"In the aftermath of SSC Napoli’s league victory, Nigerians descended on the official Serie A Twitter account to protest what they considered to be an unfair (and ‘racist’) attempt to acknowledge someone other than Victor Osimhen as the hero of the club’s successful campaign. And, while other players no doubt played a part in a team’s success, few would argue against Osimhen, born in Lagos, being the standout star of Napoli this season. His composure in front of goal and his dynamic presence leading the line has earned him accolades and has unified a country desperately in need of a rallying point after a contentious election cycle. ...”
1969: The Velvet Underground Live – The Matrix, San Francisco
"1969: The Velvet Underground Live is a live album by the Velvet Underground. It was originally released as a double album in September 1974 by Mercury Records. … Spin magazine’s Alternative Record Guide included it in the top 100 alternative albums of all time in 1995. … On October 19, 1969, in the End of Cole Ave. club, Dallas, a fan who happened to be a recording engineer brought along his professional gear; and in November at The Matrix in San Francisco, the band was given permission to use the in-house four-track recording desk. The band were given two-track mixdown tapes from the recordings for reference, but nothing was done with them until 1974, after the band had dissolved and Lou Reed had become well known as a solo artist. …”
In Bakhmut, the Tides of Battle Are Ever Shifting
"Ukrainian soldiers were waiting for just the right moment to attack. Then they received critical intelligence: Russian mercenaries on the other side of the front line outside Bakhmut were about to rotate out and be replaced by other soldiers. It was time to go. ... It was the morning of May 6, the beginning of three days of fighting on the outskirts of Bakhmut that has shifted momentum in the fiercest battle of the war. Soldiers from Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade battled with the Russians across forest belts where the trees rose like scorched matchsticks. They stormed trenches littered with the dead. They followed armored personnel carriers across open fields as the two sides exchanged heavy gunfire. ...”
Guardian: What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis (Video)
The 80th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces firing a barrage of rockets in the direction of Bakhmut during a night operation.
"Be More Radical Than Me!": A Conversation with Béla Tarr
"The Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr bid a farewell to the active filmmaking at the age of 55 with the 146-minute long reckoning The Turin Horse (2011), consisting of 30 takes. His filmography counts nine features that elevated him into the pantheon of world cinema, earning Tarr epithets as legend, master, cult or visionary, among others. ... However, the core of his work features his singular aesthetics and bleak visions of the post-communist landscape, notably in Damnation (1988), the cinephiliac 432-minute long treat Sátántangó (1994), and Werckmeister Harmonies (2000). His distinctive style stems from black and white, spellbinding photography shot in long takes and meticulously choreographed camera movement hypnotically paced along desolate, melancholic, austere and enigmatic imagery what eventually led to Tarr’s label as a radical filmmaker. ...”
2012 January: The Man from London, 2012 January: The Turin Horse, 2022 September: Damnation (1988), 2022 September: : Sátántangó (1994), 2023 April: Time and Its Other: The Temporal Landscapes of Béla Tarr
Danton - Andrzej Wajda (1983)
"Gérard Depardieu and Wojciech Pszoniak star in Andrzej Wajda’s powerful, intimate depiction of the ideological clash between the earthy, man-of-the-people Georges Danton and icy Jacobin extremist Maximilien Robespierre, both key figures of the French Revolution. By drawing parallels to Polish ‘solidarity,’ a movement that was being quashed by the government as the film went into production, Wajda drags history into the present. Meticulous and fiery, Danton has been hailed as one of the greatest films ever made about the Terror. ...”
Ukraine could join ranks of ‘frozen’ conflicts, U.S. officials say
"U.S. officials are planning for the growing possibility that the Russia-Ukraine war will turn into a frozen conflict that lasts many years — perhaps decades — and joins the ranks of similar lengthy face-offs in the Korean peninsula, South Asia and beyond. The options discussed within the Biden administration for a long-term ‘freeze’ include where to set potential lines that Ukraine and Russia would agree not to cross, but which would not have to be official borders. The discussions — while provisional — have taken place across various U.S. agencies and in the White House. It’s a scenario that may prove the most realistic long-term outcome given that neither Kyiv nor Moscow appear inclined to ever admit defeat. ...”
