Smithson, her admirer in the book, of her ruinous affair. The relationship lasted two years, but seems to have cooled when Fowles suggested marriage. They remained in touch until 1998 and then appear to have lost contact.
- The 'real' French Lieutenant's Woman: John Fowles's doomed love affair with a 21-year-old Oxford student | Daily Mail Online:
"In May 1990, she arrived in Dorset to arrange a summer job as a waitress in the local Bell Cliff restaurant, taking a room nearby. There, the landlady told her that her hero had lost his wife to cancer barely two months previously.
Elena promptly wrote a letter of condolence to Fowles, adding that she was a great admirer of his who just happened to be staying in the area. She dropped it through the letter-box and waited. The lonely Fowles took the bait and sent a note by return, inviting her to visit next time she was in Lyme Regis.
As soon as her July holidays came around, Elena took up the invitation. By now, Fowles was feeling his bereavement even more keenly. In his diary he describes himself engulfed by waves of solitude 'blocking all present life out, crushing it like a roller'.
he may have been a crusty old widower, yet he had lost none of the romantic dreaminess of his youth. And so when Elena came to tea, it was the start of an unusual romantic relationship."
Belmont House is set high above the pretty little town of Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast.
Belmont House was the seaside villa of Eleanor Coade, the eighteenth-century inventor of Coade stone, and later the home of renowned author John Fowles.
Built in 1777 the house is a fine, early example of a maritime villa.
Eleanor Coade owned the house from 1784.
In 1883 Belmont was bought by a GP, Dr Richard Bangay who transformed the villa into a large family home.
John Fowles and his wife Elizabeth moved to Lyme in 1965; they had bought the secluded Underhill Farm.
Like many other parts of Lyme Regis, the land his home was built on was vulnerable to landslips. When part of the garden fell into the sea he moved to an impressive Georgian property, Belmont House.
John Fowles bought Belmont House in 1968.
John Fowles moved into Underhill Farm in October 1965, and then to Belmont House in May 1969.
Here Fowles wrote The Ebony Tower (1974), Daniel Martin (1977), Mantissa (1982), A Maggot (1985) and The Tree (1992), Wormholes at Belmont.
The Landmark Trust purchased the property in 2007 from His widow Sarah, two years after the novelist’s death, aged 79.
The Landmark Trust plans to complete the uncovering of the original maritime villa, also keeping its observatory tower as an example of its type.
Mrs Sarah Fowles accused the charity of hypocrisy for using the novelist's name to raise funds after years of “writing him out of the story”.
She said: “They are raising an appeal on his name but they are pulling down the main part of the house he lived in.
Local historian Ken Gallop warned that visitors would not see the house as Fowles knew it.
"It's going to rack and ruin,” he said.
The house overlooks the famous Cobb in Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep, who starred in the classic 1981 film adaptation of The French Lieutenant's Woman, was memorably pictured. John Fowles bought Belmont House just after he finished the book - The French Lieutenant's Woman, "I have offered £18,000 for Belmont House.".
'Its clothes were black...the figure stood motionless, staring, staring out to sea.' (John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman)
Elizabeth Fowles, John Fowles.
“Our life was Bohemian in the extreme; we had no clock, lived by desires; slept, ate, made love when we wanted. Took no exercise, went to parks, cinemas, read papers, argued, kissed, wrote letters. Neither E nor I have any time-sense, any morality about routines and conventions. On the whole for me a very happy time; a complex happiness; sex of course; she never tires me that way, never ceases, by simply being present, to seduce me; companionship being totally absorbed and absorbing somebody else…”
His love affair on the Greek Island of Spetses with Elizabeth, the married woman who would later become his first wife...having wooed her away from her first husband, a teacher, who was also his friend. Elizabeth had given up access to her only daughter to be with the man she adored.
John Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Following his time in the Marines, which he despised,he went up, belatedly, to Oxford, where he studied French.
After graduating, he taught English at the University of Poitiers, where he made a discovery that would have a profound and enduring impact: the joy of wildfowling (In British English, the term "hunting" is generally reserved for the pursuit of game on land with hounds, so the sport is generally known as "wildfowl shooting" or "wildfowling" rather than "hunting.") and, more generally, of being at one with nature. It was to dominate his life and much of his writing.
In 1951, Fowles went to teach at Anagyriou, a private boarding school on Spetsai, the Greek island that he has described as "a place that has always seemed to me to be near to Paradise". He was dismissed after 18 months - he was never in synch with another harsh regime - but the experience yielded the basis of what would be his second published novel, The Magus; and, more significantly, Elizabeth Whitton, who would be his muse and, for 34 years until her death in 1990, his wife.
His first novel, The Collector (1963), was a bestseller. His startling portrait of obsession with which, he said, he was "trying to show that our world is sick".
In 1965 The Magus was published, followed in 1969 by The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
The 1981 film version, with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, was nominated for five Oscars.
Fowles hit the big time in the United States and swiftly discovered how international fame "eats your soul and your heart out".
His only book of poetry, simply called Poems, came out in the USA, but not in the UK, in 1973.
John Fowles suffered a stroke in 1988 but he made sufficient recovery to carry on writing.
His first wife Elizabeth died in 1990 of cancer, only a week after it was diagnosed.
In 1998, Fowles married his second wife Sarah Smith.
Fowles once said if a novelist is to be a useful observer of society he must stand back from it and not become too active a participant. He has been true to his word, staying quietly in Lyme Regis, with Sarah.
There he curates the local museum, he copes with celebrity "mainly by rejecting it".
The restored Belmont House and garden open to the public admission free.
The 2016 open days are February 13-14 and September 10-11.
On Friday afternoons from April to October there is an exhibition on Belmont’s residents in the former stables next door.
- Belmont: from show-home to holiday home | Dorset Life - The Dorset Magazine
- Corfu Blues: Belmont House, Lyme Regis, home of John Fowles
- John Fowles' love letters to student sell for £25,000 - Telegraph :
John Fowles had a secret affair with a woman 43 years his junior.
Even setting aside the age difference, it was a highly unusual relationship, as a cache of letters written by the author, to be auctioned at Sotheby's. His lover, Elena van Lieshout, who was a 21-year-old Oxford undergraduate when the romance began, appears to have adopted the persona of Sarah Woodruff, the romantic heroine of Fowles's best known novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman.
The correspondence - some 120 letters and postcards, including several unpublished love poems - reveals that while the couple shared a bed, the romance was never fully consummated because Fowles, who was 64 at the time, had suffered a stroke. This was something Fowles bitterly regretted. He wrote: "It seems barbaric at times; that I've lost all sexual potency yet not sexual feeling."
This did not stop the pair role-playing, however. One letter reveals that a month after their first meeting, they re-enacted a scene from The French Lieutenant's Woman, standing in the same place where Fowles pictured Sarah Woodruff telling Charles Smithson, her admirer in the book, of her ruinous affair. The relationship lasted two years, but seems to have cooled when Fowles suggested marriage. They remained in touch until 1998 and then appear to have lost contact.
- The 'real' French Lieutenant's Woman: John Fowles's doomed love affair with a 21-year-old Oxford student | Daily Mail Online:
"In May 1990, she arrived in Dorset to arrange a summer job as a waitress in the local Bell Cliff restaurant, taking a room nearby. There, the landlady told her that her hero had lost his wife to cancer barely two months previously.
Elena promptly wrote a letter of condolence to Fowles, adding that she was a great admirer of his who just happened to be staying in the area. She dropped it through the letter-box and waited. The lonely Fowles took the bait and sent a note by return, inviting her to visit next time she was in Lyme Regis.
As soon as her July holidays came around, Elena took up the invitation. By now, Fowles was feeling his bereavement even more keenly. In his diary he describes himself engulfed by waves of solitude 'blocking all present life out, crushing it like a roller'.
he may have been a crusty old widower, yet he had lost none of the romantic dreaminess of his youth. And so when Elena came to tea, it was the start of an unusual romantic relationship."
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death (BBC Two), October 10.
TV Pick of the Day: Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death (BBC Two), October 10 | Western Morning News
"A brilliant, balanced portrait of the still-compelling poet."
Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death, BBC Two – "Magnetic" | TV reviews, news & interviews | The Arts Desk
"A brilliant, balanced portrait of the still-compelling poet."
Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death, BBC Two – "Magnetic" | TV reviews, news & interviews | The Arts Desk
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger.
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger - Понемногу обо всем
Фридрих Кристоф Этингер | Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (2.05.1702 – 10.02.1782) - немецкий лютеранский теологист /богослов и теософер.
Изучал теологию и философию в Тюбингенском университете. Много путешествовал. С 1746 года служил пастором в Вюртемберге.
Самое популярное его наследие - его молитва:
Lord, grant me serenity to accept the things I can not change, give me the courage to change the things I can change, and give me the wisdom to distinguish one from another.
Господи, дай мне спокойствие принять то, чего я не могу изменить, дай мне мужество изменить то, что я могу изменить. И дай мне мудрость отличить одно от другого.
Как утверждают многочисленные свидетели и мемуаристы, текст молитвы висел над рабочим столом президента США Джона Кеннеди.
Авторство текста приписывают и американскому протестантскому теологу Рейнхольду Нибуру (21.06.1892 — 1.06.1971). Но он, скорее всего, подарил молитве второе рождение, адаптировав в 1940 году текст молитвы для реабилитационной программы американского сообщества анонимных алкоголиков.
Ну а актуальным текст остается для любой категории людей вне зависимости от религиозной, национальной и т.п. принадлежности.
Фридрих Кристоф Этингер | Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (2.05.1702 – 10.02.1782) - немецкий лютеранский теологист /богослов и теософер.
Изучал теологию и философию в Тюбингенском университете. Много путешествовал. С 1746 года служил пастором в Вюртемберге.
Самое популярное его наследие - его молитва:
Lord, grant me serenity to accept the things I can not change, give me the courage to change the things I can change, and give me the wisdom to distinguish one from another.
Господи, дай мне спокойствие принять то, чего я не могу изменить, дай мне мужество изменить то, что я могу изменить. И дай мне мудрость отличить одно от другого.
Как утверждают многочисленные свидетели и мемуаристы, текст молитвы висел над рабочим столом президента США Джона Кеннеди.
Авторство текста приписывают и американскому протестантскому теологу Рейнхольду Нибуру (21.06.1892 — 1.06.1971). Но он, скорее всего, подарил молитве второе рождение, адаптировав в 1940 году текст молитвы для реабилитационной программы американского сообщества анонимных алкоголиков.
Ну а актуальным текст остается для любой категории людей вне зависимости от религиозной, национальной и т.п. принадлежности.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Out of Africa.
"So take back the soul of Denys Finch-Hatton...
who you have shared with us.
He brought us joy,
and we loved him well.
He was not ours,
he was not mine."
who you have shared with us.
He brought us joy,
and we loved him well.
He was not ours,
he was not mine."
"Choose Life."
Edinburgh, England heroin addict Mark 'Rent-Boy' Renton (Ewan McGregor) gave a "choose life" diatribe (a voice-over), in two parts. In the film's opening, he narrated as he was pursued by security guards. In the film's closing, he confidently walked through London on a sunny day, vowing to live a traditional life:
Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f--kin' big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchased in a range of f--kin' fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f--k you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sittin' on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f--kin' junk food into your mouth. Choose rottin' away at the end of it all, pissin' your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarassment to the selfish, f--ked-up brats that you've spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life...But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
Now I've justified this to myself in all sorts of ways. It wasn't a big deal, just a minor betrayal. Or we'd outgrown each other, you know, that sort of thing. But let's face it, I ripped them off-- my so-called mates. But Begbie, I couldn't give a s--t about him. And Sick Boy, well he'd done the same to me, if he'd only thought of it first. And Spud, well okay, I felt sorry for Spud -- he never hurt anybody. So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false. The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's gonna change. I'm going to change. This is the last of that sort of thing, and I'm cleanin' up and I'm movin' on, going straight and choosin' life. I'm lookin' forward to it already. I'm gonna be just like you: the job, the family, the f--king big television, the washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electrical tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisure-wear, luggage, three-piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing the gutters, getting by, looking ahead, the day you die.
