Ukraine war: How pathologists identify victims of Russia's invasion

"Oleh Podorozhnyy leads the way through the dimly lit corridors of his morgue, past windows covered with sandbags, to a large white container in the back yard. As soon as its heavy metal door is cracked open, the cloying smell of death rushes out. Piled inside in white bags are the remains of civilians killed when the town of Izyum was occupied by Russian troops. Many have been dead for months. The body bags are marked with numbers and the barest of details, scrawled in black pen. Weeks after Izyum was liberated, the remains of 146 people found there have still not been identified. They're here because the main morgue is overwhelmed with more unidentified bodies from Russian missile strikes and mass graves across the Kharkiv region. ...”

"God teaches us to forgive, but I will never forgive the murderers," Olena Ihnatenko said at the funeral for her murdered son

Argentina beat France on penalties to win World Cup: Messi’s legacy, Mbappe’s hat-trick

"One of the most exciting World Cup finals of all time was won on penalties by Argentina after Kylian Mbappe had scored a hat-trick to force the shootout. Argentina were coasting to victory with an hour gone with the score at 2-0 thanks to goals by Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria. But when Di Maria came off in the 64th minute the game changed, and France and Mbappe’s confidence grew and grew. … Argentina went ahead through Messi’s close-range finish but Gonzalo Montiel’s handball gave Mbappe the chance to complete his hat-trick. He went the same way with his second penalty, hard to Emiliano Martinez’s right. Martinez was Argentina’s hero in the shootout, saving a spot kick from Kingsley Coman before Aurelien Tchouameni put his effort wide. Montiel, who had given away the penalty in the 117th minute, scored the one that sealed the victory. …”  

The Athletic (Video)  

The Athletic: Argentina are the most tactically flexible World Cup winners we have ever seen – Michael Cox  

The Analyst – Argentina 3-3 France: Debate Over as Lionel Messi Finally Wins The World Cup 

SI: Argentina, Messi Win Epic World Cup Final in PKs, Overcoming Mbappe’s Hat-Trick Heroics (Video)  

Guardian – Argentina 3-3 France (aet, 4-2 on pens): World Cup final player ratings 

CNN: Stepping out of Maradona’s shadow. How Lionel Messi won over the hearts of all of Argentina  

The Athletic: Lionel Messi doesn’t need the ball to hurt you (Video)

​Qatar 2022: Shifting sands where the real and almost-real collide

"1 - Fake Qatar fans. It is one of the strangest minor stories of the strangest of World Cups. Shortly before the opening game, Qatar versus Ecuador, a group of men in uniform Qatari team-coloured T-shirts emerged en masse into a vacant area behind the goal and started making noise, doing choreographed dances and leaping about with apparently genuine excitement, something they kept up through the game irrespective of what was happening on the pitch. … 4 - Fake Venice shopping centre. The motorised gondolas at the Villaggio Mall, a Qatari classic. This is a place that loves a bit of urban mimesis. Doha and its surrounds also have a fake Place Vendôme, a fake Champs-Élysées, even a fake Hackney in the guise of Stadium 974, with its billionaire-hipster aesthetic, the pretence of being built out of glossily reclaimed shipping containers. …”

1 – Qatar fans enjoy the pre match atmosphere prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group A match between Qatar and Ecuador at Al Bayt Stadium on November 20, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar.


 

​Special report: Qatar, the World Cup and the war on truth

"For a brief few moments it looked like the World Cup was being rigged in real time, amplifying an explosive conspiracy theory seen by millions around the world. In the days running up to the tournament opener between hosts Qatar and Ecuador on November 20, a viral tweet suggested the South Americans had been bribed to deliver a 1-0 defeat. The claim mutated from the Twitter feed of someone named Amjad Taha to other social media sites and news outlets around the world. …”
The Athletic (Video)
Guardian – As Qatar’s World Cup ends it is time for truth: Fifa chose death and suffering
Guardian – Qatar 2022: this World Cup has taken place in a crime scene
World Corrupt (Audio)


Putin’s War: The Inside Story of a Catastrophe

"They never had a chance. Fumbling blindly through cratered farms, the troops from Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade had no maps, medical kits or working walkie-talkies, they said. Just a few weeks earlier, they had been factory workers and truck drivers, watching an endless showcase of supposed Russian military victories at home on state television before being drafted in September. One medic was a former barista who had never had any medical training. Now, they were piled onto the tops of overcrowded armored vehicles, lumbering through fallow autumn fields with Kalashnikov rifles from half a century ago and virtually nothing to eat, they said. Russia had been at war most of the year, yet its army seemed less prepared than ever. ...”