Hundreds of graves where the remains of civilians killed by Russian forces are buried east of the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 17, 2023.
International Brigades: Battle of Jarama, Battle of Guadalajara (1937)
"The Battle of Jarama (6–27 February 1937) was an attempt by General Francisco Franco's Nationalists to dislodge the Republican lines along the river Jarama, just east of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War. Elite Spanish Legionnaires and Moroccan Regulares from the Army of Africa forced back the Republican Army of the Centre, including the International Brigades, but after days of fierce fighting no breakthrough was achieved. Republican counterattacks along the captured ground likewise failed, resulting in heavy casualties to both sides. ...”
YouTube: GREAT BATTLES OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR - EP. 5 - THE BATTLE OF JARAMA, EP. 6 - THE BATTLE OF GUADALAJARA
2011 July: Spanish Civil War - 75 Year, 18 July, 2012 March: 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother), 2012 June: "The Spanish Earth", Written and Narrated by Ernest Hemingway, 2013 January: The Real George Orwell, 2015 August: Songs of the Spanish Civil War, 2016 September: George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia (1938), 2017 January: Guernica (2016), 2019 September: What Makes Guernica So Shocking? An Animated Video Explores the Impact of Picasso’s Monumental Anti-War Mural
Italy: Autonomia - Post-Political Politics
"The only first-hand document and contemporaneous analysis of the most innovative post-'68 radical movement in the West, the creative, futuristic, neo-anarchistic, postideological Autonomia. Most of the writers who contributed to the issue were locked up at the time in Italian jails.... I was trying to draw the attention of the American Left, which still believed in Eurocommunism, to the fate of Autonomia. The survival of the last politically creative movement in the West was at stake, but no one in the United States seemed to realize that, or be willing to listen. ...—Sylvère Lotringer ...”
Ukraine says it shot down Kinzhal missiles, one of Russia’s most advanced weapons.
"Ukraine’s air defense intercepted six hypersonic Kinzhal missiles fired by Russia early Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. If confirmed, the strikes would be further evidence of Ukraine’s ability to shoot down one of the most sophisticated conventional weapons in Moscow’s arsenal. In one of the largest aerial assaults since early March, Russia also launched nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea, three short-range ballistic missiles from land and a number of drones, according to the commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. All of the drones and missiles were shot down, the military said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that at least one Kinzhal was used in the attack, which it claimed was a ‘concentrated strike’ involving high-precision long-range weapons that hit ‘all assigned targets.’ ...”
Russia fired a wave of missiles and drones overnight, many aimed at Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, but all were shot down, Ukrainian officials said.
Manet/Degas
"This exhibition examines one of the most significant artistic dialogues in modern art history: the close and sometimes tumultuous relationship between Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Born only two years apart, Manet (1832–1883) and Degas (1834–1917) were friends, rivals, and, at times, antagonists who worked to define modern painting in France. By examining their careers in parallel and presenting their work side by side, this exhibition investigates how their artistic objectives and approaches both overlapped and diverged. Through more than 150 paintings and works on paper, Manet/Degas takes a fresh look at the interactions of these two artists in the context of the family relationships, friendships, and intellectual circles that influenced their artistic and professional choices, deepening our understanding of a key moment in nineteenth-century French painting. ...”
YouTube: Manet and Degas: Musée d'Orsay explores the friendship and rivalry between two artistic giants, EXPOSITION MANET / DEGAS
Manet, Plum Brandy, ca. 1877 / Degas, In a Café, 1875–76.