/Trainspotting (1996, UK)
Screenwriter(s): John Hodge/
Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f--kin' big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchased in a range of f--kin' fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f--k you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sittin' on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f--kin' junk food into your mouth. Choose rottin' away at the end of it all, pissin' your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarassment to the selfish, f--ked-up brats that you've spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life...But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
Now I've justified this to myself in all sorts of ways. It wasn't a big deal, just a minor betrayal. Or we'd outgrown each other, you know, that sort of thing. But let's face it, I ripped them off-- my so-called mates. But Begbie, I couldn't give a s--t about him. And Sick Boy, well he'd done the same to me, if he'd only thought of it first. And Spud, well okay, I felt sorry for Spud -- he never hurt anybody. So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false. The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's gonna change. I'm going to change. This is the last of that sort of thing, and I'm cleanin' up and I'm movin' on, going straight and choosin' life. I'm lookin' forward to it already. I'm gonna be just like you: the job, the family, the f--king big television, the washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electrical tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisure-wear, luggage, three-piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing the gutters, getting by, looking ahead, the day you die.
/Trainspotting (1996, UK)
Screenwriter(s): John Hodge/
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Friday, September 4, 2015
Maria Joao Pires plays magical Mozart.
Prom 57, Royal Albert Hall, review: Maria Joao Pires plays magical Mozart - Reviews - Classical - The Independent
Maria João Pires born in Lisbon, Portugal, 23 July 1944 is a Portuguese pianist.
With spirited support from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink’s direction, Pires’s performance was flawless and serene. There was a bloom on her notes as she announced the opening theme, her articulation was pellucid, and her passage-work delicately expressive. Her solos in the plangently lilting Adagio seemed to float in space, and the right-hand runs in the finale were pearlised. The cadenza she played was Mozart’s own, nothing tricksy, just a gentle reinforcement of what had gone before. Fray’s audience had gladly let him go without an encore; Pires didn’t play one either, to the evident disappointment of her fans. Haitink and the COE concluded the evening with a majestic account of Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major symphony.
Maria João Pires born in Lisbon, Portugal, 23 July 1944 is a Portuguese pianist.
With spirited support from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink’s direction, Pires’s performance was flawless and serene. There was a bloom on her notes as she announced the opening theme, her articulation was pellucid, and her passage-work delicately expressive. Her solos in the plangently lilting Adagio seemed to float in space, and the right-hand runs in the finale were pearlised. The cadenza she played was Mozart’s own, nothing tricksy, just a gentle reinforcement of what had gone before. Fray’s audience had gladly let him go without an encore; Pires didn’t play one either, to the evident disappointment of her fans. Haitink and the COE concluded the evening with a majestic account of Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major symphony.
Extra screen time 'hits GCSE grades'.
Extra screen time 'hits GCSE grades' - BBC News
An extra hour a day of television, internet or computer game time in Year 10 is linked to poorer grades at GCSE, a Cambridge University study suggests.
The researchers recorded the activities of more than 800 14-year-olds and analysed their GCSE results at 16.
Those spending an extra hour a day on screens saw a fall in GCSE results equivalent to two grades overall.
"Reducing screen time could have important benefits," said co-author Dr Esther van Sluijs.
Activity monitored
The researchers analysed the habits of 845 pupils from schools in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk at the age of 14 years and six months.
The pupils heights and weights were recorded, and they had to wear a physical activity monitor for five days including a weekend.
They were also asked to complete a questionnaire detailing the amount of time they spent on:
homework
reading for pleasure
physical activity
watching TV
playing video games
non-homework time online
The researchers correlated the data with the pupils' GCSEs, taken the following year.
Pupils who did an extra hour of homework and reading performed better than their peers, while extra physical activity appeared to have no effect on academic performance.
On average, the 14-year-olds said they spent four hours of their leisure time each day watching TV or in front of a computer.
The researchers found an additional hour of screen-time each day was associated with 9.3 fewer GCSE points at 16 - the equivalent of dropping a grade in two subjects.
Rear shot children watch tvImage copyrightThinkstock
Two extra hours of screen-time was associated with 18 fewer points - or dropping a grade in four subjects.
The results also suggested extra time spent watching TV had the most detrimental effect on grades.
Pupils who put in an extra hour of homework or spent the time reading, did better in their GCSEs, scoring 23 points more than the average.
But even if pupils spent more time studying, more time spent watching TV or online, still harmed their results, the analysis suggested.
Extra time on moderate to vigorous physical activity had no effect on academic achievement.
'Reliable snapshot'
"We believe that programmes aimed at reducing screen time could have important benefits for teenagers' exam grades, as well as their health," said Dr Van Sluijs, of the Medical Research Council's Centre for Diet and Activity Research at Cambridge University.
"It is also encouraging that our results show that greater physical activity does not negatively affect exam results.
"As physical activity has many other benefits, efforts to promote physical activity throughout the day should still be a public health priority."
Lead author Dr Kirsten Corder said the measurements taken on the Year 10 pupils represented "a reliable snapshot of participants' usual behaviour".
She added: "So this is roughly equivalent to two grades lower for one subject, one grade lower in two subjects.
"We followed these students over time so we can be relatively confident of our results and we can cautiously infer that TV viewing may lead to lower GCSE results but we certainly can't be certain."
"Further research is needed to confirm this effect conclusively, but parents who are concerned about their child's GCSE grade might consider limiting his or her screen time."
Dr Corder suggested there could be various reasons for the link, including "substitution of television for other healthier behaviours or behaviours better for academic performance, or perhaps some cognitive mechanisms in the brain".
The study is published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity.
An extra hour a day of television, internet or computer game time in Year 10 is linked to poorer grades at GCSE, a Cambridge University study suggests.
The researchers recorded the activities of more than 800 14-year-olds and analysed their GCSE results at 16.
Those spending an extra hour a day on screens saw a fall in GCSE results equivalent to two grades overall.
"Reducing screen time could have important benefits," said co-author Dr Esther van Sluijs.
Activity monitored
The researchers analysed the habits of 845 pupils from schools in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk at the age of 14 years and six months.
The pupils heights and weights were recorded, and they had to wear a physical activity monitor for five days including a weekend.
They were also asked to complete a questionnaire detailing the amount of time they spent on:
homework
reading for pleasure
physical activity
watching TV
playing video games
non-homework time online
The researchers correlated the data with the pupils' GCSEs, taken the following year.
Pupils who did an extra hour of homework and reading performed better than their peers, while extra physical activity appeared to have no effect on academic performance.
On average, the 14-year-olds said they spent four hours of their leisure time each day watching TV or in front of a computer.
The researchers found an additional hour of screen-time each day was associated with 9.3 fewer GCSE points at 16 - the equivalent of dropping a grade in two subjects.
Rear shot children watch tvImage copyrightThinkstock
Two extra hours of screen-time was associated with 18 fewer points - or dropping a grade in four subjects.
The results also suggested extra time spent watching TV had the most detrimental effect on grades.
Pupils who put in an extra hour of homework or spent the time reading, did better in their GCSEs, scoring 23 points more than the average.
But even if pupils spent more time studying, more time spent watching TV or online, still harmed their results, the analysis suggested.
Extra time on moderate to vigorous physical activity had no effect on academic achievement.
'Reliable snapshot'
"We believe that programmes aimed at reducing screen time could have important benefits for teenagers' exam grades, as well as their health," said Dr Van Sluijs, of the Medical Research Council's Centre for Diet and Activity Research at Cambridge University.
"It is also encouraging that our results show that greater physical activity does not negatively affect exam results.
"As physical activity has many other benefits, efforts to promote physical activity throughout the day should still be a public health priority."
Lead author Dr Kirsten Corder said the measurements taken on the Year 10 pupils represented "a reliable snapshot of participants' usual behaviour".
She added: "So this is roughly equivalent to two grades lower for one subject, one grade lower in two subjects.
"We followed these students over time so we can be relatively confident of our results and we can cautiously infer that TV viewing may lead to lower GCSE results but we certainly can't be certain."
"Further research is needed to confirm this effect conclusively, but parents who are concerned about their child's GCSE grade might consider limiting his or her screen time."
Dr Corder suggested there could be various reasons for the link, including "substitution of television for other healthier behaviours or behaviours better for academic performance, or perhaps some cognitive mechanisms in the brain".
The study is published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Oliver Sacks.
Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist and writer.
"Oliver Sacks - Tales of Music and The Brain" - imagine...
Oliver Sacks dies from cancer aged 82.
"Oliver Sacks - Tales of Music and The Brain" - imagine...
Oliver Sacks dies from cancer aged 82.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
Рената Литвинова.
Рената Литвинова | Журнал ОК!
Человек, который вас полюбит, будет вас щадить, будет вами восхищаться. Он не будет жадным по отношению к вам, никогда не будет от вас скрывать деньги, никогда не будет на вас экономить. Он будет делать вам какие-то роскошные, может быть, даже не по средствам подарки. Тот, кто в вас влюблен, обязательно должен вас повезти в Париж. Сколько встречаю девушек, которые никогда не были здесь! И спрашиваю: ну а вот эти ваши молодые люди, чем они вас награждают? И они мне показывают жалкое колечко уродливое с тремя обломками. Или висючее сердечко омерзительного вида. И я думаю: боже, ну что же они такие дураки? Что может быть прекраснее Парижа?..
И еще я думаю, что свое надо ждать, не надо компромиссничать. Человек ведь даже может взять себя в руки и произнести вот эти самые важные слова. И даже вы можете пожениться, и у вас даже может быть общий ребенок — и это окажется все неважно, если это нелюбовь. Когда встретится любовь, все вопросы отпадут.
notes
...мужчины, даже самые любящие, бывают разные. И есть люди, начисто лишенные романтизма. Которым никогда не придет в голову ни Париж, ни цветы, ни стихи, ни серенады под балконом... но при этом они будут просто порядочными, честными и самое главное - да, САМОЕ главное! - никогда не станут сношать вам мозг. И будут всегда рядом, и по-человечески помогут, если нужно... а все эти парижи - ерунда для малолеток.
Восхитительная логика - не были в Париже - любви не существует. А Париже нет одиноких сердец?
Человек, который вас полюбит, будет вас щадить, будет вами восхищаться. Он не будет жадным по отношению к вам, никогда не будет от вас скрывать деньги, никогда не будет на вас экономить. Он будет делать вам какие-то роскошные, может быть, даже не по средствам подарки. Тот, кто в вас влюблен, обязательно должен вас повезти в Париж. Сколько встречаю девушек, которые никогда не были здесь! И спрашиваю: ну а вот эти ваши молодые люди, чем они вас награждают? И они мне показывают жалкое колечко уродливое с тремя обломками. Или висючее сердечко омерзительного вида. И я думаю: боже, ну что же они такие дураки? Что может быть прекраснее Парижа?..
И еще я думаю, что свое надо ждать, не надо компромиссничать. Человек ведь даже может взять себя в руки и произнести вот эти самые важные слова. И даже вы можете пожениться, и у вас даже может быть общий ребенок — и это окажется все неважно, если это нелюбовь. Когда встретится любовь, все вопросы отпадут.
notes
...мужчины, даже самые любящие, бывают разные. И есть люди, начисто лишенные романтизма. Которым никогда не придет в голову ни Париж, ни цветы, ни стихи, ни серенады под балконом... но при этом они будут просто порядочными, честными и самое главное - да, САМОЕ главное! - никогда не станут сношать вам мозг. И будут всегда рядом, и по-человечески помогут, если нужно... а все эти парижи - ерунда для малолеток.