NY Times (Video)

They plod through Ukraine with old maps like this one from the 1960s, recovered from the battlefield, or no maps at all.

Italian Journey - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1786 to 1788)

"Italian Journey ... is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's report on his travels to Italy from 1786 to 1788 that was published in 1816 & 1817. The book is based on Goethe's diaries and is smoothed in style, lacks the spontaneity of his diary report and is augmented with the addition of afterthoughts and reminiscences. ... By May 1788 he had travelled to Italy via Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass and visited Lake Garda, Verona, Vicenza, Venice, Bologna, Rome and Alban Hills, Naples and Sicily. He wrote many letters to a number of friends in Germany, which he later used as the basis for Italian Journey. ...”

NY Times: Goethe Italian Journey

Invader “4000” Opens in Paris with Exhibition and Mosaic Encyclopedia

"Infusing meaning into numbers is one way to identify benchmarks, recognizing that time takes us forward regardless of our intentions. For street artist Space Invader, the act of recording and cataloging his two-decade Space Invaders project ‘is very much an ongoing meta-work, constantly expanding and transforming.’ Marking that passage of time and his seemingly indefatigable dedication to it around the world, the artist releases ‘4000′, his new book – and accompanying exhibition – that celebrates the completion of 4,000 installed mosaics. ...”

Manhattan, NY

What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis

"... Senior Ukrainian officials say Vladimir Putin is preparing for a major new offensive in the new year, Isobel Koshiw and Peter Beaumont reported, despite a series of humiliating battlefield setbacks for Russia in recent months. In an interview with the Guardian, Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said that while Ukraine was now able to successfully defend itself against Russia’s missile attacks targeting key infrastructure, including the energy grid, evidence was emerging that the Kremlin was preparing a broad new offensive. Reznikov’s comments echoed similar remarks made to the Economist this week – including from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the head of the armed forces, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and the chief of ground forces, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskii. ...”

People rest in a subway station, being used as a bomb shelter during a rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities reported explosions in at least three cities Friday, saying Russia has launched a major missile attack on energy facilities and infrastructure. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in at least four districts, urging residents to go to shelters.

​Inside Mar-a-Lago, Where Thousands Partied Near Secret Files

"Mar-a-Lago is the primary home of former President Donald J. Trump. It is also a private club reserved for 500 members and a venue for parties and fund-raisers that are frequently attended by hundreds of people at a time. ... A New York Times investigation reveals how easily accessible classified documents may have been to the thousands of guests who visited Mar-a-Lago in the months after Mr. Trump left office. The Times created a 3-D model of Mar-a-Lago and reviewed images from social media and other sources to show how people were, at times, within feet of the materials. ...”              

​Afrofuturism in Black Music

"The term Afrofuturism invokes writers such as Octavia E. Butler, Samuel Delany, Ytasha L. Womack, Ishmael Reed, and Mark Dery who coined the term in 1992. Even the great Zora Neale Hurston has been described as an Afrofuturist. And when the focus shifts to Black music, the following names often appear: Sun Ra, Parliament-Funkadelic, Grace Jones, OutKast, Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, and Janelle Monáe. But While Afrofuturism has been characterized as a philosophy, a movement, and a cultural aesthetic, among other things, there has been little discussion of the spiritual principles that essentially comprise the conceptual foundation of Afrofuturism in music. ...”

Sun Ra

​The Infrared Hunt for Russian Troops in the Battle for Bakhmut

"BAKHMUT, Ukraine — Wind howled through leafless trees and through the windows of the blown-out apartment building as the surveillance team marched up flights of stairs covered with broken glass. The cold numbed their fingers as they set up their equipment: a laptop-size thermal imaging sight, its tripod and a Starlink satellite dish and battery. The job was straightforward: The small team of several men, led by an American known as Wolf, would be Ukraine’s eyes on their battle for Bakhmut that night, huddling in the Soviet-style apartment and staring at the white-and-black glow of infrared images as it tried to identify Russian positions.In front of them was a panoramic view of Bakhmut, a city in Ukraine’s east, mostly without power and devastated by six months of concerted shelling. ...”

