Now I have an environmental as well as an aesthetic justification for the somewhat crepuscular vibe at The Monkey’s Typewriter.Click here for the “low-wattage” palette.(Thanks to Catriona for the tip.)
Right-on left-winger Fausto Bertinotti, member of the Rifondazione Comunista party and currently elected speaker of the lower chamber of deputies in Italy, during the week popped on a visit to the main Greek Orthodox monastery on Mt. Athos. As part of the junket informative trip Fausto checked out the groovy energy-supply systems employed by the […]
Silvio was in St. Petersburg the weekend that his buddy Vladimir Putin decided to take preventative measures against opposition protesters. His verdict? Illegal protests that the police had to clear in order to guarantee traffic circulation – a situation completely blown up by the media. Meanwhile, back in Silvio’s studios in Italy, the disney-like newscast […]
True story: an Irish friend of mine went to the bank in Gdańsk for a loan. Everything went swimmingly until it was time to type in his PESEL, the Polish equivalent of a social security number. My friend only had his Irish number. “How many digits?” asked the clerk. “Nine.” “I’m sorry, it has to […]
Romuald Rytwiński, director general of GM Opel in Poland: “The situation is still far from normal. 600 or 700,000 new cars should be selling on the Polish market [every year], not 200 or 300,000 as is the case now.” Blackadder: “It wouldn’t have anything to do with leeches, would it? Doctor: I had no idea […]
It is probably tempting fate to use the words “new low” and “tabloid” in the same sentence but I cannot resist: Polish tabloid Fakt has hit a new low. Their animatronic reconstructions used to be just ridiculous pandering to their non-literate readers but this… Former minister Barbara Blida was arrested in her home on suspicion […]
As the great and the good (as well as John Major) filed into Moscow’s reconstructed Christ the Saviour cathedral to pay their last respects to Boris Yeltsin, the debate over the legacy of Russia’s first elected president was only just beginning. As the more generous appraisers of our own Charles J. Haughey were apt to […]
How much money would the marketing department of a posh vodka manufacturer have to spend on translating their slogan into English would you think? Maybe ten, twenty euros? Surely enough, anyway, to avoid this one: “The king is only one.” Yes and we are many so let’s kill the king. I presume they meant “there […]
The New York Times website offers a beguiling multimedia feature on the enigmatic patterns formed by huge flocks of starlings that gather in the skies above Rome during Autumn and Winter. The final photo in the selection suggests, to my eyes at least, a haunting sketch of a winged, humanlike figure descending.Bonus info: apparently, the […]