Восхитительная логика - не были в Париже - любви не существует. А Париже нет одиноких сердец?
Monday, August 10, 2015
Россия.
Владимир Набоков.
Плыви, бессонница, плыви, воспоминанье...
Я дивно одинок. Ни звука, ни луча...
Ночь за оконницей безмолвна, как изгнанье,
черна, как совесть палача.
Мой рай уже давно и срублен, и распродан...
Я рос таинственно в таинственном краю,
но Бог у юного, небрежного народа
Россию выхолил мою.
Рабу стыдливую, поющую про зори
свои дрожащие, увел он в темноту
и в ужасе ее, терзаньях и позоре
познал восторга полноту.
Он груди вырвал ей, глаза святые выжег,
и что ей пользы в том, что в тишь ее равнин
польется ныне смрад от угольных изрыжек
Европой пущенных машин?
Напрасно ткут они, напрасно жнут и веют,
развозят по Руси и сукна, и зерно:
она давно мертва, и тленом ветры веют,
и все, что пело, сожжено.
Он душу в ней убил. Хватил с размаху о пол
младенца теплого. Вдавил пятою в грязь
живые лепестки и, скорчившись, захлопал
в ладоши, мерзостно смеясь.
Он душу в ней убил — все то, что распевало,
тянулось к синеве, плясало по лесам,
все то, что при луне над водами всплывало,
все, что прочувствовал я сам.
Все это умерло. Христу ли, Немезиде
молиться нам теперь? Дождемся ли чудес?
Кто скажет наконец лукавому: изыди?
кого послушается бес?
Все это умерло, и все же вдохновенье
волнуется во мне, сгораю, но пою.
Родная, мертвая, я чаю воскресенья
и жизнь грядущую твою!
<1922>
Плыви, бессонница, плыви, воспоминанье...
Я дивно одинок. Ни звука, ни луча...
Ночь за оконницей безмолвна, как изгнанье,
черна, как совесть палача.
Мой рай уже давно и срублен, и распродан...
Я рос таинственно в таинственном краю,
но Бог у юного, небрежного народа
Россию выхолил мою.
Рабу стыдливую, поющую про зори
свои дрожащие, увел он в темноту
и в ужасе ее, терзаньях и позоре
познал восторга полноту.
Он груди вырвал ей, глаза святые выжег,
и что ей пользы в том, что в тишь ее равнин
польется ныне смрад от угольных изрыжек
Европой пущенных машин?
Напрасно ткут они, напрасно жнут и веют,
развозят по Руси и сукна, и зерно:
она давно мертва, и тленом ветры веют,
и все, что пело, сожжено.
Он душу в ней убил. Хватил с размаху о пол
младенца теплого. Вдавил пятою в грязь
живые лепестки и, скорчившись, захлопал
в ладоши, мерзостно смеясь.
Он душу в ней убил — все то, что распевало,
тянулось к синеве, плясало по лесам,
все то, что при луне над водами всплывало,
все, что прочувствовал я сам.
Все это умерло. Христу ли, Немезиде
молиться нам теперь? Дождемся ли чудес?
Кто скажет наконец лукавому: изыди?
кого послушается бес?
Все это умерло, и все же вдохновенье
волнуется во мне, сгораю, но пою.
Родная, мертвая, я чаю воскресенья
и жизнь грядущую твою!
<1922>
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
E. L. Doctorow.
E. L. Doctorow Dies at 84; Literary Time Traveler Stirred Past Into Fiction - The New York Times
Edgar Lawrence "E. L." Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015)
Edgar Lawrence "E. L." Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015)
Sunday, July 19, 2015
О старости.
О старости | Главный сайт телеведущего Владимира Познера
Совсем недавно я получил письмо от своей американской знакомой Филлис Шлоссберг. Впрочем, она больше чем знакомая, ведь мы встретились лет пятнадцать тому назад. Дружил же я с ее мужем Джеком, ветераном Второй мировой. Он пошел воевать семнадцати лет, бежал от бедности, от приютов, где его оставили родители-алкоголики, бежал, чтобы участвовать в «хорошей войне». Стал летчиком-истребителем, полетал славно, потом служил во Франции, где научился понимать в винах и женщинах. Вернулся в Нью-Йорк, воспользовался законом, который давал большие льготы ветеранам, желавшим учиться, стал дипломированным бухгалтером, затем и адвокатом. Он был типичным продуктом Нью-Йорка: чуть жестковатым, чуть нагловатым, любителем хороших сигар, красивых женщин и вовремя выпитой стопочки виски. Но, кроме того, у Джека был врожденный вкус — он точно и тонко чувствовал живопись и театр, читал много и глубоко. Невысокого роста, на совсем худых ногах, с щелочками почти всегда смеющихся голубых глаз и чуть рыжеватыми волосами (он красил их по настоянию жены), Джек Шлоссберг был человеком необыкновенно уютным. Пишу «был», потому что в августе прошлого года он внезапно скончался, оставив дыру в моем сердце. Но дело не в этом, а в письме, которое прислала мне Филлис. Она пишет:
«Моя давняя подруга написала мне о своей старости, и я задумалась: стара ли я? Тело мое иногда говорит: да, стара… но сердце не соглашается!!! И я бы тоже не хотела вернуться в свои молодые годы. По-моему, это ее письмо очень точно подводит итог жизни».
Вот оно, это письмо:
Совсем недавно я получил письмо от своей американской знакомой Филлис Шлоссберг. Впрочем, она больше чем знакомая, ведь мы встретились лет пятнадцать тому назад. Дружил же я с ее мужем Джеком, ветераном Второй мировой. Он пошел воевать семнадцати лет, бежал от бедности, от приютов, где его оставили родители-алкоголики, бежал, чтобы участвовать в «хорошей войне». Стал летчиком-истребителем, полетал славно, потом служил во Франции, где научился понимать в винах и женщинах. Вернулся в Нью-Йорк, воспользовался законом, который давал большие льготы ветеранам, желавшим учиться, стал дипломированным бухгалтером, затем и адвокатом. Он был типичным продуктом Нью-Йорка: чуть жестковатым, чуть нагловатым, любителем хороших сигар, красивых женщин и вовремя выпитой стопочки виски. Но, кроме того, у Джека был врожденный вкус — он точно и тонко чувствовал живопись и театр, читал много и глубоко. Невысокого роста, на совсем худых ногах, с щелочками почти всегда смеющихся голубых глаз и чуть рыжеватыми волосами (он красил их по настоянию жены), Джек Шлоссберг был человеком необыкновенно уютным. Пишу «был», потому что в августе прошлого года он внезапно скончался, оставив дыру в моем сердце. Но дело не в этом, а в письме, которое прислала мне Филлис. Она пишет:
«Моя давняя подруга написала мне о своей старости, и я задумалась: стара ли я? Тело мое иногда говорит: да, стара… но сердце не соглашается!!! И я бы тоже не хотела вернуться в свои молодые годы. По-моему, это ее письмо очень точно подводит итог жизни».
Вот оно, это письмо:
Thursday, July 16, 2015
The man whose mind exploded.
BMJ Blogs: The BMJ » Blog Archive » Julian Sheather: The man whose mind exploded
Drako Oho Zarhazar.
Documentary-maker Amies ventures into the little Brighton flat of the extraordinary Drako Zarhazar, and comes out with a sweetly compelling life story.
The tattooed, pierced Drako, amnesiac after a road accident, lives only “in the now”; his cramped home is plastered with penis pictures and photo mementoes of a rich past that encompassed working with Salvador Dalí and performing at the London Palladium.
A loving portrait of a lovable eccentric.
Drako Oho Zarhazar.
Documentary-maker Amies ventures into the little Brighton flat of the extraordinary Drako Zarhazar, and comes out with a sweetly compelling life story.
The tattooed, pierced Drako, amnesiac after a road accident, lives only “in the now”; his cramped home is plastered with penis pictures and photo mementoes of a rich past that encompassed working with Salvador Dalí and performing at the London Palladium.
A loving portrait of a lovable eccentric.
...
The trees were bare sculpture without their leaves, as Hemingway once said about the winter trees in the Luxumbourg Gardens.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Beryl Bainbridge.
Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge DBE (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer from Liverpool.
- Beryl Bainbridge on the art of facing death - Features - Books - The Independent
- Obituary: Beryl Bainbridge, acclaimed British novelist, dies at 77
"In 1968, Ms. Bainbridge had traveled across the United States by car and ended up in Los Angeles the night Kennedy was killed. It was just another of the strange conjunctions that animated her fiction and her life."
- Beryl Bainbridge on the art of facing death - Features - Books - The Independent
- Obituary: Beryl Bainbridge, acclaimed British novelist, dies at 77
"In 1968, Ms. Bainbridge had traveled across the United States by car and ended up in Los Angeles the night Kennedy was killed. It was just another of the strange conjunctions that animated her fiction and her life."
Friday, July 3, 2015
Вертинская.
Багира Вертинская - Светская жизнь - МК
Вертинская — загадка, так до сих пор никем и не разгаданная. Дочь знаменитого русского шансонье, она дебютировала в кино сразу в двух звездных ролях — в “Алых парусах” и “Человеке-амфибии”. Через два года — Офелия в “Гамлете” у Козинцева. Вот это старт, вам и не снилось! Затем театры, роли, мужья (Михалков и Градский)… Всё пролетело. И осталась она — Актриса. Она сыграла в кино булгаковскую Маргариту, которую почти никто и не видел. Растаяла как дым, унеслась на своей метле времени. Теперь правит бал… в ресторане своего сына. И по-прежнему остается загадкой. Для всех. Сегодня у Анастасии Вертинской юбилей. Поздравляем!
“Альпинисткой я бы быть не смогла”
— Наверное, не любите, когда с вами фамильярничают?
— Конечно, я амикошонства не терплю.
— Но вы же понимаете, что к вам не просто обратиться по имени-отчеству, так и хочется сказать — Анастасия.
— Я привыкла, что люди называют меня Анастасия, но фамильярность здесь ни при чем. Хотя отчество у меня знаменитое. Если молодые люди называют меня по имени, это неплохо. Главное, чтобы не на “ты”.
— Ну а хамство? Когда его видите вокруг себя, что чувствуете?
— Человеческие отношения заминированы хамством. Но Бог милостив, я стараюсь не возбуждаться, когда всё это вижу и слышу. Ничто так не принижает, как разговор с тобой хама. Это один из самых болезненных ударов. Здесь я всегда привожу историю с Чеховым. Он однажды пришел, сел обедать, а суп был холодный. Он стал кричать: “Да что же это такое? Я зарабатываю на всю семью, неужели трудно дать мне горячий суп?” Накричал на всех, хлопнул дверью и пошел писать рассказ про хама. Так что нужно самому в это хамство не скатиться.
Вертинская — загадка, так до сих пор никем и не разгаданная. Дочь знаменитого русского шансонье, она дебютировала в кино сразу в двух звездных ролях — в “Алых парусах” и “Человеке-амфибии”. Через два года — Офелия в “Гамлете” у Козинцева. Вот это старт, вам и не снилось! Затем театры, роли, мужья (Михалков и Градский)… Всё пролетело. И осталась она — Актриса. Она сыграла в кино булгаковскую Маргариту, которую почти никто и не видел. Растаяла как дым, унеслась на своей метле времени. Теперь правит бал… в ресторане своего сына. И по-прежнему остается загадкой. Для всех. Сегодня у Анастасии Вертинской юбилей. Поздравляем!
“Альпинисткой я бы быть не смогла”
— Наверное, не любите, когда с вами фамильярничают?
— Конечно, я амикошонства не терплю.
— Но вы же понимаете, что к вам не просто обратиться по имени-отчеству, так и хочется сказать — Анастасия.
— Я привыкла, что люди называют меня Анастасия, но фамильярность здесь ни при чем. Хотя отчество у меня знаменитое. Если молодые люди называют меня по имени, это неплохо. Главное, чтобы не на “ты”.