Best Music Arrangers: 20 Artists You’ve Heard But Not Seen
"Any musical composition can be reconceptualized – Franz Liszt arranged his own works for piano and transformed Bach’s organ music – and the best music arrangers in jazz, pop, and rock have become world-famous. (Quincy Jones and Nelson Riddle are just two of the absolute modern masters.) Music arrangers can decide which instruments will be used, which notes will be repeated, and what sections of the music are repeated, and in which order. Their subtle changes to the choice of instruments, tempo, key, or time signature can make all the difference to the success of the final record. Here we pick 20 of best arrangers in popular music over the past century. ...”
As Ukraine Makes Inroads in Bakhmut, Devastation Still Reigns
"With the furious battle for the city of Bakhmut raging at their backs, a squad of Ukrainian soldiers tore through an open field, racing to get out of range of falling Russian artillery. But before they could make it to safety, they said, they got a flat tire. The three soldiers — known by the call signs Omar, Chip and Bandit — had spent the day on Friday taking part in Ukrainian offensive operations on the edge of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, blasting Russian tanks and armored vehicles. But after surviving another brutal day of battle, they worried that the punctured tire might doom them. Omar, 36, hopped out of the car and used a screwdriver to put a plug in the hole. Within moments, they were off again. ...”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, left, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany traded compliments in front of reporters on Sunday.
Iconic RR Neon Sign Returns To Twin Peaks Diner Thanks To Fans Visit
"Last month, a few Twin Peaks fans teamed up with the owners of Twede’s Cafe to create a Kickstarter to allow the fans to gift the neon RR sign to Twede’s Cafe so that fans who visit will be able to enjoy the new sign as a way of bringing a bit of magic to the diner. ... One of the more unique tiers is the ‘Name on Plaque’ tier which entails getting your name added to a silver etched plaque that will be proudly hung inside the restaurant so you can show off to your friends each time you visit. ...”
2020 April: Twin Peaks: Go Down the Rabbit Hole.
The Negro Leagues are major leagues — but merging their stats has been anything but seamless
"On Dec. 16, 2020, Sean Gibson awoke in Pittsburgh to a few inches of freshly fallen snow and a flurry of missed calls from friends and reporters. Major League Baseball had just announced it was formally recognizing seven Negro Leagues as major leagues and adopting the statistics of the more than 3,400 players in those leagues from 1920 to 1948 into the official record. Gibson read MLB’s press release that morning in stunned silence. ...”
2015 March: Negro league baseball, 2017 May: Negro National League (1920–31), 2019 October: Can the Rebirth of a Negro League Stadium Revive a Distressed City?, 2020 December: A push to recognize the statistics of Black players from baseball’s era of apartheid
Ukraine claims gains in Bakhmut after Russia denials
"Ukraine says it has recaptured ground in Bakhmut, a rare advance after months of grinding Russian gains in the eastern city. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said Ukrainian forces advanced two kilometres (1.2 miles) in a week. The claims signal a momentum shift in Bakhmut - but more widely, there is no clear evidence of the much-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive. Russia has denied reports of Ukrainian gains, after claims from both sides. ... However, in a updated statement on Friday morning the ministry claimed Russian troops had changed their position for strategic reasons. It said units of the southern group of Russian forces had taken up a better defensive position in the Maloilinivka area, something which took into consideration ‘the favourable conditions of the Berkhivka reservoir’. Maloilinivka and Berkhivka are both near Bakhmut. ...”
Trump’s Second-Term Goal: Shattering the Norms He Didn’t Already Break
"In little over an hour, Donald J. Trump suggested the United States should default on its debts for the first time in history, injected doubt over the country’s commitment to defending Ukraine from Russia’s invasion, dangled pardons for most of the Capitol rioters convicted of crimes, and refused to say he would abide by the results of the next presidential election. The second-term vision Mr. Trump sketched out at a CNN town-hall event on Wednesday would represent a sharp departure from core American values that have been at the bedrock of the nation for decades: its creditworthiness, its credibility with international allies and its adherence to the rule of law at home. Mr. Trump’s provocations were hardly shocking. ...”