An explosion lighted up the sky as a small surveillance team for the Ukrainian Army scanned the horizon over Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine.


​France beat Morocco to reach final: Mbappe v Messi, Amrabat’s tackle and a rare fast start

W – Antoine GriezmannFrance withstood an impressive Morocco display to set up a World Cup final with Argentina on Sunday that pits Kylian Mbappe against his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Lionel Messi. Theo Hernandez, who came into the France side in the first game when his brother Lucas suffered a tournament-ending knee injury, scored the opening goal after just five minutes, acrobatically steering the ball past goalkeeper Yassine Bounou. …”
The Athletic
NY Times: Why Antoine Griezmann Is France’s Most Important Player
Guardian: France bring Morocco’s adventure to an end and reach World Cup final
Guardian: Antoine Griezmann’s devilment gives France the edge when it matters
The Analyst: France 2-0 Morocco: France Through to Fourth Final in Last Seven World Cups

Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi starred for Argentina as they swept past Croatia to seal a place in the World Cup final. Messi opened the scoring from the spot after Alvarez was fouled by the Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic. Then Alvarez bundled his way through a scrambling Croatia defence to make it two before the break, and the two players combined for a brilliant third goal in the 69th minute. …”
The Athletic:Argentina beat Croatia to reach final: Alvarez stars, magical Messi assist, goodbye Modric
Guardian: Inspired Lionel Messi takes Argentina past Croatia and into World Cup final
The Analyst – Argentina 3-0 Croatia: Lionel Messi is One Game From Immortality
NY Times: Lionel Messi’s World Cup Magic Continues in Argentina’s Romp Over Croatia (Video)


 

​The Best Experimental Music of 2022

"Welcome to the year-end edition of Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp, in which we’ve picked 12 of our favorites from 2022. There was so much great experimental music on the site this year that no list could truly represent the breadth and depth of it all, but we are sure that these releases below are worthy of your time. Presented in alphabetical order by artist, our selections include ground-shaking drones, songs sung by artificial intelligence, a moving musical elegy, an homage to the VHS tape, and a 71-minute magnum opus. ...”

Defenses Carved Into the Earth

"Trenches are not new to Ukraine. Trench warfare has long been a feature of the battle in eastern Ukraine for the Donbas region. Ukrainians fight from their own trenches on their side of the line near Popasna, where Russians are waging an intense campaign to dislodge Ukrainian troops from the city of Bakhmut. But the pace and the scale of Russian construction over the last couple of months is unmatched. All of the structures in the image above appeared within six days. The fortifications show how Russia’s military is trying to set up more robust, defensible positions against Ukrainian pressure, often with the help of natural obstacles like rivers. ...”

​The Climate Impact of Your Neighborhood, Mapped

"New data shared with The New York Times reveals stark disparities in how different U.S. households contribute to climate change. Looking at America’s cities, a pattern emerges. Households in denser neighborhoods close to city centers tend to be responsible for fewer planet-warming greenhouse gases, on average, than households in the rest of the country. Residents in these areas typically drive less because jobs and stores are nearby and they can more easily walk, bike or take public transit. And they’re more likely to live in smaller homes or apartments that require less energy to heat and cool. ...”

​Counter Intelligence: Detroit

"From the East River to the Pacific Coast, the map of America is dotted by record stores – some famous, some wildly obscure. On Counter Intelligence, RBMA Radio gets the stories of these storefronts straight from the personalities who run them, soundtracked by their signature records. This week, our episodes focus on shops based in Detroit. In advance of their premiere on RBMA Radio, we sent Maxwell Schiano to document each one.  ...”

Donors meet in Paris to get Ukraine through winter and Russian bombing

"Dozens of countries and international organizations threw their weight and more than $1 billion in aid pledges behind an urgent new push Tuesday to keep Ukraine powered, fed, warm and moving amid the onset of winter. An international donor conference in Paris quickly racked up substantial promises of financial and in-kind support, a defiant response to sustained Russian aerial bombardments that have plunged millions into the cold and dark by targeting critical infrastructure. ...”