— Ну а хамство? Когда его видите вокруг себя, что чувствуете?
— Человеческие отношения заминированы хамством. Но Бог милостив, я стараюсь не возбуждаться, когда всё это вижу и слышу. Ничто так не принижает, как разговор с тобой хама. Это один из самых болезненных ударов. Здесь я всегда привожу историю с Чеховым. Он однажды пришел, сел обедать, а суп был холодный. Он стал кричать: “Да что же это такое? Я зарабатываю на всю семью, неужели трудно дать мне горячий суп?” Накричал на всех, хлопнул дверью и пошел писать рассказ про хама. Так что нужно самому в это хамство не скатиться.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Sheryl Sandberg's essay on Dave Goldberg's death and grief.
Sheryl Sandberg's Post on Late Husband Sets Off Meditations on Grief - NYTimes.com:
Sheryl Sandberg's essay on Dave Goldberg's death and grief - Business Insider:
Sheryl Sandberg - Today is the end of sheloshim for my beloved...
Here's the essay in full:
"Today is the end of sheloshim for my beloved husband—the first thirty days. Judaism calls for a period of intense mourning known as shiva that lasts seven days after a loved one is buried. After shiva, most normal activities can be resumed, but it is the end of sheloshim that marks the completion of religious mourning for a spouse.
A childhood friend of mine who is now a rabbi recently told me that the most powerful one-line prayer he has ever read is: "Let me not die while I am still alive." I would have never understood that prayer before losing Dave. Now I do.
I think when tragedy occurs, it presents a choice. You can give in to the void, the emptiness that fills your heart, your lungs, constricts your ability to think or even breathe. Or you can try to find meaning. These past thirty days, I have spent many of my moments lost in that void. And I know that many future moments will be consumed by the vast emptiness as well.
But when I can, I want to choose life and meaning.
And this is why I am writing: to mark the end of sheloshim and to give back some of what others have given to me. While the experience of grief is profoundly personal, the bravery of those who have shared their own experiences has helped pull me through. Some who opened their hearts were my closest friends. Others were total strangers who have shared wisdom and advice publicly. So I am sharing what I have learned in the hope that it helps someone else. In the hope that there can be some meaning from this tragedy.
Sheryl Sandberg's essay on Dave Goldberg's death and grief - Business Insider:
Sheryl Sandberg - Today is the end of sheloshim for my beloved...
Here's the essay in full:
"Today is the end of sheloshim for my beloved husband—the first thirty days. Judaism calls for a period of intense mourning known as shiva that lasts seven days after a loved one is buried. After shiva, most normal activities can be resumed, but it is the end of sheloshim that marks the completion of religious mourning for a spouse.
A childhood friend of mine who is now a rabbi recently told me that the most powerful one-line prayer he has ever read is: "Let me not die while I am still alive." I would have never understood that prayer before losing Dave. Now I do.
I think when tragedy occurs, it presents a choice. You can give in to the void, the emptiness that fills your heart, your lungs, constricts your ability to think or even breathe. Or you can try to find meaning. These past thirty days, I have spent many of my moments lost in that void. And I know that many future moments will be consumed by the vast emptiness as well.
But when I can, I want to choose life and meaning.
And this is why I am writing: to mark the end of sheloshim and to give back some of what others have given to me. While the experience of grief is profoundly personal, the bravery of those who have shared their own experiences has helped pull me through. Some who opened their hearts were my closest friends. Others were total strangers who have shared wisdom and advice publicly. So I am sharing what I have learned in the hope that it helps someone else. In the hope that there can be some meaning from this tragedy.
Юлия Высоцкая.
Юлия Высоцкая: первое интервью о дочери, муже и автокатастрофе:
"Актриса призналась, что в ее новой жизни практически не осталось места старым знакомым, привыкшим видеть ее радостной, улыбчивой и далекой от каких бы то ни было проблем.
По словам Юлии, она хотела бы сохранить и уберечь свой мир от посторонних глаз.
«Люди не хотят выглядеть черствыми. Но многие из них – часть той жизни, которая для меня закончилась, - откровенно заявила Высоцкая. - Дополнительное напоминание. Моя рана не закрылась и не закроется никогда»."
'via Blog this'
"Актриса призналась, что в ее новой жизни практически не осталось места старым знакомым, привыкшим видеть ее радостной, улыбчивой и далекой от каких бы то ни было проблем.
По словам Юлии, она хотела бы сохранить и уберечь свой мир от посторонних глаз.
«Люди не хотят выглядеть черствыми. Но многие из них – часть той жизни, которая для меня закончилась, - откровенно заявила Высоцкая. - Дополнительное напоминание. Моя рана не закрылась и не закроется никогда»."
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Lynn Barber on her liaison as a 16-year-old with an older man.
Lynn Barber on her liaison as a 16-year-old with an older man | Culture | The Guardian:
Observer writer and interviewer Lynn Barber was an innocent 16-year-old schoolgirl when she met an older man and began a relationship that lasted two years. By day she was a diligent student; by night 'Simon' charmed her with dazzling stories, expensive restaurants and foreign films. And then came a rude awakening. In this exclusive extract from her memoir - now made into a film starring Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike - she describes her introduction to an adult world of sexuality and betrayal and how she was damaged by her suitor's lessons in life.
Observer writer and interviewer Lynn Barber was an innocent 16-year-old schoolgirl when she met an older man and began a relationship that lasted two years. By day she was a diligent student; by night 'Simon' charmed her with dazzling stories, expensive restaurants and foreign films. And then came a rude awakening. In this exclusive extract from her memoir - now made into a film starring Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike - she describes her introduction to an adult world of sexuality and betrayal and how she was damaged by her suitor's lessons in life.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Thursday, May 7, 2015
“Бабадук”. Интервью с Дженнифер Кент.
Интервью с Дженнифер Кент. Кино на Фильм.ру:
В чем для вас главная идея фильма?
В том, что случается, когда не встречают свои душевные проблемы лицом к лицу, а стараются их игнорировать, выталкивают их в подсознание.
Меня очень волнует этот вопрос. Что случается с чувствами, которые не находят выхода?
Как меняет жизнь людей трагедия, которая пережита, но не прочувствована? «Бабадук» исследует эту проблему в форме мистической притчи.
Амелия так сильно пытается подавить мысли о потере мужа, что их негативная энергия становится самостоятельным существом, отделяется от героини и начинает ею управлять.
Что это за существо? Кто знает… То есть я-то знаю. (Смеется.) Я чувствую, что это за монстр.
Но я предоставляю публике право самой решать, как воспринимать мою картину.
Сверхъестественное это кино или психологическая драма – я свое мнение не навязываю. Но, как я уже сказала, для меня главное – то, что творится в душе героини.
Что это не просто хоррор. Я очень надеюсь, что фильм не только напугает зрителей, но и затронет их сердца, и они поймут, почему я придумала и сняла именно такое кино.
'via Blog this'
В чем для вас главная идея фильма?
В том, что случается, когда не встречают свои душевные проблемы лицом к лицу, а стараются их игнорировать, выталкивают их в подсознание.
Меня очень волнует этот вопрос. Что случается с чувствами, которые не находят выхода?
Как меняет жизнь людей трагедия, которая пережита, но не прочувствована? «Бабадук» исследует эту проблему в форме мистической притчи.
Амелия так сильно пытается подавить мысли о потере мужа, что их негативная энергия становится самостоятельным существом, отделяется от героини и начинает ею управлять.
Что это за существо? Кто знает… То есть я-то знаю. (Смеется.) Я чувствую, что это за монстр.
Но я предоставляю публике право самой решать, как воспринимать мою картину.
Сверхъестественное это кино или психологическая драма – я свое мнение не навязываю. Но, как я уже сказала, для меня главное – то, что творится в душе героини.
Что это не просто хоррор. Я очень надеюсь, что фильм не только напугает зрителей, но и затронет их сердца, и они поймут, почему я придумала и сняла именно такое кино.
'via Blog this'
The Babadook. Jennifer Kent.
The Babadook director Jennifer Kent talks about drawing horror from life / The Dissolve:
"If it's in a word or it's in a book, you can't get rid of the Babadook."
"Jennifer Kent wants you to know that it’s okay to be afraid. If fear is a choice, the Australian filmmaker is convinced it’s dangerous not to choose it. All the same, if you buy a ticket to her first feature, she’s happy to take care of things from there.
Loosely extrapolated from Kent’s 2005 short “Monster,” The Babadook is the story of single mother Amelia (Essie Davis), whose husband was killed in a car accident on the way to the hospital when she was in labor seven years earlier. Amelia is hanging on by a thread when the film begins, and the increasingly violent behavior exhibited by her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) isn’t making it any easier for her to maintain a brave face. But the façade doesn’t really begin to crack until Amelia reads Samuel the wrong bedtime story. The hardbound book Mister Babadook is the rhyming tale of an insidious, unstoppable monster, brought to life with pop-up illustrations that owe as much to James Wan as to Edward Gorey. Needless to say, The Babadook isn’t content to stay on the page.
A hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where IFC Midnight quickly scooped up the distribution rights, The Babadook is a hauntingly humane portrait of grief and repression in the guise of a ridiculous creature feature. The Babadook is one of the scariest horror movies in recent memory because Kent possesses a preternatural command of her craft, but it’s one of the most satisfying horror movies of the decade because she has a rare faith in what the genre can aspire to and achieve. Her mastery of sudden jolts and slow chills is a pleasure to watch, and its refreshing to see a contemporary horror film with such a keen eye for composition. But Kent never loses sight of how scares work best when they’re used as a means to an end. Encouraged to confront our fears, The Dissolve sat down with the filmmaker in New York City, where The Babadook recently played in the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New Directors / New Films festival.
[Editor’s note: This interview discusses elements of the film’s ending in broad terms; the spoiler-averse are advised to tread carefully.]
"If it's in a word or it's in a book, you can't get rid of the Babadook."
"Jennifer Kent wants you to know that it’s okay to be afraid. If fear is a choice, the Australian filmmaker is convinced it’s dangerous not to choose it. All the same, if you buy a ticket to her first feature, she’s happy to take care of things from there.
Loosely extrapolated from Kent’s 2005 short “Monster,” The Babadook is the story of single mother Amelia (Essie Davis), whose husband was killed in a car accident on the way to the hospital when she was in labor seven years earlier. Amelia is hanging on by a thread when the film begins, and the increasingly violent behavior exhibited by her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) isn’t making it any easier for her to maintain a brave face. But the façade doesn’t really begin to crack until Amelia reads Samuel the wrong bedtime story. The hardbound book Mister Babadook is the rhyming tale of an insidious, unstoppable monster, brought to life with pop-up illustrations that owe as much to James Wan as to Edward Gorey. Needless to say, The Babadook isn’t content to stay on the page.
A hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where IFC Midnight quickly scooped up the distribution rights, The Babadook is a hauntingly humane portrait of grief and repression in the guise of a ridiculous creature feature. The Babadook is one of the scariest horror movies in recent memory because Kent possesses a preternatural command of her craft, but it’s one of the most satisfying horror movies of the decade because she has a rare faith in what the genre can aspire to and achieve. Her mastery of sudden jolts and slow chills is a pleasure to watch, and its refreshing to see a contemporary horror film with such a keen eye for composition. But Kent never loses sight of how scares work best when they’re used as a means to an end. Encouraged to confront our fears, The Dissolve sat down with the filmmaker in New York City, where The Babadook recently played in the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New Directors / New Films festival.
[Editor’s note: This interview discusses elements of the film’s ending in broad terms; the spoiler-averse are advised to tread carefully.]
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Как рай стал адом.
Этология.Ру: Эксперимент «Вселенная-25»: как рай стал адом (Библиотека):
Для популяции мышей в рамках социального эксперимента создали райские условия: неограниченные запасы еды и питья, отсутствие хищников и болезней, достаточный простор для размножения.