Old Forest
"In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Old Forest was a daunting and ancient woodland just beyond the eastern borders of the Shire. Its first and main appearance in print was in The Fellowship of the Ring, especially in the eponymous chapter 6. The Old Forest lay near the centre of Eriador, a large region of north-west Middle-earth. It was one of the few survivors of the primordial forests which had covered much of Eriador before the Second Age. Indeed, it had once been but the northern edge of one immense forest which reached all the way to Fangorn forest, hundreds of miles to the south-east. The vicinity of the Old Forest was the domain of three nature-spirits: Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, and Old Man Willow. ...”
2010 January: The Lord of the Rings, 2018 January: An Atlas of Literary Maps Created by Great Authors: J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island & More, 2019 January: The Largest J.R.R. Tolkien Exhibit in Generations Is Coming to the U.S.: Original Drawings, Manuscripts, Maps & More, 2020 January: Hear Christopher Tolkien (RIP) Read the Work of His Father J.R.R. Tolkien, Which He Tirelessly Worked to Preserve, 2020 August: The Complete Guide to Middle-earth - Robert Foster (1971), 2021 September: When the Nobel Prize Committee Rejected The Lord of the Rings..., 2021 October: When J.R.R. Tolkien Worked for the Oxford English Dictionary..., 2022 March: J.R.R. Tolkien Tolkien Estate, 2022 October: One Ring
Ukraine war: Inside the fight for the last streets of Bakhmut
"In a bunker just outside the city limits of Bakhmut, Ukraine's 77th Brigade direct artillery fire to support their infantry - their last line of defence on the western edge of the city. Ukraine is still clinging to the last few streets here. But the live video feed the artillery gunners watch intently, from a drone flying above the city, suggests that even if Russia can finally wrestle control, it would be little more than a pyrrhic victory. The prize is now a crumpled, skeletal city - with hardly a building left unscathed, and with its entire population vanished. The battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest of this war so far. Western officials estimate between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded here, while Ukraine's military has also paid a heavy price - and it still isn't over. ...”
NBC News: Ukraine drives back Russian forces around Bakhmut in its first significant gains in months (Video)
Singers perform in the opera The Terrible Revenge, based on the story by Nikolai Gogol, at the Lviv National Opera.
Dear Mother
"In the second half of the seventies, when I was in my twenties, I wrote letters home to Ireland from Barcelona. Early in 1976, for example, from my pension on the corner of Carrer de la Portaferrissa and Carrer del Pi, I described my first visit to the Liceu opera house. Dear Mother, The walls in this small, cheap hotel are thin. The man in the next room listens to opera on the radio. He looks like someone who has seen little daylight, but instead he has seen many operas, as he tried to explain to me in broken versions of several languages. Two days ago, he was waiting for me in the corridor. At first, I thought a fire had broken out or the police had, once more, attacked the people. ...”
The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, ca. 1880.
Islam’s forgotten bohemians
"I was lying in the dust, staring into the African sun, when their swords came down on me. The crowd was about a hundred strong, all of them Muslims shouting in a sonic blur. First they began slicing my arms. Next, pulling my shirt open, they cut into my torso. My eyes were closed with pain by the time I felt a blade moving hard across my throat. I thought I would die there, in that poor Durban neighbourhood where, despite the warnings of middle-class South Africans, I had decided to go exploring that evening. ...”
Sufi men dance inside a tent next to the Al-Ikhlas mosque in Alexandria, Egypt, during celebrations in honor of Sufi saint Sidi Burhan Al-Din Ali Al-Ikhlas Al-Sarkani.
Trump Is Found Liable for Sexual Abuse and Defamation
"A Manhattan jury on Tuesday found former President Donald J. Trump liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of the magazine writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages in a widely watched civil trial that sought to apply the accountability of the #MeToo era to a dominant political figure. The federal jury of six men and three women returned its verdict shortly after 3 p.m. after deliberating for only a few hours. The jury found that Ms. Carroll had not proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Mr. Trump had raped her, as she had long claimed. ...”
