Half Mandrill, Half Mandela
RSSPosts tagged with "russia"
Farewell to Europe by Aleksander Sochaczewski, which depicts a Katorga in Imperial Russia
Katorga was a system of penal servitude of the prison farm type in Tsarist Russia. Prisoners were sent to remote camps in vast uninhabited areas of Siberia—where voluntary workers were never available in satisfactory numbers—and forced to perform hard labour.
Doodles by a child in Medieval Novgorod.
The Art of Onfim: Medieval Novgorod Through the Eyes of a Child
Aw. Look at the battle scene. Adorable.
Valentina Tereshkova turns another year older today. She became the first woman in space on 16 June 1963 aboard Vostok 6. Her call sign was чайка(chaika), seagull.
(Source)
Side-Creased Trousers and King George V
I’ve been reading bits and pieces of the book “Savile Row: An Illustrated History” for the past few days and it’s full of wonderful little stories about tailors and their clients.
One particular story I found amusing to learn was the topic of creases on one’s trousers. Currently, almost every dress trouser available comes creased down the center of the leg and just about the only pants that aren’t creased in this manner are for casual wear, like denim or work chinos.
But I was a bit surprised to find this wasn’t always the case. As it turns out, King George V actually made a bit of a fashion statement at least as far back as 1922 as the Chicago Tribune reported:
SIDE CREASES IN TROUSERS
LONDON, June 9 — Trousers creased down the sides instead of the front are a sartorial innovation to be introduced by King George at the Ascot races. The late King Edward occasionally wore side-creased trousers, and Admiral Beatty is seen with them.
On Ascot Day the King will wear a gray worsted morning jacket with broad, single-breasted lapels, three-buttoned front and an outside pocket. HIs Majesty’s tie will be white or a combination of his racing colors slipped through an old-fashioned gold ring. He will wear white gloves with black stitching.
You can see King George V’s side-creased trousers above (he’s on the right) as he stands next to his first cousin, Tsar Nicholas II.
But the love of side-creased trousers didn’t exactly stay in the family. His son, the rebellious Prince of Wales, Edward VIII, wasn’t fond of the look. According to “Savile Row”:
Davies made the royal pants with old-fashioned side creases, so the Prince ordered extra trousers with each suit; then he could switch to front creases when beyond his father’s reach.
I do wonder if side-creased trousers will ever return and can’t think of a modern advocate for them. Perhaps an adventurous bespoke customer will have an extra pair made with their next suit. It’d be interesting, to say the least.
-Kiyoshi
This is interesting, it really is, but I just never stop being CREEPED THE FUCK OUT by pictures of those two next two each other.
My wife once said that she never understood why WWI happened until she saw such a picture.
“He who doesn’t collect scrap metal won’t be getting to the Moon” by A. Dudnikov, 1960
It’s true, you know.
Today will always be the day I realized that Jean Ralphio and Leon Trotsky are the same person.
Nathan Englander reads 'The Story of My Dovecote' by Isaac Babel
I’ve always loved “The Story of My Dovecote”. It’s one of those short stories that affects me deeply – and differently – every time I read it. And these last years I go back to it fairly often. What I find most fascinating about it is the two radically different frequencies vibrating through the story simultaneously. That is, if you ask me what the story is about, I will tell you that it’s about a boy who has done well in an exam and goes to the market to buy pigeons for his dovecote. Simple as that. That’s undeniably the plot of the story. But if you catch me at a different time, I will tell you that it’s a story about the history of Jews in Russia, about Cossacks and antisemitism, about corruption and pogroms, about fragility and loss and love and loyalty and man’s inhumanity to man. That, and pigeons.
This is great and Isaac Babel’s been dead since 1940, but is still the best. Take a half-hour and listen.
Lenin at the Bottom of the World;
Scientists trekking towards the South Pole of Inaccessibility were rather surprised to find a bust of Soviet revolutionary Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin peering across the icy wastelands towards the former Soviet Empire.
The bust marks the place where an old Soviet base was established and occupied for a few weeks in 1958. The cabin which made up the base now lies buried under the ice. Before the Soviet team left, they fixed a bust of Lenin on the chimney which is now the only part of the structure visible over the ice.
The Inaccessibility Pole marks the point on Antarctica that is furthest from the ocean. At 3718 meters above sea-level it is in the Australian zone and seldom visited. Supposedly, if you dig down through the ice and into the remains of the cabin, you’ll find a golden visitors book to sign.
Chill like a paintroller.
(This is actually from something kinda disturbing and dehumanizing, so read about that too. Adorable, though.)
Pictures from a Soviet-era neuroscience lab that’s been abandoned forever. It still has brains in jars. Lots of them.
Holy shit.
(via io9)
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