Ukrainian citizens make their way through snow on Dec. 7, 2022 in Borodyanka.

Angelo Badalamenti, Composer for ‘Twin Peaks,’ Is Dead at 85

"Angelo Badalamenti, an internationally sought-after composer who wrote the hypnotic theme to ‘Twin Peaks,’ David Lynch’s 1990s television drama series, and the music for five Lynch films, including 'Blue Velvet' (1986), died on Sunday at his home in Lincoln Park, N.J. He was 85. ... Mr. Badalamenti was at the piano behind Isabella Rossellini when she sang ‘Blue Velvet’ at the Slow Club in Lumberton, N.C., a flower-filled, picket-fence kind of town with a very dark side. Aside from the title song, a Bobby Vinton hit from 1963, he had composed much of the film’s music. ...”

​The Disturbing Paintings of Hieronymus Bosch: A Short Introduction

"Most casual viewers of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings must acknowledge his artistic skill, and many must also wonder whether he was completely out of his mind. But insanity, however vividly suggested by his imagery, isn’t an especially compelling explanation for that imagery. Bosch painted in a particular place and time — the Netherlands of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, to be specific — but he also painted within a dominant worldview. ‘He grew up in a time of deep religious anxiety,’ says Youtuber Hochelaga in the video essay above. ...”

​In a Wary Arctic, Norway Starts to See Russian Spies Everywhere

"TROMSØ, Norway — In hindsight, some things just didn’t add up about Jose Giammaria. For one, the visiting researcher at the University of Tromsø, in Norway’s Arctic Circle, was ostensibly Brazilian. But he couldn’t speak Portuguese. Then there was the fact that he self-funded his visit, an oddity in academia, and even planned to extend it — yet he never talked about his research. But he was always helpful, even offering to redesign the home page for the Center for Peace Studies, where he worked. That was until Oct. 24, 2022, when Norway’s security police, the PST, arrived with a warrant to search his office. Days later, they announced his arrest as a Russian spy, named Mikhail Mikushin. ...”

An airport employee inside the control tower at the Tromsø airport, where traffic has been disrupted by unauthorized drones.


​How England kept France’s star forward Kylian Mbappe quiet

"There are a handful of players you need to consider for special attention,’ England assistant coach Steve Holland said before the quarter-final against France. ‘You’d have to put (Kylian) Mbappe in that category. We need to look at trying to avoid leaving ourselves in situations where he is as devastating as we’ve seen.’ On a night when Mbappe recorded just one shot and one key pass, and failed to score or assist for the first time when starting a game at this World Cup, here is how England managed to keep him quiet… ”

PUSHING IT FORWARD: ILLicit Creatives Claiming Space on the Streets of Queens, Part II

"After a hiatus of several weeks, we are back with our documentation of ILLicit creatives claiming space on the streets of NYC. Pictured above is MFK, the Metal Fingers Krew; what follows are several more graffiti bombs and throwies captured as we revisited Queens. ...”

​Ukraine strikes Wagner HQ in Luhansk, governor says

"Ukrainian forces have struck a headquarters of Russia's Wagner mercenary group in eastern Ukraine, Luhansk's Ukrainian governor has said. Serhiy Haidai said a hotel where the group was based in Kadiivka, Luhansk region, was hit. He added there were major Russian losses. The BBC was unable to independently verify Wagner's presence at the hotel. Wagner are state-sponsored mercenaries who act in the Kremlin's interests, according to Western experts. The private military company, set up by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former restaurateur and close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses. ...”

Moscow-backed authorities in Melitopol posted images of a fire

At Proust Weekend: The Madeleine Event

"... In the meantime, I attended some panels. When Lydia Davis was beamed in to talk about her award-winning translation of Swann’s Way, I stared at the cat in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. In order to be properly Proustian, I knew, the center of an experience would be hidden in the margins of the event itself. The events of the Weekend transpired in the second-floor ballroom of the Gilded Age mansion that houses Villa Albertine, the French embassy–adjacent artist’s residency program that had organized the event. Most attendees were, I gathered, elderly residents of the Upper East Side and/or miscellaneous French people. ...”