Однако в результате вся колония мышей вымерла.
Почему это произошло?
И какие уроки из этого должно вынести человечество?
'via Blog this'
Для популяции мышей в рамках социального эксперимента создали райские условия: неограниченные запасы еды и питья, отсутствие хищников и болезней, достаточный простор для размножения.
Однако в результате вся колония мышей вымерла.
Почему это произошло?
И какие уроки из этого должно вынести человечество?
'via Blog this'
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Book. Film. "The Constant Gardener".
The constant muse | Books | The Guardian:
"When John le Carré was searching for the inspiration for his new bestseller, The Constant Gardener, he realised his heroine had already been his friend for 20 years. Here, he celebrates the life of Yvette Pierpaoli, a fearless French adventuress whose tragic death the book foretells."
There was a time when, coming out of a novel, I would hit the ground running. And I knew that if I could just keep on running and not be bothered with all that boring editing and publishing nonsense, I could write another book twice as quickly as the last one. I may even have been right. But not this time. This time, I've come out shuffling. I'm like a jailbird after a long stretch: unready for life, resentful of the separation, nostalgic for the chums I'd been locked up with, and longing to get back inside where I was safe. More strangely, I have unfinished business. I have the feeling that I've written someone else's novel.
The novel in question is called The Constant Gardener. It describes a middle-aged British diplomat's search for the killers of his murdered young wife, Tessa. The diplomat's name is Justin, and he is a Foreign Office plodder employed in the British High Commission in Nairobi. The story opens with Tessa's death on the shores of Lake Turkana, in northern Kenya, where she was fatally stabbed and the driver of her jeep decapitated. Her companion and putative lover, an African doctor, apparently fled the scene. The story goes on from there.
"When John le Carré was searching for the inspiration for his new bestseller, The Constant Gardener, he realised his heroine had already been his friend for 20 years. Here, he celebrates the life of Yvette Pierpaoli, a fearless French adventuress whose tragic death the book foretells."
There was a time when, coming out of a novel, I would hit the ground running. And I knew that if I could just keep on running and not be bothered with all that boring editing and publishing nonsense, I could write another book twice as quickly as the last one. I may even have been right. But not this time. This time, I've come out shuffling. I'm like a jailbird after a long stretch: unready for life, resentful of the separation, nostalgic for the chums I'd been locked up with, and longing to get back inside where I was safe. More strangely, I have unfinished business. I have the feeling that I've written someone else's novel.
The novel in question is called The Constant Gardener. It describes a middle-aged British diplomat's search for the killers of his murdered young wife, Tessa. The diplomat's name is Justin, and he is a Foreign Office plodder employed in the British High Commission in Nairobi. The story opens with Tessa's death on the shores of Lake Turkana, in northern Kenya, where she was fatally stabbed and the driver of her jeep decapitated. Her companion and putative lover, an African doctor, apparently fled the scene. The story goes on from there.
Танец для одной. Майя Плисецкая.
Ъ - Танец для одной:
На 90-м году ушла из жизни гражданка Литвы и Германии, почётный доктор университета Сорбонны, почётный профессор МГУ, почётный гражданин Испании, талантливая балерина Майя Плисецкая.
"И второй раз родится не выйдет, как ни старайся. Своё живи!" - одна из ярких цитат балерины.
"Люди не делятся на классы, расы, государственные системы.
Люди делятся на плохих и хороших.
Только так.
Хорошие всегда исключение, подарок Неба“, – Майя Плисецкая.
"От морщин никуда не деться…
Но молодящийся старичок или старушка – это смешно…
Знаете, есть старый сад и новый сад.
Но ухожен он или нет – это уже совсем другое дело.
То же самое с лицом человека: всегда видно – ухожено оно или запущено“, – Майя Плисецкая.
"Конечно, двадцать лет тем и сказочны для всякой женщины,что в двадцать выглядит она хорошо круглые сутки.
А к тридцати, увы, хороша она уж часа эдак три за день.
Потом - того меньше.
А к пятидесяти сверкнут пять-семь минут.
Да и то в выигрышном освещении, со старательным макияжем.", – Майя Плисецкая.
В своей книге "Я, Майя Плисецкая" балерина писала:
"...Дам вам совет, будущие поколения.
Меня послушайте.
Не смиряйтесь, до самого края не смиряйтесь.
Даже тогда — воюйте, отстреливайтесь, в трубы трубите, в барабаны бейте, в телефоны звоните,телеграммы с почтамтов шлите, не сдавайтесь, до последнего мига боритесь, воюйте. Даже тоталитарные режимы отступали, случалось, перед одержимостью, убежденностью, настырностью.
Мои победы только на том и держались.
Характер — это и есть судьба...".
Майя Михайловна всегда считала, что коммунизм хуже фашизма.
'via Blog this'
На 90-м году ушла из жизни гражданка Литвы и Германии, почётный доктор университета Сорбонны, почётный профессор МГУ, почётный гражданин Испании, талантливая балерина Майя Плисецкая.
"И второй раз родится не выйдет, как ни старайся. Своё живи!" - одна из ярких цитат балерины.
"Люди не делятся на классы, расы, государственные системы.
Люди делятся на плохих и хороших.
Только так.
Хорошие всегда исключение, подарок Неба“, – Майя Плисецкая.
"От морщин никуда не деться…
Но молодящийся старичок или старушка – это смешно…
Знаете, есть старый сад и новый сад.
Но ухожен он или нет – это уже совсем другое дело.
То же самое с лицом человека: всегда видно – ухожено оно или запущено“, – Майя Плисецкая.
"Конечно, двадцать лет тем и сказочны для всякой женщины,что в двадцать выглядит она хорошо круглые сутки.
А к тридцати, увы, хороша она уж часа эдак три за день.
Потом - того меньше.
А к пятидесяти сверкнут пять-семь минут.
Да и то в выигрышном освещении, со старательным макияжем.", – Майя Плисецкая.
В своей книге "Я, Майя Плисецкая" балерина писала:
"...Дам вам совет, будущие поколения.
Меня послушайте.
Не смиряйтесь, до самого края не смиряйтесь.
Даже тогда — воюйте, отстреливайтесь, в трубы трубите, в барабаны бейте, в телефоны звоните,телеграммы с почтамтов шлите, не сдавайтесь, до последнего мига боритесь, воюйте. Даже тоталитарные режимы отступали, случалось, перед одержимостью, убежденностью, настырностью.
Мои победы только на том и держались.
Характер — это и есть судьба...".
Майя Михайловна всегда считала, что коммунизм хуже фашизма.
'via Blog this'
Плисецкие-Мессерер из рода литваков.
Плисецкие-Мессерер из рода литваков - новости культуры, статьи об истории - газета «Обзор», новости Литвы:
"Она танцевала практически 60 лет и почти 50 из них – на сцене Большого театра, в труппу которого была принята в 1943 году, сразу после окончания Московского хореографического училища. Плисецкая стала легендой и символом Большого театра. Она обладает обширной коллекцией наград и является кавалером российского ордена «За заслуги перед Отечеством» 3, 2 и 1 степеней, а также орденов многих стран. Её имя присвоено малой планете номер 4626.
Однако жизнь Майи Плисецкой не всегда была безоблачной. Дочь репрессированных родителей, она находилась под надзором КГБ и несколько лет вообще была «невыездной». Но даже в самые трудные времена она казалась баловнем судьбы. Мэтр мировой моды и большой друг балерины Пьер Карден сказал о ней: «Она так талантлива и неизменно красива! Всегда победительница, в том числе и со временем, годы отступают перед её жизнелюбием, энергией, смелостью и неутомимой жаждой творчества!»
"Она танцевала практически 60 лет и почти 50 из них – на сцене Большого театра, в труппу которого была принята в 1943 году, сразу после окончания Московского хореографического училища. Плисецкая стала легендой и символом Большого театра. Она обладает обширной коллекцией наград и является кавалером российского ордена «За заслуги перед Отечеством» 3, 2 и 1 степеней, а также орденов многих стран. Её имя присвоено малой планете номер 4626.
Однако жизнь Майи Плисецкой не всегда была безоблачной. Дочь репрессированных родителей, она находилась под надзором КГБ и несколько лет вообще была «невыездной». Но даже в самые трудные времена она казалась баловнем судьбы. Мэтр мировой моды и большой друг балерины Пьер Карден сказал о ней: «Она так талантлива и неизменно красива! Всегда победительница, в том числе и со временем, годы отступают перед её жизнелюбием, энергией, смелостью и неутомимой жаждой творчества!»
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Чем русские отличаются от американцев.
Чем русские отличаются от американцев и почему в санкциях нет смысла: Общество: Россия: Lenta.ru:
Американцы и русские. Анекдотов о том, какие они разные и как не понимают друг друга, за последний год стало больше. Правда, за это время степень непонимания зашкалила настолько, что стало совсем не смешно. Почему американские санкции производят совсем не тот эффект, на который были рассчитаны? Почему россияне с такой легкостью оказываются в позиции «весь мир против нас, а мы — такие гордые, непонятые и обиженные»? И главный вопрос: как обеим сторонам снова услышать друг друга? Об этом «Лента.ру» поговорила с американским социологом Джоном Смитом, который уже 20 лет пытается разобраться в базовых различиях между русскими и американцами.
«Лента.ру»: Что общего у русских и американцев?
Смит: Руки, ноги, голова (в физиологическом смысле). Остальное — разное.
Чем дольше я здесь живу (а это почти 25 лет, из них последние 15 — постоянно), тем отчетливее понимаю: мы совершенно разные. 90 процентов наших различий на подсознательном уровне, то есть люди действуют «на автомате».
Американцы и русские. Анекдотов о том, какие они разные и как не понимают друг друга, за последний год стало больше. Правда, за это время степень непонимания зашкалила настолько, что стало совсем не смешно. Почему американские санкции производят совсем не тот эффект, на который были рассчитаны? Почему россияне с такой легкостью оказываются в позиции «весь мир против нас, а мы — такие гордые, непонятые и обиженные»? И главный вопрос: как обеим сторонам снова услышать друг друга? Об этом «Лента.ру» поговорила с американским социологом Джоном Смитом, который уже 20 лет пытается разобраться в базовых различиях между русскими и американцами.
«Лента.ру»: Что общего у русских и американцев?
Смит: Руки, ноги, голова (в физиологическом смысле). Остальное — разное.
Чем дольше я здесь живу (а это почти 25 лет, из них последние 15 — постоянно), тем отчетливее понимаю: мы совершенно разные. 90 процентов наших различий на подсознательном уровне, то есть люди действуют «на автомате».
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Alcohol dependence.
White matter microstructural recovery with abstinence and decline with relapse in alcohol dependence interacts with normal ageing: a controlled longitudinal DTI study : The Lancet Psychiatry:
'via Blog this'
Background
Alcohol dependence exacts a toll on brain white matter microstructure, which has the potential of repair with prolonged sobriety. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enables in-vivo quantification of tissue constituents and localisation of tracts potentially affected in alcohol dependence and its recovery. We did an extended longitudinal study of alcoholism's trajectory of effect on selective fibre bundles with sustained sobriety or decline with relapse.
Methods
Participants were drawn from a longitudinal, 1·5T DTI database of 841 scans of individuals with various medical or neuropsychiatric conditions and normal ageing. Participants diagnosed with alcohol dependence had to meet the criteria from DSM-IV for alcohol dependence. Controls were screened and free of any DSM-IV axis I diagnosis, including being without history of alcohol or drug abuse or dependence. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) quantified white matter integrity throughout the brain in 47 alcohol-dependent individuals and 56 controls examined 2—5 times over 1—8 year intervals. We identified regions showing group differences with a white matter atlas. For macrostructural comparison, we measured corpus callosum and centrum semiovale volumes on MRI.
