Friday, March 8, 2019

POTD: Golden Onion Domes

From 2018 08 13 Catherine Palace

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the church that is part of the Catherine Palace outside St Petersburg, Russia. One thing that surprised this tourist is not only how many churches there are in Russia, but how many survived 75 years of Communism. Many have been restored as national treasures. Some have been re-sanctified as churches. Others have been restored as museums.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

POTD: Ekaterina I

From 2018 08 13 Catherine Palace

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Catherine Palace outside St Petersburg, Russia. It was the summer home of the tsars. It was named after Peter the Great's wife and successor, Empress Catherine I (not the later Catherine the Great, who began the Hermitage art collection in the Winter Palace that we've seen in previous POTDs). There are so many palaces and tsars and tsarinas that tourists can be forgiven for not keeping them all straight.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

POTD: The Throne Room

From 2018 08 12 Winter Palace & Hermitage

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, Russia. The Winter Palace houses the Hermitage Museum, which is one of the world's great art museums, but it's impossible to overlook that this building was also home of the tsars. As you wander from one art gallery to the next, you keep running into rooms like this. Go for the history, go for the architecture, go for the art, but do try to go.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

POTD: Just a Malachite Vase

From 2018 08 12 Winter Palace & Hermitage

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia. It shows a malachite vase, but it's not the Giant Malachite Vase, nor is it in the Malachite Room. I guess it's just a run-of-the-mill malachite vase. Such is the excess of treasures on display in the Winter Palace.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Russian Doll (TV 2019)

Rotten Tomatoes
Russian Doll (TV 2019): Brash New Yorker is caught in looping, connected timelines as she keeps dying and rebooting at her birthday party. Quirky, original, absolutely captivating, with a satisfying ending as well. Can't wait for Season 2, but where can Natasha Lyonne take it? A+

Friday, March 1, 2019

Idle Thoughts: Why I Hate Analogies

Tweets from February, 2019:
  • Feb 1 2019: Why I hate using analogies.
    "Analogies, in particular, can illuminate, but they can also obscure and confuse. They need to be handled carefully, like rhetorical high explosives."
  • Feb 1 2019: Mamma Mia! at PHS: The music of ABBA onstage in RISD. Pop hits before these kids were born, maybe before their parents were born, brought back to life with great fun. Live orchestra, great voices, big cast. Be sure to stay for the curtain call and dance in the aisles.
  • Feb 1 2019: In this drama, the role of "American woman" is played by Donald Trump.
    American woman: I think you're cheating on me.
    Russian boyfriend: If you'd just agree to an open relationship, it wouldn't be cheating.
    American woman: Deal.

After the jump, more idle thoughts.

Thursday, February 28, 2019

POTD: Raphael Loggias in the Hermitage

From 2018 08 12 Winter Palace & Hermitage

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia. This photo is not the throne room or a ballroom, but of a humble hallway. It's the gallery known as the "Raphael Loggias, designed by Giacomo Quarenghi and painted by Cristopher Unterberger and his workshop in the 1780s as a replication of the loggia in the Apostolic Palace in Rome frescoed by Raphael." (Wikipedia).

Bonus photo after the jump.