Sitting On Top Of The World’s Best Blues Album Covers

"We live in an age where the consumption of music is increasingly defined and dominated by digital music, and because of that the importance of album covers seems to be diminishing – at least for a generation where streaming individual tracks rather than a complete set of songs seems a more desirable way to listen. But with the miraculous revival of vinyl – whose sales have increased exponentially over the last couple of years – it’s feasible that album art will come into prominence again, whether that be for hip-hop, rock or the often overlooked world of blues album covers. ...”

​At Nobel Ceremony, Russian Crimes and ‘Imperialism’ Take Center Stage

"KYIV, Ukraine — In an impassioned speech upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday, the laureate from Ukraine seized the moment to make an incongruous but powerful point: At this moment in history, she said, the only way to secure democracy, human rights and a lasting peace in Ukraine is to fight. ‘People of Ukraine want peace more than anyone else in the world,’ said Oleksandra Matviychuk, who accepted the prize on behalf of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, which she heads. ‘But peace cannot be reached by a country under attack laying down its arms. This would not be peace, but occupation.’ The other two laureates — Memorial, a Russian research and human rights organization, and Ales Bialiatski, a jailed Belarusian activist — have also become symbols of resistance and accountability during the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, set off by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ...”

​Mysteries of a Venetian Perfectionist Revealed in Washington

"... The year is 1882, the American writer is not yet 40, and the him is Vittore Carpaccio: the painter of the early Renaissance whose narrative cycles of Christian saints decorate churches and confraternities all around the maritime city. James is falling in love with Venice, and writing a first essay in which he gasps before the paintings of Tintoretto and Bellini and whines about the other tourists. ... Not quite so bright these days. With the coming of the 20th century, Venice’s pilgrims and day-trippers gravitated to the fervent, agitated paintings of Titian and Tintoretto — Tintoretto even appeared as a ‘contemporary’ artist in a recent Venice Biennale, holding his own in the white cube. Carpaccio, working half a century earlier, was more Gothic and more uptight. ...”

Vittore Carpaccio, “Saint George and the Dragon” (circa 1504-1507). The artist stars in a survey at the National Gallery of Art. This work, from a narrative cycle that recounts episodes from the lives of the saints, is leaving Italy for the first time.

What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis

"... Russia fired dozens of missiles at Ukraine in a new onslaught against the country’s civilian infrastructure on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people in residential areas, as Moscow once more tried to retaliate for its military defeats by targeting the population. Ukraine’s armed forces estimated that Russia launched 70 cruise missiles, of which 51 were intercepted by air defences, in what the army called a ‘large-scale attack on crucial infrastructure facilities’, Lorenzo Tondo and Julian Borger reported. One of the 10 that evaded the defences in Kyiv hit an apartment block in the northern suburb of Vyshgorod, killing three people and wounding 15. ...”

The liquid natural gas facility in Ras Laffan, Qatar. The country is becoming an indispensable energy supplier with vast reserves and very low costs.


Mirror - Andrei Tarkovsky (1975)

"Mirror is a 1975 Russian drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is loosely autobiographical, unconventionally structured, and incorporates poems composed and read by the director's father, Arseny Tarkovsky. ... Mirror is structured in the form of a nonlinear narrative, with its main concept dating back to 1964 and undergoing multiple scripted versions by Tarkovsky and Aleksandr Misharin. It unfolds around memories recalled by a dying poet of key moments in his life and in Soviet culture. The film combines contemporary scenes with childhood memories, dreams, and newsreel footage. Its cinematography slips between color, black-and-white, and sepia. The film's loose flow of oneiric images has been compared with modernist literature's stream of consciousness technique. ...”

2012 May: Solaris, 2018 October: Andrei Rublev (1966), 2020 December: Bruegel as Cinema

​The 10 best albums from 1970s New York

"Martin Scorsese’s 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver says it best. In the grisly thriller, the streets of Manhattan have descended into the postlapsarian dystopian nightmare forecast in a thousand bad acid trips from the decade earlier. The technological fix for a society that the post-war progression promised has been swallowed up in nothing more than the sprawl of concrete, the rise of brutalist architecture and a chronic lack of deodorant. With no life ring cast from those in power or prominence, who were more concerned with threats from afar than the onset of internal decay, the denizens of the city sink into the plashy mire of crime and punishment. ...”