Findings
This study took place in the USA, between June 23, 2000, and Sept 6, 2011. TBSS identified a large cluster (threshold p<0·001), where controls showed significant fractional anisotropy (FA) decrease with ageing and alcohol-dependent individuals had significantly lower FA than controls regardless of age. Over the examination interval, 27 (57%) alcohol-dependent individuals abstained, ten (21%) relapsed into light drinking, and ten (21%) relapsed into heavy drinking (>5 kg of alcohol/year). Despite abnormally low FA, age trajectories of the abstainers were positive and progressing toward normality, whereas those of the relapsers and controls were negative. Axial diffusivity (lower values indexing myelin integrity) was abnormally high in the total alcohol-dependent group; however, the abstainers' slopes paralleled those of controls, whereas the heavy-drinking relapsers' slopes showed accelerated ageing. Callosal genu and body microstructure but not macrostructure showed untoward alcohol-related effects. Affected projection and association tracts had an anterior and superior neuroanatomical distribution.
Interpretation
Return to heavy drinking resulted in accelerating microstructural white matter damage. Despite evidence for damage, alcohol-dependent individuals maintaining sobriety over extended periods showed improvement in brain fibre tract integrity reflective of fibre reorganisation and myelin restoration, indicative of a neural mechanism explaining recovery.
Кино. "Гавр".
№25 (836) / Искусство и культура / Художественный дневник / Кино / Сироп крепчал:
Гавр по-французски означает «тихая гавань, убежище».
'via Blog this'
Гавр по-французски означает «тихая гавань, убежище».
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Кино. "Boyhood".
Роман воспитания. «Отрочество», режиссер Ричард Линклейтер - Искусство кино: "Boyhood"
"Дело, как раз в отсутствии традиционного событийного повествования.
В той самой трилогии, которая сделала его имя культовым среди поклонников инди-фильмов: «Перед рассветом», «Перед закатом», «Перед полуночью», – сюжета в привычном смысле слова не сыскать.
Ну, знакомится юный американец с француженкой, высаживаются они из поезда в Вене вместо Парижа, бродят всю ночь напролет по городу, влюбляясь и в него, а еще больше друг в друга.
Что это за love story, которая завершается обещанием встретиться через полгода?
А встречаются, как и следовало ожидать, через девять лет.
Почти случайно.
Но эта встреча – сюжет уже следующего фильма «Перед закатом», где герои находят друг друга в Париже.
Действие последнего фильма трилогии «Перед полуночью», где впервые демоны страстей, обид и усталость от семейной жизни грозят выйти из-под контроля рацио, разворачивается в Греции, в пространстве, где каждый камень буквально напоминает об античности.
"Дело, как раз в отсутствии традиционного событийного повествования.
В той самой трилогии, которая сделала его имя культовым среди поклонников инди-фильмов: «Перед рассветом», «Перед закатом», «Перед полуночью», – сюжета в привычном смысле слова не сыскать.
Ну, знакомится юный американец с француженкой, высаживаются они из поезда в Вене вместо Парижа, бродят всю ночь напролет по городу, влюбляясь и в него, а еще больше друг в друга.
Что это за love story, которая завершается обещанием встретиться через полгода?
А встречаются, как и следовало ожидать, через девять лет.
Почти случайно.
Но эта встреча – сюжет уже следующего фильма «Перед закатом», где герои находят друг друга в Париже.
Действие последнего фильма трилогии «Перед полуночью», где впервые демоны страстей, обид и усталость от семейной жизни грозят выйти из-под контроля рацио, разворачивается в Греции, в пространстве, где каждый камень буквально напоминает об античности.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Film. "Martha Marcy May Marlene".
Martha Marcy May Marlene - Film4:
In a nutshell:
Neither the thriller the trailer suggests, not the feminine, visual poem suggested by the poster, this is a film about loss of self that is absolutely clear about its own identity: a tightly-framed window overlooking the effect on one woman of renouncing the structures defining her life.
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In a nutshell:
Neither the thriller the trailer suggests, not the feminine, visual poem suggested by the poster, this is a film about loss of self that is absolutely clear about its own identity: a tightly-framed window overlooking the effect on one woman of renouncing the structures defining her life.
'via Blog this'
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Что такое Magna Carta и почему она так важна?
Что такое Magna Carta и почему она так важна? |АНГЛОМАНИЯ:
"В честь юбилея Британская библиотека выпустила два анимированных ролика, которые в простой и доходчивой форме помогают разобраться в том, что же это такое и почему Magna Carta имеет такое огромное историческое значение. Текст читает Терри Джонс - британский актер, режиссер, и историк, знакомый нам по проекту "Монти Пайтон". Рекомендую к просмотру всем, кто интересуется британской историей и изучает английский язык."
Великая Хартия Вольностей. (на русском)
'via Blog this'
"В честь юбилея Британская библиотека выпустила два анимированных ролика, которые в простой и доходчивой форме помогают разобраться в том, что же это такое и почему Magna Carta имеет такое огромное историческое значение. Текст читает Терри Джонс - британский актер, режиссер, и историк, знакомый нам по проекту "Монти Пайтон". Рекомендую к просмотру всем, кто интересуется британской историей и изучает английский язык."
Великая Хартия Вольностей. (на русском)
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Книги Владимира Познера.
Книги, повлиявшие на жизнь Владимира Познера | Познер Online:
"Книги жизни" Владимира Познера
Марк Твен. "Приключения Тома Сойера и Гекльберри Финна".
Алан Александр Милн. "Дом на пуховой опушке", "Винни Пух".
Льюис Кэрролл. "Алиса в стране чудес".
Антуан де Сент-Экзюпери. "Маленький принц".
Александр Дюма. "Три мушкетера", "Робин Гуд".
Эндрю Лэнг. "Легенды о короле Артуре".
Редьярд Киплинг. "Маугли", "Отважный капитан", рассказы.
Э.Сетон-Томпсон. Рассказы о животных.
Н.С.Лесков. "Левша".
Н.В.Гоголь. "Тарас Бульба", "Петербургские повести", "Мертвые души".
А.С.Пушкин. "Повести Белкина", "Евгений Онегин", стихи.
М.А.Булгаков. "Мастер и Маргарита".
А.И.Солженицын. "Один день Ивана Денисовича".
Уильям Шекспир. "Юлий Цезарь", "Отелло", "Венецианский купец", "Генрих V".
Людмила Улицкая. "Даниэль Штайн, переводчик".
Филип Рот. "Профессор желания".
Стиг Ларсон. "Девушка с татуировкой дракона", "Девушка, которая играла с огнем".
Джозеф Хеллер. "Уловка 22".
'via Blog this'
"Книги жизни" Владимира Познера
Марк Твен. "Приключения Тома Сойера и Гекльберри Финна".
Алан Александр Милн. "Дом на пуховой опушке", "Винни Пух".
Льюис Кэрролл. "Алиса в стране чудес".
Антуан де Сент-Экзюпери. "Маленький принц".
Александр Дюма. "Три мушкетера", "Робин Гуд".
Эндрю Лэнг. "Легенды о короле Артуре".
Редьярд Киплинг. "Маугли", "Отважный капитан", рассказы.
Э.Сетон-Томпсон. Рассказы о животных.
Н.С.Лесков. "Левша".
Н.В.Гоголь. "Тарас Бульба", "Петербургские повести", "Мертвые души".
А.С.Пушкин. "Повести Белкина", "Евгений Онегин", стихи.
М.А.Булгаков. "Мастер и Маргарита".
А.И.Солженицын. "Один день Ивана Денисовича".
Уильям Шекспир. "Юлий Цезарь", "Отелло", "Венецианский купец", "Генрих V".
Людмила Улицкая. "Даниэль Штайн, переводчик".
Филип Рот. "Профессор желания".
Стиг Ларсон. "Девушка с татуировкой дракона", "Девушка, которая играла с огнем".
Джозеф Хеллер. "Уловка 22".
'via Blog this'
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Mark Gertler.
Observer review: Mark Gertler by Sarah MacDougall | Books | The Guardian:
Mark Gertler (1891 – 1939)
If Mark Gertler had spent less time womanising, he might have been a better artist, as Sarah MacDougall's biography shows
The British painter Mark Gertler is most famous for The Merry-go-round, a work that was never sold in his lifetime. Six feet high and four feet wide, it shows a fairground carousel that has been frozen mid-spin, the mouths of its uniformed riders clamped open in a scream.
The painting was completed in 1916, after the Government introduced conscription for men aged between 18 and 41. Thanks to his Austrian parentage, Gertler, who was 25, could not serve and was thus free to satirise the militarism of the age, but the result, as his biographer suggests, tells us almost as much about the artist's private life as it does about his pacifism. Gertler's relationships, just like those of his friends in the Bloomsbury group, went round and round... and round.
Mark Gertler (1891 – 1939)
If Mark Gertler had spent less time womanising, he might have been a better artist, as Sarah MacDougall's biography shows
The British painter Mark Gertler is most famous for The Merry-go-round, a work that was never sold in his lifetime. Six feet high and four feet wide, it shows a fairground carousel that has been frozen mid-spin, the mouths of its uniformed riders clamped open in a scream.
The painting was completed in 1916, after the Government introduced conscription for men aged between 18 and 41. Thanks to his Austrian parentage, Gertler, who was 25, could not serve and was thus free to satirise the militarism of the age, but the result, as his biographer suggests, tells us almost as much about the artist's private life as it does about his pacifism. Gertler's relationships, just like those of his friends in the Bloomsbury group, went round and round... and round.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Genis. Список чтения заключенного.
Журнал об иностранной литературе - Список чтения заключенного (перевод статьи из журнала The New Yorker):
В журнале The New Yorker недавно появилась удивительная статья A Prisoner’s Reading List (Список чтения заключенного). Ее автор Алекс Халберстадт (Alex Halberstadt) рассказывает о своем знакомстве с Дэниелом (Даниилом) Генисом, сыном известного русского писателя Александра Гениса.
В журнале The New Yorker недавно появилась удивительная статья A Prisoner’s Reading List (Список чтения заключенного). Ее автор Алекс Халберстадт (Alex Halberstadt) рассказывает о своем знакомстве с Дэниелом (Даниилом) Генисом, сыном известного русского писателя Александра Гениса.
Clive James 'saying goodbye' through his poetry.
BBC News - Clive James 'saying goodbye' through his poetry:
Terminally ill author and critic Clive James says he has "started saying goodbye" through his poetry.
He was diagnosed with leukaemia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2010 and has been close to death on several occasions.
But, he told presenter James Naughtie, he maintains a positive outlook.
"It's important not to be morbid," he said.
"The secret there is to keep a sense of proportion. I'm at the hospital two or three times a week usually and... if you hang around a hospital long enough, you'll see things that'll remind you that you've had a lucky life. If you can see at all, you've had a lucky life.
He added: "I'm getting near to what my friend [film director] Bruce Beresford calls the departure lounge - but I've got a version of it that doesn't hurt, so I may as well enjoy myself as long as I can."
James has continued to write, and said he was putting the finishing touches to a book of essays about poetry, and why it has exerted such a pull on him throughout his life.
He joked that if he was to "drop off the twig", the book could be published posthumously, "which is good for the family finances".
"My disasters haven't been that bad, even the personal ones," he said. "My family is still together.
"Even with my health, things could have been worse. It could have hurt, for example, and it didn't. So I haven't got all that much to be miserable about.
"I like to think I have a sunny nature, but a sunny nature doesn't last long if you're in real pain. I've just been lucky."
'via Blog this'
Terminally ill author and critic Clive James says he has "started saying goodbye" through his poetry.
He was diagnosed with leukaemia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2010 and has been close to death on several occasions.
But, he told presenter James Naughtie, he maintains a positive outlook.
"It's important not to be morbid," he said.
"The secret there is to keep a sense of proportion. I'm at the hospital two or three times a week usually and... if you hang around a hospital long enough, you'll see things that'll remind you that you've had a lucky life. If you can see at all, you've had a lucky life.