******Vanity Fair: The Stunning Clarity of the E. Jean Carroll–Donald Trump Verdict
NY Times: New York Law Gave Jurors Three Types of Battery to Consider in Trump Case
NY Times: Read the Filled-Out Jury Verdict Form in the Trump-Carroll Case
Air raid alerts for Kyiv, two-thirds of Ukraine
"Air raid sirens have been heard in the capital Kyiv and across two-thirds of Ukraine continuing more than a week of a renewed Russian air campaign. Ukrainian emergency services issued air raid alerts for Kyiv and most of central and eastern Ukraine early on Tuesday, extending from Vynnitsya in the west to all eastern regions and south to Kherson and the Odesa region on the Black Sea, the Reuters news agency reported. Officials in Kyiv said the city’s air defences were working to repel the attack. At least four people were killed on Monday as Russia sent a wave of drones and missiles into Ukraine in the early hours of the morning. ...”
Russia began its latest air campaign against Ukraine at the end of April
Do football managers matter?
"Managers can’t perform magic, although some people seem to think they can. They’re not David Copperfield or Harry Potter. They can’t work miracles or sprinkle some magical dust to make players know how to play football. Spending hours on analysis isn’t very useful. It doesn’t put you in better conditions to win the game. The tactics, the schemes, they’re all bull***t. Of course tactics matter, but players win the game. ... But don’t take my word for it. Everything you just read came straight from the mouths of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Marcelo Bielsa, Massimiliano Allegri, Erik ten Hag, Ernesto Valverde, Juanma Lillo and, of course, Sam Allardyce, who’s up there with all of them. ...”
Delphine Dora - Rêver l’imperceptible (2023)
"... Parsing messages from cryptic frequencies becomes a pathway through the fringes on Rêver imperceptible. Delphine Dora explores the resonances and vibrations in nature by piecing together disparate elements and finding surprising aural connections. Strings scrape and rattle in opposition to her ghostly vocals, all the while blithe creatures sing in the crisp air. Within soft drones built from piercing electronics and her voice, cocoon-like structures form, and tiny, magical moments spark to life. This is music where the details hold secrets. Esoteric whispers guide us forward, a beacon within the fractured darkness. By breaking things down into elemental specters, Dora finds new meanings and understanding in the world at large. A captivating listening experience. ...”
Ukrainians Return Home, Renewed and Resigned
"A new sound wafts through the open windows at night in this town near the front line: children hollering at each other down the block, even long after dark.The markets are full. Sales are surging at the local bike shop. Red tulips, planted by hand, are bursting open everywhere. It is remarkable — ‘Unrecognizable,’ one city official said — how different this small town in eastern Ukraine feels from a year ago. Last summer, Pokrovsk was a spooky landscape of boarded up houses and bushy yards. No one was around. Now it’s hard to take a few steps without passing someone on the sidewalk. Nothing has changed outside Pokrovsk. The front line is still 30 miles away. Ukrainians are still dying in droves. One of the biggest armies in the world, that of the Russian Federation, is still bombing cities while they sleep and trying to take as much territory as it can, at a terrifying cost. ...”
Out of the 11,000 residents before the war, about 1,500 remain in Siversk, according to authorities.
Basquiat Playing Cards
"Basquiat Playing Cards are a tribute to one of America’s most influential and beloved modern artists—featuring authentic sketches, drawings, and paintings from the brief but spectacular career of an inspirational icon. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s signature neo-expressionist style has transcended cultures and engaged the social landscape for several decades. His work combines elements of street graffiti and social commentary in the context of fine art. Some consider his paintings as a form of introspective visual poetry. Every aspect of Basquiat playing cards features artwork approved by the estate of Jean-Michael Basquiat. From the tuck case to the fronts and backs of every single card, you will find official Basquiat art—a unique visual language that continues to inspire future generations. ...”