He added: "I'm getting near to what my friend [film director] Bruce Beresford calls the departure lounge - but I've got a version of it that doesn't hurt, so I may as well enjoy myself as long as I can."
James has continued to write, and said he was putting the finishing touches to a book of essays about poetry, and why it has exerted such a pull on him throughout his life.
He joked that if he was to "drop off the twig", the book could be published posthumously, "which is good for the family finances".
"My disasters haven't been that bad, even the personal ones," he said. "My family is still together.
"Even with my health, things could have been worse. It could have hurt, for example, and it didn't. So I haven't got all that much to be miserable about.
"I like to think I have a sunny nature, but a sunny nature doesn't last long if you're in real pain. I've just been lucky."
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Свиблова Ольга Львовна.
Про корни
Меня вырастила бабушка с маминой стороны. Она дала мне то количество любви, которое нужно человеку, чтобы он вырос нормальным,— нас, как цветы, надо поливать вначале, в сенситивном возрасте. Бабушка была фантастической женщиной, из семьи, где было 16 детей. Папа ее работал каким-то начальником таможни в городе Нежин и мог их всех прокормить. Но однажды случилась трагедия, странная. У них была любимая сиамская кошка, она спала с отцом. В один прекрасный день утром пришли в комнату и видят — кошка лежит у него на горле и лижет кровь. Перекусила ему артерию во сне... Поэтому я не люблю сиамских кошек.
Дедушка с маминой стороны — комбриг Косматов. Был генералом Белой армии, потом генералом Красной армии. У него была открытая форма туберкулеза, и, когда в конце 1930-х сгустились тучи, он этим воспользовался и уехал в Среднюю Азию, что помогло ему умереть в 1942 году своей смертью.
Меня вырастила бабушка с маминой стороны. Она дала мне то количество любви, которое нужно человеку, чтобы он вырос нормальным,— нас, как цветы, надо поливать вначале, в сенситивном возрасте. Бабушка была фантастической женщиной, из семьи, где было 16 детей. Папа ее работал каким-то начальником таможни в городе Нежин и мог их всех прокормить. Но однажды случилась трагедия, странная. У них была любимая сиамская кошка, она спала с отцом. В один прекрасный день утром пришли в комнату и видят — кошка лежит у него на горле и лижет кровь. Перекусила ему артерию во сне... Поэтому я не люблю сиамских кошек.
Дедушка с маминой стороны — комбриг Косматов. Был генералом Белой армии, потом генералом Красной армии. У него была открытая форма туберкулеза, и, когда в конце 1930-х сгустились тучи, он этим воспользовался и уехал в Среднюю Азию, что помогло ему умереть в 1942 году своей смертью.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Life after 50.
Mariella Frostrup: life after 50 | Life and style | The Guardian:
‘Better diet and general health mean we’re living longer and more youthfully,’ says Mariella.
"Hitting 50 is traumatic. Even as an agony aunt, regularly confronted with irrational human foibles, knowing that you have more years behind you than ahead can be the catalyst for extreme angst. I approached my landmark birthday eyes shut tight, hurtling headlong into the dark with my fingers crossed. Only this time, it really was dark. No matter how sanguine you are about our inevitable trek towards a terminal conclusion, hitting 50 is a shocker. A morbid sense of a life already half gone and the mourning of the many opportunities that had receded into the past made the idea of any “celebration” seem masochistic.
‘Better diet and general health mean we’re living longer and more youthfully,’ says Mariella.
"Hitting 50 is traumatic. Even as an agony aunt, regularly confronted with irrational human foibles, knowing that you have more years behind you than ahead can be the catalyst for extreme angst. I approached my landmark birthday eyes shut tight, hurtling headlong into the dark with my fingers crossed. Only this time, it really was dark. No matter how sanguine you are about our inevitable trek towards a terminal conclusion, hitting 50 is a shocker. A morbid sense of a life already half gone and the mourning of the many opportunities that had receded into the past made the idea of any “celebration” seem masochistic.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Legendary dancer Retna, Cartier-Bresson.
Legendary dancer Retna, Cartier-Bresson's Indonesian influence | The Jakarta Post:
Ratna "Elie" Mohini (1904 Batavia – 1988 Paris) was a Javanese dancer who was the wife of the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson from 1937 to 1967.
She was born in Batavia under the name Carolina Jeanne de Souza-Ijke. Ratna was known as "Elie" to her friends.
Cartier-Bresson and Mohini divorced in 1967, after 30 years of marriage, and Cartier-Bresson then married the photographer Martine Franck in 1970.
Ratna "Elie" Mohini (1904 Batavia – 1988 Paris) was a Javanese dancer who was the wife of the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson from 1937 to 1967.
She was born in Batavia under the name Carolina Jeanne de Souza-Ijke. Ratna was known as "Elie" to her friends.
Cartier-Bresson and Mohini divorced in 1967, after 30 years of marriage, and Cartier-Bresson then married the photographer Martine Franck in 1970.
Love Through a Lens.
Henri Cartier-Bresson and Martine Franck: Love Through a Lens | TIME:
In a 2010 interview with Charlie Rose, photographer Martine Franck gave an insight into how she first got together with her husband, renowned Magnum founder Henri Cartier-Bresson: “Martine,” Bresson had apparently said to Franck, by way of showing his romantic interest, “I want to come and see your contact sheets.”
The feeling was obviously mutual. The two married in 1970, with Franck becoming his second wife. And while the Frenchman was 30 years her senior, they stayed together right up until his death in 2004. Franck died in 2012.
Theirs was a marriage of hearts and minds: Both were talented photographers and keen observers of the world. If Cartier-Bresson’s work was the result of what often seems like total immersion in a moment, Franck’s emerged from a quieter — some might argue a more detached — approach. He loved the streets, the vibrancy of the everyday; she liked working on the fringe — photographing communities on isolated Irish islands, for example — but also made portraits of creative giants like Marc Chagall and Seamus Heaney.
But it is through their elegant, often intimate, portraits of each other that we gain insight into a significant part of their relationship. And though Franck once told The Daily Telegraph that the two rarely discussed photography, the joy they must have felt at turning their lenses towards each other is readily evident in these portraits.
We see a poised shot of Franck in Venice as if waiting for a train, a smartly-dressed Cartier-Bresson sitting on a railing in Switzerland. Likewise, we catch a glimpse of Bresson after he has seemingly finished a self-portrait in Paris, and of Franck as she holds a cup to her mouth while reclining on a couch.
These beautiful images remind us that while, separately, the two were extraordinarily talented, understood together they were truly exceptional.
'via Blog this'
In a 2010 interview with Charlie Rose, photographer Martine Franck gave an insight into how she first got together with her husband, renowned Magnum founder Henri Cartier-Bresson: “Martine,” Bresson had apparently said to Franck, by way of showing his romantic interest, “I want to come and see your contact sheets.”
The feeling was obviously mutual. The two married in 1970, with Franck becoming his second wife. And while the Frenchman was 30 years her senior, they stayed together right up until his death in 2004. Franck died in 2012.
Theirs was a marriage of hearts and minds: Both were talented photographers and keen observers of the world. If Cartier-Bresson’s work was the result of what often seems like total immersion in a moment, Franck’s emerged from a quieter — some might argue a more detached — approach. He loved the streets, the vibrancy of the everyday; she liked working on the fringe — photographing communities on isolated Irish islands, for example — but also made portraits of creative giants like Marc Chagall and Seamus Heaney.
But it is through their elegant, often intimate, portraits of each other that we gain insight into a significant part of their relationship. And though Franck once told The Daily Telegraph that the two rarely discussed photography, the joy they must have felt at turning their lenses towards each other is readily evident in these portraits.
We see a poised shot of Franck in Venice as if waiting for a train, a smartly-dressed Cartier-Bresson sitting on a railing in Switzerland. Likewise, we catch a glimpse of Bresson after he has seemingly finished a self-portrait in Paris, and of Franck as she holds a cup to her mouth while reclining on a couch.
These beautiful images remind us that while, separately, the two were extraordinarily talented, understood together they were truly exceptional.
'via Blog this'
Balthus. /Бальтюс./
Balthasar Klossowski (or Kłossowski) de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), best known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist.
He is the second son of painter and art historian, Erich Klossowski (1875-1946), and Elizabeth Dorothea Spiro (1886-1969), called Baladine.
His older brother is the writer and artist Pierre Klossowski (1905-2001).
He is the second son of painter and art historian, Erich Klossowski (1875-1946), and Elizabeth Dorothea Spiro (1886-1969), called Baladine.
His older brother is the writer and artist Pierre Klossowski (1905-2001).
The Grand Chalet de Rossinière, in Switzerland where the painter lived with his wife and daughter until his death in 2001.
The chalet of Balthus, the painter. SWITZERLAND. Canton of Vaud. Rossiniere.
Today, this extraordinary and timeless place is both the family residence, as well as home to the Balthus Foundation.
Balthus with his daughter Harumi at Rossinière, 2000. SWITZERLAND. Canton of Vaud.
Swiss-born jewelry designer Harumi Klossowska—daughter to late Polish-French painter Balthus and Japanese artist Setsuko Ideta.
Countess Setsuko Klossowski de Rola, widow of Balthus.
In 1977, the artist Balthus purchased the Grand Chalet of Rossinière, one of the largest and oldest chalets in Switzerland, dating to 1754. He converted it into his studio and worked there until his death in 2001.
He and his wife, Setsuko Ideta, also a painter, have lived here for 20 years. Before that he lived in grand and conspicuously remote houses in France and Italy.
Comtesse Setsuko Klossowska de Rola; Rossinière; October 2004. Widow of Balthus.
Balthus with Setsuko, his second wife, Japanese.
In 1937 he married Antoinette de Watteville, who was from an old and influential aristocratic family from Bern. He had met her as early as 1924, and she was the model for the aforementioned La Toilette and for a series of portraits. Balthus had two children from this marriage, Thaddeus and Stanislas (Stash) Klossowski, who recently published books on their father, including the letters by their parents.
Balthus and Antoinette separated in 1947, he moving to Paris and she to Lausanne. He had a series of mistresses from among his models for some years.
In 1962, in a temple in Kyoto, he met Setsuko Ikeda, the second great love of his life; he was 54 and she, 19. She was a modern girl from an old family, a French student. She became his model within days and then his mistress, moving into his Villa Medici a few months later. They were married in a Shinto ceremony in Tokyo in 1967 after he had completed his divorce from Antoinette, with whom he maintained a deep friendship. He and Setsuko had one daughter, Harumi in 1973, now a jewelry designer. They had a son in 1969, Junio, who died of a rare genetic disease when he was two. Setsuko then had a miscarriage at five months pregnancy.
1. Balthus, Self-portrait (1940). 2. Antoinette de Watteville and Balthus, ca. 1937.
Painter Balthus in his atelier, 1998 -by Alvaro Canovas.
Cour de Rohan, Balthus, studio of the French artist Balthus in Paris.
Cour de Rohan, Balthus, studio of the French artist Balthus in Paris. The onetime home of the artist Balthus.
The onetime studio of the French artist Balthus in Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Pres area is listing for roughly $9 million, according to listing agent Xavier Attal.
Located on the Cour de Rohan, a secluded courtyard that dates back to the 16th century, the home measures about 3,068 square feet and has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The current owner, a Frenchman who now lives in New York, bought the property around 1999, said Mr. Attal.
Mr. Attal said the owner, who he declined to identify, renovated the home to create a mix between a New York loft and the French countryside.
Balthasar Klossowski, better known as the artist Balthus, is well-known for his controversial paintings of young women. He died in 2001 at the age of 92.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Mariusz Wilk.