2013 April: Saving Basquiat: Seeing the Art Through the Myth-Making at Gagosian, 2015 February: Now's the Time, 2015 May: Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks, 2015 December: The Notebooks, 2017 June: New Art, New Money (February 10, 1985), 2021 November: Downtown 81 - Edo Bertoglio (1980-81), 2022 February: In Orlando, 25 Mysterious Basquiats Come Under the Magnifying Glass
Thérèse Raquin - Émile Zola (1868)
"Thérèse Raquin is an 1868 novel by French writer Émile Zola, first published in serial form in the literary magazine L'Artiste in 1867. It was Zola's third novel, though the first to earn wide fame. The novel's adultery and murder were considered scandalous and famously described as ‘putrid’ in a review in the newspaper Le Figaro. Thérèse Raquin tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to her first cousin by an overbearing aunt, who may seem to be well-intentioned but in many ways is deeply selfish. Thérèse's husband, Camille, is sickly and egocentric and when the opportunity arises, Thérèse enters into a turbulent and sordidly passionate affair with one of Camille's friends, Laurent. ...”
The Dnipro River, Axis of Life and Death in Ukraine
"The thunder of artillery echoes night and day over the mighty Dnipro River as it winds its way through southern Ukraine. With Russian and Ukrainian forces squared off on opposite banks, fighters have replaced fishermen, surveillance drones circle overhead and mines line the marshy embankments. Carving an arc through Ukraine from its northern border to the Black Sea, through Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the Dnipro shapes the country’s geography and economy, its culture and its very identity. And now it helps define the contours of battle — as it has for millenniums, a barrier and a conduit to warring Scythians, Greeks, Vikings, Huns, Cossacks, Russians, Germans and many more. ...”
Getting ready to plunge into the water of the Dnipro River to mark the Orthodox Christian feast of Epiphany in Dnipro.
Oh, Run Into Me, But Don't Hurt Me ! - Female Blues Singers Rarities 1923-1930
"Between crudeness and despair, a few forgotten female blues singers. If, out of these fourteen female singers recorded in the 1920's, some have managed to put food on the table for a while, none became famous or rich, and most remain completely unknown. What can be said about a singer whose entire work fits on a single-sided 78rpm record? (It makes me think of those antique authors of whom all we have are titles of work). What circumstances led to this recording? Who decided to do it? For whom was it intended? Why wasn't it followed by more recordings? Hypotheses get lost in places and times themselves forgotten. What remains are these miraculous voices. ...”
Clouds of Sils Maria - Olivier Assayas (2014)
"This multilayered, immensely entertaining drama from the great contemporary French director Olivier Assayas is a singular look at the intersection of high art and popular culture. The always extraordinary Juliette Binoche is stirring as Maria, a stage and screen icon who is being courted to star in a new production of the play that made her famous—only this time she must assume the role of the older woman. Kristen Stewart matches her punch for punch as her beleaguered assistant, called upon to provide support both professional and emotional for her mercurial boss. ...”
Criterion: Juliette Binoche on the Art of Being Directed, Less Is More: Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria
2017 June: Summer Hours (2009), 2020 December: Form and Function: On the Object Lessons of Summer Hours
Russia accuses Ukraine of trying to kill Putin with Kremlin drone strike
"Moscow has accused Kyiv of staging a drone attack intended to kill the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in the Kremlin, and vowed to retaliate. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that two drones had been used in the attack, but that they had been disabled by Russian defences. In a statement published on its website, the Kremlin stated it considered the attack a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the president of the Russian Federation. ... Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time of the attack. Peskov added that Putin would spend the day at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow.The Ukrainian president, Volodomyr Zelenskiy, denied that Ukraine was involved in the attack. ...”
Drone seen exploding over the Kremlin
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