Pale violet mists and the whiff of hagberries - Telegraph:
'On Solovky," concludes the Polish journalist Mariusz Wilk, "you can see Russia in miniature, as if on the palm of your hand." Deeply involved in the Soviet scene through his work as a Moscow-based correspondent, in 1991 Wilk left the news behind and shifted to a remote archipelago in the south of the White Sea. He wanted to settle among the glaciated wastelands of the far north "as if on a watchtower, and observe Russia and the world from here".
This slimmish volume distils the experience of several years spent huddled by the open door of the stove in a modest house on Herring Point. The book is not so much a narrative as a sequence of vignettes: Wilk crouched in the tundra hunting swans, Wilk sweating it out in the communal steam baths, Wilk operating as an accredited observer at the first elections. The story rises to a pleasing climax when he travels by yacht to Kanin Nos, where the White Sea enters the Arctic Ocean.
About 1,100 people live on the Solovetsky archipelago (the main island is Solovky) and Wilk reckons he met them all. The landscape is not beguiling. When the economy collapsed, the infrastructure went with it, and most inhabitants are unemployed and undernourished. Alcoholism, a leitmotif of this book, is endemic (who wouldn't drink under those circumstances, poor buggers). Gardens are fenced with barbed wire, sewers debouch into the sea and in summer the shores are thick with slime. Yet Wilk conjures a bleak kind of beauty. Pale violet mists curling through the larches, the whiff of hagberries, the taste of minced perch and salted boletus at the Maslenitsa Carnival: a deep empathy with landscape and people suffuses this unusual book.
Wilk offers a brisk description of the archipelagic topography, but it is the emotional topography of Solovetsky that compels him. The islands represent, variously, the soul of Russia, the spirit of exile and the notion of Orthodox holiness (an important monastic community was founded there in the 15th century). Wilk is drawn to Orthodoxy. The schism of the Russian Church, the event that Solzhenitsyn claims influenced the destiny of Russia more than the Bolshevik revolution, had its beginnings on Anzer Island on Solovetsky. One chapter touches on the traditional Russian antipathy towards Roman Catholicism. When a priest shows up from Warsaw to celebrate Mass for the Catholics who perished in the prototype labour camp on the islands, the Solovetsky community would not agree to a Catholic Mass in their church. The priest was obliged to observe the ritual in Wilk's living room. But Wilk's treatment of the religious theme is impressionistic rather than substantive.
For centuries the islands were a convenient dumping ground for undesirables. The monastic dungeons were deployed in turn as a political prison and then, in 1923, as a forerunner of the gulag. (Wilk includes a gripping section on the various castration sects that have flourished in Russia in general, and in the Solovetsky prisons in particular. Apparently it went on all the time, with women getting in on the act by chopping off their breasts.) The fragments of missiles still cradled in the tundra recall the iron hand of the military, who tested up there for decades.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the army moved out. According to Wilk, this heralded the worst phase of all. "The entire archipelago," he relates with relish, "was embraced by the central plan for development and urbanization in the style of Soviet gigantomania." This included the construction of a concrete ring road through the forest and a bakery capable of serving thousands of hungry men. All of this, never used or finished, lies in a state of decay.
Wilk (the surname means "wolf" in Polish, hence the book title) keeps himself between the lines, where an author should be. The people he met in his temporary adopted home thought he had been exiled because of his involvement with the Solidarity movement in Poland, but they seem to have accepted him in the end. His prose style is mannered to a degree. "Let us try and take a stroll, at our leisure, through the streets," he suggests, and even a "Phew!" makes an appearance at one especially low moment. The dominant lyricism is often clunky, partly, perhaps, as a function of translation, but also a result of images that don't quite work: "summer, on the islands, is short and sudden, like an ejaculation".
Despite the fact that Wilk is not the heir to Norman Lewis, as his publishers boldly suggest on the jacket, this is an extremely interesting and profoundly moving account of a shadowy, elemental terra incognita rarely revealed to Western observers. The photographs – 16 pages of black and white by Tomasz Kizny – are outstanding.
'via Blog this'
'On Solovky," concludes the Polish journalist Mariusz Wilk, "you can see Russia in miniature, as if on the palm of your hand." Deeply involved in the Soviet scene through his work as a Moscow-based correspondent, in 1991 Wilk left the news behind and shifted to a remote archipelago in the south of the White Sea. He wanted to settle among the glaciated wastelands of the far north "as if on a watchtower, and observe Russia and the world from here".
This slimmish volume distils the experience of several years spent huddled by the open door of the stove in a modest house on Herring Point. The book is not so much a narrative as a sequence of vignettes: Wilk crouched in the tundra hunting swans, Wilk sweating it out in the communal steam baths, Wilk operating as an accredited observer at the first elections. The story rises to a pleasing climax when he travels by yacht to Kanin Nos, where the White Sea enters the Arctic Ocean.
About 1,100 people live on the Solovetsky archipelago (the main island is Solovky) and Wilk reckons he met them all. The landscape is not beguiling. When the economy collapsed, the infrastructure went with it, and most inhabitants are unemployed and undernourished. Alcoholism, a leitmotif of this book, is endemic (who wouldn't drink under those circumstances, poor buggers). Gardens are fenced with barbed wire, sewers debouch into the sea and in summer the shores are thick with slime. Yet Wilk conjures a bleak kind of beauty. Pale violet mists curling through the larches, the whiff of hagberries, the taste of minced perch and salted boletus at the Maslenitsa Carnival: a deep empathy with landscape and people suffuses this unusual book.
Wilk offers a brisk description of the archipelagic topography, but it is the emotional topography of Solovetsky that compels him. The islands represent, variously, the soul of Russia, the spirit of exile and the notion of Orthodox holiness (an important monastic community was founded there in the 15th century). Wilk is drawn to Orthodoxy. The schism of the Russian Church, the event that Solzhenitsyn claims influenced the destiny of Russia more than the Bolshevik revolution, had its beginnings on Anzer Island on Solovetsky. One chapter touches on the traditional Russian antipathy towards Roman Catholicism. When a priest shows up from Warsaw to celebrate Mass for the Catholics who perished in the prototype labour camp on the islands, the Solovetsky community would not agree to a Catholic Mass in their church. The priest was obliged to observe the ritual in Wilk's living room. But Wilk's treatment of the religious theme is impressionistic rather than substantive.
For centuries the islands were a convenient dumping ground for undesirables. The monastic dungeons were deployed in turn as a political prison and then, in 1923, as a forerunner of the gulag. (Wilk includes a gripping section on the various castration sects that have flourished in Russia in general, and in the Solovetsky prisons in particular. Apparently it went on all the time, with women getting in on the act by chopping off their breasts.) The fragments of missiles still cradled in the tundra recall the iron hand of the military, who tested up there for decades.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the army moved out. According to Wilk, this heralded the worst phase of all. "The entire archipelago," he relates with relish, "was embraced by the central plan for development and urbanization in the style of Soviet gigantomania." This included the construction of a concrete ring road through the forest and a bakery capable of serving thousands of hungry men. All of this, never used or finished, lies in a state of decay.
Wilk (the surname means "wolf" in Polish, hence the book title) keeps himself between the lines, where an author should be. The people he met in his temporary adopted home thought he had been exiled because of his involvement with the Solidarity movement in Poland, but they seem to have accepted him in the end. His prose style is mannered to a degree. "Let us try and take a stroll, at our leisure, through the streets," he suggests, and even a "Phew!" makes an appearance at one especially low moment. The dominant lyricism is often clunky, partly, perhaps, as a function of translation, but also a result of images that don't quite work: "summer, on the islands, is short and sudden, like an ejaculation".
Despite the fact that Wilk is not the heir to Norman Lewis, as his publishers boldly suggest on the jacket, this is an extremely interesting and profoundly moving account of a shadowy, elemental terra incognita rarely revealed to Western observers. The photographs – 16 pages of black and white by Tomasz Kizny – are outstanding.
'via Blog this'
Писатель Мариуш Вильк.
Писатель Мариуш Вильк: польский изгнанник, его русская жена и его дом над озером Онего: Василий Голованов: Медведь. Первый Мужской журнал:
27.10.2011
автор: Василий Голованов
Поляки не любят Россию. Этим сегодня уже никого не удивишь. Это даже неинтересно обсуждать. Понятно, за что, понятно, что так будет уже всегда, и понятно, что это все-таки не трагедия. Для нас и для них. «Медведь» нашел поляка, не только добровольно переехавшего в Россию, но и сделавшего ее главной темой жизни – писателя Мариуша Вилька, отшельника и изгнанника.
27.10.2011
автор: Василий Голованов
Поляки не любят Россию. Этим сегодня уже никого не удивишь. Это даже неинтересно обсуждать. Понятно, за что, понятно, что так будет уже всегда, и понятно, что это все-таки не трагедия. Для нас и для них. «Медведь» нашел поляка, не только добровольно переехавшего в Россию, но и сделавшего ее главной темой жизни – писателя Мариуша Вилька, отшельника и изгнанника.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Mozart’s Magnificent Love Letter to His Wife.
Mozart’s Magnificent Love Letter to His Wife | Brain Pickings:
Dearest little Wife of my heart!
If only I had a letter from you, everything would be all right…
Dearest, I have no doubt that I shall get something going here, but it won’t be easy as you and some of our friends think. — It is true, I am known and respected here; but, well — No — let us just see what happens. — In any case, I do prefer to play it safe, that why I would like to conclude this deal with H… because I would get some money into my possession without having to pay any out; all I would have to do then is work, and I shall be only too happy to do that for my little wife.
After a getting a few more practical matters out of the way, Mozart fully surrenders to the poetical:
I get all excited like a child when I think about being with you again — If people could see into my heart I should almost feel ashamed. Everything is cold to me — ice-cold. — If you were here with me, maybe I would find the courtesies people are showing me more enjoyable, — but as it is, it’s all so empty — adieu — my dear — I am Forever
your Mozart who loves you
with his entire soul.
But even lovelier than the signature is the part that comes after it. Mozart violates in the most endearing of ways Lewis Carroll’s rule about postscript and writes:
PS. — while I was writing the last page, tear after tear fell on the paper. But I must cheer up — catch — An astonishing number of kisses are flying about — The deuce! — I see a whole crowd of them. Ha! Ha!… I have just caught three — They are delicious… I kiss you millions of times.
Complement this gem from Love Letters of Great Men with other masterworks of the genre, including the exquisite letters of Vladimir Nabokov to his wife Véra, Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West, Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf, Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera, Oscar Wilde to Bosie, and Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer.
'via Blog this'
Dearest little Wife of my heart!
If only I had a letter from you, everything would be all right…
Dearest, I have no doubt that I shall get something going here, but it won’t be easy as you and some of our friends think. — It is true, I am known and respected here; but, well — No — let us just see what happens. — In any case, I do prefer to play it safe, that why I would like to conclude this deal with H… because I would get some money into my possession without having to pay any out; all I would have to do then is work, and I shall be only too happy to do that for my little wife.
After a getting a few more practical matters out of the way, Mozart fully surrenders to the poetical:
I get all excited like a child when I think about being with you again — If people could see into my heart I should almost feel ashamed. Everything is cold to me — ice-cold. — If you were here with me, maybe I would find the courtesies people are showing me more enjoyable, — but as it is, it’s all so empty — adieu — my dear — I am Forever
your Mozart who loves you
with his entire soul.
But even lovelier than the signature is the part that comes after it. Mozart violates in the most endearing of ways Lewis Carroll’s rule about postscript and writes:
PS. — while I was writing the last page, tear after tear fell on the paper. But I must cheer up — catch — An astonishing number of kisses are flying about — The deuce! — I see a whole crowd of them. Ha! Ha!… I have just caught three — They are delicious… I kiss you millions of times.
Complement this gem from Love Letters of Great Men with other masterworks of the genre, including the exquisite letters of Vladimir Nabokov to his wife Véra, Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West, Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf, Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera, Oscar Wilde to Bosie, and Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer.
'via Blog this'
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